Level Up (A5E) [+] What features should a "Advanced 5E" have?

[Haldrik]

My suggestion was to replace racial modifiers and stuff.

As far as I can tell.

The "race" will split up between "species" and "culture".

Backgrounds can handle the culture.

Meanwhile, the species would allow swappable traits.

 

[Haldrik]

I was always under the impression that people with a proper class were a rarity. The PCs are exceptional individuals and that not every Magic User or 'Wizard' NPC is an actual WIZARD with class level. Not every criminal is a ROGUE and so forth.

It is fine to design a nonplayer character as a monster statblock.

Still, the classes serve as a familiar and useful palate of tropes, to employ when creating a new culture from scratch.

 

[Undrave]

As far as I can tell.

The "race" will split up between "species" and "culture".

Backgrounds can handle the culture.

Meanwhile, the species would allow swappable traits.

I don't think backgrounds are deep enough, as they are now, to handle cultures. I always saw them more as every day occupation, culture is a whole kettle of fish. You can be a soldier from a culture of elves that live in harmony with nature in the wood, but also from a culture of dwarves who mine and industrialized their city with magi tech factory all over a mountain face. Culture should be its own chunk of character creation, alongside species, background and class.

 

[Haldrik]

I don't think backgrounds are deep enough, as they are now, to handle cultures. I always saw them more as every day occupation, culture is a whole kettle of fish. You can be a soldier from a culture of elves that live in harmony with nature in the wood, but also from a culture of dwarves who mine and industrialized their city with magi tech factory all over a mountain face. Culture should be its own chunk of character creation, alongside species, background and class.

"Elven woodland soldier" and "dwarven magi-tech miner", make appropriate backgrounds to choose from.

Likewise, a background can be unique to a region, a town, an organization, or even a particular family.

Backgrounds define prominent aspects within a wider culture.

 

[Kinematics]

The "race" will split up between "species" and "culture".

Backgrounds can handle the culture.

Eh... Dunno. Culture and Background feel different, to me.

For example:

Species: Elf

Cultures: Wood elf, High elf, Dark elf, Sea elf, etc. Each of those has a communal cultural view of how things get done, how people work together, how they view outsiders, what they feel comfortable with.

Backgrounds: Maybe you spent a few years as a conscripted soldier, or were apprenticed to a blacksmith, or ran away from home to join the pirates on the high seas.


So Species is the intrinsic attributes of a race: some common stat increase, size, speed, darkvision, and expected lifespan. Dragon Breath for Dragonborn. Fey nature for elves. Etc.

Culture (in a generic, tropey sense) feels like the differences you might expect in a mercantile culture, vs a warlike culture, vs a diplomatic culture, etc. It affects the default languages, and probably a default skillset. You gain the benefits that everyone living in this culture is likely to have.

Some cultures might use direct physical conflict as a way of settling disputes. Some might use formal duels. Some use a strict legal system. Others might run on bets and wagers. Some are warlike. Some are reclusive. Some want to strike a deal. These are all broad, shaping influences on your character, and generally connect to some skill (athletics, gambling, dueling weapons, law, engineering, etc).

So, perhaps an orc tribe with a warlike culture will have everyone proficient in athletics, because that's just how differences are resolved. You might end up as a wizard, but your cultural upbringing influences how you approach solving personal issues. Culture is broad societal influences.

Background, on the other hand, is more about your own personal upbringing. Not everyone in a mercantile culture is a merchant. You might have been a caravan guard, or a sailor, or a blacksmith's apprentice, or a street urchin. Background is personal skill development — often tool, weapon, and armor use, with perhaps some supporting skills or languages, along with some ability that's useful enough to not be completely ignored the entire campaign.

I could see Species and Background giving you stat increases, but not Culture, which is more about skills.

"Elven woodland soldier" and "dwarven magi-tech miner", make appropriate backgrounds to choose from.

That unfolds to way, way too many backgrounds very quickly.

 

[Undrave]

"Elven woodland soldier" and "dwarven magi-tech miner", make appropriate backgrounds to choose from.

Likewise, a background can be unique to a region, a town, an organization, or even a particular family.

Backgrounds define prominent aspects within a wider culture.

I think they define your place in that culture, but say nothing about the culture itself. To me, the bonus from a Culture should apply to everyone from that culture, and a background is more focused. If you're an Elven Soldier from the city in the tree, you get proficiency in Nature from your culture and proficiency with martial weapon from your soldier background, but your neighbour who also has proficiency with Nature might actually be an artisan with proficiency in wood carving tools instead of martial weapon.

 

[Undrave]

Eh... Dunno. Culture and Background feel different, to me.

For example:

Species: Elf

Cultures: Wood elf, High elf, Dark elf, Sea elf, etc. Each of those has a communal cultural view of how things get done, how people work together, how they view outsiders, what they feel comfortable with.

Backgrounds: Maybe you spent a few years as a conscripted soldier, or were apprenticed to a blacksmith, or ran away from home to join the pirates on the high seas.

Did you see my post on the subject from earlier?

Here:

You could always go for more generic cultures and civilisation, like how the game 'Tapestry' doesn't have real life civilization but only generically themed ones: Militant, Isolationist, Nomad, Historian, Entertainer, Builders, Futurists, Inventor, Merrymaker, Traders, Mystics, The Chosen, Leaders, Alchemist, etc.

I think it would be possible to provide civilization building blocks... like to make a civilization or culture you first start with an environment (mountain stronghold, forest town, port city, desert oasis, farming village, etc) and then something we can call a 'virtue', like what the culture uses as the most important measure of success. You could have militant culture who value strength of arm, culture who value self-suficiency and grit, cultures who value religious devotion, other the accumulation of knowledge, mercantile acumen, crafting ability, magical talent, and so forth.

Smush them together, pick 1 main language and 3 secondary language from which characters can choose from and VOILA! You have your civilization with the benefits they give!

For exemple, you can say you come from a theocratic kingdom built around a desert oasis. You get +2 CON, because you are used to the desert heat, +1 INT because it's important to recall the tenet of the Faith, you gain proficiency in Religion (obviously) and Animal Handling (to ride Camels), you learn Common and you can pick between an equivalent to ancient latin, a language related to djinn or the draconic spoken by that one clan of nomadic Dragonborn that always comes by the city to trade.

Throw in the speed, vision and maybe a single physical ability from race (say that you're a Dwarf so you get the iron stomach of the race) and you got a solid replacement for race.

Throw in a background to represent your previous career (let's say, Soldier) and you can start picking your class.

I think we might want to keep stat bonus away from species like DnD is heading towards, to avoid racial stereotypes, and keep to more biological abilities (like dragon breath, immunities, vision, etc).

 

[Haldrik]

Eh... Dunno. Culture and Background feel different, to me.

For example:

Species: Elf

Cultures: Wood elf, High elf, Dark elf, Sea elf, etc. Each of those has a communal cultural view of how things get done, how people work together, how they view outsiders, what they feel comfortable with.

Backgrounds: Maybe you spent a few years as a conscripted soldier, or were apprenticed to a blacksmith, or ran away from home to join the pirates on the high seas.

As far as I can tell,

"High Elf" can include many different cultures.

Some High Elf cultures maintain strong relations with Eladrin. Some are isolationist. Some are close allies of Humans. Some are multicultural, in multi-species urban areas. Some emphasize Dexterity for archery, some emphasize Intelligence for wizardry, some emphasize charisma for the arts. Some are nothing but high magic − without any Fighters. Some are nonmagical flourishing as Rogues.

And so on.

One High Elf culture can be very different from an other High Elf culture.’




Think of all of the different kinds of Drow cultures, especially the ones where Lolth is unimportant.

 

[glass]

ISTM that there is little point in separating Culture from Species, and then having cultures with things like "elf" in the name.

_
glass.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Have venomous snakes, and not poisonous ones. Yes, I'm a bit pedantic.