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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8690459" data-attributes="member: 2629">The benefit of a heritage is that it has built in story.&nbsp; You can associate storylines to the heritage and bring them into a PC's hooks just by having them possess that heritage.The problem with a heritage is that it has built in story.&nbsp; That is stereotyping, and often has racist undertones that are in disguise.If I were designing 6E right now, I'd break down character origins in the following ways:Genetic Origin: You'd gain certain abilities by the nature of the body into which you were born. I'd limit how impactful these were, and I would not place any restrictions in the game on having a certain genetic origin.&nbsp; Whether you had 4 or 50 of these, I'd deemphasize their importance.Cultural Origin: You'd gain traits based upon your cultural origin.&nbsp; I would make these a point buy system and encourage the players to help the DM design their world by creating these 'culture bombs' that the DM can place in their world.&nbsp; Education: Then a character would spend time when they are young learning.&nbsp; It might be on a school's campus, in a workshop, on a battelfield or riding magical train rails ... but they'd gain benefits by living a young life.&nbsp; These would be predefined packages, much like backgrounds today.Class: Then they'd have an origin story for their class abilities.&nbsp; They might go to a school, make a pact with a demon, live in a monastery, etc...&nbsp; Basically, they'd get their class abilities through 'higher education'.&nbsp; You'd combine those four and get your starting abilities for a PC.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 8690459, member: 2629"] The benefit of a heritage is that it has built in story. You can associate storylines to the heritage and bring them into a PC's hooks just by having them possess that heritage. The problem with a heritage is that it has built in story. That is stereotyping, and often has racist undertones that are in disguise. If I were designing 6E right now, I'd break down character origins in the following ways: [B]Genetic Origin: [/B]You'd gain certain abilities by the nature of the body into which you were born. I'd limit how impactful these were, and I would not place any restrictions in the game on having a certain genetic origin. Whether you had 4 or 50 of these, I'd deemphasize their importance. [B]Cultural Origin: [/B]You'd gain traits based upon your cultural origin. I would make these a point buy system and encourage the players to help the DM design their world by creating these 'culture bombs' that the DM can place in their world. [B]Education: [/B]Then a character would spend time when they are young learning. It might be on a school's campus, in a workshop, on a battelfield or riding magical train rails ... but they'd gain benefits by living a young life. These would be predefined packages, much like backgrounds today. [B]Class: [/B]Then they'd have an origin story for their class abilities. They might go to a school, make a pact with a demon, live in a monastery, etc... Basically, they'd get their class abilities through 'higher education'. You'd combine those four and get your starting abilities for a PC. [/QUOTE]

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