Unearthed Arcana WOTC still can't get the backgrounds right in the new FR book.

[DEFCON 1]

How they implemented backgrounds is one of the big failings of D&D 2024. Luckily, its a very easy fix by defaulting to the "Backgrounds and Species from Older Books" guideline on page 38 of the PHB, which lets you choose your own ability modifiers and origin feat. It speeds things up even further by using the "Creating a Background" guidelines on page 55 of the 2024 DMG.

So instead of choosing a background and fumbling around with it, the player can:

• Choosing a standard array of 17 14 14 12 10 8.
• Choose two skill proficiencies
• Choose a tool proficiency
• Choose an origin feat
• Choose either an extra 50 GP or a potion of healing
• Choose a background of their choice based on flavor without taking any of features listed above

That's my own 2024 house rule. Not only does it give players greater flexibility over their background but it speeds up character building since you don't have to cross-reference your background skills with your class skill.

More here: Build Characters Quickly in D&D 2024

Which I think is a fantastic house rule and a wonderful way to play the game...

...right up until we remember there are a bunch of players out there that for some reason only allow themselves to play by RAW and then get mad at WotC that they write their books in such a way that the players are now forced to play a RAW they don't like.

And unfortunately, no amount of the rest of us telling them to just change things and then move on with their lives will ever work. Nope... the knowledge that they weren't able to receive a game written 100% to their preferences will continually gnaw away at them for the lifespan of the game and they'll have no choice but to come here constantly complaining about it.

 

[TiQuinn]

Which I think is a fantastic house rule and a wonderful way to play the game...

...right up until we remember there are a bunch of players out there that for some reason only allow themselves to play by RAW and then get mad at WotC that they write their books in such a way that the players are now forced to play a RAW they don't like.

And unfortunately, no amount of the rest of us telling them to just change things and then move on with their lives will ever work. Nope... the knowledge that they weren't able to receive a game written 100% to their preferences will continually gnaw away at them for the lifespan of the game and they'll have no choice but to come here constantly complaining about it.

It's our choice whether we want to engage with those people. I wouldn't want to play with someone who takes that view, for instance.

 

[CreamCloud0]

So instead of choosing a background and fumbling around with it, the player can:

• Choosing a standard array of 17 14 14 12 10 8.
• Choose two skill proficiencies
• Choose a tool proficiency
• Choose an origin feat
• Choose either an extra 50 GP or a potion of healing
• Choose a background of their choice based on flavor without taking any of features listed above

i would personally also offer a point buy of 35 for this option, (increasing the cap by the value of the ASI added onto their highest scores converted into their equivalent point value) and letting the max score bought be 16.

 

[Marc17]

Which I think is a fantastic house rule and a wonderful way to play the game...

...right up until we remember there are a bunch of players out there that for some reason only allow themselves to play by RAW and then get mad at WotC that they write their books in such a way that the players are now forced to play a RAW they don't like.

And unfortunately, no amount of the rest of us telling them to just change things and then move on with their lives will ever work. Nope... the knowledge that they weren't able to receive a game written 100% to their preferences will continually gnaw away at them for the lifespan of the game and they'll have no choice but to come here constantly complaining about it.

Still new to 5E and just yesterday read the Invisible condition details and went back and read the thread on it here. I wouldn't be surprised at this point if somebody from WotC said something like "We purposely made bad rules that didn't work throughout the game to teach new DMs that they had to not only adjudicate the rules but also come up with new solutions that worked for their game."

(I mean, that is literally what Monte Cook said he did with 3E except it was player facing to get them to learn game mastery.)

 

[Maxperson]

Still new to 5E and just yesterday read the Invisible condition details and went back and read the thread on it here. I wouldn't be surprised at this point if somebody from WotC said something like "We purposely made bad rules that didn't work throughout the game to teach new DMs that they had to not only adjudicate the rules but also come up with new solutions that worked for their game."

I've been saying that for years. Not necessarily that the rules were written intentionally badly, but in my opinion there are too many rules in the game that are incomplete and/or vague for it to be accidental. The designers who made 5e also were involved with 3e and 4e, so we know that they can write clearer and more complete rules over an entire core set. I think the incomplete/vague rules are there to support the 5e mantra of Rulings Over Rules.

 

[ECMO3]

Which I think is a fantastic house rule and a wonderful way to play the game...

It is not a houserule it is in the PHB*

If WOTC modeled their new backgrounds around the rules they published telling you how to use older backgrounds there would be no issue.

*Technically the 50gp option is a houserule, but everything else isn't.

 

[ECMO3]

nm

 

[Kinematics]

The thing on the Sailor background (wrt monk) is that, on its own, the Sailor background exactly fits what you'd expect a sailor background to be like. The need to move around on a ship, to keep an eye out for things on the horizon, and getting into bar fights when on shore leave, are basically a perfect match for a stereotypical sailor concept.

So it's not the Sailor background itself that's the problem. The problem is that it's the best match for the types of things you'd want on a monk, out of the background options provided. But even that is only getting tied down to the idea that the backgrounds are fixed concepts.

While there were concerns about the PHB not providing the explicit ability to create custom backgrounds (and there's a fun thread on Homebrew Backgrounds that has dozens of creative ideas for different combos, if your game allows it), it does have one notable paragraph:

Each background includes a brief narrative of what your character's past might have been like. Alter the details of this narrative however you like.

You can take the "Sailor" background and instead make it Circus Performer, or Drunken Acolyte, or Unruly Guard, without any issue. The label and description of the background-as-mechanic do not confine you to just that singular concept.

So the problem is people getting trapped in the mindset that if they want that combination of mechanics, they must be an actual literal sailor.

Though I agree that that's different from the mechanics of a background being in conflict with itself (such as basing the feat on Wisdom, but not granting Wisdom in the stat boosts of the corresponding background). Based on the descriptions provided thus far, I'd expect both the background and the feat for the Dragon Cult to be associated with Charisma.

 

[Bae'zel]

How they implemented backgrounds is one of the big failings of D&D 2024. Luckily, its a very easy fix by defaulting to the "Backgrounds and Species from Older Books" guideline on page 38 of the PHB, which lets you choose your own ability modifiers and origin feat. It speeds things up even further by using the "Creating a Background" guidelines on page 55 of the 2024 DMG.

So instead of choosing a background and fumbling around with it, the player can:

• Choosing a standard array of 17 14 14 12 10 8.
• Choose two skill proficiencies
• Choose a tool proficiency
• Choose an origin feat
• Choose either an extra 50 GP or a potion of healing
• Choose a background of their choice based on flavor without taking any of features listed above

That's my own 2024 house rule. Not only does it give players greater flexibility over their background but it speeds up character building since you don't have to cross-reference your background skills with your class skill.

More here: Build Characters Quickly in D&D 2024

That’s brilliant. I’m gonna do this in my upcoming campaign. Frees up the player choice of background for flavour and theme over mechanics. Love it.

 

[ECMO3]

You can take the "Sailor" background and instead make it Circus Performer, or Drunken Acolyte, or Unruly Guard, without any issue. The label and description of the background-as-mechanic do not confine you to just that singular concept.

Well that is an interpretation, although I am not sure many tables will allow it.

That said, why have the background tied to mechanics at all then? If I can play an Acolyte with +1 Wisdom, +2 Dexterity and the Tavern Brawler feat then why even have a sailor with those printed feats and ASIs?

The reason for backgrounds is supposedly to give players story hooks, so have them be that and only that.