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

[Maxperson]

Exactly. The feat given by the background is objectively weaker because of this, and her we are not talking about a class, where you can choose a different one, but a feat that is tied directly to the background.

Morover though, while you fail once "more" out of 20 attepmts, your overall effectiveness decreases by around 10-20% because that failure that was flipped was one of only a subset that would have suceeded.

It's a nearly meaningless difference. You won't even notice that extra failure. The feat itself is far better than any +1 to a stat bonus.

And that 10-20% increase in failure is also meaningless. It sounds good until you realize that the difference is so small you won't be able to notice it.

It's like those studies that say your chances to have a heart attack go up 100% if you do X, but then it goes from .0000001 to .0000002.

 

[ECMO3]

It's a nearly meaningless difference. You won't even notice that extra failure.

It is super meaningful. I would notice as soon as I put my character together.

The feat itself is far better than any +1 to a stat bonus.

The Origin Feat is not that great. Looking at it alone compared to other Origin Feats it is probably slightly below average in a combat-oriented game or well below average in a balanced game.

And that 10-20% increase in failure is also meaningless. It sounds good until you realize that the difference is so small you won't be able to notice it.

I will notice it though. It is a huge deal. I will notice it 100% of the time on any character that has that background.

Heck I have not even built a character with that background or used the ability and I already noticed it!

 

[Maxperson]

It is super meaningful. I would notice as soon as I put my character together.

But not in game play. It's only really meaningful to you because you've psyched yourself into feeling it has meaning. In game play it makes nearly no difference whatsoever.

I will notice it though. It is a huge deal. I will notice it 100% of the time on any character that has that background.

That's because you've put yourself into a mindset where 1 extra hit on a big bag of hit points every 3 or so combats actually matters. Or the extra +1 damage against multiple bags of hit points in most encounters.

I understand that in game play that miniscule amount of extra damage will very rarely make any difference at all, and you generally won't even notice those rare times that it does.

 

[Sacrosanct]

After all the discussion to remove stat modifiers from races, I'm surprised they didn't take the easy route and just say "add a +2 bonus to one stat and a +1 bonus to another" and be done with it--don't tie it to anything else. It just creates problems like this.

 

[Older Beholder]

, they had floating ASI and pretty much everyone was happy (even if some like myself were lamenting the lack of default guideline ASI on the newer species coming out).

Umm… that wasn’t the case on these forums.
I seem to remember a lot of complaints. Like there were threads that went for 100s of pages at the thought that someone could play a halfling with 18 strength.

Personally I had always added the +1, +2 where I wanted and will continue to do so.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Umm… that wasn’t the case on these forums.
I seem to remember a lot of complaints. Like there were threads that went for 100s of pages at the thought that someone could play a halfling with 18 strength.

Personally I had always added the +1, +2 where I wanted and will continue to do so.

okay let me rephrase that then, it was the solution that made the most people happy that i think we are going to get with ASI at character creation.

and i think the root of the issue people had with the 18STR halfling wasn't that they're 18STR but that they're going to be exactly as strong as the 18STR goliath, which is a problem that needs to be solved using tools outside of ASI, but let's not start that song and dance shall we?

 

[Tonguez]

Yes 2024 Backgrounds suck enough to put me off the whole game. Despite a couple of improvements I overall prefer the 2014 version.

 

[Older Beholder]

okay let me rephrase that then, it was the solution that made the most people happy that i think we are going to get with ASI at character creation.

and i think the root of the issue people had with the 18STR halfling wasn't that they're 18STR but that they're going to be exactly as strong as the 18STR goliath, which is a problem that needs to be solved using tools outside of ASI, but let's not start that song and dance shall we?

I agree that floating ASI’s were popular with everyone I knew offline.
Yeah, I was reluctant to bring up the Halfling thing out of fear of it starting up again. My bad.

 

[Necropolitan]

I liked how the Dungeons of Drakkenheim Background special features gave mechanical benefits that didn't just translate to flat bonuses.

Like how Survivor allowed a character with that Background to prepare a certain number of Contamination-free meals that heal those who eat them.

That felt more meaningful than the Origin Feats and had more roleplaying potential.

 

[Older Beholder]

I think the general idea is that the most ‘fitting’ background shouldn’t give the highest bonus, else that would be the only thing we’d ever see in play. It’s to reward those that spend some time to build a character rather than go with the most obvious choice.