Blog (A5E) Character Origins: Backgrounds

[Morrus]

If this turns into Yet Another Racial Abilty Score Thread(tm) I’ll close it. All the other thousand-post threads on that topic got very ugly, and there’s really nothing new to say in the topic, so perhaps folks could just go read those instead of repeating it all here.

 

[lichmaster]

One of the things that has frustrated me with O5e's move to separate ability score increases from, well anything, is that all of the species just become humans in funny suits. I do like removing the incentive to take a race just for mechanical synergy and encouraging people to play what they want. But I view non-humans as aliens. Even beyond the physical distinctions, they shouldn't see the world the same way. It's kind of funny because I realized why there is some newer 5e art (like in TCoE, look at p. 103 for a great example) that I artistically like but conceptually dislike. The reason is because non-humans are shown with very human expressions and reactions--humans in funny suits.

Well, it depends a lot on the specific setting. An isolated specie may very well be totally alien, but instead in a very integrated, cosmopolitan metropolis, different species may end up being more similar except for the physical characteristics.
I do like the separation between physical and social traits, it totally makes sense.

I expect WotC mostly removed racial ability scores reactively because they believe people want it that way for some reason (maybe the increasingly casual player base prefers humans in funny suits over role-playing aliens), with little detailed analysis of it. I'm assuming the Level Up designers put a lot more thought into it, so I'm curious as to what their reasons were. Is the intention to make everyone be humans in funny suits, or is that a side effect?

That will be for them to say, but for WoTC it was a decision entirely based on external events and pressures that was (clumsily) retrofitted into a gameplay motivation

One way that could allow heritage/race/lineage to retain significance (ie, you're an alien) while still removing the gaming pressure to play the optimal combinations just occurred to me. What might work is if each race had racial features that clearly expressed their natural strengths. If a race is physically powerful, then it should have something like Powerful Build to indicate that. If they are especially Dextrous, or Intelligent, or whatever, they need some sort of trait that clearly spells that out. If all races had such traits, then ability score improvements could just be phased out in favor of a different form of stat generation.

I'd really like this kind of approach. ASI become something totally separate from all other aspects of the game, while individual traits of the various species are treated as features: powerful build, brilliant mind, whatever.
But once you do so, you probably realize that there can be some clashes: how can you both have int 8 and brilliant mind? Is it brilliant with respect an int 8 creature, or with respect to the average int 10 creature? Etc.

 

[WinnableBadger]

Yeah, if I wanted to hear the 5e Race debate, I would go to Reddit. I come hear to hear more about A5E. Is the +1/+1 a balancing mechanic vs the O5E +2/+1, or is there somewhere else that I can pick up the extra +1?

 

[Candour Pendragon]

Yeah, if I wanted to hear the 5e Race debate, I would go to Reddit. I come hear to hear more about A5E. Is the +1/+1 a balancing mechanic vs the O5E +2/+1, or is there somewhere else that I can pick up the extra +1?

Pretty sure the extra +1 comes from culture, but I may be misremembering.

 

[Faolyn]

But I view non-humans as aliens. Even beyond the physical distinctions, they shouldn't see the world the same way.

How many players can successfully, and continuously, play non-humans as aliens? Heck, how many players can successfully and continuously play a human from a medieval fantasy world, with no modern sensibilities thrown in? From things I've read, the races that are very alien are generally disliked for that alien nature. For example, kenku are often thought of as a pain to play because they can only mimic, and lizardfolk are often seen as boring, emotionless cannibals.

Also, on a typical fantasy world, most these races are from the same planet, or even the same part of the same planet, with fairly frequent contact with each other, can easily learn each other's languages, and can even interbreed with each other. They're less like different species of alien and more like different breeds of dog or cat. There's personality and physical differences between different breeds, sometimes even very strong differences, but when you get down to it, they're dogs or cats (and no, humans aren't the ur-species in this example; they're just another breed).

You want there to be differences between humans and non-humans? Then write up a cultural cheat-sheet for each race and hand it to the players. But I'd bet that none of the cultural differences you come up with can be expressed by +2/+1.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

At this point to me it just makes more sense to give anyone 2 ASI to spend however they see fit on their characters, instead of linking some ASI to some backgroungs...

It would do away with the final vestiges of people choosing origin options solely for the ASI.

 

[Praeden]

I love the adventure hooks, the well-thought out tweaks to the O5e background system, and the general increase in flexibility. Probably my favourite preview so far.

 

[Horwath]

It would do away with the final vestiges of people choosing origin options solely for the ASI.

True.

They should decide if racial/culture/heritage/background features are worth adding 2,3 or 4 ASI pts at character creation. Then just spend those 2,3 or 4 pts on any ability you want, with max of +2 per single ability.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I’m curious why only one of the backgrounds gives 2 language/tools like O5e, and the other two only give 1. I assume there is balancing going on, but I can‘t see any difference that looks like it accounts for it.

 

[Masha]

I’m curious why only one of the backgrounds gives 2 language/tools like O5e, and the other two only give 1. I assume there is balancing going on, but I can‘t see any difference that looks like it accounts for it.

I wager because balance wise 2 gaming sets are less significant than 1 language/ tool/ vehicle/ instrument. Mechanically they tend to appear less often than those others and I wager are also easier to be proficient in. Makes me wonder if there's something in the Downtime section covering various training that's more nuanced than "250 days & 250 gold".