Looking for opinions.... and I bet I can find some here.

[Limper]

This probably should be elsewhere BUT... I think this has a fair amount of relevence for the General Gaming Forum. Do you think this will help with the suspension of disbelief for characters who've been around PRIOR to starting a career as an adventurer. I've grown weary of unexperienced 15 year olds and also don't feel that just describing all the stuff your lvl1 PC has done, helps all that much for believabilities sake. So I've included my system... how do you handle it? What do you think of it?


Background ECL system

This is system I’ve been working on to allow for believable characters who’ve got some realistic skills and experience. I’ve found that the existing system (your lvl1) is a bit stifling in that if you wanted a character who’s done anything or who’s older than 15 it just doesn’t seem to realistic to be level one but realistic experience’s might bump you up to far wasting a whole lot of growth potential. The way I read the charts doing something with ECL looked to be the cure… you still get a level 20 it just takes you a bit to get there, in early adventures the DM has a whole lot more he can do to make the session entertaining and all in all you have a better feel for your character and what he/she has done or is like.

For a +1, +2, or +3 ECL a character can (with DM assistance) craft a background package consisting of up to 4 levels in NPC classes (DMG: pg 37-41 and Traps and Treachery: pg 31-33 [the Thug])

+1 = 2 levels Commoner
+2 = 3 levels combined or 4 if Commoner
+3 = 4 levels combined

Combination restrictions: Total BAB not to exceed +2 (that’s it)

You gain all the benefits for these virtual levels to include BAB, saves, att point (if 4lvl), feat’s (from restricted list), hit points, and skill points (normal allotment + Int mod for each level)

All ECL virtual level stats applied before 1st level stuff is applied.

The List of applicable feats:

Military background: Phalanx Fighting, Combat Reflexes, Mounted Combat, Endurance, Run and Toughness.

Other acceptable feats: Skill Focus, Educated, Cosmopolitan, any of the Background feats from the Realms hard back (primary examples: +2/+2 to 2 skills or skill and save bonus) and sometimes Tracking

By sufferance of the DM (aka better have a cool with a capital K reason for me to let you have it): Arcane Schooling, the misc Bloodline feats, Foe Hunter, Magical Training, Mind over Body and Spell Casting Prodigy. There are probably others but this should illustrate what I’m intending.

Example Combinations for Background ECLs :

Peasant Hero (Commoner 4) +2
Militia Member (Commoner2/ Warrior1) +2
Woodsman (Expert 3) +2
Professional Soldier (Warrior2/ Expert1) +2
Military Scout (Thug2/ Expert2) +3
Special Forces (Thug1/Warrior2/Expert1) +3
Military Command (Expert3/Aristocrat1) +3
Tradesman (Expert3) +2
Low Brow Criminal (Thug3) +2
High Brow Criminal (Thug2/Aristocrat2) +3
Nobel or Politician (Aristocrat3) +2
Healer (Expert1/ Adept3) +3

And the possibilities continue. The skill assortments of some of these will need to be sorted out but this should be enough to get started with.

So what do you think? Any ideas on skill packages for some of these (especially the Expert containing packages for the Military [SHARK ideas?])

 

[Jerrid Al-Kundo]

Wow... I actually like it.

Except for the Professional Soldier, but that's because I'm making my own "Core" Class for it.

Hmmm... Don't have much to say at the moment, other than to say it's a solid start. I'll come back and post if I think of anything (I'm running low on Mountain Dew at the moment, so the brain's starting to shut down).

 

[Limper]

Jerrid Al-Kundo: Thank You It took quite a while to write up because I kept adding and adding to it.... the resulting disaster was to complex even for me to use and I started trying to simplify the process.

Will you be sharing your Professional Soldier when you finish it?

 

[Yuan-Ti]

This is a very original idea, Limper! I like it. I'm not DMing at the moment, so no hope of trying it out, but I think you have something there. Hopefully, some of the resident experts will take a close look at this and help you tweak it -- assuming it needs tweaking.

I like the use of the ECL to get around "wasting" levels. Great idea.

 

[Limper]

Hows life Yuan-Ti? You know you've always been my favorite species.... by the way thats a right spiffy animation there.

I've actually playtested a couple of prototypes of this and those worked pretty well. Thank you for the good word... it helps that I'm not completely out in the cold.

 

[Jerrid Al-Kundo]

Limper: >Aedon Soldier<

Yuan-Ti: Agreed. Cool image.

 

[whydirt]

Seems like a cool idea for the right setting/campaign. I'd be interested to see this flushed out further.

 

[Yuan-Ti]

Hows life Yuan-Ti? You know you've always been my favorite species.... by the way thats a right spiffy animation there.

Life is a grand adventure! The Yuan-Ti are one of my favorite "bad guy" species. Maybe too much Conan as a child? Not sure, but they seem so EVIL and alien -- despite being merely humans who realized snakes are superior beings.

I love that animation. Glad I remembered it. I stole it, naturally, from the good people at Black Isle Studios, who posted it on their original Icewind Dale website. They've got a couple others there, but none quite so cool. I don't think they would mind much if you borrowed one... though I am hosting the image somewhere else so I don't draw on their servers everytime someone looks at one of my posts.

 

[Limper]

Jerrid Al-Kundo: Thanks I followed your link... is the realm in question private or public?

 

[Limper]

I think a theme is developing in my postings.....