[5e] Parties whose characters all share a background - thoughts?

[Particle_Man]

For soldiers it would be rather simple to have them all be in the same military unit and go on adventures as that unit (or the special forces part of it). Since they would all have the althletics skill, presumably the DM would provide athletic things to do.

For criminals, well they could all have been from the same gang. All having stealth means some probably restriction on armour choices, but then again, bypassing encounters becomes a more likely option.

For acolytes, they could all have the same god and church. A different kind of special forces with a different kind of theme. But all having insight also allows for a heavier emphasis on interaction, perhaps even "father brown" style mysteries.

For folk heroes, the great outdoors provides a comfortable living. The focus could be more on the wilderness and less on the town adventures. Or one could have a "Robin Hood" or "Serving the prince in exile" theme.

Sages is a bit of a stumbling block. All having the ability to know where a certain piece of information could be found, and all having proficiency in the same knowledge skills, doesn't provide the same sort of opportunity for benefits from overlap as the other four types do.

Anyhow, just my thoughts. What do you guys think of one background parties?

[Callin]

Could be ok every now and then. But personally I would like varied backgrounds, yea 2 people being criminals and 2 being soldiers and 1 an Acolyte makes for a pretty good party and can have a cohesive feel to it with the right spin.

[unwise]

Personally I am OK with shared backgrounds if they are an additional one. For instance if I wanted a DM a group of Acolytes, I would just give them all Religion as a bonus free skill and maybe the minor advantage from the package. They would then all be free to choose another background as well. So this guy is a thug that found religion, this one was brought up on a farm, this one was in the navy etc.

[Lord Raziere]

hm, we should homebrew backgrounds....I'd say Pirate but that might fall under Criminal.

but y'know whats not detailed? Noble Background. everyone is a noble of some sort, probably united through political alliances, y'know allied houses and bloodlines.

or hey, Desert Background. that might be interesting. like they unite at an oasis to better gather, fight for and keep sparse resources amidst the desert.

or maybe Merchant Background? I can see that working similar to a Noble background, only with money and guilds and such instead of noble houses.

maybe I should just start a thread about homebrewing 5e backgrounds.

[Squirrel_Dude]

Shared backgrounds could be a good way for the DM to have quick start to an adventure. It could allow them to bypass a typical character introduction scene and instead move straight into the story.

[Human Paragon 3]

I think shared backgrounds would make it harder on the DM, not easier. With 5 different backgrounds, you have 5 different plot hooks you can leverage to keep things moving and keep things interesting. The party also has 5 different resources in the form of their background features.

With 1 background, it's the same thing day in and day out. We don't need five researches to figure out a problem. We don't need five acolytes to get us put up overnight in the temple.

I don't want to (as a DM) give my players five different research results for down time, or have all my players start barking orders at soldiers trying to use their rank feature. I'd much rather have each player have his/her own special thing that makes their character unique. That's what's great about backgrounds in the first place.

Not saying it's not possible, just that I don't think it would be as fun. If coming up with a reason for your party to be together is the hardest part of DMing for you, this might be a good idea. But I think that's a pretty simple process.

If you really yearn to tell a story about a band of ex-soldiers, or a group of temple acolytes who are sent on a weird mission, that's a valid reason to do this, too.

[Inevitability]

It would encourage players to come up with interesting reasons for their character to have this background. An acolyte cleric is easy to imagine, but how about a scholar rogue or a soldier wizard?

[Human Paragon 3]

You can do that without everyone having to pick the same background.

A scholar fighter is something I'd love to play any day of the week. That's part of the fun. In the playtest I played a Spy wizard, and it was awesome.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

It would encourage players to come up with interesting reasons for their character to have this background. An acolyte cleric is easy to imagine, but how about a scholar rogue or a soldier wizard?

I rolled up a Human Wizard (random note: My lowest roll was a 14) with the Soldier background. He is part of the Military Police. He is trained in investigation and uses illusions to set up crime scenes to show how things went down to help him break a case. His strength is a 16 so that training in athletics doesn't go to waste.

He is more of an outlier but even with point buy you can make a wizard with the soldier background work. :)

[Human Paragon 3]

That sounds awesome.

I think this shows how powerful the background mechanic is at helping players craft really unique and creative characters.

[Callin]

Scholar Rogue= Indiana Jones
Acolyte Rogue= Devout Follower of Mask (or any thief deity)
Soldier Wizard: Scout- uses Illusions to mask his squad or himself. Artillery- Shape Spell to not hurt his friends. Officer- High Int for Tactics and such, Infantry- Dwarf Wizard nuff said, Calvary-Summons (once they come in) or just a VERY mobile turret, Healer- tad harder here maybe just Medical Skill like any other mundane until you get summons once again.

Not that hard to find something within the backgrounds. Even Sage Fighter- Old Grizzled Warrior who has seen things beyond Imagine.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

That sounds awesome.

I think this shows how powerful the background mechanic is at helping players craft really unique and creative characters.

I've been making this sort of characters since 2e. It really isn't the background system that does it, but the background system does push people from being complacent about their character's background or RP. This of course is mostly for casual or new players I think.

[Inevitability]

I'm playing a soldier wizard myself, who used to be a warmage in the army. It's fun.

[Yorrin]

I've been making this sort of characters since 2e. It really isn't the background system that does it, but the background system does push people from being complacent about their character's background or RP. This of course is mostly for casual or new players I think.

This exactly. Coming up with great backstories is not something that is suddenly possible and never was before, its simply that the background system helps give incentives to new players to actually think about backstory aside from the stereotypical actolyte clerics and sage wizards.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

This exactly. Coming up with great backstories is not something that is suddenly possible and never was before, its simply that the background system helps give incentives to new players to actually think about backstory aside from the stereotypical actolyte clerics and sage wizards.

I really would like to see backgrounds expanded to give the option of choose 2 skills of 4 choices. That way each soldier background can be a little different. Of course they will probably bloat (in a good way i guess) the backgrounds enough where this will eventually happen, you just have to take a different kind of soldier training.

Perhaps... Take the soldier background. Roll a d8 (or choose) and you get your rank or what job you had. If you land on say, Cook, you could get Survival as a free skill. If you roll Officer perhaps you will get Intimidation as a free skill.

I would also like to give each class an extra saving throw proficiency but not via backgrounds.

[Human Paragon 3]

This exactly. Coming up with great backstories is not something that is suddenly possible and never was before, its simply that the background system helps give incentives to new players to actually think about backstory aside from the stereotypical actolyte clerics and sage wizards.

Who ever said back stories didn't exist before 5e? Codifying in the rules helps new players (as you said) and makes it more prominent it for players who were never that interested in it, or never great at it, so that even a fighter who doesn't say much and just hits people with a stick can have an interesting backstory for the DM to grab onto. It's also a useful jumping off point to spur creativity. Especially when players start inventing their own backgrounds!

How about a pitt fighter or gladiator background? Or a pirate background? Reminds me of all those great Kits from AD&D.

[Yorrin]

Who ever said back stories didn't exist before 5e? Codifying in the rules helps new players (as you said) and makes it more prominent it for players who were never that interested in it, or never great at it, so that even a fighter who doesn't say much and just hits people with a stick can have an interesting backstory for the DM to grab onto. It's also a useful jumping off point to spur creativity. Especially when players start inventing their own backgrounds!

How about a pitt fighter or gladiator background? Or a pirate background? Reminds me of all those great Kits from AD&D.

It sounds like we're in agreement here. This is a good system with room for customization. And said customization is so ridiculously easy that you can satisfy virtually any reasonable player.

[Human Paragon 3]

Exactly.

I also love the non-crunchy RP bonuses that the features give you. They feel like they're a cool power, but they're really just a roleplaying tool. It's pretty ingenious design.

[Yorrin]

Exactly.

I also love the non-crunchy RP bonuses that the features give you. They feel like they're a cool power, but they're really just a roleplaying tool. It's pretty ingenious design.

So much yes. For most (all?) of them it's like a promise to the players that "the DM will respect your backstory by having NPCs actually treat you like someone from that background". And yet it's written in a way to almost feel like a class feature. Smart design indeed.

[Sartharina]

Soldier Rogue: Scout in an army, or cunning general.
Acolyte Rogue: Van Helsing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338526/), or maybe Altair, Ezio Auditore, etc.
Sage Rogue: Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones... all sorts of action hero smart guys (Rogues are awesome Action Heroes)
Folk Hero Rogue: Zorro, Batman

Soldier Wizard: Battlemage
Acolyte Wizard: Temple Arcanist
Criminal Wizard: There's a lot of options here!
Folk Hero Wizard: Rincewind

Soldier Cleric: Military Chaplain
Criminal Cleric: Rogue Cleric of Loki, or cleric of a Roguish deity
Sage Cleric: Cleric of a god of knowledge, or temple curator, etc...
Folk Hero Cleric: Godzilla

Acolyte Fighter: Temple Guardian (Bonus points if he uses a flaming spear!)
Criminal Fighter: Mob Enforcer
Sage Fighter: Gordon Freeman

In the playtest, my Barbarian took the Thug background after getting confirmation that streaking was only a minor crime.

[Yorrin]

Acolyte Rogue: Van Helsing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338526/), or maybe Altair, Ezio Auditore, etc.

I was thinking Simon Belmont from Castlevania, though he might be more of a Fighter than a Rogue?

[Sartharina]

I was thinking Simon Belmont from Castlevania, though he might be more of a Fighter than a Rogue?

He can go either way.

[Person_Man]

I'm a big fan of the Background system, though I think they could have made it a lot easier by just saying "Choose four Skills Proficiencies (or 8 if you're a Rogue), here are some Skills we suggest for this Background, plus you get the Background ability listed below" instead of splitting it up between the Class and Background in the odd way that they did.

Shared Backgrounds is a cool idea. It also opens the door to DMs granting extra "plot powers" as a reward for roleplaying. For example, I'd love to see an optional "Organizations and Promotions" module where you could work your way up the ranks by completing certain types of achievements, and you gain increased status/title/followers/stronghold/etc as you gain ranks.

[Yorrin]

For example, I'd love to see an optional "Organizations and Promotions" module where you could work your way up the ranks by completing certain types of achievements, and you gain increased status/title/followers/stronghold/etc as you gain ranks.

Aren't they planning something similar to this in organized play? I doubt it'll get followers in any meaningful sense, but I got the impression that the players would be able to climb the ranks of the various "factions" within the setting.

[Inevitability]

I was thinking Simon Belmont from Castlevania, though he might be more of a Fighter than a Rogue?

Meh, he doesn't show any rogue-y abilities, such as Sneak Attack, Trapfinding, social skills, disguise, hide... It is safe to assume he's a fighter.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

He can go either way.



http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/44325013.jpg

Why are we not doing this anymore?


But in all seriousness...

Hmm

Just set up multiclassing to emulate backgrounds (gain 1 or 2 skills) and then gain an ability at level X Y Z.

[Yorrin]

Phrasing

I didn't want to be the one to say it, but yeah...


Just set up multiclassing to emulate backgrounds (gain 1 or 2 skills) and then gain an ability at level X Y Z.

This... is entirely reasonable and would also be entirely disappointing. Not to derail this into a multiclassing thread, but part of the reason I returned to 3.5 after playing 4e for a year was because of the multiclassing rules. I am completely in love with 3.5 multiclassing, and the closer we get to that the happier I'll be.

[Particle_Man]

Backgrounds seem to be covering some of the niche that 2nd edition's kits did, come to think of it.

[Sartharina]

Is there a problem with my phrasing? :smalltongue: