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<blockquote data-quote="tetrasodium" data-source="post: 9280647" data-attributes="member: 93670"><p>IMO a player should very much not have an expectation of their background contributing anything noteworthy enough to "shine" on it's own. The 2014 5e BIFTS+background section really missed the boat in suggesting otherwise. Without counting all of the pages dedicated to them in the various splatbooks the PHB alone devotes like 15 pages to background beyond the well poisoning mentions of background across three of the five steps in ch1 "step by step character creation" (<em>2 4 & 5</em>). Compare that to 4e where backgrounds get roughly a quarter page</p><p>[spoiler="4e phb24 background"]</p><p>Background</p><p>Y<strong>our character’s background often stays there—in the </strong></p><p><strong>background. What’s most important about your char-</strong></p><p><strong>acter is what you do in the course of your adventures, </strong></p><p><strong>not what happened to you in the pas</strong>t. Even so, think-</p><p>ing about your birthplace, family, and upbringing can</p><p>help you decide how to play your character.</p><p> These questions can help you start thinking about</p><p>your background.</p><p>✦ Why did you decide to be an adventurer?</p><p>✦ How did you acquire your class? If you’re a fighter,</p><p>for example, you might have been in a militia, come</p><p>from a family of soldiers, or trained in a martial</p><p>school, or you might be a self-taught warrior.</p><p>✦ How did you acquire your starting equipment? Did</p><p>you assemble it piece by piece over time? Was it a</p><p>gift from a parent or a mentor? Do any of your per-</p><p>sonal items have special significance?</p><p>✦ What’s the worst event of your life?</p><p>✦ What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you?</p><p>✦ Do you stay in contact with your family? What do</p><p>your relatives think of you and your chosen career?</p><p>in 3.5[ispoiler]PHB110 had similar with many of the same questions[/ispoiler]</p><p>[/spoiler]</p><p>That Right out of the gate the player is given a clear image of background's purpose & directs them to focus more important things that might be relevant to a starting PC or the established adventurer they might live long enough to become. Now 5e backgrounds are more about directing the player to establish "your place in the world" with background features worded in a way that tends to imply they should override the GM's worldbuilding/adventure planning. Those questions are technically there on phb 125but now they are structured in a paragraph that encourages a feedback loop that weirdly turbocharges the foregrounded background with actual worldbuilding.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="tetrasodium, post: 9280647, member: 93670"] IMO a player should very much not have an expectation of their background contributing anything noteworthy enough to "shine" on it's own. The 2014 5e BIFTS+background section really missed the boat in suggesting otherwise. Without counting all of the pages dedicated to them in the various splatbooks the PHB alone devotes like 15 pages to background beyond the well poisoning mentions of background across three of the five steps in ch1 "step by step character creation" ([I]2 4 & 5[/I]). Compare that to 4e where backgrounds get roughly a quarter page [spoiler="4e phb24 background"] Background Y[B]our character’s background often stays there—in the background. What’s most important about your char- acter is what you do in the course of your adventures, not what happened to you in the pas[/B]t. Even so, think- ing about your birthplace, family, and upbringing can help you decide how to play your character. These questions can help you start thinking about your background. ✦ Why did you decide to be an adventurer? ✦ How did you acquire your class? If you’re a fighter, for example, you might have been in a militia, come from a family of soldiers, or trained in a martial school, or you might be a self-taught warrior. ✦ How did you acquire your starting equipment? Did you assemble it piece by piece over time? Was it a gift from a parent or a mentor? Do any of your per- sonal items have special significance? ✦ What’s the worst event of your life? ✦ What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you? ✦ Do you stay in contact with your family? What do your relatives think of you and your chosen career? in 3.5[ispoiler]PHB110 had similar with many of the same questions[/ispoiler] [/spoiler] That Right out of the gate the player is given a clear image of background's purpose & directs them to focus more important things that might be relevant to a starting PC or the established adventurer they might live long enough to become. Now 5e backgrounds are more about directing the player to establish "your place in the world" with background features worded in a way that tends to imply they should override the GM's worldbuilding/adventure planning. Those questions are technically there on phb 125but now they are structured in a paragraph that encourages a feedback loop that weirdly turbocharges the foregrounded background with actual worldbuilding. [/QUOTE]
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