Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 demon_idol Dec 29, 2014 16:47:04	If I make a character with a noble background, how do I go about determining what my characters houseold, title, and family are like? Can I make myself an fey touched half elven prince from the twilight court? Can I be the 3rd son of a merchant prince of waterdeep*? Are there some relevant noble households in the region that one should be aware of? Can we make up regional noble households?   *I am not a big FR buff, so it is certainly possible that there are no merchant princes of waterdeep, though it would be cool if there were.
#2 Jeraxle Dec 29, 2014 17:53:28	What I would recommend is writing up a background explaining the Noble background and hand it to your DM and let him read it over and see what he says?
#3 Pauper Dec 30, 2014 7:42:11	There are literally butt-tons of noble families in Waterdeep, a good number of which are involved in mercantile interests (what with Waterdeep being a major port and all). You could probably make something up and call it a 'minor mercantile house' with no trouble. The same is true of Cormyr, and you could probably also have a noble background and be from a number of other cosmopolitan cities in the Realms (Baldur's Gate, Westgate, Silverymoon, etc.)   Fey courts are a little more 'iffy'; there are definitely elven courts (Cormanthor, Evermeet, and Evereska being the 'big three'), but those aren't 'fey' in the Seelie/Unseelie sense. There might be something like the Light and Dark courts in the Moonshaes, but I don't recall -- I've never really been big into the whole fey court thing anyway. It's likely that a 'fey-touched' character would be considered 'just another elf' in the current AL setting.   If you have access to older FR setting guides, the fluff in those books will often still be applicable. A lot of those guides are on sale cheap as PDFs these days.   -- Pauper   P.S.: The 'Nobel' background isn't available, since the campaign isn't yet using the explosives rules from the DMG. (nyuk, nyuk)
(Reply to #3) demon_idol	Pauper wrote:
#5 Undrhil Jan 01, 2015 7:46:25	Noble.   Nobel is not correct.  You are not accepting a peace prize.
#6 Aliraza08 Dec 30, 2014 21:00:07	Perfect! This is exactly what I was looking for. I figured that was the case but I did want something I could point the player to in order to back it up.   thanks for the help!
#7 Oraibi Dec 30, 2014 23:10:54	I did research on the Realms, found a cool city to be from, put together a background. It ultimately doesn't matter that much, but I did choose a family name that's featured in a few novels.
#8 Kalani Dec 31, 2014 0:31:49	Undrhil wrote:
#9 Pauper Dec 31, 2014 6:19:52	Eh, I just figured he just put it through Google Translate a few times.   "I believe I will try ignoring gravity. "I think I should be able to try ignoring gravity." - "Defying Gravity", from the musical "Wicked", after a few runs through Google Translate
#10 Kalani Dec 31, 2014 8:05:02	Fair point. It did not even occur to me that he might not be fluent in English, or that he might have resorted to a translation program. Still, I found his post to be an amusing irony that made me chuckle in warm humor.   Either way, while it may not have been apparent - my previous post was intended to be read as a light-hearted jest, although tonality and inflection are very hard to convey via text.
#11 Undrhil Jan 01, 2015 7:45:42	Nope.  I find that when I make quick posts, I sometimes fail to completely type words.  Usually, I catch it and correct it shortly after posting, but I didn't this time.  Oops.   But my point still stands: Noble =/= Nobel.
#12 Plaguescarred4 Jan 01, 2015 9:27:37	demon_idol wrote:
#13 Tashiro Jan 01, 2015 11:07:18	I have to wonder, if you have the noble background, are you able to pull on it and use it in AL?  For example, if you're a noble from House X of Waterdeep, can you get money on a writ (something that was actually done in the middle ages), call on guards from your noble family to protect you as you travel, or push your weight around against the middle or lower classes?  In theory, you can get a lot of temporal power from being a noble - and it would have nothing to do with adventuring.
#14 Kalani Jan 01, 2015 11:43:29	Tashiro wrote:
#15 Knight_Marshal Jan 01, 2015 15:34:33	Undrhil wrote:
(Reply to #13) Pauper	Tashiro wrote:
#17 Tyranthraxus Jan 04, 2015 17:14:02	One of the characters in my expeditions group is a Fighter with the Noble background who happens to be part of House Sokol. In fact my Necromancer from Mulmaster is Varon Cadorna BUT he is not a noble at all... whilst he is related to the character from the Pool of Radiance Novels (very distantly)
#18 Oraibi Jan 05, 2015 5:50:18	My noble paladin has used her noble privilege several times in AL play. My usual question to the DM is, "I would like to meet with the second most important person in this town; who is that?" She herself, of course, is the most important. As a noble who sees herself as a champion and hero of the common people, she strives to lead by example. Also she's known for dispersing riots by paying the angry mobs to go home peacefully.
#19 RCanine Jan 09, 2015 20:29:25	For bonus Forgotten Realms points, you can always go through the old Living Forgotten Realms adventures, find some nobles from there and be their long-lost cousin.   For double points, just when the DM thinks you're going to abuse your backstory for mechanical benefit, make it be a huge hindrance—maybe you're dealing with a bitter failed suitor or a noble with competing mercantile interests.
#20 BRJN Jan 26, 2015 18:31:53	Knight_Marshal wrote:
#21 Oraibi Jan 26, 2015 22:17:50	Well, this thread certainly took a turn into the political. And also shows a lot of ignorance, e.g. of why the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded, etc. We would probably be better off if we restricted this to discussion of fictional politics.
#22 Pauper Jan 27, 2015 8:35:54	I always thought Occupy Waterdeep was a Harper plot.
(Reply to #22) TheBreen	Pauper wrote:
#24 Durik_ke_Mendeyr Jan 27, 2015 12:12:00	This discussion makes me wonder in regards to whether or not you can be technically of the nobility if you don't have the noble background.
#25 Pauper Jan 27, 2015 12:28:42	Anybody can claim to be a noble, and many do!   Think of it this way -- the Noble background gives in-game tools that support your character's claim to nobility, whether the Position of Privilege feature or the Retainers feature. Your character can claim to be a noble without them (and some features might give you an alternate path to 'justifying' a claim to nobility, such as the Charlatan's False Identity feature or even simply maintaining a Wealthy or Aristocratic lifestyle), but the degree to which other people, particularly NPCs, are willing to accept your claim to nobility depends on what features your character has that support that claim.   In other words, if you claim to be a noble, but live in cardboard boxes and consort with criminals, few will be inclined to believe your claim, and those few will probably assume you're out of favor.   -- Pauper