Life paths in 4E/Race as Background - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Life paths in 4E/Race as Background

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
UrielApeiron
Dec 30, 2008 20:15:24 This is sort of two threads in one. There is the topic of lifepaths, and the other is an idea to use races to indicate culture/background.

RPGs like Cyperpunk and Burning Wheel use something often called 'lifepaths' as a means to describe the character's background. i'd like to see something like that for 4E. 1st level D&D characters are fairly cookie cutter, and there is little on the sheet to tell us WHO the character IS. We know Alejandra can smite evil, but we don't know where she grew up or what she did before becoming a named character in our story.

In Burning Wheel, you'd pick where you grew up, and from there you pick a line of work or a title. Eventually you pick up something that approximates a class. Each of these lifepaths give you some skill in this or that. Some paths require others, or certain traits.

The char gen for first level characters leaves little room for any skills or traits to represent where you came from or what you've done in your life. Every skill and feat is very precious.

My first swing at the issue is this: Make races function as background or culture. Instead of elves and dwarves and what not, you have nomads and city folk. This sort of requires making the setting 'humans only'.

Elves are an easy translation to a culture that lives in the woods. Standard humans might be middle class folk who have some education. i like the Eladrin as nobility, the trick is what to do with the teleportation. A character that lived in the hard scrabble cities and worked in factories might be a dwarf. Half orcs might be tough peasants.

Have any of you come up with systems to represent the life of a character before adventuring? Or anything like what i'm thinking of here?
#2
the_fae
Dec 30, 2008 22:45:40 IMO the point of not having RP skills allowed to the players to pick based off of class is so that the player has more freedom to make their character good in combat or with skills they actually need instead of having 15 different craft/perform/profession skills.

Why make up a system to complicate things when you can simply say "Hay DM can I be from this area?" or "Do you have this type of area in your world yet?" Get an answer and go from their with your back story. Classes and set rules are for combat and imagination is what should be used for everything else.

Not to sound unhelpful though: Instead of making the system humans only why not change it a little. Take away all the Racial Powers, including the bonus at will power the human gets, and make a set of powers or "traits" that a race gains from living in a specific area. I'd suggest looking through and comparing the base races from 3e and the ones from the environment books like frostburn, storm, desert and any others.

Also allow for an option to take the normal racial power as well. Maybe nomads get an encounter power that they can use while charging to show how mobile they are. The factory worker gets a stance that gives him DR 1-2 and it doubles each tier. Probably need more balance than those but they are ideas.
#3
vebrandsson
Dec 30, 2008 22:50:48 These tend to work decently and they are official. http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080828a If you want something more comples or indepth than these then its a little more dificult to manage, but can be done.
#4
UrielApeiron
Dec 31, 2008 9:17:54
These tend to work decently and they are official. http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080828a If you want something more complex or in depth than these then its a little more difficult to manage, but can be done.

Neat. That's pretty close to what i was thinking.

i found a link to some of the lifepath stuff from Burning Wheel. If i was making an orc, i would start off with Ravager, which gives me a lead into Black Legion. From that i pick Head Taker. Then i can pick from the Great and Black list, in this case... Black Destroyer. We have a sense for where this character started, what he's been doing with his life so far and what his is now. Gaining skills and traits along the way.
#5
rikiji
Dec 31, 2008 13:57:40 The tradeoff of lifepath systems is that in order to make the character you want to play, you end up making odd background choices. Ultimately, they tend to be more restrictive than enabling. 4E moved away from having mechanics for purely rp options - which on the whole, I feel is a good thing. A simple, flexible system like is used for Scales of War works fairly well, but I'd be cautious about making anything more detailed.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 UrielApeiron Dec 30, 2008 20:15:24	This is sort of two threads in one. There is the topic of lifepaths, and the other is an idea to use races to indicate culture/background. RPGs like Cyperpunk and Burning Wheel use something often called 'lifepaths' as a means to describe the character's background. i'd like to see something like that for 4E. 1st level D&D characters are fairly cookie cutter, and there is little on the sheet to tell us WHO the character IS. We know Alejandra can smite evil, but we don't know where she grew up or what she did before becoming a named character in our story. In Burning Wheel, you'd pick where you grew up, and from there you pick a line of work or a title. Eventually you pick up something that approximates a class. Each of these lifepaths give you some skill in this or that. Some paths require others, or certain traits. The char gen for first level characters leaves little room for any skills or traits to represent where you came from or what you've done in your life. Every skill and feat is very precious. My first swing at the issue is this: Make races function as background or culture. Instead of elves and dwarves and what not, you have nomads and city folk. This sort of requires making the setting 'humans only'. Elves are an easy translation to a culture that lives in the woods. Standard humans might be middle class folk who have some education. i like the Eladrin as nobility, the trick is what to do with the teleportation. A character that lived in the hard scrabble cities and worked in factories might be a dwarf. Half orcs might be tough peasants. Have any of you come up with systems to represent the life of a character before adventuring? Or anything like what i'm thinking of here?
#2 the_fae Dec 30, 2008 22:45:40	IMO the point of not having RP skills allowed to the players to pick based off of class is so that the player has more freedom to make their character good in combat or with skills they actually need instead of having 15 different craft/perform/profession skills. Why make up a system to complicate things when you can simply say "Hay DM can I be from this area?" or "Do you have this type of area in your world yet?" Get an answer and go from their with your back story. Classes and set rules are for combat and imagination is what should be used for everything else. Not to sound unhelpful though: Instead of making the system humans only why not change it a little. Take away all the Racial Powers, including the bonus at will power the human gets, and make a set of powers or "traits" that a race gains from living in a specific area. I'd suggest looking through and comparing the base races from 3e and the ones from the environment books like frostburn, storm, desert and any others. Also allow for an option to take the normal racial power as well. Maybe nomads get an encounter power that they can use while charging to show how mobile they are. The factory worker gets a stance that gives him DR 1-2 and it doubles each tier. Probably need more balance than those but they are ideas.
#3 vebrandsson Dec 30, 2008 22:50:48	These tend to work decently and they are official. http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080828a If you want something more comples or indepth than these then its a little more dificult to manage, but can be done.
#4 UrielApeiron Dec 31, 2008 9:17:54	These tend to work decently and they are official. http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080828a If you want something more complex or in depth than these then its a little more difficult to manage, but can be done. Neat. That's pretty close to what i was thinking. i found a link to some of the lifepath stuff from Burning Wheel. If i was making an orc, i would start off with Ravager, which gives me a lead into Black Legion. From that i pick Head Taker. Then i can pick from the Great and Black list, in this case... Black Destroyer. We have a sense for where this character started, what he's been doing with his life so far and what his is now. Gaining skills and traits along the way.
#5 rikiji Dec 31, 2008 13:57:40	The tradeoff of lifepath systems is that in order to make the character you want to play, you end up making odd background choices. Ultimately, they tend to be more restrictive than enabling. 4E moved away from having mechanics for purely rp options - which on the whole, I feel is a good thing. A simple, flexible system like is used for Scales of War works fairly well, but I'd be cautious about making anything more detailed.