Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 iserith Aug 20, 2014 19:51:35	Background features often have nifty little benefits like getting a place to stay for a night from common folks (Folk Hero) or being able to network with a criminal contact (Criminal).   How have you seen these used in play? I'm particularly interested in examples that were used in Lost Mine of Phandelver, but any adventure will do.   Dish!
#2 bawylie Aug 21, 2014 9:08:02	Ok, you know the problem here?   Most of the time, your players make characters, and it takes it's time. Then like an hour later, you just want to play. So you never really let the backgrounds and features sink in.    Hell, they're called Backgrounds! Not "Hey, DMs, pay attention to this bit"s.    I think what we need to do as DMs is spend some time with the character sheets. Interview the players about their characters. Then, adjust the campaign. We need to either account for, accommodate, or create space for the backgrounds to fit in.    When we don't, when we just sit down and play, we lose the opportunity to incorporate a major part of the character into a major part of the world.    This doesn't HAVE to happen before play. We can get on with session 1. But let's work it in immediately after that, at the latest.   Otherwise, backgrounds will fade into the background.
#3 iserith Aug 21, 2014 9:32:11	See, I think the players should be pushing the use of those features just like anything else on their sheet. The DM need only say "Yes, and..." to those ideas. I was thinking about it last night as I inputted my Last Dance of Fandango pre-gens into Roll20. Consider:   I'm Chuck Dagger, a criminal. I show up in Fandango, hear about the Redbrands shaking down the local yokels. So I reach out to my Criminal Contact who arranges a meet with a Redbrand higher-up so Chuck can pay his respects and kick up part of his take. How cool would it be to have a scene with Glasstaff and Chuck Dagger? Chuck discovers that Glasstaff is Hex Arcana who is formerly Snowball Hellwinter's partner. Now what?   I'm Mucho Cerveza, a folk hero. The rustics in Fandango know me, so I can lay low at the farmsteads there when things get hot with the Redbrands rather than stay at the Hotel Stonemeal where they'll probably know to look for me.   Marshal Heeling, a soldier, can maybe scrounge up some ex-soldiers to form a posse and take the fight to the Redbrands. Vanciana Feyzalez, an acolyte, could get free healing from Sister Moonshine at the Shrine of the Moon.   And so on. As a player, I'd be pushing these features. As a DM, I'd be eating it up when players do that.
#4 edwin_su Aug 21, 2014 9:37:40	iserith wrote:
(Reply to #3) bawylie	iserith wrote:
#6 MrHotter Aug 21, 2014 9:59:44	bawylie wrote:
#7 DemoMonkey Aug 21, 2014 10:18:30	If the players are interested in playing out their background, they will push the features themselves.  If they aren't - they just wanted the skills and tool proficiencies - then forcing it on them isn't going to accomplish anything. "Hey, remember you're an urchin! Don't you want to inflate and shoot poison spines at anyone?"   I think the DM should be open to let backgrounds shine, but also be open to letting them fall by the wayside if that's what  the player seems to want.   In my current 5E game I have: 1 character with the Artisan background (very prominent in roleplaying, but with the guild association almost ignored) 1 with the Outlander background (almost completely irrelevant in the  parties situation to date) 1 with the Criminal background (very prominent and very relevant to the plotline) 1 with the Thug background (from the playtest; the  "pirate" variant special feature "Bad reputation" would be the PHBequivalent, and it's been a key roleplaying hook as well as being very funny) and 1 whose background I genuinely forget because it's never been relevant. (They just wanted the proficiencies. Though if I had to guess based on their daring attempt to infiltrate the noble quarter of the city by walking a tightrope in full view of the guards at high noon, I would have to guess "Lunatic". That's a background, right?)
#8 iserith Aug 21, 2014 10:52:27	I don't think anyone's advocating "forcing" players to use their background features. I'm speaking from my own perspective as a player - I'm usin' 'em for sure. I don't even think the DM necessarily needs to be prepared for their use or even know what they are. They just need to be open to the times the player says, "Yeah, I'm staying at some local's pad tonight. They know me." (Or whatever.) Then the DM can build on that idea - maybe the local has some useful information or an adventure hook.   I'm just surprised that not too many people have jumped into the thread to "tell someone about their game." Is it because these features aren't being used very much, I wonder?
(Reply to #8) bawylie	iserith wrote:
#10 vacthok Aug 21, 2014 11:11:42	During the playtest, I had a character that made some use of the Sage's Researcher trait, although my impression was that the DM was going to give the party he information I found out regardless.   I've just started DMing LMoP for my group, and haven't gotten too much play out of the traits.  I *have* gotten significant play out of the enhanced backgrounds provided with the pre-gens (the players for the wizard and the rogue in particular we're using their backgrounds to figure out what to do in town and how to react to the townsfolk).  But thinking about it now, it is probably a good idea to try to give the players a bit more incentive to use their traits... I'll have to come up with something for them once they get out of the Redbrand's Hideout area.
#11 MechaPilot Aug 22, 2014 21:03:33	bawylie wrote:
(Reply to #11) bawylie	MechaPilot wrote:
#13 MechaPilot Aug 22, 2014 21:11:45	bawylie wrote:
(Reply to #2) Azzy1974	bawylie wrote:
(Reply to #8) Azzy1974	iserith wrote:
#16 Artifact Aug 22, 2014 23:28:33	This idea was inspired by the Noble backround:     Pick an exotic race, like a tiefling for instance.  I'll call my PC Hope.  In place of the position of priveledge feature normally associated with the noble backround, Hope has a trio of retainers who are loyal to her family.  They are tieflings (just like Hope) but they exist in the backround; they're commoners, not nobles. This variant feature is described on page 136.   I like this because it brings out the idea that adventurers are special, even among their own kind.
#17 tallric_kruush Aug 22, 2014 23:36:19	bawylie wrote:
#18 kalil Aug 23, 2014 6:06:46	My players are generally not very interested in having stuff revolve around their backgrounds. That they were artisans before they became Big Damn Heroes and set out to save the world (or at least saving some patchy homlet in the middle of nowhere) has only marginal impact on their actual heroic adventures. At least that is how it has been in the past. There are some 5e backgrounds that are sufficiently evocative that they might change that. But I am not putting my money on it.
(Reply to #16) tallric_kruush	Artifact wrote:
#20 tallric_kruush Aug 23, 2014 7:28:00	kalil wrote: