#Workshopping: Backgrounds

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shut dawn
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I'm working on a set of backgrounds, which are basically classes for PCs in my homebrew system. I'm trying to do a few things with the backgrounds: a) make them distinctive; b) give them clear community roles; c) give them thematically appropriate abilities. There are hints at other mechanics here, but that's not the focus.

My questions for the hivemind are:

  1. Are there any of these you would never play, and why?
  2. Are there any of these that stand out to you, and why?
  3. What might I improve in the descriptive aspects?
  4. To the extent you can intuit them, are there implied mechanics here that sound ripe for abuse?
  5. What else should I consider?
📎 1.3_Backgrounds.pdf
unique ocean
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also probably worth mentioning what the general fantasy/power level is for the system for those that haven’t discussed such things

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after looking through them through i think it would be good to include some concrete examples for quite a few of these

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if not all

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it seems very much up to dm fiat to determine the outcome

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fighter is probably the least vague one

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compared to

  • healer: what is the extent of the potions/ointments?
  • maker: building basically anything?
  • shaman: last 2 bullet points are very vague
  • witch: pretty much the whole thing is vague
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in general if you say “you can do this mechanical thing”, then you want concrete examples to work from

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or some kind of actual guideline

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whether it’s based on levels, needing to do research or whatever

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“you can invent new stuff” is way too broad

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“you can make use of magic stuff” also doesn’t really tell us anything

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if all of this is tied to a specific setting then giving examples of what those are in-world with the results would be both helpful and really cool

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eg the legendary nature stone of southland gives you the ability to see perfectly in the dark while in the region and bestow this upon anyone else around you as part of a ritual each week

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that doesn’t explain every possible use but it gives a good example of the scope and also something to think about in the world

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my assumption is there’s further explanation somewhere else for what these entail but that’s just the vacuum thoughts

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i also think that the general core of what someone is going to be playing should have as little dm fiat as possible

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at least for the foundation

shut dawn
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I should have prefaced this with more info. The current state of these descriptions isn't all-encompassing (yet), just indicative. I have to work out the actual mechanics, but all of the activities have rolls associated.

unique ocean
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eg if there’s 4 bullet points, 2 of those should be the big thing and they’re consistent and then the other 2 are cool flavor stuff that can be whatever

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i think fighter and hunter are the most solid examples of what i’d expect to see

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they’re cool codified things that you can then discuss with the GM for how crazy you want the game to get

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but they are codified from the get go

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obviously that’s harder with magic / less tangible stuff

unique ocean
broken wharf
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I'll just write down my first impressions for now

Beastfriend: So i'm like a local nature guide dude. I feel like it misses the "and i know shit about the weird animals too" aspect. Otherwise it seems very tame?

Fighter: ooh so i'm like a drill sergeant/instructor? i like it. But i feel like i'd want something to help me navigate uncertain terrain in general. Or at least gauge it's suitability for various force concentrations. Like "oh that hill is definietely the place the army would set up. Even though i can't see it i know they'll be there"

Healer: i didn't really think botanist when i saw the word healer. This feels more like botanist than healer to me. With a flavour of alchemy

Hunter: this seems like it infringes on beastfriend a bit after all people "look to aid for hunt" in the beastfriend. Otherwise it's the quintessential ranger/scout so it seems fine

Maker: This is way broad but also neat. But probably too broad.

Poet: Bard class does bard things. Seems good.

Shaman: okay so i'm like a spiritual translator and diplomat? Cool spin but seems hard to control.

Witch: So this is more the "learned" magic where you manipulate rather than translate. It seems different enough from shaman to warrant the distinction in class.

unique ocean
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influencing animals compared to making basically anything is a big gap

broken wharf
unique ocean
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oh right i was also going to mention

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people that usually want to do the nature animal thing usually also like knowing how to get stuff from animals

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so where the healer can make potions, the fighter can make general gear and armor from hard materials

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they could instead be good at getting stuff from nature

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pretty big facet that’s missing

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poisons, animal parts, etc

shut dawn
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Okay, let me absorb all this (and thanks both of you for the feedback!), then I can hopefully respond with some additional clarifications (or reassurances maybe) and see if that helps at all.

unique ocean
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anything that can encourage teamwork like that is good but again it’s quite difficult

shut dawn
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So the missing information that might have helped:

  1. The overall power level is fairly low and grounded, but should skew weird when magic is involved.
  2. There are rolls for all of this. The main attribute of the class determines where you find the DC for the roll: put simply, you roll under that attribute score. To make the roll, you spend from an effort pool. That's detailed in several ways elsewhere, and I'm working on the precise mechanical implementation I want to use here. I didn't yet want to paint myself into a mechanics corner before I had the core conceits of the backgrounds down.
  3. None of the outcomes will be DM fiat, or they aren't intended to be. Where I'm not being specific is in the fact that those who can make things will have recipes or plans or whatever to do so.
  4. And yes, all of this is tied to a specific world, which I've described elsewhere in parts, but will try to incorporate more fully into the background descriptions.
unique ocean
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something that my GM did in the last game i played was also having region specific bonuses (primarily in the form of language + some trait that related to culture)

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i’m not sure how intertwined that kind of thing is with background

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but food for thought

shut dawn
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I see also that I need to do a bit more work distinguishing hunter and beastfriend, so I will work on that. And the shaman/witch thing which is too vague. I will make that more specific.

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Re: the healer, I'm working with the old sense of herbalism and leech craft.

unique ocean
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i find it very helpful when doing game design to explicitly spell out however many bullet points of what something’s niche and intended fun points are supposed to be

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that way you can compare any ideas to those bullet points and make sure there’s no overlap between the overarching stuff

broken wharf
unique ocean
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just tossing stuff in a basket if it sounds about right can lead to issues

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i don’t really know much about herbalism or leech craft other than probably misconstrued stuff from medieval stories

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or movies

shut dawn
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Yes, it's basically that.

unique ocean
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herbalism to me just sounds like knowing how to do plant stuff

unique ocean
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similar to how pf2 kind of does the “when you pick this class, this is probably what you’d be expecting to do within the world etc”

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at the top before getting into anything else

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eg for healer: an expert in herbalism and leech craft, you’re usually working on new potions and cures for natural poisons and ailments

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then you bridge out

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nobody has to know what either of those are but the context gets you started in the right direction

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fighter: your martial experience has given you insight into the workings of the military and working of the metals involved in tools of war

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and so on

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hopefully that makes sense out of my head

shut dawn
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I was trying to be terse, but I think I went too terse at the expense of being too vague as well.

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Anyway, thanks! I will rework this. I didn't expect it to be ready for anything yet.

unique ocean
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usually what i mentioned is pretty vague / overarching and then you’d add sub points to it that are the actual terse stuff

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you’re kind of half and half in a lot of spots

shut dawn
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I see that now 🙂

shut dawn
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This is a focus on one background, the Beastfriend, which y'all thought might be too vague. I modeled this after the Pathfinder class breakdown. I still have a whole list of possible "things you can do" to add, but hopefully it's a bit clearer how the background is intended to work.

📎 1.3.1_Beastfriend_Heart.pdf