Character Backrounds

[Zulgyan]

I've found that in an all-human campaign, speaking about character RACE has lost some sense. Hence, the concept must be replaced with another thing. I can up with this (presentation may look a little d20ish):

Character Backgrounds:

Free Men
You are unbound to Lord, Clan or City. You set forth to discover the world and fulfill your ambitions.
Traits: +1 to all saving throws.

Barbarians
The wilds have been you home for a long time. They have made you tough and you know how meld in the background and sneak.
Trait: 1 extra pip per dice of accumulative hits, +1 surprise others (unarmored).

Horse Nomads
The horse has been the center of the social, economic, cultural and military life of the clan in which you were born.
Traits: +3 horse's movement, +1 to hit and damage when fighting from horseback.

Amazons
You belong to a race of fierce female warriors.
Traits: +1 initiative, -1 opponents to hit roll.


More may come... add your own!

[kormydigar]

While I can't forsee any huge balance issue arising from the stats presented I do have a flavor question.

Assuming amazons are actually human, have you determined the roles of males in the society? Do they capture, breed and kill them like spiders? Keep them as slaves? What about the children? It would be difficult to imagine a society that would destroy half of its newborn children (especially strong and healthy ones)

[philotomy]

May 1, 2008 10:30:44 GMT -6 kormydigar said:

What about the children? It would be difficult to imagine a society that would destroy half of its newborn children (especially strong and healthy ones)

Lots of cool questions; I'll throw out a couple of ideas on this one.

It could be the amazons no longer conceive male children, only females. Or it could be that male children are still born, but are very rare. This might be the result of mutation, or it could be the result of a drug (perhaps tied to their religious practices, such that conceiving a male child is a sign of irreverence).

[kesher]

Following up on Philotomy's ideas, it could also be the result of a magical curse, one would imagine Divine...

I think this is a great idea, Zulg, and would be a perfect FO! submission. It reminds me a bit of HeroQuest, the most recent version of Greg Stafford's Gloranthan Runequest. Everyone's more or less human in that game, too, so cultural backgrounds take the place of racial difference.

So, here's my question: Can any class come from any background? i.e., can I play a Barbarian Magic-User? I'm guessing, at least from the Amazon description, that you're envisioning class restrictions to different backgrounds?

I'll play:

Ocean Folk
[/b]
You've spent most of your life on the restless Sea. Water is your second home, as is the pitch and heave of rigging in a storm.
Trait: +1 to any ability checks or saving throws involving water or balance.

This whole thing could, of course, really come to life by (which I would guess is what you've been doing) keying it to the cultures in your particular campaign world.

[edsan]

What about these?


Fallen Ones
[/b]
Your culture is old beyond reckoning. It built towering cities when all others lived in caves and was the first to decipher the secrets of magic. Today most of your ancestor's achievements lie in ruins lost in the desert sands or beneath the ocean waves but their legacy lives on in your blood.

Trait: +1 in all saving throws vs. magical effects.


Patricians
[/b]

You are a scion of a proud and cultured people. From an early age you had access to the best education available on the civilized world and learned the pen can indeed be mightier than the sword.

Trait: Automatic literacy and +1 on NPC reaction rolls.

[kesher]

*riffing off edsan...

Thaumacrats
[/b]
Your ancient nation is steeped in magical lore. Some say an arcane dweomer has soaked into the very stones...
Trait: +1 on all magic-based saving throws, automatic identification of potions/activation words, etc.; if a Magic-User, one extra first level spell.


Wanderers
[/b]
Your homeland was destroyed long ago. Your people have survived on toughness alone.
Trait: One extra pip/die of accumulative hits, +1 on saves vs. poison or physical hardship.

You know, if you collected enough of these, it'd be cool to make them part of random char gen, as opposed to keying them to already established cultures. Then, whichever are rolled are the cultures that tend to get explication, with each player who makes, say, an Amazon, being both guided by past portrayals and free to add details as they become relevant.

[Zulgyan]

So, here's my question: Can any class come from any background? i.e., can I play a Barbarian Magic-User? I'm guessing, at least from the Amazon description, that you're envisioning class restrictions to different backgrounds?

I think that restrictions should be placed definitely. No Barbarian Magic-users. But maybe thieves, why not? Maybe with some level limit, I don't know.

I like what you are posting guys! This could become a FO! submission in the future.

[Zulgyan]

Take real care of not introducing an implicit skill system with these or to restrict things everyone can do to just those backgrounds. Of course, YMMV.

[Zulgyan]

I think we must first narrow the background options to a few selections of archetypes. Such as races do. We don't want a list of 34 possible backgrounds. It will look too much like feats in the end.

D&D has men, dwarf, elf and hobbit (half-elf, half-orc and gnome)

A game should have more a less that number, 5 to 7 would be enough to cover all the basic human-variant archetypes. So what don't we narrow that down first?

I think the most clear archetypes are (these are just the concept and not names):

1. Men of the City (high class/nobles).
2. Men of the City (low class).
3. Men of the Sea.
4. Viking/Norse types.
5. Barbarians (general savage - conan types)
6. Horse Riders.
7. Amazons.
8. Free Men.
9. Desert Types.

What do you think about it?

[Zulgyan]

We should also keep in mind that when you eliminate demi-humans, the line bewteen class/race also becomes very blurry.