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1 year ago ::
Jan 25, 2012 - 5:18PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Oct 12, 2011
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"My Fighter comes from a blacksmithing family, he can repair and forge armor with the right tools on hand"
A not too unusual character concept. So, how do you propose implementing that?
What I personally like: Having a Background to choose, and then using a skill proficiency to do so. Say, "athletics" or "endurance". The fact that I can forge a suit of armor if I have an anvil, materials, tools, and time doesn't strike me as something that must consume finite character resources to do.
I think these things are better off handled loosely and permissively rather than restrictively.
But you still write 'Blacksmith' on your character sheet. Have some space under "Endurance" to write down "-Blacksmith"
Or if I'm a Wizard, maybe it's "Arcana: -Blacksmith"
I've got a brainy guy whose studied up on ancient traditions and cutting edge techniques: "History: -Blacksmith"
I just talk with the DM about it, have a suitable Background, and jot it down under my relevant skill.
... and maybe as a group effort, the three of us can pool our diverse skills to forge a magic item!
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1 year ago ::
Jan 25, 2012 - 5:23PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Jan 17, 2012
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Divide skills into subgroups. Like social, athletics, knowledge skills and professions. Classes have different access to skills groups, fighters should have a better access to athletics than knowledge skills.
This way no one as to chose between good at blacksmithing and being good at jumping or climbing.
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1 year ago ::
Jan 25, 2012 - 5:39PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Aug 15, 2010
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I have always been of the opinion that your job doesn't have to be a mechanical part of the character, it is how your character uses the skills that are already on there. My favorite character was a mail man. What kind of class do you think best describes that job? (He was a warlock, but that had nothing to do with his job).
So for blacksmith, take some endurance, athletics, carry around a big hammer and pick up a couple crafting rituals. Blam, you're a blacksmith! No need to put any more investment in it than that. You could even skill the skills bit, maybe you do more detail work instead of large bits of armor, and use thievery instead.
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1 year ago ::
Jan 25, 2012 - 5:45PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Oct 12, 2011
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Even in 'real life' a sword was made by like... at least 3 different studios
A blade maker, a hilt maker, a grip maker, a sword sharpener, all kinds of diversley skilled people. But for cinematic reasons it's cooler to just have one guy do everything (and Hephaestus was one god, not three)
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1 year ago ::
Jan 25, 2012 - 5:57PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Aug 13, 2011
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Backgrounds (such as Blacksmith) ought not to be represented as an actual Character Option... Because then WotC would have to mke one for nearly EVERY possible profession or people would get annoyed that THEIR chosen profession (let's say, some guy wants to be a Mail Man. There is no way in the Nine Hells that would be a BG choice on release day).
Better, then, for your background to be represented through RP and skill choice.
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1 year ago ::
Jan 25, 2012 - 6:03PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Jan 22, 2012
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Even in 'real life' a sword was made by like... at least 3 different studios
A blade maker, a hilt maker, a grip maker, a sword sharpener, all kinds of diversley skilled people. But for cinematic reasons it's cooler to just have one guy do everything (and Hephaestus was one god, not three)
Yeah, a blacksmith historically did not make weapons or armor, ever. When would his village need that? But this isn't history. It can be difficult to buy-in a character whose background isn't something relevant to combat or non-combat. The diplomat concept you can hook. The sailor you can hook if you try. Hooking the blacksmith might seem a bit forced.
There's a great example in fiction. Take Perrin in Wheel of Time. He was a major character and being a smith was a major part of his concept. But his ability to smith never was used in other than a "roleplay" fashion. Even when he forges his new hammer, I would consider that a roleplay explanation of acquiring new equipment.
The question is, should having a smith background give you bonuses to X, Y and Z, or should you take X, Y and Z in order to represent that you are a smith?
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1 year ago ::
Jan 25, 2012 - 6:31PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Jan 15, 2009
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The answer could be any of the above or even a Class, depending on how important it is to the character concept. The Black Smith was a type of wizard in many ancient cultures.. there is actually a pretty cool anime with a Blacksmith as a lead heroic character he has some instant forging abilities (not quite instant but it was within seconds and was invoked via a magical eye and a Fae familiar he was connected to). The Celts are a fair example where the Smith was definitely a high stature individual and his arts were considered magical. How you evoke that Smiths magic? hmmm we do get some of it via the Artificier with the suitable practice.
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1 year ago ::
Jan 25, 2012 - 7:57PM
#8
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Date Joined:
Jan 10, 2012
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These are the kind of skills that take a life time to master. Unless magic is envolved I would expect that some sort of resource mus tbe spent to craft weapons and armor. Not just anyone in the game should beable to wake up one day and beable to craft a suit of chainmail with an athletics check.
I really hope that in 5e we have several different pools of resources. Background resources, skills, combat feats, and a huge list of proficieneis to pick from (blacksmithing, cooking, shipwright, etc).
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1 year ago ::
Jan 25, 2012 - 8:00PM
#9
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Backgrounds (such as Blacksmith) ought not to be represented as an actual Character Option... Because then WotC would have to mke one for nearly EVERY possible profession or people would get annoyed that THEIR chosen profession (let's say, some guy wants to be a Mail Man. There is no way in the Nine Hells that would be a BG choice on release day).
Better, then, for your background to be represented through RP and skill choice.
Agreed on all fronts.
Another day, another three or four entries to my Ignore List.
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1 year ago ::
Jan 25, 2012 - 8:36PM
#10
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These are the kind of skills that take a life time to master. Unless magic is envolved I would expect that some sort of resource mus tbe spent to craft weapons and armor. Not just anyone in the game should beable to wake up one day and beable to craft a suit of chainmail with an athletics check.
I really hope that in 5e we have several different pools of resources. Background resources, skills, combat feats, and a huge list of proficieneis to pick from (blacksmithing, cooking, shipwright, etc).
Consider the way 4e handles it. You get to pick one Background: Profession; Artisan (whatever you want). There's no long list and no definitive mechanics associated with it, but the only way you can get it is to start with it. You get to train a related skill or get a +2 bonus to a related skill, plus whatever circumstance bonuses the DM cares to allow. They can be used with ANY skill potentially, so you could get a +2 History bonus to know smithing lore, a +2 Diplomacy bonus to talk to a dwarven NPC smith, or a +2 to some check that determines how many spear heads you turned out when you pulled an all-nighter (maybe even +5 on that last one).
I thought this was a rather elegant, if rather under appreciated little corner of 4e's rules. In fact I really like the rest of the background system for that matter too. The whole 'pick 5 elements' thing really gets players thinking about some sort of backstory. They get a really small mechanical reward for going to the trouble and it generally does lead to better fleshed out characters.
That is not dead which may eternal lie
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