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3 years ago ::
Sep 12, 2010 - 3:41PM
#101
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Date Joined:
May 29, 2004
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One change I'd really really love to see is not allowing background aside from Forgotten Realms and general. I am so tired of seeing people with Scales of War's "Auspicious Birth" or "Born Under a Bad Sign" as their chosen Background effect. This would make the regions more attractive again, though the large numbers of heroes from Impiltur and Thay would still continue.
Personally, I'd like to see the Realms Regions background redone to better match the new story zones. LFR has already become a flavorless blend of everything in the WotC product release kitchen sink why not try and restore at least some of the Realms actual flavor back to the sink?
Can you give some specific examples of what you mean by redoing to Realms backgrounds to better fit the story areas?
John du Bois
Living Forgotten Realms Writing Director, Netheril story area
Follow me on The Twitter: @JohnduBois
Follow my presence on The Intertubes: johncdubois.wordpress.com
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3 years ago ::
Sep 13, 2010 - 6:23AM
#102
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Date Joined:
Jul 16, 2002
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One change I'd really really love to see is not allowing background aside from Forgotten Realms and general. I am so tired of seeing people with Scales of War's "Auspicious Birth" or "Born Under a Bad Sign" as their chosen Background effect. This would make the regions more attractive again, though the large numbers of heroes from Impiltur and Thay would still continue.
Except that the SoW backgrouds are general and can apply to any setting (which is fitting since the SoW AP was written to be able to be dropped into any campaign).
Sorry WOTC, you lost me with Essentials. So where I used to buy every book that came out, now I will be very choosy about what I buy. Can we just get back to real 4e? Check out the 4e Conversion Wiki. 1. Wizards fight dirty. They hit their enemies in the NADs. -- Dragon9 2. A barbarian hits people with his axe. A warlord hits people with his barbarian. 3. Boo-freakin'-hoo, ya light-slingin' finger-wigglers. -- MrCelcius in response to the Cleric's Healer's Lore nerf
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3 years ago ::
Sep 13, 2010 - 3:52PM
#103
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@Dragon9
But the SoW aren't "general" they're from an issue of Dragon magazine, not the PHBs like the others are. And they're not in balance with the actual general backgrounds from the PHBs. And the fact that just about every non-Con character I've seen since the backgrounds were allowed has it as their background benefit speaks volumes.
@JohnduBois
Each of the new story regions is supposed to have an overall theme relating to their adventures (Cormyr/Dalelands/etc. focused on dealing with Netheril for an example), so why not new backgrounds which tie into those themes and give characters from those story regions a stronger hook to playing the mods from their homelands?
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3 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2010 - 1:31PM
#104
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@Dragon9And they're not in balance with the actual general backgrounds from the PHBs
But only slightly. Essentially they give the equivalent of one feat (toughness) to most people (except for the most extreme cases possible, but even they cap at +20 hp from the background) while the other feats almost give the equivalent of another feat (skill focus).
Starting with 18 in your "background stat" and getting 8 increases vs. 12 starting con and 2 increases the background gives 12 hp which is 75% of toughness and only slightly better than a +2 to a skill which is 66% of skill focus (and even if you do the extreme of 20 starting stat, 10 increases vs. 8 starting con, it's only +20).
I see a lot of characters who prefer to reroll a skill or getting a skill bonus and an extra language or being able to add a skill to their class list that happens to key off one of their class attributes over getting a free toughness feat from that other backgrounds
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3 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2010 - 2:10PM
#105
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In most LFR games I've been involved in people already have high enough skill ratings in their strong fields to not care about a small bump. And with DCs being low enough for most skill challenges it usually isn't an issue even in their weak areas. But an extra 8-10 hit points, which also bumps up your bloodied and surge values, for free is generally more helpful in the Heroic tiers.
In Paragon and higher the benefit diminishes but, at least in our area, we've only got a handful of folks with a character just passing into the Paragon tier anyway. Hell it wasn't until recently that I got to play without having to drive 3+ hours to a convention.
And I haven't seen too many front line defenders who don't take Auspicious Birth and Toughness for good measure.
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3 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2010 - 2:57PM
#106
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Date Joined:
Mar 17, 2005
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I suspect with the skill challenge DCs being raised again, that those skill bonuses will become much more valuable.
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3 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2010 - 6:54PM
#107
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Date Joined:
May 29, 2004
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Each of the new story regions is supposed to have an overall theme relating to their adventures (Cormyr/Dalelands/etc. focused on dealing with Netheril for an example), so why not new backgrounds which tie into those themes and give characters from those story regions a stronger hook to playing the mods from their homelands?
What makes the current FR regional background less than suitable for that task? I'm not saying that I think it's a bad idea; I just don't see a reason to make, say, a new Netheril background unless there's a reason that the current Netheril background doesn't work.
John du Bois
Living Forgotten Realms Writing Director, Netheril story area
Follow me on The Twitter: @JohnduBois
Follow my presence on The Intertubes: johncdubois.wordpress.com
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3 years ago ::
Sep 15, 2010 - 8:37AM
#108
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Date Joined:
Jul 20, 2004
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One change I'd really really love to see is not allowing background aside from Forgotten Realms and general. I am so tired of seeing people with Scales of War's "Auspicious Birth" or "Born Under a Bad Sign" as their chosen Background effect. This would make the regions more attractive again, though the large numbers of heroes from Impiltur and Thay would still continue.
Personally, I'd like to see the Realms Regions background redone to better match the new story zones. LFR has already become a flavorless blend of everything in the WotC product release kitchen sink why not try and restore at least some of the Realms actual flavor back to the sink?
I vote AGAINST this guy... 
I actually prefer the multiple backgrounds.. only 1 benifit system. And honestly.. lfr is still trying to promote ALL the 4e products WotC sells.
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3 years ago ::
Sep 15, 2010 - 2:58PM
#109
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Date Joined:
Jul 16, 2002
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@Dragon9
But the SoW aren't "general" they're from an issue of Dragon magazine, not the PHBs like the others are.
Their location of publication (outside of a setting book like the FRPG, DSCG or the EPG) is irrelevaqnt to whether they are general or not. They aren't setting specific. They are general. Just because they don't give the same language or skill bonus benefit as the recent backgrounds dosen't mean they aren't general.
And they're not in balance with the actual general backgrounds from the PHBs.
Highly debateable, but regardless, they were made on the model of backgrounds from the FRPG. It was after that they started to change how backgrounds were done. The problem is that people are cherry picking to build their PC to an optimized state. That's not a fault of the background itself if the player picks them to fit their build as opposed to pickign them to fit their background.
And the fact that just about every non-Con character I've seen since the backgrounds were allowed has it as their background benefit speaks volumes.
You're falling into the "Everyone I know" fallacy. I can just as easily tell you that I have never seen anyone with the "Auspicious Birth" or "Born Under A Bad Sign" background benefit (Or Thay), therefore no one takes them and there's no issue with it.
Sorry WOTC, you lost me with Essentials. So where I used to buy every book that came out, now I will be very choosy about what I buy. Can we just get back to real 4e? Check out the 4e Conversion Wiki. 1. Wizards fight dirty. They hit their enemies in the NADs. -- Dragon9 2. A barbarian hits people with his axe. A warlord hits people with his barbarian. 3. Boo-freakin'-hoo, ya light-slingin' finger-wigglers. -- MrCelcius in response to the Cleric's Healer's Lore nerf
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3 years ago ::
Nov 10, 2010 - 9:09AM
#110
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Date Joined:
Aug 31, 2008
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That said, I think we are going to see more meaningful Story Awards in the future and that might in some ways address some of your issues.
In regard to meaningful Story Awards... Don't accept mods that don't have story awards. Every module should have Story Awards! I want my heroes to make a difference in the game world, thus the appeal of playing in an "Living" campaign. If a module isn't of enough import in the world to merit a story award, do not publish/offer it! I love the Forgotten Realms setting (particularly Aglarond) but all this mess with WotC is like the death of a thousand cuts. Grief!
Thank you for listening.
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