Since this season of DnD Encounters is presented in a “sandbox” setting, I aim to not reveal any particular details our group may have uncovered in the game, focusing solely on DnD Next mechanics.
Last night was our first night playing DnD Next with the characters we rolled up last week. And let it be known, fun was had by all. As you can see from the picture I used on the front page of my site, we spent a lot of our time in laughter. Combat went smoothly, even quickly (due to a devastatingly helpful Sleep spell from yours truly), but this element of our game isn’t what stood out to me most. What struck me was how helpful Backgrounds and Specialties were.
4th Edition DnD gave you the chance to choose backgrounds, but I felt that the backgrounds offered in the books suffered from one of two problems: (a) many were too specific or (b) many granted relatively minimal benefits to your character. In effect, 4th Edition backgrounds seemed like an excuse for players who didn’t want to write their own backstory to get one pre-written for them. Now there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. But for those of us who revel in developing our own backstory, these 4th Edition Backgrounds would just get jammed randomly into our story, so that we could have the associated skill benefits. They simply didn’t add to the creativity of the game.
In DnD Next, on the other hand, Backgrounds are much more broad and they grant your character’s Skill bonuses. In our first session, at least three backgrounds:
- Noble: a disgraced human cardinal (read: Cleric) who has been sent away on forced sabbatical for some less than recommended activities. Still he has three peasants attending to his every whim.
- Bounty Hunter: our dwarven fighter is eagerly seeking the local constable, so that he can make sure he’s collecting bounties as we go on our quest.
- Charlatan: our dual-wielding human loudspeaker who is constantly telling his own tales of do-goodery to make any female without shouting distance swoon. Of course, being a liar, he usually fails at this.
What I found interesting about these Backgrounds is that they added a LOT of flair to the table. I’ve played several 4th Edition sessions with this crew and they don’t lack for creativity. However, the breadth of the backgrounds provided allowed us to each work it into our backgrounds in a more integrative way. My character’s Background has not been revealed yet, but I’m certain that it will come in handy, not to mention it played a key part in my [9-pages-long] backstory. Beyond the creative flair, our different backgrounds are encouraging us to check out different key areas in town (my guy would never have gone to the constable’s office).
In sum, I’m a big fan of the Background dynamic and how skills are achieved through them. It simply makes more sense to me than the 4e system. Well, that’s enough for this post. I’ll comment more on Specialties next time after Session 2.
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