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Backgrounds and Specialties Supplement

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 7:30 pm
by Solomoriah
Post your comments here for the Backgrounds and Specialties supplement.

https://www.basicfantasy.org/showcase.cgi?sid=188

Re: Backgrounds and Specialties Supplement

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 11:24 pm
by hjmartin70
I think I found a typo...
On PG 6 under the heading Halfling Thief,
Most Dwarven Thieves are "Scouts" (see the "Scout"
specialty, below)

Other than that it seems to be rules for things that should be
the province of creativity and imagination. If everyone understands
that it is a crutch and anything that the DM and or Player can come
up with is as valid as the 'rules'.

Re: Backgrounds and Specialties Supplement

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:31 pm
by sbarrie
It seems to me that Weapon Master is the strongest option for Fighters. The bonus seems more dependable than similar specialties, and the extra attack is earlier than the Demihuman Warrior specialties. It's also the least imaginative option (IMHO), making its strength doubly damning in my eyes.

Is there any other way to gain extra attacks?

Re: Backgrounds and Specialties Supplement

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:15 pm
by woodspider
First of all, I love this supplement. It gives depth to the characters without adding too many extra rules or complications. Terrific!

I had a few comments...

Fighter Specialties:

The specialties that give an extra attack seem unbalanced. An extra attack is a huge thing in a game that doesn't grant them in the core rulebook. This is particular problematic when you compare the "extra attack" specialties with the dual wielding specialty. The poor dual wielder has to get three "levels" of their specialty before they get their big pay-off: one extra attack with a smaller weapon at no penalty. Meanwhile, any of the "extra attack" specialties (archer, dwarven warrior, elven warrior, halfling warrior and weapon master) not only get an extra attack, but they get it with their main weapon AND they get two other "levels" worth of benefits.

To balance that out, rather than give an extra attack to these classes, I'd go with either the AD&D solution of 3 attacks every two rounds or the 3.5 solution of a second attack at -5.

Re: Backgrounds and Specialties Supplement

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:21 pm
by woodspider
House Rules: These are less balance and more personal preference.

Even after altering the extra attack, the Weapon Master seems a little strong. So, instead of going with a total +2 to hit and damage, I'm using +1 to hit at "level" 1 and +2 to damage at "level" 3. With the extra attack change factore in, that leaves the Weapon Master with:

1. +1 to hit
2. Extra attack per round at -5
3. +2 damage


It's still a pretty big boost, but I like it feels (to me) a little more balanced with the other specialties.

The other little house rule is for the dual-wielder. Dex helps negate that dual-wield penalty, and I was thinking that, even with this specialty, I still wanted that to play some roll. Also, at some point, someone was going to want to dual-wield longswords or scimitars or battle axes. It's inevitable, it's not a huge balance issue, so I thought I'd throw that in there.

So, my version of the Dual-Wield spec is:

1. Two-weapon fighting penalties reduced to -2/-2
2. Able to use medium weapon in off-hand
3. Two-weapon fighting penalties reduced to -1/-1

If the fighter has even a +1 Dex, that last penalty disappears. If they don't, that's still a nice big bonus.

Re: Backgrounds and Specialties Supplement

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:27 pm
by woodspider
Final comment here and it's about Thief Specialties.

The Lightly Armored specialty seems a bit over-powered for a thief, since light armor is really the only option anyway. For my game, I would either drop the armor bonus to +1/+2/+3 or give the +2/+3/+4 bonus only if the thief is otherwise unarmored. That second one seems particularly in keeping with the idea. A fighter gets the bonus if he wears only light armor, so a thief gets the same bonus if he wears none.

The multipliers on the Thug seemed a little too powerful. That x4 can be a game changer, even at 9th level. It also feels a little bit more assassin than thug to me. If someone wanted to pick up this specialty, I was thinking of going with a +1 to hit with one weapon and then a +2 damage with that same weapon later (mirroring the weapon master), but even that doesn't seem quite right to me. I'd like to come up with something more thug-ish at some point.

That's my last comment. Again, I think this is a great supplement and, with the exception of a few pencilled in notes, I definitely plan to use it with my next game. Thanks!

Re: Backgrounds and Specialties Supplement

Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 4:22 am
by Maliki
I agree, specialties are a nice and simple way to add some flavor to the core classes. I also agree that they may not all be balanced, but as with Kits in 2E and Prestige Classes in 3E, some are always going to be better than others.

One thing I would be careful of is combining the Specialties with some of the other optional rules. I wouldn't allow weapon specialization nor would I allow the thief to allot his skill points (an option from the back of the core rules).

Re: Backgrounds and Specialties Supplement

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 8:00 am
by Maliki
I don't know how many folks here are following D&D Next(5E), but I see a lot of similarity in their Backgrounds and Specialties (was Themes) and the BFRPG Backgrounds and Specialties supplement. There is a difference (not huge) in mechanics but the ideas are pretty much the same.

Re: Backgrounds and Specialties Supplement

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 7:56 pm
by Joe the Rat
I knew there was a reason it sounded brilliant!

Re: Backgrounds and Specialties Supplement

Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 11:20 am
by SmootRK
Maliki wrote:I don't know how many folks here are following D&D Next(5E), but I see a lot of similarity in their Backgrounds and Specialties (was Themes) and the BFRPG Backgrounds and Specialties supplement. There is a difference (not huge) in mechanics but the ideas are pretty much the same.
Look to this post from Steveman!
Steveman wrote:Since this thread has gone off topic a bit... I was poking around 4chan's tabletop games board, as I am want to do at times, and saw a D&D5e complaining thread. They complain about everything, even favors from super models would be complained about...

Anyway, I saw this post and I busted up laughing, because it is kind of true.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v604/ ... xactly.png