Looking at the 5th Edition SRD - part 3 - Backgrounds

    I am not a fan of how the 5e SRD PDF is laid out, it doesn't seem to go in any sort of order that would be helpful to make a character or learn how to play the game (thankfully I've played it a little before).  Really, I should have started looking at Attributes, maybe even the core mechanic, but the PDF starts with Races.  From Races it goes to Classes, but I feel like Backgrounds should be in-between those two.  In a sense you were stuck with your Race, nobody chooses what to be born as (well, except for this being a game of course).  Your Class is your future, the thing you picked to spend the rest of your life working on. (or multi-classing :)  In-between those is your Background, something you chose, but that is also a one-time thing (because nothing in your Background will mechanically increase, which is actually a bit of an issue I'll touch on later).
    And, from Wizard of the Coast's own website they say that the SRD is not meant to be a complete game, just a starting point for you to make your own game.  Thus, it is a little short on detail in some places.  Nowhere is that more evident than Backgrounds: in the SRD there is only one!  One is not a very big sample set to draw any kind of conclusions from.  Backgrounds are pretty simple, more-so than Races in most ways - but there is a tricky catch, as we'll see in a second.

    Okay, let's look at the one Background we've got, and we'll start with the simple parts:

Acolyte
"You have spent your time in the service at a temple... might not be a cleric... blah blah weak attempt to make some kind of role-playing description..."
Skill Proficiency: Insight, Religion
Languages: Two of your choice
Equipment: A holy symbol (a gift to you when you entered the priesthood), a prayer book or prayer wheel, 5 sticks of incense, vestments, a set of common clothes, a pouch containing 15 GP

    This is the easy stuff.  Every Background has some sort of role-playing tie to the setting (as opposed to a Class which is a kind of generic/ universal role), since the SRD has no kind of setting at all that makes this a little tricky.  But whatever, that's easy to fix with a real world to put backgrounds in.  Mechanically, you get 2 skill proficiencies, 2 more proficiencies that are either languages or tools (it doesn't seem like you can trade tool/lang profs for extra skills) and some equipment.

Let's Talk Skills Real Quick
    Okay, so with the Background and Races we've talked about "Proficiency" so let me hit that real quick.  There is a table that has the "Proficiency Bonus" for each level.  It is level-dependent only, regardless of race or background or class every character of the same level has the same bonus.  Being "proficient" is a binary state, either you are or you aren't, and if you are you add your level's proficiency bonus to a roll, if not you don't.  The bonuses are very narrow, they start at +2 for 1st level and only go up to +6 at level 20 (actually levels 17-20).  There are 18 skills, 16 languages and 36 tools in the SRD.  Tools are a little weird, you are not proficient in being a carpenter, you're proficient with carpenter's tools.  Down the road I'll go into more detail about how proficiency works, this is just a primer so you can understand what I've been/will be talking about.

    Okay, back to Backgrounds.
    The above is the simple stuff, the real meat of Backgrounds comes from the next parts.  Let's look at the Acolyte Background's Feature...

Feature: Shelter of the Faithful
    As an acolyte, you command the respect of those who share your faith, and you can perform the religious ceremonies of your deity.  You and your adventuring companions can expect to recieve free healing and care at a temple, shrine, or other established presence of your faith, though you must provide any material components needed for spells.  Those who support your religion will support you (and only you) at a modest lifestyle.
    You might also have ties to a specific temple dedicated to your chosen diety or pantheon, and you have a residence there.  this could be the temple where you used to serve, if you remain on good terms with it, or a temple where you have found a new home.  While near your temple you can call on the priests for assistance, provided the assistance you ask for is not hazardous and you remain in good standing with your temple.

    Okay, so this is strange to me.  On the one hand, I get it.  Being an Acolyte means being a part of a church, and thus you have that connection that you can draw upon.  On the other hand, I'm not sure how much use this really is to the GM or in running the adventure.  It does mean free healing for the party, cool, and no living expenses for the character, cool.  "Assistance that is not hazardous" is not exactly defined, but still vague enough to work with.  But what exactly can your brethren do?  I mean, what are they good for?  That is dependent on how the church you belong to is defined, which there is nothing in this Background or in the SRD to help you define.  Also, this kind of seems to make you middle-management in your church (high enough to get help, but it doesn't specifically say you can boss others around, so not quite leadership level).  Okay, but what happens if you want to go up a rank in your church and become a leader of some kind?  How?  How does that change or add onto this Background?  What if you do something bad and get demoted?  What would be bad enough to get you in trouble?
    While I like the idea of the Background Feature in theory, in practice I have some issues with it due to it's poorly-defined nature.  A part of that is fixed by having an actual setting and some kind of real storytelling meat and potatoes to work with.  But a part of it comes from the problem that this is all descriptive, some general mechanical categories would help.  For example, you can't ask your brethren to help with anything "hazardous" - so no Fighting challenges.  But maybe they are outside of town and could help with Exploring the wilderness.  Maybe they are well though-of in town, so they could help with Talking challenges dealing with townsfolk or the town's leadership.  That kind of thing, even just noting some general categories like the 5 action types I've been using, gives you a bit more solid handle on what would be reasonable/ expected.  And heck, what about the martial arts monastery, wouldn't they be willing to help out in a fight for the right cause?
    Developing backgrounds is a big issue to me as well.  The cleric who wants to advance in their church, the fighter who gets promoted in the army, the caravan guard who retires to open his own shop - Backgrounds are snapshots of the past, and vague recurring opportunities, but they could also be something to develop in the future (and I've had the player who wanted to open their own tavern or shop) so how do you handle that?  Even a loose guideline would be appreciated.

    Beyond just the mechanics and feature, each Background also has some more role-playing elements, you roll or choose one of each category, and let's look at those last...

Suggested Characteristics:

Personality Trait

1. I idolize a particular hero of my faith, and constantly refer to that person's deeds and example.
2. I can find common ground between the fiercest enemies, empathizing with them and always working towards peace.
3. I see omens in every event and action.  The gods try to speak to us, we just need to listen.
4. Nothing can shake my optimistic attitude.
5. I quote (or mis-quote) sacred texts and proverbs in almost every situation.
6. I m tolerant (or intolerant) of other faiths, and respect (or condemn) the worship of other gods.
7. I've enjoyed fine food, drink and high society among my temple's elite.  Rough living grates on me.
8. I've spent so long living in the temple that I have little practical experience dealing with people in the outside world.

Ideal

1. Tradition.  The ancient traditions of worship and sacrifice must be upheld. (Lawful)
2. Charity.  I always try to help those in need no matter the personal cost. (Good)
3. Change.  We must help bring about the changes the gods are constantly working in the world. (Chaotic)
4. Power.  I hope to one day rise to the top of my faith's religious hierarchy. (Lawful)
5. Faith.  I trust that my deity will guide my actions.  I have faith that if I work hard, things will go well. (Lawful)
6. Aspiration.  I seek to prove myself worth of my god's favor by matching my actions to his or her teachings. (Any)

Bond

1. I would die to recover an ancient relic of my faith that was lost long ago.
2. I will someday get revenge on the corrupt temple hierarchy that branded me a heretic.
3. I owe my life to the priest who took me in when my parents died.
4. Everything I do is for the common people.
5. I will do anything to protect the temple where I served.
6. I seek to preserve a sacred text that my enemies consider heretical and seek to destroy.

Flaw

1. I judge others harshly, and myself even more severely.
2. I put too much trust in those who wield power in my temple's hierarchy.
3. My piety sometimes leads me to blindly trust those that profess faith in my god.
4. I am inflexible in my thinking.
5. I am suspicious of strangers and expect the worst of them.
6. Once I pick a goal, I become obsessed with it to the detriment of everything else in my life.

    Okay, these 4 role-playing elements: Personality Trait, Ideal, Bond and Flaw, are designed to work with the "Inspiration" system.  So...

Let's Talk About Inspiration Real Quick
    Okay, for any action you roll a d20.  There are ways to get "Advantage" on a roll, in which case you roll 2d20 and take the best die.  Or you could have "Disadvantage" and roll 2d20 but take the worst.  I'll cover the math of the system in a later post, but basically Adv/Dis is a significant change for or against you.
    When you play out your Trait/ Ideal/ Bond/ Flaw the GM can give you Inspiration.  Inspiration is binary, you have it or you don't.  If you have it you can spend it on a roll to give yourself Advantage, or you can give it to another character.

    Now, I really don't like the Inspiration mechanic at all.  Honestly, Fate does this idea so much better there's no comparison.  But for this set of rules, Inspiration is a mess for several reasons, IMHO.  First, the GM has to keep track of it.  There are likely from 4 to 6 players, at 4 RP elements each that's 16 to 24 things to track.  On top of the rest of the universe the GM is responsible for.  So my first change would be to say that a player has to ask to earn Inspiration.  Second, playing your RP element (let's just say Background, that's where you choose them from), okay, playing your Background gives you the Inspiration point.  That disconnects the action you take from the benefit.  If your personality trait is that you can find common ground between the fiercest enemies - then shouldn't you get Advantage whenever you try to mediate between enemies?  Not save it for later, spend it now/ then?  Also, related to this, taking from Fate: doing something bad should be what gives you the good.  Being intolerant, taking Disadvantage on a Talking check or losing an opportunity, should be what gives you the point for later.  If your Trait is that you "mis-quote sacred texts all the time" (wow, who writes the sacred text for you to mis-quote?) then basically you should get Inspiration every time you open your mouth and think of something stupid to say.  That's a little too easy of a bonus, especially since you can then hand them out to all the other players (so everybody feels Inspired by your inane sayings?  You are the ultimate Bard :) and basically get free Advantages for everybody all the time.  Yeah, yeah, "but the GM shouldn't allow that" - spare me that crap.  No, the game designers shouldn't have put in such a sloppy system that begs to be abused - again, read Fate and see how this could have been done right (or at least more logically).  And some of these are just hard to place, what exactly does the player do to earn Inspiration from "Nothing can shake my optimistic attitude"?
    On the one hand I applaud the designers for including something more role-playing in the system.  I then want to slap them with the other hand for making it something so functionally useless.  This just begs for a massive re-write, and I'm not even sure where to start (other than lifting Aspects directly from Fate, since it is an OGL game too).

    Okay, so Backgrounds suck.
    There are a few simple and semi-useless mechanical benefits, at least those are easy to define.  Then there's the useful but problematical Feature and the mostly useless RP stuff.  And there's only one in the system, so I've got some world-building to do, with next to no examples of what the designers intended.  Cool.
    I'm going to go get a drink, I'll be back next week to look at something else, I'm not sure what right now...