Talk:Adopted (5e Background)

Well, the writing isn't bad, but as a background it doesn't really explain what the character was doing before they were an adventurer. Being adopted isn't a career or a lifestyle. Marasmusine (talk) 07:37, 10 May 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for your review, It is my first time making something for D&D so I do know that I am likely to have made mistakes. I thought that by leaving that open it would inspire more creativity in the players, however if this is a flaw than any ideas on how to improve and/or correct this would be welcomed. --AnnaM (talk) 09:45, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

Review as Requested

The idea behind this, as Marasmusine pointed out, is a little broad. While being adopted can have a significant impact on a person's life and ultimate personality, this is not normally the case. Perhaps clarify that their status as an adopted orphan is unique. They weren't just adopted, something about that adoption was unusual such that it defined who your character became. Being adopted by a dragon, or by warforged, for example. Or perhaps the adoption came much later in life after some kind of great struggle? For example, a person who was raised by a dwarf but not recognized as their child until a dwarven coming-of-age ceremony was passed. Or perhaps the adoption process was difficult. people who bounce from foster home to foster home often have an extremely unique perspective on the world and it colors everything they do.

The skill proficiencies are much too open.

The languages section is not clear and is open for abuse. A player who convinces their DM that they were adopted by good ilithids could learn deep speech and be able to read qualith.

Specify that the memento from your parents is a trinket, rather than exclusing other item categories.

The feature depends on subrace associations. Many races do not have subraces. A character who was adopted by a community or by an organization would lack subrace association. This needs to be reworked.

The alternate feature doesn't do anything in-game. It's more like a personality trait. There's a kernel of something in there though. Maybe rework it into something active, or drop it if it's too much effort for too little gain.

The adopting race table should be in the specialization table's place. However, I'm not a fan of it. It actually limits the narrative potential in the background, making this solely an issue of interspecies parenting.

The T/V/B/Fs are ok. There's a little silliness with the [insert memento from parents here] bit, but this section seems nice.

Overall, this needs a bit more work. You have the form hammered out, now polish it to a shine. I'm going to mark this as a stub for now, but I'm sure you'll be able to get this thing complete with little effort.

--Kydo (talk) 12:52, 16 December 2018 (MST)