Is Flavour Free? - Does Changing Class Lore in D&D 5e Have A Cost?
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- Опубликовано: 27 авг 2022
- Flavour in Dungeons and Dragons can be a divisive topic. Some people like the security of the established lore while others prefer the flexibility to change what they want to. Where do you stand?
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Flavor is free at my table as long as it doesn’t change any mechanics. If you want to play a Bruce Banner style barbarian with high intelligence but an uncontrollable hulk like rage then go ahead.
Flavor is free and I think reflavoring should be encouraged for those who are interested. I've seen lots of cool ideas result from this, making the game more fun for everyone involved. You still need to make a character that fits into the world and works well with the party, but that's true of all player characters.
Yep, i have two options for this player that wants to play a paladin that looks nothing like one and isn't religious, but is a little fella that lives in the wilds.
Let them have fun with it, and lay on hands be them using herbs and stuff to tend to wounds and poison
Or tell them to go play a druid
One option is just rude. It's OUR table, it's for US, we should do whatever is fun
For this reason even small mechanical changes are free at my tables: casters can use a different Ability to cast their spells if it makes sense, i let this character pick archery fighting style from the fighter's list instead of one of the paladin ones and go full bow paladin, using divine smite on ranged weapons, and i let people make small changes on races or straight up get one small feature custom made, which since we never play normal characters always comes up.
Like, this guy's character is literally a shark that grew limbs and lungs for unknown reasons one day and started living with a pirate crew as kind of a pet, will he be custom lineage? Hell nah! He gets the dhampyr bite attack, with special bleeding attack instead of lifesteal, and he breathes underwater! I don't give a fuck that race rules don't give you an option that does those 2 things, it doesn't break the game and it's 100 times more enjoyable than "no, book doesn't say that's a thing so it's not"
This is a role playing fantasy game, do you think the player felt like a walking shark with that character sheet? Hell yeah he did
I have a player in a game I'm working on that's mechanically a warforged warlock, but we're reflavoring the patron to being the machine itself, as the basic idea for the character is the soul of another creature trapped in a mechanical body. We've had to do quite a bit of legwork to get this to make sense, though.
Reflavoring is free as long as you fit your new flavor into an in world lore mold.
I run ravnica. So you could reflavor any class but in exchange, flavor must fit into the confines of your guild (which are still pretty flexible).
Example my Orzhov Warlock doesn't have one patron, he has a bunch of different spirits he has made contracts with, each giving him a different class feature or spell. And when he casts his spells: flavor-wise he is using the slot to conjure that spirit who then casts the spell for him.
Yo, that's actually a pretty cool idea!
@@The_Arisen I'm glad you like it.
Hey! Thanks and shout out! Never clicked anything so fast! Lol
I guess my current character kinda is, though it's a bit of gray area. Drow (they aren't a thing in our setting... Well, it seems like they are, but DM still have no ideas for them, so they aren't playable and it's no information on them) horizon walker, alien from the world of the dying sun (other planet or something else, it's intentionally left unclear), former paramilitary. They are living in Underdark, but only because it's no life on the surface, and have a bit harsh but overall healthy society. She is also originally an albino, and her black skin is a result of getting an elven melanism mutation gene implanted.
UPD: she also has a sniper rifle now (crossbow with infusion), but the flavor is actually encouraged for Artificers, so it's a bit off-topic.
Depends on context. If the flavor is something different or close enough I'd allow it. If you're just making a cleric who really wants to be a wizard, no, no you can just play wizard and deal with not having healing, or an archivist because I play 3.5
Build+backstory at the bottom.
Flavour is free, but the more sense it makes, the more you can get away with.
I want to play variant Human, but the backstory I have in mind works best with a longer life span. So I'm playing a human-dominant half-elf that is mechanically identical to a human. This is only to be 150+ years old, instead of like, 30.
Backstory is fairly vague. The character adopted the nickname Hunter (sometimes monster hunter) as his own. These are in reference to 'monster hunter', and 'bloodborne'. He has trained two or three small units of rangers (~8 heads each). Know for his stealth and skill, some have taken to calling him [the] old ghost. 'Old' coming from how long he's been around. Because he's seen several generations grow old and die despite being identical to any other human, some believe that he is a reincarnation of some gods chosen champion, latest in a long line (he is not).
Build: unity cleric 4, swarmkeeper 5, druid 1
Feats: crossbow expert, sharpshooter, lucky
Spells: spike growth, thorn whip, hunters mark, whatever else you want
Goal: first action, cast spike growth. 2nd action, throw weapon. Swarm moves enemy through spike growth. Ranger extra attack using hand crossbow, then again with bonus attack. Repeat action 2 as long as spike growth is up, positioning as necessary. (remember the feats).
The concept/combat were both modeled after Bloodborne, and Monster Hunter's bow.
Flavor is like an elastic band. There's some flexibility with it that can be stretched. But the more you stretch the band the more it strains. Smaller changes are easier than larger ones. There even comes a time where flavor and function starts to blur. Yes Clerics don't technically need a God, but the separation of Divine and Arcane casting as rigid groups, while predominantly flavorful, also has a functional aspect to it. Divine magic can be revoked. Arcane magic cannot. There's an expectation that a Cleric's abilities are tied to a God and its will. In order to best utilize it, their devotion must be maintained. Meanwhile, Warlocks, despite being "bootleg clerics," they're Arcane casters, which means that the magic *cannot* be revoked. They can experience other consequences through going against their patron, but their powers are based off of mastery of forbidden knowledge rather than manifesting magic of another being directly.
There's actually a lot of argument about whether a Warlock's Patron should be able to revoke their powers. Always worth talking about everyone's thoughts when it comes to Clerics, Paladins and Warlocks.
Is it any mechanical rules on it? I don't say it's not, but I only know about losing paladinhood, I feel like for other classes it's up to DM. Also, if you want to do it, and only want to do it to divine casters, a cleric getting power from worshiping idea rather than a deity is basically a paladin in terms of power source (and a paladin unrelated to any god is just a paladin, it's no mechanical and not a lot of flavor reasons why they even supposed to be related to gods).
@@RulesandRulings I feel like that is a problem with warlock, because as is the flavor and the mechanics that represent them, a God and a patron function the same. I feel like that stems from the idea of the warlock being In a "debt" or something similar. Makes me wish warlocks had a power boost but also had a permanent curse of some kind. The curse being the payment they already made to the patron and deal is essentially done, which means the patron couldn't take anything away.
Some things that apparently stretch the band too far are exotic weapons and mismatched classes and races.
Like if you want a kopesh that uses the stats of a battleaxe, it will loose the Versatile trait.
If you want a fire genasi fathomless warlock, you get some penalties to the warlock abilities for the mismatch.
I don't want flavour. I want mechanics. I bought the game for the rules
You mean you didn't spend $50 on a book for the concept of Elves and Dwarves existing? XD
@@RulesandRulings i am, in fact, not a Fortnite, who buys rights to skins, so that u can flavour your guy to be a rick, or a morty, but it plays the same as every other character in a non-hero-based br
XD