Background

[Bokvakk]

How customisable are the background? I am helping one of my players creating a new character, and he wants to create his own background. I think that will be ok, but he also wants to create his own heart, wits and body. He found out that everything was 14, so he did it. Is that okay? What do you think? I really want to let him do it, because I really like it when my player are enthusiastic. He also wanted to add his own Special ability: Guitar-play. I told him it could go under minstrelsy, but he wanted it to be its own. He just loses another Ability. I don't really know what to do. As I said, I want to let it go. What would you do?
//Bokvakk

[Amargen]

Personally, I like custom characters. picking your own background? great! arranging your stats? sure... what's the reasoning for it? have him come up with a background to explain it, unless looking at how he did it you are already okay with it. having someone with body 1, heart 10 and wits 4 isn't really in the spirit of the game.

want to play the guitar? I think a lute would be the closest. If it's not governed by a skill it wouldn't be useful as anything other than just a role-playing point though. you could make up a trait or virtue to cover this character's special guitar-playing ability (affecting song, persuade, or something). maybe a virtue that allows him to annoy anyone who is a parent.

general rule I have is much like the way you feel: I like when players are excited about playing their characters. since TOR is arranged to let players have a great deal of input you should be fairly lenient as long as they're not breaking anything or doing something outrageous.

[zedturtle]

Remember that the Attribute ranges are used to balance abilities too. For example, Beornings are rewarded for having low Armour. They have a low Wits score (and thus a low Parry) to balance this out. A Beorning with a Wits of 6 would be very dangerous, especially with Great Strength.

[Rich H]

There have been a lot of threads on advice on customising cultures and creating new ones. I'm on my phone at the moment so searching for them is difficult but I'm sure someone will pop up with a couple of links/docs that describe the range of attributes for each culture and the personality traits etc associated with them. As long as the OP and his pal keep within such guidelines then they should be fine.

[Glorelendil]

Each culture has a specific attribute range and changing that could really unbalance the game.

This.

I would suggest only allowing the player to name and describe the background, and choose a relevant favoured skill. If he must choose attributes, keep them within the ranges for that culture.

[Majestic]

I'm with what the others have said: if a player wants to change it then that shouldn't be a problem. But try to keep the attributes akin to what you already see available within that Culture. Otherwise, there are certain game mechanics that could be exploited or be too powerful.

I've only had one person alter their attributes, and it was a minor tweak (to match another background package of that same Culture).

[Bokvakk]

Thank you very much! Everyone has been of great help, and I feel that this question have been answered. It was only a minor change, and I feel, after looking on other backgrounds, that it is well within the range of that culture.

[Deadmanwalking]

Thank you very much! Everyone has been of great help, and I feel that this question have been answered. It was only a minor change, and I feel, after looking on other backgrounds, that it is well within the range of that culture.

Out of idle curiosity, what was it?

[Glorelendil]

I've been thinking through exactly which combinations (culture/attribute) are at risk for exploitation from arbitrary attribute arrays and a 6 (or 7!) in the wrong place. Here's what I've got:

Barding Tanks: high Wits with Swordmaster could result in unreasonably high defenses (TN 25 with Wits 7 and a Great Shield).

Beornings: similarly, high Wits combined with Great Strength creates unfairly high defenses.

Dwarves: high Heart would result in more Hope than Dwarves are meant to have, and very high Endurance scores. Also would let them carry even more gear without Fatigue penalty. A favoured score of 9 is a lot of encumbrance to ignore.

Mirkwood Elves: like Dwarves, the risk is high Endurance and Hope scores.

Hobbits: no problems that I see, other than doing more weapon damage than intended

Woodmen: Shepherd's Bow is meant to compensate for low Body scores; with attributes of 6/6/2 a Woodman would do 18 bonus damage on an Extraordinary Success. On the other hand, that's the same amount a Barding does with Body 6(9) and Fierce Shot.

[zedturtle]

I'm still worried about the guitar.