I wanted to chose the Investigator Variant of the City Watch Background but I already had Investigation proficiency from my class (rogue). The skill selection box for that skill only gave me the option for Athletics (which is the City Watch skill but not the Investigator skill) instead of letting me choose any skill.
the City Watch / Investigator background grants proficiency in Athletics and Insight, not in Investigation.
If you feel there is an issue with this, please include a link to your character, so someone can take a look.
INVESTIGATOR
Rarer than watch or patrol members are a community’s investigators, who are responsible for solving crimes after the fact. Though such folk are seldom found in rural areas, nearly every settlement of decent size has at least one or two watch members who have the skill to investigate crime scenes and track down criminals. If your prior experience is as an investigator, you have proficiency in Investigation rather than Athletics.
The problem isn’t character specific. The problem is with the interface.
I came here with a similar problem. The character builder interface does not even let you see any information about a variant background, if there is one. For instance, if you select the Criminal / Spy background, there is no indication on the character creator that the Spy variant exists, despite it actually being in the title (which, as a side note, is inconsistent, e.g. Noble is not named Noble / Knight, Outlander isn't called Outlander / Wanderer, etc... Not really that important just seems a bit weird).
At the bare minimum it seems like variant information should appear in the character builder UI, but it would also be nice to allow a player to select a variant, since some variants actually make changes to the items, proficiencies, languages, ets. For example, Entertainer (PHB 130) has a variant called Gladiator, which states:
... You can replace the musical instrument in your equipment in your equipment package with an inexpensive but unusual weapon, such as a trident or net.
It would be great if we could choose the variant, and it would update our options to reflect that. I realize that might actually take more effort than it seems, since you'd have to account for homebrew variants and how to define variant item sets, etc. Unless you make some sort of "replace item x with item y" rule for variants, you'd probably have to just define 2 sets of features for the base background and the variant, which might be confusing. Nevertheless, it would be a welcome feature, I'm sure someone could come up with a nice solution. I like the "replace x with y" rule, myself. EDIT: I guess a more simple way might be to simply add variant items/features to the main lists if the variant is selected...
And I want to reiterate that, at the very least, the character builder UI should display all of the information available, including variant stuff. It could be in another dropdown box under the "Suggested Characteristics" one.
EDIT: Just want to point out that this also applies to custom tables. To solve that I would just make it add a line to the "Other" notes section, in the form <custom-table-name>: <selection>. For example, if you choose Entertainer you can pick an Entertainer Routine, and when you select one it would just add to the notes, "Entertainer Routine: Juggler".
Just following up on the previous issue - I misunderstood the issue, but can confirm that the City Watch / Investigator background allows the selection of Investigation correctly:
With regards variants - thanks for the feedback, I shall pass that on!
Just following up on the previous issue - I misunderstood the issue, but can confirm that the City Watch / Investigator background allows the selection of Investigation correctly:
With regards variants - thanks for the feedback, I shall pass that on!
Pick Investigation as one of your *class* skill proficiencies then tell me what the box says. It should let you pick *any* unknown skill if you take the Investigator variant.
I don't think it is a bug. You have the option of choosing between athletics and investigation. But since you already have prof. in investigation, that leaves only atlethics.
At the start you get to choose 2 from the 3 options, but since you already have one of them, ofcourse you can only get the other 2. You only can choose any skill, if the usual skill choices are all already obtained, if you get what I mean.
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I wanted to chose the Investigator Variant of the City Watch Background but I already had Investigation proficiency from my class (rogue). The skill selection box for that skill only gave me the option for Athletics (which is the City Watch skill but not the Investigator skill) instead of letting me choose any skill.
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D&D Beyond FoundersHi there,
the City Watch / Investigator background grants proficiency in Athletics and Insight, not in Investigation.
If you feel there is an issue with this, please include a link to your character, so someone can take a look.
Pun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
INVESTIGATOR
Rarer than watch or patrol members are a community’s investigators, who are responsible for solving crimes after the fact. Though such folk are seldom found in rural areas, nearly every settlement of decent size has at least one or two watch members who have the skill to investigate crime scenes and track down criminals. If your prior experience is as an investigator, you have proficiency in Investigation rather than Athletics.
The problem isn’t character specific. The problem is with the interface.
I came here with a similar problem. The character builder interface does not even let you see any information about a variant background, if there is one. For instance, if you select the Criminal / Spy background, there is no indication on the character creator that the Spy variant exists, despite it actually being in the title (which, as a side note, is inconsistent, e.g. Noble is not named Noble / Knight, Outlander isn't called Outlander / Wanderer, etc... Not really that important just seems a bit weird).
At the bare minimum it seems like variant information should appear in the character builder UI, but it would also be nice to allow a player to select a variant, since some variants actually make changes to the items, proficiencies, languages, ets. For example, Entertainer (PHB 130) has a variant called Gladiator, which states:
It would be great if we could choose the variant, and it would update our options to reflect that. I realize that might actually take more effort than it seems, since you'd have to account for homebrew variants and how to define variant item sets, etc. Unless you make some sort of "replace item x with item y" rule for variants, you'd probably have to just define 2 sets of features for the base background and the variant, which might be confusing. Nevertheless, it would be a welcome feature, I'm sure someone could come up with a nice solution. I like the "replace x with y" rule, myself.
EDIT: I guess a more simple way might be to simply add variant items/features to the main lists if the variant is selected...
And I want to reiterate that, at the very least, the character builder UI should display all of the information available, including variant stuff. It could be in another dropdown box under the "Suggested Characteristics" one.
EDIT: Just want to point out that this also applies to custom tables. To solve that I would just make it add a line to the "Other" notes section, in the form <custom-table-name>: <selection>. For example, if you choose Entertainer you can pick an Entertainer Routine, and when you select one it would just add to the notes, "Entertainer Routine: Juggler".
I made a few homebrew things: backgrounds, feats, magic items, monsters, races, spells, subclasses.
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D&D Beyond FoundersJust following up on the previous issue - I misunderstood the issue, but can confirm that the City Watch / Investigator background allows the selection of Investigation correctly:
With regards variants - thanks for the feedback, I shall pass that on!
Pun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
Thank you, that's all I ask!
I made a few homebrew things: backgrounds, feats, magic items, monsters, races, spells, subclasses.
Pick Investigation as one of your *class* skill proficiencies then tell me what the box says. It should let you pick *any* unknown skill if you take the Investigator variant.
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D&D Beyond FoundersYou can still do that with the custom background option! 😊
Pun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
A work around is not a fix. I didn’t submit this bug report for my own benefit, I started it to help improve the quality of D&D Beyond.
I don't think it is a bug. You have the option of choosing between athletics and investigation. But since you already have prof. in investigation, that leaves only atlethics.
At the start you get to choose 2 from the 3 options, but since you already have one of them, ofcourse you can only get the other 2. You only can choose any skill, if the usual skill choices are all already obtained, if you get what I mean.