I know that this entire post is coming from a position of extreme pedantry, but I think the point (in the interest of adherence to the rules as written) is valid.
First, ignore attributes and where exactly Vuman feats come into it; character creation is done in order: Race -> Class -> Description (including Background). Each one of those may give you some proficiencies, which may be entirely pre-set, or force you to pick from a restricted or unrestricted list of options. So what happens if you get the same proficiency from different sources?
DDB currently prevents you from doing that. If you get - for example - a background proficiency that you already have from your class, then it forces you to reselect the class' proficiency from the class' normal list to avoid collision. Similarly, I have a situation where a Vuman took the Prodigy feat which later collided with a proficiency from the Background, so that skill got re-selected, this time from the entire skill list (because Prodigy gives you one skill proficiency with no restrictions).
However, I don't think that this is how it is supposed to work. The PHB, in the Personality and Background section, Page 124, states: "If a character would gain the same proficiency from two different sources, he or she can choose a different proficiency of the same kind (skill or tool) instead."
There's no clause stating that you must re-select a prior choice within usual limitations if possible, so I interpret that to mean that if you have any choice collision, the prior selection stands, and the new selection has access to the full list.
Unfortunately, this isn't a simple fix, because it opens up some other points of uncertainty.
Why is that clause in the background section only, when you might have collisions earlier in the process - for example, between a Vuman with 3 extra skills from Skilled (assuming that that feat is assigned immediately) and the Class proficiencies? (I think: it's an oversight, and the rule should be extended to cover other cases)
Is it valid to select a proficiency that you already have, forcing a collision, if you have other options? (I think: no, that seems weird)
And yes, I know that you can already make custom backgrounds as described in the PHB, so you can already get almost whatever combination of proficiencies you want. As I said, pedantry. Also, custom backgrounds don't come with the extra Features which can be nice to have.
The rule about clashing proficiencies applies to situations where there are no other choices available. For example if both race and class granted the same single proficiency. There are some classes, races and backgrounds that give fixed lists. This is somewhat obvious if you think about the idea of voluntarily selecting a pre-selected prof to 'cheat' access to all proficiencies, something that is a redundant hack considering the rules suggest creating your own background as an option.
Background is naturally one of the last few stages of character creation; when doing it on paper you can easily jump between stages, but not so much in a digital character creator such as DDB that has a step based approach. So it's natural that you may reach the background section and realise you need to jump back to earlier to reselect a proficiency. That's just a limitation of linear character creation.
When creating a character you can choose your race, and then before assigning anything else, can then skip to background, then to class, etc without having to pick skills or languages. It does not have to be done in order.
Do you mean in the character builder? Or if you're doing it on paper from a book? Because I didn't mean to imply it has to be done in that order, just that it's the order as presented in the books and thus makes sense it'd be presented in that order in the character builder.
But yeah, I usually do it that way in the character builder if I think the background choice might affect class or racial proficiency choices
I meant in the character builder. First couple times I made a character I thought it had to be done step by step until I realized it lets you jump around.
As to the OP's post, jumping back and forth in the creator will sometimes get you different skill or tool options depending on the order they are in rather than going step by step.
I know that this entire post is coming from a position of extreme pedantry, but I think the point (in the interest of adherence to the rules as written) is valid.
First, ignore attributes and where exactly Vuman feats come into it; character creation is done in order: Race -> Class -> Description (including Background). Each one of those may give you some proficiencies, which may be entirely pre-set, or force you to pick from a restricted or unrestricted list of options. So what happens if you get the same proficiency from different sources?
DDB currently prevents you from doing that. If you get - for example - a background proficiency that you already have from your class, then it forces you to reselect the class' proficiency from the class' normal list to avoid collision. Similarly, I have a situation where a Vuman took the Prodigy feat which later collided with a proficiency from the Background, so that skill got re-selected, this time from the entire skill list (because Prodigy gives you one skill proficiency with no restrictions).
However, I don't think that this is how it is supposed to work. The PHB, in the Personality and Background section, Page 124, states: "If a character would gain the same proficiency from two different sources, he or she can choose a different proficiency of the same kind (skill or tool) instead."
There's no clause stating that you must re-select a prior choice within usual limitations if possible, so I interpret that to mean that if you have any choice collision, the prior selection stands, and the new selection has access to the full list.
Unfortunately, this isn't a simple fix, because it opens up some other points of uncertainty.
And yes, I know that you can already make custom backgrounds as described in the PHB, so you can already get almost whatever combination of proficiencies you want. As I said, pedantry. Also, custom backgrounds don't come with the extra Features which can be nice to have.
The rule about clashing proficiencies applies to situations where there are no other choices available. For example if both race and class granted the same single proficiency. There are some classes, races and backgrounds that give fixed lists. This is somewhat obvious if you think about the idea of voluntarily selecting a pre-selected prof to 'cheat' access to all proficiencies, something that is a redundant hack considering the rules suggest creating your own background as an option.
Background is naturally one of the last few stages of character creation; when doing it on paper you can easily jump between stages, but not so much in a digital character creator such as DDB that has a step based approach. So it's natural that you may reach the background section and realise you need to jump back to earlier to reselect a proficiency. That's just a limitation of linear character creation.
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When creating a character you can choose your race, and then before assigning anything else, can then skip to background, then to class, etc without having to pick skills or languages. It does not have to be done in order.
Do you mean in the character builder? Or if you're doing it on paper from a book? Because I didn't mean to imply it has to be done in that order, just that it's the order as presented in the books and thus makes sense it'd be presented in that order in the character builder.
But yeah, I usually do it that way in the character builder if I think the background choice might affect class or racial proficiency choices
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I meant in the character builder. First couple times I made a character I thought it had to be done step by step until I realized it lets you jump around.
As to the OP's post, jumping back and forth in the creator will sometimes get you different skill or tool options depending on the order they are in rather than going step by step.