Rookie DM, I have played just over a year in 5e, been DMing for a small group of friends on R20 for 4 months, and am starting to get ready to run a campaign for an in-person group.
I definitely don't think that I have a PROBLEM PLAYER; they're incredibly sweet and creative, which I think should be a lot of fun! The kind of person who you could easily bounce off of. They have tabletop experience as well, probably more than me as they've played from previous iterations of D&D, and I only know 5e (and I don't know if I know it SUPER well, just enough to lead an informal group who just want to have a good time).
I'm starting the campaign off at level 2, for them, and we just got done rolling our characters. On paper, they're an Orc bard, Outlander background. At the table, where I was also fielding questions from the 4 other players, they mentioned having a familiar, which I just gave an "okay, great!" to, because I was a bit overwhelmed; I already realized a day later that bards don't get familiars, and that's a wizard spell, but I had spent the entire evening of character planning not telling them that, but they were super polite about me having to back-pedal on it, and try to find a way to make it work so they didn't have to feel like their whole character needed to be rewritten.
We made an arrangement that they could trade a bard exclusive spell to instead get Find Familiar from the wizard list. I don't think it's game breaking, but then I finished reading through their backstory.
I'm not sure if I'm just hyper focusing on it, but they have a detail in their bard's backstory where they have a secret identity they've spread rumors of throughout the continent that no one knows is them, and it allows them to sneak through different walks of life in cities on either side of the law. Another person in the campaign is playing a charlatan, so I don't want to feel like they're getting cheated out of a feat that's useless if an outlander can just have a secret identity as a free bonus. I feel like I COULD just treat is as flavor-text, as a bit of back-story that's gotten the bard chased out of places and "is what it is" without making it an easy rumor to spread once the campaign starts, but after the whole issue of the familiar, I feel like asking if they want to change their background to have that secret identity may seem surly of me.
I don't know the people involved, but if I were running this game, I would explain to the player that their character is only 2nd level and hasn't had the time & experience to travel the entire continent setting up this false identity, it's just not logistically possible.
Or you could run it that this is what the character BELIEVES is true - possibly they are suffering from some powerful memory altering magic for some reason, though I can't think how that would spin into a good story and the player would likely become frustrated with it not working in every town and city.
Talk to this player, explain that the choices you allowed as a DM actually tread on the perks that another character should have, and ask them to work with you on creating something that's self-contained. This allows each character to fully express their abilities and benefits in the world. You note that the player is incredibly sweet - they should understand and help! The goal is shared fun for everyone, there has to be a way to change and still have fun!
We have a pretty RP/character-oriented group, so I feel like heavily altering a story they put a lot of personal effort into could be a bit of a disappointment for them, but talking it out here and seeing other responses was very helpful. Thank you guys very much for your feedback!
I wouldn't worry about it too much. If they end up with an ability that's beyond what they should have for their level, just make them earn it. Make them go on a spiritual journey to get in touch with their spirit animal to get a familiar, or whatever. Also level 2 characters suck and might just get killed in one lucky hit anyway, the powers you described don't sound like they are too overpowered.
I gave a new group of level 1 characters a bunch of handguns and assault rifles one time (the stats are in the DM guide) just for fun. One of them still managed to die anyway, so a familiar is probably ok. I think the rumors thing is probably ok too, sure it doesn't make perfect sense like Stormknight said, but it's not to unbelievable to work with.
Aw, man, I was the level 1/2 character who died all the time in the games I played..! ("You're the rogue, why are you on the front lines?" "I HAVE A SWORD!") I went with my gut, let them know about the two different feats on the backgrounds, and he actually chose to pick the charlatan background instead since it more properly fits his character's present lifestyle.
Thank you guys again - hopefully I'll get more comfortable once we're running campaign and not stopped at world/character building, and I won't be making nonstop issues in here, but the feedback is awesome.
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Rookie DM, I have played just over a year in 5e, been DMing for a small group of friends on R20 for 4 months, and am starting to get ready to run a campaign for an in-person group.
I definitely don't think that I have a PROBLEM PLAYER; they're incredibly sweet and creative, which I think should be a lot of fun! The kind of person who you could easily bounce off of. They have tabletop experience as well, probably more than me as they've played from previous iterations of D&D, and I only know 5e (and I don't know if I know it SUPER well, just enough to lead an informal group who just want to have a good time).
I'm starting the campaign off at level 2, for them, and we just got done rolling our characters. On paper, they're an Orc bard, Outlander background. At the table, where I was also fielding questions from the 4 other players, they mentioned having a familiar, which I just gave an "okay, great!" to, because I was a bit overwhelmed; I already realized a day later that bards don't get familiars, and that's a wizard spell, but I had spent the entire evening of character planning not telling them that, but they were super polite about me having to back-pedal on it, and try to find a way to make it work so they didn't have to feel like their whole character needed to be rewritten.
We made an arrangement that they could trade a bard exclusive spell to instead get Find Familiar from the wizard list. I don't think it's game breaking, but then I finished reading through their backstory.
I'm not sure if I'm just hyper focusing on it, but they have a detail in their bard's backstory where they have a secret identity they've spread rumors of throughout the continent that no one knows is them, and it allows them to sneak through different walks of life in cities on either side of the law. Another person in the campaign is playing a charlatan, so I don't want to feel like they're getting cheated out of a feat that's useless if an outlander can just have a secret identity as a free bonus. I feel like I COULD just treat is as flavor-text, as a bit of back-story that's gotten the bard chased out of places and "is what it is" without making it an easy rumor to spread once the campaign starts, but after the whole issue of the familiar, I feel like asking if they want to change their background to have that secret identity may seem surly of me.
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D&D Beyond FoundersI don't know the people involved, but if I were running this game, I would explain to the player that their character is only 2nd level and hasn't had the time & experience to travel the entire continent setting up this false identity, it's just not logistically possible.
Or you could run it that this is what the character BELIEVES is true - possibly they are suffering from some powerful memory altering magic for some reason, though I can't think how that would spin into a good story and the player would likely become frustrated with it not working in every town and city.
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Talk to this player, explain that the choices you allowed as a DM actually tread on the perks that another character should have, and ask them to work with you on creating something that's self-contained. This allows each character to fully express their abilities and benefits in the world. You note that the player is incredibly sweet - they should understand and help! The goal is shared fun for everyone, there has to be a way to change and still have fun!
We have a pretty RP/character-oriented group, so I feel like heavily altering a story they put a lot of personal effort into could be a bit of a disappointment for them, but talking it out here and seeing other responses was very helpful. Thank you guys very much for your feedback!
I wouldn't worry about it too much. If they end up with an ability that's beyond what they should have for their level, just make them earn it. Make them go on a spiritual journey to get in touch with their spirit animal to get a familiar, or whatever. Also level 2 characters suck and might just get killed in one lucky hit anyway, the powers you described don't sound like they are too overpowered.
I gave a new group of level 1 characters a bunch of handguns and assault rifles one time (the stats are in the DM guide) just for fun. One of them still managed to die anyway, so a familiar is probably ok. I think the rumors thing is probably ok too, sure it doesn't make perfect sense like Stormknight said, but it's not to unbelievable to work with.
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Aw, man, I was the level 1/2 character who died all the time in the games I played..! ("You're the rogue, why are you on the front lines?" "I HAVE A SWORD!") I went with my gut, let them know about the two different feats on the backgrounds, and he actually chose to pick the charlatan background instead since it more properly fits his character's present lifestyle.
Thank you guys again - hopefully I'll get more comfortable once we're running campaign and not stopped at world/character building, and I won't be making nonstop issues in here, but the feedback is awesome.