Can someone please explain the Kits from Second Edition to me?
From what I've been able to read it looks like they're equivalent to a background system for your character in Second, but I'm sure that there's more to them than that. What am I missing here?
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You've got it about right - it's like a background. They essentially give you a small bonus (bonus "non-weapon proficiencies" or maybe a bonus to use one of your NWP, maybe more weapon proficiencies, etc.) and a small penalty (which was almost always either a reaction bonus on Charisma-based checks or else a role-playing penalty that you were on your honor to make come into play, such as "can't eat meat").
ReplyDeleteIt was a way of taking a base class like a Fighter and turning him into a barbarian, savage, wilderness warrior, knight, or noble, but with some minor "rules" modifications that were more than you as a player just playing the character a certain way.
They also had some really cool kits that were for multi-class demi-human characters, like kits that were very specific to just dwarven fighter/clerics or to halfling fighter/thieves, for example.
I really, really liked the idea at the beginning and I think they were a unique way to help differentiate characters. However, like you'd expect, with each book that came out, the kits got better and better. The bonuses started stacking up and the penalties got white-washed (where were even some kits that didn't have any penalties at all). It got to where, if you weren't using a kit, then your character was considered "under-powered."
It sounds similar to how backgrounds are working in Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition.
DeleteI kind of like the ones I'm reading in the Red Steel Campaign book but I wasn't sure about their application. Thanks for letting me know!