Backgrounds and the harrow deck...

[Elemental95]

while there may be a core of 13 archetypes for a character's background: rich, poor, working stiff, leader, artist, nihilist, etc.
why not reference the Harrow deck for a slew of background possibilities?

rather than 13 archetypes, one has easily 54 choices, and because some
of the harrow cards might be a bit nebulous, have multiple meanings or reversed meanings could there actually be many more choices?

say 108 or more?
would the implementation of these choices be feasible/realistically valid for the game?

[Elemental95]

looking at backgrounds as career choices...

would a Stage Actor not also be required to dance, sing, give speeches, tell jokes, learn history related to the play's events, learn geography based on where the troop of players go to preform, learn local gossip, learn culture and customs of different peoples, learn how to recognize and address nobility and members of the faith...
Might one play about a sailor who is press ganged into joining a pirate crew also require the actor to learn about swimming, climbing, fishing, navigation, rope use, carpentry, as well as the pirate way of life etc?

in first ed, this would be a character with:
perform: actor
perform: sing
perform: oratory
perform: jokes
perform: dance
knowledge: plays
Knowledge: theatre
knowledge: geography
knowledge: nobility
knowledge: religion
knowledge: local
Knowledge: history
ride
profession actor
acrobatics (stunt man role)
climbing,
swimming,
survival,
stealth,
rope use/escape artist(maybe?),

how do we define someone who does MORE with their life before 9 a.m., than another? why and how?

[Elemental95]

would defining the skills you could learn based on your ability score modifiers for each Statistic be enough choices to validly reflect a character's background?

[Wermut]

While this will not work for several reasons. The backgrounds will be implemented like the traits, so no fixed number, like the cards would suggest and often with a link to certain adventures and content. So the background pool will be small but grow fast.

Then again I really really like the idea of the harrow deck and I hope they will build on that, probably not in the CRB but yes. The harrow deck is fun.

[Elemental95]

Wermut wrote:

While this will not work for several reasons. The backgrounds will be implemented like the traits, so no fixed number, like the cards would suggest and often with a link to certain adventures and content. So the background pool will be small but grow fast.

Then again I really really like the idea of the harrow deck and I hope they will build on that, probably not in the CRB but yes. The harrow deck is fun.

I agree, the harrow deck is fun and I hope they build on it.

[AnimatedPaper]

Wermut wrote:

While this will not work for several reasons. The backgrounds will be implemented like the traits, so no fixed number, like the cards would suggest and often with a link to certain adventures and content. So the background pool will be small but grow fast.

Could be a fun houserule though, once we get enough in the game.

Which, given the pace at which Paizo releases supplements, will take approximately 18 hours.