If you're the GM, that's probably up to you. On the one hand the backgrounds reward player buy-in by attaching their powers to the specific event that hooked them into the plot. On the other hand, if there's really no possibility of making one of the adventure backgrounds work for a player, the GM can alter or customize them to suit their table. It would be odd, I think, for a player to miss out on getting their mutant power in an adventure about special deviants exploring the origin of their mutant powers.
RAW, there is nothing (other than GM-fiat) preventing a character from selecting a deviant ability with their 2nd-level class feat. They just don't get one for "free" at 1st level from a background.
From a campaign standpoint, the character is less directly tied to the Gatewalkers AP. However, they could still have ties to Dr. Ritalson or (at least one of) the other characters that would serve as a hook.
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Side trek about Player's Guides:
So if your GM isn't using this Adventure Path's player's guide (or any guide for any Adventure Path), your GM has to give you something to help guide your choices. In the same way, it's good to work with the other players to make choices, so you don't all make the exact same character accidentally.
Paizo's take on how to prepare players for this Adventure Path (and for ANY Adventure Path) is encapsulated in the player's guide. That's the whole point. If you don't use it, I can't really tell you what to do instead unless I'm your GM. And if you DO use it and specifically choose not to play along with the suggestions... then that's kind of on you as the player making choices that aren't the best. It's like being told by a tour guide "Wear rain gear on this hike because it's raining." If you don't wear rain gear, when you get soaked, it's not the guide's fault.
That all said, if you really don't want to take any of the backgrounds offered in this player's guide, you should absolutely work with your GM to decide how you'll get your deviant powers. I didn't write this player's guide or develop the adventure path (I just wrote part 3), so I don't have much further insight into it than that, alas.
|
Side trek about Player's Guides:
** spoiler omitted **
That all said, if you really don't want to take any of the backgrounds offered in this player's guide, you should absolutely work with your GM to decide how you'll get your deviant powers. I didn't write this player's guide or develop the adventure path (I just wrote part 3), so I don't have much further insight into it than that, alas.
Ok thanks James, I'll let the players know.I'm going to use the Deviant Powers but some of them asked what would happen if they chose a different Background
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
If I was running this, I would definitely allow my players to comment up with their own backgrounds if desired, and would work with them to make sure a deviant power and link to the gate backstory were both part of the equation. I see the player’s guides as a great blueprint, but not a straight jacket.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
If I was running this, I would definitely allow my players to comment up with their own backgrounds if desired, and would work with them to make sure a deviant power and link to the gate backstory were both part of the equation. I see the player’s guides as a great blueprint, but not a straight jacket.
A good analogy, but being part of the team that puts a lot of hard work and thought into the free Player's Guides, I prefer thinking of them in a less negative analogy:
I see the Player's Guides as a free outfit for you to wear to a big event that will help you fit into that event without you having to go through the trouble of creating your own outfit and/or researching about the event in advance, especially if the event is gonna last for many days and you won't have all the information about the later days until after the first day starts. ;-)