Talk:Afflicted (5e Background)

As if Slave (5e Background) wasn't heavy enough, I just had to dream this thing up too! Slave was hard to work on because the research always forced me to dig up extremely unpleasant information, but this... Maybe it's just hitting too close to home because so many people I know have life-altering conditions? The more I work on this, the more potential I see for it to cause social problems at the table. Stealing a PC's childhood girlfriend as a macguffin for a dungeon crawl is one thing, but taking their one possession they have to remind them of a youth without suffering? That's just sick. An irresponsible DM could very easily dredge up bad feelings from a player who gets attached to a character with this sort of background. Don't get me wrong, it has massive potential for powerful story telling... I can just see it going very wrong, or giving the wrong impressions, if used irresponsibly. On the other hand, it can very easily make you walk a mile in someone else's shoes, experience emotional responses to situations you would never have in your real life. And it allows the exploration of a subject I feel is not often explored well in media. Still doesn't help that I feel sad every time I work on it. --Kydo (talk) 03:28, 3 August 2015 (MDT)

I'm not too sure about this. I understand it as a background, in which the affliction dominates that person's life. But once they become an adventurer, they gain access to cure disease and other curative wonders of fantasy. Then you need to explain either what happens to the background feature (and how this background defines you); or why cure disease can't cure leprosy or whatever. Marasmusine (talk) 15:22, 16 May 2017 (UTC)

Hm... You are correct, the disease item doesn't work in that regard. The others could just be treated as "It's too late for greater restoration; this is what your natural form is now." but a disease is inherently foreign. --Kydo (talk) 06:49, 3 June 2017 (UTC)

I would run this as a result of a generational curse, or at least in most cases. This is similar to the case of Tieflings. Just as a "remove curse" won't unmake a Tiefling (and I'd imagine neither would Wish), so to would these afflictions be truly permanent. Vobria (talk) 05:28, 28 June 2018 (MDT)

Quality Article Nomination

— This article did not become a quality article. Yanied (talk) 19:51, 16 December 2023 (MST)
Please feel free to re-nominate it once it meets the QA criteria and when all the major issues brought up in this nomination have been dealt with.

• Support. This is well written, and offers the character a lot of options. --Green Dragon (talk) 23:27, 10 December 2019 (MST)

• Oppose. This background decides that a PC could not otherwise be disfigured/diseased... or if they are, could not allow the DM to have NPCs feel pity or fear towards them. I actually do not think this is appropriate for a background at all. Marasmusine (talk) 08:54, 6 March 2020 (MST)

• Oppose. I do not feel that this background addeqeutly covers an average person who has physical deformities or who are otherwise afflicted with something, and the afflictions covered and the very features of this background will usually forever pigeon hole DM's into acting a certain way towards a PC with this background. Plus, many diseases, curses, scars, ect. can be removed with magic. With a complete rework, this may be usable and potential qualify for a quality article, but besides that, I agree with Mara. In this page's current state, it seems inappropriate for this page to be a background at all.--Blobby383b (talk) 00:12, 17 March 2020 (MDT)
• Oppose: I could see this as something like a variant of the official haunted one background, and even then it would be setting-restricted because, as mentioned, players generally have access to spells and other stuff that could remove diseases and whatnot unless it's some super special plot thing. I could see this being expanded upon to include something like a more general curse, like being cursed by the gods or something, and that would also aid in facilitating adventuring. But, in its current state, I agree with the above that this is not QA quality. I will say though that this sort of reminds me of the writing in ADND2e regarding specific injuries, though that was about an alternative to grievous injury rules...--Yanied (talk) 19:51, 16 December 2023 (MST)