Wow, sure is convenient for the billionaire that the city's problems aren't due to widespread socioeconomic inequality and mental illness but instead because tHe CItY wAnTS tO Be EVIL.

...I liked this article but I spent the whole time reading it fearing how the comments would look and cringing. Unfortunately when I actually reached the bottom, I found my fears confirmed. It's painfully frustrating to read them, and kinda reminds me why I've largely moved on from D&D into other, more flexible games. I have a lot I want to say, but I'll try to be brief.

"Ability scores" has always been a rather brutish and unsophisticated way of expressing a person's capabilities and weaknesses. Backgrounds, as presented by 5e and 5.5e, defines a person more by their career than by their actual individual experiences. When these two traits are put together, you get a very rough system in which a person is defined by a stereotype than by who they individually are.