Character background stories- what are the most common tropes that appear?

[Fenris-77]

I think the "everyone in my background is dead" probably tops my list. My parents died, my village was wiped out, the monastery I grew up in was destroyed, my entire clan was killed in battle, etc etc. Now they want Vengeance!

Nobody gets into adventuring because their marks in Arcana were good and they didn't know what else to do besides go to Wizard school and now they're having trouble finding a job because Abjuration isn't the growth industry they were led to believe it was.

 

[Celebrim]

Nobody gets into adventuring because their marks in Arcana were good and they didn't know what else to do besides go to Wizard school and now they're having trouble finding a job because Abjuration isn't the growth industry they were led to believe it was.

No, but I would love it if I got a background like that. Granted, it doesn't have quite the mess with me potential as backgrounds featuring mystery or catastrophe, but it does suggest a player that really wants to dive into the setting. The closest thing I've got to that recently was a cleric who was a trouble maker in seminary, but not so much they weren't ordained, but sufficiently so that they gave him the worst assignment available and no resources to accomplish it. It gave me a character who was supporting himself by begging for alms, living in a cheap apartment in the bad part of town, whose neighbor was the undertaker for the local graveyard, and who purpose was to re-instill piety in the cult of his deity which had otherwise all but vanished from the region. Not a lot of grand backstory, but plenty of things to hook the character into grit of the setting.

 

[Fenris-77]

Backstory that's kind of, well, normal for want of a better word, is can be refreshing. It doesn't have to be all dead parents and hello my name is Inigo Montoya to be good.

 

[prabe]

Backstory that's kind of, well, normal for want of a better word, is can be refreshing. It doesn't have to be all dead parents and hello my name is Inigo Montoya to be good.

I had a character who ran away from home because she didn't want to be the bride in a crossbow wedding. That seems in the ballpark of what you're talking about.

 

[Len]

Nobody gets into adventuring because their marks in Arcana were good and they didn't know what else to do besides go to Wizard school and now they're having trouble finding a job because Abjuration isn't the growth industry they were led to believe it was.

That's pretty close to one of my characters. He was a magic nerd (learned dispel magic at 5th level because fireball is boring) but was tired of studying so he left university to see the world.

As for "everyone in my family is dead", my DMs just declare them to be alive after all, or invent new relatives, and they turn out to be BBGs at some point.

 

[Fenris-77]

As for "everyone in my family is dead", my DMs just declare them to be alive after all, or invent new relatives, and they turn out to be BBGs at some point.

A DM applying force to alter the diagetic frame established by your backstory? Tell me it's not true! That DM is a terrible person and should feel bad.

 

[Nagol]

"My background? Not much to say. I'm neither interesting nor important. Now you are far more intriguing! What is yours like?"

 

[Eltab]

Backstory that's kind of, well, normal for want of a better word, is can be refreshing. It doesn't have to be all dead parents and hello my name is Inigo Montoya to be good.

Cleric (of Waukeen*) / Sage background:
I began adventuring because the Sheriff of Nottingham did NOT appreciate my Master's Thesis on the proper level of taxation on property and income. Did not appreciate it at all. Not in the least little bit.

* Goddess of wealth / money / merchants

 

[DwarfHammer]

my DM actually gave me the background of my favorite character. His father was murdered my feetla. And I would not rest until his bones were all broken and dragged across the field.

 

[Tonguez]

I've put that in the list as calling from deity.

You're right, and I guess that explains why you don't see many characters made that are struggling with their faith. They KNOW there is a god!
How would you build the start of a campaign so that a cleric was struggling? Or perhaps just not a very good Cleric, and so couldn't be certain that his God would intervene to grant him spells?

Even in real life, I suspect that most clergy will tell you that they were called by the Spirit/god rather than just deciding it was a nice job.

As to Crisis of Faith:
I played a giant cleric who was having a crisis of faith due to how giants were being treated/perceived by Society and the Church (ie as monsters) even though his beleif was that the giants descended directly from the High Archon of the Heavenly Phalanx. As the gods were real the conflict was thus between the Cleric and the Church and the question of how the gods could support both the Church and the Cleric despite their fundamental differences in beleif.

Other Tropes:
I’ve seen the dead/lost parents tropes far too much, and of course lots of PCs are the sole survivor who have had their entire tribe/village/monastary wiped out so now they are seeking revenge.
I do like the variation where the PC has been forced out by an usurper but is in fact the rightful chief of their tribe.

for my PCs I used an analogue to the Highland Clearances to explain why Tomas (human ranger) went wandering, whereas Orbril the Gnome went adventuring for curiosity and got himself in to a whole lot of unexpected events.