Character background

[Ganymede81]

When I write up a character background, I like to devote a couple paragraphs to a character's appearance and personality.

How do his years of torment impact his personality?
What does his ritual scarification look like?
What does he do now?
What is his bond, ideal, and flaw?

So we have a psychopathic orc/elf mongrel whose parents were tortured and killed along with all their other spawn because they had been very, very naughty and incurred the wrath of the gods. This story is about the last of the unholy spawn to be liquidated. Which it will be.

No sane adventurer is going to associate with this character. The gods hate him, he's walking bad luck and it's only a matter of time before the roof falls on his head and the heads of anyone foolish enough to be nearby.

Try again.

I agree with everything here but the words "Try Again." I'd replace them with "Have fun with it, see where it goes."

 

[kavarro95]

I'm going 1 or 2 levels barbarian so I don't have the burden of armor, plus all of his scars, being a constant reminder of his tribulations, drive his divine rage. Then leveling paladin going forward. A "Barbadin" if you will.

Personality : I am slow to trust and will die before I am ever enslaved again. I will make all orcs that worship Gruumsh pay for what they did to me.

Ideals : Slavery is a grievous injustice that I will not tolerate.

Bond : I've lost my entire family and I am just looking for a place I belong.

Flaw : I am filled with a hatred towards orcs, to a violent extreme.


There are several Gruumsh religious brands on him which he has attempted to forcibly remove or burn off of himself, and a scar on his face where they tried to cut his eye out right before the dwarves got there.

 

[Ancalagon]

Personality : I am slow to trust and will die before I am ever enslaved again.



Bond : I've lost my entire family and I am just looking for a place I belong.

Interesting - the slow to trust and looking for a place to belong are two instincts in almost direct opposition. It essentially means that deep inside, your character is lonely. You don't want to trust new people, but you have to because of your soul-crushing loneliness.

 

[Morinth]

Interesting - the slow to trust and looking for a place to belong are two instincts in almost direct opposition. It essentially means that deep inside, your character is lonely. You don't want to trust new people, but you have to because of your soul-crushing loneliness.

I like where this is going. One of the ways this can play out is to have the character be somewhat gruff with the other PCs, but not a complete jerk. Just kind of thorny. After all, the other PCs probably want the same thing that he wants, to destroy marauding bands of orcs. That's not a solo activity, and even though the character is a barbarian, he's not stupid. He knows he needs people on his side. And their very not-orcishness is what makes him grow to care about them over time, though he'll struggle with showing them that he cares. It will trigger his protective instincts, and he'll completely flip out if one of them is kidnapped, is gravely injured, or dies. He'll always be a little bit paranoid that he's going to lose them too, and it will cause him to overestimate any threat that they face without him. If they're at half-hit points, he'll think they're at death's door. That sort of thing. Could be a fun angle to play.

 

[Ancalagon]

Have you consider Ranger with hated enemy as an alternative to paladin?

 

[krunchyfrogg]

I'd add something in there about almost dying from your wounds, so you can add in a hook with another character, hopefully a PC who nursed you back from the brink of death.

This way, at least you'll have a connection to somebody.

 

[kavarro95]

The ranger class is more like a general woodlands protector type. Paladin has that single minded zealotry I feel he would have.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I like where this is going. One of the ways this can play out is to have the character be somewhat gruff with the other PCs, but not a complete jerk. Just kind of thorny.

I like that angle too. Even if it's "in character" jerkiness, some players won't like that interaction, so I recommend first presenting this to the other players to get their buy in. An additional effect of being forthright with the other players is that they'll be able to play off your character in a way that highlights the story you want to tell for your character.

 

[Morinth]

I like that angle too. Even if it's "in character" jerkiness, some players won't like that interaction, so I recommend first presenting this to the other players to get their buy in. An additional effect of being forthright with the other players is that they'll be able to play off your character in a way that highlights the story you want to tell for your character.

Indeed. Playing a prickly character personality has to be role-played carefully. The other players always have to be aware that it is the character who is a fussbudget, that the player is herself not actually feeling the same way.

 

[kavarro95]

Here's a new one I just came up with for a forest gnome eldritch knight.

Nanrek Perikulosum grew up with a troupe of performers. Eventually falling in love with a fair gnome performer such as himself. Oh how they danced and tumbled for everyone, it was obvious how much love was shared between the two.

    One evening while performing for a nearby village, a warlord's raiding party attacked them killing nearly everyone in the group and razing most of the town they were performing in.

He watched,beaten and bloody,as his beloved was killed right in front of him as he was unable to help her. Her desperate final words were "Please do not stop loving because I am lost to you, continue loving, continue life, and love as much as you can." Accepting her death as an omen he vowed never to allow those he loved to be harmed due to his lack of skill. 

For the next 5 years he trained everywhere he could by paying for his training with a song or a dance,and eventually decided he could learn nothing more from just practicing and struck out to find adventure of his own... hopefully worthy of a song.