Having Fun with an Alternative Character Creation Method

[Lalato]

Xanathar’s has a similar “This is Your Life” section you can use to create your character’s backstory.

I only "own" it via D&D Beyond and I hadn't actually read through it. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Draegn]

Do you have this codified anywhere in a document? If it's in a shareable state, I wouldn't mind taking a gander.

Sorry, I am working on that. There are still things I would like to work out. However, Talislanta is a free download from their site and there is the chummer 5 free download software that is a Shadowrun character builder. If you look at these you will have a fair idea of what I am working towards.

I will try to summarize for you.

Each background takes a certain amount of time (ages your character a number of years).

Each background gives you three skill points to spend on a set of skills per year in the background.

A background does not have to be completed, you can leave it early, however doing so may prevent you from going to an advanced background and causes a loss of benefits for completing the background. One friend calls this the Star Wars Saga tree?

Example: Apprentice magician takes seven years, grants 21 skill points for the magic skill group, allows you to go to Novice Magician, and grants you seven free known spells. However, you could leave after three years with only nine skill points for the magic skill group and three known spells.

I have my players start at age five and ask them to choose at a minimum a number of backgrounds that will age them ten to twenty years. The averages are 18-23.

I am debating about how to handle the different races as they age. I have all the races age at the same rate until the late teens at which point the aging process slows down for some. Elves age one year for every twenty that passes when compared to humans. If an elf and a human were both to take all five of the magician backgrounds Apprentice Magician, Novice Magician, Magician, Master Magician, Arch Magician; the elf would appear to be a typical university aged student while the human would be ready for an aged persons care home.

I want to allow my players to create any character they want to, yet I doubt any would play a human so aged. But what of an elf? Should there be a negative attached to the more advanced backgrounds?