Help with NPC background please

[Gwaihir]

Were Starting a new campaign Saturday! All the PCS are elves from the same elven settlement. I have created an NPC fighter with the background of a very junior (Starting level = 4) member of the Kings gaurd, forced to resign in disgrace.

Why? The obvious (dereliction of duty, dallying with the wrong comely female elf) seem, while --obvious?

Please help!

 

[fba827]

Were Starting a new campaign Saturday! All the PCS are elves from the same elven settlement. I have created an NPC fighter with the background of a very junior (Starting level = 4) member of the Kings gaurd, forced to resign in disgrace.

Why? The obvious (dereliction of duty, dallying with the wrong comely female elf) seem, while --obvious?

Please help!

* made a pass at the king's daughter
* caught looking at the queen
* started a fight with a fellow officer once he realized the fellow officer's father was to blame for something that happened to his own father/family
* got in to a fight with his fellow officer after the fellow made a pass at the fighter's own sister/mother/wife/daughter/etc
* while escorting the king (with the rest of the guard) and getting ambushed, the king got on the boat but he held the boat so that his wounded fellow officers could get on as well (rather than just riding off with just the king to ensure his safety). Although everyone was safe, he was in trouble since his first thought should have been the king's safety and forgetting his comrades.
* one morning he was late for reporting in since he stopped to help his father/family with something else


(I figure it wouldn't be anything _bad_ or else he would have been arrested not just discharged)

 

[Prisoner6]

* pissed off a superior by beating him in gambling or a sport.
* was assigned to care for the King's horse or hunting dogs, which just happened to be injured or got sick.
* was defeated in combat by a commoner ... who cheated, but no one knows that.
* hey ... there's only about 10,000 ways alcohol could have been involved.
* was set up by a rival ... perhaps the rival hid his sword so he could not report for duty, or really allowed the King's hunting dogs to get out (and the NPC was blamed).
* was lax in his duties ... maybe he was supposed to check the grain supplies for the horses, but was lazy and only checked most of it. Unfortunately those 3 sacks in back that he didn't check had tainted grain that made the horses sick.
* decided it was more important to attend a religious service than report for duty
* puked on a member of the royal family he was supposed to be guarding. The guy just got sick, but didn't want to leave his post. Or, maybe he had the runs and *had* to leave his post.
* removed from the service because a family member or close friend turned out to be a spy or criminal. Having the NPC close to the king was considered "too risky".
* removed from the service because his girlfriend kept showing up while he was working just to "talk" or ask for money.
* ruined a portrait of someone in the royal family by accidentally scraping his armor against it.
* participated in a flag ceremony, but hung the flag upside down.
* was late for duty, so he took a "short cut" through the king's private gardens. Everybody in the guard does it, but the NPC was unlucky and caught the prince having a romp with a serving girl. Prince had NPC reassigned somewhere far, far away.

 

[Sigurd]

Noble & Chivalrous

Swore secret oath to significant other and held to oath at expense of duty to king.

ie. Bring Lady Jessup to elven shrine to meet with X. This gets in the way of "Bring Lady Jessup to safety in the ____ right away.

Dumb Luck

The King's guard must always number X people. Someone lost comes back. Character is out.

Mysterious

Someone, or something, reviews and approves all the guard. Character wasn't approved. Nobody knows why.

Honor

Character's family or half family falls into dishonor. Character sides with family and cannot accept service while he is tainted by the dishonor. Maybe dishonor is false, maybe not.



Sigurd

 

[Insane Cheese]

You could take one of the discharge idea from above, but it is all a lie. And the resignation is/was untrue.

Your Fighter is actually on some kind of secret mission that requires him to have severed all ties with the Kings Guard. You can't tell anyone until the mission is complete.

 

[Loonook]

You could take one of the discharge idea from above, but it is all a lie. And the resignation is/was untrue.

Your Fighter is actually on some kind of secret mission that requires him to have severed all ties with the Kings Guard. You can't tell anyone until the mission is complete.

This is a scene-hogging start, and a lot of the ideas presented are 'funny', but I think you could do better. Personally, the question of why you are removed from the King's Guard seems to be one which can really only be answered with further knowledge of the culture. If somehow Elves = Overwrought Japanese hippies, then the Dishonor side of it may work the best.

Elves naturally live forever (hyperbole), and they have always seemed to have long, long memories. These memories may have been the downfall of the soldier; perhaps the soldier is cast out by the king's officers due to some sort of vetting... really, this sort of thing should be discussed between you and your DM so as to make a nice, strong background through which both yourself and your character could grow.

Slainte,

-Loonook.

 

[Robbs]

if politics is your game, how about simple conflict of interest? PC is distantly related to a rival for the throne. When connection is revealed, they are released. This allows it to go either way, self-fulfilling prophecy where the PC now wants the king to lose his throne or PC busts his butt to prove the king made a mistake in dropping him. Also, gives nice rivalry with current guards.

 

[Thanael]

Why? He doesn't know. He was just released and is quite puzzled over it.
It's a perfect plot device opportunity for the DM.

 

[Prisoner6]

Why? He doesn't know. He was just released and is quite puzzled over it.
It's a perfect plot device opportunity for the DM.

Well, even if *he* doesn't know, the DM should probably have some idea of his own.

 

[Gwaihir]

Thanks for all the input! This background is for an NPC - so I don't want it to be scene-hogging. I'm guessing I'll keep it ambiguous until the PCs start to dig into it. I'm leaning toward using Insane Cheeses idea, but I'm gonna leave the reason open until the PCS start digging and adapt to what theyve accomplished so far. thanks!