WotBS Implementing Character Backstory into the Campaign

[Salicus]

Hello Again,

after I started the campaign and two people left because of time issues, i got the slots filled and am now thinking how to best invest people into the campaign and give them their moments.

I didnt read through the whole campaign, only the first adventure completely and the second for most of it.
I also dont know if things that I have come up with actually make sense in terms of storytelling so any help would me much appreciated.

I have 5 Characters in my group:

1. Is a Paladin from the Aqualine Cross who actually found a relic of Mercineum and turned into kind of a Warlock. At least for class that is. So he is the one I have the biggest problem coming up with a good thing to invest him in. I thought of giving him a quest by Mercineum which is about retrieving an artifact to be able to rebuild the fate in Mercineum again. But I dont know where I could put that in. I thought of using Mad Kings Banquet for that, but not sure yet.

2. Is a Monk of the West Wind. He is actually a Taranesti out of Innenotdar and I thought just giving him the living blade and saying something about the lines of that he is part of the Bloodline of Anyariel. But as far as I could read Anyariel is a female and actually was in love with a nymph so probably not really having kids or anything =/.
Still I wanted him to get invested into Innenotdar and even thought about him meeting his mother or an other close relative who he fought died in the fire. But maybe that relative was revived by the Fire Forest. Depends on how good the PC roleplays though.
About the Living Blade I am kinda sure, since he is a Elf out of that Forest and I dont want people to fight over the living blade tbh(namely the paladin who might be interested as well)

3. Is a Rogue Assassin whose backstory is, that he is a bastard son of Barazar who took his mother when they seized the land south of Sindaire. His mother was a Sindaire noble and I thought of her returning to Sindaire and maybe even be part of the Rebellion that was brewing in Korstull. Maybe he finds his dead mother in Korstull who wanted to give him a specific family heirloom or something. But she is dead obviously.

4. Is a Ranger from the new Subclass(thanks for that btw.). He is a Taranesti of Phorros Irrendra and I pretty much thought of giving him something much later on in the Echo of Souls where he might get something made by his old tribe or something. Not sure about that one yet but I still have a lot of time for that and he just joined last week.

5. The last one is an Elven child of 17 years. He is very young and his spellcasting is pretty much not a lot of thought rather then just doing it. He took the new Sorcerer Subclass and for him I just want to have him get in contact more and more with his trillith to the point where he can talk to him about pretty much everything. Maybe even later he will lose it because the trillith may sacrifice himself or something I dont know yet. But I want him to get invested with the spirit and have him see as a friend that he has with him.

Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[Mrpereira]

It depends on how far you are in the story. The west wind monk might have left the order (for a while or permanently) and returned to Innenotdar to try and figure out why the forest still burns and if it is possible to stop it. He might be willing to join the others against Ragesia if he beliwves them to be behind the burning of the forest.

The Paladin could be part of the refugee camps in chapter 3, and could be recruited into the group that way.

 

[Salicus]

It depends on how far you are in the story. The west wind monk might have left the order (for a while or permanently) and returned to Innenotdar to try and figure out why the forest still burns and if it is possible to stop it. He might be willing to join the others against Ragesia if he beliwves them to be behind the burning of the forest.

The Paladin could be part of the refugee camps in chapter 3, and could be recruited into the group that way.

thanks for your reply, but I might have not been clear what I meant. The People are already in the group and are travelling together. But I want to give them some kind of moment tied to their backstory for them to actually be more invested into the story. Right now we are nearing the end of the first Adventure. Today is the last Session that we will play that one I think, since we are already at the Nobles Mansion and since its only Gauntlet and Inquisitor after that(although gauntlet can take a lot of time) they will end it for sure and begin the second one.

 

[Mrpereira]

In my campaign I had a fire elf who hailed from Innenotdar, he had a lot of interest by him self figuring out what was up and down in that story, and who was really behind. There is a lot of things in adventure two to tie him into the story. The living blade will also give some extra incentive, but the story alone could do the trick. Also he has a tie in with the monks in chapter 5 already.

As for the knight of the aquilane cross, well if you are willing to wait for a longer while, you can have his story tie in to the backstory of Rhuarc in chapter 7. His backstory, which can be found on this forum, will fit nicely with the knight. You could also make a his quest a bit like the chase for the holy grail, by having it be the quest for the aquilin heart.

Just a few thougts

 

[Imaculata]

What I usually try to do, is focus on the main plot, and then have various side plots that are loosely all connected. So rather than writing a plot for one specific player, maybe just write something that they could all get invested in, and that has some ties to the main plot.

For example, I recently wrote a plot for my players regarding a fanatical religious order that they are trying to forge an alliance with. However, I also came up with a side plot where this order is being terrorised by creatures from the forest. Investigating these attacks is especially interesting for the druid of the party. But dealing with the wounded is also interesting for the priest of the party. Eventually these side plots lead back to the main plot, but I wrote it to appeal to specific pc's in the party, without it being just for one player in particular.

 

[tommybahama]

Why don't you ask the players what they want to see? They may not even be that invested in their background and may want their story moving forward in a different direction, not being pulled backward towards their past.

I've never had any DM use character backstory for anything in depth for any player so bravo for you.

 

[Tormyr]

I have a few ideas that build on the section on integrating characters in the campaign guide.

1. In adventure 3, Laurabec is from the order, and Takasi might be willing to be summoned by the PC after Laurabec dies. In adventure 7, Rhuarc will hold particular hatred for a paladin of the order, as the origins of the order are a tad dark. The zealots who murdered his father hailed from the order. The PC might look for how to further move the order beyond its rebirth in Sindaire into a true force for healing in the world. And then there is the ending of the campaign. . . The relic might somehow point to the legends of the primordials.
2. Anyariel could be the Taranesti's aunt or cousin and still be a part of the bloodline. A burning relative can show up in the cave in the north of Innennotdar. Other relatives could be based in the Gate Pass slums and be among the Resistance in adventure 9. As for the Living Blade, I have found that my party is quite good about deciding who should hold magic items to best benefit the party, and they have made some decisions that surprised and pleased me, but your mileage may vary. Don't forget that the two people who get Indomitable's boon get a very nice bonus as well. The Living Blade can take almost any form (including monk weapons) and there are also some great paladin magic items in adventure 6.
3. Barazar was the first Khagan of Ostalin who was murder by his son Onamdammin. There is a great opportunity for the PC to come face to face with Onamdammin in adventure 5 (and get revenge in adventure 11).
4. How old is the Taranesti from Phorrose Irrendra? Were they evacuated as a child? Regardless of their age, they might have some interesting interactions with Shaaladel and Shalosha, especially after they figure out that Innennotdar was the doing of the Shahalesti and see a vision of the purge in adventure 7.
5. What trait did the sorcerer choose? What kind of elf are they? As the campaign progresses, they should get the idea that something strange is going on, and there might be some interesting places for interactions throughout the campaign depending on their trait. By the time they finish with Balance, they should have a good idea of what is going on and have some idea that Crystin and Kathor are kindred spirits. The big payoff could be rescuing Trilla in adventure 10.

 

[Salicus]

I have a few ideas that build on the section on integrating characters in the campaign guide.

1. In adventure 3, Laurabec is from the order, and Takasi might be willing to be summoned by the PC after Laurabec dies. In adventure 7, Rhuarc will hold particular hatred for a paladin of the order, as the origins of the order are a tad dark. The zealots who murdered his father hailed from the order. The PC might look for how to further move the order beyond its rebirth in Sindaire into a true force for healing in the world. And then there is the ending of the campaign. . . The relic might somehow point to the legends of the primordials.
2. Anyariel could be the Taranesti's aunt or cousin and still be a part of the bloodline. A burning relative can show up in the cave in the north of Innennotdar. Other relatives could be based in the Gate Pass slums and be among the Resistance in adventure 9. As for the Living Blade, I have found that my party is quite good about deciding who should hold magic items to best benefit the party, and they have made some decisions that surprised and pleased me, but your mileage may vary. Don't forget that the two people who get Indomitable's boon get a very nice bonus as well. The Living Blade can take almost any form (including monk weapons) and there are also some great paladin magic items in adventure 6.
3. Barazar was the first Khagan of Ostalin who was murder by his son Onamdammin. There is a great opportunity for the PC to come face to face with Onamdammin in adventure 5 (and get revenge in adventure 11).
4. How old is the Taranesti from Phorrose Irrendra? Were they evacuated as a child? Regardless of their age, they might have some interesting interactions with Shaaladel and Shalosha, especially after they figure out that Innennotdar was the doing of the Shahalesti and see a vision of the purge in adventure 7.
5. What trait did the sorcerer choose? What kind of elf are they? As the campaign progresses, they should get the idea that something strange is going on, and there might be some interesting places for interactions throughout the campaign depending on their trait. By the time they finish with Balance, they should have a good idea of what is going on and have some idea that Crystin and Kathor are kindred spirits. The big payoff could be rescuing Trilla in adventure 10.

Hello,

first of all thank you for your input everyone.

After a 6 hour session, thanks to my PCs planning on just galopping through the gauntlet and therefor pretty much activating every PC on their path, they finally came into the fireforest. Funny thing though is, that they totally outplayed the first Inquisitor and spoiled his plans. They set up guards in the night, still fearing for the black horse bandits to come after them. Instead they saw the group of the Inquisitor and although the one rogue wanted to sneak to the stable, he was actually caught and killed by the groups rogue with a crit after sneaking up behind him. Since the other PCs knew of the arriving danger, they actually set an ambush themselves and killed the skeletons and the other goblin rogue in the first round. Having Good roles and the enemy beeing surprised helped them a lot. They controlled the inquisitor with some magic stonehand spell and smiley just didnt hit anything unfortunately. But it was a nice encounter and actually made Haddin rethink his stance on not wanting to go with them.

To the backstories:

The Paladin is the only one I am not so sure still. But I will use some pointers and will use the ones that come from the Aqualine Cross to actually make him more invested in his faith although I am still planning on giving him a good weapon to bond with as part of his Hexblade Subclass or will make that sword become magic at some point in the story(something like beeing activated after doing something for it)

The thing with Anyariel beeing an aunt of his is actually a pretty good idea. I will take something along those lines and will have indomitability react to him because of that heritage. Hopefully he and the other Taranesti, although from different locations, will bond together and play it out nicely with the Shahalesti when they meet them.

I didnt know that he was killed by his son. Have to be honest, I dont read much ahead, I only finished the second adventure book and will begin the third one shortly. But maybe Onamdammin also kept track of his half brothers in fear of beeing overthrown and will be very hostile to the player. Maybe even have his mother or someone else killed. because the PC fled the lands to Gate Pass.

The Taranesti will see what happened to his kin in Adventure 7 and of course see what the Shahalesti did in Innenotdar.

About the half elf sorcerer kid. Its hard to actually get him to understand the Sense and mechanic behind his Subclass without telling him too much. He took some kind of easy going and relaxed trait and took Tashas Hideous Laughter as a spell, which actually already helped them a lot. When they first met Crystin I told him that he feels as if he met her before. At some point I will make the Trillith speak to him and will see what happens from there.

Also the Ranger Subclass, feels a bit overpowered in the beginning doesnt it? He took a Dire Wolf and that beast is tanky as hell. I actually am counting it as a PC right now for the purpose of making the combat encounters, since its way to easy otherwise.

 

[Tormyr]

Sounds like a good setup!

Classes with companion animals are difficult to balance over the course of levels 1-20. So you might find it overpowering early on and underwhelming near the end. The idea is to be able to forge a bond with the creature over the course of the campaign and have it be able to survive rather than finding an animal and having it die.

The Easy Going sorcerer might also want to look at calm emotions and sanctuary.

If they really are finding the encounters too easy, then you are handling it correctly by bumping the difficulty up 1 level. That is part of why the difficulty adjustment is there. Also, there are 3 different NPCs along for the ride on top of everything else. All of that is there in the first couple adventures to give you as the DM some levers to pull to adjust things as you and the group get a feel for how things are going. It's always a bummer to start a campaign with lots of backstory and lose it all to a TPK in the second session.

 

[Salicus]

I think the PC already cares for the animal and does not send it in with the thinking, that it can be resummoned at any point. In his backstory he kinda bonded with it when he had to flee Phorros Indra and since then it has been his companion as he grew up.