D&D 5E Need help with a homebrew background idea/backstory for a Firbolg Druid.

[StarSapphire22]

Hey...new here, so sorry if this is in the wrong spot...didn't seem like character optimization to me. Anyways...

I'm working on a new character, a Firbolg Druid. I'm a bit of a animal geek IRL, and I was inspired by my love of nature as well as the new "Fantastic Beasts" movie to create a homebrew kind of 'Magizoologist' background. She keeps a journal with interesting plants and animals and magical creatures she encounters, with sketches and relevant info she learned...this will be added to throughout her adventure. I don't think it should be OP or too meta, since it's only covering things she's already seen/possibly fought and maybe a few starting things from her home forest (I'm pretty set on the Forest of Cormanthor).

So here's the things I'm struggling with.

1) How to build the homebrew background. What skills and proficiencies, what starting gear, a feature, etc.? I was thinking maybe painting supplies and an herbalism kit. Investigation, Insight, Perception, Survival, Stealth, Nature, and Animal Handling are all relevant skills.

2) Firbolgs don't really do names according to Volo's. To explain this and her unusual academic interests, I'm planning on her clan interacting with a nearby humanoid settlement of some sort (probably elves if it's in the Forest of Cormanthor) and her picking up some traits/habits from them. Probably they settled the region when she was very young, so it's just something she grew up with, though the elders might think her a bit odd. Thoughts?

The other issue with all this is, being a Firbolg, typically I would have no reason or desire to leave my forest. So why do I begin adventuring, and how does a young Firbolg's simple journal/sketchbook turn into a catalog of species? What grand purpose does it serve? Firbolg druids usually become the leaders of their clans...Was I sent on a mission by my elders to bring back seeds and repopulate a dying area of the wood? Am I on some sort of Critical Role Keyleth Arumente-style thing and just took a super nerdy approach to a loosely defined learning experience? I really, reallyyyyyy, REALLY am struggling with the hows and whys of my story. I feel like I have a fairly concrete idea of WHO this character is, but not so much her timeline/reasons.

3) I'm pretty much set on the Forest of Cormanthor (specifically the Starwood) for a lot of different flavor-y reasons. But I keep running into this issue that the forest has an already SUPER established timeline/history/occupants. After doing some research and studying of maps, the first area of the forest I was considering for our stronghold is occupied by Drow forces and other nasties (by the Old Elven Court), slightly southwwest is Tangled Trees which is occupied by hostile xenophobic Rillifane Rallathil worshipping elves and maybe dragon cultists?! Elventree to the north is settled. Myth Drannor is being rebuilt/that area being reclaimed. I want to stay true to the history of the area, but Firbolgs are reclusive, and would settle far from humans and elves, choosing to hide/work in secret if contact was forced. And they wouldn't live near main roads. How much of this (if any) can/should I ignore? How can I work with this? My only thought so far is that perhaps I live north of Tangled Trees near the Darkwood and a new outpost of settlers from Myth Drannor or Elventree has started moving in. Perhaps my people are wary at first, but realize these people have good intent and wish to restore/help the forest by clearing out the evil occupants who don't respect the forest and forge an alliance? I just don't know...

4) Lastly, I like the idea of her having a little animal buddy that hangs out with her. Doesn't really need to be a strong combat pet, just something small, mostly for flavour, maybe some scouting or something. Is taking the magic initiate feat and getting find familiar my best option? Finding a little pseudodragon or something in the woods and befriending it, only for it to get one shot by an enemy or aoe shortly after, seems kind of awful.

I'm open to any ideas on making this backstory/location work, as well as working out the details of the homebrew Magizoologist background (and maybe a better name for that, lol). I'd really appreciate any suggestions/thoughts. I've been working on this on and off for almost a week and I'm just really hitting a wall at this point. I love this character, but I'm stumped!

TIA!

 

[Herobizkit]

I'd likely just use the Outlander background and swap the extra language for painter's tools. Druid gets you an herbalism kit proficiency and Druids' Cant.

There are RP ideas in the background as well. Ask the DM what area he plans on starting the game in/premise for the opening game and what the other players are playing, then use that as a springboard as to why you're with them.

Animal buddies are easy to RP if you want no mechanical benefit from them. Otherwise, Magical Initiate (Wizard) works for Find Familiar, as does taking a straight up level in Wizard (provided your Int is 13 or greater).

 

[StarSapphire22]

I'd likely just use the Outlander background and swap the extra language for painter's tools. Druid gets you an herbalism kit proficiency and Druids' Cant.

There are RP ideas in the background as well. Ask the DM what area he plans on starting the game in/premise for the opening game and what the other players are playing, then use that as a springboard as to why you're with them.

Animal buddies are easy to RP if you want no mechanical benefit from them. Otherwise, Magical Initiate (Wizard) works for Find Familiar, as does taking a straight up level in Wizard (provided your Int is 13 or greater).

Thanks for the response. I considered using the Outlander background but it didn't really fit my idea for my character, hence why I am looking to create a custom one. I used a combination of Outlander, Sage, and Guild Artisan ideals/bond/etc. to create the kind of character I was going for. But the skills, feature, proficiencies, etc. I'm not really sure what to do.

As far as backstory, I'm looking more for help on why my character is compiling this info and why I left the forest in the first place. Firbolgs do not leave their forest/clan usually unless they are exiled, which is not a route I want to take. I'm not so much worried on how I meet up with the group, but the events leading up to meeting them. Sorry if that was unclear.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I know you're set on Cormanthor, but what about Rashemen? Just a thought.

I really wish warlock had a more nature oriented patron option, bc I feel like a warlock with Druid spells and nature based patron benefits would fit your character perfectly, and chain pact gets you a familiar.

If if you're interested in that and have a cool DM, I'm happy to build a patron for you that is basically a Warlock Druid. A Witch of the wilds sort.

Back to less left field stuff, I don't see why she needs any special explanation for her scholarly pursuits. No cultures are actually as monolithic as a roleplaying writeup makes them seem.

anyeay, seems like a really fun character

 

[vpuigdoller]

I would love to see such a patron and how you build it.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Fey pact is kind of a nature theme warlock.

As an adventurer, your firbolg is already a special snowflake, so things in a racial write up don't necessarily apply. She may simply be curious and wants to see creatures beyond what she can access in her home area.

Cormanthor Forest is a big area, so even if you're "near Tangle Tree" you could still be outside the area of whatever nasties reside there. FWIW Elventree has a lot of nonhuman refugees from Hillsfar. It wouldn't be out of order to be from near there.



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[jrowland]

For the Background I'd do something like the following.

Magizoologist
Skills: Arcana, Nature (Magical creatures and their mundane cousins)
Tools: Calligrapher's Kit, Painter's Kit
Feature: ?? I'm not that good at coming up with background features. Although, perhaps you could use an altered version of the Sage background: Researcher and have a number of contacts of other magizoologists that you can contact for bits of lore on specific creatures.

Pretty Good start, I'd change to:

Zoomagister (Pronounced Zo-O-Magister) or Zooarcanist (Pronounced Zo-O-Arcanist)
Skills: Arcana, Nature (Magical creatures and their mundane cousins)
Tools: Calligrapher's Kit (For drawings and recording new critters...painting seemed superfluous), Trapper's Kit (non-lethal trapping usually, but could be used to get Prof bonus for food gathering in lieu of Survical skill)
Feature: "Beast Scholar". You know, or can deduce, the mating habits, migration patterns, diet, etc of both Beasts and Magical beasts. In addition, as an action, you can make a DC 10 Nature (for Beasts) or Arcana (for Magical Beasts) to learn a trait of a creature you can see whose CR is less than or equal to your level.

Usually, background features do not grant a mechanical advantage, so your DM may want to drop the identify trait bit, or modify it to automatic, but only after studying the creature for 1, 10, or 60 minutes for example.

 

[StarSapphire22]

I know you're set on Cormanthor, but what about Rashemen? Just a thought.

I really wish warlock had a more nature oriented patron option, bc I feel like a warlock with Druid spells and nature based patron benefits would fit your character perfectly, and chain pact gets you a familiar.

If if you're interested in that and have a cool DM, I'm happy to build a patron for you that is basically a Warlock Druid. A Witch of the wilds sort.

Back to less left field stuff, I don't see why she needs any special explanation for her scholarly pursuits. No cultures are actually as monolithic as a roleplaying writeup makes them seem.

anyeay, seems like a really fun character

Thanks!

I'm not sure if the warlock route fits this specific character, but a nature-y version is something I have wished for too! If you wanted to draw something up, I'd definitely be interested in seeing it and keeping it in my back pocket for my next character.

 

[StarSapphire22]

Fey pact is kind of a nature theme warlock.

As an adventurer, your firbolg is already a special snowflake, so things in a racial write up don't necessarily apply. She may simply be curious and wants to see creatures beyond what she can access in her home area.

Cormanthor Forest is a big area, so even if you're "near Tangle Tree" you could still be outside the area of whatever nasties reside there. FWIW Elventree has a lot of nonhuman refugees from Hillsfar. It wouldn't be out of order to be from near there.



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Thanks - I think I am leaning towards the Elventree area so far.

I definitely think her curiosity may play a part in it, but I'm not sure it's enough to get her to want to leave. I feel like she needs some sort of catalyst to push her outside her comfort zone, I just can't figure out what.

Pretty Good start, I'd change to:

Zoomagister (Pronounced Zo-O-Magister) or Zooarcanist (Pronounced Zo-O-Arcanist)
Skills: Arcana, Nature (Magical creatures and their mundane cousins)
Tools: Calligrapher's Kit (For drawings and recording new critters...painting seemed superfluous), Trapper's Kit (non-lethal trapping usually, but could be used to get Prof bonus for food gathering in lieu of Survical skill)
Feature: "Beast Scholar". You know, or can deduce, the mating habits, migration patterns, diet, etc of both Beasts and Magical beasts. In addition, as an action, you can make a DC 10 Nature (for Beasts) or Arcana (for Magical Beasts) to learn a trait of a creature you can see whose CR is less than or equal to your level.

Usually, background features do not grant a mechanical advantage, so your DM may want to drop the identify trait bit, or modify it to automatic, but only after studying the creature for 1, 10, or 60 minutes for example.

I was leaning towards painting supplies, I guess because it seems more important to me that I capture physical appearance correctly than how fancy my handwriting is. Any old quill will do for jotting down notes, you know? The trapper's kit is an intriguing idea, and I like the direction that feature is heading in...my thought is that I can see a creature and (especially if I fight it) take notes on the features I see in use. For example, a bulette is visibly armored so that I could notice. An Aurumvorax is resistant to bludgeoning damage due to its dense coat, but I might not know that until I whack it with my staff and see that it isn't very bothered by the minimal damage I just did. Then maybe my character realizes, "oh, this creature eats metal and it's hide is made of a similar dense material, perhaps it is naturally armored in some way." Make sense?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Fey pact is kind of a nature theme warlock.

how so?

As an adventurer, your firbolg is already a special snowflake, so things in a racial write up don't necessarily apply. She may simply be curious and wants to see creatures beyond what she can access in her home area.

Cormanthor Forest is a big area, so even if you're "near Tangle Tree" you could still be outside the area of whatever nasties reside there. FWIW Elventree has a lot of nonhuman refugees from Hillsfar.

Agreed.

Also, OP, have you ever read The Wheel of Time series? There is a character in that that your character reminds me of.

What if if they are adventuring see the world and write about it?