Need your creative help with a new character

[Zaphling]

I had this cool and unique idea about a new Dungeons and Dragons character, although it was inspired from my Skryim character. But you can't build your own background story in Skyrim since it's already set out for you. So here goes.

Personality Traits: Havoc is mostly a man of few words. He spends his time in camp sitting alone silently pouring over his spellbooks and writing in his journal. He rarely interacts with his party members and only gives a single word response or a grunt whenever he is being talked to. None of his companions know about his background story.

Mannerisms and Appearance: Havoc is a half-orc with dark gray skin. He has a mean-looking lower canine teeth commonly found among orcs and he has a red war paint in his face, across both of his eyes, which looks like a bird of prey. He has dread locks which he tied into a pony tail and fancies a pair of beastly manchops. His companions first thought he was blind since both of his eyes are just plain orbs of white. He maintains a very muscled body even for a mage and wears bone necklaces and bracelets.

Character Background: Havoc was the name he chose to use among his companions and he never let them know his real name. He came from a secluded college of magic...


This is where I'm stuck. I need some explanation why he has pure white eyes and why he is a mage instead of a typical barbarian or warrior. He specializes in Destruction magic, I mean Evocation. and his secondary school specialization is Conjuration. Pls help me create his background into a rich and logical one. I'm trying not to do a cliche, but if you can't help it, it's fine.

some questions to answer:
who raised him?
what made him into an adventurer?
whats his secret?
whats his main goal?
what happened to him? to his past family or friends?
why does he have a bird war pain in his face and has white eyes?
and more i can't think of.

THanks for helping me.

 

[marelion]

I`d personally try moving backwards through the points listed in your post.

A Half-Orc wizard always involves some playing against the clichèes. I would honestly consider Melee Training: Intelligence just to be able to keep up the pretense of the dumb halfbreed in a barfight or to swing a club for show. An orc wizard sure gets noticed, unlike some half-orc brute and from what I can tell from your post he is not into socializing and does not like to attract attention, hence the masquarade.

For interesting story hooks you could deceide you do not know who painted your face as a player. You could start adventuring waking up in a back alley with a terrible headache.This could also be a potential reason why you are going on an adventure. Or maybe this idea is not too great and I`ve been playing too much Shadowrun recently.^^

just my two cents, maybe I`ll have something more after a goodnight`s rest.

 

[Ryujin]

You don't say what his alignment is, so I'm going to assume Unaligned.

Why are his eyes white?
- Because his curiosity (and need for freedom) led him to look somewhere he shouldn't have (a trapped Wizard's spellbook).

Who raised him?
- Sold as a slave, when a child, to the school. He was raised as a house servant; "Dobby", if you will.

What made him into an adventurer?
- He did, all by himself, by learning enough magic, in secret, to escape from the school.

Whats his secret?
- That he's an escaped slave. He's just generally secretive, though, because it's a habit. He couldn't exactly learn magic in the open, if he was a slave, and no one was going to teach a half-orc slave to cast.

Whats his main goal?
- To build his knowledge and power, so that no one can ever take away his freedom again.

What happened to him? to his past family or friends?
- Killed by the slavers, when he was very young. He's too smart to seek them out for revenge, but wouldn't be above roasting them over a slow fire if he ever crossed paths with them.

Why does he have a bird war pain in his face and has white eyes?
- Because he's intelligent. He understands that it makes him look like a savage and fosters the image, for that reason, because people tend to underestimate his intelligence because of it. Monosylabic responses and face paint (and maybe a big, sharp scimitar) help to support this misconception.

 

[Unwise]

Rather than being a slave yourself, what if you were taught by a slave.

Havoc's father is an Orc cheiftan, he is the spawn of one of his slave-concubines. Havoc knows from birth that he one day he will die at the hands of his brothers as they come to power over the tribe. He is the least favorite, a runt of the litter. Nobody respect intelligence where he comes from.

He might well be the Shamans favorite though. The shaman can see great potential in having a smart cheiftan or advisor for the clan. Being only half-orcish Havoc does not take to shamanism well though, the spirits of Gruumsh and the ancestors won't heed his call. So the Shaman has his slave human magician teach Havoc some magic to help him survive and maybe even overthrow his father and brothers when the inevitable brutal challenges come.

Alternatively, Havoc does not get on well with the Shaman at all and learns all his magic in secret from a human slave. On the condition that he rescues the slave an his family when he makes his escape.

Eventually, the Orc chief dies and Havoc knows he has only 24hrs to live if he stays, as his 10 brothers will soon engage in a mass slaughter of each other to decide the next chieftain. He decides it is time to leave and go learn more magic than this slave can teach him. He uses his unexpected powers to fight his way clear and make a break for it.

Did he help the slave escape? Does he plan on coming back for him?

Will he return to take control of the tribe, the only family he has known?

I like the idea of a guy who is far more Orcish than human. PC half-orcs are all ways humans with unfortunate heritage. This plays on that idea, as Havoc if anything is more ashamed of his human side, which stopped him inheriting ruler ship of his people.

 

[LostSoul]

some questions to answer:
1. who raised him?
2. what made him into an adventurer?
3. whats his secret?
4. whats his main goal?
5. what happened to him? to his past family or friends?
6. why does he have a bird war pain in his face and has white eyes?
7. and more i can't think of.

1. The parasite that burrowed into his brain when he was a kid.
2. The very same parasite.
3. He has a parasitic alien fish/mollusk living in his brain.
4. The parasite has a lot of interesting stories to tell, and he'd like some too. He wants to explore new things, see new places, and destroy them (he's an orc, after all).
5. They shunned him. "No son of mine will learn to read!"
6. It's damage to the skin caused by secretions from his parasite. Something or other does the same to his eyes.
7. The parasite is his spellbook. It also knows some rituals, but to access that it needs to process certain specific metals - platinum, gold, silver, copper.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Havoc is mostly a man of few words. He spends his time in camp sitting alone silently pouring over his spellbooks and writing in his journal. He rarely interacts with his party members and only gives a single word response or a grunt whenever he is being talked to. None of his companions know about his background story.

Stop right there. That alone would be grounds for me sending the background back and asking for you to change it. Tabletop roleplaying is a fundamentally social activity and if you are going to give so little social interaction, either you are going to be effectively ignored most of the time (a negative play experience for you) or other players and the DM are going to have to bend over backwards to bring you in (a negative play experience for them). Either way "Brooding antisocial loner" is to me a huge warning flag that this is not going to be a fun character at the table.

This is where I'm stuck. I need some explanation why he has pure white eyes and why he is a mage instead of a typical barbarian or warrior. He specializes in Destruction magic, I mean Evocation. and his secondary school specialization is Conjuration.

Conjuration has gone from 4th ed as a specialisation.

But even granting that I don't see why you need to be playing a wizard to match your concept. Destruction magic to me doesn't necessarily say wizard - it can as easily say sorceror or warlock. (Or even Invoker). And given your desired low charisma and interaction skills, I'm seeing a constitution based infernal or star-pact warlock (probably infernal) with the Eldritch Strike at will allowing some decent melee combat. Come to think of it, a vestige lock would do well as well for a would be consurer - but I'd recommend the hell'lock (Infernal pact).

Note that Warlocks need to be built with care - a slapdash Warlock is a weak character.

If you go for Warlock, the first question is who or what his pact is with and why he made it. Which answers about a third of your questions.

 

[jbear]

Don't take melee training: intelligence just to appear brutish. Waste of a feat for a wizard no matter what your race.

It's late but thinking of your white eyes:

Good feat for wizards (all arcane characters really): White Lotus Riposte.+

Your secret society trains its students by dripping a liquid made from a mysterious flower that turns the eyes completely white but heighens your arcane reflexes allowing you to master the skill of returning sharp and deadly arcane ripostes. This is also a mark that you survived the gruelling entrance test and henced joined the society's very select ranks. All those in your society have white eyes, a secret well kept.

If you like, that may be a sorce for you to answer the other questions yourself. If not ... I'm going to bed!

 

[Ryujin]

Or, and I missed this bet, you're half Orc and half Changeling

 

[Unwise]

1. The parasite that burrowed into his brain when he was a kid.
2. The very same parasite.
3. He has a parasitic alien fish/mollusk living in his brain.
4. The parasite has a lot of interesting stories to tell, and he'd like some too. He wants to explore new things, see new places, and destroy them (he's an orc, after all).
5. They shunned him. "No son of mine will learn to read!"
6. It's damage to the skin caused by secretions from his parasite. Something or other does the same to his eyes.
7. The parasite is his spellbook. It also knows some rituals, but to access that it needs to process certain specific metals - platinum, gold, silver, copper.

As wierd as it is, I really like some of these ideas. To keep it in the theme of normal D&D without adding much to the core, what about it being a Kalashtar? The dream-thingies that join with people to make the Kalashtar cuodl presumeably join with an orc too. The Orc was doing a shamanistic 'dream trial' or something, met this being from the dream world and joined with it.

Kalashtar have funky eyes, so that fits too.

 

[Zaphling]

So I've finally managed to build him into a full-fledged character. Thanks everyone for the quality input, special mention to Ryujin for the very interesting plot possibilities.

Here's Havoc's final form:
Ways of The Dee Em: Dee Em Characters: Havoc the Evoker