Li Shenron
Legend
howandwhy99 said:If the DM doesn't ratchet down this PC and lose the endless questing, Hytotimous is going to overwhelm whatever the rest of the party wants to do. In fact, they're might end up following the "chosen one" around for the rest of the campaign.
I agree that his background is overdone and pretentious, as it seems to introduce events and characters which is the DM's role.
But I wouldn't like to just force the player to change it. I would explain the player that whatever is in his PC background is not 100% the truth. Is he really destined to those deeds? Find out. Does Zorb really exist? Maybe it's a false religion or a made-up myth. Was the PC really born in those circumstances? Maybe that's just his parents tale and they died before he was old enough to be told that is was only a goodnight fable.
howandwhy99 said:- If some players use only in-game events to progress their character, are they shortchanged when others use extra backgrounds to progress more?
Not really, I wouldn't say they are penalized.
howandwhy99 said:- What of the potential of manipulating the campaign world of the DM by including things a player would normally have no control over, be it Vecna or Zorb above.
As I said, Vecna or Zorb are not necessarily what he believes them to be. You can of course adjust your settings to that his BG is actually truthful, but you not need to. Plus, finding that your belief is wrong should be seen as a good PC development opportunity rather than a penalty, if he's a good RPer.