Trying something new for this campaign

[LGodamus]

So anyway, I have required all of my characters to turn in a background...before they write up their character on their character sheet. Not so odd yet ,eh? Well the reason I asked for it before hand is that I am basing the character's starting level and starting gold on their background. So, I have potential starting levels anywhere from first to fourth level with an average of around second level.... I was wondering has anyone else ever done this, if so what kind of difference did it make in your game. My primary reasoning behind it is to get people to be more creative and be more interested in their characters there by making a richer game....hopefully it will work since there is a reward in it....plus if you have to write the background out it forces you to consider the character a little more closely...comments?

 

[der_kluge]

I would say, tread carefully. If I were playing in that game, and I had an interesting background, but it didn't include much adventuring, or something, and you made me 1st level, and someone else in the party was 4th, I'd be pretty annoyed. Not to mention the fact that you'll have a dickens of a time trying to scale encounters for a group like that.

The other thing to consider is, and I don't know your group at all, but individual levels of participation outside the game are going to vary greatly. Some people just might not have the time to write up pages and pages of history for their game. It's just a hobby after all; don't penalize people that don't invest as much time in it as someone else might.

 

[Crothian]

I like the idea of having a background before they write on the character sheet, but I'm not sure about basing their starting level on it.

 

[LGodamus]

I am basing the level not on adventuring experience but on how well the character is developed , personality development , and amount of adventure hooks they leave me.

on the other comments...so far all of them are level two except one guy who got level 3...

and I , the dm, am the only one in the regular group who has a job or really even any othe hobbies...so time shouldnt be a factor for them too much.

 

[Matt Lazarus]

Kind of reminds me of the concept of th SKETCH game where you base your characters attributes off of the way he's drawn.

I'm starting in a high level campaign and I really didn't want to figure out a long backstory. So I made the character a boy wonder, the Orson Welles of the sword and sorcery set, only younger.

 

[diaglo]

i require a background for all PCs. whether starting in the campaign or replacing dead or retired characters.

but i start everyone off at 1st lvl no matter what. so i can't help you with your problem.

other than to agree with Curtis.

 

[LGodamus]

just a little ol bump

 

[S'mon]

I'd say do what I do and give 'story XP' awards for good, entertaining backgrounds with story-hooks - not necessarily the length of the background, but how fun & usable it is. I'd say definitely DON'T start with a level gap of 1st-4th, 1st-2nd at most would be fine - eg give a maximum award of 1000 XP, a typical award of 200-500XP should get you some decent backgrounds.

 

[Tonguez]

I give bonuses to Skills based upon the backgrounds of the characters so fo instance if the PC is the grandson of the local midwife then he will get Healing +2, and if he spent time hunting with Uncle Boris then he might get Survival +4.
For a really outstanding background I might give a bonus feat (eg instead of the Survival +4 I might give a free Track Feat)

It keeps levels the sam,e but still awards creative backgrounds and after a while anything skewed balances out. Plus the awards are controlled by the DM and must be linked to the Background...