Which is the Better Backstory?

[Aeradom]

Just wanting to get your guys idea which version of the backstory you guys prefer:

Having not seen my father for more than a decade, I was asked to return home with some important information. Time has tempered the anger of when I found out that my father had sacrificed my mother, and his wife, to embue me with dark powers. Nevertheless, he is blood and thus reluctantly I go to meet him.


Option 1: Upon returning, my father greeted me warmly into his arms. He explained to me that a prophecy would befall me and the world unless I was born with the demon's "blessing". And that in fact, it was my mother's idea to make the pact to prevent such a dark fate from befalling me. And that my father had tried to tell me but couldn't find the words to do so. We hugged, and made up and I returned to my training as a Sorcerer. Not long after, there was an attack on The Tower, the home to the most powerful mages in the world. I would discover in the course of the attack, that it was one of the Arch Mages that had turned on the Council, allowing Drow Dark Paladins to infiltrate past the Tower's defenses. Before I was killed though, my father sent me off from the tower (against my will) along with his staff with only last instruction, "avenge me."


Option 2: Upon returning, my father greeted me with the same cold nature I was use to from him. He brought me up to his private quarters and I listened to him as he began to lay out his ambition to control the world, and how of course the world would be better under his guidance. Just as he was speaking, a loud explosion rocked the tower. He looked calm about it though, and why shouldn't he; it was he who lead the dark forces past the Tower's defenses. Finally, he calmly said that I could either join him, or that he would get the power from me in his own way. What my father didn't know is that the reason for me being silent as he continued to praddle on was not because I was actually listening, but because he was speaking only to an illusion. Just before being caught by the dark paladins, I broke from the invisibility spell, grabbed the staff that was the source and symbol of his power and teleported far away. With his staff in hand, I began to redouble my efforts to start the arcane, knowing that one day me and my father would meet again.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Without edits I prefer option 2 because your father stays alive as an NPC and I like having NPCs in my backstory for the GM to use.

If I could make edits, I would take option 1. I like the "misunderstanding" between what he did to your mother and why. I would keep your father alive but nix the hug and make the relationship between you more ambiguous. He says he had to kill your mother to save you but that's just his word and it doesn't mend the horrific loss of your mother. Leave it up to the GM to decide whether his story is true or if he murdered your mother for nefarious reasons. And have the GM weave this into their plot and use it for roleplaying opportunities between you and your father.

 

[millsG]

I like the misunderstanding between father and son but personally I would somehow leave the father alive. I agree with Silver Defender I like leaving NPC alive, for the GM to make a story hook. You could blend the two options together. What seems like a father's coldness is actually the uncertainty of how you would receive him and the information of why he agreed with the character's mother to make the pact. Thinking that the father was out for power the character stole what he thought were his father's source and symbol of his power, only to realize that he was mistaken and his father captured by the dark Paladins and born off. You have been searching for your father since.

Actually you have so many options. Good luck with your background.

 

[Herobizkit]

I also voted 2, mostly because the "you are the prophesied/chosen one" is so tired to me as a literary device.

 

[Janx]

Is this for a Level 1 character?

The issue I have with it is you set yourself up for free powers and loot that a 1st level PC shouldn't have necessarily.

A backstory should hint at the future possibility of earning something good (in-game good, not extra powers the other PCs can't get and an archmage's staff)

A backstory should end with the PC in his starting state (a 1st level Sorceror).

A backstory should not feature the PC doing things he can't do now (like teleporting, fooling a mega-wizard with an illusion)

Other issues I have are that you would not willingly tolerate being in the presence of the man who killed your mother in a sacrifice, barring a last request from prison. That's unrealistic setup.

More realistic would be blaming your father for failing his mother. This kind of thing happens all the time. Perhaps he chose to save himself instead of sacrificing himself to save her. Something that doesn't treat actual murder as casually as "I'll go see what the murderer wants anyway"

As a GM, I would reject both of these versions for this reason. No free stuff. Must be plausible.

I do think the setup of some kind of past disagreement where father and son aren't talking is a good idea, but the actual reason needs work. Scaling back the "dark powers" and "archmage's staff" and "tricking an archmage" would also be a good idea. Option 2 could easily be a harrowing escape from the father's clutches, rather than a devious trick by a skilled sorceror. It could even be skipping town and avoiding the summons in the first place.