My favorite Session Zero as for now was when I DM'd for a single player, after following the PH's backstory questions my player came out with a small story about its clan of assasins. So, his first encounter was his last exam to leave the clan. We created a mentor, a code of honor, his friends, and a flaw in its character while having fun in combat. When he finally passed we celebrated as if it had really happened. I love this game.
That's actually really cool, and a possible plot hook later. Finding a fellow member out in the world and getting safe refuge and/or information, and the player gets to learn about how their clan has been in their absence.
You should collaborate with the player and write ✍️. Sell it as a pdf or whatever you wish, just something short and sweet! I recommend Princess Floralinda & the 40 Flight Tower. It's a 4hr audiobook. But the protagonist does some very villainous things because they are just THAT desperate. Themes of bondage and coercion are present so do not recommend for children, but maybe it would fly over their heads? The villain is TRUELY a dragon and a wonderful wicked witch.
I have a wizard character who came from a long line of sorcerers. Since they were born without a drop of magic themselves, there is a great desire to prove themselves. Naturally, I chose the most wizardly subclass: Order of Scribes all the way.
From one Scribe to another, I recommend a MC into Artificer. Take it as your first level and get INT and CON saves, D8 maxed HP and Med armor proficiency. Grab a second level for those infusions. Even if you only MC one level, it's a great way to add healing spells, Medium Armor and Faerie Fire to your repertoire.
@@jonathaneverson3673 They're already level 7 at this point so don't think they can benefit from the Artififcer proficiencies. Also, not sure if it would fit this character. But it's deffo a good idea for my next character.😈
I think it's important to remember that a lot of 'backstory' and what is discussed here can be developed over the course of the campaign. There are many aspects of my characters personalities that I discovered via roleplay and then incorporated reasoning for that trait into my backstory. It is also perfectly reasonable and realistic for your character to decide on their long-term aspirations/life goals over the course of the campaign. The are other videos on the channel that discuss all this, it just wasn't mentioned here.
I intended to play an oath of Glory paladin in my friend's campaign, but after he lost his home and uncle in the first session as well as the entire homeland with most of the people he knew in the second session, all of them to a group of shapeshifters and a nation of dragonborn-led navy, I decided to go with an oath of vengeance
I was just sitting down to draw my new character concept when you posted this video. Your suggestion of adding childhood friends made my whole backstory make sense! It was the missing piece I needed and I can’t believe I totally forgot about that
Great stuff on developing a background story Dungeon Dudes! The best advice I use as a player or to come up with complex NPCs on the spot: think of two organizations the character belongs to and how the agendas of those organizations conflict. Cheat code: most organizations split or have power struggles, so the two organizations can be just one, but the character belongs to a group within the group. Being pulled between conflicting agendas is a gold mine for RP and character development storylines. Answering questions about why the character sides with one group instead of the other brings the character's motivations into focus. Answering questions about what it would take [if anything] for the character to switch sides lets us dig deep into the character's mental life. My players would assume I had spent hours developing an NPC and would apologize for killing them off so quickly [I DM'd in Canada ;p]. When I told them I made them up as we went along, they said very nice things to flatter my ego. But really, the credit is to this bit of advice I got. People belong to communities, and those communities have groups pursuing conflicting agendas. Situating characters in a 'realistic' community really writes the stories for me. Tbh, I worked for a bunch in retail, and I borrowed heavily from the real-life drama I witnessed in those communities. Much love!
UA-cam needs to add a “love” button to videos. This is an absolutely fantastic guide. I’m a new DM running a game for some first-time players (including some with 0 experience at all), and I’m pretty good at asking these kinds of questions. This guide has given me so much more material to work with, and I’ll be watching this video again and again as I continue to create characters myself. Great work, guys!
My favorite character has been my first; a traveling bbq chef who wants to expand their skills so they can thwart their sushi chef brother to win their mothers famous jambalaya cookbook through establishing a bigger franchise.
Only just started the video, but my first campaign is coming to a close soon, so I'm probably going to send this to my players so they can get a better idea of what they want their next characters to be. So far we've got a bard who was risen from the dead by a devil, so he's going to be a pact of the fiend bardlock skeleton (which I homebrewed to suit his character), a hermit vedalken wizard who is still working on his backstory, and a dragonborn blood hunter who is a foot soldier of a radical cult to the scorned goddess of blood. It's gonna be a dope campaign.
Google forms is pretty easy to setup and share. It is a form generator creation system.. and after you create your form, you'll share it with your party. Their entries will be submitted into an google sheets//excel spreadsheet. And you can have players do these overy 3-4 sessions just for fun! Like letter writing:b
In addition to figure out how you character reacts to these very meaningful people and situations, also be sure to think about how you character acts to mundane situations. How do they order a drink? How do they greet a stranger? How do they react when a guard says stop? How do they explain their ideas or ask questions? How do they react to a generic crisis or threat? Things that arent uniquely meaningful to your character will make up a majority of their actions, so its best to have an idea for these moments. I find the more different this default is from their backstory information the more those moments stand out. A vengence motivated character's anger is much more impactful if theyre almost always happy golucky otherwise. A recklessly curious character's motivations will become even more obvious if they are shy and reserved outside theyre interests. A tragic characters bursts of sadness/happyness as their problems are revealed/alleviated will stand out so much more if they are a ball of anger before those revelations. And so on.
Once had a player join a campaign late. The party has just ended their last session clearing out a cultists lair to get a macguffin, and everyone thought and planned around the assumption that I would just quickly introduce this new generic soldier dude as a helper that just showed up to help the party. I started off with the new guy experiencing his previous party dying repeatedly over and over, before his family and village were overrun by the cultists and a demigod herald of apocalypse... The description of his torturers laid out exquisitely as they forced him to live at near total exhaustion while they plumbed his memories for some information he wasn't even sure he had... He is then suddenly awakened, with one of his torturers bleeding out at the foot of the party as they are undoing his shackles... The party gets a hint of the visceral torture this new individual has gone through, and this new member has a clear and understandable motivation to not only join up in the short term, but cooperate and perhaps stick around for the long run, depending on how quickly they can find his other torturer... A Beautiful bit of roleplay for the first timer occured where he now gets to lash out at one of his torturers, to demand information, and solidify his pregame choice into The in-game moment where he swears his Oath of Vengeance.
You guys actually mentioned, almost exactly, a character I'm enjoying right now. The character lost their family and was forced away form home pretty early, and now they drift place to place just looking for the a spot where they can feel "at home" again, and in the meantime stepping up to help stop anyone else from experience such a loss. It's been hella fun having a meaningful reason to connect with literally any NPC, and even stifling the party a bit with the character's stubbornness.
My game setup is this. The players start at a location that is attacked. Motivations for being there might vary. Within the first 5mins of the first session we roll initiative. The characters form a bond surviving this and then work together to determine why the attack happened. That leads them to a short adventure. Frozen sick is what I used last time for this. The characters all have backstory hooks to other modules so if they explore that backstory then I run that module. One is haunted by the murder house in Stradh, one is from the ten towns from Rime of the Frostmaiden. Ones lost father is an archaeologist that leads them to tomb of annihilation. It’s worked really well.
I’m for quick combat. One of the funnest sessions I ever DMed was a Star Wars Saga one they started in a cantina. Most basic of basic intros: everyone was there for their own reason (two of them were together for backstory reasons) and they get attacked and get stuck in fast.
I like to ask the question: What is it about my character that makes them emotionally relevant in this campaign? Class and ancestry define what makes a character physically relevant, but backstory makes them emotionally relevant. And there's a real challenge and real fun in exploring that during character creation. Great video guys!
Some excellent advice here. I like the idea of framing backstory creation around questions. I had a character who I really enjoyed who came out of the question to myself "could I make a character who has a happy life back home, with a wife and kids who he knows are safe, but who still has a reason to go adventuring?" And everything about him ended up being built based on that, asking a lot of the followup questions outlined here. If you're trying to make a character and just feel completely lost where to start, I have to shout out the This is Your Life chapter of Xanathar's Guide to Everything. I've used it a lot of times when I knew I wanted to make a character of a certain race and class and nothing else, and it has really helped a lot. Those rolls let me say "OK, this character knows their parents, but was raised by their grandparents after their parents abandoned them. Why would their parents have done that?" And I can use the other rolls to influence those answers, or sometimes thinking about the things that came up in the rolls will spark an idea that I love that goes in a totally different direction, and I abandon some or all of what the rolls told me, because they have now done their job to help me create a character I'm excited to play.
Currently DM-ing. This came up a while ago, but one of my players was from a family halfling druids with an estranged uncle. She completely forgot about the uncle until I brought him in as a poisons dealer caught up in some trouble. Good times.
Both of you Guys are Legends! I think your D & D Videos are amazing & awesome! Keep making as many as possible! Happy Thanksgiving to the both of you!👽👽
I think of a character concept I'm inspired by, then find an interesting build to go with it. This video definitely helps me with making the concept my own.
shoutout to Kelly's clothes. this dude has some nice style, always looks good, no matter what he wears. and pls keep up your amazing work, you've helped me so much with this wonderful hobby
I’ve been really struggling with my character backstory for a couple days, and hearing the specific advice “maybe you’re a wizard on a mission to learn every spell” feels really validating to my Order of Scribes Wizard, so thanks!
I've taken to giving my characters completely normal civilian jobs (via guild artisan) and then trying to figure out a connection between those mundane jobs and the fantastical powers of their classes. For example, I made a Halfling with the UA version of Path of the Giants (because a little dude becoming a really big dude to bust skulls just seemed hilarious), and I decided to make him a roofer; he sought the power to become a giant so that he could do some of his work with his feet on the ground and not have to worry about falling off of roofs. So that let me wrangle out a reason why he gained his abilities, but it also let me ask and answer a few more questions. It gave him a reason to leave home and start traveling, since so many Halflings are moving into the Halfling-holes that tourists are expecting to see and so there's less and less work for a roofer. Thus, he begins his travels, has a few nasty falls off of roofs at heights meant for the bigger folks, and decides to *Do-Sum-Bow-Dis,* in the words of Strong Bad. Heck, it even helped me pick his languages! Of course, it's still just a launchpad, and I'd have to give him a proper personality once I get the chance to play him, but I'd like to think it's a neat little trick. You take something normal and something fantastical and cool, and you just bridge the gap your own way, and boom! You're on your way to a fairly easy characterization. Probably.
My current character's backstory is very tragic, but I'm using that to explore a character who is damaged and scared of an adventure they've been forced into. She grew up in the foster system of a corrupt nation ruled by vampires, until she was recruited into the church and trained as an inquisitor paladin. Her inciting incident happened when she was level 2 and hadn't yet taken her oath. Her superior officer summoned an angel during an inquisition, which razed an entire village and killed everyone present. She was resurrected as a warlock by the angel, who wanted her to take an oath of vengeance against the church and waited to reveal itself until she did later on during the campaign (currently Warlock 5 Paladin 3). The angel is a d8 covered in eyes.
I created my warlock using some of the stories of how Changeling parents might try and get rid of a child that is born Changeling in order to prevent others from learning their identity, how Changelings are often used as spied, and then having that child raised by a genie Djinni patron that the infant chanced to touch the lamp or ring to release unintentionally.
Kelly that shirt is amazing! Absolutely love it! Also, I am starting my first home brew campaign for a group of mostly newer players and this video was like you read my mind after our session zero. I gave them all the link so they can ask themselves these great questions as well as two or three individual hooks to think about. Thank you both so much! Amazing timing with this video.
Literally I just started Drakkenheim S2 and was amazed (once again) by the immediate depth of y'all's backstories. Lo and behold, this video. You're reading my damn mind
My favorite backstory was Sir Zure Gideon the magnificent! Who, prior to meeting the party published a book describing his grand adventures including, but not limited to, singlehandedly killing a dragon and defeating the riddle of the sphinx. Of course, this autobiography is a complete work of fiction.
What a great video. Even as a DM with as much experience as the both of you put together I find this sort of thing very helpful as a tool. Sometimes it can be difficult to think up these kinds of things and having a prompt is super helpful. Will definitely share this with my players.
Awesome video dudes! As a gm I find most of your videos useful but this one I will probably ask all my players to watch (and watch myself) every time I start a new campaign.
Certainly one of the better videos on this topic that I have seen. Especially the section about tying characters together and/or to the adventure setting.
Something that I enjoyed with my longest character's inciting incident: don't get too specific. I made an event with the key points defined, but left blanks in some of the important details. I made the what, the where, and the when, but my DM secretly made the who, the why, and the how. My DM was able to plug in NPCs they already had, give mysterious motivations, and filled in details in ways that allowed them to combine later plot threads. Also the fact that my character was unsure about what really happened made for good RP. It is fun to have a character who is wrong about stuff, because it made an opportunity for mystery and character growth.
Thank you dudes. I don’t say it often enough but your videos are so much fun and I appreciate your hard work. I also love your Drakenheim campaign- thank you!
For my urchin/rogue - I gave them a tragic backstory (family was wiped out by goblinoids), but they didn't witness anything. They had hid until the next morning. So it was assumed that some died, but not all of them. Then they worked with a 4-person group thieving in the city until a job gone wrong split them up. At this point the adventure started, but I had hoped to give my DM a few NPCs from my past to surprise me with. Some lost family members, and some disgruntled thieves from my past
As someone who loves creating Characters( but haven't/not being able to play yet) really appreciate this video, to take in new nuances I need to improve.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, as long as you talk to your DM. You can be a strong character without playing them in a disruptive way. Flavour is free, so I usually do wrap it around the mechanics I want to use. In the process, i try and create something interesting than just core mechanics and stock flavour-text. I also like trying to optimize specific concepts and/or limitations or weaker builds to make them fun mechanically
I've seen that so many times that I can tell when a players do it this way or the other one. I feel like it's more organic when they start with the concept and then pick race/class
@@willmena96 Eh. That feels like its a bit bias. I've seen both as well and either one can be as organic or artificial as the player playing their character wants to make it. Some people are just way better at fleshing out characters than others or are way more comfortable with roleplay. Mechanics are just that. Characters are what come out on the other side.
Or weirder, I have been in several groups that where filled with role-playing characters that had no real strengths or skills. Its weird to have a table of eight people and only two of them are progressing the adventure/fighting/contributing.
@@ryokirah Question: Is the "flavour" you write of better or worse with the letter "u" in it? Lol 🤪 We bloody Yanks spell the word flavor without a "u" in it, unlike our Limey cousins and others in the British Commonwealth. Where are you from? -Dave the Bloody Yank
perfectly timed, im just starting two (that right, TWO) new campaigns in the next couple weeks and ive been working on characters for them. thanks for all the great work :o
I started using archetyping for backgrounds as a template. My favorites are either an explorer/cartographer or smith/artificer/crafter who travels and dungeon crawls out of curiosity, the desire to learn hidden things, and financial reasons. Normally they have a family that plays into their motivations in one way or another to flesh things out. We are getting ready to start a lvl 10 campaign. The character I am playing is named “Miro” but he is a former accidental revolutionary. Wrong place at the wrong time trope when he was arrested by the then local lord. Escaped with the revolutionaries in a jail break, went into hiding, and then fought back when they were arrested because it was believed he was allied with the revolution. After the successful revolution, he became a minor folk hero and hated the fame as he settled into an apprenticeship as a smith. He decided to leave the area and move to a larger city to learn his trade, changed his name and live a quiet anonymous life as a craftsman/smith at a small magic shop. He had some talent with magic, which was rare in the village he grew up in. The world Miro is in has a “half elven lineage” that is similar to the Dunendan of Tolkien in aesthetic, but we can use any updated elf or half elven feature to establish stats so Miro is Eladrin in appearance with the seasons to help when he needs to change his appearance. Arcane trickster/battle smith is his multiclass…. He has lived in the city quietly and goes on expeditions periodically looking for lost knowledge and artifacts at the request of the shop owner as well as on his own. He is a Rogue/Artificer. He is connected to the party’s wizard who is an eldritch knight/order of scribes wizard, who grew up in the city.
I am terrible about writing why I'm an adventurer because I like the reluctant hero or the character who stumbles into it. Current character took a celestial warlock pact to save the person they love, it was flawed and now I'm seeking more power to make sure they're completely restored
Four best points: (1) Not every backstory is one of great tragedy (please!). (2) Check with the DM before going too far (especially for any custom worlds or settings). (3) Think and have character goals in steps. This is quite good, as it helps players think about steps and stages, rather than a single, far off, disconnected final goal. (4) A sentence, or less, is fine for most questions.
Hello Dungeon Dudes. A most interesting video. I have watched dozens of your videos, to date, and found most of them interesting and insightful as well as helpful to a person like myself. One who has not played D&D since the original 3rd editon books. Recently, a friend of mine is attempting to get an adventure group together to play 5th edition D&D. Probably online using D&D Beyond online. Everyone has now rolled up their characters, and gotten their basic gear ready for the game. Now, all we are waiting for is for the DM to have the time to run the game on a date we can all make time to play. I, am an invenerate world builder. I am also a Fantasy and Science Fiction author as well. So, world building is nothing new to me as a concept. So, when the DM asked me about my character's backstory, I asked a few questions in return. Net result, my Centaur mare Ranger character is the daughter of a Baron, who got his Barony by saving a Duke. The Duke's party was ambushed and just when it seemed the Duke's guards line had broken, giving the primary assassin a clear shot at the Duke with a Death Arrow, a centaur fighter suddenly charges out of the forest, flinging magic enhanced javelins at the Duke's attacker as he closed the distance. In the next round of combat, the centaur charged in close, hacking with a pair of scimitars, and then reared up and hit the assassin with his forehooves, resulting in the assassin being knocked over and at disadvantage for followup attacks. I won't go into a 'blow by blow' of the battle, but the centaur 'saved' the Duke's life and dealt with the primary assassin, with the result of the Duke accepting the Centaur's service, and raising him as a new Baron upon his lands. Cut to some 30 years later. Windshear Meadowtrot, daughter of Evershear Meadowtrot, has completed her training as a Ranger and has been dubbed a Knight of the Realm by her father, the Baron of Everfree. I asked the DM where the Barony was located, and he thought about it for awhile and admitted that he only had one location to place the Barony of Everfree. And that was an expanse of forest, somewhat like that Southeast of Neverwinter (although NOT that particular forest). This got my creative juices going... Centaurs in the woods. Yeah, not the 'best' area for centaurs. So I asked if there was a Druid's Grove, run by a Druid's Circle in that forest. He affirmed there was, and it was off to the races! Using those answers, I came up with... try not to laugh... tree dwelling centaurs. The Baron made a Pact with the Druid Circle and for their aid in helping him establish his Barony in the forest, he would pledge to come to the Druid's aid if ever needed. This results in 'ring' houses high up the massive trees in the forest, built just under the canopy, and within it as well, with some structures even piercing the canopy. For protection, the trees are all heavily enchanted with spells to protect the trees from fire, acid, chopping, and other such magics. For more prosasic protection, each tree with a house, or one with a bridge, has a 25 foot band of iron around the trunk, making climbing extremely difficult. The iron bands have an enchantment of Lightning that blasts anyone touching the band to further prevent climbing attempts. All the buildings in the Forest, constructed and grown for the centaurs, have angled supports to support the structures above. These are emplaced, and later a druid is hired to 'grow' them into the tree's structure, making the supports a living portion of the tree. The same is true of all the bridges, which were constructed out of lumber, rope, and woven wire metal ropes. A druid would be hired to grow the bridge from the 'dead' wood and integrate it into the living trees the bridge connects. The spaces between trees are not wasted, however. More hemp rope covered metal wire ropes are used to create suspension lines to support platforms that are anchored by yet more of such compound ropes. Again, a druid is brought in to 'grow' the tree's branches out to support the platform from below, reducing the stress upon the suspension cords. This allows the resulting platform to be used for any of many purposes. Such as markets, smithies, schools, temples, hospitals, etc. Such platforms would also be used for farming. Soil brought up from below would be watered by rain, as well as the use of catch basin cistern systems that provide fresh water to the town, baron's keep, farms, and other buildings. For further defense, the access up to the living lowest living levels of the town would be via several ramps leading to small defensible platforms, with further ramps up to either further platforms, or up to the lowest levels of the town above. Such lower levels would not be 'basements', but would be outposts where soldiers could keep an eye on the land below (some 200 feet below, to be precise), and spot any potential dangers. Each 'ring house' and platform would have fairly stout walls, and both 'arrow slits' and 'murder holes'. These allow the populace to defend itself pretty well via simple means. Spears thrown down at enemies would have stone 'rings' just behind the spear points, to give them more 'heft' and 'hammer' the spear into the target, should it hit. Regular stones, hot sand, and acid can be dropped or thrown down upon enemies as well. And this does not include the Baron's 'army' from attacking, using one or more of the many ramp ways up to his domain. I should mention that ALL the ramps are made so as to be able to be pulled up, out of reach of attackers. Making ascending them even more difficult. And should an enemy gain access to a ramp's platform, the next ramp up would also be 'withdrawn' like a drawbridge. Forcing more difficulties upon the foe. Now, for further 'history'. The Barony of Everfree is not exclusively centaurs, although centaurs make up a good 80 to 90 percent of the population. The vast majority of those defending the town of Everfree, and the Barony as a whole, are Fighters, Rangers, Druids, and Magic Users. Now, back to Windshear. Newly knighted, and granted a Fief to rule, to prove herself over time, worthy to be the next Baron of Everfree, she has set her three Retainers to running the Fief and recruiting as needed, as well as building and expanding the fief's domain within the area of forest her father gave her to rule over. Windshear, herself, has gone outside the Barony to gain experience, make contacts, see the world, and hopefully, 'make her fortune'. This results in Windshear spending only what is needed to improve her gear, weapons, and such, with the vast majority of any funds being funneled back to her Fief to aid its growth. Her Retainers would use such funds to hire guards, hire builders and druids as needed, build housing, expand farming platforms, etc, until their Knight returns. I have also 'hobbled' myself a bit with the character. Armor in D&D is not 'realistic' for centaurs. They seem to be able to wear 'bipedal' armor and gain the AC for whatever armor type it is. This ignores the 'horse' half of the centaur. So, even though it does nothing to improve AC, I am buying both bipedal and equine armor so the character 'looks' properly armored. Thus, when Windshear improves her armor from Studded Leather, up to Scale Mail, she is buying both 'normal' scale armor, and scale barding as well. This means that her armor weighs a total of 3 times as much as a biped's armor, and costs a total of 5 times as much to cover her entirely. But, only armors her to Scale Mail's normal AC. This is a mechanism to act as a 'money sink' for the character, slowing her AC improvement over time, as well as a way to deal with 'excess' cashflow. And then there is the money she sends back to aid her Fief. So, we have tree dwelling centaurs, in close harmony with the 'local' Druidic Circle and Grove, with good relations with the surrounding lands and peoples, like the Dwarves in the nearby mountains, and the Elves that live in the nearby woods. Gnomes, Halflings, Goblins, Humans, Tabaxi, and Leonin can be found in Everfree town and the Baron's 'castle'. Many of whom are residents of the Barony, and some are even members of the Baron's Guards, or on the Baron's advisory council. The DM plans to run a 'pre-adventure' scenario, to get the players from level one up to around level three, before they go for the 'main' adventure. I think this will result in these characters being 'retired' from use afterwards, although I could be wrong. Time will tell. So, any thoughts on the arboreal centaurs?
So, I chose a Centaur race to play as because I've never played one before. I chose to make the character female because I thought it would be 'fun' to play something other than a 'male' character for a change of pace. I chose Ranger, because I happen to like Rangers, and Windshear chose that class because she was always fascinated with the living things and animals in her forest home. When the time comes, I plan to make her into a Beast Master due to this choice of hers. Windshear probably grew up as a bit of a 'rebel' child, sneaking off into the forest to follow the rangers that keep the forest safe enough to travel through, and thus sparking her interest in animal lore and the living things in the Everfree forest. Being the daughter of a Baron is not 'fun'. Really, most of your time is taken up with tutors, practicing skills, and being guarded and watched day in and day out. This caused her to 'rebel' a bit, and sneak off to learn more about the forest that is her home. She would also know the 'lore' of how the Barony came to be, and be interested in the Druids as well, which ties into the Ranger Class nicely. As for character modivation... well, I said above, that she left her fief in the capable hands of her retainers to run the place, and expand it in her absence, while she goes off to learn of the wider world, gain experiences, make contacts with leaders, clergy, people in general, and traders. All to benefit her fief, and herself to one day settle down as a 'landed' Knight of the Everfree Forest and the Barony of Everfree. And, hopefully, to one day prove herself 'worthy' of being chosen out of all the Baron's children, to succeed him as the Baron when her father retires, is slain, or dies of old age. Meanwhile, she is off adventuring, gaining experience, contacts, making friends, learning the 'lay of the land' and its peoples and wildlife, making contacts with traders, miners, smiths and makers, and 'filling her rolodex of contacts' that will become useful to her later on in life.
I'm late to the discussions, but I was interested to hear all this as I am now playing with my 3rd DM and he is the first one that wanted to be included in the creation of the character, but I didn't know that at the time so followed the pattern from the previous DMs I'd played with and went off and created my character without any reference to the DM or the other players. Now it is very difficult to pull the group together - definitely want to work with the DM next time character creation comes up. Thanks guys.
My fave character to play had the inciting incident of... Being a chef he wanted to find a culinary creation that would put the family restaurant "on the map"
At first our group just used the Xanathar Tables and flushed out on our own if we wished. Me personally I still use xanathar for most of the work, but then my DM provided materials like: "What is your character's short-term goal(s)? Long term goal(s)? What is/ are your motivation(s)? What will you do to achieve those objective(s)? Prepare for what the campaign will throw at you and it might change and motivations and will it change your character's goals. Using these new materials has helped us as players build more in-depth stories and then when a backstory hook comes into the fold, now we think "Okay we're here now & what am I going to do based on what I've experienced?"
When I create a character, i'll usually start with a voice or accent and build a personality from that, or i'll tie the voice to a character that already exists and take inspiration from there. For instance, my current Barbarian has a deep slavic accent, it reminded me of Braum from League of Legends so I made him jolly and rather talkative (to a fault - he might give away info to the enemies.) It gives me a reason to go into more conversations, even if they might have a negative outcome because low charisma BUT because he's friendly and forthcoming he also seems to make connections a lot easier.
About to start my first campaign and while the other players have done 5+ campaigns before, they are not great at helping with character creation. This video cover and hone everything in my messy brain!!!
The way I do my backstories I create a basic idea, use the What is my Life table to generate bullet points for their life and then I expand the basic idea to fit the rolls
Had a somewhat inspired class backstory recently. Coming from a mountain village of humans and goliaths, my character is 3 levels rune knight with the rest going into steel defender artificer using the rune Carver background. Essentially my character uses various runes to power his automaton. Don't have a campaign to go through though
Playing a armor artificer (Noble) currently , his family was also artificers and inventors, they built inventions enhanced weapons and that became a very profitable business , which drove my family to become a honorary mafia family.
Good timing with this vid. I'm just working on a backstory for my new character. A Yuan Ti who was cursed by a Fey to have emotions. Especially guilt over all the evil Yuan Ti do.
A character I'm playing next year: Francis Daud Human/Paladin(Oath of Conquest) Soldier Chaotic Good Both of my parents were soldiers so I followed in their footsteps through determination and hard work i became commander of the 7th battalion (Army TBD). A great war started and my battalion won a decisive battle but my orders were to spare the opposing forces. I followed orders and my men paid the price. I was the only survivor, captured and imprisoned I now sit in an arena with a lucky few to win our freedom
So I first invisioned this charater as a human and the realization that wood elf's extra 5 ft of movement would be very useful to the build i was going for. Didn’t change anything about the charater or his backstory because it just worked for him to be completely disconnected from his people and culture. He's a rogue who became an adventurer because he wanted a better way to support himself and the group of orphaned kids he cares for. Dude was only 9 years old when he became the oldest of this group and started playing parent so the only way he could do what he needed to was by stealing. He wants to take care of them without hurting others anymore.
I love your character's motivation! The mindset of "I did what I had to so we could survive, but I want to find another way" (and all the history/hope for the future that comes with it) can be so much fun to explore in a game.
I always start with an archetype. My last character ("Doc" Brown) was a swashbuckler rogue with the Healer feat. I patterned him after Errol Flynn's famous character Captain Blood. So he's a doctor turned swashbuckler. Then to make him fit better, I gave him the Sailor background. The idea was Doc was a med school dropout. He had to get out of town when the authorities and his girlfriend's dad found out about his secret romance and how he was paying for medical school (hint: he took some involuntary contributions to help pay for it). So he heard about an opportunity to become a ship's physician and jumped at it. He ended up in the Gems (island chain like the Caribbean) and decided to become an adventurer to make a lot of money and live a carefree life. Girlfriend (Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bowden), her father, any member of his old crew, I figured we'd flesh them out as needed. I made him greedy to give the DM a motivation to give us more money. (They've been stingy so far) and some pathos if I needed it (failed doctor, failed romance). If only rogues weren't so squishy!
My new character is a former cavalry soldier who was discharged due to some b.s. (I haven't figured it out yet, will probably "discover" the reason together) He's a human cavalier whose looking for a good cause to fight for. After being drummed out of the military, he became a mercenary and an adventurer (the two jobs are strikingly similar) out in the Gems (island chain, like the Caribbean). Until he was hired by the governor of one of the isles, Aegis, to become a Cartographer. The Cartographers are a semi-secret organization devoted to exploring and mapping the magical places of this world. To find magical resources in case Aegis needs it in the future. Another player decided to start a new character at the same time, so we went with the stranded on a mysterious island together. More Robinson Crusoe than Blue Lagoon. We're partners. She's the brains, and I'm her aide-de-camp. She chose the Cobalt Soul Monk for a combination of smarts and physical abilities. In a low-magic campaign, monks are phenomenal! Anyway, the idea is we were shipwrecked while exploring this island and had to survive until the rest of the party can come to rescue us. My DM was surprisingly generous to give me a magic horse figurine (no, not the ebony one, that's a nightmare-pun intended). I tried to explain that Cavaliers don't NEED mounts, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Hector Ramos (one of the countries is patterned off of Imperial Spain) is a simple man, he follows orders and gets stuff done. I'm trying a couple of things with this character that I don't normally do. 1) take a support role. The monk, Maija, is in charge. I back her up and support her plans, offering suggestions when necessary. 2) talk less. Most of my characters are a reflection of myself, outgoing and very verbose (talkative). In Hector, I'm looking for a thoughtful character who mulls things over before acting decisively. My character idea is "Hector gets things done." So he has a personality, an organization, a good partner, and an overarching goal. (That's finding a righteous cause to fight for) I think we're going to fit right in with the Unconventionals. (That's the party's name)
13:10. I would have to put in a soft disagree here. Something like that CAN be made to work. My half-elf Oath of Glory Paladin's inciting incident was singlehandedly killing an adult red dragon (Oath of Glory, Folk Hero-stood alone against a terrible monster, entire backstory rolled up using Xanathar's), which would normally be a huge, climactic event. Of course, I had to think outside of about four boxes to make this work, but it all came together in a believable backstory that I think fit the background and class well. Saga was abandoned at an abbey that provided rest and shelter to wayward travelers and adventurers. She was a cobbler (Cobbler tool proficiency, background), and repaired shoes and boots of the guests. They would leave donations and tips, and she was able to save up a little bit of money. One day, a traveler named August showed up at the Abbey and he and Saga took to each other, becoming friends and eventually lovers. August stayed at the Abbey for a while, helping with duties around the site. August spoke at length of different dragons, recounting legends and tales from times past of all types. It was on a sunny day when Saga and August were walking through the surrounding forest when the Abbey was attacked by the red dragon, Culdria the Younger, who was accompanied by his kobold followers. Most of the treasure was stolen, and the majority of those at the scene were killed. The Abbey itself was burned near completely as well. Upon returning, and seeing the destruction wrought by Culdria, August was incensed. He gathered some weapons and a suit of armor that were left behind, vowing to kill the dragon. Saga, being a bit headstrong and quite smitten with him, would not let him go alone. He tried to force her to stay and help, but she wouldn't. She took a suit of old chain mail and a rusty warhammer (Paladin starting equipment), and followed August up the mountain where Culdria was said to have come from. They found the lair, and they charged inside. August was fast, faster than Saga anyway, and she was cut off by a pack of kobolds. They fought to delay her, kill her if they could. Saga fought desperately, her knowledge of warhammers extending only to hearing stories of warriors telling tales of their exploits. Through some miracle she was able to kill some of the kobolds, and drive back the rest. Over all of the fighting she was doing, she could hear Culdria roaring in combat with August. She thought that as long as she could hear the dragon, August was alive. The sound stopped. Assuming the worst, she was able to slide to a stop before entering the lair of Culdria. Imagine her surprise when it was CULDRIA who was dead, and standing over the red dragon's corpse was an even larger silver dragon (Ancient age class). A silver dragon that looked at Saga and spoke to her in August's voice (Xanathar's, page 72, "Weird Stuff", "4"). Saga was incensed, to say the least. August accepted her verbal assault, apologized, and explained his insatiable curiosity about the other races. He explained that he was taken by her pure heart and fiery spirit. He also explained that he would not return to the Abbey, instead taking up residence in the former Culdria's lair to protect it from afar. To provide a cover story, he made Saga swear to recount the story as if he'd been killed on the road and she continued alone. She fought through the dragon's kobold allies, killing them all before finally defeating the dragon. Reluctantly she accepts, if only to protect his identity. He also charged her to swear an oath to become known for deeds that will match the tale that she agreed to tell. Essentially charging her to live up to the glory that has been gifted to her by the silver dragon. This oath, powered by the love she felt/feels for August, is the source of her Oath of Glory subclass abilities. August shifted back to his human form, and gifted Saga an item from the red dragon's hoard. A silver dragon pendant that is always cold to the touch, that she squeezes when she is uncertain to steady herself (often accompanied by the phrase "August, you son of a bitch"). She returned to the Abbey, was given her starting equipment (Folk Hero), minus the shovel and iron pot. My Paladin must accomplish great deeds to match the tale of her killing an adult red dragon by herself. Now, imagine this character, who can't roll double digits unless she's fighting a dragon, locked in mortal combat with Venomfang from LMoP. My first attack was a crit. Divine Smite. Inspiring Smite. I load myself up with temporary HP. I'm being helped in this fight by a paltry Barbarian who I wish would just get out of the tower and leave me to it. He eventually does, running out to help the other party members fight off some zombies. I'm getting beaten on. When the dragon cuts through my temp HP, I renew Inspring Smite on myself. I'm getting breathed on but had the foresight to cast "Protection from Poison" before the battle started (see above, line of text 6). All in all I took a total of EIGHT POINTS OF DAMAGE from Venomfang. He tries to flee at 1/2 HP per the module rules. "Compelled Duel". Failed save. He ain't goin' nowhere. I did over 100 points of damage to that green dragon and received a minor flesh wound in response. I burned all of my spell slots, I used every single ability I had, and I chased him from the floor of that tower to the roof of it. I am going to KILL this vile creature, and complete a vital point to my backstory. He's going DOWN, I can feel it. I had pre-rolled my attack and damage for my next hit. Natural 20. Every single star in the universe was perfectly aligned for my character to add this story to her legend. The rogue comes in from fighting zombies outside. He takes a shot with his bow. The arrow sails through the air, up, up, up to the top level, striking Venomfang. Imagine my paladin's (and my own) crestfallen face when the DM says "How do you want to do this?" to the rogue player. He shot the dragon. Through both eyes. Everyone thought that the kill-steal was the funniest thing. It was, in a way. Saga rode the dead dragon's corpse to the ground when it fell, and she walked up to the nearest zombie. I beat on it until it failed its undead fortitude save. It got a couple of attacks in. The DM asked me if any of them hit. I told her that it doesn't matter what she rolled, Saga isn't defending herself. She is in kill everything I can legally get away with mode. She goes to the rest of the party. She wades into the remaining zombies, slashing them with her longsword over and over, taking every single attack from them in her anguish. The last zombie falls. When it happens I point to the map. "I walk to this point, drive my sword into the ground, scream at the top of my lungs before falling to my knees and I start crying. It's suddenly not funny anymore. I step away from the table for a second (Local Game Store, Adventurers League game) and grab a snack and drink. For three game days I self-enforced disadvantage on EVERY SINGLE ROLL after that fight. The rogue player actually apologized. I told him that it was the most perfect thing that could happen., and I truly love how that fight turned out. If you're still reading at this point, I admire your tenacity. Saga has elevated herself to one of my top three favorite characters, and I thought she deserved at least a few words of her deeds. She is an Oath of Glory Paladin, after all.
I had a character like that! Quill the mage, a town mage for hire (minor divinations and such) was too boring for his thrill-seeking wife. She left him for the captain of the guard, and he fled their town in shame and anger to set out on a real adventure. Tried to prove her wrong. After a bit he realized he didn't want her back, even though he'd embraced the type of adventurous life she'd dared him to try.
Horrifying shrieks pierced the darkness where Hecate hid, tucked in a hollow of the demon tree, that spot which no one dared approach, save the desperate. The marauders were taking their time, torturing and murdering everyone she knew and loved. Hecate shut her eyes, held her hands over her ears, and prayed. She had been born to terrible omens, her name a reflection of the doom that those omens foretold. Her mother cast her out as a newborn, fearing the signs and wishing Hecate dead. But the village wise woman kept her and raised her as her own, training her in her ways. The children were afraid of her, the fears of their parents being contagious. But Hecate was taught, learned, that by doing good works and keeping a smile in her heart, she could slowly win them over. Hecate learned healing and herbs, and helped the people of her village. Over time the village forgot their fears and came to accept her. Hecate had finally arrived at a point in her life when all was good. Then conquerors came. A great evil had arisen, commanding armies of orcs, foul men and fell beasts. Like a plague they marched over the land laying waste to any that resisted, and pillaging everything else. Hecate's village was not spared. The screaming reached into Hecate's soul, she could recognize the voices! "Gods! Please!" Hecate begged in her prayers. She knew magics, she knew the ways of magic, but the only power she had ever trained was healing magic. Now when her need was so dire, when she needed to be able to fight, to save what she could of the people she loved, she was powerless! "Please! Give me the strength." Hecate's will was intense, she prayed sincerely, desperately. And there was that which was listening. The Demon Tree, a portal to things that should not be... *Power Dangles* Hecate's mind reached for that promise. *Temptation* Hecate needed that power. *Price* Yes, of course there is a price. *Great Power* Hecate lusted for that power. *Great Price* Hecate hesitated. More screams echoed. "I will pay the price!" Hecate screamed loud! Marauders looked up, a few moved towards the voice they had heard, more victims for the slaughter. Hecate realized what she had done. In this place where she had hidden, that which listened and would respond to prayer was as foul as it was dangerous. She had done a terrible thing, and the price was her soul. But she had at least gotten what she had paid for and she would silence those screams and replace them with the screams of the plague that despoiled her people. Hellfire exploded amongst those marauders who had come to claim Hecate as another of their victims. Brimstone burned their flesh and left them smoking sulfur in a scorch mark stinking of Hades. Searing flames erupted from Hecate's gestures, flaying all who stood before her as she walked among the ruins of what had once been her home. Her every footstep burned the ground beneath her, tendrils of malevolence taking root behind her, she was shrouded in a flame every bit as evil as it was protective of her. One by one she cut down the last of the marauders. They died shrieking as unholy flames consumed more than just their flesh. Till finally she was done, the plague was purged, she extinguished her flames. She looked about, dawning horror that the ruin she saw of her village was more than what the marauders had done. Brimstone flowed upon the earth, noxious fumes rose, plants were twisted into a parody of life, and the corpses of the fallen, those she had slain, seemed no longer men, dead though they might be. She had done this! She could trace where she had walked, where she had blasted, and everywhere she could see she had left not just a trail of destruction, but also a trail of lasting hell. She had brought hell upon the earth. In shock Hecate walked through her village, almost thankful that there appeared no one alive to witness what had become of her. Her tears were dry as she found the village wise woman, her adoptive mother. She had been deeply cut but was still holding to life by a thread. Hecate cut her down from where she had been splayed and held her hands over the wound. Hecate knew healing magics, she could save at least one of them. Then with abject horror Hecate's eyes went wide, as what happened was not the soothing, purifying light that she used to manifest as she healed. What happened instead was the blackest of shadow, as a rift was torn in the dimensions and from it crawled a hideous demonic spider. The spider immediately leaped for the exposed flesh, as if it were desperate to eat of it and buried itself inside of the village wise woman. Utterly aghast at what she had done, almost in a panic, now truly weeping, Hecate fumbled with bandages. She grabbed at what herbs she could find to create salves. Desperately she tried to save her, the last of those she loved. She tried, for hours she tried, till finally despite her efforts, the last of her village died. Hecate cried herself to sleep, her head laying upon the corpse of her adoptive mother. She was awoken by movement. Her eyes opened. Something moved beneath her. Hecate sat up with a shock! Beneath her was the body of her adoptive mother, the dead body, how could she have felt movement? And then spiderlings crawled out from under the bandages she had put on her mother, demonic spiderlings crawling out of the wounds and leaping into the shadows. Hecate screamed! Then the dead eyes of her mother opened! She looked at Hecate and smiled, a sickly sweet smile that dripped of something not quite right. "Hecate, my beautiful girl, what a beautiful day it is." Her mother gazed upon the sulfuric clouds drifting over the brimstone outside of the hellish shelter she lay in. Hecate again screamed and ran, sobbing into the night.
I have an idea for my next character and I'll try asking those questions to define the backstory better. Basically, the character is a young silver dragon that is stuck his human form. He was very greedy and disliked sontact with humanoids, avoiding it as much as possible. He only saw them as maggots that serve him only to grow his hord. One day, her mother disguised as a human witch came to his laire and cursed him to be stuck in his human form so that he may learn to respect other living beings and so he now roacms the world in serach of anything that may be able to give him his beloved dragon form back. He goes around arogantly, claiming that he is a proud dragon and that everyone should prostrate to him and give him gifts, so he is treated as a mad man. For the class, I haven't decided yet but I thing a sorcerer could be fun (as he has his inate draconic powers) and probably draconic lineage (although I might try another lineage if I find one I want to try more). I don't know what to take for his background so if anyone has an idea that could be cool for this character, I would be open to suggestions. Fun fact, I was planing to play this character in the Dungeons of Drakenheim we are playing. Basically, he heard of an artefact in Drakenheim that could give him back his form
8:29 I’m actually doing something like that-my drow boy was adopted by a small clan of wood elves after his father abandoned him on the surface. All he knows about drow and the cult of Lolth he learned from books and asking adults a million irritating questions as a child
I also want to add: keep in mind your starting level!! Don't add superhuman, amazing feats in your background if you're only level 3, for example, and add a reason why your character is a seasoned fighter/adventurer if starting out higher.
The biggest part of the background I make up is the background that surrounds their relationships with the other player’s characters. How they met, how or if they are related, what experiences have they had, etcetera.
One of the characters that I'm playing is an undying warlock that made the pack with a fey to keep her youth and beauty because that's what she believes people care about. But to keep this she has to kill someone I think once a week and the best way to do this without suspicion is to do it through the adventurers guild.
Writing a backstory is always a tough part for me when I create a character. Either I write not enough or too much. My current DM helped me out with my half-elf paladin in our Avernus campaign.
I like taking on roles that connect me to other characters but are likely to be overlooked or underestimated. If someone wants to bring in a knight with the aristocratic background it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to have a squire or a retainer of some kind. I'd be perfectly happy to play that role with a rogue or a sorcerer. It might get me into places but I might not otherwise be able to get into. Also, I would totally play a rangers "animal companion" If wild shape or some kind of shifting ability would allow for some kind of long-term duration. Imagine walking in as a dog, shifting back to human getting into lots of trouble, and then shifting back to a dog to leave. Both of these would require at least the appearance of being subservient to another player character. In practice I don't think that's required, you just have to be okay holding up that charade when appropriate.
I've had an idea along those lines for a while now. A few friends of mine like playing Necromancers and I enjoy playing martial characters. The idea is for them to have the necromancer accidentally animate the soul of a long dead hero who inhabits a skeleton and is fully sentient but bound to protect the Necromancer. The soul knows this and hates it but is magically bound to obey the necromancer PC. And in order to sneak around town without too much suspicion they are fully clad in Magical armor. Also if there is a scheduling issue, I can just leave the character sheet with the necro player, and they can just say the spirit is being particularly anti-social today. Win-Win.
My paladin was the youngest son. His favorite uncle was a paladin and with a letter of introduction and his father's blessing would join a Paladin order. As a young lad wanted to join in the crusades. He would become a soldier to help spread the cause. Till he saw the corruption and lip service. Disenchantment led to eventual breaking g of his oath.
i at one time had a character have a long term goal of DEFEATING THERE PATRON because she wished to die in combat to pass on the role to a successor one of the short term goals was finding out what happened to some of the other possible successors as some of them had died before the adventure begun merely for closure for both my character and the patron as she is the lowest divine rank
I just started DM'ing for the first time and instead of meeting in a tavern, I had them all picked up by the town guards and told they could be sentenced to 10 years hard labour or 3 years of trouble shooting for the crown (fitted the entire group with explosive collars) and now they not only get to go on whatever adventures they find but get given jobs by the crown when I want to throw a curve ball at them (and yes I have made them clean the sewers of rats and giant spiders)
Finally, a character creation list I do not hate! It's weird how many of such lists seem to aim to create a ton of pointless detail that won't help to flesh out a character at all. That's actually a pretty good list, and also pretty much how I do this already. I do like a "NPC from the future" idea, never thought of it like this. One thing I kinda disagree with are having big goals and immediate goals. In my practice these things end up hindrances, even when GM and Players are working together. Both seem to lead to either "well my goals and this campaign don't mesh together, it's hard to justify my character staying in the party" or "I am taking the hook of the campaign, and my goals have fallen into obscurity". Theoretically it's not impossible to integrate all these into a campaign to the extent that there is no distinction in the first place, but I can't say I ever saw this play out successfully. I find that these more often introduce unnecessary tension. Better to just have them bite the hook.
Sir Edward The 4 is a noble paladin who became an adventure to get away from his famile or more precisly his older brothers wife. Who he is head over heel for. But he don't wanna split his famile over this. So Edward becomes an adventure because they always move never standing still. Also to busy to think about home.
I have a Hexblade I really want to play but haven’t had the chance and probably won’t since I’m probably going to be a Forever DM but I’m still really excited for him. When he was young, talking 5 or younger, his dad left him and his mother after coming home with a strange sword but he was so young he only knows this from his mother. Fast forward 15 or so years and while working he gets assaulted by muggers/a wild animal/something and summons that strange sword his father once had but he doesn’t know how. Now he journeys with the party looking for answers. What he doesn’t know is this has been a multi-generational thing with his dad’s side of the family. One of his older ancestors made a deal with some powerful being but until that debt has been paid it’ll be passed down through the generations and throughout the journey he’ll be finding out more about that and eventually finishing the bargain or die in the process. What he doesn’t know but will find out eventually is his dad died which is why he was able to pull out the sword. If I do ever get to use him I’ll talk with the DM to figure out who the powerful entity is and what the deal was but I love the idea that the DM comes up with that so I can learn along the way
Is there any place to submit homebrew for a character sub class? Im trying to rework the steel defender a bit but I don't have much experience balancing things I'm trying to make it more potent without being over powered
My favorite Session Zero as for now was when I DM'd for a single player, after following the PH's backstory questions my player came out with a small story about its clan of assasins.
So, his first encounter was his last exam to leave the clan. We created a mentor, a code of honor, his friends, and a flaw in its character while having fun in combat. When he finally passed we celebrated as if it had really happened.
I love this game.
That's actually really cool, and a possible plot hook later. Finding a fellow member out in the world and getting safe refuge and/or information, and the player gets to learn about how their clan has been in their absence.
You should collaborate with the player and write ✍️.
Sell it as a pdf or whatever you wish, just something short and sweet! I recommend Princess Floralinda & the 40 Flight Tower. It's a 4hr audiobook. But the protagonist does some very villainous things because they are just THAT desperate. Themes of bondage and coercion are present so do not recommend for children, but maybe it would fly over their heads? The villain is TRUELY a dragon and a wonderful wicked witch.
I have a wizard character who came from a long line of sorcerers. Since they were born without a drop of magic themselves, there is a great desire to prove themselves. Naturally, I chose the most wizardly subclass: Order of Scribes all the way.
From one Scribe to another, I recommend a MC into Artificer. Take it as your first level and get INT and CON saves, D8 maxed HP and Med armor proficiency. Grab a second level for those infusions. Even if you only MC one level, it's a great way to add healing spells, Medium Armor and Faerie Fire to your repertoire.
@@jonathaneverson3673 They're already level 7 at this point so don't think they can benefit from the Artififcer proficiencies. Also, not sure if it would fit this character.
But it's deffo a good idea for my next character.😈
I think it's important to remember that a lot of 'backstory' and what is discussed here can be developed over the course of the campaign. There are many aspects of my characters personalities that I discovered via roleplay and then incorporated reasoning for that trait into my backstory. It is also perfectly reasonable and realistic for your character to decide on their long-term aspirations/life goals over the course of the campaign.
The are other videos on the channel that discuss all this, it just wasn't mentioned here.
I will say Xanathar does help immensely for me in this aspect of character creation as it can help define who they were.
I intended to play an oath of Glory paladin in my friend's campaign, but after he lost his home and uncle in the first session as well as the entire homeland with most of the people he knew in the second session, all of them to a group of shapeshifters and a nation of dragonborn-led navy, I decided to go with an oath of vengeance
That'll do it allright
similar thing with mine, planned to go path of glory, ended up going vengeance
I was just sitting down to draw my new character concept when you posted this video. Your suggestion of adding childhood friends made my whole backstory make sense! It was the missing piece I needed and I can’t believe I totally forgot about that
Great stuff on developing a background story Dungeon Dudes! The best advice I use as a player or to come up with complex NPCs on the spot: think of two organizations the character belongs to and how the agendas of those organizations conflict. Cheat code: most organizations split or have power struggles, so the two organizations can be just one, but the character belongs to a group within the group. Being pulled between conflicting agendas is a gold mine for RP and character development storylines. Answering questions about why the character sides with one group instead of the other brings the character's motivations into focus. Answering questions about what it would take [if anything] for the character to switch sides lets us dig deep into the character's mental life.
My players would assume I had spent hours developing an NPC and would apologize for killing them off so quickly [I DM'd in Canada ;p]. When I told them I made them up as we went along, they said very nice things to flatter my ego. But really, the credit is to this bit of advice I got. People belong to communities, and those communities have groups pursuing conflicting agendas. Situating characters in a 'realistic' community really writes the stories for me. Tbh, I worked for a bunch in retail, and I borrowed heavily from the real-life drama I witnessed in those communities. Much love!
UA-cam needs to add a “love” button to videos. This is an absolutely fantastic guide. I’m a new DM running a game for some first-time players (including some with 0 experience at all), and I’m pretty good at asking these kinds of questions. This guide has given me so much more material to work with, and I’ll be watching this video again and again as I continue to create characters myself. Great work, guys!
My favorite character has been my first; a traveling bbq chef who wants to expand their skills so they can thwart their sushi chef brother to win their mothers famous jambalaya cookbook through establishing a bigger franchise.
This would be cool to have as a questionnaire handout to give to players before a campaign.
I'm gonna send it to all characters before I have them start
Only just started the video, but my first campaign is coming to a close soon, so I'm probably going to send this to my players so they can get a better idea of what they want their next characters to be.
So far we've got a bard who was risen from the dead by a devil, so he's going to be a pact of the fiend bardlock skeleton (which I homebrewed to suit his character), a hermit vedalken wizard who is still working on his backstory, and a dragonborn blood hunter who is a foot soldier of a radical cult to the scorned goddess of blood.
It's gonna be a dope campaign.
Google forms is pretty easy to setup and share. It is a form generator creation system.. and after you create your form, you'll share it with your party. Their entries will be submitted into an google sheets//excel spreadsheet. And you can have players do these overy 3-4 sessions just for fun! Like letter writing:b
In addition to figure out how you character reacts to these very meaningful people and situations, also be sure to think about how you character acts to mundane situations.
How do they order a drink? How do they greet a stranger? How do they react when a guard says stop? How do they explain their ideas or ask questions? How do they react to a generic crisis or threat?
Things that arent uniquely meaningful to your character will make up a majority of their actions, so its best to have an idea for these moments. I find the more different this default is from their backstory information the more those moments stand out.
A vengence motivated character's anger is much more impactful if theyre almost always happy golucky otherwise.
A recklessly curious character's motivations will become even more obvious if they are shy and reserved outside theyre interests.
A tragic characters bursts of sadness/happyness as their problems are revealed/alleviated will stand out so much more if they are a ball of anger before those revelations.
And so on.
Once had a player join a campaign late. The party has just ended their last session clearing out a cultists lair to get a macguffin, and everyone thought and planned around the assumption that I would just quickly introduce this new generic soldier dude as a helper that just showed up to help the party.
I started off with the new guy experiencing his previous party dying repeatedly over and over, before his family and village were overrun by the cultists and a demigod herald of apocalypse... The description of his torturers laid out exquisitely as they forced him to live at near total exhaustion while they plumbed his memories for some information he wasn't even sure he had... He is then suddenly awakened, with one of his torturers bleeding out at the foot of the party as they are undoing his shackles... The party gets a hint of the visceral torture this new individual has gone through, and this new member has a clear and understandable motivation to not only join up in the short term, but cooperate and perhaps stick around for the long run, depending on how quickly they can find his other torturer... A Beautiful bit of roleplay for the first timer occured where he now gets to lash out at one of his torturers, to demand information, and solidify his pregame choice into The in-game moment where he swears his Oath of Vengeance.
You guys actually mentioned, almost exactly, a character I'm enjoying right now. The character lost their family and was forced away form home pretty early, and now they drift place to place just looking for the a spot where they can feel "at home" again, and in the meantime stepping up to help stop anyone else from experience such a loss. It's been hella fun having a meaningful reason to connect with literally any NPC, and even stifling the party a bit with the character's stubbornness.
My game setup is this.
The players start at a location that is attacked. Motivations for being there might vary. Within the first 5mins of the first session we roll initiative. The characters form a bond surviving this and then work together to determine why the attack happened.
That leads them to a short adventure. Frozen sick is what I used last time for this.
The characters all have backstory hooks to other modules so if they explore that backstory then I run that module. One is haunted by the murder house in Stradh, one is from the ten towns from Rime of the Frostmaiden. Ones lost father is an archaeologist that leads them to tomb of annihilation.
It’s worked really well.
I’m for quick combat. One of the funnest sessions I ever DMed was a Star Wars Saga one they started in a cantina. Most basic of basic intros: everyone was there for their own reason (two of them were together for backstory reasons) and they get attacked and get stuck in fast.
I like to ask the question: What is it about my character that makes them emotionally relevant in this campaign? Class and ancestry define what makes a character physically relevant, but backstory makes them emotionally relevant. And there's a real challenge and real fun in exploring that during character creation. Great video guys!
Some excellent advice here. I like the idea of framing backstory creation around questions. I had a character who I really enjoyed who came out of the question to myself "could I make a character who has a happy life back home, with a wife and kids who he knows are safe, but who still has a reason to go adventuring?" And everything about him ended up being built based on that, asking a lot of the followup questions outlined here.
If you're trying to make a character and just feel completely lost where to start, I have to shout out the This is Your Life chapter of Xanathar's Guide to Everything. I've used it a lot of times when I knew I wanted to make a character of a certain race and class and nothing else, and it has really helped a lot. Those rolls let me say "OK, this character knows their parents, but was raised by their grandparents after their parents abandoned them. Why would their parents have done that?" And I can use the other rolls to influence those answers, or sometimes thinking about the things that came up in the rolls will spark an idea that I love that goes in a totally different direction, and I abandon some or all of what the rolls told me, because they have now done their job to help me create a character I'm excited to play.
Currently DM-ing. This came up a while ago, but one of my players was from a family halfling druids with an estranged uncle. She completely forgot about the uncle until I brought him in as a poisons dealer caught up in some trouble. Good times.
Both of you Guys are Legends! I think your D & D Videos are amazing & awesome! Keep making as many as possible! Happy Thanksgiving to the both of you!👽👽
I think of a character concept I'm inspired by, then find an interesting build to go with it.
This video definitely helps me with making the concept my own.
shoutout to Kelly's clothes. this dude has some nice style, always looks good, no matter what he wears.
and pls keep up your amazing work, you've helped me so much with this wonderful hobby
I’ve been really struggling with my character backstory for a couple days, and hearing the specific advice “maybe you’re a wizard on a mission to learn every spell” feels really validating to my Order of Scribes Wizard, so thanks!
I've taken to giving my characters completely normal civilian jobs (via guild artisan) and then trying to figure out a connection between those mundane jobs and the fantastical powers of their classes.
For example, I made a Halfling with the UA version of Path of the Giants (because a little dude becoming a really big dude to bust skulls just seemed hilarious), and I decided to make him a roofer; he sought the power to become a giant so that he could do some of his work with his feet on the ground and not have to worry about falling off of roofs.
So that let me wrangle out a reason why he gained his abilities, but it also let me ask and answer a few more questions. It gave him a reason to leave home and start traveling, since so many Halflings are moving into the Halfling-holes that tourists are expecting to see and so there's less and less work for a roofer. Thus, he begins his travels, has a few nasty falls off of roofs at heights meant for the bigger folks, and decides to *Do-Sum-Bow-Dis,* in the words of Strong Bad. Heck, it even helped me pick his languages!
Of course, it's still just a launchpad, and I'd have to give him a proper personality once I get the chance to play him, but I'd like to think it's a neat little trick. You take something normal and something fantastical and cool, and you just bridge the gap your own way, and boom! You're on your way to a fairly easy characterization. Probably.
My current character's backstory is very tragic, but I'm using that to explore a character who is damaged and scared of an adventure they've been forced into. She grew up in the foster system of a corrupt nation ruled by vampires, until she was recruited into the church and trained as an inquisitor paladin.
Her inciting incident happened when she was level 2 and hadn't yet taken her oath. Her superior officer summoned an angel during an inquisition, which razed an entire village and killed everyone present. She was resurrected as a warlock by the angel, who wanted her to take an oath of vengeance against the church and waited to reveal itself until she did later on during the campaign (currently Warlock 5 Paladin 3).
The angel is a d8 covered in eyes.
I really like how all of these things can also help DMs improve; it can prepare you for questions your players might ask before you start.
Love your videos!! Super informational and very helpful - I always recomend you to new players when they aren't sure on stuff!
I created my warlock using some of the stories of how Changeling parents might try and get rid of a child that is born Changeling in order to prevent others from learning their identity, how Changelings are often used as spied, and then having that child raised by a genie Djinni patron that the infant chanced to touch the lamp or ring to release unintentionally.
Kelly that shirt is amazing! Absolutely love it! Also, I am starting my first home brew campaign for a group of mostly newer players and this video was like you read my mind after our session zero. I gave them all the link so they can ask themselves these great questions as well as two or three individual hooks to think about. Thank you both so much! Amazing timing with this video.
Literally I just started Drakkenheim S2 and was amazed (once again) by the immediate depth of y'all's backstories. Lo and behold, this video. You're reading my damn mind
My favorite backstory was Sir Zure Gideon the magnificent! Who, prior to meeting the party published a book describing his grand adventures including, but not limited to, singlehandedly killing a dragon and defeating the riddle of the sphinx. Of course, this autobiography is a complete work of fiction.
What a great video. Even as a DM with as much experience as the both of you put together I find this sort of thing very helpful as a tool. Sometimes it can be difficult to think up these kinds of things and having a prompt is super helpful. Will definitely share this with my players.
Awesome video dudes! As a gm I find most of your videos useful but this one I will probably ask all my players to watch (and watch myself) every time I start a new campaign.
Certainly one of the better videos on this topic that I have seen. Especially the section about tying characters together and/or to the adventure setting.
Something that I enjoyed with my longest character's inciting incident: don't get too specific.
I made an event with the key points defined, but left blanks in some of the important details. I made the what, the where, and the when, but my DM secretly made the who, the why, and the how. My DM was able to plug in NPCs they already had, give mysterious motivations, and filled in details in ways that allowed them to combine later plot threads. Also the fact that my character was unsure about what really happened made for good RP. It is fun to have a character who is wrong about stuff, because it made an opportunity for mystery and character growth.
i truly apreciate kelly's fashion sense. Unique and on point
Thank you dudes. I don’t say it often enough but your videos are so much fun and I appreciate your hard work. I also love your Drakenheim campaign- thank you!
For my urchin/rogue - I gave them a tragic backstory (family was wiped out by goblinoids), but they didn't witness anything. They had hid until the next morning. So it was assumed that some died, but not all of them.
Then they worked with a 4-person group thieving in the city until a job gone wrong split them up.
At this point the adventure started, but I had hoped to give my DM a few NPCs from my past to surprise me with. Some lost family members, and some disgruntled thieves from my past
As someone who loves creating Characters( but haven't/not being able to play yet) really appreciate this video, to take in new nuances I need to improve.
Probably a lot of players first max-min their favorite character class/classes and race to be as powerful as possible then find a backstory to match.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, as long as you talk to your DM. You can be a strong character without playing them in a disruptive way.
Flavour is free, so I usually do wrap it around the mechanics I want to use. In the process, i try and create something interesting than just core mechanics and stock flavour-text.
I also like trying to optimize specific concepts and/or limitations or weaker builds to make them fun mechanically
I've seen that so many times that I can tell when a players do it this way or the other one. I feel like it's more organic when they start with the concept and then pick race/class
@@willmena96 Eh. That feels like its a bit bias. I've seen both as well and either one can be as organic or artificial as the player playing their character wants to make it. Some people are just way better at fleshing out characters than others or are way more comfortable with roleplay. Mechanics are just that. Characters are what come out on the other side.
Or weirder, I have been in several groups that where filled with role-playing characters that had no real strengths or skills. Its weird to have a table of eight people and only two of them are progressing the adventure/fighting/contributing.
@@ryokirah Question: Is the "flavour" you write of better or worse with the letter "u" in it? Lol 🤪 We bloody Yanks spell the word flavor without a "u" in it, unlike our Limey cousins and others in the British Commonwealth. Where are you from? -Dave the Bloody Yank
That "melting pot of Waterdeep moment" just reminded me why I'm so loyal to your channel. Huzzah and thanks from US Thanksgiving.
perfectly timed, im just starting two (that right, TWO) new campaigns in the next couple weeks and ive been working on characters for them. thanks for all the great work :o
I started using archetyping for backgrounds as a template. My favorites are either an explorer/cartographer or smith/artificer/crafter who travels and dungeon crawls out of curiosity, the desire to learn hidden things, and financial reasons. Normally they have a family that plays into their motivations in one way or another to flesh things out.
We are getting ready to start a lvl 10 campaign. The character I am playing is named “Miro” but he is a former accidental revolutionary. Wrong place at the wrong time trope when he was arrested by the then local lord. Escaped with the revolutionaries in a jail break, went into hiding, and then fought back when they were arrested because it was believed he was allied with the revolution.
After the successful revolution, he became a minor folk hero and hated the fame as he settled into an apprenticeship as a smith. He decided to leave the area and move to a larger city to learn his trade, changed his name and live a quiet anonymous life as a craftsman/smith at a small magic shop. He had some talent with magic, which was rare in the village he grew up in.
The world Miro is in has a “half elven lineage” that is similar to the Dunendan of Tolkien in aesthetic, but we can use any updated elf or half elven feature to establish stats so Miro is Eladrin in appearance with the seasons to help when he needs to change his appearance. Arcane trickster/battle smith is his multiclass….
He has lived in the city quietly and goes on expeditions periodically looking for lost knowledge and artifacts at the request of the shop owner as well as on his own. He is a Rogue/Artificer. He is connected to the party’s wizard who is an eldritch knight/order of scribes wizard, who grew up in the city.
I am terrible about writing why I'm an adventurer because I like the reluctant hero or the character who stumbles into it. Current character took a celestial warlock pact to save the person they love, it was flawed and now I'm seeking more power to make sure they're completely restored
Great content as always, dudes. I always look forward to listening to your vids on the way to or from work.
Four best points: (1) Not every backstory is one of great tragedy (please!). (2) Check with the DM before going too far (especially for any custom worlds or settings).
(3) Think and have character goals in steps. This is quite good, as it helps players think about steps and stages, rather than a single, far off, disconnected final goal.
(4) A sentence, or less, is fine for most questions.
Hello Dungeon Dudes.
A most interesting video. I have watched dozens of your videos, to date, and found most of them interesting and insightful as well as helpful to a person like myself. One who has not played D&D since the original 3rd editon books.
Recently, a friend of mine is attempting to get an adventure group together to play 5th edition D&D. Probably online using D&D Beyond online.
Everyone has now rolled up their characters, and gotten their basic gear ready for the game. Now, all we are waiting for is for the DM to have the time to run the game on a date we can all make time to play.
I, am an invenerate world builder. I am also a Fantasy and Science Fiction author as well. So, world building is nothing new to me as a concept. So, when the DM asked me about my character's backstory, I asked a few questions in return.
Net result, my Centaur mare Ranger character is the daughter of a Baron, who got his Barony by saving a Duke. The Duke's party was ambushed and just when it seemed the Duke's guards line had broken, giving the primary assassin a clear shot at the Duke with a Death Arrow, a centaur fighter suddenly charges out of the forest, flinging magic enhanced javelins at the Duke's attacker as he closed the distance. In the next round of combat, the centaur charged in close, hacking with a pair of scimitars, and then reared up and hit the assassin with his forehooves, resulting in the assassin being knocked over and at disadvantage for followup attacks. I won't go into a 'blow by blow' of the battle, but the centaur 'saved' the Duke's life and dealt with the primary assassin, with the result of the Duke accepting the Centaur's service, and raising him as a new Baron upon his lands.
Cut to some 30 years later. Windshear Meadowtrot, daughter of Evershear Meadowtrot, has completed her training as a Ranger and has been dubbed a Knight of the Realm by her father, the Baron of Everfree.
I asked the DM where the Barony was located, and he thought about it for awhile and admitted that he only had one location to place the Barony of Everfree. And that was an expanse of forest, somewhat like that Southeast of Neverwinter (although NOT that particular forest).
This got my creative juices going... Centaurs in the woods. Yeah, not the 'best' area for centaurs. So I asked if there was a Druid's Grove, run by a Druid's Circle in that forest. He affirmed there was, and it was off to the races!
Using those answers, I came up with... try not to laugh... tree dwelling centaurs. The Baron made a Pact with the Druid Circle and for their aid in helping him establish his Barony in the forest, he would pledge to come to the Druid's aid if ever needed.
This results in 'ring' houses high up the massive trees in the forest, built just under the canopy, and within it as well, with some structures even piercing the canopy. For protection, the trees are all heavily enchanted with spells to protect the trees from fire, acid, chopping, and other such magics. For more prosasic protection, each tree with a house, or one with a bridge, has a 25 foot band of iron around the trunk, making climbing extremely difficult. The iron bands have an enchantment of Lightning that blasts anyone touching the band to further prevent climbing attempts.
All the buildings in the Forest, constructed and grown for the centaurs, have angled supports to support the structures above. These are emplaced, and later a druid is hired to 'grow' them into the tree's structure, making the supports a living portion of the tree. The same is true of all the bridges, which were constructed out of lumber, rope, and woven wire metal ropes. A druid would be hired to grow the bridge from the 'dead' wood and integrate it into the living trees the bridge connects.
The spaces between trees are not wasted, however. More hemp rope covered metal wire ropes are used to create suspension lines to support platforms that are anchored by yet more of such compound ropes. Again, a druid is brought in to 'grow' the tree's branches out to support the platform from below, reducing the stress upon the suspension cords. This allows the resulting platform to be used for any of many purposes. Such as markets, smithies, schools, temples, hospitals, etc.
Such platforms would also be used for farming. Soil brought up from below would be watered by rain, as well as the use of catch basin cistern systems that provide fresh water to the town, baron's keep, farms, and other buildings.
For further defense, the access up to the living lowest living levels of the town would be via several ramps leading to small defensible platforms, with further ramps up to either further platforms, or up to the lowest levels of the town above. Such lower levels would not be 'basements', but would be outposts where soldiers could keep an eye on the land below (some 200 feet below, to be precise), and spot any potential dangers.
Each 'ring house' and platform would have fairly stout walls, and both 'arrow slits' and 'murder holes'. These allow the populace to defend itself pretty well via simple means. Spears thrown down at enemies would have stone 'rings' just behind the spear points, to give them more 'heft' and 'hammer' the spear into the target, should it hit. Regular stones, hot sand, and acid can be dropped or thrown down upon enemies as well.
And this does not include the Baron's 'army' from attacking, using one or more of the many ramp ways up to his domain. I should mention that ALL the ramps are made so as to be able to be pulled up, out of reach of attackers. Making ascending them even more difficult. And should an enemy gain access to a ramp's platform, the next ramp up would also be 'withdrawn' like a drawbridge. Forcing more difficulties upon the foe.
Now, for further 'history'. The Barony of Everfree is not exclusively centaurs, although centaurs make up a good 80 to 90 percent of the population. The vast majority of those defending the town of Everfree, and the Barony as a whole, are Fighters, Rangers, Druids, and Magic Users.
Now, back to Windshear. Newly knighted, and granted a Fief to rule, to prove herself over time, worthy to be the next Baron of Everfree, she has set her three Retainers to running the Fief and recruiting as needed, as well as building and expanding the fief's domain within the area of forest her father gave her to rule over.
Windshear, herself, has gone outside the Barony to gain experience, make contacts, see the world, and hopefully, 'make her fortune'. This results in Windshear spending only what is needed to improve her gear, weapons, and such, with the vast majority of any funds being funneled back to her Fief to aid its growth. Her Retainers would use such funds to hire guards, hire builders and druids as needed, build housing, expand farming platforms, etc, until their Knight returns.
I have also 'hobbled' myself a bit with the character. Armor in D&D is not 'realistic' for centaurs. They seem to be able to wear 'bipedal' armor and gain the AC for whatever armor type it is. This ignores the 'horse' half of the centaur. So, even though it does nothing to improve AC, I am buying both bipedal and equine armor so the character 'looks' properly armored. Thus, when Windshear improves her armor from Studded Leather, up to Scale Mail, she is buying both 'normal' scale armor, and scale barding as well. This means that her armor weighs a total of 3 times as much as a biped's armor, and costs a total of 5 times as much to cover her entirely. But, only armors her to Scale Mail's normal AC.
This is a mechanism to act as a 'money sink' for the character, slowing her AC improvement over time, as well as a way to deal with 'excess' cashflow. And then there is the money she sends back to aid her Fief.
So, we have tree dwelling centaurs, in close harmony with the 'local' Druidic Circle and Grove, with good relations with the surrounding lands and peoples, like the Dwarves in the nearby mountains, and the Elves that live in the nearby woods. Gnomes, Halflings, Goblins, Humans, Tabaxi, and Leonin can be found in Everfree town and the Baron's 'castle'. Many of whom are residents of the Barony, and some are even members of the Baron's Guards, or on the Baron's advisory council.
The DM plans to run a 'pre-adventure' scenario, to get the players from level one up to around level three, before they go for the 'main' adventure. I think this will result in these characters being 'retired' from use afterwards, although I could be wrong. Time will tell.
So, any thoughts on the arboreal centaurs?
So, I chose a Centaur race to play as because I've never played one before. I chose to make the character female because I thought it would be 'fun' to play something other than a 'male' character for a change of pace. I chose Ranger, because I happen to like Rangers, and Windshear chose that class because she was always fascinated with the living things and animals in her forest home. When the time comes, I plan to make her into a Beast Master due to this choice of hers. Windshear probably grew up as a bit of a 'rebel' child, sneaking off into the forest to follow the rangers that keep the forest safe enough to travel through, and thus sparking her interest in animal lore and the living things in the Everfree forest. Being the daughter of a Baron is not 'fun'. Really, most of your time is taken up with tutors, practicing skills, and being guarded and watched day in and day out. This caused her to 'rebel' a bit, and sneak off to learn more about the forest that is her home. She would also know the 'lore' of how the Barony came to be, and be interested in the Druids as well, which ties into the Ranger Class nicely. As for character modivation... well, I said above, that she left her fief in the capable hands of her retainers to run the place, and expand it in her absence, while she goes off to learn of the wider world, gain experiences, make contacts with leaders, clergy, people in general, and traders. All to benefit her fief, and herself to one day settle down as a 'landed' Knight of the Everfree Forest and the Barony of Everfree. And, hopefully, to one day prove herself 'worthy' of being chosen out of all the Baron's children, to succeed him as the Baron when her father retires, is slain, or dies of old age. Meanwhile, she is off adventuring, gaining experience, contacts, making friends, learning the 'lay of the land' and its peoples and wildlife, making contacts with traders, miners, smiths and makers, and 'filling her rolodex of contacts' that will become useful to her later on in life.
I'm late to the discussions, but I was interested to hear all this as I am now playing with my 3rd DM and he is the first one that wanted to be included in the creation of the character, but I didn't know that at the time so followed the pattern from the previous DMs I'd played with and went off and created my character without any reference to the DM or the other players. Now it is very difficult to pull the group together - definitely want to work with the DM next time character creation comes up.
Thanks guys.
My fave character to play had the inciting incident of... Being a chef he wanted to find a culinary creation that would put the family restaurant "on the map"
At first our group just used the Xanathar Tables and flushed out on our own if we wished. Me personally I still use xanathar for most of the work, but then my DM provided materials like:
"What is your character's short-term goal(s)? Long term goal(s)? What is/ are your motivation(s)? What will you do to achieve those objective(s)?
Prepare for what the campaign will throw at you and it might change and motivations and will it change your character's goals. Using these new materials has helped us as players build more in-depth stories and then when a backstory hook comes into the fold, now we think "Okay we're here now & what am I going to do based on what I've experienced?"
When I create a character, i'll usually start with a voice or accent and build a personality from that, or i'll tie the voice to a character that already exists and take inspiration from there.
For instance, my current Barbarian has a deep slavic accent, it reminded me of Braum from League of Legends so I made him jolly and rather talkative (to a fault - he might give away info to the enemies.) It gives me a reason to go into more conversations, even if they might have a negative outcome because low charisma BUT because he's friendly and forthcoming he also seems to make connections a lot easier.
Great video, really made me re-analyze my character and have fun doing it. Can't wait to give some full flavor in my next session!
About to start my first campaign and while the other players have done 5+ campaigns before, they are not great at helping with character creation. This video cover and hone everything in my messy brain!!!
The way I do my backstories I create a basic idea, use the What is my Life table to generate bullet points for their life and then I expand the basic idea to fit the rolls
Had a somewhat inspired class backstory recently. Coming from a mountain village of humans and goliaths, my character is 3 levels rune knight with the rest going into steel defender artificer using the rune Carver background. Essentially my character uses various runes to power his automaton. Don't have a campaign to go through though
Thank you! Amazing video that I will be sharing with both my D&D tables.
Definitely love this video, because my first character is lacking on some backstory details and this is good for some improvements
Awesome video, i took SO MANY NOTES !!! Hahaha. Many Thanx for all the ideas and material this gives !
This is a great video, and I'll definitely bring some of this stuff up in the Session Zero I'm attending tomorrow for a new campaign!
This video came in the right time!! Thanks for the guidance!!
I come up with a backstory first and build a race/class/subclass combo to fit it.
Playing a armor artificer (Noble) currently , his family was also artificers and inventors, they built inventions enhanced weapons and that became a very profitable business , which drove my family to become a honorary mafia family.
I love that this isn't a holiday for the rest of the world
We always have 3 main things:
a Rival, a Mentor and an Ally
Good timing with this vid. I'm just working on a backstory for my new character. A Yuan Ti who was cursed by a Fey to have emotions. Especially guilt over all the evil Yuan Ti do.
Some of us simply had family members instill a strong sense of guilt, like a grandmother. Yours had a fairy godmother!
@@solar4planeta923 Lol! You could say that!
A character I'm playing next year:
Francis Daud
Human/Paladin(Oath of Conquest) Soldier Chaotic Good
Both of my parents were soldiers so I followed in their footsteps through determination and hard work i became commander of the 7th battalion (Army TBD). A great war started and my battalion won a decisive battle but my orders were to spare the opposing forces. I followed orders and my men paid the price. I was the only survivor, captured and imprisoned I now sit in an arena with a lucky few to win our freedom
So I first invisioned this charater as a human and the realization that wood elf's extra 5 ft of movement would be very useful to the build i was going for. Didn’t change anything about the charater or his backstory because it just worked for him to be completely disconnected from his people and culture. He's a rogue who became an adventurer because he wanted a better way to support himself and the group of orphaned kids he cares for. Dude was only 9 years old when he became the oldest of this group and started playing parent so the only way he could do what he needed to was by stealing. He wants to take care of them without hurting others anymore.
I love your character's motivation!
The mindset of "I did what I had to so we could survive, but I want to find another way" (and all the history/hope for the future that comes with it) can be so much fun to explore in a game.
@@gaildahlas Yeah, he's a fun one to play because of the mix of hope and distrust of the people around him.
Great timing, I’m starting a new campaign this weekend!
I always start with an archetype. My last character ("Doc" Brown) was a swashbuckler rogue with the Healer feat. I patterned him after Errol Flynn's famous character Captain Blood. So he's a doctor turned swashbuckler. Then to make him fit better, I gave him the Sailor background. The idea was Doc was a med school dropout. He had to get out of town when the authorities and his girlfriend's dad found out about his secret romance and how he was paying for medical school (hint: he took some involuntary contributions to help pay for it). So he heard about an opportunity to become a ship's physician and jumped at it. He ended up in the Gems (island chain like the Caribbean) and decided to become an adventurer to make a lot of money and live a carefree life. Girlfriend (Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bowden), her father, any member of his old crew, I figured we'd flesh them out as needed. I made him greedy to give the DM a motivation to give us more money. (They've been stingy so far) and some pathos if I needed it (failed doctor, failed romance). If only rogues weren't so squishy!
My new character is a former cavalry soldier who was discharged due to some b.s. (I haven't figured it out yet, will probably "discover" the reason together) He's a human cavalier whose looking for a good cause to fight for. After being drummed out of the military, he became a mercenary and an adventurer (the two jobs are strikingly similar) out in the Gems (island chain, like the Caribbean). Until he was hired by the governor of one of the isles, Aegis, to become a Cartographer. The Cartographers are a semi-secret organization devoted to exploring and mapping the magical places of this world. To find magical resources in case Aegis needs it in the future. Another player decided to start a new character at the same time, so we went with the stranded on a mysterious island together. More Robinson Crusoe than Blue Lagoon. We're partners. She's the brains, and I'm her aide-de-camp. She chose the Cobalt Soul Monk for a combination of smarts and physical abilities. In a low-magic campaign, monks are phenomenal! Anyway, the idea is we were shipwrecked while exploring this island and had to survive until the rest of the party can come to rescue us. My DM was surprisingly generous to give me a magic horse figurine (no, not the ebony one, that's a nightmare-pun intended). I tried to explain that Cavaliers don't NEED mounts, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Hector Ramos (one of the countries is patterned off of Imperial Spain) is a simple man, he follows orders and gets stuff done. I'm trying a couple of things with this character that I don't normally do. 1) take a support role. The monk, Maija, is in charge. I back her up and support her plans, offering suggestions when necessary. 2) talk less. Most of my characters are a reflection of myself, outgoing and very verbose (talkative). In Hector, I'm looking for a thoughtful character who mulls things over before acting decisively. My character idea is "Hector gets things done." So he has a personality, an organization, a good partner, and an overarching goal. (That's finding a righteous cause to fight for) I think we're going to fit right in with the Unconventionals. (That's the party's name)
13:10.
I would have to put in a soft disagree here. Something like that CAN be made to work. My half-elf Oath of Glory Paladin's inciting incident was singlehandedly killing an adult red dragon (Oath of Glory, Folk Hero-stood alone against a terrible monster, entire backstory rolled up using Xanathar's), which would normally be a huge, climactic event. Of course, I had to think outside of about four boxes to make this work, but it all came together in a believable backstory that I think fit the background and class well.
Saga was abandoned at an abbey that provided rest and shelter to wayward travelers and adventurers. She was a cobbler (Cobbler tool proficiency, background), and repaired shoes and boots of the guests. They would leave donations and tips, and she was able to save up a little bit of money. One day, a traveler named August showed up at the Abbey and he and Saga took to each other, becoming friends and eventually lovers. August stayed at the Abbey for a while, helping with duties around the site. August spoke at length of different dragons, recounting legends and tales from times past of all types. It was on a sunny day when Saga and August were walking through the surrounding forest when the Abbey was attacked by the red dragon, Culdria the Younger, who was accompanied by his kobold followers. Most of the treasure was stolen, and the majority of those at the scene were killed. The Abbey itself was burned near completely as well.
Upon returning, and seeing the destruction wrought by Culdria, August was incensed. He gathered some weapons and a suit of armor that were left behind, vowing to kill the dragon. Saga, being a bit headstrong and quite smitten with him, would not let him go alone. He tried to force her to stay and help, but she wouldn't. She took a suit of old chain mail and a rusty warhammer (Paladin starting equipment), and followed August up the mountain where Culdria was said to have come from. They found the lair, and they charged inside. August was fast, faster than Saga anyway, and she was cut off by a pack of kobolds. They fought to delay her, kill her if they could. Saga fought desperately, her knowledge of warhammers extending only to hearing stories of warriors telling tales of their exploits. Through some miracle she was able to kill some of the kobolds, and drive back the rest. Over all of the fighting she was doing, she could hear Culdria roaring in combat with August. She thought that as long as she could hear the dragon, August was alive.
The sound stopped. Assuming the worst, she was able to slide to a stop before entering the lair of Culdria. Imagine her surprise when it was CULDRIA who was dead, and standing over the red dragon's corpse was an even larger silver dragon (Ancient age class). A silver dragon that looked at Saga and spoke to her in August's voice (Xanathar's, page 72, "Weird Stuff", "4"). Saga was incensed, to say the least. August accepted her verbal assault, apologized, and explained his insatiable curiosity about the other races. He explained that he was taken by her pure heart and fiery spirit. He also explained that he would not return to the Abbey, instead taking up residence in the former Culdria's lair to protect it from afar.
To provide a cover story, he made Saga swear to recount the story as if he'd been killed on the road and she continued alone. She fought through the dragon's kobold allies, killing them all before finally defeating the dragon. Reluctantly she accepts, if only to protect his identity. He also charged her to swear an oath to become known for deeds that will match the tale that she agreed to tell. Essentially charging her to live up to the glory that has been gifted to her by the silver dragon. This oath, powered by the love she felt/feels for August, is the source of her Oath of Glory subclass abilities. August shifted back to his human form, and gifted Saga an item from the red dragon's hoard. A silver dragon pendant that is always cold to the touch, that she squeezes when she is uncertain to steady herself (often accompanied by the phrase "August, you son of a bitch"). She returned to the Abbey, was given her starting equipment (Folk Hero), minus the shovel and iron pot.
My Paladin must accomplish great deeds to match the tale of her killing an adult red dragon by herself. Now, imagine this character, who can't roll double digits unless she's fighting a dragon, locked in mortal combat with Venomfang from LMoP. My first attack was a crit. Divine Smite. Inspiring Smite. I load myself up with temporary HP. I'm being helped in this fight by a paltry Barbarian who I wish would just get out of the tower and leave me to it. He eventually does, running out to help the other party members fight off some zombies. I'm getting beaten on. When the dragon cuts through my temp HP, I renew Inspring Smite on myself. I'm getting breathed on but had the foresight to cast "Protection from Poison" before the battle started (see above, line of text 6). All in all I took a total of EIGHT POINTS OF DAMAGE from Venomfang. He tries to flee at 1/2 HP per the module rules. "Compelled Duel". Failed save. He ain't goin' nowhere. I did over 100 points of damage to that green dragon and received a minor flesh wound in response. I burned all of my spell slots, I used every single ability I had, and I chased him from the floor of that tower to the roof of it.
I am going to KILL this vile creature, and complete a vital point to my backstory. He's going DOWN, I can feel it. I had pre-rolled my attack and damage for my next hit. Natural 20. Every single star in the universe was perfectly aligned for my character to add this story to her legend.
The rogue comes in from fighting zombies outside. He takes a shot with his bow. The arrow sails through the air, up, up, up to the top level, striking Venomfang. Imagine my paladin's (and my own) crestfallen face when the DM says "How do you want to do this?" to the rogue player. He shot the dragon. Through both eyes. Everyone thought that the kill-steal was the funniest thing. It was, in a way. Saga rode the dead dragon's corpse to the ground when it fell, and she walked up to the nearest zombie. I beat on it until it failed its undead fortitude save. It got a couple of attacks in. The DM asked me if any of them hit. I told her that it doesn't matter what she rolled, Saga isn't defending herself. She is in kill everything I can legally get away with mode. She goes to the rest of the party. She wades into the remaining zombies, slashing them with her longsword over and over, taking every single attack from them in her anguish. The last zombie falls. When it happens I point to the map. "I walk to this point, drive my sword into the ground, scream at the top of my lungs before falling to my knees and I start crying. It's suddenly not funny anymore. I step away from the table for a second (Local Game Store, Adventurers League game) and grab a snack and drink. For three game days I self-enforced disadvantage on EVERY SINGLE ROLL after that fight.
The rogue player actually apologized. I told him that it was the most perfect thing that could happen., and I truly love how that fight turned out.
If you're still reading at this point, I admire your tenacity. Saga has elevated herself to one of my top three favorite characters, and I thought she deserved at least a few words of her deeds. She is an Oath of Glory Paladin, after all.
My favorite character's inciting incident was the divorce he went through; his ex wife took everything in the divorce, even the town and its environs.
I had a character like that! Quill the mage, a town mage for hire (minor divinations and such) was too boring for his thrill-seeking wife. She left him for the captain of the guard, and he fled their town in shame and anger to set out on a real adventure. Tried to prove her wrong. After a bit he realized he didn't want her back, even though he'd embraced the type of adventurous life she'd dared him to try.
Love your show and you guys! Happy Thanksgiving from here in the U.S.
I use Shadowrun 2es 20 questions for this, modifying it for setting if necessary. Always been a great tool.
Thanks for posting something on thanks giving.
That is a loud shirt!! Kelly...you're awesome buddy!! :D
Thank you Dudes for the video, this should help me refine my idea for a Yuan-Ti Rogue Swashbuckler 👍.
Horrifying shrieks pierced the darkness where Hecate hid, tucked in a hollow of the demon tree, that spot which no one dared approach, save the desperate. The marauders were taking their time, torturing and murdering everyone she knew and loved. Hecate shut her eyes, held her hands over her ears, and prayed.
She had been born to terrible omens, her name a reflection of the doom that those omens foretold. Her mother cast her out as a newborn, fearing the signs and wishing Hecate dead. But the village wise woman kept her and raised her as her own, training her in her ways. The children were afraid of her, the fears of their parents being contagious. But Hecate was taught, learned, that by doing good works and keeping a smile in her heart, she could slowly win them over. Hecate learned healing and herbs, and helped the people of her village. Over time the village forgot their fears and came to accept her. Hecate had finally arrived at a point in her life when all was good.
Then conquerors came. A great evil had arisen, commanding armies of orcs, foul men and fell beasts. Like a plague they marched over the land laying waste to any that resisted, and pillaging everything else. Hecate's village was not spared.
The screaming reached into Hecate's soul, she could recognize the voices! "Gods! Please!" Hecate begged in her prayers. She knew magics, she knew the ways of magic, but the only power she had ever trained was healing magic. Now when her need was so dire, when she needed to be able to fight, to save what she could of the people she loved, she was powerless! "Please! Give me the strength." Hecate's will was intense, she prayed sincerely, desperately. And there was that which was listening.
The Demon Tree, a portal to things that should not be... *Power Dangles* Hecate's mind reached for that promise. *Temptation* Hecate needed that power. *Price* Yes, of course there is a price. *Great Power* Hecate lusted for that power. *Great Price* Hecate hesitated. More screams echoed. "I will pay the price!" Hecate screamed loud!
Marauders looked up, a few moved towards the voice they had heard, more victims for the slaughter.
Hecate realized what she had done. In this place where she had hidden, that which listened and would respond to prayer was as foul as it was dangerous. She had done a terrible thing, and the price was her soul. But she had at least gotten what she had paid for and she would silence those screams and replace them with the screams of the plague that despoiled her people.
Hellfire exploded amongst those marauders who had come to claim Hecate as another of their victims. Brimstone burned their flesh and left them smoking sulfur in a scorch mark stinking of Hades. Searing flames erupted from Hecate's gestures, flaying all who stood before her as she walked among the ruins of what had once been her home. Her every footstep burned the ground beneath her, tendrils of malevolence taking root behind her, she was shrouded in a flame every bit as evil as it was protective of her.
One by one she cut down the last of the marauders. They died shrieking as unholy flames consumed more than just their flesh. Till finally she was done, the plague was purged, she extinguished her flames. She looked about, dawning horror that the ruin she saw of her village was more than what the marauders had done.
Brimstone flowed upon the earth, noxious fumes rose, plants were twisted into a parody of life, and the corpses of the fallen, those she had slain, seemed no longer men, dead though they might be. She had done this! She could trace where she had walked, where she had blasted, and everywhere she could see she had left not just a trail of destruction, but also a trail of lasting hell. She had brought hell upon the earth.
In shock Hecate walked through her village, almost thankful that there appeared no one alive to witness what had become of her. Her tears were dry as she found the village wise woman, her adoptive mother. She had been deeply cut but was still holding to life by a thread. Hecate cut her down from where she had been splayed and held her hands over the wound. Hecate knew healing magics, she could save at least one of them.
Then with abject horror Hecate's eyes went wide, as what happened was not the soothing, purifying light that she used to manifest as she healed. What happened instead was the blackest of shadow, as a rift was torn in the dimensions and from it crawled a hideous demonic spider. The spider immediately leaped for the exposed flesh, as if it were desperate to eat of it and buried itself inside of the village wise woman.
Utterly aghast at what she had done, almost in a panic, now truly weeping, Hecate fumbled with bandages. She grabbed at what herbs she could find to create salves. Desperately she tried to save her, the last of those she loved. She tried, for hours she tried, till finally despite her efforts, the last of her village died. Hecate cried herself to sleep, her head laying upon the corpse of her adoptive mother.
She was awoken by movement. Her eyes opened. Something moved beneath her. Hecate sat up with a shock! Beneath her was the body of her adoptive mother, the dead body, how could she have felt movement? And then spiderlings crawled out from under the bandages she had put on her mother, demonic spiderlings crawling out of the wounds and leaping into the shadows. Hecate screamed!
Then the dead eyes of her mother opened! She looked at Hecate and smiled, a sickly sweet smile that dripped of something not quite right. "Hecate, my beautiful girl, what a beautiful day it is." Her mother gazed upon the sulfuric clouds drifting over the brimstone outside of the hellish shelter she lay in. Hecate again screamed and ran, sobbing into the night.
👏
❤ Kelly's shirt!
I love how Kelly and Monty always have drastically differing style lol
I have an idea for my next character and I'll try asking those questions to define the backstory better.
Basically, the character is a young silver dragon that is stuck his human form. He was very greedy and disliked sontact with humanoids, avoiding it as much as possible. He only saw them as maggots that serve him only to grow his hord. One day, her mother disguised as a human witch came to his laire and cursed him to be stuck in his human form so that he may learn to respect other living beings and so he now roacms the world in serach of anything that may be able to give him his beloved dragon form back. He goes around arogantly, claiming that he is a proud dragon and that everyone should prostrate to him and give him gifts, so he is treated as a mad man.
For the class, I haven't decided yet but I thing a sorcerer could be fun (as he has his inate draconic powers) and probably draconic lineage (although I might try another lineage if I find one I want to try more). I don't know what to take for his background so if anyone has an idea that could be cool for this character, I would be open to suggestions.
Fun fact, I was planing to play this character in the Dungeons of Drakenheim we are playing. Basically, he heard of an artefact in Drakenheim that could give him back his form
8:29 I’m actually doing something like that-my drow boy was adopted by a small clan of wood elves after his father abandoned him on the surface. All he knows about drow and the cult of Lolth he learned from books and asking adults a million irritating questions as a child
Kelly is a mimic today! That can't be just a shirt!
I also want to add: keep in mind your starting level!! Don't add superhuman, amazing feats in your background if you're only level 3, for example, and add a reason why your character is a seasoned fighter/adventurer if starting out higher.
The biggest part of the background I make up is the background that surrounds their relationships with the other player’s characters. How they met, how or if they are related, what experiences have they had, etcetera.
One of the characters that I'm playing is an undying warlock that made the pack with a fey to keep her youth and beauty because that's what she believes people care about. But to keep this she has to kill someone I think once a week and the best way to do this without suspicion is to do it through the adventurers guild.
Writing a backstory is always a tough part for me when I create a character. Either I write not enough or too much. My current DM helped me out with my half-elf paladin in our Avernus campaign.
I like taking on roles that connect me to other characters but are likely to be overlooked or underestimated. If someone wants to bring in a knight with the aristocratic background it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to have a squire or a retainer of some kind. I'd be perfectly happy to play that role with a rogue or a sorcerer. It might get me into places but I might not otherwise be able to get into.
Also, I would totally play a rangers "animal companion" If wild shape or some kind of shifting ability would allow for some kind of long-term duration. Imagine walking in as a dog, shifting back to human getting into lots of trouble, and then shifting back to a dog to leave.
Both of these would require at least the appearance of being subservient to another player character. In practice I don't think that's required, you just have to be okay holding up that charade when appropriate.
I've had an idea along those lines for a while now. A few friends of mine like playing Necromancers and I enjoy playing martial characters. The idea is for them to have the necromancer accidentally animate the soul of a long dead hero who inhabits a skeleton and is fully sentient but bound to protect the Necromancer. The soul knows this and hates it but is magically bound to obey the necromancer PC. And in order to sneak around town without too much suspicion they are fully clad in Magical armor.
Also if there is a scheduling issue, I can just leave the character sheet with the necro player, and they can just say the spirit is being particularly anti-social today. Win-Win.
Kelly’s shirt though!😃
Kelly that shirt is psychotic. I love it.
Good video, guys!!
My paladin was the youngest son. His favorite uncle was a paladin and with a letter of introduction and his father's blessing would join a Paladin order. As a young lad wanted to join in the crusades. He would become a soldier to help spread the cause. Till he saw the corruption and lip service. Disenchantment led to eventual breaking g of his oath.
Interesting ideas, thanks
i at one time had a character have a long term goal of DEFEATING THERE PATRON because she wished to die in combat to pass on the role to a successor
one of the short term goals was finding out what happened to some of the other possible successors as some of them had died before the adventure begun merely for closure for both my character and the patron as she is the lowest divine rank
Thank you
24:55 in the hundreds of hours of dnd I've played, never once has a party had a solid connection...
I just started DM'ing for the first time and instead of meeting in a tavern, I had them all picked up by the town guards and told they could be sentenced to 10 years hard labour or 3 years of trouble shooting for the crown (fitted the entire group with explosive collars) and now they not only get to go on whatever adventures they find but get given jobs by the crown when I want to throw a curve ball at them (and yes I have made them clean the sewers of rats and giant spiders)
I wish I had this when I started my first character, but I'll do better with my next one.
Finally, a character creation list I do not hate! It's weird how many of such lists seem to aim to create a ton of pointless detail that won't help to flesh out a character at all. That's actually a pretty good list, and also pretty much how I do this already. I do like a "NPC from the future" idea, never thought of it like this.
One thing I kinda disagree with are having big goals and immediate goals. In my practice these things end up hindrances, even when GM and Players are working together.
Both seem to lead to either "well my goals and this campaign don't mesh together, it's hard to justify my character staying in the party" or "I am taking the hook of the campaign, and my goals have fallen into obscurity". Theoretically it's not impossible to integrate all these into a campaign to the extent that there is no distinction in the first place, but I can't say I ever saw this play out successfully. I find that these more often introduce unnecessary tension. Better to just have them bite the hook.
Sir Edward The 4 is a noble paladin who became an adventure to get away from his famile or more precisly his older brothers wife. Who he is head over heel for. But he don't wanna split his famile over this. So Edward becomes an adventure because they always move never standing still. Also to busy to think about home.
I have a Hexblade I really want to play but haven’t had the chance and probably won’t since I’m probably going to be a Forever DM but I’m still really excited for him.
When he was young, talking 5 or younger, his dad left him and his mother after coming home with a strange sword but he was so young he only knows this from his mother. Fast forward 15 or so years and while working he gets assaulted by muggers/a wild animal/something and summons that strange sword his father once had but he doesn’t know how. Now he journeys with the party looking for answers.
What he doesn’t know is this has been a multi-generational thing with his dad’s side of the family. One of his older ancestors made a deal with some powerful being but until that debt has been paid it’ll be passed down through the generations and throughout the journey he’ll be finding out more about that and eventually finishing the bargain or die in the process. What he doesn’t know but will find out eventually is his dad died which is why he was able to pull out the sword.
If I do ever get to use him I’ll talk with the DM to figure out who the powerful entity is and what the deal was but I love the idea that the DM comes up with that so I can learn along the way
Good video guys
Is there any place to submit homebrew for a character sub class? Im trying to rework the steel defender a bit but I don't have much experience balancing things I'm trying to make it more potent without being over powered