Well I might use them as HB characters in a campaign because I got bored during class and added a bit more than what's showing currently but as you can tell by the title I was wondering if you guys could help me with my background because I know it definitely needs a lot of work.
So here's what I have so far:
Age: 18 Winter is a White Chromatic Dragonborn sailor that was once thrown away into the sea at birth and was eventually found by Admiral Storm who then took her in and made her a crew member. She's now excited to explore the lands instead of the sea, although she'll definitely miss Percy, and she's typically friendly/neutral to everyone unless you manage to piss her off then she can pretty hard headed. She travels out to lands with people in need of assistance because she's wanted to try something new since she's only ever known the sea life, and so she can learn the ways of being a Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald, as suggested by her old crew members, Percy. Her captain, Admiral Storm, has already approved of her departure and waits for her to find her way back the Bold Venture in the open sea.
I'll always remember my first ship. It's name is Bold Venture and I will return to it no matter what.
Name of Ship: Bold Venture - Summary: The Bold Venture is the only place Winter has ever had the pleasure of calling home after Admiral Storm had found her as a baby. Captain: Admiral Storm - Race: Changeling - Class: Sorcerer: Storm Sorcery, Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald - Age: 35? - Alignment: CG - Summary: Winter has always Admiral Storm as her father ever since he rescued her as a baby from being lost at sea all alone and raised her as one of the crew members on the Bold Venture until her time came to learn the way to become a Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald like the rest of the crew had. Favorite crew member/love interest: Percy - Race: Sea Elf - Class: Cleric: Tempest Domain, Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald - Age: 120 - Alignment: NG - Summary: Winter has always been in love with Percy ever since she had layed her eyes on him but she's always been too afraid to say anything about it to him since they've known each other for so long and she fears that he won't feel the same way. She made a promise to Percy, Admiral Storm, and the rest of the crew that she'd come back alive in one piece and she made a promise to herself to finally confess her feelings to Percy once she comes back to the Bold Venture.
Reason for them being a Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald is because it's a requirement for all crew members to set and become a Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald once they either reach adulthood or a couple years after (can be done earlier if they choose so it's their choice) otherwise they can't be a part of the crew. Admiral Storm has rescued and recruited all crew members to try to give them a better life. Percy is a Sea Elf whose dedicated his life to Admiral Storm after Storm had rescued him from his old abusive family. Percy has learned from them to be a kind person which is why he has chosen to be a Cleric: Tempest Domain so he can try to help and protect his new family. He was also later made to become a Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald. Being a Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald has been a life long tradition and requirement of the Bold Venture.
Admiral Storm: - Height: ??? - Weight: ??? - Color: ??? - Languages: ??? Percy: - Height: 6 ft. (Medium) - Weight: 150 lbs. - Color: light blueish skin with silver hair and yellow eyes - Languages: Common, Elvish, Draconic, Sylvan, and Gnomish Winter: - Height: 6 ft. - Weight: 200 lbs. - Color: white shiny scales with ocean blue eyes - Languages: Common and Draconic
All suggestions are welcome.
And for those curious I'm trying to make a Chromatic Dragon Born Paladin: Oath of the Open Sea that's also trying to multiclass into Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald and sorry if it's too much information. I spent a few hours working on it but I think it's pretty good now
I don’t know that it needs much more work at all. You’ve got a bit about personality, goals and motivation. That’s plenty for a level 1 character, assuming you are level 1. If you really want, you might flesh out the names of things a bit more. Who is the crew member who suggested storm herald? What was the name of the ship they were on together? At level 1, having served on only 1 ship seems really appropriate. But just those two names can give your DM something to work with for you. Maybe throw in the ship’s captain, if it’s a different person from the storm Gerald person.
Then decide why she’s not on that ship anymore/why she’s available to team up with the party, and you’re good.
Level 1 characters haven’t done anything yet. Their story is in front of them, not back.
Why your character decided to become an adventurer.
Much of the time that can be accomplished in 3 sentences, and you’ve already got ⅔ of that in 2 sentences (home was the ship, and she’s adventuring to help people). If you told me a little something about any one significant event in Winter’s life I would call it good enough for me.
Thank you for the help. I think I've made it a little better and I'm sorry for forgetting to mention that she might start out as level 3 or 4 since our current paladin wants to level the mountain with us in it. But if you'd like I could post the newer version of it with the added information.
If this helps, the general guideline I go with as a DM is that a backstory should consist of a number of paragraphs equal to the PC’s starting PB, plus or minus 1 paragraph. A paragraph should consist of between 3-5 sentences. So, for any PC starting from 1st to 4th levels, should have a backstory somewhere between 1-3 paragraphs, or roughly 3 to 15 total sentences in length, a PC for a campaign starting between 5th through 8th levels should have a backstory somewhere between 2-4 paragraphs, or 6-20 sentences in length.
As to content, I like to know about home life, that’s helpful. (Live alone? Parents? Siblings? Significant other?), a single significant event in the PCs life, good or bad. (They won a contest, fell ill, lost a sister, helped their parent who was the greatest thingamajigger in the village, etc.) However, most importantly I want to know why they are an adventurer instead of a different life. (Why an armed monster chaser instead of anything less nuts.) That’s it, that’s all the backstory I need. And if it’s more than 2 pages total I’ma be less than thrilled at having to read it.
As you can see I haven't been able to come up with a good story about her life on the sea but I was thinking of somehow adding that she thrown away at birth so Admiral Storm found her floating in a box in the open sea and took her in as a crew member but I think it needs a little more detail before I try to figure out how to include it.
Well I might use them as HB characters in a campaign because I got bored during class and added a bit more than what's showing currently but as you can tell by the title I was wondering if you guys could help me with my background because I know it definitely needs a lot of work.
So here's what I have so far:
Age: 18
Winter is a White Chromatic Dragonborn sailor that was once thrown away into the sea at birth and was eventually found by Admiral Storm who then took her in and made her a crew member. She's now excited to explore the lands instead of the sea, although she'll definitely miss Percy, and she's typically friendly/neutral to everyone unless you manage to piss her off then she can pretty hard headed. She travels out to lands with people in need of assistance because she's wanted to try something new since she's only ever known the sea life, and so she can learn the ways of being a Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald, as suggested by her old crew members, Percy. Her captain, Admiral Storm, has already approved of her departure and waits for her to find her way back the Bold Venture in the open sea.
I'll always remember my first ship. It's name is Bold Venture and I will return to it no matter what.
Name of Ship: Bold Venture
- Summary: The Bold Venture is the only place Winter has ever had the pleasure of calling home after Admiral Storm had found her as a baby.
Captain: Admiral Storm
- Race: Changeling
- Class: Sorcerer: Storm Sorcery, Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald
- Age: 35?
- Alignment: CG
- Summary: Winter has always Admiral Storm as her father ever since he rescued her as a baby from being lost at sea all alone and raised her as one of the crew members on the Bold Venture until her time came to learn the way to become a Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald like the rest of the crew had.
Favorite crew member/love interest: Percy
- Race: Sea Elf
- Class: Cleric: Tempest Domain, Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald
- Age: 120
- Alignment: NG
- Summary: Winter has always been in love with Percy ever since she had layed her eyes on him but she's always been too afraid to say anything about it to him since they've known each other for so long and she fears that he won't feel the same way. She made a promise to Percy, Admiral Storm, and the rest of the crew that she'd come back alive in one piece and she made a promise to herself to finally confess her feelings to Percy once she comes back to the Bold Venture.
Reason for them being a Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald is because it's a requirement for all crew members to set and become a Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald once they either reach adulthood or a couple years after (can be done earlier if they choose so it's their choice) otherwise they can't be a part of the crew. Admiral Storm has rescued and recruited all crew members to try to give them a better life. Percy is a Sea Elf whose dedicated his life to Admiral Storm after Storm had rescued him from his old abusive family. Percy has learned from them to be a kind person which is why he has chosen to be a Cleric: Tempest Domain so he can try to help and protect his new family. He was also later made to become a Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald. Being a Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald has been a life long tradition and requirement of the Bold Venture.
Admiral Storm:
- Height: ???
- Weight: ???
- Color: ???
- Languages: ???
Percy:
- Height: 6 ft. (Medium)
- Weight: 150 lbs.
- Color: light blueish skin with silver hair and yellow eyes
- Languages: Common, Elvish, Draconic, Sylvan, and Gnomish
Winter:
- Height: 6 ft.
- Weight: 200 lbs.
- Color: white shiny scales with ocean blue eyes
- Languages: Common and Draconic
All suggestions are welcome.
And for those curious I'm trying to make a Chromatic Dragon Born Paladin: Oath of the Open Sea that's also trying to multiclass into Barbarian: Path of the Storm Herald and sorry if it's too much information. I spent a few hours working on it but I think it's pretty good now
I don’t know that it needs much more work at all. You’ve got a bit about personality, goals and motivation. That’s plenty for a level 1 character, assuming you are level 1.
If you really want, you might flesh out the names of things a bit more. Who is the crew member who suggested storm herald? What was the name of the ship they were on together? At level 1, having served on only 1 ship seems really appropriate. But just those two names can give your DM something to work with for you. Maybe throw in the ship’s captain, if it’s a different person from the storm Gerald person.
Then decide why she’s not on that ship anymore/why she’s available to team up with the party, and you’re good.
Level 1 characters haven’t done anything yet. Their story is in front of them, not back.
As a DM I only ask for three things:
Much of the time that can be accomplished in 3 sentences, and you’ve already got ⅔ of that in 2 sentences (home was the ship, and she’s adventuring to help people). If you told me a little something about any one significant event in Winter’s life I would call it good enough for me.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Thank you for the help. I think I've made it a little better and I'm sorry for forgetting to mention that she might start out as level 3 or 4 since our current paladin wants to level the mountain with us in it. But if you'd like I could post the newer version of it with the added information.
Sure, I’d like to see it.
If this helps, the general guideline I go with as a DM is that a backstory should consist of a number of paragraphs equal to the PC’s starting PB, plus or minus 1 paragraph. A paragraph should consist of between 3-5 sentences. So, for any PC starting from 1st to 4th levels, should have a backstory somewhere between 1-3 paragraphs, or roughly 3 to 15 total sentences in length, a PC for a campaign starting between 5th through 8th levels should have a backstory somewhere between 2-4 paragraphs, or 6-20 sentences in length.
As to content, I like to know about home life, that’s helpful. (Live alone? Parents? Siblings? Significant other?), a single significant event in the PCs life, good or bad. (They won a contest, fell ill, lost a sister, helped their parent who was the greatest thingamajigger in the village, etc.) However, most importantly I want to know why they are an adventurer instead of a different life. (Why an armed monster chaser instead of anything less nuts.) That’s it, that’s all the backstory I need. And if it’s more than 2 pages total I’ma be less than thrilled at having to read it.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
As you can see I haven't been able to come up with a good story about her life on the sea but I was thinking of somehow adding that she thrown away at birth so Admiral Storm found her floating in a box in the open sea and took her in as a crew member but I think it needs a little more detail before I try to figure out how to include it.