I just made a half-drow hexblade character and I was wondering if the folk hero background would work for it. I noticed that most of the backgrounds that people recommend for warlocks are more sinister ones like criminal or charlatan, which make members of your party less likely to trust you, so I want to avoid that. Also, I figured the hexblade's skill with both magic and weapons would be advantageous for a heroic character. I saw in the folk hero background's description that one of the defining events you can choose for your character is breaking into a tyrant's castle and stealing weapons to arm the people, so for my character's backstory, I figured that one of the weapons could've been a hexblade that offers him enough power to pursue his heroic destiny in exchange for satiating its never-ending thirst for battle. I also figured that the reason it didn't make a pact with the tyrant is because they kept the sword mounted on a wall as a decoration instead of actually fighting with it.
I would say go ahead. You seem to have hit all of the narrative points to make it viable. And don't sweat people pushing movie blessed unlawful, less thing good characters. I made up warlock with the Sage background, by making him stumble across an ancient tone in a great library.
You can absolutely choose the Folk Hero back ground for your character. You have already thought of ways to make it work narratively, but if you still feel hesitant, then talk to your DM. Who knows, there may already be a tyrant lurking in the future of the campaign, or even just an NPC who was wronged by the same tyrant. Communication during character creation can lead to some great plot hooks.
The recommendations are just that, and they do tend heavily towards standard tropes. Personally, I always prefer characters who are more unique. After all, if every wizard was a sage, every cleric an acolyte, every fighter a soldier, etc. we wouldn't have a separate selection for backgrounds at all. It would all just be included under the character class.
I love using Folk Hero background with any "evil" or monsterous race. It gives my dm a reason to not have my char run out of town before the party builds a reputation as a group.
Anyone who says you need to play a certain background with a certain class is a fool and it is dubious of whether they have the imagination to properly play this game. You have to play the characters that you find interesting, so don't worry about what other people feel is the proper pairing. They don't have to play the character.
Folk Hero can be an excellent background for a warlock. Your own story is well established, but as a fun thought exercise, a few more seeds for Folk Hero Warlock ideas:
1.) Your character's heroic reputation was an absolute fluke - you 'saved the town' from a dire threat through a stroke of sheer happenstance that you know could never be repeated. Now you've got this heroic rep, people looking up to you, and whispers of Destiny surrounding you, you keep getting asked to solve the town's problems...but you're just a normal person. Increasingly desperate to find a way to avoid being exposed for the hoax you are, when the shadowy blade started whispering to you in your dreams you were only too eager to accept the power it promised. Now you're strong enough to be the hero everything thinks you are...but there's a price.
2.) Your town is actually home to a long line of warlocks, all of whom are ritually bound upon their day of majority to the ancient blade embedded in its stone at the center of your home town. The region is known for its sorcerous defenders, and your town is considered respectable and well-off in its position as the stewards of this artifact blade. You're sworn to protect the town and the region and not to use your powers against its interests, but otherwise you can enjoy your gifts freely...save that before you can pass on the mantle of Folk Hero to the next in line, you must perform three tasks of the sword's choosing. You're young and high on the power you've been given, but your three tasks lay before you. What will this enigmatic entity that protects your town ask you to do, and is everything as noble as it seems...?
3.) It was all an act. You saved the town from a menace that your patron released upon it, at your request. You were hungry for glory, you wanted the reknown and respect. You wanted to show the townsfolk who always thought you were just a lazy layabout that you were Somebody now, and you did just that. You saved the town...but there were deaths. People you've known your whole life died in the attack your patron sent, and now their lifeless bodies haunt your memories. It was all supposed to be stage play, a grand spectacle to scare the town a little and show off your awesome new powers. Your patron whispers in your mind, justifying the deaths...but can you truly trust this thing now? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all...
Folk Hero can be an excellent background for a warlock. Your own story is well established, but as a fun thought exercise, a few more seeds for Folk Hero Warlock ideas:
1.) Your character's heroic reputation was an absolute fluke - you 'saved the town' from a dire threat through a stroke of sheer happenstance that you know could never be repeated. Now you've got this heroic rep, people looking up to you, and whispers of Destiny surrounding you, you keep getting asked to solve the town's problems...but you're just a normal person. Increasingly desperate to find a way to avoid being exposed for the hoax you are, when the shadowy blade started whispering to you in your dreams you were only too eager to accept the power it promised. Now you're strong enough to be the hero everything thinks you are...but there's a price.
2.) Your town is actually home to a long line of warlocks, all of whom are ritually bound upon their day of majority to the ancient blade embedded in its stone at the center of your home town. The region is known for its sorcerous defenders, and your town is considered respectable and well-off in its position as the stewards of this artifact blade. You're sworn to protect the town and the region and not to use your powers against its interests, but otherwise you can enjoy your gifts freely...save that before you can pass on the mantle of Folk Hero to the next in line, you must perform three tasks of the sword's choosing. You're young and high on the power you've been given, but your three tasks lay before you. What will this enigmatic entity that protects your town ask you to do, and is everything as noble as it seems...?
3.) It was all an act. You saved the town from a menace that your patron released upon it, at your request. You were hungry for glory, you wanted the reknown and respect. You wanted to show the townsfolk who always thought you were just a lazy layabout that you were Somebody now, and you did just that. You saved the town...but there were deaths. People you've known your whole life died in the attack your patron sent, and now their lifeless bodies haunt your memories. It was all supposed to be stage play, a grand spectacle to scare the town a little and show off your awesome new powers. Your patron whispers in your mind, justifying the deaths...but can you truly trust this thing now? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all...
May as another variation to 1):
You are the hero of your town because you saved it from some menace. But, what no-one knows, you were actually failing and only a pact, offered to you in dire needs enabled you to win. Now, you are a hero but you have to deal with the consequences of the pact you forged.
Alternatively, maybe you made a pact, not out of a lust for power, but a need for power. That your character became a warlock because making a deal with some entity was the only way he could think of to save his village and it's not a road he's walking willingly-- but it is the road that he's on. Part of the character's story could be to find a way to free himself from the entity that has bound their destinies together.
For hexblade, maybe he was doing his thing when danger came to town and your character and maybe his friends fled into the forbidden woods, where an ancient cursed sword is kept and he ended up saving the village with the power of the cursed sword (which dematerialised into the character, allowing him to summon it at will.) Maybe the village elder knows what he did and exiled him, but the rest of the village just thinks of him as a hero (because they don't know the truth) and so his reputation spread.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I just made a half-drow hexblade character and I was wondering if the folk hero background would work for it. I noticed that most of the backgrounds that people recommend for warlocks are more sinister ones like criminal or charlatan, which make members of your party less likely to trust you, so I want to avoid that. Also, I figured the hexblade's skill with both magic and weapons would be advantageous for a heroic character. I saw in the folk hero background's description that one of the defining events you can choose for your character is breaking into a tyrant's castle and stealing weapons to arm the people, so for my character's backstory, I figured that one of the weapons could've been a hexblade that offers him enough power to pursue his heroic destiny in exchange for satiating its never-ending thirst for battle. I also figured that the reason it didn't make a pact with the tyrant is because they kept the sword mounted on a wall as a decoration instead of actually fighting with it.
I would say go ahead. You seem to have hit all of the narrative points to make it viable. And don't sweat people pushing movie blessed unlawful, less thing good characters. I made up warlock with the Sage background, by making him stumble across an ancient tone in a great library.
You can absolutely choose the Folk Hero back ground for your character. You have already thought of ways to make it work narratively, but if you still feel hesitant, then talk to your DM. Who knows, there may already be a tyrant lurking in the future of the campaign, or even just an NPC who was wronged by the same tyrant. Communication during character creation can lead to some great plot hooks.
The recommendations are just that, and they do tend heavily towards standard tropes. Personally, I always prefer characters who are more unique. After all, if every wizard was a sage, every cleric an acolyte, every fighter a soldier, etc. we wouldn't have a separate selection for backgrounds at all. It would all just be included under the character class.
I love using Folk Hero background with any "evil" or monsterous race. It gives my dm a reason to not have my char run out of town before the party builds a reputation as a group.
Anyone who says you need to play a certain background with a certain class is a fool and it is dubious of whether they have the imagination to properly play this game. You have to play the characters that you find interesting, so don't worry about what other people feel is the proper pairing. They don't have to play the character.
Folk Hero can be an excellent background for a warlock. Your own story is well established, but as a fun thought exercise, a few more seeds for Folk Hero Warlock ideas:
1.) Your character's heroic reputation was an absolute fluke - you 'saved the town' from a dire threat through a stroke of sheer happenstance that you know could never be repeated. Now you've got this heroic rep, people looking up to you, and whispers of Destiny surrounding you, you keep getting asked to solve the town's problems...but you're just a normal person. Increasingly desperate to find a way to avoid being exposed for the hoax you are, when the shadowy blade started whispering to you in your dreams you were only too eager to accept the power it promised. Now you're strong enough to be the hero everything thinks you are...but there's a price.
2.) Your town is actually home to a long line of warlocks, all of whom are ritually bound upon their day of majority to the ancient blade embedded in its stone at the center of your home town. The region is known for its sorcerous defenders, and your town is considered respectable and well-off in its position as the stewards of this artifact blade. You're sworn to protect the town and the region and not to use your powers against its interests, but otherwise you can enjoy your gifts freely...save that before you can pass on the mantle of Folk Hero to the next in line, you must perform three tasks of the sword's choosing. You're young and high on the power you've been given, but your three tasks lay before you. What will this enigmatic entity that protects your town ask you to do, and is everything as noble as it seems...?
3.) It was all an act. You saved the town from a menace that your patron released upon it, at your request. You were hungry for glory, you wanted the reknown and respect. You wanted to show the townsfolk who always thought you were just a lazy layabout that you were Somebody now, and you did just that. You saved the town...but there were deaths. People you've known your whole life died in the attack your patron sent, and now their lifeless bodies haunt your memories. It was all supposed to be stage play, a grand spectacle to scare the town a little and show off your awesome new powers. Your patron whispers in your mind, justifying the deaths...but can you truly trust this thing now? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all...
Please do not contact or message me.
May as another variation to 1):
You are the hero of your town because you saved it from some menace. But, what no-one knows, you were actually failing and only a pact, offered to you in dire needs enabled you to win. Now, you are a hero but you have to deal with the consequences of the pact you forged.
Alternatively, maybe you made a pact, not out of a lust for power, but a need for power. That your character became a warlock because making a deal with some entity was the only way he could think of to save his village and it's not a road he's walking willingly-- but it is the road that he's on. Part of the character's story could be to find a way to free himself from the entity that has bound their destinies together.
For hexblade, maybe he was doing his thing when danger came to town and your character and maybe his friends fled into the forbidden woods, where an ancient cursed sword is kept and he ended up saving the village with the power of the cursed sword (which dematerialised into the character, allowing him to summon it at will.) Maybe the village elder knows what he did and exiled him, but the rest of the village just thinks of him as a hero (because they don't know the truth) and so his reputation spread.