I am curious, based upon this description of a characters family background; what race, class, subclass official background do you think best fit this character.
On their father's side of the family, they come from an ancient aristocratic bloodline who was once highly respected, powerful and wealthy, but whom; in recent generations, have fallen upon hard times. Their power, wealth, prestige and respect having been eroded by addiction, madness and a series of monumental mistakes. Not least their involvement with and marriage of the current family head into what some might call the criminal classes.
On their mothers side of the family, they come from a hard-working though common bloodline; whom, through education, hard work, careful diligence and no small amount of the devil's own luck managed to crawl their way into the upper-middle echelons of society. There, they have carved out quite the comfortable life for themselves as procurers and merchants of pleasures and other things that are not entirely legal. They have also used their ill-gotten gains wisely, buying off town guards and city officials so that they look the other way and don't delve too deeply into the family business.
The character was born from a marriage of convenience. Their father sought money and business opportunities to secure his families future, and the family of the characters mother sought to use her as a way to further legitimise and solidify their position by gaining a name and titles of high society. Using their wealth and business acumen, they sought to rebuild a fallen noble house, and gain access to high society business opportunities in the process. Despite the mother's marriage being arranged by her family, who really only saw her as a way of getting what they wanted, the mother and father of the character have developed a lasting emotional bond with each other and love and care for their only child.
Both parents being determined that their families dark and troubled past, would not haunt their child, they kept much of their true family history secret and played the part of the perfect family.
The character went to school and was well educated, the father went to work and the mother stayed home and took care of the house and the character. Everything was all sunshine, cookies and roses, except behind the scenes, hidden in the smokey backrooms and darkened boardrooms of their secret world, the family was mad, bad, dangerous to know and not one you ever wanted cross if you valued your continued existence. They sought out sorcerers, shook down demons, made deals with devils, have stocks in hell and compromising portraits of angels. They'd do whatever is necessary to extend their influence and preserve the lie of their perfect family because nothing is more important to them than the love and adoration of their only child, or their continued success.
As the character grew up they became more curious about their family and began to notice inconsistencies in the family history they were taught and the way things actually were. They began to investigate their family history on their own, only to find that people they spoke to one day, would deny ever having met them before or simply be gone the next. They also heard stories and discovered documents that just didn't tally with what they had been taught, and then they were sent away, shipped out to take up some position as a minor official in a trade guild of another city and when they complained to their parents, saying they hated it there and wanted to come back home, they received a letter telling them to keep their head down and work hard for the good of the family and their future. Then all communications simply stopped. The character continued writing to their parents complaining about the cold, their coworkers and other things but they never got a reply.
The character did as they were instructed though. They kept their head down, worked hard and continued their studies. They earned the respect of their coworkers and other members of the guild, and they even got used to cold.
After 10 years of being away from home with little communication from their family, other than what they could gather using their position within the guild, the character finally receives a letter from home. The letter contains a piece of parchment bearing their families crest upon which is written note with time, a name of a tavern and instructions that read:
"Show this to the young girl with a flower in her hair. Don't be late. Love mom x"
Included with parchment is a small tile with a picture of a red flower on the white side, and a snowflake on the black side.
Following these instructions leads the character to someone who looks suspiciously like a girl they were sweet on when they were a child. It turns out that it is not the same girl, but the girl she looks like is, in fact, her mother. The girl promises him the truth about his family and about why he was sent away, but he must first help her recover an artefact from a tomb that was recently opened as part of an archaeological dig. What the character remembers discovering before he was sent away and the things he has heard over the years makes them suspicious about why his family would be interested in an ancient tomb, an archaeological dig or some artefact, but he wants to know the truth and those are the terms and so he agrees. The girl then takes her place as a party member and introduces him to the others who will be accompanying them on this quest.
Of course, the artefact is just the beginning and recovering it sparks more quests that lead the character and his party on an adventure beyond anything they could have imagined at that first meeting and maybe to an even great truth than they were promised.
So based upon this character's family background, what race, class and subclass would you say best fits with these themes.
Or, you know, it depends entirely on the setting but since you haven't given us any information on that, we can't tell.
Interesting that you picked Warforged. Were you going for the; he's not a real boy, he was made so is "parents" could play the perfect family, idea?
There is lots of media to draw inspiration for the "fake family" from, but not sure there is much that explores that concept from the perspective of the "fake child".
For some reason I get a big dwarf vibe off this. The noble family sounds to me like it a proud dwarf clan fallen on hard times and getting in bed with the (literal) criminal underground.
The crime family stuff makes me think rogue. I know the character is not much wrapped up in the family business, but I suppose they could've unwittingly picked some things up while digging for the truth, or maybe their parents instilled some roguish values into them as they grew, like its better to hide than die, keep your head down, don't draw attention to yourself, that kind of thing that becomes second nature so they just naturally act that way in combat.
Otherwise from the scholar/trader angle you could go lore bard or wizard or even artificer, though I hesitate on that because I feel like learning magic would've had a bigger impact on the backstory, and there's not a lot that suggests they were up to much arcana. Maybe arcane trickster.
Or, you know, it depends entirely on the setting but since you haven't given us any information on that, we can't tell.
Interesting that you picked Warforged. Were you going for the; he's not a real boy, he was made so is "parents" could play the perfect family, idea?
No, I was just using a race at random to show you how inane the question is without the right context. Like I said, it's impossible to say without the context of the setting. Any race, class and background could fit, depending on the setting.
Or, you know, it depends entirely on the setting but since you haven't given us any information on that, we can't tell.
Interesting that you picked Warforged. Were you going for the; he's not a real boy, he was made so is "parents" could play the perfect family, idea?
No, I was just using a race at random to show you how inane the question is without the right context. Like I said, it's impossible to say without the context of the setting. Any race, class and background could fit, depending on the setting.
That seems kinda rude imo. Don't like the question, don't answer it, but he provided like 3 paragraphs of context
I have decided to go with a Yuan-ti Pureblood, as discussed here in this post. Let me know what you guys think. Does this character fit the Yuan-ti race? I am also still stuck on what his class and subclass should be. As a Yuan-ti, he is resistant to poison, and he is quite intelligent and knowledgable due to all that study. He also has to be quite good at stealth or at least disguise, as he has managed to keep the fact that he is a Yuan-ti hidden from everyone in his guild.
The girl who becomes his new friend knows what he is, but she knows because she works for his family, as did her mother. The rest of the party don't know he is a Yuan-ti right away, as he isn't sure he can trust them. So he lets them believe that he is a Tiefling at first. Eventually, however, he is going to reveal the truth to them as his story progresses.
So guys, feel free to check out my linked post if you want, and to leave me thoughts and suggestions on which class and subclass. As well as whether or not you think that this character fits the Yuan-ti race.
Thanks,
Foxes.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
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EDIT: I have provisionally settled on the Yuan-ti race, which I discuss further in this post.
Hi everyone,
I am curious, based upon this description of a characters family background; what race, class, subclass official background do you think best fit this character.
On their father's side of the family, they come from an ancient aristocratic bloodline who was once highly respected, powerful and wealthy, but whom; in recent generations, have fallen upon hard times. Their power, wealth, prestige and respect having been eroded by addiction, madness and a series of monumental mistakes. Not least their involvement with and marriage of the current family head into what some might call the criminal classes.
On their mothers side of the family, they come from a hard-working though common bloodline; whom, through education, hard work, careful diligence and no small amount of the devil's own luck managed to crawl their way into the upper-middle echelons of society. There, they have carved out quite the comfortable life for themselves as procurers and merchants of pleasures and other things that are not entirely legal. They have also used their ill-gotten gains wisely, buying off town guards and city officials so that they look the other way and don't delve too deeply into the family business.
The character was born from a marriage of convenience. Their father sought money and business opportunities to secure his families future, and the family of the characters mother sought to use her as a way to further legitimise and solidify their position by gaining a name and titles of high society. Using their wealth and business acumen, they sought to rebuild a fallen noble house, and gain access to high society business opportunities in the process. Despite the mother's marriage being arranged by her family, who really only saw her as a way of getting what they wanted, the mother and father of the character have developed a lasting emotional bond with each other and love and care for their only child.
Both parents being determined that their families dark and troubled past, would not haunt their child, they kept much of their true family history secret and played the part of the perfect family.
The character went to school and was well educated, the father went to work and the mother stayed home and took care of the house and the character. Everything was all sunshine, cookies and roses, except behind the scenes, hidden in the smokey backrooms and darkened boardrooms of their secret world, the family was mad, bad, dangerous to know and not one you ever wanted cross if you valued your continued existence. They sought out sorcerers, shook down demons, made deals with devils, have stocks in hell and compromising portraits of angels. They'd do whatever is necessary to extend their influence and preserve the lie of their perfect family because nothing is more important to them than the love and adoration of their only child, or their continued success.
As the character grew up they became more curious about their family and began to notice inconsistencies in the family history they were taught and the way things actually were. They began to investigate their family history on their own, only to find that people they spoke to one day, would deny ever having met them before or simply be gone the next. They also heard stories and discovered documents that just didn't tally with what they had been taught, and then they were sent away, shipped out to take up some position as a minor official in a trade guild of another city and when they complained to their parents, saying they hated it there and wanted to come back home, they received a letter telling them to keep their head down and work hard for the good of the family and their future. Then all communications simply stopped. The character continued writing to their parents complaining about the cold, their coworkers and other things but they never got a reply.
The character did as they were instructed though. They kept their head down, worked hard and continued their studies. They earned the respect of their coworkers and other members of the guild, and they even got used to cold.
After 10 years of being away from home with little communication from their family, other than what they could gather using their position within the guild, the character finally receives a letter from home. The letter contains a piece of parchment bearing their families crest upon which is written note with time, a name of a tavern and instructions that read:
"Show this to the young girl with a flower in her hair. Don't be late. Love mom x"
Included with parchment is a small tile with a picture of a red flower on the white side, and a snowflake on the black side.
Following these instructions leads the character to someone who looks suspiciously like a girl they were sweet on when they were a child. It turns out that it is not the same girl, but the girl she looks like is, in fact, her mother. The girl promises him the truth about his family and about why he was sent away, but he must first help her recover an artefact from a tomb that was recently opened as part of an archaeological dig. What the character remembers discovering before he was sent away and the things he has heard over the years makes them suspicious about why his family would be interested in an ancient tomb, an archaeological dig or some artefact, but he wants to know the truth and those are the terms and so he agrees. The girl then takes her place as a party member and introduces him to the others who will be accompanying them on this quest.
Of course, the artefact is just the beginning and recovering it sparks more quests that lead the character and his party on an adventure beyond anything they could have imagined at that first meeting and maybe to an even great truth than they were promised.
So based upon this character's family background, what race, class and subclass would you say best fits with these themes.
XD
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Human of Genasi (Air) -- Storm Sorcerer -- Noble or Faction Agent (Lords Alliance) Background.
I’d say Human for race. Either warlock or rogue for class. Noble for your background. The rest is up to you!
Warforged Sailor Rogue.
Or, you know, it depends entirely on the setting but since you haven't given us any information on that, we can't tell.
Interesting that you picked Warforged. Were you going for the; he's not a real boy, he was made so is "parents" could play the perfect family, idea?
There is lots of media to draw inspiration for the "fake family" from, but not sure there is much that explores that concept from the perspective of the "fake child".
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
For some reason I get a big dwarf vibe off this. The noble family sounds to me like it a proud dwarf clan fallen on hard times and getting in bed with the (literal) criminal underground.
The crime family stuff makes me think rogue. I know the character is not much wrapped up in the family business, but I suppose they could've unwittingly picked some things up while digging for the truth, or maybe their parents instilled some roguish values into them as they grew, like its better to hide than die, keep your head down, don't draw attention to yourself, that kind of thing that becomes second nature so they just naturally act that way in combat.
Otherwise from the scholar/trader angle you could go lore bard or wizard or even artificer, though I hesitate on that because I feel like learning magic would've had a bigger impact on the backstory, and there's not a lot that suggests they were up to much arcana. Maybe arcane trickster.
Those are my thoughts.
No, I was just using a race at random to show you how inane the question is without the right context. Like I said, it's impossible to say without the context of the setting. Any race, class and background could fit, depending on the setting.
That seems kinda rude imo. Don't like the question, don't answer it, but he provided like 3 paragraphs of context
Hi everyone, and thanks for your responses.
I have decided to go with a Yuan-ti Pureblood, as discussed here in this post. Let me know what you guys think. Does this character fit the Yuan-ti race? I am also still stuck on what his class and subclass should be. As a Yuan-ti, he is resistant to poison, and he is quite intelligent and knowledgable due to all that study. He also has to be quite good at stealth or at least disguise, as he has managed to keep the fact that he is a Yuan-ti hidden from everyone in his guild.
The girl who becomes his new friend knows what he is, but she knows because she works for his family, as did her mother. The rest of the party don't know he is a Yuan-ti right away, as he isn't sure he can trust them. So he lets them believe that he is a Tiefling at first. Eventually, however, he is going to reveal the truth to them as his story progresses.
So guys, feel free to check out my linked post if you want, and to leave me thoughts and suggestions on which class and subclass. As well as whether or not you think that this character fits the Yuan-ti race.
Thanks,
Foxes.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.