As a general rule, I don't write a number of paragraphs to my character's backstory that exceeds their proficiency bonus. I have written too many backstories before I play a character that I have looked back on a few months later and thought, "wow, this is not my character at all."
But that's just my own experience and should not be taken as a judgment on what works for you.
I get that as well, but its more like: Wow....thats not my character.....it used to be, but he has progressed so much. I am so proud of dabbledob the gnome necromancer.
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“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
I agree, with the problem of overly elaborated backstory given to a "device" (the character) before it's had the opportunity to walk around and breathe a little in the setting and the adventure. It's often the case that characters that come with a prepackaged novel tend to have been composed with little consultation with the DM, so there's likely a lot about the world their inhabiting (that effects the way the character will carry itself) not known to the player author. I'll let a player sit with me in a session 0 with some notes, and generally help them integrate themselves into the world they'll actually be played in but keep the overall background just to a few sentences. Ultimately you're playing a story, not a back story. Yeah, you can talk about method acting and the need to go as far back as tertiary motivation, but players who do that tend to be imposing a game played with themselves on a game being played by a group. Keep it loose, and let the ink dry on your character for levels 1-4 or so I'd say. Even pro actors usually talk about discovering the role as they perform, the back stories they create with their directors are more a couple of notes compared to what some players will bring to the table.
Bottom line, why create a story your character needs to stick to? You and your group can use the present to develop the past. It may not seem to make a logic sense, but it's actually a lot more freeing to game playing if you ask me.
This Is Your Life is probably the section of Xanathar's that I've used the most, both for making pc backgrounds and NPC ones. It's not for everyone, but calling it the "worst feature developed" for this edition seems a tad hyperbolic. I mean, True Strike exists....
Huh. Personally I always felt lazy using it. Also all the backstories felt so generic......But again, each to their own.
The tables make for a great skeleton for a backstory, nothing lazy about building from some random ideas you might not have thought of.
And as for generic, I really recommend you have another look. Those tables get super weird, interesting and deep. I had one player role up a background that ended up with their parents dying in an apparent murder/suicide under suspicious circumstances involving an assassin.
This Is Your Life is probably the section of Xanathar's that I've used the most, both for making pc backgrounds and NPC ones. It's not for everyone, but calling it the "worst feature developed" for this edition seems a tad hyperbolic. I mean, True Strike exists....
Huh. Personally I always felt lazy using it. Also all the backstories felt so generic......But again, each to their own.
The tables make for a great skeleton for a backstory, nothing lazy about building from some random ideas you might not have thought of.
And as for generic, I really recommend you have another look. Those tables get super weird, interesting and deep. I had one player role up a background that ended up with their parents dying in an apparent murder/suicide under suspicious circumstances involving an assassin.
I mean....If that isn't generic, I dont know what is.....
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“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
'Generic' does not mean 'boring'. A lot of the old tropes are there for a reason - a good DM could do a lot with that bit of backstory. TIYL and heroic Chronicle both are pretty fantastic tools for character creation. Neither replaces a player's brain, but they can certainly augment and guide that brain.
'Generic' does not mean 'boring'. A lot of the old tropes are there for a reason - a good DM could do a lot with that bit of backstory. TIYL and heroic Chronicle both are pretty fantastic tools for character creation. Neither replaces a player's brain, but they can certainly augment and guide that brain.
Exactly not what I meant :D. I dont use tropes very often because everyone else does, and I play DnD to be creative with my storywriting. Thanks for insulting my DMing skills, but I prefer to write my own backstories, for NPCs and PCs alike. As I have said on every post so far (Bar one). Each to their own.
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“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
This Is Your Life is probably the section of Xanathar's that I've used the most, both for making pc backgrounds and NPC ones. It's not for everyone, but calling it the "worst feature developed" for this edition seems a tad hyperbolic. I mean, True Strike exists....
Huh. Personally I always felt lazy using it. Also all the backstories felt so generic......But again, each to their own.
The tables make for a great skeleton for a backstory, nothing lazy about building from some random ideas you might not have thought of.
And as for generic, I really recommend you have another look. Those tables get super weird, interesting and deep. I had one player role up a background that ended up with their parents dying in an apparent murder/suicide under suspicious circumstances involving an assassin.
I mean....If that isn't generic, I dont know what is.....
I am a 3rd level Champion Human Fighter. My parents were taken by an evil wizard, so I went to train to get them back. I went and trained with a wise old man in the woods, who everyone thought was crazy but actually had some highly quotable advice. I found a magic sword and defeated the wizard, and now I am an adventurer.
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A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
This Is Your Life is probably the section of Xanathar's that I've used the most, both for making pc backgrounds and NPC ones. It's not for everyone, but calling it the "worst feature developed" for this edition seems a tad hyperbolic. I mean, True Strike exists....
Huh. Personally I always felt lazy using it. Also all the backstories felt so generic......But again, each to their own.
The tables make for a great skeleton for a backstory, nothing lazy about building from some random ideas you might not have thought of.
And as for generic, I really recommend you have another look. Those tables get super weird, interesting and deep. I had one player role up a background that ended up with their parents dying in an apparent murder/suicide under suspicious circumstances involving an assassin.
I mean....If that isn't generic, I dont know what is.....
I am a 3rd level Champion Human Fighter. My parents were taken by an evil wizard, so I went to train to get them back. I went and trained with a wise old man in the woods, who everyone thought was crazy but actually had some highly quotable advice. I found a magic sword and defeated the wizard, and now I am an adventurer.
again, I choose not to use the source, because I prefer not to. Each to their own.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
This Is Your Life is probably the section of Xanathar's that I've used the most, both for making pc backgrounds and NPC ones. It's not for everyone, but calling it the "worst feature developed" for this edition seems a tad hyperbolic. I mean, True Strike exists....
Huh. Personally I always felt lazy using it. Also all the backstories felt so generic......But again, each to their own.
The tables make for a great skeleton for a backstory, nothing lazy about building from some random ideas you might not have thought of.
And as for generic, I really recommend you have another look. Those tables get super weird, interesting and deep. I had one player role up a background that ended up with their parents dying in an apparent murder/suicide under suspicious circumstances involving an assassin.
I mean....If that isn't generic, I dont know what is.....
I am a 3rd level Champion Human Fighter. My parents were taken by an evil wizard, so I went to train to get them back. I went and trained with a wise old man in the woods, who everyone thought was crazy but actually had some highly quotable advice. I found a magic sword and defeated the wizard, and now I am an adventurer.
again, I choose not to use the source, because I prefer not to. Each to their own.
I made up that backstory as a joke, trying to create the most troped and generic backstory possible.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
This Is Your Life is probably the section of Xanathar's that I've used the most, both for making pc backgrounds and NPC ones. It's not for everyone, but calling it the "worst feature developed" for this edition seems a tad hyperbolic. I mean, True Strike exists....
Huh. Personally I always felt lazy using it. Also all the backstories felt so generic......But again, each to their own.
The tables make for a great skeleton for a backstory, nothing lazy about building from some random ideas you might not have thought of.
And as for generic, I really recommend you have another look. Those tables get super weird, interesting and deep. I had one player role up a background that ended up with their parents dying in an apparent murder/suicide under suspicious circumstances involving an assassin.
I mean....If that isn't generic, I dont know what is.....
I am a 3rd level Champion Human Fighter. My parents were taken by an evil wizard, so I went to train to get them back. I went and trained with a wise old man in the woods, who everyone thought was crazy but actually had some highly quotable advice. I found a magic sword and defeated the wizard, and now I am an adventurer.
It will be like Xanathar's but covering other stuff. Instead of traps, there are puzzles. Instead of random encounter tables, there are magical environments. Instead of common magic items, there are non-common magic items. Instead of a character backstory system, there's more customization options. Instead of racial feats, there's class based feats.
the backstory system was the worst feature WOtC has ever developed for 5e.
Change my mind.
It's no heroic chronicle, but at least it's something. Before it came out, there was no official system for backstory building. I still use it, combining it with the Heroic Chronicle to get a super in depth backstory.
I agree. I use XGE backstory generator outside of Wildemount setting just to flesh out the holes in my character's story.
The fact that TCE will give us Artificer makes me push back on ERLW. I am not quite feeling the Dragonmark subraces as much.
Is that confirmed? I had no idea. I personally love them, but even if you dont, you also get Warforged, Shifter, Changeling, Kalashtar, The goblinoids and I think there is one more, but I cannot think of it. I will never not sing the praise of that book.
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“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
There ws a flurry of news and details shortly after this book was announced. Has there been a second round of details released? Or will we pretty much have to get by on what e have until the book comes out in two months?
There ws a flurry of news and details shortly after this book was announced. Has there been a second round of details released? Or will we pretty much have to get by on what e have until the book comes out in two months?
I think so.
The annoying part of it was they released the info from a bunch of influencers so people had to aggregate the information from multiple sources. Overall I hate that type of approach for getting information out.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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I get that as well, but its more like: Wow....thats not my character.....it used to be, but he has progressed so much. I am so proud of dabbledob the gnome necromancer.
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
I agree, with the problem of overly elaborated backstory given to a "device" (the character) before it's had the opportunity to walk around and breathe a little in the setting and the adventure. It's often the case that characters that come with a prepackaged novel tend to have been composed with little consultation with the DM, so there's likely a lot about the world their inhabiting (that effects the way the character will carry itself) not known to the player author. I'll let a player sit with me in a session 0 with some notes, and generally help them integrate themselves into the world they'll actually be played in but keep the overall background just to a few sentences. Ultimately you're playing a story, not a back story. Yeah, you can talk about method acting and the need to go as far back as tertiary motivation, but players who do that tend to be imposing a game played with themselves on a game being played by a group. Keep it loose, and let the ink dry on your character for levels 1-4 or so I'd say. Even pro actors usually talk about discovering the role as they perform, the back stories they create with their directors are more a couple of notes compared to what some players will bring to the table.
Bottom line, why create a story your character needs to stick to? You and your group can use the present to develop the past. It may not seem to make a logic sense, but it's actually a lot more freeing to game playing if you ask me.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
A number of paragraphs equal to Proficiency bonus. I think I will use that from now on.
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The tables make for a great skeleton for a backstory, nothing lazy about building from some random ideas you might not have thought of.
And as for generic, I really recommend you have another look. Those tables get super weird, interesting and deep. I had one player role up a background that ended up with their parents dying in an apparent murder/suicide under suspicious circumstances involving an assassin.
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I mean....If that isn't generic, I dont know what is.....
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
'Generic' does not mean 'boring'. A lot of the old tropes are there for a reason - a good DM could do a lot with that bit of backstory. TIYL and heroic Chronicle both are pretty fantastic tools for character creation. Neither replaces a player's brain, but they can certainly augment and guide that brain.
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Exactly not what I meant :D. I dont use tropes very often because everyone else does, and I play DnD to be creative with my storywriting. Thanks for insulting my DMing skills, but I prefer to write my own backstories, for NPCs and PCs alike. As I have said on every post so far (Bar one). Each to their own.
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
I am a 3rd level Champion Human Fighter. My parents were taken by an evil wizard, so I went to train to get them back. I went and trained with a wise old man in the woods, who everyone thought was crazy but actually had some highly quotable advice. I found a magic sword and defeated the wizard, and now I am an adventurer.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
again, I choose not to use the source, because I prefer not to. Each to their own.
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
I made up that backstory as a joke, trying to create the most troped and generic backstory possible.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
replace parents with princess and your Link.
I agree. I use XGE backstory generator outside of Wildemount setting just to flesh out the holes in my character's story.
Has anyone heard of races being reprinted besides VGM? I'm still considering to buy GGR and ERLW for the Races/Subraces (rather than classes).
EGtW has a lot of Volo's races. Ebberon has a lot, Plus you get the Artificer.
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
The fact that TCE will give us Artificer makes me push back on ERLW. I am not quite feeling the Dragonmark subraces as much.
Is that confirmed? I had no idea. I personally love them, but even if you dont, you also get Warforged, Shifter, Changeling, Kalashtar, The goblinoids and I think there is one more, but I cannot think of it. I will never not sing the praise of that book.
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
EGtW has lots of reprinted races from Volo’s to EEPC to the Tortle (and I think Gith might be in there but I’m not sure).
Please check out my homebrew and give me feedback!
Subclasses | Races | Spells | Magic Items | Monsters | Feats | Backgrounds
Gith is not Unfortunately.
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
There ws a flurry of news and details shortly after this book was announced. Has there been a second round of details released? Or will we pretty much have to get by on what e have until the book comes out in two months?
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I think so.
The annoying part of it was they released the info from a bunch of influencers so people had to aggregate the information from multiple sources. Overall I hate that type of approach for getting information out.