Vi, my Deep Gnome Paladin who's multiclassing into Hexblade Warlock soon:
When Vi was a child, his uncle Qu would come over to meet him frequently. He liked Vi and gave him odd gifts from his travels; a huge eyeball, a three-dimensional compass, you get the idea. Qu revealed his status as an arch-warlock and began teaching Vi magic (hence his Svirfneblin Magic feat) and everything was fine.
Then everything went downhill.
One day, the deep gnome village was attacked by an army of humans. Qu retreated into his hut and began a ritual:
"Kek-Bomin, Watcher of Dreams and Lord of the Stars, hear my plea.
I will make a pact with you. You will gain power over the soul of the first being to look at me tomorrow.
In return, you will send forth an abberation to defend my village."
The abberation Kek-Bomin gave him was a starspawn that easily repelled the attack, then vanished.
The next day, Vi woke up and decided to visit his uncle. He had started swordplay training and wanted to show him. When he entered Qu's hut, Qu was just waking up.
"NO! ANYONE BUT YOU! WHY, KEK-BOMIN, WHY-"
"Uncle, what's wrong?"
"I've made a terrible mistake. I'm so sorry..."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
I have the same backstory for most of my PCs, assuming it's a 1st lvl start PC. i give it to you all, freely use it.
PC backstory:
Nothing of particular significant story telling interest occurred to them prior to meeting their companions(the PC party/start of the first session). Before then they were not quite of interest enough to have turned a camera to yet. They had to eat and keep a roof over their heads like anyone else and it was all about as boring as most people's time doing that too.
the end.
It can have some more details like town name i'm from or whatever, but I write little more than that. Everyone can ask all the "when/where/why" questions they want about the PC's past, i can answer all of them(make it up on the fly as needed). And the answers are always dull and boring every time.
Did i not say their story before this time was not interesting enough to write about? What were you expecting, that their lvl 1 back story had more intrigue and interests than a lot of lvl 10 PCs worked hard to have?
My authoring POV here is, the start of the campaign represents "the most interesting time" in the PC's life to be telling about. And anything prior to then, simply wasn't interesting enough to put down in writing.
I do it this way as i want the main drama and story interests for my PCs, to be what we all at the table have seen unfold "on screen" for them. Not what i just say happened off screen that no one saw, but pinky swear i'm like some kind of badass with a past in that other place i was before yall met me.
In short i see the "back story" as little more than a PC's "launch pad." Once the rocket is flying, did you really have any questions or cares about the pad it launched from? I'm pretty sure once launched, for most of us, the rocket's destination and if makes it there or not, is now far more paramount in our minds than where it came from.
And that's my favorite backstory, the backstory don't matter backstory, i use it time and again. please feel free to use it too.
Here's my druid and rouge wood elf's backstory. I'm very new to this and haven't found anyone to play with yet, but I have a strong passion for starting to participate!
Willow Leafshade was born in a sacred forest. She was taught to be spiritually in touch with nature and everything surrounding her. However, she was also taught to be very standoffish and to remain secluded and not stir up trouble. She always had so many questions and was curious about everything, this caused a bit of disruption within her community. They thought she should remain quite and learn from experience without interfering with anything naturally occurring. Willow clashed heads with her elders for feeling overwhelming compassion for animals. She would often save rabbits and birds from foxes and offer the foxes something else to eat in return such as berries or fruit that she found around the forest. Due to constantly butting heads with her elders, and them always having some input on how she was living her life, Willow set out to be on her own and learn at the young age of 15. It is true that elves mature just as fast as humans, but Willow matured particularly fast in some areas due to her ever growing curiosity. She knew how to forage for foods that were safe for her to eat and knew how to cultivate crops to sustain herself. She had a very extensive knowledge of foraging. She also had a decent knowledge of animals and mythic creatures. She chose not to hunt wild game due to her compassion for other living things. She only ate plants, and was sure to thank the forest for anything it provided for her. Her spiritual connection to nature grew as she spent more and more time on her own. The only stops she made was when winter neared to settle somewhere with a stockpile of foraged materials and continue gathering until she knew she had enough supplies to survive until spring. By the age of 35, she stumbled upon a village of humans during her constant travels through the forest to broaden her understanding of many things and itch her constant desire for more knowledge. She had reached the end, or so she thought. She observed from a distance for a while abiding by the lessons her elders taught her back in the forest. After some time, she noticed a human witch who went by the name of Belladonna. She looked much older than most the other humans and she lived on the outskirts of the village on the top of a cliffside. She found her foraging near the entrance of the forest one day and confronted her with a simple question, "Is there anything you can teach me?" The witch stared at her for a long moment, and with a slight nod she led Willow back to her little cottage. None of the villagers seemed to pay Willow any mind, for they all avoided the witch's cottage entirely. Belladonna treated Willow as if she were her own daughter and they grew to have a deep bond with each other over the years. For the rest of Belladonna's life, which was a short 20 years for Willow, the witch taught her everything she knew and had recorded over her entire life. With a lifetime of knowledge passed onto her, Willow desired to meet other experienced witches and learn what they had over the courses of their lives. Willow was nearly as old as the human witch was when she met her when Belladonna passed away. She gave her a respectful memorial service and buried her near the entrance to the forest where they first met. Willow set off on the journey she decided for herself to gain the most knowledge she possibly could. After many years and many more teachers, Willow had accumulated mass amounts of knowledge from the teachings of many witches, warlocks, and even common folk. She slowly broke out of her secluded shell and thrived in the sense of accomplishment she felt. Now at the age of 115 years old, only a short amount of her lifespan had been lived and she had learned many lifetimes of information. She still feels the need for more knowledge and examines everything with a close eye, either from a distance, or up close. After all of these years learning, she eager to learn more, but desires to do so with company. She hasn't picked up many social skills throughout her life, due to making friends not being a priority for her. She only got comfortably close with her teachers. She tends to be very blunt and a tad socially awkward. She's grown tired of always being alone while traveling and having no companions. She hadn't even thought about romantics or just sheer enjoyment of company outside of learning. She decided it was time to find some friends to learn with.
(I don't know how to share the portrait that I found to resemble her the best or I would)
Sorry, I don’t know much about dnd (I’ve been to two campaigns lmao), but I thought it would be fun to write a background story for my character. It was originally longer, but I cut some stuff because I didn’t think people would want to read about her parent’s death lol. Also, her original name was Calilyse if anyone cares lol.
It had been 15 years since the death of Rowan Naïlo’s parents, and 15 years since she had set foot outside of the temple grounds. One might think that having your parents brutally butchered in front of you would cause a thirst for revenge, but instead it just left Rowan broken. Hollow. The murderer had turned to Rowan and decided that she would live, leaving her outside the nearest temple, in the town of Jündaer.
Her parents had been a rare match, elf and human, considering that they stayed together to raise Rowan, and that was part of the reason the murder had occurred, with an old flame becoming jealous. Rowan hadn’t understood much about the world at that time of her parent’s death, but she learned that you can’t let anyone get close to you or they’ll disappear.
After that fateful day, Rowan had lived under the schooling of the head of the monastery she had been brought to. She had been too shocked to say her name, so she had been given a new one, Rowan, named for the strength of the wood. She had lived out her life until she was 23 in that monastery, never leaving the grounds, but the priest had finally decided that she should get some experience with the outside world.
Rowan had been kicked out and wandered around the country for 2 years until she had met a cloaked figure, who instructed Rowan to find a group of adventurers for her boss. And thus Rowan began adventuring, trying to fill the hole in her heart left from the death of her parents that had been hidden through years of studying.
Hi, I’m Selia, I’ll try to be on most days, you can PM me whenever, I’d love to chat. I like reading, writing, random facts, and mythology, and don’t understand D&D yet. I will also share my writing with you (there’s some on tell me a story) and I’d love to see yours, just PM me.
I’m socially awkward. Don’t be offended. I say a lot of things.
My Drummer given title is: Keeper of the Oceans Chronicle
I have a half orc Barbarian Druid multiclass with an interesting backstory
Gromirash Frostmane
He is the son of his village's Shaman and thus, next in line to become the Shaman. His Village is located in the Arctic regions of Faerun
Per tradition, the day after his 16th birthday, he is exiled from the Village in order to grow as a Shaman. His father left him with these words. "Only return, when you have received Their full blessing."
He left his village, without a clue of Who "they" were.
I created him here as a lvl 4 character (2 barb 2 druid) where his age is now 18, with the intention of reaching druid 6 barb 13 at lvl 19, and finishing lvl 20 with Druid 6 Barb 14, to get all the Path features for the Barb.
As Druid, he is a Land Arctic Druid, themed with Water / Ice magic, but his Barbarian Path is where the backstory unfolds.
Because Who are "They"? Ancestral Guardians. And only when he reached character lvl 6 (3 / 3) will "They" reveal themselves to him. But the "Full" blessing hints towards unlocking all of the Path features.
This is the first character i made, with the limited available things on this site, and some stuff that i found in other places, because i have separate sheets for every level.(i am organized like that)
Vi, my Deep Gnome Paladin who's multiclassing into Hexblade Warlock soon:
When Vi was a child, his uncle Qu would come over to meet him frequently. He liked Vi and gave him odd gifts from his travels; a huge eyeball, a three-dimensional compass, you get the idea. Qu revealed his status as an arch-warlock and began teaching Vi magic (hence his Svirfneblin Magic feat) and everything was fine.
Then everything went downhill.
One day, the deep gnome village was attacked by an army of humans. Qu retreated into his hut and began a ritual:
"Kek-Bomin, Watcher of Dreams and Lord of the Stars, hear my plea.
I will make a pact with you. You will gain power over the soul of the first being to look at me tomorrow.
In return, you will send forth an abberation to defend my village."
The abberation Kek-Bomin gave him was a starspawn that easily repelled the attack, then vanished.
The next day, Vi woke up and decided to visit his uncle. He had started swordplay training and wanted to show him. When he entered Qu's hut, Qu was just waking up.
"NO! ANYONE BUT YOU! WHY, KEK-BOMIN, WHY-"
"Uncle, what's wrong?"
"I've made a terrible mistake. I'm so sorry..."
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
I wrote a water gensai who is a thief disguised as a bard.
I have the same backstory for most of my PCs, assuming it's a 1st lvl start PC.
i give it to you all, freely use it.
PC backstory:
Nothing of particular significant story telling interest occurred to them prior to meeting their companions(the PC party/start of the first session). Before then they were not quite of interest enough to have turned a camera to yet. They had to eat and keep a roof over their heads like anyone else and it was all about as boring as most people's time doing that too.
the end.
It can have some more details like town name i'm from or whatever, but I write little more than that. Everyone can ask all the "when/where/why" questions they want about the PC's past, i can answer all of them(make it up on the fly as needed).
And the answers are always dull and boring every time.
Did i not say their story before this time was not interesting enough to write about? What were you expecting, that their lvl 1 back story had more intrigue and interests than a lot of lvl 10 PCs worked hard to have?
My authoring POV here is, the start of the campaign represents "the most interesting time" in the PC's life to be telling about.
And anything prior to then, simply wasn't interesting enough to put down in writing.
I do it this way as i want the main drama and story interests for my PCs, to be what we all at the table have seen unfold "on screen" for them. Not what i just say happened off screen that no one saw, but pinky swear i'm like some kind of badass with a past in that other place i was before yall met me.
In short i see the "back story" as little more than a PC's "launch pad." Once the rocket is flying, did you really have any questions or cares about the pad it launched from? I'm pretty sure once launched, for most of us, the rocket's destination and if makes it there or not, is now far more paramount in our minds than where it came from.
And that's my favorite backstory, the backstory don't matter backstory, i use it time and again. please feel free to use it too.
Here's my druid and rouge wood elf's backstory. I'm very new to this and haven't found anyone to play with yet, but I have a strong passion for starting to participate!
Willow Leafshade was born in a sacred forest. She was taught to be spiritually in touch with nature and everything surrounding her. However, she was also taught to be very standoffish and to remain secluded and not stir up trouble. She always had so many questions and was curious about everything, this caused a bit of disruption within her community. They thought she should remain quite and learn from experience without interfering with anything naturally occurring. Willow clashed heads with her elders for feeling overwhelming compassion for animals. She would often save rabbits and birds from foxes and offer the foxes something else to eat in return such as berries or fruit that she found around the forest. Due to constantly butting heads with her elders, and them always having some input on how she was living her life, Willow set out to be on her own and learn at the young age of 15. It is true that elves mature just as fast as humans, but Willow matured particularly fast in some areas due to her ever growing curiosity. She knew how to forage for foods that were safe for her to eat and knew how to cultivate crops to sustain herself. She had a very extensive knowledge of foraging. She also had a decent knowledge of animals and mythic creatures. She chose not to hunt wild game due to her compassion for other living things. She only ate plants, and was sure to thank the forest for anything it provided for her. Her spiritual connection to nature grew as she spent more and more time on her own. The only stops she made was when winter neared to settle somewhere with a stockpile of foraged materials and continue gathering until she knew she had enough supplies to survive until spring. By the age of 35, she stumbled upon a village of humans during her constant travels through the forest to broaden her understanding of many things and itch her constant desire for more knowledge. She had reached the end, or so she thought. She observed from a distance for a while abiding by the lessons her elders taught her back in the forest. After some time, she noticed a human witch who went by the name of Belladonna. She looked much older than most the other humans and she lived on the outskirts of the village on the top of a cliffside. She found her foraging near the entrance of the forest one day and confronted her with a simple question, "Is there anything you can teach me?" The witch stared at her for a long moment, and with a slight nod she led Willow back to her little cottage. None of the villagers seemed to pay Willow any mind, for they all avoided the witch's cottage entirely. Belladonna treated Willow as if she were her own daughter and they grew to have a deep bond with each other over the years. For the rest of Belladonna's life, which was a short 20 years for Willow, the witch taught her everything she knew and had recorded over her entire life. With a lifetime of knowledge passed onto her, Willow desired to meet other experienced witches and learn what they had over the courses of their lives. Willow was nearly as old as the human witch was when she met her when Belladonna passed away. She gave her a respectful memorial service and buried her near the entrance to the forest where they first met. Willow set off on the journey she decided for herself to gain the most knowledge she possibly could. After many years and many more teachers, Willow had accumulated mass amounts of knowledge from the teachings of many witches, warlocks, and even common folk. She slowly broke out of her secluded shell and thrived in the sense of accomplishment she felt. Now at the age of 115 years old, only a short amount of her lifespan had been lived and she had learned many lifetimes of information. She still feels the need for more knowledge and examines everything with a close eye, either from a distance, or up close. After all of these years learning, she eager to learn more, but desires to do so with company. She hasn't picked up many social skills throughout her life, due to making friends not being a priority for her. She only got comfortably close with her teachers. She tends to be very blunt and a tad socially awkward. She's grown tired of always being alone while traveling and having no companions. She hadn't even thought about romantics or just sheer enjoyment of company outside of learning. She decided it was time to find some friends to learn with.
(I don't know how to share the portrait that I found to resemble her the best or I would)
So, a genius without the ability to relate to other humanoids. Love it!
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
Sorry, I don’t know much about dnd (I’ve been to two campaigns lmao), but I thought it would be fun to write a background story for my character. It was originally longer, but I cut some stuff because I didn’t think people would want to read about her parent’s death lol. Also, her original name was Calilyse if anyone cares lol.
It had been 15 years since the death of Rowan Naïlo’s parents, and 15 years since she had set foot outside of the temple grounds. One might think that having your parents brutally butchered in front of you would cause a thirst for revenge, but instead it just left Rowan broken. Hollow. The murderer had turned to Rowan and decided that she would live, leaving her outside the nearest temple, in the town of Jündaer.
Her parents had been a rare match, elf and human, considering that they stayed together to raise Rowan, and that was part of the reason the murder had occurred, with an old flame becoming jealous. Rowan hadn’t understood much about the world at that time of her parent’s death, but she learned that you can’t let anyone get close to you or they’ll disappear.
After that fateful day, Rowan had lived under the schooling of the head of the monastery she had been brought to. She had been too shocked to say her name, so she had been given a new one, Rowan, named for the strength of the wood. She had lived out her life until she was 23 in that monastery, never leaving the grounds, but the priest had finally decided that she should get some experience with the outside world.
Rowan had been kicked out and wandered around the country for 2 years until she had met a cloaked figure, who instructed Rowan to find a group of adventurers for her boss. And thus Rowan began adventuring, trying to fill the hole in her heart left from the death of her parents that had been hidden through years of studying.
Hi, I’m Selia, I’ll try to be on most days, you can PM me whenever, I’d love to chat. I like reading, writing, random facts, and mythology, and don’t understand D&D yet. I will also share my writing with you (there’s some on tell me a story) and I’d love to see yours, just PM me.
I’m socially awkward. Don’t be offended. I say a lot of things.
My Drummer given title is: Keeper of the Oceans Chronicle
I have a half orc Barbarian Druid multiclass with an interesting backstory
Gromirash Frostmane
He is the son of his village's Shaman and thus, next in line to become the Shaman. His Village is located in the Arctic regions of Faerun
Per tradition, the day after his 16th birthday, he is exiled from the Village in order to grow as a Shaman. His father left him with these words. "Only return, when you have received Their full blessing."
He left his village, without a clue of Who "they" were.
I created him here as a lvl 4 character (2 barb 2 druid) where his age is now 18, with the intention of reaching druid 6 barb 13 at lvl 19, and finishing lvl 20 with Druid 6 Barb 14, to get all the Path features for the Barb.
As Druid, he is a Land Arctic Druid, themed with Water / Ice magic, but his Barbarian Path is where the backstory unfolds.
Because Who are "They"? Ancestral Guardians. And only when he reached character lvl 6 (3 / 3) will "They" reveal themselves to him. But the "Full" blessing hints towards unlocking all of the Path features.
This is the first character i made, with the limited available things on this site, and some stuff that i found in other places, because i have separate sheets for every level.(i am organized like that)