I will not be shown up by some miserable, second rate banjo player!

he may think he was all wonderful and quick witted with his smarmy words and sultry charm, but he crossed a line revealing my status as nearly being kicked out of the Wizard's college for not showing enough gumption!

Well, they will learn now -- oh, how they will learn, for I have checked and rechecked the materials and the placement and I have my offerings and my amulet, and now in this crossroads I will start to show them what I can do, after I make this bargain...

Do you know what every kid who grows up in a podunk town wishes for when they see a shooting star? We wish to get the hells out and see the world. That’s what I’m doing now, and it’s bound to be one hell of an adventure.

Shadows stalked through our home and killed my family and retainers. Shadows chased me into the night until shadows hid me from their sight. Now shadows tutor me and set me on a path of vengeance...and vegeance will be mine.

*A little inspiration from Percy (campaign one of Crit Role) but I'll expand on this in a bit with a bit of world/lore building in the story/lore section when I get a chance.

Cool! Thanks for sharing!

Quote from Rob76 >>

Shadows stalked through our home and killed my family and retainers. Shadows chased me into the night until shadows hid me from their sight. Now shadows tutor me and set me on a path of vengeance...and vegeance will be mine.

*A little inspiration from Percy (campaign one of Crit Role) but I'll expand on this in a bit with a bit of world/lore building in the story/lore section when I get a chance.

 A bit of homebrew lore for this here for anyone interested: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/181282-a-cycle-of-vengeance-orthax-tieflings-warlocks-and

It wasn’t until my 16th birthday that I found out I was special, that I had powers beyond those of normal people. Growing up in an orphanage you always dream that some day someone will come along and tell you that you’re not in your right life, and that you’re destined for something more. Now that I know I am destined for something more, I can’t wait to find out what it is.

(Any race, Urchin background, Sorcerer)

Raised in the confines of a powerful family, given much and little at the same time, always circling dark family secrets but never privy to their truths. One night as a child, fate came calling in the form of an unspeakable demonic horror which utterly destroyed their family and home and bound their family's debt to them instead, but with an insidious offer of power as well. With nothing left to stay for and questions from the surrounding neighbors quickly mounting, they quickly left for the life of adventuring and a search for answers.

I used to think the world was so massive, I could never leave my little corner of it. Then a wizard who was passing through town accidentally teleported me to outer space for a few seconds, and I realized the world's not so big after all. Except one part of it looked off, somehow; my bird's eye view of all the lands revealed something huge and off-putting in a far away place, and now I have to go and figure out what the hells it is, because nobody else is talking about it.

When I was young, I used to dream of being one of them, the daring and the bold and the brave who went off and had adventures.

As I grew, a hard life, a life with few choices, led me to become just another goon in the guild, a hired hand chosen for size and and perhaps a willingness to have ethical and moral lapses of the sort that threw a hard life at someone.

If I live through this fight we are about to have with these adventurers I recognize from my last job, I am going to say screw it since I've managed to save enough for a decent sword, some armor, and while I might suck at being sneaky, everyone seems to have a use for a professional meat shield.

… ..’ €%@. !”, ….. $’! . &$* …, !’ —; •¥^= …. …….;@ ?!.

(Thri-kreen, any background, any class)

I came to this planet to harvest its resources and study its wildlife. I had been told that the people here were simple creatures without feelings or reason but upon examining them I discovered that they were every bit as intelligent and alive as us. I now must protect and preserve these endangered creatures and make sure they do not get erased from existence, either by my people or the many dangers that haunt this earth.

(I was thinking about making a race for the type of cliche but fun big headed aliens called Greys that you see flying UFOs and abducting people. Then I realized that the Verdan from Acquisitions Incorporated fit almost perfectly and thought it would be cool to reskin the race as aliens. This is a sample of a possible background using this race.) 

(hi)

(Part 2 of 4. Check out part 1 HERE. Apologies for the delay in posting this, I lost where I had written the complete backstory down and eventually gave up and just rewrote everthing.)

“In prison, I discovered that I had an innate magical gift for arson. I no longer needed matches to start a fire, so I channeled my prowess and burned the prison ton a crisp.Finally, I fled into the night, running over charred dirt and the now bloodied ground.”

(Sorcerer)

Quote from AEDorsay >>

When I was young, I used to dream of being one of them, the daring and the bold and the brave who went off and had adventures.

As I grew, a hard life, a life with few choices, led me to become just another goon in the guild, a hired hand chosen for size and and perhaps a willingness to have ethical and moral lapses of the sort that threw a hard life at someone.

If I live through this fight we are about to have with these adventurers I recognize from my last job, I am going to say screw it since I've managed to save enough for a decent sword, some armor, and while I might suck at being sneaky, everyone seems to have a use for a professional meat shield.

Annnnd now I've read the first 4 words of that story and have the Logical Song by Supertramp coursing through my head......so just to paraphrase the song into a 3 sentence story:

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful, full of miracles, it was beautiful and so magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily,  joyfully, playfully watching me.
But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible, logical, responsible and practical.....and now here I am being dependable, seeing the world as an intellictual, and quite cynical.

Quote from Rob76 >>

Quote from AEDorsay >>

When I was young, I used to dream of being one of them, the daring and the bold and the brave who went off and had adventures.

As I grew, a hard life, a life with few choices, led me to become just another goon in the guild, a hired hand chosen for size and and perhaps a willingness to have ethical and moral lapses of the sort that threw a hard life at someone.

If I live through this fight we are about to have with these adventurers I recognize from my last job, I am going to say screw it since I've managed to save enough for a decent sword, some armor, and while I might suck at being sneaky, everyone seems to have a use for a professional meat shield.

 

Annnnd now I've read the first 4 words of that story and have the Logical Song by Supertramp coursing through my head......so just to paraphrase the song into a 3 sentence story:

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful, full of miracles, it was beautiful and so magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily,  joyfully, playfully watching me.
But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible, logical, responsible and practical.....and now here I am being dependable, seeing the world as an intellectual, and quite cynical.

 
Supertramp themed backgrounds? Why, sure, I can do that...

It was an early morning yesterday and I was up before the dawn -- and I really have enjoyed my stay, but I must be moving on.

I'm like a King without a castle, a Queen without a throne; I'm an early morning lover, and I must be movin on -- I have to have things my own way, to keep me in my youth.

I'm a ship without an anchor, a slave without a chain; if I never look behind me, my troubles will be few, and I will go on shining, shining like brand new...

I effing hate orcs, they’re rude, they’re inconsiderate, they’re ignorant, and they don’t give a crap about how their actions affect anyone around them, not even other orcs. When one of them ran my cart off the road I finally had enough and confronted him, and him being an orc, and an *******, things inevitably turned violent and I beat him so bad I beat the green off of him. Now I’m hiring on with any crew who’ll give me a chance to beat up more ******** because I find it deeply cathartic.

I ventured into the forest to study the art, magic and wonders of nature and I found three Druids in a seccluded hovel. They agreed to teach me but now insist that before my training can be complete I must go on a pilgramage and find an ancient shrine using only the powers of nature to guide me. In the mean time they have provided me with the arms and armour to be a mighty warrior of nature.

*This might be a bit divisive and some DM's might say no but.....The crux of this one is: The Druids you found were Hags, they've taught you Druidic magic but not all the lore and mysticism behind it, as such you walk around in metal armour, have a slightly scewed view of nature and you generally get mistaken for a Ranger, Nature Cleric or Oath of Ancients Paladin. All you magic looks a little odd, fire based magic might be green, healing magic might cause maggots to swarm over the wound before closing it up etc and you should be able to flavour the various circles of duidic craft in interesting ways, Circle of Spores would likely be the easiest but you could use Circle of the Land and play it like a nature wizard with a spell book of druidic knowledge you consult to prepare your spells and use natural recovery to regain spell slots, Circle fo Wildfire becomes Circle of Witchfire etc. Nab Fey Touched to get Hex to get some more Hag "goodness".

EDIT: 2 slight drawbacks i would self impose on this one: 1) you do not know the druidic language and 2) you have disadvantage on animal ahndling checks as anaimals instictively know something is wrong with you.

(Part three of four. Part 1 HERE. Part 2 HERE.)

“I fled to the city of Vasug, but quickly found myself in trouble after a casino that had bankrupted me had a mysterious fire accident that several delusional individuals attempted to pin on me. I lived as a criminal hiding out in Vasug for a bit, trying to scrape together enough coin to buy my way out. Unfortunately, I was woken up in the middle of the dumpster I had been sleeping in by a group of 5 elite, armed guards approaching my location; Though I tried to flee, I was quickly whacked in the face with a ginormous club and fell, bleeding out and unconscious.”

My harpy fighter/gunslinger with poor charisma.

Raised by a loving father and mother despite not being able to feed themselves all the time till one day my father becomes a officer in the army, Father dies in a war and mother slayed soon after by assassins hellbent on getting rid of my fathers lineage becoming orphaned, became a ranged fighter trained in the army and is using my experience in the army to track down my family's killers.

Left for dead as a child due to my blue eyes, the Orc chief thought he'd seen the last of me. But I killed the bear who tried to feed on me and took its pelt as my prize. Now grown up, I am the champion of the coliseum and ensure he knows I'm coming for him.