My parents were gladiators at The Final Station, where I was born and raised.

Though it cost me dearly, I barely managed to escape, taking with me the hand of the pit manager, Takk.

One day I will return Takk's hand to him but for now, I enjoy a free man's life where I fight when I choose to.

The night I was born, a shooting star slashed a flaming wound that burned for hours across an otherwise darkened, moonless sky. My mother’s midwife (also the village witch, a wisewoman, astrologer, herbalist and soothsayer) told mother that it was a sign from the old gods that my birth was blessed, and that I was destined to do great and wonderful things. Now, I am a woman of my own and in my prime, and I am setting out on the morrow to discover for myself what destiny the old gods have in store for me.

I was created by a crestfallen Karnathi chemist as a weapon for the last war, a parasitic entity made from murdered myconids.

Realizing the pain he caused the chemist tried to stop my use, but was stabbed by the other house Cannith chemists in the effort.

He injected himself with me to stop the other chemists from using me on the front, and after the war a Breelish Adventurer found us and raised me to be an adventurer.

(From another post in a different thread.)

You are an ordinary Human Fighter with an unusual name.

Your father, expecting a girl and having spent months picking the perfect name with your mother, was asked to name his son.

He responded, "Son?! Oh for f---." and stormed out of the room.

Oferf, the Human Fighter.

My earliest memories was of a happy family playing on the beach.

Family strife drove them apart and me to live with my Great Aunt whilst my father tried to build a new life somewhere for us.

Then they came for me and my Great Aunt died, whilst I ended up with a family friend who taught me what I needed to know to survive on my own.

You were the only Human child born at a refugee camp.

The refugee camp grew into a settlement and, later, into a prosperous town with the children all growing up and discovering their magic... except the one Human kid.

Leaving behind the bitter memories of being singled out for almost everything, you now venture the world, reputing yourself as the best magic user with excellent Darkvision even though neither are remotely true.

A Charlatan Human of a non-magical class or subclass who, out of extreme insecurity, constantly touts magical and non-Human abilities that don't exist for the character.

I arrived in this accursed country as a young boy, clutching at his mother’s skirts along with my three sisters for fear of such a strange land with such strange people. It was not long before the strangers or this rotten land stole our mother from us, soon after that the wrongness of this land stole my sisters from me one-by-one. I strove for many years to be clever, nimble, daring, and skilled at many things including dagger, sword, and bow so I can find a way to steal my family back from death itself… or join them….

It was a land beset by corruption, villainy and powermongers.

In an act atypical of those in charge one usurped power via the means of an artefact granting him control over armies of men, beasts and demi-humans sending the populace either into slavery, death (and undeath) or fleeing as refugees.

This is the story of a group of these refugees and their efforts to find a new life and eventually the means to fight back against the foes pursuing them...

In the markets and bizarres I practiced my art; juggling, knife throwing and physical comedy, until one day instead of the knife I intended to throw, I threw fire. With a cry and a shout I somehow managed to stop the bolt of fire in its tracks and instead made it dance in mid air much to the crowds delight. I travel, putting on small shows as I do so, and  as I strive to master this new artform.

**

a Sorcerer build using an entertainer background with the Pyromancer Origin from Paneshift: Kaladesh, link here its on page 9: https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/plane-shift-kaladesh

**

Raised in a murderous gang of orphans, you eventually rose to the top.

Yet as per the gang charter as it were, coming of age at 13 years meant you had to leave the gang as did all members regardless of rank.

You spent many years since alone applying the only trade you know but always keeping an eye out for talent to become a small group of comrades seeking fortune.

Very versatile as is generic, but with an initial tendency toward violence and wanting to lead. Character growth could see that going in any direction from there.

Some people hunt small game, some big game. Me? I like a game of cat and mouse, I like to hunt things that hide in plain sight. What am Doing? Oh, this is just a silver tipped bolt I'm loading into this crossbow, you look nervous, don't worry, I've never met a shapechanger that can run faster than these bolts can fly.

**I'm thinking a Ranger (Hunter) possibly with a multiclass with  Fighter (Gunslinger), spending down time melting down silver pieces and making silver tipper crossbow bolts, the only problem is shapechangers come up in Humanoid, Monstrosity, Aberration, Fiend and Undead creatures so you might need a DM to allow you a special favoured enemy of Shapechanger or get to level 14 and pick 3 of those catagories.

I made a name for myself, fighting in the Thayan gladiatorial arenas, spilling the blood of my enemies so that the tharchions could settle their disputes with our very lives.

Then one day, I faced an opponent I could not bring myself to kill, and I brought the wrath of the Thayan nobility down upon my head.

With unexpected help, I managed to flee Thay…but now the tharchions send their bounty hunters to reclaim their property.

The last I remember are fragments. Chains clinking, a trapdoor slam, the wierd smell of a salty teak. Than metal crying against metal, the presure of water against my body, the relief of a last breath.

Than I wake up, in a ocean of pale sand that extent to infinite. I walk through forever days and nights, sleeping about martial movements that I don't know where from I remember it. My body is wierd, somehow it go through beyond an organic living time.

The most that I know by know is that I'm not a living being. And the most alive I can reach lives under that strange dreams I assume that are memories.

Of yourself, you never tell the same story twice, ranging from fantastic to ordinary.

You did it for so long that you are not sure what's true about your history.

If it provides an audience for your tales and coin for comforts, you are all-too-happy to apply your skills in adventures with people with the benefits of new experiences as inspiration for more wild stories to tell.

Any heritage (race), any class, any level, any alignment (even Lawful). Only requirement: Tells tall tales about everything.

I've spent too much time in this Temple to Thor... it's time I really subscribe to this Viking wanderlust I hear about. Now, I'm on a quest to find this Amulet that may have been carried by Thor himself. And, I need to try to keep my distance from my ex - that pointy eared witch hit me with something that turned my hair purple... I don't  need that in my life.

While my family has been renowned for their Artificer skills across the continent, I spent most of my life working for them in a boring, but safe bookkeeper position. After a somewhat dire midlife crisis I tried following my family's tradition and set up shop on the edge of the world. Born with two left hands I failed fantastically, but I will persist and now wander the world to learn more about my family's craft on my own.

With no specific memory of my beginnings a small humanoid stumbled upon me. Soon a most excellent symbiosis has been formed between us after I entered his mind. But in the end my true self while return between the pages of my book, waiting for the next soul to find me.

My insatiable lust for food was always a thorn in my clan's side. During a raid on those humies I got too distracted by a fine roast and the other kobolds left me behind. Scared and alone, without a glint of malice in my heart, one of the humans found me, took me in and taught me how to fight all that is corrupting; my only friend.

I caused a fire that killed my mother and brother... if killing on accident is so easy, maybe I can make a buck doing it? Turns out it's not so easy - but once I woke up after my unplanned visit to the Shadowfell, and "speaking?" I guess? with that shadowspawn whatever it was who I met there, I now have a cool detachment. And, this very nice sword, that wants me to call it ShadowReaver.

I found an ancient, decrepit sword in a lake, or maybe it found me. Either way, I'm drawn to it's power, and when I grip in in my fist, it becomes a gleaming, beautiful, deadly weapon. Maybe I can use it - most of all to fight for good and serve my goddess Athena, but also to try to find my friends who went missing in that strange valley near my village.

I am T'sela - it means "Stars Lying Down" in the language of my people, and I am not from here... the stars I see in your skies do not look like the ones from my home. Perhaps my spirit journey was too far. I call on the spirits - the bear, the eagle, and the wolf - and with the Moon Mother Selūne's blessing, those spirits come to me, change me, and give me power and help in these strange lands.

Growing up in a very insular village and raised by just your father, you were always much, much larger than everyone else.

When you got older and could take no more of your father's evasion to your questions about yourself, he finally revealed that you are half-Halfling and half-Human and your mother was recruited for war in a distant land and never heard since.

You left home into a world of immense size just to discover if there is a place where you fit better than being a giant in a Halfling village (because you can only take so much more of low ceilings before you suspect there'll be permanent damage).

Variant Human with bonuses and a trait appropriate to Halflings (such Dexterity and Lucky, your choice); There are many gaps in the backstory to allow any Class and Background, but Alignment probably tends toward Good and personality likely tends towards slight uncertainty around new people due to the slightly xenophobic upbringing. Consider Brandobaris as the favorable deity if the character's alignment has a Neutral aspect. There is a hook for the missing Human mother that can be taken in so many different directions.

(Be ready for people to call the character a Quarterling, probably a lot and each one will think it's funny as if your character hadn't heard that many times prior already.)🙃