You never seen fear in a man’s eyes ‘til you seen ‘im floatin’ in th’ water for three days an’ nights, dog tired, dehydrated, an’ knowin’ th’ sharks used to eating good th’ past three days are gonna start looking to whatever’s left t’make a meal of. After a wreck like that, I couldn’t put out t’sea again… not ever again…. So now I aim to seek m’fortunes like a lubber, th’ skills I got bein’ useful’n all as much on land… and at least there’s no land sharks….
You woke in an extravagant palace with no memory and were told that you are the territory's reigning monarch.
You are absolutely certain that, whoever you are, you are most certainly not the reigning lord despite any contrary evidence and also certain that your life is in peril due only to a parchment you discovered that someone hid in a cracked keystone in the undercroft that suggests you either are about to be or were switched with the real monarch.
You left the territory incognito to follow that lead with nothing to identify you but your face only to discover that you have some skills unexpected of a posh monarch, though such a journey requires some necessities such as supplies and, most likely, friends you can trust who are not related to your supposed royalty.
This one prompts a player to keep the backstory hidden and to "feel out" the party in the guise of being nobody special to determine if the character can count on the others to help when the time comes. Amnesiacs rediscovering abilities makes it easier to start at low levels. The backstory offers opportunities to the DM and player that can be realized well into the campaign, even long after the revelation of the royalty connection, or even several campaigns later. Proximity to the mentioned territory can introduce opportunities and complications for the character as one would expect that either the people are searching for their liege or some people are disguising your disappearance in several possible ways. I don't know how this story ends, but that's what adventuring's for. amirite?
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Ravencaw( kenku druid): caw caw clang bzzz wrrr. *unintelligible gibberish* huh? tweet tweet *leaf rustling*. (translation: as a child, I remember this eagle staring at me in my dreams. once I had questioned the bird, I was in a forest. now under the tutelage of my master, I protect that of my family and the wilds.
Arikk ( warforged gunslinger): activated by gnomish artifacers, using the brain of my predecessor, Korrinius. I knew how to use a gun, often using 4 at a time to take out my foes. once they passed, I had travelled without purpose.
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a hobbit of the tolkeinite cult
a frequenter of taverns
mainly an Emerald half-dragon with a psudodragon pet
haven't been on because mobile sucks and wifi sucks
Self-proclaimed Non-Binary Diety of bad writing and Lizardfolk Monks
That night I had a vision. I was seeing my enemy drop dead as I rose higher and higher above the townscape.
I awoke confused and sought out a dream interpreter. On my way there I slipped and fell off a cliff facing landing on an eagle.
I soon began hunting with the giant eagle. Firing my guns off from it's back and quickly becoming a firece and feared factor. I got caught up in it an brutally murdered my master. Seeking to absorb his knowledge and power.
I was lost on the icy wastes beyond the edges of the world. After much work and toil, a created a bridge of compacted snow over the voids and made my way onto the frigid lands to the North. Lost, alone, and mad, I have become the true horror of the wastes.
True, but it still falls under the max limit, 15 is my absolute max, 3 sentences is technically just the least I ask for. Everyone can come up with at least 3 sentences. And 8 sentences still isn't too too many. I’ll take 8 sentences, especially from a first time poster. Technically, some creative commas could turn that into three sentences easily enough.
What is life? I thought I knew until I met the poppet stitcher. A doll for my daughter was what I wanted, he said he could make a perfect doll for her and then it all went black. When light came back to me I was perched on a shelf in the poppet stitchers workshop, my lifeless body now a corpse on the floor and my soul now bound to this artifical form.
(a mabre idea for a character, a little late for halloween, based around the magic the gathering card called poppet stitcher, although the card creates zombies I think going for warforged as a base race to create a halfling sized construct that looks like a doll could be suitably creepy, the soul within it has their goal to be restored to a normal mortal body so they are questing for a reincarnation spell or similar, use haunted one for a background and class is pretty open)
True, but it still falls under the max limit, 15 is my absolute max, 3 sentences is technically just the least I ask for. Everyone can come up with at least 3 sentences. And 8 sentences still isn't too too many. I’ll take 8 sentences, especially from a first time poster. Technically, some creative commas could turn that into three sentences easily enough.
Hmmmm so what you’re saying is that I need to refresh my memory on the OP. Understood. Please see my sig while I go read the OP again and eat some humble pie. :)
My parents were members of the Ashmadai cult of Asmodeus in Neverwinter, and my Tiefling lineage is a result of this. I was caught in the Cataclysm of the eruption of Mt. Hotenow that destroyed much of Neverwinter, and in a desperate moment I made a deal with an exiled Archdevil to save my own life. I now serve my Patron as a sort of “eldritch privateer”, searching out bits of arcana, lore, and artifacts for him in return for magical power and knowledge.
After my family was slain by an evil wizard, I apprenticed myself to a Paladin battling evil.
He was slain by mind flayers, but I was taken with them, until a storm destroyed their ship and I was found alive, but with no memory,by a conniving cleric.
Now I battle across the Icewind Dale, trying to pay my debt to the cleric, find my past and control my new power over the weather.
I am a powerful archfiend who has lived for over 1000 years, and collected twice as many souls. A wizard upstart managed to corner me, and chose to "punish" me by transforming me into a mere mortal (true polymorph). Now, I adventure to try and regain my lost power and seek retribution on the wizard who stole it from me.
(i.e. you are a warlock and your own patron)
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Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
After leaving home, you found yourself unexpectedly working in a pyrate crew as a cannoneer on a ship that purposely avoided notoriety with everyone using pseudonyms as to allow free roam in towns or on sea with less scrutiny.
When the captain stepped down to retire to a quiet life, you and several others also left the crew on good terms, regaining the unsoiled names of your birth.
You find a solitary and peaceful life to be an unsatisfying one even though you have no desire to risk your good name for ill-gotten gains.
Being a cannoneer does not offer much for any adventuring class excepting Artificer and even that is limited by the experience, but it doesn't preclude the possibility of learning other skills on the seas, allowing the character to start at any desired level. Alignment is wide-open for someone who has a shady past but does not wish to identify by it. The pirate history provides hooks for stories but is not the driving force behind the character and, if desired, can be ignored altogether. The Pirate or Sailor backgrounds are the most likely options with proficiency in sailing vehicles. The unsavory reputation of the Pirate background can be ignored or leveraged, but using the reputation risks being exposed for past piracy to local authorities. The player or DM could introduce the reputation later in the campaign to add an unexpected foil to the adventures.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
About three years ago, when I had barely started to grow a fuzzy shadow on my lip and my voice still cracked, my father made arangements for me to serve as squire to our lord Sir Quinus, a lesser country knight who owned the land on which we lived as serfs. Over the next three grueling, amazing years I learned the arts of combat and the science of war, fighting at his side against the Kings enemies in the holy lands. Three days ago I laid my lord Sir Quinus to rest, returned to the earth beneath the battlefield of Tangeanít, and now must make my way back home, so as to lay eyes upon my beloved Marishna’s face at least once more before I die.
‘Scuse us, we was hopin’ y’all could give us some directions. See I’m Clarence, this here is my brother Petey, an’ this is my other brother Petey, an’ we’re from a li’l speck o’ nowhere a fair was back, known as “Mud Crik,” er… I s’pose “Mud Creek” to y’all. Anyways, we figured that we done seen all there was t’see back there ‘round th’ Crik, so now we’re lookin’ for…
My grandmother called it a crick. She lived in Tunkhannock, PA and a crick ran right behind her back yard (eventually separated when a highway took half of her property and now all gone for some housing development after her passing). My mom used to tell me that Tunkhannock's original name was "Cummonnaiwannatunk." There was a long time when I believed her.
I'm really surprised that there's no city or town named Adventure. (Adventura is the closest and, between us, a really boring Miami suburb despite literally meaning "adventure".)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Kadim Sul was his name, a Water Genasi gambler with cards his chosen game. A deck that could grant a 'many things' was his offer, when I refused he became a scoffer. A chicken, a cad, my nature he insulted, so I drew a card, enslavement to a Marid genie resulted.
****
A little hook for a warlock with a genie patron, but the character is far form a free roaming warlock, they would be very beholden tot heir patrons whims etc, the 'many things' mentioned about the cards would be a reference to a Deck of Many Things. As you might infer form the rhyme the character is likely quite resenetful of the outcome of the game and at being manipulated into playing a game they had no intention of playing.
You never seen fear in a man’s eyes ‘til you seen ‘im floatin’ in th’ water for three days an’ nights, dog tired, dehydrated, an’ knowin’ th’ sharks used to eating good th’ past three days are gonna start looking to whatever’s left t’make a meal of. After a wreck like that, I couldn’t put out t’sea again… not ever again…. So now I aim to seek m’fortunes like a lubber, th’ skills I got bein’ useful’n all as much on land… and at least there’s no land sharks….
Right…?
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
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"Telegram."
That's the first thing that popped into my head.🤣
You woke in an extravagant palace with no memory and were told that you are the territory's reigning monarch.
You are absolutely certain that, whoever you are, you are most certainly not the reigning lord despite any contrary evidence and also certain that your life is in peril due only to a parchment you discovered that someone hid in a cracked keystone in the undercroft that suggests you either are about to be or were switched with the real monarch.
You left the territory incognito to follow that lead with nothing to identify you but your face only to discover that you have some skills unexpected of a posh monarch, though such a journey requires some necessities such as supplies and, most likely, friends you can trust who are not related to your supposed royalty.
This one prompts a player to keep the backstory hidden and to "feel out" the party in the guise of being nobody special to determine if the character can count on the others to help when the time comes. Amnesiacs rediscovering abilities makes it easier to start at low levels. The backstory offers opportunities to the DM and player that can be realized well into the campaign, even long after the revelation of the royalty connection, or even several campaigns later. Proximity to the mentioned territory can introduce opportunities and complications for the character as one would expect that either the people are searching for their liege or some people are disguising your disappearance in several possible ways. I don't know how this story ends, but that's what adventuring's for. amirite?
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Ravencaw( kenku druid): caw caw clang bzzz wrrr. *unintelligible gibberish* huh? tweet tweet *leaf rustling*. (translation: as a child, I remember this eagle staring at me in my dreams. once I had questioned the bird, I was in a forest. now under the tutelage of my master, I protect that of my family and the wilds.
Arikk ( warforged gunslinger): activated by gnomish artifacers, using the brain of my predecessor, Korrinius. I knew how to use a gun, often using 4 at a time to take out my foes. once they passed, I had travelled without purpose.
a hobbit of the tolkeinite cult
a frequenter of taverns
mainly an Emerald half-dragon with a psudodragon pet
haven't been on because mobile sucks and wifi sucks
Self-proclaimed Non-Binary Diety of bad writing and Lizardfolk Monks
That night I had a vision. I was seeing my enemy drop dead as I rose higher and higher above the townscape.
I awoke confused and sought out a dream interpreter. On my way there I slipped and fell off a cliff facing landing on an eagle.
I soon began hunting with the giant eagle. Firing my guns off from it's back and quickly becoming a firece and feared factor. I got caught up in it an brutally murdered my master. Seeking to absorb his knowledge and power.
Mythicus non-typical
Hello Craftee,
That's a great deal more than three sentences. :p
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
EXTENDED SIGNATURE!
Doctor/Published Scholar/Science and Healthcare Advocate/Critter/Trekkie/Gandalf with a Glock
Try DDB free: Free Rules (2024), premade PCs, adventures, one shots, encounters, SC, homebrew, more
Answers: physical books, purchases, and subbing.
Check out my life-changing
I was lost on the icy wastes beyond the edges of the world. After much work and toil, a created a bridge of compacted snow over the voids and made my way onto the frigid lands to the North. Lost, alone, and mad, I have become the true horror of the wastes.
Frequent Eladrin || They/Them, but accept all pronouns
Luz Noceda would like to remind you that you're worth loving!
True, but it still falls under the max limit, 15 is my absolute max, 3 sentences is technically just the least I ask for. Everyone can come up with at least 3 sentences. And 8 sentences still isn't too too many. I’ll take 8 sentences, especially from a first time poster. Technically, some creative commas could turn that into three sentences easily enough.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
What is life? I thought I knew until I met the poppet stitcher. A doll for my daughter was what I wanted, he said he could make a perfect doll for her and then it all went black. When light came back to me I was perched on a shelf in the poppet stitchers workshop, my lifeless body now a corpse on the floor and my soul now bound to this artifical form.
(a mabre idea for a character, a little late for halloween, based around the magic the gathering card called poppet stitcher, although the card creates zombies I think going for warforged as a base race to create a halfling sized construct that looks like a doll could be suitably creepy, the soul within it has their goal to be restored to a normal mortal body so they are questing for a reincarnation spell or similar, use haunted one for a background and class is pretty open)
Hmmmm so what you’re saying is that I need to refresh my memory on the OP. Understood. Please see my sig while I go read the OP again and eat some humble pie. :)
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
EXTENDED SIGNATURE!
Doctor/Published Scholar/Science and Healthcare Advocate/Critter/Trekkie/Gandalf with a Glock
Try DDB free: Free Rules (2024), premade PCs, adventures, one shots, encounters, SC, homebrew, more
Answers: physical books, purchases, and subbing.
Check out my life-changing
A gnome tinkerer created me to help stop his maniacal rival & his evil constructs.
I am an autognome who possesses a spark of life; something my creator’s rival cannot duplicate.
My creator was regretfully slain; and now I am hunted by his rival, who seeks the secret to my creation.
My parents were members of the Ashmadai cult of Asmodeus in Neverwinter, and my Tiefling lineage is a result of this. I was caught in the Cataclysm of the eruption of Mt. Hotenow that destroyed much of Neverwinter, and in a desperate moment I made a deal with an exiled Archdevil to save my own life. I now serve my Patron as a sort of “eldritch privateer”, searching out bits of arcana, lore, and artifacts for him in return for magical power and knowledge.
A spoiled princess who loved to indulge in carnal desires.
My father killed my secret lover in a great pyre
Power I seek- to kill the king is what I conspire.
“Magic is distilled laziness. Put that on my gravestone.”
― Kurtis J. Wiebe, High Fantasies
After my family was slain by an evil wizard, I apprenticed myself to a Paladin battling evil.
He was slain by mind flayers, but I was taken with them, until a storm destroyed their ship and I was found alive, but with no memory,by a conniving cleric.
Now I battle across the Icewind Dale, trying to pay my debt to the cleric, find my past and control my new power over the weather.
I am a powerful archfiend who has lived for over 1000 years, and collected twice as many souls. A wizard upstart managed to corner me, and chose to "punish" me by transforming me into a mere mortal (true polymorph). Now, I adventure to try and regain my lost power and seek retribution on the wizard who stole it from me.
(i.e. you are a warlock and your own patron)
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
After leaving home, you found yourself unexpectedly working in a pyrate crew as a cannoneer on a ship that purposely avoided notoriety with everyone using pseudonyms as to allow free roam in towns or on sea with less scrutiny.
When the captain stepped down to retire to a quiet life, you and several others also left the crew on good terms, regaining the unsoiled names of your birth.
You find a solitary and peaceful life to be an unsatisfying one even though you have no desire to risk your good name for ill-gotten gains.
Being a cannoneer does not offer much for any adventuring class excepting Artificer and even that is limited by the experience, but it doesn't preclude the possibility of learning other skills on the seas, allowing the character to start at any desired level. Alignment is wide-open for someone who has a shady past but does not wish to identify by it. The pirate history provides hooks for stories but is not the driving force behind the character and, if desired, can be ignored altogether. The Pirate or Sailor backgrounds are the most likely options with proficiency in sailing vehicles. The unsavory reputation of the Pirate background can be ignored or leveraged, but using the reputation risks being exposed for past piracy to local authorities. The player or DM could introduce the reputation later in the campaign to add an unexpected foil to the adventures.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
About three years ago, when I had barely started to grow a fuzzy shadow on my lip and my voice still cracked, my father made arangements for me to serve as squire to our lord Sir Quinus, a lesser country knight who owned the land on which we lived as serfs. Over the next three grueling, amazing years I learned the arts of combat and the science of war, fighting at his side against the Kings enemies in the holy lands. Three days ago I laid my lord Sir Quinus to rest, returned to the earth beneath the battlefield of Tangeanít, and now must make my way back home, so as to lay eyes upon my beloved Marishna’s face at least once more before I die.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
‘Scuse us, we was hopin’ y’all could give us some directions. See I’m Clarence, this here is my brother Petey, an’ this is my other brother Petey, an’ we’re from a li’l speck o’ nowhere a fair was back, known as “Mud Crik,” er… I s’pose “Mud Creek” to y’all. Anyways, we figured that we done seen all there was t’see back there ‘round th’ Crik, so now we’re lookin’ for…
The Road to Adventure…
…er, have ya seen it?
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
My grandmother called it a crick. She lived in Tunkhannock, PA and a crick ran right behind her back yard (eventually separated when a highway took half of her property and now all gone for some housing development after her passing). My mom used to tell me that Tunkhannock's original name was "Cummonnaiwannatunk." There was a long time when I believed her.
I'm really surprised that there's no city or town named Adventure. (Adventura is the closest and, between us, a really boring Miami suburb despite literally meaning "adventure".)
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Kadim Sul was his name, a Water Genasi gambler with cards his chosen game. A deck that could grant a 'many things' was his offer, when I refused he became a scoffer. A chicken, a cad, my nature he insulted, so I drew a card, enslavement to a Marid genie resulted.
****
A little hook for a warlock with a genie patron, but the character is far form a free roaming warlock, they would be very beholden tot heir patrons whims etc, the 'many things' mentioned about the cards would be a reference to a Deck of Many Things. As you might infer form the rhyme the character is likely quite resenetful of the outcome of the game and at being manipulated into playing a game they had no intention of playing.
Kadim Sul is actaully an NPC in my campaign with a whole faction around him, link to a slightly more indepth dive of Kadim Sul here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/story-lore/125824-the-smugglers-of-cunlussaghamath