As a child, My character found magical power in herself and spent years learning the lore of magic. Then she became a wizard's apprentice and eventually, a wizard. Now she practices her magic in the elven woods, waiting for something to call her out of the forest.
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"If you ever ask a wizard to list the books they've read recently, prepare to be there for a solid week. " - Original.
Mera Zinrel, the elf, was orphaned at the age of roughly 2 months old. She was found abandoned in the forest as an infant when fate intertwined her path with a middle-aged man trekking the woods. The man, startled by the discovery he made, picked up the swaddled baby and pulled the blanket back slightly. One of the first things he noticed were the pointed ears. He examined her and faced the fact that this helpless little one's life was completely in his hands. Mera let out a sneeze and the man let out a small chuckle. Now that he had a closer look at the defenseless child, he noticed a significant bruise towards the left of her forehead and a small but somewhat deep scratch (this scratch would eventually become a lifelong scar) above her left eyebrow, yet, there were no signs of any fights or struggle in the location the swaddled up baby was left. Strange, thought the man. He decided it be best that he accompany young Mera at this spot for the rest of the day, knowing he couldn't leave the sound of her pitiful cries, in the case someone returned for her.
Late twilight approached and no signs of anyone. The man, and now little Mera, left and continued on to the man's home. He knew he couldn't leave her there and frankly, what if the bruise was a sign of abuse? As they journeyed he pondered about what race of elf she may be. He's heard that the nomadic wood elves have been occasionally seen to venture through this stretch of forest. The man and Mera reached his home and they were greeted by the Man's wife, Lydia, who had anxiously been awaiting his return. "Arthur! I expected you home hours ago and got worried, what were you up...." Lydia's voice trailed off when she become aware of the little elvish face in Arthur's arms.
From that day forward, humans Arthur and Lydia named her and raised her as their own. Lydia is a bard and entertainer, and Arthur has a job at the local library. They lived a modest life but were not rich by any means. Their home was in a rural community near the outskirts of town and she grew to love nature, music(her mother taught her how to play lute), and reading. She was highly energetic and nimble.
At the age of 8, her father told her of his past. A monk past. Arthur was once part of a monastery and told Mera that he had been banished for reasons he did not tell her, but continued to drift between towns studying the art that had abandoned him until he met Mera's mother. From this point on Mera's father began teaching her everything he knew and throughout the years Mera became very booksmart, wise, and quite skilled in martial arts.
Once Mera grew older and more knowledgeable and skilled, she of course wanted see what more life had to offer as typical young adult would, and became curious as to what she would amount too. She was unsure of her of future but then one day, a traveling circus came through town. She was in awe of the performers, especially the acrobats, and thought it'd be a good chance to travel and see the world. She talked to one of the performers and eventually was offered to come with them. Though it was a difficult decision to leave her parents she felt very strongly towards taking this opportunity.
Mera became a trapeze artist and tightrope walker. One of her signature moves was tightrope walking with her hands. She delved a little bit into dancing too. She loved the adventures with her newfound friends. She met and saw many kinds of people, including her own kind. Along the way, she even managed to find monk clothing at a market that she purchased. Because of her father and mother, and new friends, she became quite the entertainer and martial artist. She made sure to write her mother and father. She still practiced her martial arts and soon her acrobatic and dancing skills became an extension of her fighting skills and of course, when she had the time she still loved to read up on history, nature, and monk practices.
Time went on and one day she received a dire letter from her father, Arthur. Her mother was very sick, it was unknown what exactly was wrong yet but it affecting her lungs. Her breathing was becoming worse and Her father pleaded for her to come home to see her mother and of course him. She departed the circus unsure of when she would return. Upon arriving home and seeing the state of her mother, Mera dropped to her knees and wept in despair. Her mother was even worse. 2 days later, Lydia Zinrel passed away. While home, Mera noticed her fathers hair was almost completely ghostly white. No one wants their parents to age but its just the way of life. She also noticed her hometown was not as peaceful as it used to be. Mera decided to stay home longer and spend time with her elderly father. Months passed. One day, a raid occurred on the village by enemies of the kingdom. Her father was killed. Most of her village was razed to ground. The skies darkened with the threat of a looming war. Mera left behind her thoughts of returning to the circus with one thing on her mind. Avenging her father and village. She joined the military. A war was coming and one way or the other she would help end it to restore peace.
I’d be more interested in what happened before you were a right hand man, and cut down two dozen enemies with one sword. What brought you to that point?
Here is my Aasimar, warlock (Hexblade)/ paladin (Oath of Devotion), Rhode Alander
Rhode Alander was an Aasimar born to a pair of human mercenaries who were the founders of their own mercenary group. They taught him that every person needs to learn three things early in life. How to handle coin, how to handle a blade, and that every person needs to follow some kind of code (legal, personal, or religious) to differentiate them from animals.
In his dreams, his guiding Deva taught him that anything capable of conscious thought must also follow some kind of code or they would fall to chaos.
After he came of age and officially joined his parent's mercenary group tragedy struck. The group accepted a mission to investigate a mysterious temple that would disappear and reappear in different locations at random. Inside they found that the temple was connected to a large demiplane. The plane was riddled with the scars of a great battle and the land was covered with stone statues of various races, fiends, aberrations, and monsters. In the center of the demiplane was a several stories tall single-bladed cracked sword that was embedded into the ground.
Before the group could properly investigate the demiplane and the giant blade. All members of the party excluding Rhode began to quickly petrify into stone. One by one, his parents and the other mercenary members that helped raise him were turned to stone statues. Before the grief of his lost overcame his senses, Rhode felt an irresistible calling from the giant blade in the center of the demiplane.
Upon approaching the Blade and gazing into its mirror-like surface, words began appearing on it.
"I am the 'Star Honor Blade' and I must apologize to you, child. I only had enough divine energy to save one of your party, and you hold the highest potential."
Rhode clenched his fist and asked, " What is this place? Why have my parents and everyone else become petrified here?
"This demiplane is what's left of my former wielder's Divine domain. The Star Honor Lord was his name, but time as long erased him from both mortal and Gods' memories. For that was the final wicked strike his enemy did before hurling Star Honor's corpse into the Astral Sea." The new text said after replacing the old.
"As for the petrification...well the only way to truly kill a God is to kill their followers and make it so no new ones could possibly appear. And so what is left of the divine domain was cursed; all who enter or worship the Star Honor Lord will join him in eternal sleep so he may never rise again."
Rhode looked sternly into the flat of the blade. "Let me guess, to save my family and friends I must help you get revenge on your wielder's killer right?"
New text quickly replaced the old. "No, I would never put such a task to a mortal! There is no honor in handing out such a death sentence! You and yours entered here in ignorance of the dangers. I will not put that against you, so I will strike you a fair deal."
The text began to brighten and shed an inner light. "Make a pact with me, the 'Star Honor Blade', and I will share my power with you. You must then venture out and preach my tenets to those who will listen. Help me rise to Godhood, for only a God and remove a God's curse."
"...Deal." Rhode flatly stated after a brief hesitation. "I agree to these terms."
Rhode sat down before the towering cracked blade. "If I am to be your herald outside this demiplane. Then I must know everything about you, your beliefs, your tenets, your aspirations. So speak, Star Honor Blade, speak and I will listen!"
Time past in the silent demiplane where a man sat before a colossal broken blade. As the man read, what he learned began to resonate with what he has learned and believed all his life.
And so the PACT was Joined with an OATH.
Weeks later, a man dressed in half-plate armor can be seen entering a city. Around his neck lies a holy symbol to an unknown God, a Downward pointing cracked blade. The same symbol rest beneath his armor, branded over his heart. On is back, a greatsword of similar design. On its flat lies as a simple engraving.
DESCRIPTION: she starts her adventure at very early age, around 14-16yo, as soon as she can go around by herself. Her tiefling heritage gave her skin a golden hue, pitch black eyes, a reptilian tail and short antlers. Both her bardic and warlock powers are not fully conscious... she had no formal training in them. All her casts and abilities come naturally (at least, until her starting level 3). The warlock "pact" comes from dialogue with the voices in her head since early age. GOAL: Seeks information and revenge on the low-plane devil-father. MEANS TO ACHIEVE THE GOAL: Gazina wanders in pursuit of information... The music and charisma are natural means to interact and learn the whereabouts of the devil-father. ELDRITCH LORD: she hears voices of The Great Old One, yet does not realise who/why yet. BACKGROUND: Gazina was born of a ****. SPELL FOCCI: blow instruments (flute and pan flute) and Mystical horn (commune with the TGOO) STORY: A low-plane devil needed a male offspring to use in a ritualistic sacrifice to receive the boon of The Great Old One (Eldrich Lord). In that, her virgin mother was seduced and impregnated by him through the use of magic & music. Upon giving birth to a girl, the devil attempted to murder both the mother and the newborn, but the mother successfully defended the baby, dying in the process. The injured devil ran away, but left behind a Mystical Horn (in Gazina's possession) that he used to commune with the TGOO. GRANDPARENTS: Orphan, Gazina was raised by her human grandparents. They are wealthy weavers, dedicated mostly to "holy fabrics" and the family business revolves around serving the church of Deneir and its followers in Waterdeep. The "textile factory" is located to the north of Waterdeep, where they can easily gather the best materials. The grandparents are proud of her in the same measure that they try to keep her a "secret" - both for being a devil offspring and for the dangers she may face out in the open. ALIBI: too young to go adventuring at will, she uses the power of persuation to convince her grandparents that she's "just gonna run errands to retrieve new pigments and raw materials for weaving". They consider it normal, since she does come back with rare pigments and materials as agreed upon.
Since this is already at the top of the forum, this isn't really a bump.
There are lots and lots of creative writers here. Absolutely love it!
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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.
When my elf was young, she lived a comfortable life .she grew up in the influence of warlocks, wizards , rangers , druids, bards and sorcerers. She learned their skills.There, she became a apprentice to all of them.They taught her their skills for a long, long time. She shot with the rangers, spellcast with the people who could , sang with the bards and was loyal to nature, like the druids. Until she was 100 (she's an elf and they live for 750 years) this peace and happiness lasted. Then one day the undead attacked her forest. She ran but the others fought. When she came back out of the woods, all that remained was burnt trees and the ashes of what used to be her tribe. She grabbed all of her and her family's posessions and fled into the forest. there, she practices her magic. She decided instead of being a wizard like she thought, she would multi class and be a wizard , druid , warlock, sorcerer, ranger and bard all in one. today, she practices her magic in case another threat strikes. There she lives waiting, for something to call her out of the forest.She is still guilty about fleeing, but she did for a good reason. The undead attacked her forest because they wanted to see if she was actually there. When she was young, she found an undead wandering in the forest, looking to burn it it down. On the spot, she killed him. As it turns out, he was a member of high ranking and since, they have had a horrible grudge against her. When they learned she was in the forest, they came after her. She was forever guilty, and she had a close relationship to her tribe. She ran away because it wasn't safe to stay, and her greatest flaw shows when she has pressure on her. At this time, She had the pressure of her dead tribe pushing down on her. Her tribe had died because of her and if she had stayed, she would have gotten attacked again and her tribe's valiant effort to keep her safe would mean nothing.
It sounds like your character had a hard time fitting in, AlexandraMelianne. She is the proverbial Jack-of-all-Trades (or Jill if you prefer) and master of none. This seems like it may be a theme for your character. Moreover, there seems to be some things you can explore and develop further for your character's story. It could answer questions like:
What was life like for her growing up?
Does she have any kind of professional background that gave her a springboard into the adventuring life?
How did she get interested in the myriad of interests she seems to have? Better still, does she feel any particular calling to the classes she has a level in, or is she just doing what she thinks it takes to survive? (Think in terms of your character's Ideals here if it helps.)
Why did undead attack the forest she was in?
Why did she flee? (Perhaps it relates to your character's flaw.)
Why did she return?
Did she feel guilty about fleeing when everyone else fought and died? (Survivor's guilt or appropriate guilt for not pulling her weight for the tribe? Again, you may think in terms of your character's flaw here.)
Did she have any particular attachment to anyone in her tribe? (Not necessarily romantic, but someone she looked up to as a mentor, or someone like a close friend or sibling. Think in terms of your character's bond or bonds here.)
A good character backstory answers the questions of what happened to your character, but also gives your character's take on why they happened at the very least. It also can talk about the relationships (or lack thereof) your character has (or had and lost.) While it's true that adventuring continues to write your character's story, your character didn't appear out of the void fully developed. The backstory is what gives lie to your character appearing from nothing. The backstory guide in chapter 4 of the PHB is meant to be a framework for answering these questions in as much (or as little) detail as you'd like. It is ultimately, just that, a guide, but you can feel free to use it as inspiration for fleshing out your character rather than using it as a checkbox in the character creation process.
This is another way to think of your character's backstory: If you (as your character) met an interesting stranger and wanted to tell your story, how much would you tell? What would you fill in with detail? What would you hint at, but refuse to fill in with detail?
Appearance: Fairly average-looking man. Fair skin but slightly tanned. Average height. Black hair on his eyebrows and of what one can see peeking out of his sizeable tricore hat tied off in the back. Wears self-important mercenary captain garb: dingy red and blue overcoat, slightly baggy trousers, and wader boots with cuffs. Clean shaven. Hasn't been seen smiling. The only real distinctive feature is that he may be blind for having solid egg-shell colored eyes.
The truth is nothing outside of the PHB recommendations:
He's a Tiefling blessed(? depending on one's point of view) with fair skin but with black horns that grew mostly laid back across his head (small upward curl at the ends) and hidden well under his large hat, tail hidden inside his baggy trousers wrapped around his right leg, sharp teeth hidden behind a forever-stern expression. The solid color of his eyes is the only thing that he cannot hide, but he plays it off like his other senses are so acute as if he has blindsight. He doesn't actually have blindsight. Blindness effects still affect him all the same and could possibly expose the ruse. Darkvision helps maintain the deception but still doesn't offset total Blindness effects at all.
Most people play up their Tiefling heritage. I took advantage of the aspects that could be hidden and went the other direction.
His history is simple. Born to sailor parents. Neither know which of their histories include Infernal blood. This truth of his muddy bloodline was hidden as much as possible. Being favored by the captain, she assisted with the deception. He received minor schooling through the graces of his parents and their captain, and he took to menial labor as an invalid with some awareness of his surroundings. This long-term ruse has been perfected over time.
When it came time to turn over the crew for a new, younger set, he chose to leave with his parents in their retirement but, instead, signed on as a lowliest of the low deckhand for mere pittance. His history with ships and his apparent blindness garnered some awe and appreciation among the crew and he began rising through the ranks as the superstitious minds leaned towards blessed than cursed. He learned some ability to fight - not much - after most of the crew became convinced he had some special senses only rumored from mystical monks from secluded monasteries. He became quartermaster eventually with the reputation of nobody able to pull any tricks on him despite is apparent blindness. Once the captain retired, the crew became divided on whether they wanted the first mate or the blessed mystical quartermaster to lead them. Playing up the mystical and wisened aspects of the persona, he chose to leave the crew to assert the necessary cohesion the ship deserved and has been since on land for a few months, spending his kept fortunes, but a sailor's fortune only goes so far.
...and now... his story actually begins. (Level 1)
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.
This is my character’s backstory! They are a home brewed species that can mimic the forms of other humanoids. (makes for fun times in the campaign) they are a warpblood (that’s the species) Druid/bard named Ashton Shiftskin. Prefers to take the form of females.
Once, there was a small underground clan of warpbloods -lesser known sentients that live in large cities- that lived in the sewers of waterdeep. They were called the “Shiftskin clan” and lived fairly peacefully. But one day, a clan of whererats found out about them and decided to... reduce competition for the most influential group in the sewers. They massacred the clan, leaving very few survivors. Ashton Shiftskin, a young member of the clan, barely managed to escape by mimicking a member of the wererats and running away. They have thus attempted to find the survivors of the clan, to no avail. They searched for things to lessen their grief, learning to live life to the fullest every day, knowing they might not live to see tomorrow. They grew nearly addicted to finding new forms to take up, taking pleasure from finding new shapes and colors. They also became very attached to nature, thinking that it is a miracle that such beauty has survived the cruelty of sentients. They dedicated themselves to finding ways to keep nature pure, but also thoroughly enjoys performing for others. She became a traveling singer/dancer for a short amount of time, before at one point, finding another one their kind. They became close, even lovers at one point, but the other was inclined to evil for reasons Ashton could never understand. They broke apart, and Ashton found themselves at a crossroads . “How could one of their own species be so.... evil?” Ashton wondered. She decided to start doing good, adventuring and stopping evil wherever she went. At one point, she noticed a group of adventures gathering around a bounty post, and asked to join them on their travels...... and that’s where the campaign started.
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she/it pronouns
I watch. I wait. I listen. I like roleplaying games. Avid fan of messed up homebrew and horror rpgs. Lancer>dnd5e, go read Kill Six Billion Demons. I will shoot you with my transgenderification beam pew pew
Yeah I didn’t know changelings existed at the time...... I now realize how similar they are. But hey! Creativity?
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she/it pronouns
I watch. I wait. I listen. I like roleplaying games. Avid fan of messed up homebrew and horror rpgs. Lancer>dnd5e, go read Kill Six Billion Demons. I will shoot you with my transgenderification beam pew pew
Hello all, Here is my character's brief background. He is playing in a heavily modified world setting of Hârn. His name is Duryohana-Kali, but regularly goes by Duryo for brevity. My DM keeps a great World Anvil page of his campaigns here. Here is Duryo's backstory:
Duryodhana-Kali (Duryo for short) was born and raised in the city of Meokolis in the Azeryan empire. Born into an upper class household, and given a strict strict upbringing by his father, who as a devout follower of Agrik, He regularly ensured his son understood the the world was no place for the weak or incompetent. Those lessons were not wasted on Duryo, who found that the teachings learned in the temple of Azeri resonated deeply with his own world viewpoints. As he grew into a young adult, his faith and his powerful presence demonstrated massive potential as a Sorcerer. The temple began his training into his chosen art, and during his education, he took his vows in the temple and dedicated himself to the ideal he must live up to the ultimate challenge of power, to defeat death itself!
Bald and clean shaven 5'11' Handsome Piercing Green Eyes Slightly pale complexion Normal in town clothing is well tailored black robes with fine red stitching all along the edges with a stiffened collar that protrudes in the back behind my head. When on the road I prefer black trousers with a matching black tunic, both with red trim. I will wear my armored chest piece over the tunic when I expect danger.
Nope. Just elvish terms from the FR Wiki.
Here is the backstory for my Elf wizard
As a child, My character found magical power in herself and spent years learning the lore of magic. Then she became a wizard's apprentice and eventually, a wizard. Now she practices her magic in the elven woods, waiting for something to call her out of the forest.
"If you ever ask a wizard to list the books they've read recently, prepare to be there for a solid week. " - Original.
Grammar Cult
Bow down to Cats! (Cult of Cats)
Well, jeez. That was underwhelming. Is there anything else about your character? Parents' names, why she left to become an apprentice, etc?
I'm not begging for attention, but if you like World Anvil, go give me a look.
Here's what a typical backstory of one of my characters looks like:
Example Character Backstory
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Well yes there is more to my character but I'm a new player and haven't worked that out yet
"If you ever ask a wizard to list the books they've read recently, prepare to be there for a solid week. " - Original.
Grammar Cult
Bow down to Cats! (Cult of Cats)
Oh, gotcha. Still working out the kinks.
I'm not begging for attention, but if you like World Anvil, go give me a look.
Mera the wood elf monk
She has a circus influence in her Background
Mera Zinrel, the elf, was orphaned at the age of roughly 2 months old. She was found abandoned in the forest as an infant when fate intertwined her path with a middle-aged man trekking the woods. The man, startled by the discovery he made, picked up the swaddled baby and pulled the blanket back slightly. One of the first things he noticed were the pointed ears. He examined her and faced the fact that this helpless little one's life was completely in his hands. Mera let out a sneeze and the man let out a small chuckle. Now that
he had a closer look at the defenseless child, he noticed a significant bruise towards the left of her forehead and a small but somewhat deep scratch (this scratch would eventually become a lifelong scar) above her left eyebrow, yet, there were no signs of any fights or struggle in the location the swaddled up baby was left. Strange, thought the man. He decided it be best that he accompany young Mera at this spot for the rest of the day, knowing he couldn't leave the sound of her pitiful cries, in the case someone returned for her.
Late twilight approached and no signs of anyone. The man, and now little Mera, left and continued on to the man's home. He knew he couldn't leave her there and frankly, what if the bruise was a sign of abuse? As they journeyed he pondered about what race of elf she may be. He's heard that the nomadic wood elves have been occasionally seen to venture through this stretch of forest. The man and Mera reached his home and they were greeted by the Man's wife, Lydia, who had anxiously been awaiting his return. "Arthur! I expected you home hours ago and got worried, what were you up...." Lydia's voice trailed off when she become aware of the little elvish face in Arthur's arms.
From that day forward, humans Arthur and Lydia named her and raised her as their own. Lydia is a bard and entertainer, and Arthur has a job at the local library. They lived a modest life but were not rich by any means. Their home was in a rural community near the outskirts of town and she grew to love nature, music(her mother taught her how to play lute), and reading. She was highly energetic and nimble.
At the age of 8, her father told her of his past. A monk past. Arthur was once part of a monastery and told Mera that he had been banished for reasons he did not tell her, but continued to drift between towns studying the art that had abandoned him until he met Mera's mother. From this point on Mera's father began teaching her everything he knew and throughout the years Mera became very booksmart, wise, and quite skilled in martial arts.
Once Mera grew older and more knowledgeable and skilled, she of course wanted see what more life had to offer as typical young adult would, and became curious as to what she would amount too. She was unsure of her of future but then one day, a traveling circus came through town. She was in awe of the performers, especially the acrobats, and thought it'd be a good chance to travel and see the world. She talked to one of the performers and eventually was offered to come with them. Though it was a difficult decision to leave her parents she felt very strongly towards taking this opportunity.
Mera became a trapeze artist and tightrope walker. One of her signature moves was tightrope walking with her hands. She delved a little bit into dancing too. She loved the adventures with her newfound friends. She met and saw many kinds of people, including her own kind. Along the way, she even managed to find monk clothing at a market that she purchased. Because of her father and mother, and new friends, she became quite the entertainer and martial artist. She made sure to write her mother and father. She still practiced her martial arts and soon her acrobatic and dancing skills became an extension of her fighting skills and of course, when she had the time she still loved to read up on history, nature, and monk practices.
Time went on and one day she received a dire letter from her father, Arthur. Her mother was
very sick, it was unknown what exactly was wrong yet but it affecting her lungs. Her breathing was becoming worse and
Her father pleaded for her to come home to see her mother and of course him. She departed the circus unsure of when she
would return. Upon arriving home and seeing the state of her mother, Mera dropped to her knees and wept in despair. Her mother was even worse. 2 days later, Lydia Zinrel passed away. While home, Mera noticed her fathers hair was almost completely ghostly white. No one wants their parents to age but its just the way of life. She also noticed her hometown was not as peaceful as it used to be. Mera decided to stay home longer and spend time with her elderly father. Months passed. One day, a raid occurred on the village by enemies of the kingdom. Her father was killed. Most of her village was razed to ground. The skies darkened with the threat of a looming war. Mera left behind her thoughts of returning to the circus with one thing on her mind. Avenging her father and village. She joined the military. A war was coming and one way or the other she would help end it to restore peace.
Awesome, I can tell you put a lot of work into that
I’d be more interested in what happened before you were a right hand man, and cut down two dozen enemies with one sword. What brought you to that point?
Here is my Aasimar, warlock (Hexblade)/ paladin (Oath of Devotion), Rhode Alander
Rhode Alander was an Aasimar born to a pair of human mercenaries who were the founders of their own mercenary group. They taught him that every person needs to learn three things early in life. How to handle coin, how to handle a blade, and that every person needs to follow some kind of code (legal, personal, or religious) to differentiate them from animals.
In his dreams, his guiding Deva taught him that anything capable of conscious thought must also follow some kind of code or they would fall to chaos.
After he came of age and officially joined his parent's mercenary group tragedy struck. The group accepted a mission to investigate a mysterious temple that would disappear and reappear in different locations at random. Inside they found that the temple was connected to a large demiplane. The plane was riddled with the scars of a great battle and the land was covered with stone statues of various races, fiends, aberrations, and monsters. In the center of the demiplane was a several stories tall single-bladed cracked sword that was embedded into the ground.
Before the group could properly investigate the demiplane and the giant blade. All members of the party excluding Rhode began to quickly petrify into stone. One by one, his parents and the other mercenary members that helped raise him were turned to stone statues. Before the grief of his lost overcame his senses, Rhode felt an irresistible calling from the giant blade in the center of the demiplane.
Upon approaching the Blade and gazing into its mirror-like surface, words began appearing on it.
"I am the 'Star Honor Blade' and I must apologize to you, child. I only had enough divine energy to save one of your party, and you hold the highest potential."
Rhode clenched his fist and asked, " What is this place? Why have my parents and everyone else become petrified here?
"This demiplane is what's left of my former wielder's Divine domain. The Star Honor Lord was his name, but time as long erased him from both mortal and Gods' memories. For that was the final wicked strike his enemy did before hurling Star Honor's corpse into the Astral Sea." The new text said after replacing the old.
"As for the petrification...well the only way to truly kill a God is to kill their followers and make it so no new ones could possibly appear. And so what is left of the divine domain was cursed; all who enter or worship the Star Honor Lord will join him in eternal sleep so he may never rise again."
Rhode looked sternly into the flat of the blade. "Let me guess, to save my family and friends I must help you get revenge on your wielder's killer right?"
New text quickly replaced the old. "No, I would never put such a task to a mortal! There is no honor in handing out such a death sentence! You and yours entered here in ignorance of the dangers. I will not put that against you, so I will strike you a fair deal."
The text began to brighten and shed an inner light. "Make a pact with me, the 'Star Honor Blade', and I will share my power with you. You must then venture out and preach my tenets to those who will listen. Help me rise to Godhood, for only a God and remove a God's curse."
"...Deal." Rhode flatly stated after a brief hesitation. "I agree to these terms."
Rhode sat down before the towering cracked blade. "If I am to be your herald outside this demiplane. Then I must know everything about you, your beliefs, your tenets, your aspirations. So speak, Star Honor Blade, speak and I will listen!"
Time past in the silent demiplane where a man sat before a colossal broken blade. As the man read, what he learned began to resonate with what he has learned and believed all his life.
And so the PACT was Joined with an OATH.
Weeks later, a man dressed in half-plate armor can be seen entering a city. Around his neck lies a holy symbol to an unknown God, a Downward pointing cracked blade. The same symbol rest beneath his armor, branded over his heart. On is back, a greatsword of similar design. On its flat lies as a simple engraving.
"FORGED BY A PACT. HONED BY AN OATH"
This is my most proud creation.
Feel free to comment, though. =)
Female Tiefling, lvl 2 Bard, lvl 1 Warlock (Eldrich Lord)
DESCRIPTION: she starts her adventure at very early age, around 14-16yo, as soon as she can go around by herself. Her tiefling heritage gave her skin a golden hue, pitch black eyes, a reptilian tail and short antlers.
Both her bardic and warlock powers are not fully conscious... she had no formal training in them. All her casts and abilities come naturally (at least, until her starting level 3). The warlock "pact" comes from dialogue with the voices in her head since early age.
GOAL: Seeks information and revenge on the low-plane devil-father.
MEANS TO ACHIEVE THE GOAL: Gazina wanders in pursuit of information... The music and charisma are natural means to interact and learn the whereabouts of the devil-father.
ELDRITCH LORD: she hears voices of The Great Old One, yet does not realise who/why yet. BACKGROUND: Gazina was born of a ****.
SPELL FOCCI: blow instruments (flute and pan flute) and Mystical horn (commune with the TGOO)
STORY: A low-plane devil needed a male offspring to use in a ritualistic sacrifice to receive the boon of The Great Old One (Eldrich Lord). In that, her virgin mother was seduced and impregnated by him through the use of magic & music. Upon giving birth to a girl, the devil attempted to murder both the mother and the newborn, but the mother successfully defended the baby, dying in the process. The injured devil ran away, but left behind a Mystical Horn (in Gazina's possession) that he used to commune with the TGOO.
GRANDPARENTS: Orphan, Gazina was raised by her human grandparents. They are wealthy weavers, dedicated mostly to "holy fabrics" and the family business revolves around serving the church of Deneir and its followers in Waterdeep. The "textile factory" is located to the north of Waterdeep, where they can easily gather the best materials. The grandparents are proud of her in the same measure that they try to keep her a "secret" - both for being a devil offspring and for the dangers she may face out in the open.
ALIBI: too young to go adventuring at will, she uses the power of persuation to convince her grandparents that she's "just gonna run errands to retrieve new pigments and raw materials for weaving". They consider it normal, since she does come back with rare pigments and materials as agreed upon.
Since this is already at the top of the forum, this isn't really a bump.
There are lots and lots of creative writers here. Absolutely love it!
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.
This my background
girl, high elf, lvl 2 wizard, lvl 1 bard, lvl 1 sorcerer, lvl 1 warlock, lvl 1 druid, lvl 1 ranger.
When my elf was young, she lived a comfortable life .she grew up in the influence of warlocks, wizards , rangers , druids, bards and sorcerers. She learned their skills.There, she became a apprentice to all of them.They taught her their skills for a long, long time. She shot with the rangers, spellcast with the people who could , sang with the bards and was loyal to nature, like the druids. Until she was 100 (she's an elf and they live for 750 years) this peace and happiness lasted. Then one day the undead attacked her forest. She ran but the others fought. When she came back out of the woods, all that remained was burnt trees and the ashes of what used to be her tribe. She grabbed all of her and her family's posessions and fled into the forest. there, she practices her magic. She decided instead of being a wizard like she thought, she would multi class and be a wizard , druid , warlock, sorcerer, ranger and bard all in one. today, she practices her magic in case another threat strikes. There she lives waiting, for something to call her out of the forest.She is still guilty about fleeing, but she did for a good reason. The undead attacked her forest because they wanted to see if she was actually there. When she was young, she found an undead wandering in the forest, looking to burn it it down. On the spot, she killed him. As it turns out, he was a member of high ranking and since, they have had a horrible grudge against her. When they learned she was in the forest, they came after her. She was forever guilty, and she had a close relationship to her tribe. She ran away because it wasn't safe to stay, and her greatest flaw shows when she has pressure on her. At this time, She had the pressure of her dead tribe pushing down on her. Her tribe had died because of her and if she had stayed, she would have gotten attacked again and her tribe's valiant effort to keep her safe would mean nothing.
"If you ever ask a wizard to list the books they've read recently, prepare to be there for a solid week. " - Original.
Grammar Cult
Bow down to Cats! (Cult of Cats)
It sounds like your character had a hard time fitting in, AlexandraMelianne. She is the proverbial Jack-of-all-Trades (or Jill if you prefer) and master of none. This seems like it may be a theme for your character. Moreover, there seems to be some things you can explore and develop further for your character's story. It could answer questions like:
A good character backstory answers the questions of what happened to your character, but also gives your character's take on why they happened at the very least. It also can talk about the relationships (or lack thereof) your character has (or had and lost.) While it's true that adventuring continues to write your character's story, your character didn't appear out of the void fully developed. The backstory is what gives lie to your character appearing from nothing. The backstory guide in chapter 4 of the PHB is meant to be a framework for answering these questions in as much (or as little) detail as you'd like. It is ultimately, just that, a guide, but you can feel free to use it as inspiration for fleshing out your character rather than using it as a checkbox in the character creation process.
This is another way to think of your character's backstory: If you (as your character) met an interesting stranger and wanted to tell your story, how much would you tell? What would you fill in with detail? What would you hint at, but refuse to fill in with detail?
Appearance:
Fairly average-looking man. Fair skin but slightly tanned. Average height. Black hair on his eyebrows and of what one can see peeking out of his sizeable tricore hat tied off in the back. Wears self-important mercenary captain garb: dingy red and blue overcoat, slightly baggy trousers, and wader boots with cuffs. Clean shaven. Hasn't been seen smiling. The only real distinctive feature is that he may be blind for having solid egg-shell colored eyes.
The truth is nothing outside of the PHB recommendations:
He's a Tiefling blessed(? depending on one's point of view) with fair skin but with black horns that grew mostly laid back across his head (small upward curl at the ends) and hidden well under his large hat, tail hidden inside his baggy trousers wrapped around his right leg, sharp teeth hidden behind a forever-stern expression. The solid color of his eyes is the only thing that he cannot hide, but he plays it off like his other senses are so acute as if he has blindsight. He doesn't actually have blindsight. Blindness effects still affect him all the same and could possibly expose the ruse. Darkvision helps maintain the deception but still doesn't offset total Blindness effects at all.
Most people play up their Tiefling heritage. I took advantage of the aspects that could be hidden and went the other direction.
His history is simple. Born to sailor parents. Neither know which of their histories include Infernal blood. This truth of his muddy bloodline was hidden as much as possible. Being favored by the captain, she assisted with the deception. He received minor schooling through the graces of his parents and their captain, and he took to menial labor as an invalid with some awareness of his surroundings. This long-term ruse has been perfected over time.
When it came time to turn over the crew for a new, younger set, he chose to leave with his parents in their retirement but, instead, signed on as a lowliest of the low deckhand for mere pittance. His history with ships and his apparent blindness garnered some awe and appreciation among the crew and he began rising through the ranks as the superstitious minds leaned towards blessed than cursed. He learned some ability to fight - not much - after most of the crew became convinced he had some special senses only rumored from mystical monks from secluded monasteries. He became quartermaster eventually with the reputation of nobody able to pull any tricks on him despite is apparent blindness. Once the captain retired, the crew became divided on whether they wanted the first mate or the blessed mystical quartermaster to lead them. Playing up the mystical and wisened aspects of the persona, he chose to leave the crew to assert the necessary cohesion the ship deserved and has been since on land for a few months, spending his kept fortunes, but a sailor's fortune only goes so far.
...and now... his story actually begins. (Level 1)
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.
This is my character’s backstory! They are a home brewed species that can mimic the forms of other humanoids. (makes for fun times in the campaign) they are a warpblood (that’s the species) Druid/bard named Ashton Shiftskin. Prefers to take the form of females.
Once, there was a small underground clan of warpbloods -lesser known sentients that live in large cities- that lived in the sewers of waterdeep. They were called the “Shiftskin clan” and lived fairly peacefully. But one day, a clan of whererats found out about them and decided to... reduce competition for the most influential group in the sewers. They massacred the clan, leaving very few survivors. Ashton Shiftskin, a young member of the clan, barely managed to escape by mimicking a member of the wererats and running away. They have thus attempted to find the survivors of the clan, to no avail. They searched for things to lessen their grief, learning to live life to the fullest every day, knowing they might not live to see tomorrow. They grew nearly addicted to finding new forms to take up, taking pleasure from finding new shapes and colors. They also became very attached to nature, thinking that it is a miracle that such beauty has survived the cruelty of sentients. They dedicated themselves to finding ways to keep nature pure, but also thoroughly enjoys performing for others. She became a traveling singer/dancer for a short amount of time, before at one point, finding another one their kind. They became close, even lovers at one point, but the other was inclined to evil for reasons Ashton could never understand. They broke apart, and Ashton found themselves at a crossroads . “How could one of their own species be so.... evil?” Ashton wondered. She decided to start doing good, adventuring and stopping evil wherever she went. At one point, she noticed a group of adventures gathering around a bounty post, and asked to join them on their travels...... and that’s where the campaign started.
she/it pronouns
I watch. I wait. I listen. I like roleplaying games. Avid fan of messed up homebrew and horror rpgs. Lancer>dnd5e, go read Kill Six Billion Demons. I will shoot you with my transgenderification beam pew pew
You've probably heard this already, but I think you Homebrewed a Changeling there, mate.
I'm not begging for attention, but if you like World Anvil, go give me a look.
Yeah I didn’t know changelings existed at the time...... I now realize how similar they are. But hey! Creativity?
she/it pronouns
I watch. I wait. I listen. I like roleplaying games. Avid fan of messed up homebrew and horror rpgs. Lancer>dnd5e, go read Kill Six Billion Demons. I will shoot you with my transgenderification beam pew pew
Yeah, no worries! I cannot tell you how many times I've had a cool idea, only to later find out that it was already a thing.
I'm not begging for attention, but if you like World Anvil, go give me a look.
Hello all, Here is my character's brief background. He is playing in a heavily modified world setting of Hârn. His name is Duryohana-Kali, but regularly goes by Duryo for brevity. My DM keeps a great World Anvil page of his campaigns here. Here is Duryo's backstory:
Duryodhana-Kali (Duryo for short) was born and raised in the city of Meokolis in the Azeryan empire. Born into an upper class household, and given a strict strict upbringing by his father, who as a devout follower of Agrik, He regularly ensured his son understood the the world was no place for the weak or incompetent. Those lessons were not wasted on Duryo, who found that the teachings learned in the temple of Azeri resonated deeply with his own world viewpoints. As he grew into a young adult, his faith and his powerful presence demonstrated massive potential as a Sorcerer. The temple began his training into his chosen art, and during his education, he took his vows in the temple and dedicated himself to the ideal he must live up to the ultimate challenge of power, to defeat death itself!
Bald and clean shaven 5'11' Handsome Piercing Green Eyes Slightly pale complexion Normal in town clothing is well tailored black robes with fine red stitching all along the edges with a stiffened collar that protrudes in the back behind my head. When on the road I prefer black trousers with a matching black tunic, both with red trim. I will wear my armored chest piece over the tunic when I expect danger.
Thanks for reading!
Zulatek (aka Tony)