When I create a new PC, I prefer to have the relevant player"s guide handy so that I can plan how my character got from his birth area to the campaign setting, along with any interesting stops along the way. Serving as a caravan guard, or caravan assistant, has usually been my best method to pop into the campaign setting,, without the DM having to include my character's back story in his/her plot.
What happens to my character after he is IN the campaign, of course, is another thing.
Adventurers are a rarity in the vast populations of worlds so, like others have said, it’s far more about why you became an adventurer than how you actually traveled to the new place. My one provision is that for low level characters there can’t be a more combat/adventure activity than their level at the campaign start would allow for. So the pirate in an earlier post might be starting at L5 but Merlin from the same post is clearly L1. Generally I don’t do more in the backstory than explain their skills, classes, adventuring motivation and feats unless their levels call for explanation.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
When I create a new PC, I prefer to have the relevant player"s guide handy so that I can plan how my character got from his birth area to the campaign setting, along with any interesting stops along the way. Serving as a caravan guard, or caravan assistant, has usually been my best method to pop into the campaign setting,, without the DM having to include my character's back story in his/her plot.
What happens to my character after he is IN the campaign, of course, is another thing.
Adventurers are a rarity in the vast populations of worlds so, like others have said, it’s far more about why you became an adventurer than how you actually traveled to the new place. My one provision is that for low level characters there can’t be a more combat/adventure activity than their level at the campaign start would allow for. So the pirate in an earlier post might be starting at L5 but Merlin from the same post is clearly L1. Generally I don’t do more in the backstory than explain their skills, classes, adventuring motivation and feats unless their levels call for explanation.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.