I’m in the process of creating a character for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and have gotten pretty far into developing his backstory, based on what little info I have on the campaign. However, I’m worried I may have overdone it a bit in some areas.
My question is this: how much is too much when it comes to tailoring characters for specific campaigns?
For instance, I know Bregan D’aerthe has the potential to play a significant role in the story. Part of my character’s background is that he made a deal with Jarlaxle a long time ago, which resulted in him ending up fairly well-off. His greatest fear is that the rogue drow will one day return to collect on his debt at an inopportune time or (worse) use it as leverage against him, making him a pawn in the former’s interests l.
His personal goal as an adventurer then is this: find a way to get out of his debt with Bregan D’aerthe.
Have fun with your back story. Your DM may and may not use the hooks that you have in it, that’s up to him. Just don’t use player knowledge as character knowledge.
Making up backstory can be fun and I don't think there is "too much" ( though extremes exist). The trick is not to annoy the dm en other players with it at every turn of the game. Tamk beforehand with your DM to see how much influence it can have and then you know how and what to write.
Eh, I always do a couple pages fully aware my DM will never, ever read it. I then ask, "That backstory OK?", which he is too polite to say, "TL;DR" and just waves his hand and says "Yes, yes, fine".
I then bury really stupid stuff midway through page two.
My last Warlock had Gozar the Gozarian as a patron and the DM did not know for a year and a half despite my characters loudly expressed dislike for marshmallows.
There's never such a thing as too much backstory, that's just an outlet for your imagination. Feel free to write up 10 pages of backstory on a character you're only using for a one-shot, if it's how you enjoy exercising your creativity. The real question is your expectations vs the DM's when it comes to incorporating elements of your backstory into the campaign. Talk to your DM about it to get an idea about how much they're looking for, how much of a priority they place on incorporating material from the characters' histories into the story. Some DMs live for that stuff, some are more comfortable sticking closer to what's just in the book.
I have quite an extensive backstory for a character that I am using in the Waterdeep: Dragonheist campaign and ha d a query just like this initially. Printed it came out to be a few sentences over eight pages and I came to a conclusion that matched my desire to continue writing as well as having information available for the DM to use.
Depending on the relationship with the DM, the key to deciding what is and isn't too much might vary from person to person, I found it helpful to introduce small portions, fun little tidbits, quirks, flaws etc. etc. while roleplaying the character during non-quest sections rather than fully revealing the character's backstory in whole form. For instance, the toon I am playing in the campaign cannot comprehend the color red, I introduced this when went into a shop and I bought a "Purple" bow for his petrified mouse. My character said to the vendor, "I would like that Blue Bow." etc. etc.
The DM paused like, "What?" and I told him that my character doesn't understand what red is. I didn't reveal why, or how that came to be, just that he didn't get why red was red and not blue. Because Blue is how he interprets the color red instead. My DM went with it without missing a beat and it has been a fun little quirk ever since then. Though no matter, your backstory is YOUR backstory. As long as you are comfortable with it and it is something you are happy with having and not feeling forced to assert characteristics just because, then it is ultimately up to you on "How much is TOO much."
As others have said. "Its up to your DM." As a DM myself I rarely ever play on a characters backstory but that is just how I handle it. I know that others will disagree with that. I do however keep into account any details that could potentially give a character an advantage in a given setting. That I think is only fair. I have from time to time run into that player who wants their background meld into the story flawlessly and often times they will have some crazy requests. What I see all to often is a new player/character with a background of someone who has lived a long life. I would keep it simple and personally I think that you are over thinking the whole thing and simply adding to much. I know some will disagree, but thats fine. If a player wants to include their back story I simply let them act on it as the game progresses and I will make adjustments as the game moves forward. This works out and well especially if the player is very engaged in the game. I will not entertain a player that wants the game to 'be about their character'. Its about the group not a single player. For example I had one player who had an elaborate background and wanted to include everything and everyone into the game. They were low level at that as well. So keep in mind your characters level/age up to the point where they had become who they now going into the game. Just remember that the DM is a player as well. They just have a ton more work to do then the players with all the prep and whatnot. Trying to impose a character's background can be a real headache, not to mention leaving other players left out in a way or having them feeling that they are just sidekicks to a one player story. I think that a sort of shared background story can work and even so I personally think it would work best with a small group. Again, its really up to your DM.
In my opinion, make sure there is room for character growth. DOn't make your character as taht oen duded who has fought 13 wars, had 5 families all slain by the enemy, and blaah blah blah. Other than that, your wish and your GM's wish
As a DM I love when a player gets so excited about their character and the game that they want to create a huge and detailed backstory! My suggestion is have fun, write as much as you want, and show it all to the DM. Then as you play be willing to change things if it makes sense and hasn't come up in the game yet! If I've started to touch on the backstory of one of my players I'll usually message them between games and ask, "Are you happy with what you have? Is there anything you want to change before we go forward?" Because sometimes as you play you discover new things about your character that you didn't know at the beginning, and being flexible in changing stuff can help both you and the DM!
Appearance: This is the part that everyone's privy to see as the first impression when encountering the character for the first time. No explanations are given for these traits and this section covers only what can be easily seen. It's the shortest section.
Other details: I place this before backstory because this is a quick overview of behavioral traits and physical identifiers that require more scrutiny and some interaction to discern. It's a cheat-sheet version of the backstory. It also doesn't include explanations for what's covered here.
Backstory: This part is the explanation of the quirks and physical identifiers in story form. Private thoughts also go here in story form. This is the longest section. Much of this section is never revealed directly to other players without the appropriate cues or compulsions.
I purposely leave gaps in the backstory. I see it as a singular point of view which has limitations on understanding and has biases, and some things will be forgotten. EDIT: This also provides more room for hooks if the DM is partial to playing off of the character's history.
I'm weird in that I use the 2nd person for those three sections. I see it more like instructions on how to be the character rather than reading someone else's journal. I picked up this habit from the PHB where a lot of the examples of personality traits addresses the reader playing the character and is not describing the character as a 3rd party. It also reflects my favorite flavor of D&D, D&D Improv. Players speak as the characters in that style of play, using the 1st person mostly instead of referring to their character in the 3rd person (except when a character refers to itself in the 3rd person when IC).
I'm also weird that I prefer (seemingly) rather mundane origins, but it always includes its own hook to go adventuring, sometimes by choice and sometimes by circumstance.
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.
I purposely leave gaps in the backstory. I see it as a singular point of view which has limitations on understanding and has biases, and some things will be forgotten. EDIT: This also provides more room for hooks if the DM is partial to playing off of the character's history.
Exactly! If all you play is pre-made modules, backstory isn't so important - you want a *personality* but it doesn't matter who your family is/was.
If you're playing a homebrew campaign, then backstory should have BIG gaps for the DM to integrate you into the world. In which case I'd do something like this:
Tiefling. Rogue. Criminal background - works as a fence. His cover? He runs a bakery. Everyone else assumes he hides fenced items inside "special orders" that get picked up from the shop. Reality? Tiny teleportation circle inside the "broken" oven. Where does the teleport circle go? Tiefling has a contract with a VERY MINOR devil who disposes of the items and returns gems or equivalent value. Personality - basically Quark from Deep Space Nine. "Asmodeus? More like ASS-modeus, am I right? Have you ever met the guy?"
While I agree with all the "let out your imagination!" statements, I must still say that being realistic should at least be considered for a moment. Some people might enjoy your extensive backstory, others might be bored out of their mind. When you create a complex backstory, make sure to be able to shorten it down to just a few concise statements. Bullet points, so to speak. Also, consider writing a lot but not telling everyone everything. Give them a taste and then let them explore your character naturally. Then, when they are completely surprised by a twist, tell them "it was in my backstory all along, fools!"
I like to do a detailed vignette which covers maybe one or two events that led to my character starting their adventuring quest. As the adventure goes, this can be revealed to other characters.
I like to leave room for additional character growth, and also enough gaps for the DM to insert extra hooks in the adventure to make it relevant to the character. And not all the players get the same hooks -which is what makes it interesting.
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Odo Proudfoot - Lvl 10 Halfling Monk - Princes of the Apocalypse (Campaign Finished)
Just as there is an art to creative writing, there is an art to writing concisely. You should be able to fit your character's backstory into a number of paragraphs that does not exceed that character's proficiency bonus.
Grab an idea, pick a direction to run with it in, and see where you end up. Read about Arem, then see how I came up with him and see if that helps you any.
It seems a lot of people either mix up or interchangeably use backstory and lifestory. A “good backstory” must answer these questions (or at least set the groundwork for them to be answered)
Who are you?
Why do you act the way you do?
Why did you become an adventurer?
That’s it! You can include a funny quirk they have and mention who raised them after their parents died if you really want, but those are just cherries on top.
Having said that, it’s not wrong to write a super long backstory, but try to keep in mind that, unfortunately, almost no one besides you will ever read it and even fewer will actually care about what they read (as much as you do). It is a sad yet true fact that a long backstory is a pain to read when the reader is not invested in the character. Also, having the only or best description of your character be super long it makes it hard give a brief description of your character when someone casually says, “Tell me about them.”
I am a firm believer that, regardless of the length of the 'real' backstory, a shortened version should be available which summarizes everything. It can be a few sentences or some bullet points. Bullets are easier, simpler, result in longer lists, and can absolutely ignore a max limit. Sentences flow more naturally, but are more work to create and sometimes require the reader to read between the lines or use insight to glean all the details.
I do my best to keep my own summaries to 3-5 sentences. I don't always succeed and I’m getting really good at ‘cheating’ by using cleverly using colons or having long sentences, but I actually found my self-imposed maximum to be helpful to my character creation process because it makes me to determine what was truly important about the character. Since it forces me cram a lot of details inside a small space, I'm able to easily and quickly give others a rundown of my character.
Meet Arem, a mountain dwarf monk (Way of the Ascendant Dragon).
A violent storm left ten-year-old Arem clinging to wreckage as the ship full of his ransoming kidnappers sunk beneath the waves and, had a dire shark not attacked the large dolphin that seemed to be ferrying him safely back to shore, no one would have ever known that his rescuer was actually a shapeshifted bronze dragon!
Unsurprisingly, the events of that day had a profound and lasting effect on the young boy: the terror of being kidnapped and at sea for the first time in a storm, the awe of being in a dragon’s presence and feeling the very air around him vibrate with the power radiating off it, the glory of flight, watching everyone near the docks flee in terror at the nearing dragon before cautiously returning as they watched a child slide off its back, the single scale that same, very amused dragon gifted the tiny dwarf boy brave enough to ask for it, who continues to dream about his dragon savior to this day.
From then on, Arem aspired to be like a bronze dragon in all aspect of his life, from his appearance to putting an end to all injustice and cruelty he encountered, and now that his ailing father has finally passed and his youngest sister has married, he can begin his quest to right the wrongs that exist outside his town.
Three sentences long and I’m done. I can also add more details, like how his family doesn’t support his dream. They understand why he’s a fan of dragons but don’t want him to be an adventurer since that’s really freaking dangerous line of work and they don’t want him to die. I could add more about how his family has political connections because of his mother’s job but is not a big deal on its own. Arem’s family was neither rich nor important, but his mother worked closely with someone who was both, and that was enough of a reason for the kidnappers to snatch the ten-year old dwarf onto their ship before sending their ransom note to his family and setting sail. He’s not a fan of large bodies of water (to put it mildly) since he first trip on the ocean involved kidnapping, a horrible storm, a shipwreck, and a shark attack. And on and on and on until I’m happy with how many details it has, but those three sentences are all anyone really needs to get an idea of who he is.
I don’t know what city or country he lives in, what his pre-adventuring profession was, or what his family’s minor political connection is. All that can wait until Arem begins a campaign when it will be chosen after collaboration with the DM about the settings for that particular game to help him fit that world and be able to interact better with its NPCs.
My guy, Arem, started out because I wanted a character who was obsessed with dragons, and I wanted him to be amongst the minority of adventurers who had a happy life. That’s it. Dragon fanboy and no tragedy. He only got kidnapped in the first place because I couldn't think of another way for him to non-tragically be the sole survivor of a shipwreck without giving his family members a free dragon ride. (Like why else would a ten-year old be on a ship without family and during a huge storm?)
Why would he be obsessed with dragons? Well, dragons are amazing but what's a more personal reason? One saved his life!
What scenario did a dragon save him from? Raider attack? War? Mineshaft cave-in? Forest fire? Shipwreck? Caught in a riptide? Only metallic and gem dragons are nice so which ones like water? Are there any nice burrowing dragons? Do some research at https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon BOOM! Bronze dragons regularly, secretly, save shipwreck survivors, and they're a wonderful role model in other ways, too. Perfect! They do prefer to secretly save people, so I have to work in the discovery that a dragon saved him, but bronze dragons are an otherwise perfect fit.
Why a mountain dwarf? Well, I read on https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/races/dwarf/ that dwarves are a good race for almost every class and OMG none of my characters are dwarves so this next one will be.
His name actually started out as Jasper, which is a gemstone, but when I googled pictures, they don't match the green-gold theme I decided he had, so I went to Wikitionary for inspiration. Bronze dragons mean so much to him, why not secretly give him a bronze name. BOOM! In the Breton language, Arem means bronze. It doesn't even matter that I have no idea what country speaks Breton because I like the sound of the name.
He’s lawful good. Arem is obsessed with imitating metallic dragons, and I wanted him to be amongst the minority of adventurers who didn't have a tragic backstory. His family loves him and understand his obsession with bronze dragons, but isn't exactly supportive since they don't want their beloved family member to engage in the dangerous profession of adventuring. Being a good son, he doesn't abandon his family while his father is sick and he sticks around until he's certain his youngest sibling has a secure future (marriage). Besides, he imitates bronze dragons, who have a lawful good alignment, so he kind of has to be a dutiful son and big brother. I also like the idea of creating a middle-aged adventurer, and needed to explain why he was starting out so late in life without adding any tragedy.
Now YOU try. Grab an idea, pick a direction to run in with it, and see where you end up!
I’m in the process of creating a character for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and have gotten pretty far into developing his backstory, based on what little info I have on the campaign. However, I’m worried I may have overdone it a bit in some areas.
My question is this: how much is too much when it comes to tailoring characters for specific campaigns?
For instance, I know Bregan D’aerthe has the potential to play a significant role in the story. Part of my character’s background is that he made a deal with Jarlaxle a long time ago, which resulted in him ending up fairly well-off. His greatest fear is that the rogue drow will one day return to collect on his debt at an inopportune time or (worse) use it as leverage against him, making him a pawn in the former’s interests l.
His personal goal as an adventurer then is this: find a way to get out of his debt with Bregan D’aerthe.
Have fun with your back story. Your DM may and may not use the hooks that you have in it, that’s up to him. Just don’t use player knowledge as character knowledge.
Professional computer geek
The correct answer is "ask your DM." They are the only ones that make the story arc come to life.
If it were me, I would certainly let you do it. And of course nothing would be simple. Ever.
GLHF
Yeah, backstories are mostly just between you and the DM.
Making up backstory can be fun and I don't think there is "too much" ( though extremes exist). The trick is not to annoy the dm en other players with it at every turn of the game. Tamk beforehand with your DM to see how much influence it can have and then you know how and what to write.
Eh, I always do a couple pages fully aware my DM will never, ever read it. I then ask, "That backstory OK?", which he is too polite to say, "TL;DR" and just waves his hand and says "Yes, yes, fine".
I then bury really stupid stuff midway through page two.
My last Warlock had Gozar the Gozarian as a patron and the DM did not know for a year and a half despite my characters loudly expressed dislike for marshmallows.
Abide.
There's never such a thing as too much backstory, that's just an outlet for your imagination. Feel free to write up 10 pages of backstory on a character you're only using for a one-shot, if it's how you enjoy exercising your creativity. The real question is your expectations vs the DM's when it comes to incorporating elements of your backstory into the campaign. Talk to your DM about it to get an idea about how much they're looking for, how much of a priority they place on incorporating material from the characters' histories into the story. Some DMs live for that stuff, some are more comfortable sticking closer to what's just in the book.
This right here: asking your DM is always a good idea.
As for how much is too much: more than your DM wants or asked for is probably too much.
DICE FALL, EVERYONE ROCKS!
Think of backstory as plot hooks for your DM. Don't flesh it out too much or there's nothing left to develop in play...
I have quite an extensive backstory for a character that I am using in the Waterdeep: Dragonheist campaign and ha d a query just like this initially. Printed it came out to be a few sentences over eight pages and I came to a conclusion that matched my desire to continue writing as well as having information available for the DM to use.
Depending on the relationship with the DM, the key to deciding what is and isn't too much might vary from person to person, I found it helpful to introduce small portions, fun little tidbits, quirks, flaws etc. etc. while roleplaying the character during non-quest sections rather than fully revealing the character's backstory in whole form. For instance, the toon I am playing in the campaign cannot comprehend the color red, I introduced this when went into a shop and I bought a "Purple" bow for his petrified mouse. My character said to the vendor, "I would like that Blue Bow." etc. etc.
The DM paused like, "What?" and I told him that my character doesn't understand what red is. I didn't reveal why, or how that came to be, just that he didn't get why red was red and not blue. Because Blue is how he interprets the color red instead. My DM went with it without missing a beat and it has been a fun little quirk ever since then. Though no matter, your backstory is YOUR backstory. As long as you are comfortable with it and it is something you are happy with having and not feeling forced to assert characteristics just because, then it is ultimately up to you on "How much is TOO much."
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As others have said. "Its up to your DM." As a DM myself I rarely ever play on a characters backstory but that is just how I handle it. I know that others will disagree with that. I do however keep into account any details that could potentially give a character an advantage in a given setting. That I think is only fair. I have from time to time run into that player who wants their background meld into the story flawlessly and often times they will have some crazy requests. What I see all to often is a new player/character with a background of someone who has lived a long life. I would keep it simple and personally I think that you are over thinking the whole thing and simply adding to much. I know some will disagree, but thats fine. If a player wants to include their back story I simply let them act on it as the game progresses and I will make adjustments as the game moves forward. This works out and well especially if the player is very engaged in the game. I will not entertain a player that wants the game to 'be about their character'. Its about the group not a single player. For example I had one player who had an elaborate background and wanted to include everything and everyone into the game. They were low level at that as well. So keep in mind your characters level/age up to the point where they had become who they now going into the game. Just remember that the DM is a player as well. They just have a ton more work to do then the players with all the prep and whatnot. Trying to impose a character's background can be a real headache, not to mention leaving other players left out in a way or having them feeling that they are just sidekicks to a one player story. I think that a sort of shared background story can work and even so I personally think it would work best with a small group. Again, its really up to your DM.
In my opinion, make sure there is room for character growth. DOn't make your character as taht oen duded who has fought 13 wars, had 5 families all slain by the enemy, and blaah blah blah. Other than that, your wish and your GM's wish
As a DM I love when a player gets so excited about their character and the game that they want to create a huge and detailed backstory! My suggestion is have fun, write as much as you want, and show it all to the DM. Then as you play be willing to change things if it makes sense and hasn't come up in the game yet! If I've started to touch on the backstory of one of my players I'll usually message them between games and ask, "Are you happy with what you have? Is there anything you want to change before we go forward?" Because sometimes as you play you discover new things about your character that you didn't know at the beginning, and being flexible in changing stuff can help both you and the DM!
Find me on Twitter: @OboeLauren
I divide my character into 3 sections.
I purposely leave gaps in the backstory. I see it as a singular point of view which has limitations on understanding and has biases, and some things will be forgotten. EDIT: This also provides more room for hooks if the DM is partial to playing off of the character's history.
I'm weird in that I use the 2nd person for those three sections. I see it more like instructions on how to be the character rather than reading someone else's journal. I picked up this habit from the PHB where a lot of the examples of personality traits addresses the reader playing the character and is not describing the character as a 3rd party. It also reflects my favorite flavor of D&D, D&D Improv. Players speak as the characters in that style of play, using the 1st person mostly instead of referring to their character in the 3rd person (except when a character refers to itself in the 3rd person when IC).
I'm also weird that I prefer (seemingly) rather mundane origins, but it always includes its own hook to go adventuring, sometimes by choice and sometimes by circumstance.
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.
Exactly! If all you play is pre-made modules, backstory isn't so important - you want a *personality* but it doesn't matter who your family is/was.
If you're playing a homebrew campaign, then backstory should have BIG gaps for the DM to integrate you into the world. In which case I'd do something like this:
Tiefling. Rogue. Criminal background - works as a fence. His cover? He runs a bakery. Everyone else assumes he hides fenced items inside "special orders" that get picked up from the shop. Reality? Tiny teleportation circle inside the "broken" oven. Where does the teleport circle go? Tiefling has a contract with a VERY MINOR devil who disposes of the items and returns gems or equivalent value. Personality - basically Quark from Deep Space Nine. "Asmodeus? More like ASS-modeus, am I right? Have you ever met the guy?"
That's it. The rest is the DM's playground.
While I agree with all the "let out your imagination!" statements, I must still say that being realistic should at least be considered for a moment. Some people might enjoy your extensive backstory, others might be bored out of their mind. When you create a complex backstory, make sure to be able to shorten it down to just a few concise statements. Bullet points, so to speak. Also, consider writing a lot but not telling everyone everything. Give them a taste and then let them explore your character naturally. Then, when they are completely surprised by a twist, tell them "it was in my backstory all along, fools!"
Let chaos rain... uh, reign!
I like to do a detailed vignette which covers maybe one or two events that led to my character starting their adventuring quest. As the adventure goes, this can be revealed to other characters.
I like to leave room for additional character growth, and also enough gaps for the DM to insert extra hooks in the adventure to make it relevant to the character. And not all the players get the same hooks -which is what makes it interesting.
Odo Proudfoot - Lvl 10 Halfling Monk - Princes of the Apocalypse (Campaign Finished)
Orryn Pebblefoot - Lvl 5 Rock Gnome Wizard (Deceased) - Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (Deceased)
Anerin Ap Tewdr - Lvl 5 Human (Variant) Bard (College of Valor) - Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Just as there is an art to creative writing, there is an art to writing concisely. You should be able to fit your character's backstory into a number of paragraphs that does not exceed that character's proficiency bonus.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Grab an idea, pick a direction to run with it in, and see where you end up. Read about Arem, then see how I came up with him and see if that helps you any.
It seems a lot of people either mix up or interchangeably use backstory and lifestory. A “good backstory” must answer these questions (or at least set the groundwork for them to be answered)
That’s it! You can include a funny quirk they have and mention who raised them after their parents died if you really want, but those are just cherries on top.
Having said that, it’s not wrong to write a super long backstory, but try to keep in mind that, unfortunately, almost no one besides you will ever read it and even fewer will actually care about what they read (as much as you do). It is a sad yet true fact that a long backstory is a pain to read when the reader is not invested in the character. Also, having the only or best description of your character be super long it makes it hard give a brief description of your character when someone casually says, “Tell me about them.”
I am a firm believer that, regardless of the length of the 'real' backstory, a shortened version should be available which summarizes everything. It can be a few sentences or some bullet points. Bullets are easier, simpler, result in longer lists, and can absolutely ignore a max limit. Sentences flow more naturally, but are more work to create and sometimes require the reader to read between the lines or use insight to glean all the details.
I do my best to keep my own summaries to 3-5 sentences. I don't always succeed and I’m getting really good at ‘cheating’ by using cleverly using colons or having long sentences, but I actually found my self-imposed maximum to be helpful to my character creation process because it makes me to determine what was truly important about the character. Since it forces me cram a lot of details inside a small space, I'm able to easily and quickly give others a rundown of my character.
Meet Arem, a mountain dwarf monk (Way of the Ascendant Dragon).
https://www.heroforge.com/load_config%3D506525522/
A violent storm left ten-year-old Arem clinging to wreckage as the ship full of his ransoming kidnappers sunk beneath the waves and, had a dire shark not attacked the large dolphin that seemed to be ferrying him safely back to shore, no one would have ever known that his rescuer was actually a shapeshifted bronze dragon!
Unsurprisingly, the events of that day had a profound and lasting effect on the young boy
: the terror of being kidnapped and at sea for the first time in a storm, the awe of being in a dragon’s presence and feeling the very air around him vibrate with the power radiating off it, the glory of flight, watching everyone near the docks flee in terror at the nearing dragon before cautiously returning as they watched a child slide off its back, the single scale that same, very amused dragon gifted the tiny dwarf boy brave enough to ask for it, who continues to dream about his dragon savior to this day.From then on, Arem aspired to be like a bronze dragon in all aspect of his life, from his appearance to putting an end to all injustice and cruelty he encountered, and now that his ailing father has finally passed and his youngest sister has married, he can begin his quest to right the wrongs that exist outside his town.
Three sentences long and I’m done. I can also add more details, like how his family doesn’t support his dream. They understand why he’s a fan of dragons but don’t want him to be an adventurer since that’s really freaking dangerous line of work and they don’t want him to die. I could add more about how his family has political connections because of his mother’s job but is not a big deal on its own. Arem’s family was neither rich nor important, but his mother worked closely with someone who was both, and that was enough of a reason for the kidnappers to snatch the ten-year old dwarf onto their ship before sending their ransom note to his family and setting sail. He’s not a fan of large bodies of water (to put it mildly) since he first trip on the ocean involved kidnapping, a horrible storm, a shipwreck, and a shark attack. And on and on and on until I’m happy with how many details it has, but those three sentences are all anyone really needs to get an idea of who he is.
I don’t know what city or country he lives in, what his pre-adventuring profession was, or what his family’s minor political connection is. All that can wait until Arem begins a campaign when it will be chosen after collaboration with the DM about the settings for that particular game to help him fit that world and be able to interact better with its NPCs.
My guy, Arem, started out because I wanted a character who was obsessed with dragons, and I wanted him to be amongst the minority of adventurers who had a happy life. That’s it. Dragon fanboy and no tragedy. He only got kidnapped in the first place because I couldn't think of another way for him to non-tragically be the sole survivor of a shipwreck without giving his family members a free dragon ride. (Like why else would a ten-year old be on a ship without family and during a huge storm?)
Why would he be obsessed with dragons? Well, dragons are amazing but what's a more personal reason? One saved his life!
What scenario did a dragon save him from? Raider attack? War? Mineshaft cave-in? Forest fire? Shipwreck? Caught in a riptide? Only metallic and gem dragons are nice so which ones like water? Are there any nice burrowing dragons? Do some research at https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon BOOM! Bronze dragons regularly, secretly, save shipwreck survivors, and they're a wonderful role model in other ways, too. Perfect! They do prefer to secretly save people, so I have to work in the discovery that a dragon saved him, but bronze dragons are an otherwise perfect fit.
Why a mountain dwarf? Well, I read on https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/races/dwarf/ that dwarves are a good race for almost every class and OMG none of my characters are dwarves so this next one will be.
Where did the name Arem come from? https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bronze#Translations
His name actually started out as Jasper, which is a gemstone, but when I googled pictures, they don't match the green-gold theme I decided he had, so I went to Wikitionary for inspiration. Bronze dragons mean so much to him, why not secretly give him a bronze name. BOOM! In the Breton language, Arem means bronze. It doesn't even matter that I have no idea what country speaks Breton because I like the sound of the name.
Which classes have a dragon aspect? https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/
After reading them, which class appeals to me (or to Arem) the most? Or which class have I not done before?
What’s his alignment? http://easydamus.com/alignmenttest.html
He’s lawful good. Arem is obsessed with imitating metallic dragons, and I wanted him to be amongst the minority of adventurers who didn't have a tragic backstory. His family loves him and understand his obsession with bronze dragons, but isn't exactly supportive since they don't want their beloved family member to engage in the dangerous profession of adventuring. Being a good son, he doesn't abandon his family while his father is sick and he sticks around until he's certain his youngest sibling has a secure future (marriage). Besides, he imitates bronze dragons, who have a lawful good alignment, so he kind of has to be a dutiful son and big brother. I also like the idea of creating a middle-aged adventurer, and needed to explain why he was starting out so late in life without adding any tragedy.
Now YOU try. Grab an idea, pick a direction to run in with it, and see where you end up!
GOOD LUCK!
BACKGROUNDS
https://www.dndbeyond.com/backgrounds
https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/bw2kl7/character_concepts_for_every_classbackground/
CLASS
https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/classes/
https://www.dndbeyond.com/classes
RACE
https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/races/
https://www.dndbeyond.com/races
WRITING
https://www.thegamer.com/best-beginner-dd-builds/
https://www.writingbeginner.com/how-to-write-a-dd-backstory/
OTHER RESEARCH
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon
http://dnd5e.*******.com/spells:transmutation
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bronze#Translations
http://easydamus.com/alignmenttest.html
For me, a good backstory gives enough story for the character while giving the DM opportunities into incorporating that into the campaign.
But also said backstory impact depends if you are playing a module or homebrew campaign.