Hi! I finally somewhat finished creating my first DDB character, and my first bard, as such any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I tried not to make him too generic, but I did kind of play into a couple of stereotypes. (What can I say? He’s a romantic)
NOTE: there’s a lot of info here so don’t read it all if you don’t want to, I may or may not have created like 3 mini characters just for his backstory…
Very, very gay. Demisexual.
ALIGNMENT: I didn’t know what to go with, so I just went with true neutral.
BACKSTORY: A baron raised by his definitely-not-evil mother (human), and his historian father (high elf). He spent most of his childhood studying. (Side note, the office he studied in had a giant painting of his great-grandfather right above the desk. The city considers great gramps to be one of the most powerful bards ever… so no pressure, right?) During his teenage years he had several relationships, the majority being not too memorable and only lasting a few months. Except that one. But we don’t talk about that one. (Okay I’m going to talk about him but just cuz I like drama.) Rorturas Mosuzori and Terrence Oakflight met when they were both 19. Rorturas was a Baron, but his family had been poor farmers not even half a century ago. The two stayed together for two years, until The Arguement. Basically, Rorturas discovered that Terrence’s mom was actually doing some really shady, evil stuff, and tried to show Terrence. Terrence refused to believe that his mother could be evil. (Sure she was strict, but evil? That was way out of line). After they broke up, Terrence tried to go one with his normal life, but found that he couldn’t after The Arguement. So he left home and became an adventurer.
VALUABLE POSSESSIONS:
Signet Ring- Gold with slightly lighter swirling patterns, similar to wind; small emeralds inlaid at the end of each spiral. Main circle is black opal surrounded by gold trim with a stylized gold etching of a pair of wings in the center
Locket- Circular. Mostly silver. Front made of blue-white piece of moonstone with thin intersecting silver circle designs crossing over face, forming a dragonfly in the center. Given to him by Rorturas.
PERSONALITY:
Personality Traits
As a child, I was taken care of by a revolving door of tutors and nannies, and I never expect anyone other than my own flesh and blood to stick around for more than a few months. As such, I never fully commit myself to relationships and fall in and out of love easily. I have a silver tongue, and I can make anyone feel like the most wonderful and important person in the world if it will serve me in some way. However, underneath all the complements and flattery I’m secretly comparing everyone (including myself) to unrealistic expectations.
Ideals
Aspiration. Even though I never met him, my great grandfather was my childhood hero and I hope to one day become as powerful as he was.
Bonds
I will never admit it, but though I am often chasing someone new, I still secretly pine for one of my many childhood sweethearts, and hope that I will one day be able to reunite with him.
Flaws
I am incredibly arrogant and stubborn, always believing that my ideas are flawless, and I will never admit when I am wrong.
ALLIES:
Father: (Duke) Surisalor Oakflight
DESCRIPTION: High Elf, 6’ 2”, 139 lbs, 432 years (58-ish human years), fair skin, red hair, grey eyes
ALIGNMENT: Neutral Good
PERSONALITY: Basically a historian version of Alador Blight from the Owl House. Ideals- Our history must be preserved for future generations. We cannot allow it to disappear.
Mother: (Duchess) Kasarha Oakflight
DESCRIPTION: Human (Illuskan), 5’ 9.7”, 142 lbs, 58 years, fair skin, light brown-red hair, blue eyes
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil, leaning towards Lawful Neutral
PERSONALITY: Traits- I am always thinking about how others perceive me and will do anything to maintain my image and hide the (non-literal) skeletons in my closet. I automatically assume others are doing the same. As such, I trust no one. Ideals- Order and Tradition. Rules and customs exist for a reason, and must be upheld at all costs. Bonds- Flaws- I (not so secretly) believe that I am above all others, especially those below my station. BACKSTORY: Not much of a backstory yet. Basically, she joined the Lords’ Alliance, but then got recruited by the Zhentarim. Now is high-ranking spy inside the Alliance, influencing their actions.
Ex-Boyfriend: (Baron) Rorturas Mosuzori
DESCRIPTION: Human (3/4 Turami, 1/4 Tehyrian), 6’ 0.56”, 150 lbs, 23 years, dark tawny skin, curly brown hair, dark brown eyes
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good
PERSONALITY: Traits- I treat everyone with kindness and respect and have great empathy for all living beings, even those whose social status is lower than mine. I am funny and charming, and always have the perfect joke for every occasion. Ideals- Respect and Hard Work. Everyone should be treated with kindness and respect no matter their background. Bonds- I still wonder what became of my childhood best ‘friend’. Flaws- I can hold grudges for an incredibly long time. If you wrong me or any of my allies, I will remember your face for years to come.
BACKSTORY: My parents worked incredibly hard to be able to move up in the world, and I was raised to work hard and respect everyone. As a teenager I joined the noble court, and saw for myself the corruption in their bureaucracy, most of it brought about by agents of the Lords’ Alliance in the name of safety and order. There I met agents from a faction known as the Harpers, now help them in their mission to protect the innocent, weak, and poor.
OTHER: Closeted bi (parents think he and Terrence were friends) Kinda nerdy/shy
Mechanically the character seems fine. Your stats fit well for the class and you have a good selection of spells.
Alignment means next to nothing in 5e, so don't worry about it.
Depending on the game backstory can help the DM or it doesn't matter (ie running a pre-written adventure).
I don't think you need to go into full personality traits for backstory characters. As a DM, I like collaborating with the players on their backstory, not just getting handed an essay. It can help tie it to the setting better.
As a DM, I would groan at a lot of this and be happy with a lot of it. First of all, you gave yourself a noble heritage, which is always problematic for me, if it doesn't really fit in with the party. 2nd, you have NG/LE parents, which seems to be odd. Why would they marry and stay together? Now as a DM, I could have fun with that as a plot line/character arc if you were okay with it. 3rd, you gave yourself a great-grandfather who is legendary. Again, I could have fun with this or it could be problematic. 4th, you just added yourself to the Harpers, which would cause me the most issues. You are 1st level which probably (IMO) doesn't qualify you for this, and your mother's background would be an issue. Also, as I don't know if your parents are just normal NPC nobles or have any other abilities, as a DM I would say the Harpers would say no, for now.
I didn’t make this character for any specific campaign, so I may have gone a little overboard on the backstory stuff. I’m used to making characters for stories where I have full control over the world. If I were to actually play this character, I would check with the DM first and make any necessary changes. Also, to clarify, my character is not part of the Harpers. That part was for one of his allies. But I understand your point. Sorry for the confusion.
It looks pretty cool, but you only have two ranged damage dealing attack. If you want to play support, thats fine, but keep in mind that vicous mockery only deals a d4 of damage, and your dagger only deals 1d4+2 with a 20 foot range. In combat, you will probably have to leave the rest of the damage to your other party members. If you want to be slinging damage around in combat, then I recommend swapping one of your first level spells for a damage dealer.
Your longsword deals up to 1d10 of damage, which is a lot, but it only has 5 feet of range, and a 9HP, 13 AC bard should not be engaging in melee except as a last resort. If you want to deal more damage at range, instead of playing a support role, you could get rid of your longsword for a shortbow. However, that would leave you with nothing but a dagger if engaged in melee.
As of now, with your characters build, I think you will function in combat as: A supporter who stays behind the lines, heals his allies, and slings vicous mockeries to deal damage. Or faerie fire to help his allies hit. When forced into melee, this bard can deal some damage with it's longsword.
PS. Just a note in case you didn't realize, you cannot cast healing word and faerie fire in the same turn, since they are both "leveled" spells. You could do healing word and vicious mockery on the same one though.
Hi! I finally somewhat finished creating my first DDB character, and my first bard, as such any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I tried not to make him too generic, but I did kind of play into a couple of stereotypes. (What can I say? He’s a romantic)
Character Sheet Link
Other information and such:
NOTE: there’s a lot of info here so don’t read it all if you don’t want to, I may or may not have created like 3 mini characters just for his backstory…
Very, very gay. Demisexual.
ALIGNMENT: I didn’t know what to go with, so I just went with true neutral.
DESCRIPTION: 6’ 4.7”, 158 lbs, 23 years, fair skin, grey eyes, red-auburn hair
BACKSTORY: A baron raised by his definitely-not-evil mother (human), and his historian father (high elf). He spent most of his childhood studying. (Side note, the office he studied in had a giant painting of his great-grandfather right above the desk. The city considers great gramps to be one of the most powerful bards ever… so no pressure, right?) During his teenage years he had several relationships, the majority being not too memorable and only lasting a few months. Except that one. But we don’t talk about that one. (Okay I’m going to talk about him but just cuz I like drama.) Rorturas Mosuzori and Terrence Oakflight met when they were both 19. Rorturas was a Baron, but his family had been poor farmers not even half a century ago. The two stayed together for two years, until The Arguement. Basically, Rorturas discovered that Terrence’s mom was actually doing some really shady, evil stuff, and tried to show Terrence. Terrence refused to believe that his mother could be evil. (Sure she was strict, but evil? That was way out of line). After they broke up, Terrence tried to go one with his normal life, but found that he couldn’t after The Arguement. So he left home and became an adventurer.
VALUABLE POSSESSIONS:
Signet Ring- Gold with slightly lighter swirling patterns, similar to wind; small emeralds inlaid at the end of each spiral. Main circle is black opal surrounded by gold trim with a stylized gold etching of a pair of wings in the center
Locket- Circular. Mostly silver. Front made of blue-white piece of moonstone with thin intersecting silver circle designs crossing over face, forming a dragonfly in the center. Given to him by Rorturas.
PERSONALITY:
ALLIES:
Father: (Duke) Surisalor Oakflight
DESCRIPTION: High Elf, 6’ 2”, 139 lbs, 432 years (58-ish human years), fair skin, red hair, grey eyes
ALIGNMENT: Neutral Good
PERSONALITY: Basically a historian version of Alador Blight from the Owl House. Ideals- Our history must be preserved for future generations. We cannot allow it to disappear.
Mother: (Duchess) Kasarha Oakflight
DESCRIPTION: Human (Illuskan), 5’ 9.7”, 142 lbs, 58 years, fair skin, light brown-red hair, blue eyes
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil, leaning towards Lawful Neutral
PERSONALITY: Traits- I am always thinking about how others perceive me and will do anything to maintain my image and hide the (non-literal) skeletons in my closet. I automatically assume others are doing the same. As such, I trust no one. Ideals- Order and Tradition. Rules and customs exist for a reason, and must be upheld at all costs. Bonds- Flaws- I (not so secretly) believe that I am above all others, especially those below my station. BACKSTORY: Not much of a backstory yet. Basically, she joined the Lords’ Alliance, but then got recruited by the Zhentarim. Now is high-ranking spy inside the Alliance, influencing their actions.
Ex-Boyfriend: (Baron) Rorturas Mosuzori
DESCRIPTION: Human (3/4 Turami, 1/4 Tehyrian), 6’ 0.56”, 150 lbs, 23 years, dark tawny skin, curly brown hair, dark brown eyes
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good
PERSONALITY: Traits- I treat everyone with kindness and respect and have great empathy for all living beings, even those whose social status is lower than mine. I am funny and charming, and always have the perfect joke for every occasion. Ideals- Respect and Hard Work. Everyone should be treated with kindness and respect no matter their background. Bonds- I still wonder what became of my childhood best ‘friend’. Flaws- I can hold grudges for an incredibly long time. If you wrong me or any of my allies, I will remember your face for years to come.
BACKSTORY: My parents worked incredibly hard to be able to move up in the world, and I was raised to work hard and respect everyone. As a teenager I joined the noble court, and saw for myself the corruption in their bureaucracy, most of it brought about by agents of the Lords’ Alliance in the name of safety and order. There I met agents from a faction known as the Harpers, now help them in their mission to protect the innocent, weak, and poor.
OTHER: Closeted bi (parents think he and Terrence were friends) Kinda nerdy/shy
-Wintyr, They/Them; He/Him
*roars in Draconic*
Mechanically the character seems fine. Your stats fit well for the class and you have a good selection of spells.
Alignment means next to nothing in 5e, so don't worry about it.
Depending on the game backstory can help the DM or it doesn't matter (ie running a pre-written adventure).
I don't think you need to go into full personality traits for backstory characters. As a DM, I like collaborating with the players on their backstory, not just getting handed an essay. It can help tie it to the setting better.
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As a DM, I would groan at a lot of this and be happy with a lot of it. First of all, you gave yourself a noble heritage, which is always problematic for me, if it doesn't really fit in with the party. 2nd, you have NG/LE parents, which seems to be odd. Why would they marry and stay together? Now as a DM, I could have fun with that as a plot line/character arc if you were okay with it. 3rd, you gave yourself a great-grandfather who is legendary. Again, I could have fun with this or it could be problematic. 4th, you just added yourself to the Harpers, which would cause me the most issues. You are 1st level which probably (IMO) doesn't qualify you for this, and your mother's background would be an issue. Also, as I don't know if your parents are just normal NPC nobles or have any other abilities, as a DM I would say the Harpers would say no, for now.
I didn’t make this character for any specific campaign, so I may have gone a little overboard on the backstory stuff. I’m used to making characters for stories where I have full control over the world. If I were to actually play this character, I would check with the DM first and make any necessary changes. Also, to clarify, my character is not part of the Harpers. That part was for one of his allies. But I understand your point. Sorry for the confusion.
-Wintyr, They/Them; He/Him
*roars in Draconic*
It looks pretty cool, but you only have two ranged damage dealing attack. If you want to play support, thats fine, but keep in mind that vicous mockery only deals a d4 of damage, and your dagger only deals 1d4+2 with a 20 foot range. In combat, you will probably have to leave the rest of the damage to your other party members. If you want to be slinging damage around in combat, then I recommend swapping one of your first level spells for a damage dealer.
Your longsword deals up to 1d10 of damage, which is a lot, but it only has 5 feet of range, and a 9HP, 13 AC bard should not be engaging in melee except as a last resort. If you want to deal more damage at range, instead of playing a support role, you could get rid of your longsword for a shortbow. However, that would leave you with nothing but a dagger if engaged in melee.
As of now, with your characters build, I think you will function in combat as: A supporter who stays behind the lines, heals his allies, and slings vicous mockeries to deal damage. Or faerie fire to help his allies hit. When forced into melee, this bard can deal some damage with it's longsword.
PS. Just a note in case you didn't realize, you cannot cast healing word and faerie fire in the same turn, since they are both "leveled" spells. You could do healing word and vicious mockery on the same one though.
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He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
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