I am curious about what your thoughts are. The character that I am making is a Human with green eyes and silvery blonde hair. I want to say that many of his physical and intellectual traits are a result of having extraplanar ancestry, but I don't want him to be a demihuman.
I have chosen standard Human as the race because the ASIs I get, allow me to balance out his ability scores. Like so many others, however, he is distantly related to an extraplanar entity. In the characters chase, one of his distant ancestors was an Eladrin, and it is from this ancestor that he gets his intellect, perceptiveness and his hair and eye colour.
Would you say thag this is possible, or does it not make sense. In other words, can you have an extraplanar ancestor, without being a demihuman such as a half-elf or Tiefling?
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Uuh... well, sure. Half-Elves are not necessarily literally half-human and half-elf, but humans who have an elven ancestor and took after them. You can have elf blood and still be a "fullblooded human." Tieflings also are not necessarily always born from humans who carry the legacy curse. In fact, there are many human lineages (implied by Xanathar's Guide) to carry the legacy but are not tieflings in and of themselves. Plus, I would argue that human Dragonblood Sorcerers are humans with literal dragon blood in their bodies giving them their powers, just like how a Storm Sorcerer might be descended from an air genasi at some point, or Shadow Sorcs could be the "half-elven" children of Shadar-kai.
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Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Given that the extraplanar heritage to you lay out is mostly fluff, and doesn't make mechanical changes to human, I would say it's fine. It might not fit the fluff/lore of a particular DM's world/campaign, but you arent' asking for special "mechanical" favors. My daughter has done something similar with one of her characters. That character is human, but her bloodline has a gnome a ways back in their family tree, and she exhibits some gnome traits. She modeled that by creating a variant human and using the feat to reflet some of the gnome traits. (I dont' remember what ones specifically)
I see no problem with it. You basically just described a sorcerer bloodline(it may not express in your character but could be fun background having a relative with some magical ability). Intelligence and perceptiveness would come out in role-play, likely influencing your choice of class/ background.
Yes. The character can be part tiefling or part aasimar, but the blood is diluted enough that the only changes are cosmetic. Not sure about eladrin (the elves are descended from eladrin), but if I were your DM I’d let you do it. No reason an eladrin and a human couldn’t have had a star-crossed love affair that produced a child.
Are you asking for an Intelligence and Wisdom bonus for being descended from an eladrin?
Yes. The character can be part tiefling or part aasimar, but the blood is diluted enough that the only changes are cosmetic. Not sure about eladrin (the elves are descended from eladrin), but if I were your DM I’d let you do it. No reason an eladrin and a human couldn’t have had a star-crossed love affair that produced a child.
Are you asking for an Intelligence and Wisdom bonus for being descended from an eladrin?
No bonuses, no. I have been toying with the idea of different classes; I haven't settled on one yet, but I keep going back to Rogue.
The problem is, I want him to have a high DEX and INT, with a good WIS, while also still having a decent CHA and CON.
That is why I keep going back to the Rogue. A Rogues expertise is desirable to me for this character, as I can use them to boost his INT and WIS based skills, while not needing to have too high numbers on those scores. As in having an average INT and WIS and then using expertise to boost his relevant skills, I can focus on maxing out DEX, having a decent charisma and taking the observant feat to enhance his passives even further
The observant feat being a mechanical representation of his ancestral heritage.
I had toyed with the idea of a Variant Human, but I am unable to get the same balance in his ability scores if I go down that road.
By definition, if you have extraplanar heritage, you are a demihuman. Now, is any small amount of non-human blood enough to, ruleswise, make you a non-human? I'd say no but it's something you would have to talk to your DM about.
I'm more curious why you think having green eyes and silver-blonde hair would be dependent on non-human ancestry?
Yes. The character can be part tiefling or part aasimar, but the blood is diluted enough that the only changes are cosmetic. Not sure about eladrin (the elves are descended from eladrin), but if I were your DM I’d let you do it. No reason an eladrin and a human couldn’t have had a star-crossed love affair that produced a child.
Are you asking for an Intelligence and Wisdom bonus for being descended from an eladrin?
No bonuses, no. I have been toying with the idea of different classes; I haven't settled on one yet, but I keep going back to Rogue.
The problem is, I want him to have a high DEX and INT, with a good WIS, while also still having a decent CHA and CON.
That is why I keep going back to the Rogue. A Rogues expertise is desirable to me for this character, as I can use them to boost his INT and WIS based skills, while not needing to have too high numbers on those scores. As in having an average INT and WIS and then using expertise to boost his relevant skills, I can focus on maxing out DEX, having a decent charisma and taking the observant feat to enhance his passives even further
The observant feat being a mechanical representation of his ancestral heritage.
I had toyed with the idea of a Variant Human, but I am unable to get the same balance in his ability scores if I go down that road.
I think the Observant feat would work. And I think having one of your ancestors be an eladrin is a great idea. It would explain the silver hair and emerald eyes. I would totally allow that as a DM.
No bonuses, no. I have been toying with the idea of different classes; I haven't settled on one yet, but I keep going back to Rogue.
The problem is, I want him to have a high DEX and INT, with a good WIS, while also still having a decent CHA and CON.
I had toyed with the idea of a Variant Human, but I am unable to get the same balance in his ability scores if I go down that road.
Well, unless you expect to get extra bonus favours from your DM the only way, no matter what race you play, is to roll for abilities and hope for good roles. Because basically what you're saying is "I don't want my character to follow the basic character creation rules set up by the game."
If you do want to play the game the way that is intended (ie, you're not supposed to be good at everything right from the start), here are two ways to achieve what you are after, using variant human as race:
Standard Point Array. Strength 8, Dexterity 15+1, Constitution 12, Intelligence 14, Wisdom 13+1, Charisma 10. Use proficiency in Charisma skills to compensate for the decent Charisma score.
Point buy. Strength 12, Dexterity 13+1, Constitution 12, Intelligence 13+1, Wisdom 13, Charisma 12. Take the Observant Feat for a starting total of 14 in Wisdom as well.
Well, unless you expect to get extra bonus favours from your DM
I think maybe I am trying to get too much out of a low-level character and I should refocus myself a bit.
I imagined Sabin as a sort of; Jean Valjean, figure, crossed with Inspector Javert. In short; in Sabin's pre-adventuring life, he was a genius detective. A man who is smarter and wiser than everyone else around him, who got himself embroiled in machinations of politicians and spymasters, in an attempt to restore his family name to its former glory. A man who goes in search of a mythical sword, so that he can present it to his King; the one person he believes can create a brave new world of law and order and justice, and restore his family to their rightful place in the royal court. Sabin is a dangerous man, not because he is good with a sword or knows powerful magic, but, because of his mind; intelligence and wisdom, patients and time are his weapons. He is quick of wit and sharp of mind, he knows many things about many people, and he never forgives, and he never forgets.
Perhaps I am just trying too hard.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Sounds like you should take half elf. You'll get 2 more skill profs, a +2 to charisma and +1 to two other stats wherever you want them, have human traits as well as elf (eladrin if you so choose), and darkvision. That would make more sense that an all human from a different plane that has elven ancestry so diluted that its generations past the union of the 2 races but the humans are still living in the feywild with other humans.
Well, unless you expect to get extra bonus favours from your DM
I think maybe I am trying to get too much out of a low-level character and I should refocus myself a bit.
I imagined Sabin as a sort of; Jean Valjean, figure, crossed with Inspector Javert. In short; in Sabin's pre-adventuring life, he was a genius detective. A man who is smarter and wiser than everyone else around him, who got himself embroiled in machinations of politicians and spymasters, in an attempt to restore his family name to its former glory. A man who goes in search of a mythical sword, so that he can present it to his King; the one person he believes can create a brave new world of law and order and justice, and restore his family to their rightful place in the royal court. Sabin is a dangerous man, not because he is good with a sword or knows powerful magic, but, because of his mind; intelligence and wisdom, patients and time are his weapons. He is quick of wit and sharp of mind, he knows many things about many people, and he never forgives, and he never forgets.
Perhaps I am just trying too hard.
Well, like you were told in one of the many previous threads about the same character, you shouldn't put too much of your characters story in your backstory. Unless you're starting at a fairly high level you will have a very difficult time getting what you want from a low-lever character the way the game is written.
he was a genius detective. A man who is smarter and wiser than everyone else around him,
Immediately we have the problem of 'awesome at level 1' (assuming you're starting at level 1). It's usually a bad idea to make a character who is the best starting out, because then they have nowhere to go.
who got himself embroiled in machinations of politicians and spymasters, in an attempt to restore his family name to its former glory. A man who goes in search of a mythical sword, so that he can present it to his King; the one person he believes can create a brave new world of law and order and justice, and restore his family to their rightful place in the royal court.
This sounds less like a background and more like a synopsis of a campaign that's happened. The most interesting things that happen to a character shouldn't happen in their backstory.
Sabin is a dangerous man, not because he is good with a sword or knows powerful magic, but, because of his mind; intelligence and wisdom, patients and time are his weapons. He is quick of wit and sharp of mind, he knows many things about many people, and he never forgives, and he never forgets.
I mean, this sounds good on paper, but when you're adventuring with one person who's faster with a blade than you can blink, another who can play music so good it warps the fabric of reality, and a third that can incinerate a room at the flick of a wrist, being patient, intelligent, quick witted and good at holding a grudge isn't that impressive. Heck, bards can be so witty it's deadly
This is a pitfall I fall into far too often: It's not my story. It's our story.
It's not easy for me, but I must always remember to create just a foundation for others to work with (and very, very rarely work against), not an entire story with no room for anyone else. If I go too far with a character's experiences (especially epic heroism or traits), I get to a point where I can't seem to allow anyone else to determine the character's story, which is an extremely bad thing.
When done right, I end up with a cadavre exquis that's far more fascinating than anything I could have created alone.
Keep it simple. The adventure is on the road ahead with your company, not the road already traveled alone.
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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.
he was a genius detective. A man who is smarter and wiser than everyone else around him,
Immediately we have the problem of 'awesome at level 1' (assuming you're starting at level 1). It's usually a bad idea to make a character who is the best starting out, because then they have nowhere to go.
A 16 or 17 in Int and Wis is miles ahead of the standard commoner, but not the highest they can ever be. But you are right, starting with a 20 in main Ability is boring.
who got himself embroiled in machinations of politicians and spymasters, in an attempt to restore his family name to its former glory. A man who goes in search of a mythical sword, so that he can present it to his King; the one person he believes can create a brave new world of law and order and justice, and restore his family to their rightful place in the royal court.
This sounds less like a background and more like a synopsis of a campaign that's happened. The most interesting things that happen to a character shouldn't happen in their backstory.
Sabin is a dangerous man, not because he is good with a sword or knows powerful magic, but, because of his mind; intelligence and wisdom, patients and time are his weapons. He is quick of wit and sharp of mind, he knows many things about many people, and he never forgives, and he never forgets.
I mean, this sounds good on paper, but when you're adventuring with one person who's faster with a blade than you can blink, another who can play music so good it warps the fabric of reality, and a third that can incinerate a room at the flick of a wrist, being patient, intelligent, quick witted and good at holding a grudge isn't that impressive. Heck, bards can be so witty it's deadly
Batman doesn’t seem to have a problem. He can take out any member of the Justice League, even Superman, just in case they go bad. Just sayin’.
Just remember, this is a Justice League style group story, not one of Batman’s solo titles.
Fair point about batman, but he's also a master martial artist, weaponsmith and tactical expert. He's basically a rogue (mastermind)/monk (way of shadow)/fighter (battle master)/artificer (armorer?) multiclass with several thousand platinum to burn
This is a pitfall I fall into far too often: It's not my story. It's our story.
It's not easy for me, but I must always remember to create just a foundation for others to work with (and very, very rarely work against), not an entire story with no room for anyone else. If I go too far with a character's experiences (especially epic heroism or traits), I get to a point where I can't seem to allow anyone else to determine the character's story, which is an extremely bad thing.
When done right, I end up with a cadavre exquis that's far more fascinating than anything I could have created alone.
Keep it simple. The adventure is on the road ahead with your company, not the road already traveled alone.
Roleplaying is a shared experience. You need to make your character’s backstory flexible enough to interact with all the other characters’ backstories and not so epic that it steals the spotlight from everyone else and makes the whole game about you (especially at low levels; at high levels I guess everyone’s pretty epic).
Fair point about batman, but he's also a master martial artist, weaponsmith and tactical expert. He's basically a rogue (mastermind)/monk (way of shadow)/fighter (battle master)/artificer (armorer?) multiclass with several thousand platinum to burn
All true, but he’s known as “The World’s Greatest Detective” not because of any of that, but because of his deductive reasoning. Sherlock Holmes was also a world class pugilists and fencer, and a master violinist, but his detective skills were why he was famous. House MD just had an opioid addiction and a physical disability, but his mind....
And like you said, Batman would be (at least in part) a Mastermind Rogue. Doesn’t that sound like kinda what they are describing for their character? As long as they remember to start early in Batman’s Sabin’s career* and make sure to play the version that is part of the team instead of the solo version, I think the general concept of the character should still work.
*Like you said, “The most interesting things that happen to a character shouldn't happen in their backstory.”
Oh, I agree 100%. While I do write my characters’ backstories for my DMs, I usually try to cap them at about 500ish words (1/2 a page) and leave lots of room for the DM to do all kinds of stuff with them. If my DM decides that I have a long lost sibling, or that a childhood hero secretly turns out to be a villain or whatever, I’m all onboard. I like to give enough detail to get a feel for the character, but leave enough blank that it isn’t locked in stone either. As an example, here is my current PC’s (c/N Half-Elf Whispers Bard 5/Divine Soul [evil] 1) entire backstory:
When I was young my mother was accused of witchcraft by the local lord when he found out that he had gotten her pregnant during one of his dalliances. She was burned at the stake and I was left orphaned and penniless. Life on the streets was hard. I spent many a cold, hungry night imagining what I would say when one day I would finally confront the man responsible for mine and my mother’s fates.
I soon turned to begging and small cons to earn my daily bread. Eventually I caught the attention of a traveling troupe of players when I turned my talents upon them. They took me in and taught me their craft. Soon I made quite a name for myself by playing the villains and heels in their plays. It turned out I had quite a knack for tapping into the “essence” of villainy. I have spent so many performances playing a villain I’m afraid I might be starting to become one.
Now I hope to use my talents to gain vengeance on the true villain who murdered my mother.
You get a rough idea for the character, but there is so much room for anything the DM wants to do with it that it has more open hooks built in than not. For all I know, that character’s mother really was an evil witch? Or maybe she survived, or maybe the man he thinks is his father really isn’t? Now I get all the fun of finding that stuff out of my DM decides to use it for adventure hooks or plot points!!
But then here’s a Character that started half way between levels 9 and 10, that obviously required a little more:
When I was still a baby, my parents moved us to a foreign city far away from the lands of our people. As a small child I had no idea that we were different than our neighbors. Gradually, as I got older, I began to notice the differences between myself and most of the other children. I was faster and more nimble than the other children. Rarely could they lay a hand on me in games of Catch Me. My eyes were keener than theirs as well. Rarely could they escape my notice in games of Seekers and Hiders. I regularly outpaced them all in games of climbing and sneaking as well. I could always tell which hand the kola nut was in, but my hands moved too fast for their notice.
One day, while we were exploring some tunnels that we had found hidden between two abandoned buildings, the other children began to get frightened. It was dark, and while we had a candle, none of us had a tinderbox. Eager to explore, I used my other gift to light the candle. At first, the other children were frightened of me and ran away. Soon, they accused me of using my magic to cheat them at our games. Eventually most of the other children stopped asking me to play at all.
By the beginning of my second decade, a strange and terrible illness began to sweep through the city. Most people were unaffected, only the elven population seemed to be susceptible. For years, every winter many around the city would catch a variety of illnesses, and they would always speak enviously of how my family’s Elven blood protected us. That year, no one was envious of their Elven neighbors. Before my parents fell as the rest of our kind who had populated the city had, my parents made arrangements for me with their solicitor. After the funeral, the solicitor took me straight to the children’s home he had placed me in. I remember, I was still wearing my black lace....
The women who ran the home were nice enough. They were always sure that all of our needs were provided for as best the could. We never lacked for clothing, or food, or education. But the children.... Children can be very cruel. Eventually, they were cruel enough that I ran away, and somehow never went back.
The first year or so on the streets of the city was rough, but also interesting. The skills that had left me so alienated my whole life were to my advantage here. Where other urchins slowly starved, or got caught and beaten for stealing, I was able to procure for myself, and slip away unnoticed.
I was soon discovering parts of the city that I doubt many others know about to this day. Interesting corners and eaves and out of the way places where two buildings almost meet. The tunnels underneath the city, a labyrinth of intentional structures built on top of and through the remains of older cities. Those highest rooftops where one could truly sleep just beneath the stars themselves.... There are nights I still go to those rooftops. Eventually, some of the less fortunate children began to notice my success. They eventually realized that it was easier to take from me what they could not from the shopkeepers and vapid nobles’ sons. Like I said, children can be cruel.
The next few years were easier. I was better able to see to myself and look out for the other children. They were also less interesting, as I was beginning to run out of places to explore safely enough all alone. But that fourth winter was bad. The cold was so extreme that to be out for more than a few minutes could mean the loss of toes or worse. And the wind never stopped howling for weeks, the sound of a predator joyous in the hunt. At first I was fairly secure with a supply of food and ale that I had laid up in a warm and secure nook within the tunnels where the heat from who knows where bled through the wall into a space that the world had forgotten. Things were okay for a week, then two weeks....
Eventually I was forced to go out for more food and water. Water was the hard part. Dispute the cold there had been no snow, and the cold had been so strong for so long that liquid water was hard to come by, and dangerous to collect. If your fingers got wet, the frost could have bitten into them before you could stopper the skin again. You can live a long time without food, but water....
I ventured out from the warmth and safety of my hidden spot into the greater tunnels beyond. The cold was there waiting for me. As I ventured further into the darkness of the underground, even the biting wind from above seemed to scythe it’s way down into the world beneath the city. Soon, I had exhausted me search of the nearby network, and had resigned myself to attempt a brief trip above. I must have only made it about a dozen steps.
When I awoke, I was warm and clean and dry for the first time in years. The air around me smelled of fresh food, a delicious bitter aroma I had never known before, and the somehow familiar scent of chemicals and burnt metal that reminded me of my father. When I sat up, I was greeted by a face I vaguely recognized.
He was very obviously Gnomish. His stature was small, but his proportions were a little off. His head was bald on top, but tufts of white stuck out several inches and in all directions in a sort of demi-halo around the sides and back of his head. His nose was almost bulbose on his tiny face, his head almost too large for someone barely three feet tall. His frame was tiny by comparison, save for the enormous potbelly in front of him. He was bedecked in an exquisitely expensive suit of grey wool with black pinstripes, and a wine colored brocade vest over a white collared shirt with a bootstring-tie clasped with a silver band. “Good heavens boy, I thought you had died with your parents. Would you like some coffee?” It was my father’s old colleague, Doomagee Hermannsburge.
As we spoke, I began to explore the room we were in. It was full of books and gadgets of all sorts. Bookshelves lined most of the walls from floor to ceiling. There was a set of glass vials and beakers bubbling away on a table in the corner. In another alcove there were half-finished pieces of weapons and armor set in racks. Finally I came upon a workstation I found piles of gears and springs and other mechanical pieces. It was there that I found a simple music box that played a familiar melody. It was a song my mother used to sing to me when I was little. Doomagee said that he had learned to make it by studying the one my father had made for my mother. Doomagee was kind enough to let me keep it.
He took me in and raised me as his ward. He took note of my nimbleness and encouraged it. He took notice of my cleverness and honed it. He taught me the ways of the Artificer, as apparently my father had taught to him a century ago. And when I was ready, he enrolled me into The Society of Monitors, with whom I am enguilded To this day.
When my DM asked me what the Society of Monitors is, my answer was that it could be anything from an analog for the Men of Letters from Supernatural to a book club depending on whatever they (the DM) decided. For all I know, Mr. Hermannsburge was involved with my Character’s parents’ deaths. 🤷♂️ Elaborate is fine, as long as it doesn’t handcuff the DM.
Hi,
I am curious about what your thoughts are. The character that I am making is a Human with green eyes and silvery blonde hair. I want to say that many of his physical and intellectual traits are a result of having extraplanar ancestry, but I don't want him to be a demihuman.
I have chosen standard Human as the race because the ASIs I get, allow me to balance out his ability scores. Like so many others, however, he is distantly related to an extraplanar entity. In the characters chase, one of his distant ancestors was an Eladrin, and it is from this ancestor that he gets his intellect, perceptiveness and his hair and eye colour.
Would you say thag this is possible, or does it not make sense. In other words, can you have an extraplanar ancestor, without being a demihuman such as a half-elf or Tiefling?
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Uuh... well, sure. Half-Elves are not necessarily literally half-human and half-elf, but humans who have an elven ancestor and took after them. You can have elf blood and still be a "fullblooded human." Tieflings also are not necessarily always born from humans who carry the legacy curse. In fact, there are many human lineages (implied by Xanathar's Guide) to carry the legacy but are not tieflings in and of themselves. Plus, I would argue that human Dragonblood Sorcerers are humans with literal dragon blood in their bodies giving them their powers, just like how a Storm Sorcerer might be descended from an air genasi at some point, or Shadow Sorcs could be the "half-elven" children of Shadar-kai.
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Given that the extraplanar heritage to you lay out is mostly fluff, and doesn't make mechanical changes to human, I would say it's fine. It might not fit the fluff/lore of a particular DM's world/campaign, but you arent' asking for special "mechanical" favors. My daughter has done something similar with one of her characters. That character is human, but her bloodline has a gnome a ways back in their family tree, and she exhibits some gnome traits. She modeled that by creating a variant human and using the feat to reflet some of the gnome traits. (I dont' remember what ones specifically)
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
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I see no problem with it. You basically just described a sorcerer bloodline(it may not express in your character but could be fun background having a relative with some magical ability). Intelligence and perceptiveness would come out in role-play, likely influencing your choice of class/ background.
Yes. The character can be part tiefling or part aasimar, but the blood is diluted enough that the only changes are cosmetic. Not sure about eladrin (the elves are descended from eladrin), but if I were your DM I’d let you do it. No reason an eladrin and a human couldn’t have had a star-crossed love affair that produced a child.
Are you asking for an Intelligence and Wisdom bonus for being descended from an eladrin?
No bonuses, no. I have been toying with the idea of different classes; I haven't settled on one yet, but I keep going back to Rogue.
The problem is, I want him to have a high DEX and INT, with a good WIS, while also still having a decent CHA and CON.
That is why I keep going back to the Rogue. A Rogues expertise is desirable to me for this character, as I can use them to boost his INT and WIS based skills, while not needing to have too high numbers on those scores. As in having an average INT and WIS and then using expertise to boost his relevant skills, I can focus on maxing out DEX, having a decent charisma and taking the observant feat to enhance his passives even further
The observant feat being a mechanical representation of his ancestral heritage.
I had toyed with the idea of a Variant Human, but I am unable to get the same balance in his ability scores if I go down that road.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
By definition, if you have extraplanar heritage, you are a demihuman. Now, is any small amount of non-human blood enough to, ruleswise, make you a non-human? I'd say no but it's something you would have to talk to your DM about.
I'm more curious why you think having green eyes and silver-blonde hair would be dependent on non-human ancestry?
I think the Observant feat would work. And I think having one of your ancestors be an eladrin is a great idea. It would explain the silver hair and emerald eyes. I would totally allow that as a DM.
Sorcerors explicitly allow for characters of one race to have distant ancestors of other races. Totally allowable.
Well, unless you expect to get extra bonus favours from your DM the only way, no matter what race you play, is to roll for abilities and hope for good roles. Because basically what you're saying is "I don't want my character to follow the basic character creation rules set up by the game."
If you do want to play the game the way that is intended (ie, you're not supposed to be good at everything right from the start), here are two ways to achieve what you are after, using variant human as race:
I think maybe I am trying to get too much out of a low-level character and I should refocus myself a bit.
I imagined Sabin as a sort of; Jean Valjean, figure, crossed with Inspector Javert. In short; in Sabin's pre-adventuring life, he was a genius detective. A man who is smarter and wiser than everyone else around him, who got himself embroiled in machinations of politicians and spymasters, in an attempt to restore his family name to its former glory. A man who goes in search of a mythical sword, so that he can present it to his King; the one person he believes can create a brave new world of law and order and justice, and restore his family to their rightful place in the royal court. Sabin is a dangerous man, not because he is good with a sword or knows powerful magic, but, because of his mind; intelligence and wisdom, patients and time are his weapons. He is quick of wit and sharp of mind, he knows many things about many people, and he never forgives, and he never forgets.
Perhaps I am just trying too hard.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Sounds like you should take half elf. You'll get 2 more skill profs, a +2 to charisma and +1 to two other stats wherever you want them, have human traits as well as elf (eladrin if you so choose), and darkvision. That would make more sense that an all human from a different plane that has elven ancestry so diluted that its generations past the union of the 2 races but the humans are still living in the feywild with other humans.
Well, like you were told in one of the many previous threads about the same character, you shouldn't put too much of your characters story in your backstory. Unless you're starting at a fairly high level you will have a very difficult time getting what you want from a low-lever character the way the game is written.
Immediately we have the problem of 'awesome at level 1' (assuming you're starting at level 1). It's usually a bad idea to make a character who is the best starting out, because then they have nowhere to go.
This sounds less like a background and more like a synopsis of a campaign that's happened. The most interesting things that happen to a character shouldn't happen in their backstory.
I mean, this sounds good on paper, but when you're adventuring with one person who's faster with a blade than you can blink, another who can play music so good it warps the fabric of reality, and a third that can incinerate a room at the flick of a wrist, being patient, intelligent, quick witted and good at holding a grudge isn't that impressive. Heck, bards can be so witty it's deadly
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This is a pitfall I fall into far too often: It's not my story. It's our story.
It's not easy for me, but I must always remember to create just a foundation for others to work with (and very, very rarely work against), not an entire story with no room for anyone else. If I go too far with a character's experiences (especially epic heroism or traits), I get to a point where I can't seem to allow anyone else to determine the character's story, which is an extremely bad thing.
When done right, I end up with a cadavre exquis that's far more fascinating than anything I could have created alone.
Keep it simple. The adventure is on the road ahead with your company, not the road already traveled alone.
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.
A 16 or 17 in Int and Wis is miles ahead of the standard commoner, but not the highest they can ever be. But you are right, starting with a 20 in main Ability is boring.
You’re absolutely right there.
Batman doesn’t seem to have a problem. He can take out any member of the Justice League, even Superman, just in case they go bad. Just sayin’.
Just remember, this is a Justice League style group story, not one of Batman’s solo titles.
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Fair point about batman, but he's also a master martial artist, weaponsmith and tactical expert. He's basically a rogue (mastermind)/monk (way of shadow)/fighter (battle master)/artificer (armorer?) multiclass with several thousand platinum to burn
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Roleplaying is a shared experience. You need to make your character’s backstory flexible enough to interact with all the other characters’ backstories and not so epic that it steals the spotlight from everyone else and makes the whole game about you (especially at low levels; at high levels I guess everyone’s pretty epic).
All true, but he’s known as “The World’s Greatest Detective” not because of any of that, but because of his deductive reasoning. Sherlock Holmes was also a world class pugilists and fencer, and a master violinist, but his detective skills were why he was famous. House MD just had an opioid addiction and a physical disability, but his mind....
And like you said, Batman would be (at least in part) a Mastermind Rogue. Doesn’t that sound like kinda what they are describing for their character? As long as they remember to start early in
Batman’sSabin’s career* and make sure to play the version that is part of the team instead of the solo version, I think the general concept of the character should still work.*Like you said, “The most interesting things that happen to a character shouldn't happen in their backstory.”
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Oh, I agree 100%. While I do write my characters’ backstories for my DMs, I usually try to cap them at about 500ish words (1/2 a page) and leave lots of room for the DM to do all kinds of stuff with them. If my DM decides that I have a long lost sibling, or that a childhood hero secretly turns out to be a villain or whatever, I’m all onboard. I like to give enough detail to get a feel for the character, but leave enough blank that it isn’t locked in stone either. As an example, here is my current PC’s (c/N Half-Elf Whispers Bard 5/Divine Soul [evil] 1) entire backstory:
When I was young my mother was accused of witchcraft by the local lord when he found out that he had gotten her pregnant during one of his dalliances. She was burned at the stake and I was left orphaned and penniless. Life on the streets was hard. I spent many a cold, hungry night imagining what I would say when one day I would finally confront the man responsible for mine and my mother’s fates.
I soon turned to begging and small cons to earn my daily bread. Eventually I caught the attention of a traveling troupe of players when I turned my talents upon them. They took me in and taught me their craft. Soon I made quite a name for myself by playing the villains and heels in their plays. It turned out I had quite a knack for tapping into the “essence” of villainy. I have spent so many performances playing a villain I’m afraid I might be starting to become one.
Now I hope to use my talents to gain vengeance on the true villain who murdered my mother.
You get a rough idea for the character, but there is so much room for anything the DM wants to do with it that it has more open hooks built in than not. For all I know, that character’s mother really was an evil witch? Or maybe she survived, or maybe the man he thinks is his father really isn’t? Now I get all the fun of finding that stuff out of my DM decides to use it for adventure hooks or plot points!!
But then here’s a Character that started half way between levels 9 and 10, that obviously required a little more:
When I was still a baby, my parents moved us to a foreign city far away from the lands of our people. As a small child I had no idea that we were different than our neighbors. Gradually, as I got older, I began to notice the differences between myself and most of the other children. I was faster and more nimble than the other children. Rarely could they lay a hand on me in games of Catch Me. My eyes were keener than theirs as well. Rarely could they escape my notice in games of Seekers and Hiders. I regularly outpaced them all in games of climbing and sneaking as well. I could always tell which hand the kola nut was in, but my hands moved too fast for their notice.
One day, while we were exploring some tunnels that we had found hidden between two abandoned buildings, the other children began to get frightened. It was dark, and while we had a candle, none of us had a tinderbox. Eager to explore, I used my other gift to light the candle. At first, the other children were frightened of me and ran away. Soon, they accused me of using my magic to cheat them at our games. Eventually most of the other children stopped asking me to play at all.
By the beginning of my second decade, a strange and terrible illness began to sweep through the city. Most people were unaffected, only the elven population seemed to be susceptible. For years, every winter many around the city would catch a variety of illnesses, and they would always speak enviously of how my family’s Elven blood protected us. That year, no one was envious of their Elven neighbors. Before my parents fell as the rest of our kind who had populated the city had, my parents made arrangements for me with their solicitor. After the funeral, the solicitor took me straight to the children’s home he had placed me in. I remember, I was still wearing my black lace....
The women who ran the home were nice enough. They were always sure that all of our needs were provided for as best the could. We never lacked for clothing, or food, or education. But the children.... Children can be very cruel. Eventually, they were cruel enough that I ran away, and somehow never went back.
The first year or so on the streets of the city was rough, but also interesting. The skills that had left me so alienated my whole life were to my advantage here. Where other urchins slowly starved, or got caught and beaten for stealing, I was able to procure for myself, and slip away unnoticed.
I was soon discovering parts of the city that I doubt many others know about to this day. Interesting corners and eaves and out of the way places where two buildings almost meet. The tunnels underneath the city, a labyrinth of intentional structures built on top of and through the remains of older cities. Those highest rooftops where one could truly sleep just beneath the stars themselves.... There are nights I still go to those rooftops. Eventually, some of the less fortunate children began to notice my success. They eventually realized that it was easier to take from me what they could not from the shopkeepers and vapid nobles’ sons. Like I said, children can be cruel.
The next few years were easier. I was better able to see to myself and look out for the other children. They were also less interesting, as I was beginning to run out of places to explore safely enough all alone. But that fourth winter was bad. The cold was so extreme that to be out for more than a few minutes could mean the loss of toes or worse. And the wind never stopped howling for weeks, the sound of a predator joyous in the hunt. At first I was fairly secure with a supply of food and ale that I had laid up in a warm and secure nook within the tunnels where the heat from who knows where bled through the wall into a space that the world had forgotten. Things were okay for a week, then two weeks....
Eventually I was forced to go out for more food and water. Water was the hard part. Dispute the cold there had been no snow, and the cold had been so strong for so long that liquid water was hard to come by, and dangerous to collect. If your fingers got wet, the frost could have bitten into them before you could stopper the skin again. You can live a long time without food, but water....
I ventured out from the warmth and safety of my hidden spot into the greater tunnels beyond. The cold was there waiting for me. As I ventured further into the darkness of the underground, even the biting wind from above seemed to scythe it’s way down into the world beneath the city. Soon, I had exhausted me search of the nearby network, and had resigned myself to attempt a brief trip above. I must have only made it about a dozen steps.
When I awoke, I was warm and clean and dry for the first time in years. The air around me smelled of fresh food, a delicious bitter aroma I had never known before, and the somehow familiar scent of chemicals and burnt metal that reminded me of my father. When I sat up, I was greeted by a face I vaguely recognized.
He was very obviously Gnomish. His stature was small, but his proportions were a little off. His head was bald on top, but tufts of white stuck out several inches and in all directions in a sort of demi-halo around the sides and back of his head. His nose was almost bulbose on his tiny face, his head almost too large for someone barely three feet tall. His frame was tiny by comparison, save for the enormous potbelly in front of him. He was bedecked in an exquisitely expensive suit of grey wool with black pinstripes, and a wine colored brocade vest over a white collared shirt with a bootstring-tie clasped with a silver band. “Good heavens boy, I thought you had died with your parents. Would you like some coffee?” It was my father’s old colleague, Doomagee Hermannsburge.
As we spoke, I began to explore the room we were in. It was full of books and gadgets of all sorts. Bookshelves lined most of the walls from floor to ceiling. There was a set of glass vials and beakers bubbling away on a table in the corner. In another alcove there were half-finished pieces of weapons and armor set in racks. Finally I came upon a workstation I found piles of gears and springs and other mechanical pieces. It was there that I found a simple music box that played a familiar melody. It was a song my mother used to sing to me when I was little. Doomagee said that he had learned to make it by studying the one my father had made for my mother. Doomagee was kind enough to let me keep it.
He took me in and raised me as his ward. He took note of my nimbleness and encouraged it. He took notice of my cleverness and honed it. He taught me the ways of the Artificer, as apparently my father had taught to him a century ago. And when I was ready, he enrolled me into The Society of Monitors, with whom I am enguilded To this day.
When my DM asked me what the Society of Monitors is, my answer was that it could be anything from an analog for the Men of Letters from Supernatural to a book club depending on whatever they (the DM) decided. For all I know, Mr. Hermannsburge was involved with my Character’s parents’ deaths. 🤷♂️ Elaborate is fine, as long as it doesn’t handcuff the DM.
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