My DM wanted all of us to write a backstory, some personality concepts or traits and our characters death scene i.e how did envision the character dying? Old age? In glorious battle? And on and on. This is the backstory and personality concepts, portion.
Backstory:
Torvald is a half orc, who never knew his parents. He was left on the steps of the Temple of Bast, the goddess of cats and vengeance. He was raised in the temple's orphanage, receiving religious instruction from the priests, as a part of his schooling, but it was the temple guards and paladins who fascinated the boy. He would watch them as they went through their morning sparring and rituals, longing for the day when he could join them.
Some of the paladins were disdainful of his half orc heritage, others viewed him with pity about it, as though he had been inflicted with some handicap or sickness. A very few special paladins, treated him with kindness and affection, instilling in him the belief that he could write his own destiny, a destiny not ordained by birth. To those special paladins, he was their adoptive son and to him, the orphan boy, they were his fathers, not of blood, but of something stronger, faith and love.
When he left the temple and his adoptive fathers, he saluted them, giving forth the creed of their order:
"I am the fear, in the eyes of my enemy. I am the hope, in the eyes of the hopeless. I am the shield and the wall that protects the innocent.
My friends will know the truth of my words. My foes will know the truth of my steel. My Goddess will know the truth of my heart."
Torvald departed, trying unsuccessfully to put on a brave front, hiding the tears in his eyes. To his back, his mentors watched him go, with pride and tears in the their eyes, as well.
He left to find his path, his party and his destiny.
Torvald's personality concepts:
Torvald has a fear, as a half orc, that he's not good enough to be a paladin. That he will fail and disappoint his goddess, his mentors and himself. He has a special place, in his heart for and desire to defend children, especially orphans. In every town or village he visits, for any length of time, he will want to see if there is a good aligned temple or orphanage. He will want to be a patron of that orphanage, donating a sizeable portion of his gold to it (at least a 10% tithe, of his latest adventure and likely more).
Torvald is laconic, with few words and some insecurity about his relatively low intelligence and wisdom (only 8s). He will usually defer to the party members with higher intelligence and wisdom, assuming they know better. But Torvald has a stronger will and strength of character than is apparent, which will become known to his party members. He has a temper, but has learned to control it, through prayers to his goddess. When he is most angry, he will repeat the tenets of his order, like a mantra to help control it.
My DM wanted all of us to write a backstory, some personality concepts or traits and our characters death scene i.e how did envision the character dying? Old age? In glorious battle? And on and on. This is the backstory and personality concepts, portion.
Backstory:
Torvald is a half orc, who never knew his parents. He was left on the steps of the Temple of Bast, the goddess of cats and vengeance. He was raised in the temple's orphanage, receiving religious instruction from the priests, as a part of his schooling, but it was the temple guards and paladins who fascinated the boy. He would watch them as they went through their morning sparring and rituals, longing for the day when he could join them.
Some of the paladins were disdainful of his half orc heritage, others viewed him with pity about it, as though he had been inflicted with some handicap or sickness. A very few special paladins, treated him with kindness and affection, instilling in him the belief that he could write his own destiny, a destiny not ordained by birth. To those special paladins, he was their adoptive son and to him, the orphan boy, they were his fathers, not of blood, but of something stronger, faith and love.
When he left the temple and his adoptive fathers, he saluted them, giving forth the creed of their order:
"I am the fear, in the eyes of my enemy.
I am the hope, in the eyes of the hopeless.
I am the shield and the wall that protects the innocent.
My friends will know the truth of my words.
My foes will know the truth of my steel.
My Goddess will know the truth of my heart."
Torvald departed, trying unsuccessfully to put on a brave front, hiding the tears in his eyes. To his back, his mentors watched him go, with pride and tears in the their eyes, as well.
He left to find his path, his party and his destiny.
Torvald's personality concepts:
Torvald has a fear, as a half orc, that he's not good enough to be a paladin. That he will fail and disappoint his goddess, his mentors and himself. He has a special place, in his heart for and desire to defend children, especially orphans. In every town or village he visits, for any length of time, he will want to see if there is a good aligned temple or orphanage. He will want to be a patron of that orphanage, donating a sizeable portion of his gold to it (at least a 10% tithe, of his latest adventure and likely more).
Torvald is laconic, with few words and some insecurity about his relatively low intelligence and wisdom (only 8s). He will usually defer to the party members with higher intelligence and wisdom, assuming they know better. But Torvald has a stronger will and strength of character than is apparent, which will become known to his party members. He has a temper, but has learned to control it, through prayers to his goddess. When he is most angry, he will repeat the tenets of his order, like a mantra to help control it.