I was trying to build a wood elf Monk who has Amnesia so she doesn't remember much about her history but only remembers her name, she foreswore the use of any weapons and would rather use her fists, but only if the situation requires it. Now she roams the lands trying to figure out her past. I'm not good at making backstories so if anyone could help me make a backstory for her it would be extremely appreciated. Thank you in advance
As someone who is currently playing an amnesiac pacifist, I suggest leaving the backstory entirely up to the DM. You don't need a backstory to play a character, and lots of DMs would jump at the chance to build your character into their world - especially one with such a strong motivation to adventure. Also, if you play in a campaign that leans into roleplay and backstory hooks, you'll get the added excitement of discovering your character's past as the game unfolds.
My amnesiac bard has been one of the most enjoyable characters I've ever played, simply because every new backstory hint I stumble across is so unexpected and special. If you trust your DM, letting them slowly reveal your character's history and tie-ins with the story world can be uniquely fun and fulfilling.
I agree with bagels as that sounds like a blast both as a player and a DM. It could be a little lackluster to recover fragments of a life as a simple farmer but then again.. perhaps the monk honed her body through grueling labor in the fields. She doesn't want to use her fists because she never actually got in a fight before. Her parents taught her kindness and compassion and the monk practices it subconsciously without remembering them. Perhaps there was an incident on the farm or more nefarious that caused the amnesia and now you need to remember who your parents are. If these aren't interesting, I hope they at least provided a spark to come up with some more of your own. Leave yourself plenty of room to grow as a person throughout the campaign and let the dice, party, and DM do the rest.
The one thing not mentioned is setting up ground rules is why backstories are important. If you are discovering a backstory you have to set things in place to make role playing easier. Are you a pacifist? What morals are important to your character. What would your character feel is overstepping boundaries. You didn't even mention your alignment, or any possible character traits. Also you didn't tell us what setting you are playing in. Sometimes you can create these traits from the backstory, but sometimes it is easier to create the backstory from your traits. Everyone's spark of inspiration is different.
That said: There was young girl from "Insert small village" who showed up one day at the Church of Gond in Waterdeep. All she could do was remember her name, and it would seem she was well trained in hand to hand combat. She doesn't seem to like to show off her skills, in fact she does everything to avoid conflict. However, she has been cornered a couple times by unscrupulous people who she had to put in there place. The clergy have taken her in and is working to help her find her path back home. They have sent out artisan traders to other cities and villages to find the teacher of the martial arts she has displayed as that is their only clue of her origin.
She comes from a small monastery which is ran by a master. it is located just outside the small village she grew up in. Her zest for life, and willingness to help others made her a great fit. Until one day she was gathering herbs in the forest when she came upon a glimmer pool. As she approached she saw a beautiful Faerie Dragon, who seemed very nice and welcoming. They chatted for a while, which our hero thought was magical because the conversation took place in her head, yet it seemed so real. After a long while, the dragon suggested the young lady to take a drink from the pool or water, letter her know it was very refreshing and would give her inner peace. As she bends over to scoop up some water, that is when the mischievous dragon gives her a push and she falls into the pool headfirst. The touch erased many of her memories, and the pool teleported her away into the harbor of Waterdeep. A fisherman picked her up and brought her to the fishmarket where she met and befriended a group of artisans from the Church of Gond.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I am not sure what my Spirit Animal is. But whatever that thing is, I am pretty sure it has rabies!
This may be darker than you want maybe the reason she foreswore violence was that she was a very violent criminal who was mind-wiped for the protection of society and the non-violence was planted in her? This could be interesting if she discovers her crimes.
Well I think the most important part of the amnesia backstory is that your character does not know their backstory and if you truly want to play that character then perhaps it is best that you do not know it either, would Planescape: Torment be quite as engaging if we knew the story of the Nameless One before hand and were merely witnesses as the Nameless One re-acquired knowledge that we the player already know?
When it comes to creating a D&D character with amnesia I think that comes with either sacrificing a large portion of control of the backstory to the DM's discretion if you want it to play a larger role in the overall adventure or sacrificing the backstories relevance to the plot altogether as specific details in the backstory are relatively unimportant to the circumstances that the character now finds themselves in allowing for a degree of laziness on the part of the player when it comes to writing the backstory.
If you do want the backstory to have more relevance to the adventure and your character arc then I do think you will need to provide a little more detail then just leaving it entirely to the DM to write the backstory, such as the flash of a distant memory, a tattoo or scars of unknown significance that decorate the character's body or some sort of trinket that stirs the echo of a memory that lies just outside of the character's grasp. You don't fully need to understand the significance of these things yourself but it is a good idea to give just enough to the DM to give them some sort of direction on how to incorporate the backstory if they choose to do so.
One thing you should have some idea of is why they cannot remember their backstory, or what may have caused their amnesia, it can be as simple as taking a knock to the head and waking in the infirmary with no memory or something more complex such as the faded memory of a deal with a powerful being in exchange for your character's memories, perhaps your character died and was resurrected to fulfil some sort of purpose and in the process lost their memory or perhaps they spend their formative years lost in the Feywild and returned to the prime material plane years older with few memories of what happened.
If you need inspiration on good hooks for a character with amnesia then Planescape: Torment is a really good game to play, also worth checking the backgrounds linked below as they also contain some good potential hooks.
I was trying to build a wood elf Monk who has Amnesia so she doesn't remember much about her history but only remembers her name, she foreswore the use of any weapons and would rather use her fists, but only if the situation requires it. Now she roams the lands trying to figure out her past. I'm not good at making backstories so if anyone could help me make a backstory for her it would be extremely appreciated. Thank you in advance
As someone who is currently playing an amnesiac pacifist, I suggest leaving the backstory entirely up to the DM. You don't need a backstory to play a character, and lots of DMs would jump at the chance to build your character into their world - especially one with such a strong motivation to adventure. Also, if you play in a campaign that leans into roleplay and backstory hooks, you'll get the added excitement of discovering your character's past as the game unfolds.
My amnesiac bard has been one of the most enjoyable characters I've ever played, simply because every new backstory hint I stumble across is so unexpected and special. If you trust your DM, letting them slowly reveal your character's history and tie-ins with the story world can be uniquely fun and fulfilling.
I agree with bagels as that sounds like a blast both as a player and a DM. It could be a little lackluster to recover fragments of a life as a simple farmer but then again.. perhaps the monk honed her body through grueling labor in the fields. She doesn't want to use her fists because she never actually got in a fight before. Her parents taught her kindness and compassion and the monk practices it subconsciously without remembering them. Perhaps there was an incident on the farm or more nefarious that caused the amnesia and now you need to remember who your parents are. If these aren't interesting, I hope they at least provided a spark to come up with some more of your own. Leave yourself plenty of room to grow as a person throughout the campaign and let the dice, party, and DM do the rest.
The one thing not mentioned is setting up ground rules is why backstories are important. If you are discovering a backstory you have to set things in place to make role playing easier. Are you a pacifist? What morals are important to your character. What would your character feel is overstepping boundaries. You didn't even mention your alignment, or any possible character traits. Also you didn't tell us what setting you are playing in. Sometimes you can create these traits from the backstory, but sometimes it is easier to create the backstory from your traits. Everyone's spark of inspiration is different.
That said: There was young girl from "Insert small village" who showed up one day at the Church of Gond in Waterdeep. All she could do was remember her name, and it would seem she was well trained in hand to hand combat. She doesn't seem to like to show off her skills, in fact she does everything to avoid conflict. However, she has been cornered a couple times by unscrupulous people who she had to put in there place. The clergy have taken her in and is working to help her find her path back home. They have sent out artisan traders to other cities and villages to find the teacher of the martial arts she has displayed as that is their only clue of her origin.
She comes from a small monastery which is ran by a master. it is located just outside the small village she grew up in. Her zest for life, and willingness to help others made her a great fit. Until one day she was gathering herbs in the forest when she came upon a glimmer pool. As she approached she saw a beautiful Faerie Dragon, who seemed very nice and welcoming. They chatted for a while, which our hero thought was magical because the conversation took place in her head, yet it seemed so real. After a long while, the dragon suggested the young lady to take a drink from the pool or water, letter her know it was very refreshing and would give her inner peace. As she bends over to scoop up some water, that is when the mischievous dragon gives her a push and she falls into the pool headfirst. The touch erased many of her memories, and the pool teleported her away into the harbor of Waterdeep. A fisherman picked her up and brought her to the fishmarket where she met and befriended a group of artisans from the Church of Gond.
I am not sure what my Spirit Animal is. But whatever that thing is, I am pretty sure it has rabies!
This may be darker than you want maybe the reason she foreswore violence was that she was a very violent criminal who was mind-wiped for the protection of society and the non-violence was planted in her? This could be interesting if she discovers her crimes.
🍅 PM me the word 'tomato' 🍅 Extended Signature Musk Sucks, Quit X!
Well I think the most important part of the amnesia backstory is that your character does not know their backstory and if you truly want to play that character then perhaps it is best that you do not know it either, would Planescape: Torment be quite as engaging if we knew the story of the Nameless One before hand and were merely witnesses as the Nameless One re-acquired knowledge that we the player already know?
When it comes to creating a D&D character with amnesia I think that comes with either sacrificing a large portion of control of the backstory to the DM's discretion if you want it to play a larger role in the overall adventure or sacrificing the backstories relevance to the plot altogether as specific details in the backstory are relatively unimportant to the circumstances that the character now finds themselves in allowing for a degree of laziness on the part of the player when it comes to writing the backstory.
If you do want the backstory to have more relevance to the adventure and your character arc then I do think you will need to provide a little more detail then just leaving it entirely to the DM to write the backstory, such as the flash of a distant memory, a tattoo or scars of unknown significance that decorate the character's body or some sort of trinket that stirs the echo of a memory that lies just outside of the character's grasp. You don't fully need to understand the significance of these things yourself but it is a good idea to give just enough to the DM to give them some sort of direction on how to incorporate the backstory if they choose to do so.
One thing you should have some idea of is why they cannot remember their backstory, or what may have caused their amnesia, it can be as simple as taking a knock to the head and waking in the infirmary with no memory or something more complex such as the faded memory of a deal with a powerful being in exchange for your character's memories, perhaps your character died and was resurrected to fulfil some sort of purpose and in the process lost their memory or perhaps they spend their formative years lost in the Feywild and returned to the prime material plane years older with few memories of what happened.
If you need inspiration on good hooks for a character with amnesia then Planescape: Torment is a really good game to play, also worth checking the backgrounds linked below as they also contain some good potential hooks.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/backgrounds/feylost
https://www.dndbeyond.com/backgrounds/haunted-one
https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/706719-lineages#Reborn