Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[GiglameshDespair]

2. How about the lone wolf feat? That doesn't exclusively sound like from the local area, and it fits in with her childhood.

That makes sense...

----

I'll need to poke at the backstory to get it to fit, but that's something that can be hammered out in play. Think otherwise I'm done.

[Neyvn]

As I have been trying to say. The more that you do your besr to create a backstory that gets you deeper into the area shown in the player guide the morw information I can reveal to you. Such as special characters and events of past even including that of thing that are more unique to locals. A Fighter that says he was/is a town guard of Sandpoint would have unlocked some information he could share about the past...
I appologise on this late information about this but it had come clear to me I wasnt forceful in saying this before. Not that I am trying to sway character creation or anything. Please rember I am still learning and this is my firat forum styled method of DMimg...

[Remuthra]

I thought you said before you didn't want a detailed backstory?

[Carrion]

Carrion's character still lacks an Adventure Feat, they are a bonus Feat as long as your character comes from the local area, and chosen his 2 Traits, one can be chosen from the list found on the front page and the other from the link located in the same sentance.
Mainiac, you haven't chosen your Adventure Feat and Class Feat.

I'll be taking one last look over the sheets cause I think we are done...

Okay.  Sorry for not updating recently.  I've been out of town.  I'm on the fence about this character's backstory.  Being an elf, I want him to come from woodlands, but by that same token, elves are adventurous and not beholden to their place of birth, necessarily.  SO...  I really need to spend some time and sit down to write it out--hopefully I'll get it all tonight.  I guess he will have only just met the rest of the party... maybe?  Neyvn, will you be tying us all together somehow since not everyone has an entwined backstory?

Would it be stupid to not work it in so that I can take the Adventure Feat?  I wasn't really thinking I would, mainly because I didn't feel as though they fit what I was imagining for this character.   Hmm...  maybe.

[Bluerobin]

They seem useful, but not necessary, as far as mechanics go. I don't know how useful they are as story elements, however.

[Carrion]

Yeah, re-reading the traits, I might want to take Exile under Outsider since that's the closest one I can imagine using but I didn't really imagine this character as an exile, especially considering that the player's guide talks about the elven people being encouraged to go out and explore.  That's more in line with how I imagine his back story, but none of the other traits appeal to his ranger style as well as allowing for him to be "of the woods," perhaps not currently, but raised there as a child.

[Bluerobin]

Yeah, the Missionary Outsider one doesn't fit Sumac in its flavor text, but he's definitely a divine caster-focused outsider to the community, so it fits him in mechanics. I kind of refluffed it myself to be that, instead of receiving visions and trying to expand his faith, he's taken the druidic teachings of balance and neutrality and he's doing his best to lend aid/assistance while learning how to bring balance to the entirety of the region. Similar theme, drastically different implementation.

[Carrion]

That's a good way to think about it.  I think the initiative bonus would fit with my elf in mechanics, but I'll need to weave some reason why I can take the "local's" feat.

[Neyvn]

I thought you said before you didn't want a detailed backstory?

Not fully what I mean. The kind of Backstory I am looking for is something that helps your character have reason and purpose for being in the area, not something where its such a unique plot that you have elements of your own creation that become near impossible to include into an Adventure Path. While the Witch's backstory originally included elements of a Sister, a goal and even an opposing force can make it impossible to include so that the Witch's player doesn't feel that his creation is ignored, if you understand what I mean...

Creating a Backstory where you note things such as where you come from, reason for being here and such can help, the more you make it distant and include foreign elements the harder it becomes for the DM to make your character alive for you and the party...

My quick example about the Fighter is simple and can be used to cover three points, where he came from, what his goal is and generally who he is, He is a Townguard of Sandpoint, his goal is the protection of the town and he has lived there all his life. This already creates a simple picture that as a DM I can work off, back to the Witch's Sister chasing backstory (Sorry if it looks like I am picking on ya here), Here we have a Who, What and Why but all that I as a DM can truely include into the story is the Who, I can not instantly find the right place to include the goal of finding the sister, nor can I place in elements of the opposing force mentioned there easily either. By the lack of legroom given to me by the Adventure Path it makes bringing this characters story to light and including them...

Does that clear things up a bit???

Yeah, re-reading the traits, I might want to take Exile under Outsider since that's the closest one I can imagine using but I didn't really imagine this character as an exile, especially considering that the player's guide talks about the elven people being encouraged to go out and explore.  That's more in line with how I imagine his back story, but none of the other traits appeal to his ranger style as well as allowing for him to be "of the woods," perhaps not currently, but raised there as a child.

Well looking over the Adventure Feats and such, might I suggest working it that your character was once part of the Shoanti Tribe, while at first it might appear that the Tribes are human only, who is to say a Elf was adopted into the tribes and such, such things can easily be handwaved and such. This would allow you to look into that of the Shoanti Tribe Totem Feats...
Then when it comes to that of the Traits most of the flavoured text can be altered enough to make things fit what your looking for, Exile doesn't necessary mean much nor does that of Missionary when it comes to following what it completely says as they are more guidelines and ideas of how to define your character. The Favoured Son/Daughter and Blacksheep is there to encourage you though to think about creating characters already connected to the town, giving you access to a few characters to be connected to and another reason to be there, with your character though perhaps a Blacksheep might be of use, while it says you were born in the town in the flavoured text it could also mean that you are a Citizen of the town while not born there for example...

As I said, I try not to be negative towards a backstory unless it trys to introduce too many foreign elements...

Neyvn, will you be tying us all together somehow since not everyone has an entwined backstory?

I would like to, I am never a huge fan of the Randoms working together perfectly after their first encounter. But its not 100% needed...

[GiglameshDespair]

I thought it was us who were meant to make the characters alive? It's the world around them which is your domain, so to speak.

Hey, my backstory still does contain those elements! For my backstory (the witch) the sister does not need to be found. In this sort of case, the sister is a driving force - upon the discovery of the sister, the driving force disappears. Consequence - the sister isn't found, at least for the campaign, and so irrelevant. Maybe when asked the occasional person could mention seeing someone like that pass through a few months/weeks back, but frankly, the sister would otherwise only come up in dialogue with the witch.

The opposing force as well only could be a few encounters - replacing a few random encounters, etc. It could be something as simple as when she walks into a pub, the bartender mentions a creepy bunch of dudes in masks where asking about someone of her description, so she might want to be careful as they didn't seem friendly.

Consider backstory as hooks you can build off of when you want to rather than something to have to. When you've continued the campaign and built up your confidence you can introduce more elements such as those mentioned above.

Writing tips:

I just noticed the grammar in the thread name is incorrect. It should be character creating, not character's creating. It is neither plural (characters, as in the group of characters) nor possessive (character's, as in the character's sword) in this case.

Ellipses ( ... ) - don't, basically. You can use these for making a dialogue trail off into silence, or to indicate a sudden silence of the part of a character out out shock, etc. Ellipsis spam irritates me beyond reason. Kindly do not do so, especially to end every paragraph.

[Neyvn]

Ellipses ( ... ) - don't, basically. You can use these for making a dialogue trail off into silence, or to indicate a sudden silence of the part of a character out out shock, etc. Ellipsis spam irritates me beyond reason. Kindly do not do so, especially to end every paragraph.

But. I do trail off...

[Neonivek]

the more you make it distant and include foreign elements the harder it becomes for the DM to make your character alive for you and the party...

You can do it, but there is a trick to incorporating it so that a DM doesn't have to make it a "100 sessions later" sort of deal.

The trick is "Why are you here?".

For example maybe you are from a desert nation across the sea with a culture that is a mishmash between Inuit Culture and the Minoan Cretes. That is fine... But what you want to do is include immediate and present hooks that can easily lock into play with the current game.

Are you hunting a great evil from your land? is there something that can save it in this one? Were you exiled?

The second trick is: "What have you done so far?"

So you are from a desert nation that lives in sand domes and is ruled by goddess priestesses... But you have been here a while, what kind of person does everything think you are? What friends, allies, and enemies have you made since you were here?

The trick is giving the DM enough to work with within the current environment while still giving them the ability to explore yours if they desire.

Of course I am no expert. I am a pretty hack DM

[Carrion]

I decided to go with the exile angle after all.  The backstory is done and I kept it pretty vague.  Basically my character's motivations are to explore, etc., and the rest backstory seems to justify taking the exile trait.  If it's too much, or whatever, I can make things simpler.  Anyway, heeer's Ohathel.

[GiglameshDespair]

Carrion, you need to add your con bonus to health and your dex bonus to AC.

You might want a shield for that extra AC, as well.

[Carrion]

Got 'em, thanks!  I was going to leave the shield out but, you're right, it's probably worth having, just in case.