A sailor unable to tie knots is called the ship's cook

@dane3038

Жыл бұрын

As any sailor will tell you, a sailor who cannot tie a knot is called an "Engineer".

Good piece. In movies the "why become an adventurer" is called the inciting incident. Whether it's "follow the white rabbit" or Storm Troopers raiding your aunt and uncle's farm, it is actually what makes a character interesting. The other element I like to borrow from movies is, "what is the source of conflict?" - what is it that is ruining your character's life? Bad romantic choices, always losing at dice, an arrow to the knee...anything really.

Not for everybody but if you know your group sometimes getting your character to know or have heard of one or 2 other party members helps build groups better. Again this is for a small type of player hut its helped Me and my groups.

@DieDieNacho

2 жыл бұрын

I did this with a recent new character of mine after my last one died. New character (cleric) has heard of the parties exploits and is tasked by his god to help them continue forward.

@meris8486

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah having a chat with the other players about character dynamics is a great idea. Siblings is a good one, maybe bitter ex-lovers who still banter or comrades from a war. All of that is good, after all interacting with fellow party members is a big part of the game.

@Kilbia

2 жыл бұрын

I was going to say this. I *love* Fiasco system's web of connections, and Kids On Brooms has something similar baked in.

@robertmcginty4146

2 жыл бұрын

Definitely true. I started my homebrew campaign with four PCs. I started two of them in prison, and the other two arrived in the town to break ONE of them out. The two rescuers were brother and sister, and I decided the Ranger in prison was their friend whom they heard was imprisoned. But the warlock in prison was a complete stranger, locked up on a different charge. I tasked the warlock with "You're going to have to somehow introduce yourself and convince them to break you out as well." This added SO many layers to the eventual prison break. Warlock decided she was going to have to prove her usefulness. Then we had the fast introductions, one player shouting "I know where the keys are!" and then the "why should I help you?" and "we can do introductions LATER!" So much more detailed than "let's all break out together."

I've been playing for 18 years, and I've yet to see a list of questions that's as effective at creating a backstory as this is. Thank you for this!

Don't be scared to use the official material when it comes to backgrounds. This was something I went through when I was first starting playing ttrpgs - I felt like I needed to make the most unique character ever and I felt like using one of the pre-made backgrounds meant that my character wasn't good enough. But as time went on I figured that these backgrounds can give you something solid to start building on. Your character is going to be unique either way and getting help from the official material can be a great tool (of course, this doesn't work for everyone, but it definitely works for me as a person who is very, very bad at making decisions)

I liked your comments about getting older. This week marks the 40th anniversary of my first game.

@AlanBrookland

2 жыл бұрын

Nice, 1 year to go for my 40th anniversary of D&D gaming

I find giving some info about the character to the DM, that the character itself doesn't know or just had forgotten in the course of his life can be cool. The DM can then implement some interesting tidbits into his own world regarding that. Makes the Universe more creative and can enrich the Game by leaving surprises for the own character or player, if it's not metainformation. Example: I once played a sorcerer and told my DM: “Hey, my character once made a deal with a demon. He does not remember the encounter and if you want, you can decide on what that deal was and how it affects the world he lives in. Don't tell me yet, what it is. I want it to surprise me.” I myself implemented that my character had some abnormal magical sensing, that he could not explain. (Using detect magic here and there) That was my great rollplay quirk of the adventure. And the DM implemented a Storyline about a cursed book related to the Demon into the Game we were playing. Was fascinating!

@arkdeniz

2 жыл бұрын

When you have a group of players you trust you can do a variant of this where another player tells the GM something about your PC that you don’t know/have forgotten. Do this after a couple of sessions and you’ve gotten to know the whole party a bit. Makes the surprise a genuine one.

Somethings I always like to add are hobbies and pet peeves. What does the character like to do in their spare time? Do they carry games with them? What's something that the character finds annoying? What makes them find it annoying?

It might be a bit of a trope but a rival or nemesis can be a lot of fun. Works good as a "mini-boss" along the way of playing the main campaign story.

I like the idea of giving my characters some sort of debilitating flaw or quirk. I know that sounds counter productive but giving your character some sort of paralyzing fear or habitual manurism can make certain interactions A LOT of fun.

@sleepinggiant4062

2 жыл бұрын

Yep! Dementias, phobias, and/or manias can really help add a little something to a character.

@dane3038

Жыл бұрын

GURPS actually has this baked into the character creation system. Check out, GURPS Basic Set, Characters if you want a list of ideas to pull from.

1. My characters tend to be fairly young, in their teens or twenties, so they don't have particularly elaborate work histories. The three I have right now (two current, one pending), Skylar's a bard who worked part-time at a library shelving books and reading stories for children, Chester grew up in public housing and started picking pockets for enough money to survive, and Momoko's a scavenger living off the land in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. 2. Skylar had a psychotic break after her SO died and started modeling herself after the heroes from her favorite books, Chester's being mentored by a professor who caught her trying to rob him and gave her a chance at rehabilitation, momoko definitely needs some work, but at very least her influences include her warlock patron. 3. Skylar's originally from Eberron, currently in Barovia; Chester grew up in a crowded tenement in a busy city, fighting her 12 siblings over table scraps. Momoko lives near a city but not in it, the people in town see her as a bit of a weirdo. 4. Skylar's had a nervous breakdown, Chester was in the right place at the wrong time, Momoko, again needs work, but I'm leaning toward some sort of existential threat. 5. Skylar won't kill unless she absolutely has to. She was traumatized when she killed a revenant, and she still has every intent of befriending Strahd if she can. Chester's top concern is not getting kicked out of a school where she feels like she doesn't belong. Momoko hates her patron and resents that she depends on his strength.

My first character had a full page background. Broken down into paragraphs outlining different times in his life. My next two, I was told to keep it simple. Two or three lines. I kept it to half a page. This last one, over the course of a few sessions, I wrote an entire backstory with another player. Session zero they became cousins. First session the family dynamic was set. By session three, my character was sent by his uncle to watch his cousin and keep him safe while he was adventuring.

@hexidecimark

2 жыл бұрын

Working together with other party members is the way.

This is some great advise. As someone who always DMs it’s a great insight into the players side.

The bonus tip about money is definitely the most interesting to me, I have a pretty fleshed out character right now and it’s the only one I don’t have an intuitive answer for. Definitely will think about it.

A couple side endeavor things that worked out well in the past for me are collections. One character was a (L5R) samurai that also had a passion for tea. He'd buy unique teas in his travels, and share them with people he met along the way, always saving some to give to his parents next time he was home. The other was a barbarian that had learned about mushrooms and herbs from his shaman back home. He wanted to enjoy and bring home the most fun hallucinogen or psychedelic mushrooms to make you trip balls and watch the cosmos turn inside out.

The number one tip to me is bouncing ideas off the DM and both being willing to alter your plans to create a cool character who will fit into the story well.

A question I often ask when creating characters is “What conflict do they have?” Do they have a nemesis, do they dislike another PC, or do they have an internal conflict? Maybe a rogue is unable to enter a town central to a quest due to a bounty, or the dwarf is having doubts about his unwavering loyalty to his people. A good story always includes a conflict for the PCs to overcome, and it is sometimes easier to roleplay anger than it is joy.

@analyticsystem4094

8 ай бұрын

My new Firbolg Swords Bard named Grephyra started adventuring to make new friends and to learn how to accept the death of her wife. She joined a group of body guards for the Prince who as the power to grant wishes. Her wish is to bring her wife back for one last dance (potentially even to revive her if that’s what her wife wants)

A big tip for creating your character’s backstory is to leave the traumatic stuff for the campaign. Yeah, you can include some traumatizing events in your backstory but leave the big stuff to experience during the campaign. My favorite character ever Crackshot had a peaceful backstory where he lived in the Feywild and ran his family’s jam shop. However, during the campaign he experienced losing a friend and the mental side effects of that. He blamed himself for so long since he held firm that he would do anything to protect his friends

For as much as some DMs might discourage it, it's really fun to take comic book characters, or other characters from fantasy settings, and play the "what if" game with them. Like, for example, a character based off of someone like Thragg from the Invincible series, but instead of him being a character whose sole purpose is to expand a militant empire, what if he was a merchant? It helps give a good starting point for making the character more interesting as the campaign goes on. It also gives you an opportunity to play around with adapting a backstory, and adding new elements that are relevant to a lot of the settings used in 5e.

@robertmcginty4146

2 жыл бұрын

I'm about to make the four main characters from Labyrinth into 5E characters and have them do the Lost Mines campaign. There's enough goblins in the beginning to make a smooth transition. 😆

This gave me so much inspiration to flesh out my current Swarm Keeper Ranger!

Probably the best summary of backstory building I’ve watched yet! 👍

Great video. Myself I love the Heroic Chronicle from Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. DNDBeyond did a Sword Coast add on. But it did a great job of giving bullet points for an interesting character background.

Love the suggestions! Always interested in more ways to build better characters. I think in a homebrew setting (or sometimes even established settings that only have a blurb or two), if a PC wants to be from a certain area/town/city etc. I think I actually makes sense for them to contribute to the world building of that area (shout out to Ginny Di's most recent video!). It gives them more investment in the world and makes them actually care if it gets raided by monsters later rather than it just being "insert generic farmtown here".

I would argue that there's a lot of potential in "just being from the starting town." Maybe this is just my perspective as somebody who did move around all the time as a kid, but having a single place that's Your Home is very powerful and meaningful. It informs who you are a *lot.* Having one specific place you've lived in all your life will heavily inform your worldview. You'll have a deep, powerful connection to the people in that one place. You'll be the least comfortable with traveling and being away from home. You'll know that region like the back of your hand. You'll have specific things that you miss so much it aches- stupid things, sometimes, like the sound of that neighbor couple that always gets into fights in the morning or the terrible singing of the friendly local busker. Those little details are also a fantastic way to pull flesh onto your character.

if you are in a homebrew world that still has to be populated, the DM might even tell you to help them create the parts of the world that your character has been in.

@nymusicman

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly what happened to me. I ended up creating most of the politics of the region as I came from a Noble family from a place the DM had only put on a map and not quite fleshed out yet.

@Kilbia

2 жыл бұрын

Yup! The two dwarf PCs were survivors of a conquered city; I literally paid one of them to write up the backstories for the others they hoped to find.

@jgr7487

2 жыл бұрын

@@Kilbia you guys are paying your PCs? I make mine do this type of thing for free

@Kilbia

2 жыл бұрын

@@jgr7487 This was during the early plague years and I wanted to help him out because his work dried up. Had another one build me the eladrin city; same reason. 😇

Since my players don't really roleplay that much, I instead "force" them to share details of their charcaters

Good tips Backgrounds are useful for the player and the DM and helps to role play the character or NPCs.

something i always try to include when building a character is two to three (or more) npc's in their life. doesn't have to be family, or even friends. it can be an ex, a nemesis, your ex-boss, a coworker you keep in touch with. having npc's in their life, no matter how big or small a role, helps to flesh out not just your character's life outside of the present, but also gives the dm some fuel for your character should they ever need it.

and I'm going to take notes on this to put in my DM's and my Charaters Binders for later use.

Our little group is all relatively new to DnD so this advice is awesome. My husband (DM) has played before and is mostly the one comfortable with role playing his character.

for tip number 4 I have found having a more selfish reason such as seeking power or finding a path to ascending to be a god as a great reason to, it allows the DM to bring in those lines and push them to be crossed for number 5. Also allows them to push things with an alignment changing and add much more growth vis RP in the char beyond the backstory.

Something that I think can be fun is giving a character either a scar or a distinguishing tattoo that is a reminder of a pivotal moment from their past that has nothing to do with combat or battle. If it is in an are typically covered by clothing all the better because showing it to the other party members and explaining its significance as they become closer can make for a nice bonding moment.

My character was from a clan of bear hunters, so he was pretty strong. He got accepted into a wizardry school by joining their wrestling team, through a full sports scholarship. Once he graduated as a wizard, he started making research for his PhD on the Effectiveness of Violence in Conflict Resolution of Varying Natures, his thesis was that any conflict could be resolved if you applied the correct amount of violence to solve it, and he strived to discover what that ratio was. For his research, he joined a Pirate Crew by pretending to be a Cook on board the ship, where he just spend his days using Prestidigitation to improve the flavor of anything he cooked. That's how I got my High Strength, Low Intelligence character with levels in Fighter/Wizard/Rogue (We started at 3rd level on that campaign)

I had a DM who solved the 6. point the worst way possible. My character never got much money, and what she got she needed to stock up on weapons and armors, since they broke constantly.

Another thing that I find helps make a character feel connected to the world around them is to have an idea for an npc that the character would know. You then ask your DM if they have an npc that could fit that role. If they do, great. If they don’t, you can flesh out that npc together. Sometimes you might find that the best fit for that role is another player character. My current character is a rune knight fighter who is also the personal bodyguard/surrogate brother of our noble background paladin. It helps to create strong bonds and great RP moments between the party, as well as interesting plot points when our backstories intersect in ways we don’t expect

Thanks for the advice!

Your videos help me so much!

Super early morning upload. 5 a.m. for me

Cody! As DM this is just as good advice for NPCs! Thanks bro!

I once built a Monk character using Rory's Story Cubes. Just by rolling six dice with pictures on them.

Combining this with the optional DMG rules of "personality/background" proficiency would be perfect!!

I’m very proud of my character I’ve made, so I wish to share her concept: A Vengeful Criminal Mother on a Journey to find her lost child. But due to her adopted kind nature, helps the people she meets along the way. (If this is interesting for you, here’s how I laid out her backstory: She’s a Genie Warlock Earth Genasi (her father is the Genie, but she doesn’t know that) She was in prison for stealing, and used mage hand to steal the keys off the guard and unlocked all the cell doors, causing a jailbreak. Criminals praised her, and she works in 2 organizations (Shadow Conclave and Gilded Grip). She met a Shadow Conclave member and he became her partner in crime. Crime partner had a cross country mission, and didn’t know if they’d make it back, so my character agreed to have his kid. 5 years later, single mom character allows her child to go play, and they never return. The castle guards tell her the child’s in the forest. She goes into the forest, and she’s unable to find him. She keeps finding hints of his whereabouts, whether it’s his amulet, a familiar toy, a lead framing an npc, and she begins to believe he was kidnapped. Tldr: - many potential familiar npc’s for dm’s disposal - a strong motivation for adventure - reasons for character to have a change of heart, especially when tasked to help other Pc’s (angry crime mom n all)

Had a DM ask me to make a dwarven clan my dwarven cleric could belong to for his homebrew world, and any dwarf I play has the surname of IronBeard. The IronBeards are a weaker, decentralized clan with no territorial lands, and instead they are merchants and crafters that go where they are needed. They also have adventurers, who are looked down upon a little by the others, but all IronBeards have one solid rule: Never turn your back on an IronBeard in need. So my DM always has an instant plot hook to get my PC involved no matter what else is going on.

I like knowing what motivates a character as well as having the group make them together. You can really solve a lot of issues by having someone go "wait hold on you're a vampire? I'm a vampire hunter" prior to the session starting and refining things by workshopping them. Writing your party into the world a bit can also help- if someone wants to go be a bird person in your setting, maybe that campaign has bird people in it now, even if it didn't before or they just take a backseat "live in these uninhabited mountains" role. Likewise, if your player defines how a town is as per the video? Perhaps that's enough to start seeding a new nation, and you can ask them about the town's culture and such to shape it in the background, all the while strengthening their character while the rest of the party spitballs ideas around. As for motivation, the Magic the Gathering color wheel works super well, esp. when the group all share a color but differ in others. It's simple, easy to expand on, and keeps people well informed in a way that they can easily avoid doing something that'd unintentionally tick off their party. I find that this also tends to keep the conflicts more constructive.

Your trolling is loved ❤️

Personally, I think Cody streaming with the Smartass Army is a good way to help build character.

Personally #4 shocked me. This is my favorite part of character creation. Former guard wanted for a crim other guards are framing him for. Barbarian tribe that offered him up as a sacrifice to a dragon. Chief's wife went missing,he went to find her but now he is broke, but couldn't find a cooking job in the current town. Noble who sees his the nobility as trash and wants nothing to do with it. Or my newest one that I want to try out, a warlock who is a drug addict, part of the agreement is that the warlock gets drugs, but does what ever the patron tells him to do.

These are all great tips for creating and writing a good character to roleplay but I would like some actionable tips for actual roleplay. Something like knowing how a character would react if a dog is being abused is cool and all but that would mean you'd just have to wait for a dog to be abused to roleplay that particular aspect. I think something like, "don't be afraid to narrate what your character does, in order to roleplay, instead of acting is a good roleplaying tip".

We're starting a new campaign before the end of the year, and I gave a nickname to my next character and an explanation of how that nickname came about.

The best DM I had used our backstories and would give us secret messages when traveling based on it. Stuff like “you’ve been in this town before and recognize some of the people.” “This person was a family friend growing up.” “This person sold you into slavery when you were a child. It was amazing to play in his worlds because the interactions we got between the other players and the NPCs were so enriched when we had prompts like that when adventuring.

Honestly a player with a simple background is fine too. I had a player that was a half-orc house wife and when her son became of age and left the house, her character left to see the world. Simple background but it really made a funny and cool character.

I think your usage of Injustice undermines your aversion to the alignment system. Supes is Lawful Good (as is Batman), crossing that line took him down the path of a Lawful Evil dictator. The implication of Batman crossing that line is that he'll become Chaotic Good, at best, and potentially much worse.

I like saying to my players give me 3 goals for your character: 1 short term (could be completed in the first arc), 1 greater goal (what most would say as a "life ambition" or the eventual end they'd like the character to achieve), and then the last one is a "perfect world" goal. This could be if you had the power to change one thing about the world what would it be? Or it could be "what does your characters perfect death look like" (is it in the arms of those they love peaceful, or dying saving a friend). Really sets up what a player wants to see from their character in the immediate and longer term, and helps direct their actions early on.

IN our Rime of the Frost Maiden game, i have a wizard that is from the Halruaan capitol city of Halaraah who was given the task of traveling to the 10 towns region in an attempt to discern what magic is at play with ultimate goal of ACQUIRING the power for the Halaraan wizarding council. as yet, his party companions are unaware of his true motives. :)

The advice I give for background is: 1. Who are you? Who-who, who-who? 2. What have you done? What do you want to do? 3. Why did you do those things? Why do you want to do those things? 4. Cotton Eye Joe. Where did you come from, where did you go? 5. Try to have it in 5 short paragraphs or less.

Something cool that has started to emerge in my party this week is a good cop-bad cop motif. Our bard is good at gathering info and talking to upstanding citizens. Meanwhile my LE githyanki that doesn't like/understand customs questioning people on the streets differ from the monk city guard being played by an irl prison guard that takes the time to talk to even prison regulars. Finding these dynamics in a party help everyone play off each other and include everyone at the table.

I'll admit I was one of those who love to play lone wolf characters when I was going through my teenage years.

Unless it's an intentional character choice, you should know some people. Have a few connections to the world. Friends family rivals etc. If you're new to the area why did you come and where/who did the knowledge come from that sent you there. Are you seeking friends etc. I'd say most humanoids are social creatures and should want to make connections for one reason or another. This doesn't mean you hand your DM a list of NPCs and their backstories and officiating but some bullets saying you have a sister in the area and what her name is. Maybe you communicate some way and recieve letters from her as you move town to town. Maybe she sends gifts or you send her coin whatever. All that can come out in role play and might help you DM out too as they need to populate the world with some of this stuff anyhow. IMO always better to have you 'contact for a job' actually be someone a character in the party knows and would have reason to trust (or not trust). Some relationships let you show another side to your character. For those Firefly fans out there I know it was awesome seeing Jane recieve the package from his mother and this crude barbarian type show a softer caring side and give him some new depth on why he always is worried about getting paid. It's not like you ever really see him buy anything with his cut but you learn he sends some at the very least home to help his mother. Maybe that cocky Bard all the ladies love is a total fool for around the girl back home he left to impress. Maybe you rogue cutthroat used to be such a nice guy but did some hard time taking the fall for a brother who later betrayed him. All of these connection make for cool story reveals to your party and can be fun to clue your DM on before a game where you might see some opportunity for a cool reveal.

My richest character has 1100pp. He was a Half Elf Noble from a place in Faerun that was not welcoming of Elves. Because of his heritage, he couldn't inherit his father's lands or titles, so he had to venture forth as an adventurer to claim his own wealth, and possibly attain enough coin to purchase favor and a barony of his own from another, more welcoming, Kingdom.

I'm about to play a dragonborn from Tymanther who's traveled to Candlekeep, worked there for a while, then a Balder's Gate, then north to Neverwinter. He was exiled from Tymanther and the family pariah because he practices blood magic (new Wizard subclass from Matt Mercer) and that's taboo there. He was saved from an attacker in Balder's Gate by another of the party members and now feels indebted to him. Friend party member is cursed and my character is going to try to help lift the curse, but his longterm goals are to return home and redeem himself in the eyes of his country and family and show them the way he's using blood magic isn't nefarious. I'm going to go with "a stranger in a strange land" for him. Hopefully have some cultural or even language based misunderstandings :D and a drive to quietly prove himself as being worthwhile, as he feels abandoned by his country and family, despite still loving both.

I took a page from Spider-Man 3 and the Sandman's origin. Sick daughter. To get expensive healing, he stole from his job and got fired from the City Watch and got sent to prison. While in prison, his wife left him and took the now cured girl to places unknown. His motivation is to be reunited with his daughter. But divination magic is very expensive and he has no leads, so he has to take the risky prospect of adventuring since he can't go back to law enforcement and no one wants to hire a thief to guard their stuff, so what is an ex-con 1st level fighter supposed to do? To play up his motivation, I created a keepsake from his daughter. A flagon with the words "World's Best Dad" on it, decorated by his girl and given to him before she got sick. (I also went out and bought a mug with the same message to use at the table, to remind everyone of his motivation) Whenever he is tempted to take the easy way out or lose his temper or do anything less heroic than his daughter thought of him back in the day, he touches his flagon on his belt and says "Never Again". He knows he is racing against time. He needs to get back to her before she moves on without him.

My go to thing whenever I play is “a family member is killed by others when I was to young to fight back and when I got older I never forgot and am out searching for those who killed that family member and others in the town that I was born and raised in

A goblin artificer (alchemist) who went to witherbloom. He went there to study medicine but got kicked out for selling dorm made beer. He want to find a true cure all and monopolize it.

Im playing a horror campaing. And my character is an aberrant mind sorcerer who was abducted for a ritual by cultists but it "failed" and I died, but i came back as a hexblood with some extra powers. Las session we were in some catacombs we rolled super poorly like all six of us, we just knew the symbol was from a cult but no more info so i asked "given my backstory, can I know sometjing ablut this" he gave me an inteligence roll and he tied it beutifully how my head started hjrting (thats where the parasite is) having flash backs of me on the table being experimented on and shit, and i saw glimpses of the symbol of their coat, the same one from the catacombs, it csme all crashing down, had my its so raven moment with the flashback jajaja

Me: "What made you decide to start adventuring?" Edgelord: "Nothing. I just want to lurk in my corner so everyone will know how cool I am."

i brg to differ, my charecter didnt choose to leave, he was violently kidnapped, enslaved, and then told by his patreon more or less what to do. Sure.. you can say he chooses to obey his patreon... but given the terms of his contract even that is a stretch ;P Great video, thank you :D

Dm tip: allow the players to build the world for you. Have them describe what their home town/city and environment looked and felt like. Describe if it was a cold winter village or a port city full of crime. Then build off of that and tell the players the names of those cities. It has worked best for my current campaign and allowed for a dynamic large world without me doing all the work

I've written this 16 questions early this year to inspire my players to go deep into the their BG. It is not a thing that they must to fully complete, and/or to write a ton of stuff. It just to guide them to make a well round PC. 01. Is this character a hero (in the most fantasy based manner possible)? 02*. Who is the most important person/creature to you? Responsible for shaping your world view, your goals, your personality… someone that you wish to be alike and/or think about every time you are passing through tough times or enjoying a nice moment? 03. How did you learn your Traits, Powers and Weapons techniques? 04. Why do you leave your life behind to become an adventurer? 05. What is your immediate goal that brought you to the place you are right now? 06.Are you religious and/or superstitious? 07. Are you merciful, willing to take huge steps and sacrifices to prevent unnecessary harm or suffering to others, even villains or wrongdoers? 08. Why you are/aren’t merciful? 09. Where were you born and where did you grow up? 10. What is your relationship with your parents and siblings? 11. What is their opinion on your adventuring lifestyle? 12. Where are your family now and what are they doing? 13. What were you doing before becoming an adventurer (like a profession or hobby)? 14. What do you miss from that time before adventuring? 15. And what do you really don’t miss or are glad to leave behind? 16. What is the temptation that would cause the character to “fall from grace”? To me, as a DM, is to reach out to their answers and build the campaing and adventures closer to home, more personal. A lack of response is a response too, so I tend to fill the blanks with stuff that they might like. * The 2nd I've just included here.

Is that thumbnail from Neverwinter's Bard Class reveal?

I'm playing a farm hand and the lady that owned the farm killed a man. I helped her break out of jail and now we are on the run. Since I never killed anything with a sword or axes I self imposed a disadvantage on all my attack rolls until I felt the character learned how to fight in a combat situation. It has been a lot of fun.

#4 is the Big one that I always tell new Players. You were . What happened that gave you level 1 in a class? Also, (for PCs not starting at level one) is I ask them to come up with one (CR appropriate) sentence for each level. (ie a Folk Hero/Fighter 3 might say "I was a baker and we were attacked by goblins. I fought them off but they kidnapped my sister. [1st] I tracked them to their nest with some other villagers. We snuck in, freed them, and escaped. [2nd] We knew the goblins would attack again so we planned a full assault. The goblin boss and I were on death's door. He came in for the killing blow and I knew I was finished, but at the last instant I felt a surge of power deep within knock his shot wide and I stabbed him through the throat ending the goblin threat. [Eldritch Knight... artistic license. 😜 ]

New sub here. Late to the party, early to the game.

I never ask for written backgrounds. I'm not interested in 3000 words of past accomplishments that you somehow achieved before level 1. Plus I have better things to do. Let's see if I can remember my seven question I ask all new players 1-to-1 at session zero: What do you love/value the most? What do you hate/combat the most? What would you kill for/die for/live at all odds for? What will you never do? What do you see as your end goal for this character? What's your method for achieving that end? What's your character's downfall? (more than just a flaw, like "I'm arrogant". It's more like "I can never ever turn down a dare. I have an addiction to alcohol. My temper is one ember away from blowing up at all times. It's something a villain or the story can use against them) These tend to lead to follow up questions. Wizards who reply "knowledge", or warriors that say "glory" or Rogues that say "money" to "what do you love most" get a repeat of that question. Basically "Yeah, we all get that. You're a (insert class). Do better. What did you love most BEFORE becoming (insert class). If you WANT to play a 2 dimensional cardboard parody of a class, go ahead, but don't expect extra effort on my part to include hooks for you in the story. Ya gotta meet me halfway.

Holy shit !!I I wrote the perfect backstory !!

Skalthrax the Decapitator, seeks the skulls of worthy opponents to offer to Bhaal. Sure he's a chaotic evil barbarian, but murdering random puny villagers is not worthy of his skill! Also re: lone wolf types. My solution is 'bye felicia' - why would you trust someone who doesn't want to work at least nominally as a team? Like we're not all in this tavern at 1st level getting a quest to then have to try to convince you to come along. More loot for us, less drama! To quote a mtg card: the lone wolf dies alone!

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

City of Mist has a incredible character creation system that makes the character extremely alive. It gives you a origin story "Back story.", a few major things about your character and with that 4 boons and 1 bane. The boons can be just about anything but often a good character trait like loving/kind/peaceable and boons like can't swim or prideful or other characteristics like a drunkard ect. Love that system. Tldr give your character a flaw, humans are horribly flawed so they are unrealist if perfect.

You should make more “kill your party with” videos. Those are mad. I nominate devils.

#3 should be pretty limited when starting at level 1, don't include things in your background that imbalance the game (friend to the king). #4 - include all life-changing events. I don't think characters choose to adventure, they are born that way. #5 - alignment is a guideline and roleplaying tool to help you play your character, not rules. I love #6. I try and have my players include goals, but they never do. I'm going to specifically include money goals. Thanks! For additional roleplaying tips, include things your character dislikes, and even fears.

@chiepah2

2 жыл бұрын

Friend to a king can be fine, because the king can be torn between friendship and loyalty to the kingdom. The king can become a very good way to direct your players. In fact any powerful figure is fine, they are busy protecting the fabric of reality, but they can tell you about a dungeon with a magic item that might help solve your problem.

@sleepinggiant4062

2 жыл бұрын

​@@chiepah2 - Small favors to a king are extremely powerful when first starting out (things that they would not be torn about). Friendship is too much, perhaps 'owes you a favor' would be more appropriate.

@chiepah2

2 жыл бұрын

@@sleepinggiant4062 Very true, but at first level you can always have the advisors and guards just preventing you from seeing the king. Having him be busy with a war or sick would be a great way or even on a diplomatic mission to delay how useful he can be to the party.

Its summer ... #bringbackmohawkcody !!!!

How about: toss the alignement chart into the nearest dumpster and play the character as you want. Just be consistent with your morality and decisions.

I have a character waiting for an upcoming new campaign. A Wood Elf Ranger who had lost himself in madness trying to reintegrate into society, basically he's a total edge lord who doesn't want to be any more. My plan is to RP so he slowly opens up to the group during their adventures so that eventually they become his new family.

"This is the boring part of the books" Cough. Have you read them? Past the 4th its all politics and no monsters

Injustice is not a marvelous anything. DCous, maybe.

One thing my DM all but insists upon is what antagonistic forces do we have in our backgrounds. Are they a combative threat such as the brigand gang we were a part of but abandoned to save our own skins? Is it a social threat such as a spurned lover that has tanked a player's reputation in an area that will make activities more difficult due to her name being mud? Is it a political threat where they were evicted from their homes because of a racist noble declaring that no tiefling may inhabit his lands and driving them all out and means that any travel to those areas will need to be covert and/or strictly illegal works? Have we been declared heretics by members of our own faith for following a newer/older doctrine that those who maintain the status quo find abhorrent but may in fact be more pleasing to our deity? Has it resulted in having services at temples withdrawn or increased in cost or do you have inquisitors hunting you down for your faith? Maybe it doesn't tie in to the big bad and it certainly overlaps with the adventurers trigger but it gives the DM more to work with than 'people like me' or ' I have no enemies for I killed them all'. Plus it can tie into the arc your character goes through, for good or ill.

JESUS CHRIST, CODY, GO BACK TO BED!

My character is a 15 year old who's had 5 different jobs, travelled the world(s) and has been slaying dragons... Not wrong but not convincing. Why is this world traveller lvl 1. Why did killing an orc give more experience than 5 jobs and years of travel? A young one who hasn't travelled the world is fine. Who has only ever been a moistfarmer. Look at Luke Skywalker. DND is a lot more like Lukes story. You have lived for 25ish years and now suddenly in a week ingame you will grow from level 1 to level 3-4 probably.

Tip 1: Play a game that's better for roleplaying and not a class based dungeon crawler

This is in the Top 5 RPG YT videos from what I have seen. And I go all the way back to Woodwwad and Counter Monkey era. Excellent!