Hmm.... your ambitious character, *Icarus* , is never able to be played, and all the effort wasted... Similar to the story of Icarus.

@ethanwhite2210

5 жыл бұрын

Flew too close to the sun on wings of scrawled backstory notes.

@patchoulimaru6369

5 жыл бұрын

Maybe this is why kid icarus won't get another game

@icarusfalls8723

5 жыл бұрын

Icarus you say, seems like I'm cursed too sometimes so it works XD

@brandondennis5166

4 жыл бұрын

@@patchoulimaru6369 Nah, it's 'cause he never learned to read.

@Vitamin_Gun

4 жыл бұрын

Appledirt Careful, Icarus.

6 days of D&D a week your living the dream buddy

@ethsy77

5 жыл бұрын

some reason all I can think of for a character trait is that they are alcoholics or have a gambling addiction or both

@ethsy77

5 жыл бұрын

somehow I made 2000 platinum

@cameronscott9399

5 жыл бұрын

@Maximilian L it's multiple different campaigns and different dms

@DevilfishFace

5 жыл бұрын

I can't even find 1

@darienb1127

5 жыл бұрын

I can only do two games at a time before it becomes too much. Too much to remember and switch between

1) Start with an idea of what you want your character to be 2) Choose different Class/Race/Spells etc to fit your goal. 3) Realize your character is nothing like what you were aiming for. 4) Somehow this new character is the best thing you have ever created (until your next character, of course)

@happymilk7433

4 жыл бұрын

5. Repeat until you give up on your dreams

@theraven5850

4 жыл бұрын

Just come up with something vague and build off it as you get integrated into the campaign. Your character's backstory when you initially join should be 3 sentences. As the campaign progresses you can build off the idea. Doing more than that is kind of antisocial and unnecessary.

@user-kx8pu6ys5i

3 жыл бұрын

@@theraven5850 dumb, weird, clumsy

@rotaderp88

3 жыл бұрын

@@user-kx8pu6ys5i congrats you’re character had a brain tumor!

@Cloud_Seeker

2 жыл бұрын

My best character was made as a throw away character, but suited exactly into what the party needed. Everything about him made perfect sense into what he used to be so he became much better because he achieved exactly what I aimed for. Someone that can do hit and run attacks and just run away from danger and snipe from far away.

Damn you must be a powerful warlock with these patrons

@InquisitorThomas

5 жыл бұрын

Gareth I wish my Great Old One would pay for my Chinese Take out.

@stellarkat4657

4 жыл бұрын

One of the best comments I've ever seen.

@nedflandersmustache

3 жыл бұрын

The god of mimics he mentioned would probably make him dip into cleric

@Fishcrab

3 жыл бұрын

Divvy is the patron. He dispenses his wisdom, in exchange for our time, money, Chinese takeout and our firstborn children

Step 1: scour Pinterest for an Aesthetic™ Step 2: pour your heart and soul into a backstory Step 3: Panic at the onset of the first game, forget your character voice, and completely change the character to fit the new voice and the way you're now playing them while keeping only the vaguest sense of the original Aesthetic™ Step 4: profit

@niklas9848

3 жыл бұрын

Ohhhh yes xD

My most recent character is a bard. But instead of your average "smooth talking, lute playing, lady slaying" bard, she's a friendly but ditzy band geek who's actually the tanky frontline and main healer of the party. She even refers to her party members as their instruments instead of their names, (it's an all bard party) in the same way a marching band would.

@droopsmoop

5 жыл бұрын

TRUMPET JUST STAB THE DRAGON ALREADY

@bainbonic

5 жыл бұрын

Okay that's actually a really cool character.

@leirawhitehart1236

4 жыл бұрын

Wow, that sounds really fun! I'm going to play a bard too, and after watching this video, I hope to make her backstory more palatable. I've never played d&d before, so I'm trying to get as prepared as I can before the day comes when I get to play for the very first time! I hope the game is fun, the people are nice, and that we overall have a great time!

@aisekrem3216

4 жыл бұрын

Leira Whitehart I HOPE THE SESSION WENT WELL

@datalysjr3339

4 жыл бұрын

Reads character: oh nice Sees all bard party: *oh no*

When the palidan breaks there oath Cleric:"YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!" Oath breaker palidan: *COMMAND: SLEEP*

@Max3110

4 жыл бұрын

I wanted to say you wrote paladin wrong... till i got it... I like ur comment

@KingHenryIX

4 жыл бұрын

Their*

@mr.perish6799

2 жыл бұрын

@@Max3110 whats the joke?

@Max3110

2 жыл бұрын

@@mr.perish6799 yoo that’s like two years ago and honestly I don’t remember but my guess would be palidan ≈ padawan

@mr.perish6799

2 жыл бұрын

@@Max3110 thank you for the quick reply

Last time i was this early, I was a rogue swashbuckler with +10 to initiative

@icarusfalls8723

5 жыл бұрын

+10? Weak XD +12 gloomstaker ranger, level 8 atm

@AbelDuviant

5 жыл бұрын

Lmao, I've an Eldritch knight with +9 to initiative Edit: level 8

@coolbricks63

5 жыл бұрын

Same cheif same

@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar

4 жыл бұрын

And alert

@GLAIVEDEVIL

3 жыл бұрын

Bard/rouge with +18

DM:Why are you a Druid? Player:My parents died DM:Yea I know but- Player:ITS SSOOO SAD DM: It doesn’t fit your happy go lucky- Player: I thought that you only need dead parents to explain behavior!

@dogdogdraws2352

5 жыл бұрын

Technically. If you think about it... that happening is the META of quickly making up a backstory x3 Since it can be bent and morphed to fit so many different scenarios

@Mikey-zj8bn

5 жыл бұрын

Wait I'm told I'm happy go lucky and my rents are dead...

@isaacschmitt4803

5 жыл бұрын

Ugh, my room mate's girlfriends is playing an edgelord druid in his Strahd campaign. Literally none of her actions mesh with the character she has written.

@itzplant3196

5 жыл бұрын

(Disclaimer :Not to nit pick I just love ideas n shit) I mean maybe the character is trying to be go-lucky because they died and is trying to run from the grief and at some point breaks that down and finally deals with it head on.

@shandaniel2999

5 жыл бұрын

Itz Plant that character has been done a lot. Some examples of this done really well are half the characters from the anime seven deadly sins (mostly in the second season) as well as a certain character from Undertale that I refuse to spoil. Just some examples if you want to make a character like that.

The backstory of my current character, a fighter, is that he got bored of being a guard and left, that's it

@HexManiac-nf1yg

4 жыл бұрын

Hope they don't get shot in their knee and are forced back into being a gaurd

@LePoetKing

3 жыл бұрын

@@HexManiac-nf1yglol i laughed so hard at this

@garrondumont7891

3 жыл бұрын

Did you steal my brain? I recently thought of a variant human cavalier with polearm master I want to play. He was a member of the city watch and one day he leaves. No reason in particular, he just fancied going on an adventure.

@piotrdaniel3829

3 жыл бұрын

Same

" 'Cause reading is for nerds" realizes he's a DM in a D&D group

@feeshofyeet5011

4 жыл бұрын

That plays six times a week

I think the reason why your character is cursed, maybe down to the name Icarus. Yeah with a name like that, it sounds like it was doomed to fail from the start but maybe one day your one armed wizard will get his spot light.

A good litmus test for how much a DM will mine your character's back story for stuff that comes up in a campaign is to look at how they view the mechanics and flavor behind character backgrounds. If your DM just says, "Okay, you have two skills one tool and a ribbon ability that makes us not have to talk about where you guys find food, how much you pay for boat rides and hotel rooms, or how often NPCs think you bathe." then don't expect them to read the mini novel that explains why your character parts his hair to the left instead of the right. If when the DM asks about backgrounds they have you explain the order, gang, mercenary company, monastery, college, or other organization your Background is tied to in their world, asks for notable NPCs that you character knows from their past, and then pulls out the Guild Master's Guide to Ravnica and has you pick 5 or 6 extra flaws, bonds, traits, and contacts. Then you know that the amount of back story and character motivation you put in will impact how much the DM will favor your character's epic, novel length, origin story.

@teejaykaye4357

5 жыл бұрын

...I mean that's roughly accurate but I feel like a DM handwaving minute game mechanics isn't necessarily a sign they won't care about backstory. My own personal DMing style involves me handwaving what the party pays for inns, food, and transport because I don't care about bogging the game down with that, because I prefer focusing on exploring the character backstories and the combat and the plot.

@CitanulsPumpkin

5 жыл бұрын

@@teejaykaye4357 I'm not just talking about hand waving. I'm talking about how the DM perceives that one subset of the rules. If the DM just looks at the base mechanics of that rules set and no deeper then yes, it's a cheap way to hand wave minor details. That DM probably won't get invested in a magnum opus on a character's backstory. If the DM looks at the flavor, context, subtext, and expandable options of that rules set as the starting point of a conversation then that DM will most likely be open to "exploring the character backstories."

When I'm lucky enough to not be DM'ing, I like making short, vague little backstories that connect me to the setting somehow and give my DM ammunition to get the party in trouble down the line. Current character is a con-man wizard who flunked out of mage college, lied to his parents about it, and recently caused a small peasant uprising through a convoluted insurance fraud scheme.

@gingermcgingin4106

2 жыл бұрын

2 years later, how'd things work out for con-wiz?

@S-Flo

2 жыл бұрын

@@gingermcgingin4106 campaign fizzled out. Waiting to use the idea again.

@alexblanco7494

2 жыл бұрын

@@S-Flo makes sense

Can we acknowledge the photo of old man Henderson?

@garvinanders2355

5 жыл бұрын

Where are his Wee Men!?!

@kalenotoole

5 жыл бұрын

"Is Henderson your first or last name?" "I have no fuckin clue"

Whenever I make a character, I don't some much focus on their backstory, but rather focus on what aspect of myself is this character going to represent, and then go from there. I think having this philosophy is a very simple way to make a character feel more genuine and realistic. Rift: The Warforged Wizard. Is my creativity and problem solving Umet: The Lizardfolk Gunslinger. Is me back in elementary school, making weird noises and chasing other kids around the playground pretending I'm some kind of monster. Giovanni: The Earth Gensai Druid: Is the part of me, that doesn't really like me. Closed off and self-doubting but opens up and becomes more confidant through the help of the party. And my biggest challenge yet is going to be Swift-slash: The Tabaxi Kensai Monk. Who is going to represent my femininity, despite being a male myself. I use these concepts as a foundation and then let them grow naturally. And I love each and everyone of my characters. Thanks for reading, I hope you at least found this interesting and feel free to steal it for yourself.

@martingammill-beck5846

5 жыл бұрын

I have been trying to subscribe to this philosophy since my first character and it seems to work, at least on an emotional level.

@CelestialKitsune975

4 жыл бұрын

Hey! I also do that! (The comment, not the reply)

The goblin example is exactly what I did with my Kobold, just an evil little lizardboi who will constantly get panicked, constantly get paranoid, but will always swagger up if he thinks he can get away with something. Also just constantly enabling teammates to do stuff rather than doing anything directly himself.

My favorite character is named Jeffery, he's a human fighter from a family of paladins who has his whole life tried and failed to be a paladin despite studying religion keeping to a lawful good moral and ethical code he was just never the gods cup of tea. (Because Charisma is his dump stat) and has to deal with specifically not being the chosen one in a family of divinely ordained chosen ones doing his best. I did everything to express this mechanically instead of the more knightly sword and shield he wields a halberd and he is a battlemaster fighter who uses a lot of the tricky positioning things. He also through his background is trained in medicine and religion which shows how hard he tried to do these things but was just never found worthy. Meanwhile most of his family gets their first level of paladin when they turn about ten and a holy beam of light comes down and the gods angels specifically tell them they're special and good. His adventuring career began when his family assembled to defend a castle and it's lords and princess from a band of invading orcs and he arrived late grabbed a dead guards halberd and started protecting the actual townsfolk instead since he was outside in the field realizing that his smaller scale approach might just do some good while his family was dealing with fate and destiny and all that. He also cannot be knighted because knighthood in his family is only granted once they actively display paladin powers, specifically when they can Lay on Hands.

@Smashface_McBourbondick

4 жыл бұрын

I doubt you care too much but shields aren't actually very knightly, in most periods the majority of people from all social classes would use shields, and during the late middle ages most nobles actually stopped using shields because the armour did a good enough job on its own.

@Ourodracos

4 жыл бұрын

Sean Steele Dude, that’s awesome! I’ll bet that was a fun character to roleplay as.

@LupineShadowOmega

4 жыл бұрын

Interesting, I've had a similar character, but mine was Storm Sorcerers. Ragal is the second son of an ancient bloodline of Storm Sorcerers, they live atop this massive mountain and connect to a snare in the weave which is probably the reason for their family's power in the first place. They're venerated as wisemen and spellcasters of unimaginable power. Except Ragal, who never manifested any sorcerous might and frankly put was a bit of a disappointment to his father. So instead of just being looked down on by his family, and waiting around for a power that might never come...he decided to worship Aerdrie Faenya and be a Tempest Cleric. He now travels around with a band of adventurers as a way of understanding the deeper mysteries of the maelstrom (plus his goddess dictates a wanderer's lifestyle), to gain more of the personal power that he always craved, but also to understand the power that his family has always wielded.

@aidanmckuen1252

4 жыл бұрын

I didnt read just because it's a human fighter

@seansteele6532

4 жыл бұрын

@@aidanmckuen1252 Fair

Old man Henderson is the frickn fracking best example of a long backstory and a really hood one

DONT MAKE AN EDGY LONER PLZ AND THX OK BYE

@Leivve

5 жыл бұрын

But he's SO CUUL! He's way cooler then the normal edgelords people play. I swearz!

@Tiyev

5 жыл бұрын

Or, failing that, make an edgy loner, but at the very least, give him a reason to tolerate, and preferably straight up agree to, working together with the rest of the party.

@bainbonic

5 жыл бұрын

I once had an edgy style character who in reality, and in private or when with only his party members, was the biggest nerdish goofball and ditz you can possibly imagine, but as a mercenary he figured that if he built up a fearsome reputation then he could sell his services for more money than if he was known for being walking comedic relief, so he put on a big public show about being the biggest edgelord style character you can possibly imagine and went to extreme lengths to cultivate and protect this image.

@residentfacehead3465

4 жыл бұрын

You can make a dark and sad character but you have to put some effort into making it. One of my favorite characters was a warlock who had his youth stolen from him by his patron and is now forced to live as an old man, causing him to become nihilistic and depressed.

@Icipher353

4 жыл бұрын

What about an edgy loner who has avoidant personality disorder but who desperately craves human connection and constantly struggles with his fear of caring about his comrades in case they die or reject him, so he always keeps them at arms length with his aloof demeanour despite secretly caring about them a great deal?

Davvy: "What's a Yuan-ti again?" Me, who is watching him play a Yuan-ti in Belkinus Necro Hunt: "You clever boy you! Well done"

How do you find/make the time to run SIX GAMES A WEEK!?! And play in so many games all at once?

@MrRourk

5 жыл бұрын

I know what a slacker only 6? Taking a whole 24hrs off?

Your point about Goblins is totally valid. In our Curse of Strahd game im playing a Goblin Warlock. His name is Nub Nub the great and powerful, he loves shiny things and Booyahg. And to be honest its probably the most fun ive had role playing in a while since his the party psychopath who constantly makes fun of "normal" people.

Also: I'm playing a Goblin dexterity based Barbarian. For funsies.

No, they are a fallen Aasimar assassin who murdered their family

@shanerooney7288

5 жыл бұрын

Backstory: ~ Edgelord. See, it is easier to read in dot-point form.

@isamuddin1

5 жыл бұрын

Almost get raped by pixie at young age....

@itzplant3196

5 жыл бұрын

Or to make extra edge "they didn't realize theyre an aasimar until one day the got so angry that they pulsed with dark energy killing everything in a 125 meters in diameter and they're og parents died in an unjust trial of the murder of a noble man." Fuck I feel some of that edge

@itzplant3196

5 жыл бұрын

@@isamuddin1 ....weird fetish there...

@isamuddin1

5 жыл бұрын

@@itzplant3196 its not fetish it's a backstory, reason why characters hate pixie....

Make long elaborate backstories is literally the best part of DND. I've been doing it for years and years, and I highly encourage my players to do it for the sessions I run. Literally my favourite thing ever.

@Cloud_Seeker

4 жыл бұрын

There is a thing called to much backstory as well. You don't for example need to describe every single year of the 17 years the Rogue have been alive.

@ddisaster626

Жыл бұрын

@@Cloud_Seeker People say this whenever the topic of long backstories come up and, in my experience, none of us who enjoy in depth backstories ever say noting down every single thing in their entire life is a requirement from the start.

I remember my first character backstory I was proud of. It was a Hexblade Warlock. Basically, he was an heir to be of a noble house among a kingdom built upon them. (lorebuilding within the world) Once whilst on his way from a lesson in the arts of conversation (why I gave him Persuasion proficiency) the carriage driver turned out to be a kidnapper within the local gang. They tortured him for days on end, sending visions of the acts into the minds of his parents until they gave in and gave them pretty much everything they had, and were taken to an unknown location that nobody knows, left for dead. The kid was released, and grew up dishonored and helpless. He kept going, but eventually was almost dead from starvation. And that's when he came across a Hexblade altar, almost out of nowhere. The DM took a liberty with Hexblade, and I got a Swordstaff, Togrox. Basically it was about how he survived the Lorain event that caused the apocalypse of the main story, and started a rather fun side story that the party had with another noble house having completely absorbed his, and his quest for vengeance against the people who ruined his life.

I love how you put Old Man Henderson in this. He's a perfect example of how a backstory can be over-the-top ridiculous and still work, and how the same goes for the James-Bond type spy made to help Henderson de-rail the campaign and how he worked even though he had a pretty simple backstory. I was about to say how he had a simple backstory, but then I remembered that the whole reason he was so ridiculous was that he had a 300-page backstory.

My personal biggest piece of advice for character building if you want your character to be strong in roleplay: Motivation, Motivation, Motivation. In my time on both sides of the screen, I have noticed that the strongest roleplay comes from characters with clear wants and goals. Take for example these two characters I made. Tallie was a rogue whose motivations were to "protect the people I love." She had lost a couple of people within a short span of time and had decided she never wanted to go through that again if she could help it. So she did everything in her power to keep that from happening. Which happened to be starting a revolution and taking down a corrupt government, because they were a threat to her found family. Your motivations don't have to be big. They can be small and personal, and they can fuel massive actions. In contrast, take Vaadi. A warlock whose motivation was.... nothing. she didn't care about anything and basically only went where her patron pointed her. which might have been a fun concept if the patron had had motivations, and she could have acquired her own motivations via working with the party and gaining connections to the world and to characters, but her patron was just a neutrally aligned merrow who really only wanted wealth for herself. Vaadi was by far one of my weakest characters, because I didn't really have anything for her to go off of......

I remember DMing for the first time, I had three players give me their backstories, to three levels of detail. Literally perfect for an example. The first player sent me a four-page google doc of the narrative of how his story starts; how a ruthless false king invaded the castle, met the true king in the throne room announced that the king had stolen the throne from his family, then killed the royal family in a horrifying bloodbath. The king's final words were to a loyal servant, telling him to go protect his son. The servant nodded, and ran down the stony corridors of the castle, then barged into the prince's room. They had no time, and they needed to flee. He took the boy bla bla bla and now he wants his throne back. The second player picked a few things from the world doc I sent them, and made their character from a place, gave her a character-defining event and a goal, then I rolled with it. The third had a single character quirk, an accent, and didn't belong anywhere. I have no problem with any of these, and I'm actually super happy that they didn't write a character that contradicts the basic worldbuilding that I'd done. But the first one is *mostly* things I can't do anything with; unless the last thing the king had said was something that stuck with that character for their entire life and influenced how they acted, I do not need to know what words were exchanged in the throne room that night.

I have a fallen Aasimar warlock of Nehkbet (forgotten goddess of vultures, disease, and protection) written up who writes himself off as a human follower of the Raven Queen whenever anyone asks him about his divine-esque powers and semi necrotic appearance. He is actively trying to run from his past but his Aasimar heritage constantly fights him to “do the right thing”. And as a little bullet point of quirkinesses, he’s attracted to those of a good hearted nature, like cinnamon roll.

@itzplant3196

5 жыл бұрын

*Sweet Rolls intensifies*

@giraffedragon6110

5 жыл бұрын

Itz Plant in fact his exact type would be a sweet roll tiefling girl. His exact words would be “she is too precious for this world to ruin”

@LupineShadowOmega

4 жыл бұрын

@@giraffedragon6110 which is why he catches the eye of the Half-Orc Barbarian woman who's crass and domineering.

@giraffedragon6110

4 жыл бұрын

LupineShadowOmega now I’m imagining her going into her rage, turns to him and starts chanting *ara ara*

Random generation is my thing, and then I play it as I go. I had a melee kenku illusion wizard

I find that the best backstories are the open ended ones. Backstories that give you a clear motovation to adventure but not so complex that you start impossing major narrative implications on the world from the onset. It's not necessarily any better or worse than backstories that are vague or backstories that really root you deep into a world, but they are definitley the easiest to integrate from my personal experience.

This has been what I have been waiting for! With all my dumb ideas like the fighter that had a village that was saved by a dragon, (I mainly made this guy because my friend was playing a character that got cursed into being a dragon born.) and the blood hunter who is a were crab who learns to use his crab claws with spaghetti. (He’s not very dexterity centered) I don’t know I like the crab spaghetti.

@WhiteManOnCampus

5 жыл бұрын

His palms are sweaty Knees weak, claws are heavy There's blood on his armor already Crab spaghetti

Bullet points. That is actually very helpful, thank you.

I really needed this! My party has a rule: No physical description, backstory, or unique voice till level three. That way, everyone has time to sculpt their character, and doesn't waste effort if they die really early on.

I Agree that keeping it simple for a Background is good advice.

Most of my character backstorys focus on family, doing things for them, in spite of them, to avoid them, to find them, or to find out about them.

@frostryder1285

5 жыл бұрын

I have a character and a remake of them, they both have family issues but handle them in different ways

During the shoutouts Noone: Davvy: DYSLEXIC EEMOO Me: It's EEMEW you fake aussie

I CAME HERE AT THE SPEED OF MY ATHELTICS SCORE

@manaphy0993

5 жыл бұрын

-5?

@marcus4046

5 жыл бұрын

@@manaphy0993 w-what? no its +8 +2 of my proficiency so a plus ten *rolls* alright its a 14 so thats a 24 my monk is mode zoom.

in my first campaign as a dm one of my friends literally crate a charecter in 2 mins it was a triton barbarian with no special past and his goal was building a harem eating a dragon and conquering the oceans in that order he was one hell of a roleplayer(it was his first dnd game)

• has been playing for 16 yeas • still writes a novel for my character. Mind you, I adore writing. But yeah generally I don't write... too much about them? (Relatively speaking when you really like writing) and will go more in depth with their backstory when I get more used to the character. And there's of course still the "make shit up" button because I'm not gonna write down literally every second of their life. That's just boring. But I'll often name friends they had at various points in their life, what their friends are like, what the character was like at those ages and how they felt towards those friends, and then from there think of a few stories to go with the groups. Same with parents and siblings, changing them up with each jump in the character's life. Makes improving a childhood memory a heck of a lot easier.

Thank you for making this video. I know my character's personality (she is intelligent and is a bit of a perfectionist who can be a know-it-all), but I was stuck on her backstory. This made me realize that, instead of thinking of the backstory as something that has to be planned right away, I can focus on what I know about her, and let it see where that leads me.

your phone buzzing while you were sharing the advice tripped me up, loved your 2 cents (im a newbie to dnd)!

As you walk in to the tavern you see, among the normal dreary crowds, a colourful soul, perhaps the shortest dwarf you’ve ever seen, standing just over one foot tall, wearing a red conical hat brown clog shoes and a pair of blue suspenders. Were it not for the fact that he was eccentrically bouncing around talking you would have sworn that he was a garden gnome. Bond: eccentric. flaw: he weighs like 10 lbs and you can just throw him off the battle field. deepest secret: is secretly just an awakened garden gnome. Good classes: barbarian, bard, sorcerer, wizard. A mercenary type fellow, their sword is always in hand, glowing with much more lustre than the rest of his body, he’s dirty, unshaven, unkempt, and is apparently a ventriloquist talking without any bodily movement. He is a warlock, but his soul separated from his body, stuck in that lustrous sword that he has, but his body is decaying, eventually he will be just a sword, perhaps at that point he will be powerful enough to subsist as just the sword, but for now if his body dies completely he will cease to exist. Bond: his lack of a pen irrational brain keeps him from doing stupid things for the fun of it. Flaw: extremely selfish, focused on self preservation above all.

Was at the same time super impressed by the idea of a Half-Drow Wild Magic Sorcerer and very disappointed by a Dwarf Cleric with Wisdom as a dump stat. Lol. Great video as always! I tend to be too much of a story teller. I like your advice about focusing on clear bullet points with immediate ramifications.

@Tiyev

5 жыл бұрын

It was technically a Dwarf Paladin.

@erasmus4743

5 жыл бұрын

@@Tiyev Oh, really? My mistake. I must have heard it wrong.

I'm loving this. Also I really love that you did a Star Wars campaign.

When I make a character I tend to just focus on a few things: personality, a tragic flaw, a general goal, where he or she came from, a few relationships they have, and if it is relevant why they are there specific class. You want to give your GM just enough to work with so he or she can create some interesting hooks. You are going to want to figure out who your character is in the game, If you show up with a fully formed character who has already completed their main story ark before the game has started then where do you have to go?

I made a psychic tiefling fighter for what was going to be my first character for my first ever game of d&d. Had her personality all set, family, starting inventory, even some of her stats. Had gotten this group together of fellow newbies in a discord server and we were basically waiting on the DM to finishing writing their homebrew story so we could start. Even settled on a day that we would all set aside from work or other business in order to play. Then, out of nowhere, my boss quits, and I'm the only one left at my job even capable of running the store. Suddenly my fridays, the only day I had off because I specifically asked for it due to the game, were now gone. Had to drop out of the group because I didn't know when or if I would ever have that day free again. So now I have this character I put a lot of attention and time into just collecting dust with no idea when she will ever be used. Worst part is I think I was the one most excited for the campaign. Or at least the most active in questions and generally keeping talk of the game going. Outside of maybe one other player, no one spoke up at all about the game after we initially talked about our characters with each other. The group chat channel would go days, sometimes weeks, in utter silence. Part of me is afraid to even go back and ask about the game because I assume that it either fell apart due to DM real life scheduling conflicts or the dm just cancelled it due to lack of overall interest...

I love how at the end he shows a game that's heavily inuenced by character backstory.

When making characters, I've adopted the policy of basically making it an elevator pitch. If the premise and the background can't be summed up in 1 or 2 sentences and doesn't hook me, it's usually not worth it. The more detail I put into characters before I play them, the more it can feel wasted. Meanwhile, a character that I describe as "She's a wizard, but instead of magic spells, she makes magitech gadgets" & "She's a runaway noble", is still rocking in a campaign, even though she's retired to an NPC.

I come from the future. Don't eat that chinese takeout.

6 GAMES A WEEK! YOU ABSOLUTE MADMAN

Started playing a Kobold Rouge in my first campaign the other day. I walked in with a basic idea of what his backstory was like, but not really how it would effect him or where he would eventually end up. This campaign was a one-shot, and it ended with my party “killing” my character (it’s a bit of a long story) HOWEVER, the session had to end before I could perform any death saves, and my Very Cool DM is allowing me to play the character in more campaigns if I want to. I’ve decided to incorporate the one-shot into his backstory and give him some insane trust issues on top of his previously established desire to belong somewhere. It might sound a bit cliché, but it’s a start! Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten to do anything else with him yet. Also, if my DM is reading this, that was an awesome one-shot! And thank you for being extremely cool and a very good DM!

For my Genasi barbarian that I made instead of being a normal person and writing a normal backstory, I wrote a fuqing sea shanty about her. except her backstory was basically just that she accidentally killed her father and is seen as a criminal in her home town.

This video was amazing! Also I did the whole forever long backstory that was journaled and kept on the character. That I perpetually put him in campaigns that got cancelled. 😁

my most recent character was a goblin bard who was a country singer named Kiwi Kentucky. loved roll playing him, made me enjoy silly concepts.

Great advice! Thank you!

1:55 I had a Paladin hexblade half-elf, that took me 4 failed games to play.

I had a couple of characters I used to refer to as "campaign killers", as they never got more than a couple of sessions with them. But I just kept plugging at it, refusing to let a good character die, tweaking their back stories to reflect the newest campaign, until at last they'd click. Keep at it, Davvy! Iccarus will find a campaign home! BTB, one of the best explanations of how to contemplate creating backstory. Gotta send this to my players...

Xanathar’s Guide for character generation is how i build them now. I love to roll them up!

I play a grung wizard who was once a Lich's frog familiar but was awakened and is searching for his former master.

This helped me with my last minute Avernus PC so Thank you Davvy!

THIS IS WHAT WE WHANTED! THANKS!

The crit role cast at the end when you were talking about having fun made me happy.

Here’s an idea for you: a part entirely composed of human fighters, all of which went to the same place to Learn how to fight, and all are at least 3rd cousins, up too brothers and sisters. (Fun times)

I made my current character (a Shadar Kai Battle-Master crossbowman) thinking I'll be the "loose cannon" that solves all his problems with a crossbow bolt, but I quickly found myself being the voice of reason and the one trying to get the pyromaniac Wizard and (suspiciously) violent Cleric to "use their words", I hadn't come up with that in-depth of a backstory but I had an idea . . . That I abruptly flipped on its head because it fit in the game much better, otherwise we would of just been bland murder-hobos but now there is a dynamic, I like having deep characters but (for my games at least) being too rigid with a concept/idea can get in the way too much

Great advice thanks!

I thought i was losing my mind until I realized the BZZZ was a phone going off in the recording and not mine right beside me.

@Tiyev

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah, he probably put his phone on vibrate, because he's a happenin' chap, and he probably has to keep his phone in his lap, because as it happens his phone happens to always be ringing, so it's a waste of time for him to put it back in his pocket, because when you're as savvy a chap as Davvy Chappy, people always be calling you.

I normally get into a call with the dm when making my character so it fits with the lore of the area and fits with the campaign. I find that it helps a lot when working on a backstory

Good advice. For some, it's best to stick with what you know. I have a bard who is essentially 1992 campaigning Bill Clinton with a little Patrick Bateman and Heath Ledger's Joker thrown in. The backstory changes each time someone asks. I just fleshed him out a little to the beginning of the campaign, and the other players are pretty much doing my work for me now. It's so fun!

I most often look to Matthew Colvilles idea about backstory. It shouldn't be this grand endeavour with you fighting of hordes or bosses, it should be just enough to get you to the start of the campaign. Your characters story is what you are setting out to play. The story you create with your party. I also tend to play normal humans. Since it is easeiest to identify with them, and that lets me think more about who they are as a person and what they should do, instead of how they slot into the world.

Awesome stuff. Need to link this to my players :)

I'm currently playing a halfling fighter who was raised by humans. I've found him easy to roleplay because I focused more on his motivations rather than a concrete backstory: he's self-conscious about his size, and wants to be seen as just as strong and capable as his human siblings and neighbors. This gives me more to work with than knowing exactly who was in his family and what village he grew up in. I'm really enjoying it :)

I rolled 4 nat 1s in a roll in one game

While the two are definitely tied together, I find character motivation far more important to focus on than backstory. Mostly because past events can lead to very different character growth and behavior. Horribly slaughtered family can result in a seething need for revenge, a mad search for a way to bring them back, or a character learning to accept the loss and move on. So in general I focus on motivations I want characters to have and then think back to a cause and effect moment that could reasonably lead them to that state.

@quickdudley

2 жыл бұрын

The only character I've played in an actual campaign ended up with completely different motivations than I'd initially planned: during session 2 he found out his hometown had been destroyed in his absence and he spent the rest of the campaign trying to find out who survived and where they ended up.

you should get involved in a DnD stream/show and THEN use icarus

@CelestialKitsune975

4 жыл бұрын

But it’ll get cancelled

@intelligence14wisdom22

3 жыл бұрын

(softly) Don't.

As a new DM, I must admit that in-depth extravagant backstory is cool when your player tells it to you, but boy!!! Is it difficult to work with, since you have made a inflexible and specific structure instead of a blank sheet with guidelines for how to work with it.

The easiest way to make a character is to say: I got isekai'ed

OOH LETS GET INTO SOME BACKSTORY!!

I like having a deep backstory because it helps me decide how my character reacts to situations.

This is amazing advice and I'll definitely consider it for all my future characters. But I think there's one important thing you left out: how to justify the character going on adventures/missions with a party rather than having a more "normal" life. Sometimes the DM can cover that instead given enough information, but you can't exactly send a character on an adventure who doesn't want to go on an adventure.

@Cloud_Seeker

4 жыл бұрын

I agree. That is one of the most important parts in making a character. A character without a goal or reason should not be in the story.

Super good. Everyone should watch this before their first game

Best character I ever made was a Changeling Arcane Trickster and Charlatan. Named Doc. Role-playing them was 100% improve and made their backstory along the way too. Had basically bullet points of: Unrepentant liar, loves stealing , great at murder & has shit eyesight. Then the DM asked for us to make up a dark secret for our characters to give him. Just texted him "Doc had a secret bastard with a nymph. They're still in contact but secretly." But the final session where we killed a corrupted God-machine. Doc became a good parent, adopted and raised an NPC child he rescued then retired adventuring to breed faerie dragons in their estate. It was a batshit crazy series of campaign from level 3 to 20.

My favorite backstory is still my Kenku bard that has the goal of memorizing every song and he just screams songs to cast spells, very basic with ways to build even more motivation and just a concept I ran with. One of my favorite characters

I think the Warlock has the most opportunity for creative backstory writing, since you can essentially write 2 backstories (PC and patron) and find an interesting way to make them link together.

always fun to add something to your character. had a hermit druid, that after being tricked by a hag in a town, now always has detect magic and dispel magic prepared in a town, and will look for the "old lady of town" to either see if they are a hag or some herbseller

Literally just about to start a campaign and was thinking of fleshing out a backstory.

Just want to say I love your video’s. I’ve been trying to get into DND for a while now and I recently am going to get the chance, so any tip for a first-timer are appreciated.

DAMN Davy you’re growing

@OK-ws7ti

5 жыл бұрын

I subbed at 10k but you’ve gotten so many subs so quickly I’m proud of u

Yo, where's the "Here's my fave PC's backstory in one sentence thread?". Lemme start then: Samurai blue fire lady possessed by an oni who begrudgingly uses its power to fuel her fury and manifest other Japanese demons as Stands to aid her in battle.

@alec5978

5 жыл бұрын

A 308 page story that when put in a nutshell, is that a cult stole his garden gnomes

@ivanrodeiro9661

5 жыл бұрын

Kobold monk goes on a quest to master the four elements with the objetive of coming back home and telling his draconic bloodline sorcerer brother that he isn't as cool as he thinks he is.

@Verbose_Mode

5 жыл бұрын

Barbarian/warlock wood elf that doesn't know he's a barbarian or a warlock, thinks he's just a put-upon merchant with a temper problem.

@alexanderlicentia5265

5 жыл бұрын

Tiefling Barbarian who uses to be a mail man until they made him work too many holidays so he went postal.

@ashopal5811

5 жыл бұрын

Aasimar Sorclock who was forbidden to use his divine magic so he ran away and made a pact with a lich that lives in a library so he could use ALL magic

My favorite backstory ive made was a drow warlock named Wynn. He was a slave to a very high ranking family, and eventually lost it, and was given powers by Cyphus, king of the undying. DOZENS of sessions later, Wynn realized he was basically a slave again, and defied cyphus, losing his magic. Long story short, after about 3 or 4 sessions without anything special, he enters a pact with an archfey, and i multiclass into paladin (this was before critical role btw) cyphus ended up being the BBEG, and i got the killing blow. Poetic justice baby.

It does definitely depend on the group and the DM-one of my current campaigns, I joined with no idea how the group and the DM plays so I joined with like two paragraphs of a concept. Then, a few sessions in, I got the hang of the group dynamic and how the DM works (she's very detailed and has a thousand different things going on in the background) so then I put together a long backstory and worked with her to make sure it can fit into the world. On the other hand, one of my campaigns has an inexperienced DM, so my girl has like a paragraph's worth of informal backstory that I've never actually bothered to write down beyond some conversations with the DM, because that's all this character in this campaign needs.

The art of a truly good GM is to take what is present in the back story, and make something awesome with it

@YourBoyNobody530

4 жыл бұрын

For example I was playing a samurai fighter based loosely on Mulan and like the original character she ran away from home so the GM took this and had her father send bounty hunters after her to make her marry some dude she hadn’t ever met so as a result her and the party came to her father and beat the ever loving shit out of him

This is some advice I heard on a channel called BellularGaming (a WoW channel) but the video was more about creative advice for aspiring KZreadrs and the like: 80% of the final product consumed comes from 20% of the effort. It confused me initially but he went on to say that whoever is observing your project, the thing that usually draws them are the things that you didn’t spend a lot of time on to make absolutely perfect. Sure, there are things that require detail; but like Davvy said “Bulletpoints are very effective”

A similar thing to your dwarf is what happened with my gnome. He started out as a gnome bard who was schooled in leather-working and wanted to retake his homeland. Eventually we found out that he hate being referred to as a child, the reason he wants his homeland back is so that he can garner respect, and that he hates most systems of authority.

I think another thing worth mentioning is that people find other people inherently interesting as long as you don't act like a block of wood. Just picking a randomised background can lead to a lot more interest than a custom made one, whether that's as simple as you belonging to a house, being a farmer or whether you're indebted to a dragon that chose not to eat you. All of these examples can be just as interesting and both are things the DM can work with(which is the most important part). My example of a character is an angry paladin that has been cursed by a rival trickster god, leaving them with a split personality. The dominant one thinks it's a wizard and dresses in such a way, but the true angry one sometimes pokes through. That's all I had as a character concept, originally I didn't even have the split personality in mind, and just had "a paladin that thinks they're a wizard".

So, my character for the Curse of Strahd game I'm in, and is a changeling Artificer (using the XP to level 3 homebrew of it). But... there's this one slight issue. He's wanted for the murder of one of the villagers of Vallaki. He found the corpse of his younger brother hanging from the branches of a tree behind his home shortly after seeing the man run away. So my changeling tracked him down, and killed him in vengeance. Strike one. Now, to keep out of any potential danger, he's taken on his brother's visage. All anyone else knows is that he is his brother, and the changeling himself has up and vanished. This worked for years, until one day, a man by the name of "Adam" hired him to undertake a job. The very first night, after failing to pry information from his would-be employer, the changeling decided to abandon the job. On his return home, he came across the corpse of a guard whose face had been mauled. Figuring it would be for the best to restore *some* dignity back to the man, the changeling ripped off a sleeve, and covered up the mangled part of the face. Strike two. A few days later, Izek found out about the dead guard, and recognized that the sleeve covering the face belonged to the changeling, and had him framed for the murder. However, the changeling escaped using a few methods such as: crashing through a window, causing a group of drunks to pick a fight with the guards, and running under/over them. Strike three. Under the guise of his brother, he can't return, and this is where the story picks up for him.

Icarus sounds like a cool character and I hope you eventually get to play him.

What about the campaigns where character arcs are a major focus and the DM draws upon stuff from their backstories?