Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ressurrector 01-11-06, 07:52 PM	Or any suggestions for a better one, since this is pretty typical. The character is a Tiefling Rogue (C/G, worships Tymora) in a Faerun "Pools of Radience" campaign. He's from the Western Heartlands, specifically the city of Baldurs Gate or possibly another city in the general area. The backstory (excuse the corniness please) is thus: He was raised by his mother, and never knew his father. (not sure if I should have his conception be willing or not) She raised him to be a decent person, and helped him overcome his heritage. He ended up being a pickpocket to get a little extra spending money for him and his mother, and not many reputable people would hire a demon-blooded child. His mother worked as a serving wench in a bar. (or possibly as a servant?) When he was about 15-16 his mother died (either being robbed, or from illness, not sure yet) and he left the city to try and find a place where he could gain enough heroic fame to stop hiding his heritage. Yeah, pretty bad isn't it? That's why I'm asking for help here, I can't come up with origional stuff on my own usually.
Araciel 01-11-06, 11:05 PM	well, you could go further with the whole concept of him being chaotic good but still having slightly less than good urges (picking pockets, locks, stealing, etc), because if his mother had taught him to be a good "person", he wouldn't do that sort of thing...this can become a great source of roleplaying in the form of inner-turmoil and doubt, maybe eventually leading to some GREAT choices later on in his career as an adventurer. as for the actual history, give your dm some stuff from his past to work with...let the dm know who his father was. just because HE doesn't know who his father was doesn't mean nobody knows. he could show up later on as a surprise...a half-fiend villain who is also your father...cool stuff for roleplaying and inner-turmoil once again! did he innately learn his rogue skills?? or was he mentored?? you could say that dark voices in his mind taught him these skills, the voices could be a fiend, demon, or even god of thieves...lots of fun stuff.
ressurrector 01-11-06, 11:22 PM	well, you could go further with the whole concept of him being chaotic good but still having slightly less than good urges (picking pockets, locks, stealing, etc), because if his mother had taught him to be a good "person", he wouldn't do that sort of thing...this can become a great source of roleplaying in the form of inner-turmoil and doubt, maybe eventually leading to some GREAT choices later on in his career as an adventurer. as for the actual history, give your dm some stuff from his past to work with...let the dm know who his father was. just because HE doesn't know who his father was doesn't mean nobody knows. he could show up later on as a surprise...a half-fiend villain who is also your father...cool stuff for roleplaying and inner-turmoil once again! did he innately learn his rogue skills?? or was he mentored?? you could say that dark voices in his mind taught him these skills, the voices could be a fiend, demon, or even god of thieves...lots of fun stuff. I was thinking of the pickpocketing as something he learned by observation, and something that once he tried he discovered a talent for. The giving the DM more of the history is a great idea, but we're doing a pre-constructed campaign for the most part. As far as the theiving and what his mother thinks of it, I was thinking he kept it a secret where he got the money and is secretly still guilty about it. So, part of his adventuring is also to relieve the guilt, and make his mother proud.
Araciel 01-11-06, 11:31 PM	sounds to me like you don't need a history if its preconstructed if you already have a personality made up, and it sounds like you do, then you don't need a history, more than what you have...although i don't agree with just learning skills by virtue of your intelligence with no training unless it is SUPREMELY high
ressurrector 01-12-06, 12:44 AM	sounds to me like you don't need a history if its preconstructed if you already have a personality made up, and it sounds like you do, then you don't need a history, more than what you have...although i don't agree with just learning skills by virtue of your intelligence with no training unless it is SUPREMELY high I like to try to come up with a backstory for my characters, mainly so I can think what their motivations and emotional baggage for any given situation are. It helps me roleplay them consistantly.
9JACK9 01-13-06, 04:27 PM	That sounds like a pretty good backstory foundation to me, already... To be honest, it really sounds to me like you don't need much help at all, other than just picking some of the options you've already mentioned. Can I ask you a question? Just to help sort of flesh out your guy? Tieflings have horns, right? What does your character do about his? Having two bone horns sticking out through the front of your skull can have quite a profound impact on how people react to you, and how you see yourself... does your character try to hide them in any way? Or does he just not care, and displays them for all to see? Or, taking a note from "Hellboy", did he try and cut them off? Depending on how Planetouched your character is can have a pretty profound impact on how he was treated as a child... you mentioned people maybe not "hiring a demon-blooded child". (Wow, nice world. In mine, any demonspawn-looking child would probably be killed on sight... welcome to fearful 0-level commoner world) Anyway, just a thought. Your work sounds good so far, but I would try and consider just HOW other people treated him, and go from there...
ressurrector 01-13-06, 06:04 PM	Tieflings have horns, right? What does your character do about his? Having two bone horns sticking out through the front of your skull can have quite a profound impact on how people react to you, and how you see yourself... does your character try to hide them in any way? Or does he just not care, and displays them for all to see? Or, taking a note from "Hellboy", did he try and cut them off? I was thinking he either hides them in his hairstyle, or uses a hood, or possibly wears some kind of head-adornment (like goggles) that hides them. If anyone's seen Naruto, something like the goggles he wears early in the series. I did give my character half-ranks in disguise, to represent his skill in making himself looking more human.