Cornelius
2010-08-07, 02:50 AM
So I posted this over at the wizards.com Character Development board, but that place is deader than a doornail. I have lurked the boards here for awhile now and I am impressed with the number of gamers and quality of gamer that seem to frequent these boards, so perhaps somebody will be able to assist me.
A little background. I've been out of the D&D saddle for about 7 or 8 years now and I've been chomping at the bit to play again. I'm about to start up again with a new group soon (we'll be playing 3.5). Now, the main group that I used to play with back in the day was.....well, let's just say there was basically no RPing whatsoever. It was all about making the pimpest character with the latest book and kicking the crap out of as many monsters as possible. And I'm not just blaming the others in the group; I myself mostly just made attack and damage rolls when I was supposed to and contributed little else. But this time around I'd like to actually play a character with a history and a personality. And from what I know of my new DM, it's not going to be nearly as munchkiny as my last group.
Unfortunately, I have very little practice in this, having never really bothered to flesh out my characters before. Usually the most I would do is to think of some fictional character and base my character off of him/her. Anyway, before I start begging for help, let me tell you what I've got so far.
Name: Caleb
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Class: Rogue
Level: 1
Alignment: C.N.
Background (prepare to enter Clichesville, population: me. Like I said, I'm new at this):
--Caleb was discovered along with his sister on the steps of the temple of (insert deity here) early one morning.
--He was about 3 or 4 years of age at the time, and his younger sister was perhaps 6 months old.
--She had been laid in a small basket and there was a note pinned to the basket that simply read: "His name is Caleb. Her name is Sophia."
--Caleb cannot remember this, this is just what he was told by the priests when he got older.
--They are raised at the temple (or not....does D&D have foster care / adoption?).
--At some point, maybe when Caleb is about 12 or so, Something Horrible happens.
--During this Something Horrible, his sister is killed/disappears and his world is turned on end.
--He ends up living in the streets after this.
--A few weeks after the "event" he wakes up and thinks Sophia is there; they talk for awhile.
--This continues, and he soon realizes that she is not really there and is a figment of his imagination, and that he can in effect "summon" her, so to speak, whenever he wants to talk.
--He does not talk about this with anyone, and he does have occasional worries that he might be insane.
--Since he started living on the streets he turned to a life of petty theft to survive.
--As he got older he moved on to bigger and bolder targets, eventually burgling homes and stealing horses for money. In addition to straight up theft, he also worked some cons (I like the idea of him as a charismatic schmoozer).
--And that brings us to the present day. Depending on how the DM wants to work him into the campaign I might add some stuff.
(Note: If anyone has read The Walking Dead, I stole the idea about talking to a dead person from Michonne. I thought it would be fun if some of his fellow party members wake up in the middle of the night while Caleb is on watch and see him talking to nothing. It could make for some fun RP opportunities.)
Crunchy Stuff:
I don't have my stats yet, but I think I want to assign them in this order (first being highest):
INT, CHA, DEX, WIS, CON, STR
I know, I know.....Dex as the 3rd highest stat for a Rogue? But I want this guy to be intelligent and charismatic. Doesn't mean I won't get any Dex-based skills....my goal here isn't to optimize.
Skills: Sneaky stuff for burgling: Hide, Move Silently, Spot, Listen. Ride and Handle Animal for stealing horses. Other than that I haven't picked which other roguey skills I want.
Feats: No idea at this point. A lot of it depends on which direction I decide to go combat-wise (see below).
Ok, so I guess my main questions are:
1. Personality: Not sure on this one. Should I play him as angry at the world for what happened? I personally don't think that would be very fun. Gregarious and friendly?
2. Goals: .....dunno. I really don't want it to be "get revenge for the death of his sister". I think he has moved on from that at this point. So what motivates him to go out and adventure?
3. Weapons and Armor: I don't really feel the need to min-max....but at the same time, it would be nice if he wasn't totally worthless in combat. I suppose I could go the route of "throws a billion knives a round"? As for armor....the image I have in my head of him, he isn't wearing any. I just don't see him walking around town in armor. But I know that's probably stupid to not have armor, so.....leather?
4. Anything else: I am hoping that those of you with years of experience can let me know of any ideas you have to make the background I listed above more unique / interesting, and to just flesh it out since there are several areas where I need to fill in some detail.
I realize that the answer to any of these questions could be: Do whatever you feel like you should do. But that's just the thing.....I can't figure out what I should do! I figure if I can get several ideas then it will make it easier to decide which direction I want to go.
Thank you all very very much in advance for your time.
A little background. I've been out of the D&D saddle for about 7 or 8 years now and I've been chomping at the bit to play again. I'm about to start up again with a new group soon (we'll be playing 3.5). Now, the main group that I used to play with back in the day was.....well, let's just say there was basically no RPing whatsoever. It was all about making the pimpest character with the latest book and kicking the crap out of as many monsters as possible. And I'm not just blaming the others in the group; I myself mostly just made attack and damage rolls when I was supposed to and contributed little else. But this time around I'd like to actually play a character with a history and a personality. And from what I know of my new DM, it's not going to be nearly as munchkiny as my last group.
Unfortunately, I have very little practice in this, having never really bothered to flesh out my characters before. Usually the most I would do is to think of some fictional character and base my character off of him/her. Anyway, before I start begging for help, let me tell you what I've got so far.
Name: Caleb
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Class: Rogue
Level: 1
Alignment: C.N.
Background (prepare to enter Clichesville, population: me. Like I said, I'm new at this):
--Caleb was discovered along with his sister on the steps of the temple of (insert deity here) early one morning.
--He was about 3 or 4 years of age at the time, and his younger sister was perhaps 6 months old.
--She had been laid in a small basket and there was a note pinned to the basket that simply read: "His name is Caleb. Her name is Sophia."
--Caleb cannot remember this, this is just what he was told by the priests when he got older.
--They are raised at the temple (or not....does D&D have foster care / adoption?).
--At some point, maybe when Caleb is about 12 or so, Something Horrible happens.
--During this Something Horrible, his sister is killed/disappears and his world is turned on end.
--He ends up living in the streets after this.
--A few weeks after the "event" he wakes up and thinks Sophia is there; they talk for awhile.
--This continues, and he soon realizes that she is not really there and is a figment of his imagination, and that he can in effect "summon" her, so to speak, whenever he wants to talk.
--He does not talk about this with anyone, and he does have occasional worries that he might be insane.
--Since he started living on the streets he turned to a life of petty theft to survive.
--As he got older he moved on to bigger and bolder targets, eventually burgling homes and stealing horses for money. In addition to straight up theft, he also worked some cons (I like the idea of him as a charismatic schmoozer).
--And that brings us to the present day. Depending on how the DM wants to work him into the campaign I might add some stuff.
(Note: If anyone has read The Walking Dead, I stole the idea about talking to a dead person from Michonne. I thought it would be fun if some of his fellow party members wake up in the middle of the night while Caleb is on watch and see him talking to nothing. It could make for some fun RP opportunities.)
Crunchy Stuff:
I don't have my stats yet, but I think I want to assign them in this order (first being highest):
INT, CHA, DEX, WIS, CON, STR
I know, I know.....Dex as the 3rd highest stat for a Rogue? But I want this guy to be intelligent and charismatic. Doesn't mean I won't get any Dex-based skills....my goal here isn't to optimize.
Skills: Sneaky stuff for burgling: Hide, Move Silently, Spot, Listen. Ride and Handle Animal for stealing horses. Other than that I haven't picked which other roguey skills I want.
Feats: No idea at this point. A lot of it depends on which direction I decide to go combat-wise (see below).
Ok, so I guess my main questions are:
1. Personality: Not sure on this one. Should I play him as angry at the world for what happened? I personally don't think that would be very fun. Gregarious and friendly?
2. Goals: .....dunno. I really don't want it to be "get revenge for the death of his sister". I think he has moved on from that at this point. So what motivates him to go out and adventure?
3. Weapons and Armor: I don't really feel the need to min-max....but at the same time, it would be nice if he wasn't totally worthless in combat. I suppose I could go the route of "throws a billion knives a round"? As for armor....the image I have in my head of him, he isn't wearing any. I just don't see him walking around town in armor. But I know that's probably stupid to not have armor, so.....leather?
4. Anything else: I am hoping that those of you with years of experience can let me know of any ideas you have to make the background I listed above more unique / interesting, and to just flesh it out since there are several areas where I need to fill in some detail.
I realize that the answer to any of these questions could be: Do whatever you feel like you should do. But that's just the thing.....I can't figure out what I should do! I figure if I can get several ideas then it will make it easier to decide which direction I want to go.
Thank you all very very much in advance for your time.