would you give extra stuff for those with good backgrounds?

[slaydemons]

I have given my friends a homework assignment they have never beaten a campaign before and this is there first character, that is not important too much but keep it in mind.

now on to what I was saying, I made them write a back story of 5 lines, 3 lines if I didn't think they could do 5, yes some of them couldn't. now someone put in his background that he has been training as an assassin (not the class) in a group for some time. I was thinking of giving him like an extra d4 on sneak attacks since he is trained to be a dealer of death does anyone else do this?

[Honest Tiefling]

I was considering a house rule that if you photoshop or draw a picture of your character, you get bonus EXP. I played with one today, and it seemed to work pretty well as the bonus is enough to be attractive, but not overwhelming. The DM (not me) was also more looking for people who had a concrete idea of what their PCs looked like and effort, so it remained fun.

I like the picture idea as backstories can come in later as the group settles or people begin to latch onto a good reason to unify the party.

[slaydemons]

I was considering a house rule that if you photoshop or draw a picture of your character, you get bonus EXP. I played with one today, and it seemed to work pretty well as the bonus is enough to be attractive, but not overwhelming. The DM (not me) was also more looking for people who had a concrete idea of what their PCs looked like and effort, so it remained fun.

I like the picture idea as backstories can come in later as the group settles or people begin to latch onto a good reason to unify the party.


cool ^^, if the wizard now sorc wrote more then

he was born from these two people. he was raised by the "greatest wizard." ever. he desires power. I might of given him something but he wrote something at least

[King Atticus]

I once dreamed my characters entire pre-campaign life and woke up and wrote it down. It turned into a 10 page bio, my DM gave me bonus XP for it. So it's not unprecedented just don't go overboard with the freebies. I think a bonus partial sneak attack die would be legit. It's not overpowering and rewards his effort.

[Reluctance]

Backgrounds I tend to be wary of overrewarding, since it creates an issue similar to rolling for stats; it gives players who have things go their way during character creation a persistent benefit over their character's lifespan.

Bonus XP might work, if you're in the habit of handing out bonus roleplaying XP, but that's questionable unless you also have characters who burn XP through casting or crafting. Otherwise, it's hard to find a path between the XP rewards being minimal (thus serving no purpose), and being overpoweringly strong.

IME, the best roleplay reward are something that you have to spend to gain the reward. Call them hero points or what you like; the point is to have a kudos method to reward good roleplay, without giving one player a persistent advantage. Hand out a starting supply to players who write good backgrounds, and you'll have a good reward system that doesn't leave disinterested players feeling left behind.

[olentu]

I may sometimes give plot hooks if the rest of the group is fine with that sort of focus but that is about it.

[Malimar]

In general, giving a good DM a background is its own reward (for reason #2, below, which should be standard practice for all good DMs), so I always come up with one when I play in somebody else's game, even if it isn't asked for or rewarded.

When I DM, I reward players who give me a background in two ways:
1.) A small lump sum of bonus experience to start them out. (Usually 100 to start out with; more if the background is good.)
2.) Your background gets worked into my plot. (You were cursed by Vecna as a child and your entire squad got wiped out by sahuagin? You bet you're going to see sahuagin and cultists of Vecna.)

Since it's mentioned, I think I may also start rewarding players for drawing/photoshopping pictures of their characters, that sounds like a splendid notion which hadn't occurred to me. While I'm at it, I could also reward creating/painting a custom mini (so long as it's roughly to scale with the rest of the minis - a LEGO minifig only works if your character is on the very large side of Medium).

[Ravens_cry]

The best reward is not XP or extra items, it's incorporating elements from the backstory into the broader world. Let's look at a common "Student Wants Revenge for Masters Demise" back story. You could easily make the avengers focus be a minion of the Big Bad, or making a little sidequest where they get to reach closure in some fashion. Same with nemesis and other adversarial based motivations. There are other ways to do it for different kinds of back story, but in my view, this in general, the incorporation of things from the player into the world, is the best way to handle it.

[OverdrivePrime]

I generally ask for a page or two of backstory for my characters. And as others have mentioned, I use this to incorporate into story elements for the characters, and if their backstory was really impressive, I might throw in a minor masterwork item that has to do with their backstory. (A son of a great warrior might inherit his father's masterwork chainmail or a woman trained by a powerful druid might inherit a masterwork outdoors kit that gives a +2 bonus to survival checks.)

Once the game is started, I give bonus experience points for people who go above and beyond to enhance the game. Artists might draw pictures of the group or the people they've met. Writers might write stories about their side encounters that were had during down time. Photoshoppers might 'shop up something amazing. I don't give any unbalancing awards, but I try to give enough to encourage more to come.

[panaikhan]

The background traits and adventure path traits from Pathfinder give good ideas for 'bonuses' due to a detailed background.
There is a free PDF from Paizo that details the 'game standard' ones, which is the same material in the back of their advanced player's guide.

[Darth_Versity]

I ask players for an image and backstory for their characters. Each is worth half the xp to the next level, so if you have both you start a level above those who didn't.

This works two fold, it gives creative players an advantage over the others without being to strong as the xp awards would level out as they gain xp. Second, it allows people to play a lvl adjustment race at the start of the campaign.

Generally we start games at lvl 1 so the creative players only get 1000xp more at most, and we usually have triple starting hp so even the people who don't have ideas arn't easy to kill.

The main reward we have creative players is taken from Exalted. If you describe your attack/spellcasting you get a +1 - +3 bonus on attack roll/caster level checks. The same applies for AC and saves.

[McSmack]

I typically don't have a problem with player's coming up with a good backstory, but I'm lucky in that most of my players are old hands at pen and paper RPG's.

One thing I've done in the past is give them an masterwork weapon/armor if they come up with a good background. I once had a rule that a full page bio could entitle you to a bonus feat. Interestingly the best one that was written was about the half orc helping a girl find her lost puppy.

Honestly writing 5 lines about your character's past isn't remotely hard -


I am a dwarf fighter. My dad was too. So was my mom. We like beards and makin' stuff. Goblins suck.

TA DA!

I'm seconding using Pathfinder's traits. They're good, but not as good as say a bonus feat or an extra d4 sneak attack damage, and they're general enough that they can be used as a bridge between mechanics and roleplaying.

For instance - Player: "I'm gonna take Exitable* because it gives me a +2 to initiative."
DM: "What did your character do to justify taking that?"
Player: "Ummm.....he likes getting into bar fights?"
DM: "Fair enough."

*AFB so I'm not sure if that's a real trait/bonus.

[elpollo]

I have given my friends a homework assignment they have never beaten a campaign before and this is there first character, that is not important too much but keep it in mind.

I... what? So they're playing for the first time, or...?



now someone put in his background that he has been training as an assassin (not the class) in a group for some time. I was thinking of giving him like an extra d4 on sneak attacks since he is trained to be a dealer of death does anyone else do this?

Surely the fact that he has sneak attack at all signifies him being trained by an assassin, no?

I'm not against giving people regional feats/traits to accomodate character concepts, but you're giving him a 70% increase to his sneak attack damage just because he wrote the words "I was trained by an assassin". Whilst it's not much in the long run, at lower levels it's quite an increase.



I am a dwarf fighter. My dad was too. So was my mom. We like beards and makin' stuff. Goblins suck.

That's five sentences, not five lines. See! Not as easy as it looks.

[Taelas]

You do realize that just encourages putting in line breaks, right? :smalltongue:

Writing five 'lines' of text is incredibly vague.

[Shadowknight12]

Of course I do. Always have, from the first game I DM'd. I've had players who asked "why didn't you give me as much as you gave the other guy?" and then I gave them helpful tips to improve their background ("You could add more plot hooks for me, or NPCs that are important to you, or events that explain your character's outlook," etc), they did so, and I awarded them more XP or another shiny object.

I also implemented the rule that, instead of XP, a well-written background can earn the player a customised object (within reason), an extra feat or a couple of extra known spells. One of my players once used this to start play with a magical weapon that was a crucial part of his character's background (family heirloom, terrible tragedy, oath of vengeance, etc).

[thompur]

I... what? So they're playing for the first time, or...?




Surely the fact that he has sneak attack at all signifies him being trained by an assassin, no?

I'm not against giving people regional feats/traits to accomodate character concepts, but you're giving him a 70% increase to his sneak attack damage just because he wrote the words "I was trained by an assassin". Whilst it's not much in the long run, at lower levels it's quite an increase.




That's five sentences, not five lines. See! Not as easy as it looks.

Ah, but he wrote it on reciept tape, which is only 2" wide. So it actually came out to 6 1/2 lines.:smalltongue:

[elpollo]

Ah, but he wrote it on reciept tape, which is only 2" wide. So it actually came out to 6 1/2 lines.:smalltongue:

... touché, good sir.

edit - although in that case, technically my point about it not being 5 lines is still correct. Technically. That's enough to take the high ground, right?

[Jeraa]

D&D is a roleplaying game. Characters should have a background anyway, and I wouldn't give anything extra for it. If anything, I would probably penalize those that don't come up with some sort of a background.

I thought about giving small bonuses for a background story, but then realized that nearly every time one of the players in my group made a story, it was to get those bonuses, and then they usually immediately forgot about most of their background and it never came up again.

[Reinboom]

I generally add in story benefits and ties. To me, this is the PCs' story and I believe it to be more interesting if I can tie it together in with them.
Usually.
In addition, I generally like providing non combative benefits for more thought out backgrounds. This may be things like (3.5e) a mask of languages, silkweave tunics, extra knowledge skill points, (1e) a spade of great excavation, (Deadlands) a knife forged of pressed soul rock that can't harm flesh, (Scion) a small cult following...

Of course, this all depends on the type of game. In a dungeon crawl, there really is no point.
In a political intrigue... I'm going to be more careful about handing out such things.

[slaydemons]

... touché, good sir.

edit - although in that case, technically my point about it not being 5 lines is still correct. Technically. That's enough to take the high ground, right?

By lines I meant sentences, yes its small and meager but before that I was like "whats your characters background?" I got "I don't want to write a background I just want to whack monsters." which in my mind you don't need me for that play a mmo. so thus requiring a small amount that will probably get larger the more we play.

[Arundel]

This entire practice is mystifying to me.

I don't get the opportunity to play in traditional pen and paper face to face games. I play near exclusively play by post games. More relevantly, the system I frequent has DMs post a game concept then players apply for the game. Games vary from 5%-100% acceptance rate. As such, if you want any chance of playing a good game (good DM, strong concept) you had better have an excellent character concept with a fully fleshed back story, character personality and appearance traits.

So to award XP for making a character seems like giving your dog a treat for breathing. Nonsensical.

[slaydemons]

This entire practice is mystifying to me.

I don't get the opportunity to play in traditional pen and paper face to face games. I play near exclusively play by post games. More relevantly, the system I frequent has DMs post a game concept then players apply for the game. Games vary from 5%-100% acceptance rate. As such, if you want any chance of playing a good game (good DM, strong concept) you had better have an excellent character concept with a fully fleshed back story, character personality and appearance traits.

So to award XP for making a character seems like giving your dog a treat for breathing. Nonsensical.


Yes I agree some of this should be second nature to them, or at least one of them someone who has indeed free formed role played before the others have not, I didn't even get everyone's background which is even scarier, I got the most from the rogue and the least from the now sorcerer, and sadly the sorcerer has had the most experience at role playing as he did the free form for a few years.

[Honest Tiefling]

Have you asked why they did not? Some people come up with backstories as they go along, or might have felt overwhelmed especially if they are new.

[slaydemons]

Have you asked why they did not? Some people come up with backstories as they go along, or might have felt overwhelmed especially if they are new.

I asked the sorcerer he gave the answer "I want to whack monsters and kill them why do I need a backstory." the rogue, his answer was pretty much "I really wanted to get this game started, I am very excited." he wasn't bad he also was the only one to make a background without questioning. our ranger..... who had to write five sentances tried to bribe me into doing less :smallsigh: yeah I see your point though, and I didn't require background when we were fiddling around in tutorial like levels. I just hope to something, that I don't get yelled at when their level 20 and say time to do a new campaign.

[Curmudgeon]

I reward a consistent back story with access to regional feats and racial variations that fit that story. That is to say, if the game is set in Greyhawk, I need a good writeup explaining why extra-Oerth content (like a Silvanesti Elf from the eastern part of Ansalon on Krynn, or the Snow Tiger Berserker feat which requires Rashemen Snow Tiger Lodge membership) should be allowed.