Translating a Personality into a Backstory

[Archpaladin Zousha]

At the moment, I'm frustrated at how to make a character with an objectively good narrative attached to him. I have a sheet and stats, as well as a projected plan for what he'll eventually become. I have a relatively, I hope, developed and nuanced personality for him. But what I can't figure out is how to write a good backstory that explains that personality.

I'm hesitant to actually say more because I've asked questions of this nature in the past, and they seem to never garner much interest, so I'm concerned that I'm annoying people with the fact that I can't write convincing personal histories.

[NikitaDarkstar]

Lets see if I can break down what I do, it might not make much sense or be to useful, but I'll try.

First of all I look at what kind of character I got. If he's a fighter or rogue I try to see why he is that. Is he some farmers son that didn't want to take over the farm and decided to join the town guard instead? Or is he a spoiled noble's son that's been trained in the art of fighting because that's fashionable among the nobles?

After that I look at anything obvious that stands out from what you'd expect from the archetype. A skill or odd choice in weaponry or whatever, why did they choose that?

If we're using flaws and traits I simply go on my gut feeling of what feels right for the character. These to me are an excellent way of adding some personality to your stat blocks.

After that I look at any odd habits or quirks the character has and again ask why? For example right now I have a sorcerer who has... well above average mental traits (16 int, 14 wis and 20 cha in pathfinder), but right now noone would guess. She's young, a bit on the naive side (wants to think good of everyone), didn't pay to much attention to education (boring :p) and seems fairly clueless about the world. Why? Because she left home for the first time just a few days earlier. (Had never wandered more than half a day from her village) So she's heard the stories, sure but she hasn't seen it for herself.

But mostly, just think about some few major key points about the character and why those are as they are and get a general idea of the reasons, the rest tends to come with time and play and there's nothing wrong with that. :)

[Rorrik]

It would help to know something about the personality to transform it into a backstory. I don't know of any writ approach to making the conversion, but if you think of experiences in your life that have inspired the kinds of emotions common to your character those could be the kinds of things in your character's backstory.

I will try to approach via example. Suppose I have a character who's personality is bold in action, and usually in speech. I would set his backstory as being a youth who had trouble in social situations and spent much of his time alone and training himself, aspiring for greatness. Despite being athletic and able, he always regretted his fear of social interaction. He was eventually driven to overcome his fears whether by drastic events or by a prolonged effort and now demonstrates the courage he had lacked in most aspects of his life.

My newest character may provide another example. I just wanted a man who was piously devoted to a wild goddess, Mergna: Dancing Lady of the Flame. To justify his wildness and his devotion, I made him a child of gypsies who had traveled with them, performing , mostly as a dancer. He left them in a town where they performed to pursue the beautiful daughter of a noblewoman. She spurned him and when he came in contact with the cult of Mergna, out of boredom and a need for acceptance, he quickly accepted the rites including dancing on fire. His zeal and talent for dance, not to mention passion for beauty like that of the fiery Mergna, allows him to climb the ranks quickly within the cult and become an initiated cleric of Mergna.

[valadil]

Instead of writing a biography of the character, write a story. Include dialog. I think the problem with character backstories is that they often do an info dump of irrelevant info. It's nice to know where the character came from, but when you name all four of his brothers, that info isn't likely to come up again (or when it does you'll have forgotten their names anyway).

So what goes in a story about the character? Usually I write about how the character arrived at the starting point of the game. The dialog will let you show personality. Arriving at game start lets you show the character's interests and motivations (or else why would he be here?). And it's not too hard to slip in a little bit about where he came from.

Don't be afraid to write a lot. If you want to get good at writing backstories, you have to spend time writing backstories. When I write them, I actually treat the backstory as a chance to try out the character in private with nobody watching. I can practice aspects of the personality that don't come naturally to me and I can take my time doing it, unlike at the game table.

I should also point out that I have GMs who like my writing, so there's nothing wrong with giving them a 14 page backstory. For GMs who aren't interested in reading something like that, write it for your own benefit but don't hand it in. You'll learn more about the character and you'll get better at writing whether or not the GM sees it.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

It would help to know something about the personality to transform it into a backstory.
Okay, here's the basics. The character, Arioch (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=404353), is a tiefling living in the city of Westcrown, former capital of the now devil-worshiping empire of Cheliax. He's a level 1 Fighter using Pathfinder's Unbreakable archetype. Later he'll multiclass into a Sorcerer with the Shadow bloodline and finally become an Eldritch Knight.

He's a different sort of tiefling than the kind you'd normally find in Cheliax, called a shackleborn, meaning he's descended from kytons (which are a separate kind of fiend that were formerly imprisoned in Hell but escaped and now call the Plane of Shadow their home). Appearance-wise, shackleborn look much more human than the hellspawn who make the majority of Cheliax's tiefling population. They don't have horns or tails or any of that stuff, but they're born covered in scars, like they'd been wrapped in spiked chains in the womb or something. Most shackleborn develop a fascination with pain and mutilation as they grow older, preferring to inflict it on others but also accepting the moments when it happens to them. They also tend to add to the scars that already cover them from head to toe by adding tattoos, brands and piercings.

Arioch's alignment is Lawful Good, however, and when I tried to picture the kind of Lawful Good I wanted, I found myself drawn to The Doctor (you know which one). I wanted Arioch to operate by a strict personal code of conduct that he uses to keep his sadistic inclinations in check. But when angered or when someone refuses to heed his warnings, he becomes terrifying, capable of inflicting intense punishments on whoever pushed him. To quote:


"Look, I'm angry, that's new...I don't know what's going to happen now."

"The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men...have too many rules."

"Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to learn why I have so many."

He's also very capable of giving such warnings, as when you factor in the racial bonuses and his high Charisma score, the man has an Intimidate bonus of +10 at level 1. He also loathes tieflings that give in to their baser natures and turn to thieving or murder because its easy, and they think the world "owes them one." This is important because in the campaign, there are a number of villainous tieflings, so this ties him better to the story.

There are also two backstory elements that I do have that are traits that give some inclination for his backstory, but not explaining it completely. The first, Infernal Bastard, reduces his natural tiefling abilities. From a mechanics standpoint, this is to reduce his starting power, bringing him down to the level of the main player character races. Rather than being able to cast darkness once a day, he can cast one 0-level spell at will, and instead of having resistance 5 to fire, cold and electricity, he has a +2 bonus to saving throws against them. From a storytelling standpoint, this means that Arioch has had a hard life. Tieflings are third-class citizens in Cheliax because the aristocracy, while diabolists, places a high importance on the ability to bind and control devils. If a tiefling appears in the bloodline, it means that their ancestor either squandered the power of a noble servant of Asmodeus, using him/her like a dockside whore when they should have demanded something more dignified to advance their ambitions, or that the ancestor was weak and the slave became the master. Neither option is considered pure by the Chelaxians, so tieflings are relegated to ghettos and are used as slaves (though halflings make better slaves because they take up less space and are more placid).

The other trait, Shadow Child, gives him bonuses when in dim light and darkness, and what this signifies is that he had a close encounter with Westcrown's shadow beasts. The shadow beasts are monsters that stalk Westcrown's streets at night. No one knows where they came from, though there are many theories. But all that is truly known is that they are dangerous. Everyone knows someone who lost a friend or a cousin or a pet because the shadow beasts caught them after dark. It's been a problem for so long that people just don't go out at night anymore. Taverns keep bedrolls so people can stay the night to avoid them. Arioch had an encounter with these and survived, most likely because of his own ties to the Plane of Shadow, being descended from the kytons that also live there. And their touch, if that's what happened, stirred the shadows already within him, and is what will eventually allow him to channel their power as a sorcerer.

The problem comes with tying these elements all together. I've only had one suggestion thus far, and that was to have him be a former male prostitute, and that's an angle I do NOT want to go in because I feel that would cheapen his character, make him a joke.

[Analytica]

Concerning the personal code. Suppose there was one person who exhibited similar lawful good behaviour, and who cared for him from time to time during his childhood? When this person eventually disappears in some way (shadow beasts?), he fills the hole in his soul by trying to become a similarly morally guided person despite the darkness around and within, and this leads him into lawful good. I am picturing something like a fallen paladin, now alcoholic and stuck in Cheliax of all places, who still maintains some set of principles, in some way even made stronger by their personal shortcomings (i.e. "I cannot judge any of you; all I can do is try my best to be a good person").

[Grail]

Personally, I rarely write a backstory for a character. I am of the mold, whereby I have some ideas and then I expound on them in game as it comes up. This, IMO, creates a far richer, more detailed and more memorable backstory, and I heartily recommend trying it.

Little things, a few words here or there can make for really interesting parts of a character's backstory.

Example - my Half-Orc Rogue/Fighter (Varysh) - I'll spoil this, incase anyone is playing LoF.

We were still in the process of liberating Kelmarane from the Gnolls. We had snuck through much of the town and taken out a few Gnoll patrols and now we were trying to hide, when we discovered a Harpy.

The other characters ask about what a Harpy can do (yes, we all know - we're all very experienced gamers, but our characters didn't neccesarily know).

My character comments were something like this..

"When I was a slave in Katapesh, the Slavers used Harpys to keep us in line with their infernal songs. Any that couldn't be kept in line, the slavers fed to the creatures. I remember seeing my friend butchered and devoured by the disgusting creatures. I remember their mocking laughter. I swore if I ever got free, that I would kill those Harpys. Unfortunately, I couldn't - the Pact Masters would have strung me up as an example if I'd even tried to harm one feather of those beasts. But this one, this one will do just as well!"


The good thing about coming up with your background this way, is instead of being a piece of paper that is read once and then often forgotten, it becomes part of the game, part of defining who the character is, and you can let the way you've been playing influence your character's exposition of his past.

[Rorrik]

I don't see why having a written backstory should change the ability to have these kinds of interactions with your character. There generally pretty vague and all your written backstory would need to say was he was a slave for a period of time and then when the situation arises you expound on it. Writing the backstory isn't what gets in the way of that, it's forgetting the backstory.

As for the teifling, I second the idea of giving him a mentor. Lets say it's the drunken, fallen paladin. Arioch could be working for a pitance as a tavern stableboy in the slums of the city. During that time he meets the paladin, who practically lives at the tavern, and he takes special care of his impressive stallion. He always wonders why the paladin is there of all places, and the paladin takes notice of him. The paladin tries to instill good ideals in him, hoping to redeem Arioch, if not himself. One night as Arioch tries to sleep in the stable loft, he hears a commotion in the alley way and knows it is the shadow beasts attacking someone. He then hears a door slam open from the tavern. The paladin arrives to save the helpless victim. Arioch feels compelled to defend his friend and they win the battle, but the paladin is severely wounded. Before his death, he says something to Arioch that stays with him for the rest of his life, a prayer, a motto, a plea for him to be good... something poignant that shapes his character for the campaign or that he can repeat under his breath from time to time. "With my life I defend the helpless, with my sword I strike down villainy." for example. He devotion to defending the helpless, even with his life, would reflect a Doctor-like personality, I think.

Did I miss anything?

[Analytica]

I don't see why having a written backstory should change the ability to have these kinds of interactions with your character. There generally pretty vague and all your written backstory would need to say was he was a slave for a period of time and then when the situation arises you expound on it. Writing the backstory isn't what gets in the way of that, it's forgetting the backstory.

As for the teifling, I second the idea of giving him a mentor. Lets say it's the drunken, fallen paladin. Arioch could be working for a pitance as a tavern stableboy in the slums of the city. During that time he meets the paladin, who practically lives at the tavern, and he takes special care of his impressive stallion. He always wonders why the paladin is there of all places, and the paladin takes notice of him. The paladin tries to instill good ideals in him, hoping to redeem Arioch, if not himself. One night as Arioch tries to sleep in the stable loft, he hears a commotion in the alley way and knows it is the shadow beasts attacking someone. He then hears a door slam open from the tavern. The paladin arrives to save the helpless victim. Arioch feels compelled to defend his friend and they win the battle, but the paladin is severely wounded. Before his death, he says something to Arioch that stays with him for the rest of his life, a prayer, a motto, a plea for him to be good... something poignant that shapes his character for the campaign or that he can repeat under his breath from time to time. "With my life I defend the helpless, with my sword I strike down villainy." for example. He devotion to defending the helpless, even with his life, would reflect a Doctor-like personality, I think.

Did I miss anything?

You know, if the OP does go with it... maybe the other way around? The shadows attack Arioch. The drunken, fallen paladin, with no divine power, is virtually powerless against the shadow creature and will probably die if fighting it. Also, why would they help a "worthless" Tiefling child, who is probably going to turn out evil anyway? Regardless of all this, the ex-paladin stands against superior foes, knowing they won't make it, to give the child a chance to escape. It's easy to be good when you are on a winning streak. Whether you can manage it when you are losing... that's the true test of your character. Could you give your life for someone who _doesn't_ deserve it? I am thinking that is an experience that could have a profound effect on someone.

Or it could be more longterm. How did Arioch learn fighter skills, for example?

[Tengu_temp]

You don't need a long, complex backstory that explains every single quirk of your character, a short and simple one will suffice - character personality is much more important. The most important parts of a backstory are those that provide the DM with hooks for adventures, NPCs you could meet, and other similar stuff. Writing a long backstory that won't serve any purpose in the actual game is just literary masturbation.

[Objection]

I don't remember where I heard/read this, but one bit of advice that I thought was good was "Imagine your character is in a tavern and the barman asks 'What's your story?' and think about what your character would say."

Of course, if you take it too literally, your backstory might end up being "None of your business."

[Analytica]

You don't need a long, complex backstory that explains every single quirk of your character, a short and simple one will suffice - character personality is much more important. The most important parts of a backstory are those that provide the DM with hooks for adventures, NPCs you could meet, and other similar stuff. Writing a long backstory that won't serve any purpose in the actual game is just literary masturbation.

An act may serve no long-term productive purpose, and still be highly enjoyable. :smallbiggrin:

That said, I agree there is less gain in adding many details, and more gain in working out past affiliations, people you might have known, and broad environments you may have been in, so that you can decide that present-day events or people match something from your past (i.e. "perhaps I know one of the sailors from when I worked the docks?" or "this guy reminds me of my teacher in the refugee camp").

[Grail]

I don't see why having a written backstory should change the ability to have these kinds of interactions with your character. There generally pretty vague and all your written backstory would need to say was he was a slave for a period of time and then when the situation arises you expound on it. Writing the backstory isn't what gets in the way of that, it's forgetting the backstory.

Because most back stories are too long. 1 paragraph, 2 tops should be the back story, anything else gets forgotten as soon as it's read, or worse is contradicted within 5 minutes of the game commencing.

BTW, I didn't say I never write a backstory, I sometimes do, but more often I will build the details from the framework of thoughts and ideas, and I feel it works better.

[Tengu_temp]

An act may serve no long-term productive purpose, and still be highly enjoyable. :smallbiggrin:

Exactly. But also something you shouldn't force yourself to do if you don't feel like it.

[Analytica]

Exactly. But also something you shouldn't force yourself to do if you don't feel like it.

Conceded. In which case the OP should go for as much or as little as they want. :smallsmile:

[Analytica]

Because most back stories are too long. 1 paragraph, 2 tops should be the back story, anything else gets forgotten as soon as it's read, or worse is contradicted within 5 minutes of the game commencing.

I think this will depend on the type of game. I've had games where it was only meaningful to decide approximately which tropes applied to you, but also games where the minutiae of our backstories (some of it written, some of it in Q&A-format, most of it arrived at through discussion) had a dominant impact on what eventually happened and certainly enriched our experience.

Possibly the thing there might have been that the backstory was shared between characters, i.e. much of it was working out how we were related, what roles we had played in each others lives etc. Might not have worked so well if it was isolated for each character. So ideally, perhaps just make a skeleton and then discuss it with DM and other PCs to weave it together with other PC and NPC backgrounds?

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I don't see why having a written backstory should change the ability to have these kinds of interactions with your character. There generally pretty vague and all your written backstory would need to say was he was a slave for a period of time and then when the situation arises you expound on it. Writing the backstory isn't what gets in the way of that, it's forgetting the backstory.

As for the teifling, I second the idea of giving him a mentor. Lets say it's the drunken, fallen paladin. Arioch could be working for a pitance as a tavern stableboy in the slums of the city. During that time he meets the paladin, who practically lives at the tavern, and he takes special care of his impressive stallion. He always wonders why the paladin is there of all places, and the paladin takes notice of him. The paladin tries to instill good ideals in him, hoping to redeem Arioch, if not himself. One night as Arioch tries to sleep in the stable loft, he hears a commotion in the alley way and knows it is the shadow beasts attacking someone. He then hears a door slam open from the tavern. The paladin arrives to save the helpless victim. Arioch feels compelled to defend his friend and they win the battle, but the paladin is severely wounded. Before his death, he says something to Arioch that stays with him for the rest of his life, a prayer, a motto, a plea for him to be good... something poignant that shapes his character for the campaign or that he can repeat under his breath from time to time. "With my life I defend the helpless, with my sword I strike down villainy." for example. He devotion to defending the helpless, even with his life, would reflect a Doctor-like personality, I think.

Did I miss anything?

You know, if the OP does go with it... maybe the other way around? The shadows attack Arioch. The drunken, fallen paladin, with no divine power, is virtually powerless against the shadow creature and will probably die if fighting it. Also, why would they help a "worthless" Tiefling child, who is probably going to turn out evil anyway? Regardless of all this, the ex-paladin stands against superior foes, knowing they won't make it, to give the child a chance to escape. It's easy to be good when you are on a winning streak. Whether you can manage it when you are losing... that's the true test of your character. Could you give your life for someone who _doesn't_ deserve it? I am thinking that is an experience that could have a profound effect on someone.

Or it could be more longterm. How did Arioch learn fighter skills, for example?
I like both of these ideas! I think I'll definitely use this.


You don't need a long, complex backstory that explains every single quirk of your character, a short and simple one will suffice - character personality is much more important. The most important parts of a backstory are those that provide the DM with hooks for adventures, NPCs you could meet, and other similar stuff. Writing a long backstory that won't serve any purpose in the actual game is just literary masturbation.
Isn't a backstory the most important part of getting selected for a PbP? When I make a character for a pre-made thing like a Pathfinder Adventure Path, I try to create a character that best fits the literary themes and ideas of the campaign.

[Tengu_temp]

Isn't a backstory the most important part of getting selected for a PbP? When I make a character for a pre-made thing like a Pathfinder Adventure Path, I try to create a character that best fits the literary themes and ideas of the campaign.

Nope, personality and description. I'd rather take a character with a detailed, interesting personality section and very barebones backstory than the opposite.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I'm not talking about length so much as quality, though. I don't want people to think this character is basically a carbon-copy of Drizzt Do'Urden, the original "good character of an evil race of people." And I don't want to make his backstory too weepy, since that undercuts the intimidation factor I want for him. No one's going to take him seriously if his past is just one big sob-story. And most importantly, it has to explain why someone born with a near-compulsive desire to maim and torture people, and who is spat on by the whole of society, by good and evil people alike, has decided to say "No, I'm not going to be like that anymore. I'm going to protect people weaker than I am, and I'm going to join a secret gang of concerned citizens who want to get rid of the shadow beasts so Westcrown can be a better place, even if they think I'm a miscegenated freak."

[Morty]

I'm inclined to agree with Tengu. Backstory is a necessary part of a character, but it's all just stuff that already happened. What counts are the things your character will do over the course of the campaign, through roleplaying.
As for getting the right message across with your character... this also needs to be done with actual roleplaying. Backstory is not as importnat a factor in the impression your character leaves on others as the way you play him is.

[Grail]

Isn't a backstory the most important part of getting selected for a PbP? When I make a character for a pre-made thing like a Pathfinder Adventure Path, I try to create a character that best fits the literary themes and ideas of the campaign.

I think there is an important thing to understand with the backstory for PbP. A lot of PbP DM's like to think of themselves as capable writers, and want to evaluate a prospective player's writing style for compatibility. The easiest way to do that is to have the player write a backstory. It's often not so much about defining the character (even if they try to say it is) as it is about proving that the player can write in a logical and understandable way.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

How's this for a backstory?

"What's my story? It's the scars, isn't it. They always ask about them. I suppose I could lie and say they're from a lifetime of battle, but I'd probably have to make up a thousand more for each of them. So I'll give it to you honest, I was born with them. That's right, I came out the womb looking like someone had already put me in an iron maiden filled with barbed wire. I'm shackleborn, I'm a bloody tiefling. I don't usually say so, because people don't ask. The scars scare them away. Makes life a little easier for me, I guess. No horns means I'm more likely to get served at bars like this one. But that's about the only easy part of it. I've chosen a path in life that most tieflings would scoff at, because I believe I can do some good in this world, take the hits so others don't have to. I'm that guy who leaps out of the shadows and scares the piss out of a band of muggers, and then disappears into the night again before you can say thank you."

"I never really knew my parents. My mother died giving birth to me. Happens to a lot of our kind, surprisingly. My father didn't want me after that, so he dumped me with Uncle Domenico at The Biscione. You know, that inn near Rego Cader that has the guy being eaten by a big snake on the sign, with the stable by the side? Yeah, that's where I grew up. Domenico was an alright man. Never beat me or anything, but when I was old enough, he told me if I was gonna stay with him I was gonna work. I may have been his sister's son, but I was more an employee than family. Other than that, I had a pretty quiet childhood. Scared other kids off, tossed rocks at stray cats and dogs. Learned how to make a mean boiled goose. It was then that I met Grachius, the one person I'd ever consider a friend."

"Grachius was a regular at The Biscione, a fallen paladin who drowned his shame in brandy. Never found out what he'd exactly done. He always refused to talk about it. He only said he'd brought so much shame on himself that the goddess herself had disowned him. I used to needle him spitefully, harping on what a failure he was. He'd ignore my insults most of the time, though sometimes he'd ask me questions I didn't know how to answer at the time, like whether I was happy with having a empty life where the only joy I got was from others' misery. I'd usually leave him at that point, and wander the streets of the city. It was there I met Palaveen. Palaveen was older than me, but he was a tiefling, and he recognized me for one almost instantly. He treated me real nice, like a brother. One night, he invited me to meet a bunch of other tieflings and form a gang, saying it was important we tieflings stuck together. It was on the way back from meeting him that my life changed forever."

"I remember that night well. It was raining, and I was trying to get home as quick as I could, since I'm sure Domenico would scold me for walking the streets at night. For some reason I'd never been bothered by the shadow beasts on my nightly trips home from meeting with Palaveen, but that night they were out in full force, and though they didn't make a sound, I felt a crawling sensation in my scars, and my only instinct was to run. I looked behind me and saw the shadows melting in and out of the walls as they came after me, taking ghastly forms and silently cackling as they toyed with their prey. I'd never felt so frightened in my entire life. I thought I could lose them by taking back-alleys, but they seemed to know what I was thinking, and before I knew it I was surrounded. I felt their cloying, cold grasp, and almost thought I heard a voice whispering to me. "Come home, child. Come home..." But that voice was interrupted by a more familiar one shouting my name. It was Grachius, swinging an old sword and hefting a shield painted red with a gold lion with wings and a sword in its paw as the crest. The shadows seemed to recoil from him, and he bellowed for me to get behind him. This man, whom I had only seen sit at the bar sipping brandy and staring off into space, fought like a wildcat, always placing himself between the shadows and me as the rain slackened off and soon the sun began to rise. I watched the shadows recede back into the darkness, and then saw Grachius collapse to the ground. It wasn't until the light was better that I realized he'd taken blows from the creatures that had sapped his very life, leaving ugly black marks like frostbite on him. I tried to get him up, but he told me it wouldn't matter. He was dying."

"I frantically told him to try and get up, that he couldn't be dying, that Domenico would know what to do. Grachius hushed me and told me not to be afraid. He told me I'd been right, that he had been a failure, but in this moment, this one moment, he was a paladin once again. He didn't know whether it was enough for Iomedae to take him back, but his own conscience was clear, and that was enough for him. I think I started crying. Only time I ever have. Then he said one last thing, something I've never forgotten: "With my life I defend the helpless, with my sword I strike down villainy." Then the light passed from his eyes, and he was gone. I dragged him back to The Biscione, which turned out to be just around the corner. Domenico wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but he promised to make inquiries to see if he had family so his next of kin were informed. As for me, I returned to Palaveen later that week, explaining what happened."

"I continued to meet with Palaveen for a week or two after Grachius' death, but things weren't the same. I began to see that Palaveen was sadistic, petty and craven. He was everything Grachius wasn't. He'd never fend off shadows for some kid. And the kinds of tieflings he attracted were just like him. The idea of the gang seemed less about tieflings banding together to look out for each other, and more a band of criminals. Finally I confronted Palaveen about it, and he scoffed at me. He said I was just a naive kid who didn't know how the world worked, how if one failure of a human wasted his life for me was all it took to become soft, then he didn't need me. He told me that no one cared about me, so I had to stab at them so they at least left me alone, take what I wanted. Then he brandished a symbol of Asmodeus at me. He told me that the only way a tiefling could survive was to look to their ancestry and use the skills that came naturally to them. I finally realized what Palaveen had become, so I told him I was out. Whether out of some remaining shred of sympathy for me or just thinking a kid like me didn't matter in the long run, he let me leave."

"Since that day, I've honed myself, learning how to fight. How to take the hits so others don't. I even painted the winged lion on my own shield, hoping I can make that crest something to be proud of again. I learned about Iomedae and the Acts, though I keep myself hooded at temple, since I know my scars frighten. I still board at The Biscione, and I've grown a lot closer to Uncle Domenico over the years. I don't really know what I want to do with my life right now, but I think I'll begin hiring myself out as a bodyguard. I like the idea of protecting people. Just like Grachius protected me. With my life I defend the helpless, with my sword I strike down villainy. Good enough story for ya?"

[Analytica]

I like it. You have a nice writing voice, too. :smallsmile:

[Rorrik]

Very well done. That story will give the DM plenty to work with for your character.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Are the reactions and behavior believable? One of the biggest criticism's my writing has received is "real people don't act like this."

[Rorrik]

I didn't notice anything strange in the reaction. His improved relation with the uncle is a bit odd, but only because it's not directly explained and I'm sure there's a good reason for it.

I wonder how his returning to the inn will play into the campaign, if this were Genius the Transgression, it would be where his lab is hidden and play a big role.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I didn't notice anything strange in the reaction. His improved relation with the uncle is a bit odd, but only because it's not directly explained and I'm sure there's a good reason for it.

I wonder how his returning to the inn will play into the campaign, if this were Genius the Transgression, it would be where his lab is hidden and play a big role.
The uncle was kind of the one who made the effort, seeing that Grachius' death shook the kid up, and he realized he'd kind of been neglectful. They sort of bonded over the death of their mutual friend (sure, Grachius was a drunk, but at least he payed his tab on time). As for returning to The Biscione, that's more to give an idea of what he's living like (he's not on the street) and if the GM wants, he can menace Domenico to get Arioch all riled.

[Rorrik]

Beautiful, that's about the role I'd expect it to play.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

In fact, I expect Domenico to get menaced. We're going to be p*ss*ng off the criminal organization that controls the city to get rid of the shadow beasts that killed Grachius. Arioch'd probably feel cheated if they DIDN'T target his loved ones in retaliation! :smalltongue: