How much backstory do characters "have to" have?

[atemu1234]

As in, how much is normal and what's the bare minimum to have before starting the game?

[Traab]

Honestly, this will vary from group to group. Personally I say, especially if you are creating some god awful mega hybrid class of doom, that you write some justification for it. "My fathers father was a dragonborn who married a warforged and somehow had my dad, my mothers father was a beholder and her mother was a vampire lord. When I was born a solar appeared and granted me a boon because I was so gosh darn cute and awesome, thats why I can shapeshift into any pokemon I want twice a day" Maybe toss in some mystery into your back story the dm can use for a plot hook if its convenient. At least an excuse as to why you are "here" and might be willing to work with the adventurers you met in a local tavern.

[Zaq]

How much do you need? You need "enough."

In all seriousness, I find that "enough" for me is however much it takes for me to get a solid idea of the character's personality at the table. I don't want to be constantly referencing a monster backstory, and I don't really care about more than the basics of anyone else's backstory, so I aim for just enough that I have a good handle on what I'm actually going to be bringing to the table.

[Red Fel]

How much do you need? You need "enough."

This is precisely the answer I was going to give. Seriously, that exact phrase. Get out of my head, Charles!

Backstory, in my mind, should do three things: It should give the player a decent reference as to what motivates the character and how she would act under various circumstances. It should get the player emotionally invested in the character, which in turn gets the player more invested in the game. It should give the DM some idea of how to motivate the character, either via plothooks or by plucking elements from the character's backstory.
A backstory that does these things, in my mind, is sufficient. A backstory that does them well is excellent.

[JBarca]

It should give the player a decent reference as to what motivates the character and how she would act under various circumstances. It should get the player emotionally invested in the character, which in turn gets the player more invested in the game. It should give the DM some idea of how to motivate the character, either via plothooks or by plucking elements from the character's backstory.

As a DM, the third option is definitely the most important. It's great if a player gains something out of actually putting his character to paper like that, but I would hope that they have a story at least vaguely in mind while creating said character. Having a decently length (ie, not two brief sentences about how "they" killed one's parents or some such), detailed backstory opens up so many options for side-quests, NPCs, major quests, and just general depth for the world.

I once had a character who had been exiled from his powerful Wizard family's estate. By late game, a clone/illusion/thing of his father (a Wizard 17) showed up to defend the BBEG of a sidequest. Pretty fun stuff, both for the player to see and react to, and for me to design the encounter. And he only had himself to blame for having such a powerful character in his backstory.

I like to have my players provide a backstory of at least a page or two, complete with motivations, important figures, strengths, and weaknesses. I have had players write me 20ish pages, I've had a single page. So long as the information is good, the length isn't as important.

[The Insanity]

There's no bare minimum. It depends on you, the DM. Some don't require it at all. Some want a literal novel. IMO backstory isn't something that's needed, instead what I want from a player is his character's description - his appearance, personality, likes and dislikes, goals, etc. Stuff like that.

[Nousos]

I have players write out some form of backstory, even if is just leaving a farm to kill a few goblins and finding they have a knack for it; and something written about their characters personality. I find that making them sit down and think about a personality and upbringing BEFORE even hinting about an alignment cuts down on players that come to the table with profession: mercenary and just saying "I'm chaotic neutral"

[Drelua]

How much backstory I have varies depending on what sort of game I'm playing from essentially nothing to a somewhat detailed character portrait. If I'm playing PFS, I'm not really there for the roleplaying, so I pretty just build the character, pick a faction, and run with it. I don't find the organized play environment to be conducive to good roleplaying, what with the time constraints and the constantly shifting party formation, so I usually don't bother.

It's different for my regular games with a fairly consistent group, where I know what to expect and there's no set amount of stuff we have to accomplish in a set amount of time. My backstory tends to be very thin - I prefer to fill that in over time, as I get to know the world and get a feel for the character - but I try to get a pretty clear image of the character in terms of how they would think. I'm also more careful than others in my group to make decisions in character; rather than doing what I know to most likely be the best move, I'll do what my character would do, even if it seems unwise. If my animal companion gets attacked, I'm almost certainly going after whoever tried to kill my kitty, unless that's likely to get a person killed. When I'm playing my Half-orc Ranger that grew up in a place known as The Wastes, (not as fun as it sounds) I think like a man of average intelligence but significant wisdom who's used to solving problems by hitting them hard. It may sound like a pretty stupid response, but in his experience it works. And when something doesn't go his way, he starts doing something different. He got killed and hit with a Breath of Life once, but of course he dropped his weapon. So now he has an adamantine spiked locked gauntlet so he can be secured to an axe at all times. Yes, even then. In our last fight, a reach weapon would have been a huge advantage, so he's trading in his greataxe for a glaive.

Anyway, I went on a bit of a tangent there, so basically what I'm saying is that I tend to focus more on getting a clear idea of the character's behaviour, and making decisions from his perspective rather than my own, than on the character's history. I've played with people that seem to think roleplaying consists of bursting into soliloquy during social encounters, then metagaming as hard as they can as soon as the battle grid shows up. That's not really roleplaying to me, it's bad acting and a board game.

[gooddragon1]

There's no bare minimum. It depends on you, the DM. Some don't require it at all. Some want a literal novel. IMO backstory isn't something that's needed, instead what I want from a player is his character's description - his appearance, personality, likes and dislikes, goals, etc. Stuff like that.

As quoted, I have gotten by on none. Many times.

[Averis Vol]

For me, in the games I run, I ask for name, class, short description and why you do what you do/how you got your abilities, then why are you adventuring. It can be as simple as "I am Igon brightstar, paladin of Kelemvor. I have gaunt features and rust colored hair that contrasts with my shining armor. I travel the world to mete out justice with my fellow warriors of righteousness." That's it, but if you give me more to work with, we can do things like having Igon inherit the blade of brightstar, the weapon wielded by his great grandmother and the blade that led to the freedom of your people.

and while I encourage people to write a good backstory, I seriously hate when people write a rambly 10 page backstory that could have been summed up in 1.

[SciChronic]

Personally, I make sure that my backstory give at least a brief explanation of why i have certain class levels/templates, as well as an indication of his alignment, and personality. For instance, i have a necropolitan beguiler rolled up, who underwent the necropolitan ritual in order to survive walking into a growing zone of negative energy that was spreading throughout the kingdom he served. He was the leader of something similar to a covert ops team (explaining his expertise in shadow magic, and sneakiness), but his entire squad died in order to complete the mission. Being the sole survivor, he returned to report that the mission was a success, but it had a high price. His lord, thanked him for his service, and then had him arrested and was sentenced to a private execution. The lord didnt want the public knowing that they had created undead, and my character was the only remaining evidence of the fact. Needless to say, he escaped, and has gained a large distrust of government (he had served since he was of age, and in return he was to be executed, so its undertandable).

[Piggy Knowles]

Something new I've been trying as a DM is to recommend that players wrote their character's backstory as the campaign progresses, rather than beforehand. I don't require any strict backstory beforehand (although I don't discourage it if that's what the player is into), instead just asking the players to spend some time thinking about who their character is, what her motivations are, etc. Then I let them flesh things out as the campaign goes on, which lets them find a place for their character within the world I've built, and within the greater storyline.

In the campaign I'm currently running on these boards, the only actual backstory I required was a quick description of the character via a sending spell - so no more than 25 words. That proved to be surprisingly fun.

[Twilightwyrm]

First rule, consult your local DM and see how much they want. This more than anything else, this will set the ground rules for how much back story they want.
This being said, while "enough" is a perfectly valid response, if you want some sort of guild line, I find you'll eventually want a paragraph at the bare minimum. This is to say, while when you initially make a character, especially if you made it that day around the gaming table, a quick, couple line description may suffice. However, eventually you will probably want at least a paragraph. It is possible to get by on a line or two? Sure. it is possible to get by on nothing? I'm sure it is. But to cover the bare minimums of a defined character, you'll generally want a paragraph at minimum. If only so the DM has a general idea of who your character is, and where they came from.

[DeadMech]

Typically... less than what I write, at least that's the impression I get. I find it hard to not get a bit carried away during the process out of excitement.

[HammeredWharf]

Usually I give the players a short synopsis of a campaign's premise (e.g. "Orcs are attacking! They came to kill and plunder!") and expect them to tell me who their characters are and why they're there (e.g. "I'm Bob the farmer! I sing and tear orcs asunder!"). Anything more is extra and will probably be incorporated into the game if it's not really stupid, but I prefer storylines developed in-game to background info.

[Troacctid]

A "high concept" is usually just fine for me. Sum up the basic idea of your character in one sentence, so that everyone in the party understands what's going on in your corner.

A single-classed character practically has it built in because of the resonant flavor of the classes--"I'm a human wizard specializing in divination (and an adventurer)" is a strong enough concept on its own to meet the minimum requirement for flavor, and the character's personality should shine through in gameplay. Presumably they'll be cautious, avoiding danger if possible, making knowledge rolls at every opportunity, and casting spells to gather information before making decisions, because that's what the mechanics of the class pushes you towards. It's also exactly what you expect from a wizard who specializes in divination, so...right on.

[some guy]

Something new I've been trying as a DM is to recommend that players wrote their character's backstory as the campaign progresses, rather than beforehand. I don't require any strict backstory beforehand (although I don't discourage it if that's what the player is into), instead just asking the players to spend some time thinking about who their character is, what her motivations are, etc. Then I let them flesh things out as the campaign goes on, which lets them find a place for their character within the world I've built, and within the greater storyline.

In the campaign I'm currently running on these boards, the only actual backstory I required was a quick description of the character via a sending spell - so no more than 25 words. That proved to be surprisingly fun.

This is something I want to experiment with as well. I've been thinking of having the players come up with one connection or background part per session.

I always ask for a reason for choosing the adventuring life, a motivation for traveling together with the group (unless the first session is spend getting the group together) and a visual description.

[Daishain]

Have to have? Technically none I suppose. You could just roll up the stats and plop the guy in.

Here's the thing though, you're playing a game where you're weaving a story together, not just some mindless FPS with a bloodthirsty pseudoprotagonist that says nothing and may or may not even have a name. A character without a past has no identity, no personality, and no purpose beyond that which you can make up on the fly. I have never seen an attempt at this work out well, it has always been awkward at best. Even if you make a character suffering from complete source amnesia (actual memories are gone, practical skills and information left intact), details of their past are going to be relevant to the present, in some ways even more so than normal.

With that in mind, I would suggest never starting play without at least a page worth of character profile. Even if no one else ever reads it, (your DM should, but not all of them bother) it serves as a springboard and guidepost for your character's development.

The simplest, and in some ways most effective, character profile is not a bibliography, but more of an interwoven list. List a few character quirks, list a few interesting details about the character's history, list a few things about the characters goals and about anyone else that might have... plans for the character, list a few interesting things about appearance. Keep going back through the lists, add, edit and remove as necessary so that the details fit with the characters skills, each other, and how you want to portray the character. You should find that it takes on a life of its own as you go, but keep going until you are confident that someone else can read through the lists and get a solid idea of who this person is. Once done, you can take the history details and expand them into a proper story if you wish, and I would recommend doing so, but it probably isn't necessary.

[Chronos]

I would say that a bare minimum is that you need a reason to be adventuring, and you need a reason to get along with the rest of the party. This can be as simple as "I'm adventuring and helping the party because I'm a righteous do-gooder". You don't even need to describe your character's appearance, though be warned that if you don't, the other players are likely to do so for you.

That's the bare minimum. Ideal is of course much more than that. A good DM can get fun and interesting hooks out of your backstory, and even if they don't, you should be able to build on it yourself in your role-playing.

Also, backstories should not be considered set in stone. They will both develop gradually and be changed suddenly. As an example of the former, I had a bard whose motivation started off as basically being that she enjoyed traveling and seeing the world, but I gradually realized that what she really liked was seeing the cultures of the world. That developed as a result of watching her steadily-growing list of languages known, and thinking about the implications of having learned all of those languages. As an (admittedly cliched) example of the latter, a player might suddenly discover that the father they thought they were avenging isn't dead after all. You need to be able to roll with it.

[nedz]

64 Pages
Honestly, if someone gave me a 64 page backstory, I'd assume that they were trying to pull a Henderson.

It does depend upon the level you are starting at. For a 1st level PC I'd expect some justification as to why your character looks like it does plus some reasoning as to how you ended up in the starting situation. It is useful to be able to weld the character into the setting, though that can come later.


Something new I've been trying as a DM is to recommend that players wrote their character's backstory as the campaign progresses, rather than beforehand. I don't require any strict backstory beforehand (although I don't discourage it if that's what the player is into), instead just asking the players to spend some time thinking about who their character is, what her motivations are, etc. Then I let them flesh things out as the campaign goes on, which lets them find a place for their character within the world I've built, and within the greater storyline.

IMHO this is an excellent approach. This is the sort of stuff which can add greatly to role-play as part of character development, in the non-mechanical sense.

[Qwertystop]

I tend to write somewhere between one and five paragraphs (usually on the low side, but hedging my bets with that range). Sometimes, more comes up. I mostly work out a personality as I play, starting with a general idea and seeing where it takes me.

Often I start from the "ten-minute" backstory (which usually takes a lot longer).

[Extra Anchovies]

This is precisely the answer I was going to give. Seriously, that exact phrase. Get out of my head, Charles!

Backstory, in my mind, should do three things: It should give the player a decent reference as to what motivates the character and how she would act under various circumstances. It should get the player emotionally invested in the character, which in turn gets the player more invested in the game. It should give the DM some idea of how to motivate the character, either via plothooks or by plucking elements from the character's backstory.
A backstory that does these things, in my mind, is sufficient. A backstory that does them well is excellent.

Definitely agreed. I like to take a look at the character build and work out the backstory from there; this especially works well with characters that do some early multiclassing and/or start a little above 1st level.

For example, a build that starts with Monk 2/Ranger 2 (with a pile of Cityscape ACFs) becomes a kid who grew up in the slums of a major city who went off to a monastery (to reduce the number of mouths his parents have to feed), got fed up with the monks' isolation after a few years of training, and returned home to find that an organized crime group had taken over his old neighborhood. After a few too many violent run-ins with the mob's "protection" enforcers, the gangsters killed one of our PC's brothers and bribed the city guard into putting a price on his head, forcing him to leave town. Now he fights to rid the rest of the world from corruption while training ceaselessly in hopes of one day returning and taking down the mob and freeing his relatives and childhood neighbors.

[Chronos]

I should also mention that I don't usually write up my characters' backstories, unless the DM requests it, or there are some specific hooks in there I think the DM might want to use. It's mostly just important that the player have some sense of the character's backstory.

[Lord Vukodlak]

My characters all have two or three paragraphs of backstory. For example

My Halfling Summoner Alderac Overhill was born a slave in Chillax. He grew up working in the kitchens but when he showed latent talent in unusual magic. (ie the summoner class). His master took steps to ensure those powers were developed, so he could show off to the other nobles at what a talented Slip he had.

This afforded him better treatment, better food and it spared him the master's son who delighted in making the lives of the slaves more difficult. He eventually used his master's favor to obtain permission to take a wife and start a family.For a while he was happy but then one day while his pregnant wife was carrying the mistress's three century old porcelain tea set back to the kitchen the family's eldest son (twenty-one) thought it be fun to trip her going down the stairs. The dishes of course shattered, for failing to watch where she was going the mistress had her beaten, and the maid later died of her injuries. The master of the house simply told Alderac he could find another girl to replace her or two.

Instead one night Alderac stole the house keys, locked the family in their rooms and set fire to the house and watched it burn to the ground. He then fled Chillax running all the way to the River Kingdoms where he hooked up with a group of Adventurers looking to explore the Emerald Spire...


Even if you make a character suffering from complete source amnesia (actual memories are gone, practical skills and information left intact), details of their past are going to be relevant to the present, in some ways even more so than normal.
I had a PC try and pull that in order to get out of writing any kind of backstory for me.... he didn't want his character to be involved in any plot hooks. So I wrote a back story for him and his amnesia became a lynch pin for a campaign arc.

[BWR]

Some want a literal novel. .

I assume you meant this 'figurative', not 'literal'.

[Elkad]

For my current character, the DM wanted us to make a back story that included why we were slaves. Mine consisted of "couldn't pay his student loans for wizard school, got sold"

I had no idea beyond that. 3 sessions later I could have filled a dozen pages. But I played the character and figured him out on the fly, vs trying to make him fit a back story.

If you ask me the first session, I'll never have a story. It always develops in play.

[The Insanity]

I assume you meant this 'figurative', not 'literal'.
No, I meant literal.

[Trasilor]

This really depends on the player and DM.

Some players need an extensive backstory to get into their character. They want to completely flush out their character before game play because they don't like making up stories on the fly. They want to explain why their character behaves the way they do and what motivates them.

Others need very little. They can add to their story on the fly as the game progresses. These players may "back into" their personalities (i.e. they play as philanthropic, because later they reveal they were orphans) as needed.

As a DM I can work with both. The former allows me to pre-plan plot devices while the latter allows me to add plot elements on the fly. :smallamused:

Regardless, I encourage my players choose whichever method they are more comfortable with.

[ArqArturo]

64 Pages
Honestly, if someone gave me a 64 page backstory, I'd assume that they were trying to pull a Henderson.

How about 64 pages of reaaally big font?.

Anyways, I was waiting for someone to invoke OMH in one point or another. I think a good backstory doesn't need to be ridiculously long, but it it has to be well-detailed, to give form to not just the character, but also the place he/she/it lived, the people the character interacted with, etc.

[A Tad Insane]

Just a few major events what would put the character on the path they are on now, but they need to be in news paper article form, with a picture

[Trasilor]

Just a few major events what would put the character on the path they are on now, but they need to be in news paper article form, with a picture

I tend to write mine in note form - bullets and all :smallbiggrin:

[Curmudgeon]

Name.
Race.
Any template(s) used.
Class.
Any ACFs and substitution levels used.
Height.
Weight.
Age.
If they're taking a regional feat, the region.

That's the back story requirement.

[Seerow]

I like characters who have at least some motivation for doing something independent of what the adventure throws at them, so I will generally have enough backstory to have at least one such motivation/hook.

Other than that, I tend to leave things pretty open ended and expect either it doesn't matter, or I can fill in the gaps as we go. Because it's always fun to spontaneously decide the NPC your DM looks just like somebody you've known for years, and run with it.