Ideas on a Backstory and Character Personality

[5w337x7007h]

So there's a female human arcanist, born into a small rural village. The village is raided by a Ogre Mage, and his posse of Orcs when the girl was five. Who didn't end up dead was captured into slavery. The girl ends up the personal slave of the Ogre Mage, trained and conditioned to be his apprentice and faithful slave. He uses magic to erase her childhood so she believes 100% she was born to serve him. Years down the road she takes her place in his bedchamber, and some orc gets the balls to use her for his own desires. Ogre finds she's pregnant, lets it come to just about to birth, cuts the unborn baby out and kills the orc who did it, pickling both in a jar for everyone to see, as a warning to anyone attempting to touch the girl. She ends up with an ash white scar across her abdomen, where the womb used to be.
Eventually a 'brave' knight comes and kills the Ogre, by now she's developed a deep emotional bond with the Ogre, so when the 'brave' knight 'saves' her, she resists, he takes her away, and she kills him while he's sleeping.
She can't find her way back, and won't try to, she'd end up dead if she returned since her master is dead now. So she must venture out into the world and survive with what she learned and was taught.
She also wears a, currently ornamental, collar, given to her by her master.
I'm trying to think of what personality she'll end up with, because she had a fondness for her master after he basically raised her up to be his personal stress relief. He would protect and feed her, bathe her, anything necessary to keep her alive, healthy, and unscathed outside what he would do as part of training and conditioning.

[Pyon]

I'd think you would have a pretty paranoid character there... Seeing how she killed a knight and was basically raped, she wouldn't be easy trusting at all. Probably a tiny bit insane.

[Astralia123]

Sounds quite unsocialized to me.

To what extent is she aware of her true circumstance? I guess this character is basically evil alignment, or at least a strong evil tendency. And to what extent is she remorseful when she is reminded the knight she killed?

You will have to decide how these factors act, and then the reason why she joins the party. Does she trust her party member?

[kardar233]

First, I'd like to congratulate you for trying to tackle a character with that degree of damage and altered mindset; it's tough, but it's definitely worth it. I'd caution you to be sure the rest of your group is okay with dealing with these sorts of issues as that may cause problems, either due to people not wanting this kind of story in their game or worse, triggering other people who might be vulnerable.


Sounds quite unsocialized to me.

To what extent is she aware of her true circumstance? I guess this character is basically evil alignment, or at least a strong evil tendency. And to what extent is she remorseful when she is reminded the knight she killed?

You will have to decide how these factors act, and then the reason why she joins the party. Does she trust her party member?

I'd strongly disagree that this person is Evil. Effectively, this knight just walked into her life, killed her best friend/lover/caretaker and expects her to be grateful for it. Her killing him sounds like the sort of righteous vengeance Good is known for and I'd say she's perfectly justified.

As for her personality, here's some things you might consider:


Has she considered that the ogre might be able to be resurrected? If so, is that a primary goal for her?
Has she accepted the ogre's death? Does she still speak of him in the present tense, and is it intentional or not?
Does she regret her inability to give him children? That problem could be solved with a Regenerate, I think, and Half-Ogres exist in-universe.
Does she miss having someone to be there for? Will she perhaps look for another relationship of a similar kind with someone else, who could be similar in some way?
On the other hand, might she avoid relationships because she'd feel like she was betraying her master?
Might she try to avoid Orcs and Orc-like types because they remind her of her bad experience?
Does she not like being touched because it reminds her of the last person who touched her without permission?
Is she unused to taking care of herself without her protector? What day-to-day things might she encounter that she doesn't know how to do herself, like protect or bathe herself (as he did that always)?
What normal things might she encounter in society that would be totally alien to her? Public displays of affection? Courting? Communal meals?
Is she publicly proud of the collar he gave her, or is it something more intimate and personal for her?
Does she realize that the knight was trying to help her?
Is she horrified by the idea of knights going out and killing the "savage races"?
Will she accept "civilized" life, or will she eventually try to find her way back to the "savage races" because that's what she knows?


After you answer those questions you should have a better sense of this person's mindset and how she relates to the world around her.

Hope that helps.

[skypse]

Lawful Neutral, believing and following only what her master taught her with 7 Charisma score so she would never ever question his motives and teachings.

[Scyrner]

Other than Kardar and Pyon, I find myself in disagreement with the other people in this thread. Regarding Pyon, I don't think that "insane" is quite the right idea. She's not had that much actual trauma, from what you've described, and humans are generally quite resilient. I doubt that she'd have that much PTSD, especially as the Ogre likely did his best to heal and fix her up, both physically and mentally, after the unfortunate pregnancy incident.

I also don't think that you need to specify her charisma at 7. All you need to say is that the Ogre's was markedly higher, and that resolves that issue.

Keep us posted.

[skypse]

7 Charisma reflects on a closed personality, 10000% loyal to someone/something while keeping it for herself without the need to advertise it or crusade for it, anti-social which a slave could easily be and with no knowledge on how society outside her little world functions.

[kardar233]

7 Charisma reflects on a closed personality, 10000% loyal to someone/something while keeping it for herself without the need to advertise it or crusade for it, anti-social which a slave could easily be and with no knowledge on how society outside her little world functions.

Only a couple of those things actually have to do with Charisma. You could have someone with no need to advertise or crusade their beliefs and values, who doesn't know how outside society works, and they could perfectly well have a high Charisma.

In this case, if the character has low Charisma that would probably manifest as being quiet and introverted, and perhaps timid, as she isn't used to standing up for herself. If you wanted her to have a high Charisma you could fluff it as her natural force of personality or leadership ability having been suppressed or ignored during her time with her master, and now without being in his shadow she has a chance to shine.

[Pyon]

Regarding Pyon, I don't think that "insane" is quite the right idea. She's not had that much actual trauma, from what you've described, and humans are generally quite resilient. I doubt that she'd have that much PTSD, especially as the Ogre likely did his best to heal and fix her up, both physically and mentally, after the unfortunate pregnancy incident.

Maybe using the word insane was a bit... ignorant of me. Obviously there are rape victims and people who suffered major problems in their lives that are perfectly normal. What I meant was a bit... Awkward. Kind of what Kardar meant with having troubles adjusting to regular society, maybe she would be a human with Ogre customs. Something as simple as a handshake could simply not exist in Ogre culture and so she wouldn't understand it (I am not very familiar with Ogre customs so I don't know if they do have handshakes or not.)

Meanwhile, she could be paranoid of knights, of touching, and when she grows another fond attachment for someone (NPC, another party member, maybe even a pet) I think she would possibly protect that person with her life and maybe draw a circle on the dirt around that person and be like "IF YOU CROSS THIS YOU DIEEEEEEEE". It would make combat for her beloved a bit difficult though.

[5w337x7007h]

She isn't shy at all, kind of brash, but my DM requires that I make her act pragmatic if I am to use the Pragmatic Activator Trait (which benefits the Arcanist class). She would be most accustomed to Ogre/Orc traditions and actively act accordingly, but she'll either lash out or shy away from the touch of an Orc male, maybe even outright stab him in the throat or remove his hands after casting sleep, or hold person.

She won't be good-aligned, in the general atmosphere death is prevalent in Orc tribes and it's usually a smarter more dominating personality that takes charge. The Ogre's main goal was to see how far a human can go, and generally after her training she'd be too physically strained to properly take care of herself, especially at her early age between 5 and 12. He did give her rest on occasion and made sure she learned how to take care of herself if he was preoccupied.
She'll gravitate towards physically inclined party members as protection and return the favor with buffing or bfc or something else they request.

She'd take abuse general abuse, a slap or kick that only deals non-lethal, as a compliment for doing the right thing, anything that caused lethal damage would be taken as a threat or a punishment, depending on the circumstances of the situation. Example: If she misfired a spell and got the cleric killed by accident or because the spell fizzled, she would accept being beaten for her folly (self-abuse if no one else will do it).

Morrigan is supposed to be her master's apprentice and while she feels regret for not attempting to return immediately, but she has promised herself to return to the tribe once she's strong enough (She'll either take over, or wipe them out for their weakness in letting one knight slip through and kill their leader. I'm even considering her gaining craft construct to build a counterpart to what she lacks in physical prowess, if she can't get someone to help her. (As an Arcanist she uses Int, also it was a stat-roll)

She isn't one to lead, she has no confidence in leading, but she has learned quite a few of her master's tactics and she'd definitely be better suited as a consort/adviser.

I'd honestly say her alignment will be a toss up between Chaotic Neutral and Neutral Evil.

Is there anything I'm missing?

[Extra Anchovies]

General question: how did she end up an arcanist? She doesn't seem to have received any sort of formal education anytime in her history; Ogre Mages use innate SLAs, which they wouldn't be able to teach to others. Unless the Ogre Mage had levels in Arcanist or Wizard?

[5w337x7007h]

Ogres make conquest, the tribe may have come across a good amount of wizard gear, so scrolls, wands, magic items. It could all be self-taught under her master's supervision. He could say, "don't touch this, these are fine, lets break that so it doesn't cause problems.". He was an incredibly intelligent ogre, and struck out on his own because he didn't want to be around morons he couldn't control.

[Red Fel]

I think it'll be a hard concept to play, due to the involvement of several difficult subjects (abduction, rape, possible probably Stockholm Syndrome), but others have mentioned that, so I'll give it a pass, except to say this: You do not get to play a character with this in her backstory and not act somehow affected by it. I'm not saying you have to be completely broken, traumatized or paranoid, but your character does not come out of that kind of situation mentally and emotionally unscathed, and playing her that way would be a disservice to the concept you've put together. Give her some damage. She's earned it.

Instead, I'd like to focus on something else: Plot hooks. A minor pet peeve of mine is the whole "I'm from a village I can't return to because it was destroyed/ I was exiled/ I'm under a curse, and I can never see my family again because I'm an orphan/ I'm undead/ I'm a construct/ they're all dead." It's a minor pet peeve, because it closes doors. I like every character I make, and encourage every character my players make, to have plot hooks in their background that a DM can grab onto and use, for good or for bad. Here's what I see in your character's backstory. She has no home town. She was abducted when she was five, and you've made no subsequent mention of her family or home village. In fact, you seem to suggest that she has no desire whatsoever to return to that place. The only place you mention to which she has any connection is the Ogre Mage's home, which you've explicitly said she can't return to under penalty of death. Her biological family is out of the picture. The Ogre Mage is dead. Her "rescuer" appears to have flown the coop.So she has no places or people to call her own, nothing on which the DM can draw plot hooks. In theory, a DM could have a member of her family recognize her years later. But if she has no desire to return to her village or be reunited with any survivors, that's a plot that will fall apart fast.

What is the purpose of backstory? It's not just a literary diversion. Yes, it informs how we play our characters by illustrating our motivations. But it also gives our characters a place in the larger world. The itinerant homeless orphan warrior is just a few short steps away from murderhobo in the hierarchy of character depth. Can you come up with some plot hooks, even if they're not known to your character? Some motivations, desires, or something? "She must venture out into the world" isn't exactly much to work with.

[Extra Anchovies]

Ogres make conquest, the tribe may have come across a good amount of wizard gear, so scrolls, wands, magic items. It could all be self-taught under her master's supervision. He could say, "don't touch this, these are fine, lets break that so it doesn't cause problems.". He was an incredibly intelligent ogre, and struck out on his own because he didn't want to be around morons he couldn't control.

Okay, now I'm confused due to monster name wording ickiness. By Ogre Mage, do you mean the Outsider (giant, native, oni, shapechanger), or do you mean a Humanoid (Giant) with spellcasting levels?

[Tarlek Flamehai]

I suggest you check out the website TV Tropes especially the "Woobie" and "Break the Cutie".

In addition, ogre mages may take levels in character classes. So the former mentor / slave owner could have been an actual wizard.

[5w337x7007h]

Main reason on no plot hooks is that this is my DMs first time running. I thought of a potential collar issue. We run into slavers as allies and they attempt to buy her or something with negative results. The other is that she isn't sure if her master is dead or not. She saw him on the ground, bleeding from his throat but not dead. So he could be alive and hunting for her.

[5w337x7007h]

I tried passing the ideas, but she wasn't for them. Maybe too much for a first time campaign?

[kardar233]

I tried passing the ideas, but she wasn't for them. Maybe too much for a first time campaign?

As much as I'd love to see someone play a character of this kind of potential complexity, I think that's probably the case. DMing for the first time is difficult enough without having the intricacies of this kind of character to deal with. I'd shelve Morrigan for now and do something a little simpler for the benefit of your DM.

[5w337x7007h]

I'll do that then and shelf the girl for a later date.