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Whiplord
2007-06-14, 11:06 AM
I'm not sure if this is in the right place, but it's my best guess, so this is where I'll start it.

I recently made a new character, and for the life of me can't come up with a halfway decent backstory.

The character is a 17 year old chaotic good wizard named Rolan Brighthorn. The only things I know about him are that he has a strong sense of right and wrong, and due to some reason has left the city where he grew up and had schooling to adventure.

I'm also fairly sure I want him to come from a poor/middle class family, but how on earth he became a wizard from that point I'm not entirely sure.

hewhosaysfish
2007-06-14, 11:10 AM
What setting are you in?

dauphinous
2007-06-14, 11:13 AM
He was trained by a rogue/mage member of the local thieves' guild, who hoped he could be persuaded to become a member once fully trained. He decided (for some reason, maybe the entry test was supposed to be killing someone or something) he didn't want to be a part of that particular den of thieves, so he ran for it.

:smallsmile:

Whiplord
2007-06-14, 11:14 AM
A homebrewed world that my DM created. Unfortunately I have no access to a map. But rules and landscape wise, it's much like Greyhawk.

Matthew
2007-06-14, 09:05 PM
Hmmn. Maybe Rolan was an unusually gifted child prodigy who spent his formative years unlocking the secrets of minor magics without the aid of a tutor. His parents enrolled him in a Wizards Guild, but he was bullied by jealous elder students. Those in charge failed to protect him from these bullies and so he was forced to rely on his own resources. Disillusioned, he left the Guild before gaining full membership with a strong imperative towards fair play and altruism, but an unwillingness to trust authority.

Bagera
2007-06-14, 10:39 PM
He was taught by his grandfather a senile and destitute former wizard who he cared for. He ended up fleeing the city when his grandfather actidentally set off a wand while showing it to him killing his grandfather.

Bassetking
2007-06-14, 11:00 PM
Strong sense of Right and Wrong, and had to leave the town in a hurry?

Rolan's ((Sister/Female Friend/Random Female Townsgirl)) was knocked up by a ((Local Lad/Rake/Cad)), son of an (Influential merchant/Town religious leader/rich mage). Rolan, with his sense of Right and Wrong, ((Kicks the hell out of/Binds and drags in front of the altar/pressures)) Our philanderer to do the honest thing. Philanderer's ((Father/Uncle/Tutor)) Decides to get the philanderer out of his troubles, and, in so doing, turns popular opinion against Rolan. Rolan is ridden out of town on a Rail, Our pregnant lady remains unwed, and the father is set up as a foil to Rolan.

Yechezkiel
2007-06-14, 11:11 PM
I had a similar dilemma in a game of Warhammer Fantasy RP.

I rolled up everything (they have %00 rolls for everything down to your complexion and whether or not you are missing any toes) and was a Student (knowledgeable/learned "class") from a poor family living in a hovel. I had to make the connection from poverty to expensive schooling.

What I came up with was I was living with grandparents because my father was conscripted into the military and my mother died in childbirth (of my younger sister). The grandparents only had what the father sent to care for his children, hence the poverty + hovel lifestyle. Through some law/clause/bs, the father died in the military and that afforded a scholarship for the basic schooling of the Student career ("class"). I couldn't continue with the universities but I was well on my way adventuring after that.