Forgotten realms. Where are you from?

[Doomwhispo]

Q1 : So how do you guys go on about deciding where your character comes.from? Do you have a map of the whole forgotten realms and then pi choose a spot? If so how do you know that's an area where a village of your race would live?

Q2: I'm looking for a place where a dwarven blackSmith would come from, preferably a mountain. Anyone with suggestions? Preferably a town or city where the most population is dwarf. If that's available..

Thanks a lot guys in advance for any help !

[odigity]

Q1 : So how do you guys go on about deciding where your character comes.from? Do you have a map of the whole forgotten realms and then pi choose a spot? If so how do you know that's an area where a village of your race would live?

Q2: I'm looking for a place where a dwarven blackSmith would come from, preferably a mountain. Anyone with suggestions? Preferably a town or city where the most population is dwarf. If that's available..

Thanks a lot guys in advance for any help !

I've had the same problem since I've never really learned much about the Forgotten Realms setting. (There are hundreds of novels, as well as dozens of source books over the last forty years, and the only ones I've read where the Drizzt books when I was a kid.)

Maybe someone can talk Netflix into producing an anthology TV series where every season tackls a different story with famous characters from a different time and place in FR history. (Drizzt, Elminster, Hallister, etc)

[Daishain]

The primary races can be found in all areas of the forgotten realms to at least some degree. However, for conclaves and most likely birthplaces for the same, try looking here: http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

It doesn't exactly cover the regional lore in excruciating detail, but if for instance you wanted to play a mountain dwarf, not only would the wiki let you know that they're known as shield dwarves in this setting, but that they tend to live in strongholds scattered through the northern mountain ranges of Faerun. It also lists a number of said strongholds to choose from. There are however a few dwarven clans that have effectively integrated themselves wholly into human dominated lands.

If working with a hybrid race like Tiefling, half elf, half orc, or Genasi, then the answer is they have no homeland. There might be the odd tribe, commune, or even ghetto of such, but for the most part they're just mixed in with other societies, usually the human ones.

To directly answer the OPs query, Citadel Adbar in Northwest Faerun is a likely choice. Its in the mountains, houses about 20,000 dwarves (and almost no other race), and is enough of a center of smithing work that a cloud of forge and smelter smoke constantly hangs over the city, and the entire place constantly rings with the din of hammers.

[Toofey]

So, for a more practical answer.

Mithril Hall, being the place Drizzt helped liberate is the most likely bet there, it's close to Silverymoon (so not to far out in the wilderness) and is even inhabited by a clan of Dwarves who are known for making weapons.

If you want to play the Dwarf chased out of their homeland type (and wanted to stay in the same area of the north) you could go for being from Ascore, which is an abandoned dwarved complex (also known as Citadel of Many Arrows IIRC)

Mirbar is a mostly Dwarven city who's surface is shared with other races, but below the surface it's all dwarves, making it heavily majority dwarven.

If you want to not be from the north you biggest option is "The Great Rift" far to the south, between the eastern and western Shaar deserts. It's has a large dwarven kingdom so you don't have to play the lost dwarven kingdom angle, and is far away if you want to have been a traveler or someone who wanted to get a long way from home (assuming as with most games that your characters are playing, or at least starting, in the north)

Oh and to answer Question A: I typically come from Silverymoon. Just a habit of play that's developed.

[Mjolnirbear]

The King of Mithral Hall found Gauntlgrym, an ancient Delzoun city slightly east of Neverwinter. It is in a mountain that contains an ancient fire primordial, whose temporary freedom caused the mountain to erupt and destroy a large chunk of Neverwinter.

[lunaticfringe]

Westgate. It had me at seedy metropolis with a history of Piracy. The 5e blurb also makes it sound like a slice of Capitalism in a high fantasy setting.

Seriously though, pick a Mountain or make one up. A lot of the old lore isn't applicable any more. Read the FR wiki a like everything is in the past tense. Was is very common. Ao hit reset, but kept popular novel characters.

[gkathellar]

The 3e player's guide has a lot of this information, if you can get your hands on it.

Personally, though, I'd just advise you not to play in FR because it's a garbagefest.

[Plaguescarred]

I usually choose birthplace based on race unless its a nonhuman coming from a human settlement. After i check with the DM if it has to be in or near the campaign starting point, or if it can be anywhere else i want, i'll decide of an appropriate birthplace.

Here's some insight from Dwarves Deep, a AD&D 2nd edition FR accessory book on dwarves for possible birthplace for your dwarf if you want;


The remaining fortified cities of the north ruled by dwarves include Citadel Adbar, Ironmaster, and Ironspur....

Very briefly, the latest figures on significant (either large, or a large proportion of a settlement’s citizenry) urban dwarven populations in the North are as follows:

Bloodstone Village: 880 dwarves (out of 7,600, almost all human).
Citadel Adbar: Dwarven rule under King Harbromm; 14,360 dwarves.
Fireshear: 7,900 dwarves (out of 15,400, the rest mainly human).
Helioga balus: 5,100 dwarves (out of 26,460, mainly human).
Ironmaster: Dwarven rule under Lord Clanmaster Strogue Sstar (LG F9); 9,200 dwarves.
Ironspur: Dwarven rule under High Iron Duke Murnaros (LN F11); 3,890 dwarves (out of 4,700, the rest human).
Llorkh: 300 dwarves (out of 2,400, almost all humans).
Mirabar: 4,100 dwarves (out of 23,700, the remainder human).
Mulptan: 2,030 dwarves (out of 6,900, the remainder human).
Neverwinter: 4,600 dwarves (out of 17,990, the rest mostly human).
Praka: 2,020 dwarves (out of 11,790, the remainder mainly human).
Silverymoon: 4,200 dwarves (out of 29,990, of all demi-human races and humans).
Sundabar: 6,600 dwarves (out of 36,000, the remainder mainly human).
Tomrav: 210 dwarves (out of 470, the rest humans and half-orcs).
Trailsend: 2,100 dwarves (out of 8,280, the rest mainly human).
Virdin: 360 dwarves (out of 1,520, the remainder mainly human)
Waterdeep: 7,100 dwarves (out of 149,890, of all races, mainly human; permanent residents only-summertime rise to 8,600 out of 509,000 +).
Ironmaster could be a good place for your dwarf blacksmith it has many iron deposits found deep beneath the city accessible by mine-shafts and the coat of arms is an anvil! http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Ironmaster

[beargryllz]

I just invented some far away continent my dwarf sailed over from. I didn't bother to name it. All that matters is that my dwarf is definitely a foreigner, but still appreciates the dwarfy things in life. The first time he gazed upon Gauntlgrym, he was ecstatic and knew where his new home would be.

[Doomwhispo]

Thanks plaguescarred, citadel adbar is perfect

[j_spencer93]

I've had the same problem since I've never really learned much about the Forgotten Realms setting. (There are hundreds of novels, as well as dozens of source books over the last forty years, and the only ones I've read where the Drizzt books when I was a kid.)

Maybe someone can talk Netflix into producing an anthology TV series where every season tackls a different story with famous characters from a different time and place in FR history. (Drizzt, Elminster, Hallister, etc)

Now this would be awesome

[Plaguescarred]

Thanks plaguescarred, citadel adbar is perfectCitadel Adbar you say? fine choice you're welcome!

[SmokingSkull]

The campaign I'm in currently is set in the realms so I can definitely relate. When I choose a hometown/stomping grounds for a char I usually ask my DM what kind of world we're in and who exists there. To continue with my example the region where the majority of the campaign takes place is the Sword Coast, so I made my choice accordingly. I'm playing a Goliath, so after looking at a map of the Sword Coast region I decided that he, Lo'Kag, would hail from the Spine of the World. It is very extreme north of the Sword Coast but still within the area.

[Fishybugs]

I've had the same problem since I've never really learned much about the Forgotten Realms setting. (There are hundreds of novels, as well as dozens of source books over the last forty years, and the only ones I've read where the Drizzt books when I was a kid.)

Maybe someone can talk Netflix into producing an anthology TV series where every season tackls a different story with famous characters from a different time and place in FR history. (Drizzt, Elminster, Hallister, etc)

Listen to the 'Dragon Talk' podcast put out by WotC. Every episode has a segment were Chris Perkins and Matt Sernet provide "Lore you should know". They dive deep into a different topic each week. Previous topics include Waterdeep, each of the factions, Order of the Kraken, Zhentarim Keep, as well as others I can't think of right now.

[Zevox]

Q1 : So how do you guys go on about deciding where your character comes.from? Do you have a map of the whole forgotten realms and then pi choose a spot? If so how do you know that's an area where a village of your race would live?
I'm an old Realms fan, so I still have my 3e Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book - along with several other 3e FR books - and a good general knowledge of the kind of countries in the Realms. So I tend to pick one based on where the campaign will be set, where would be the most logical place for my character to have come from, or where I feel like having had them from. For instance, the new character I'll start playing in our next campaign is a Fire Genasi, and the place in the Realms where they're most prevalent is Calimshan, which has a history of having been ruled by Djinni and Efreeti in the past. I've also never played a Cali****e, so I went with that for him. By contrast, the Dragonborn Paladin I just finished playing came from Zakhara, a far-off region that is basically the Middle East of the Forgotten Realms, just because I thought that would be fun.

As for how to know whether it's an area where your race would live? For most you really don't need to know that. Most races can be found throughout the Realms - most Human Kingdoms have populations of the common other races (Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, even a few Gnomes here and there), and Human Kingdoms tend to be the majority of Faerûn, so you can easily just assume most any race can be from most any place if you don't want to use the few race-specific Kingdoms. This might get trickier with more exotic races, but in those cases you often need to either look for some pretty obscure information (I don't even know if there's info out there on where in the Realms Goliaths would exist, for example) or just make something up yourself. Making something up is always an option, after all, barring having an extremely anal DM who insists on adhering strictly to the published lore of the setting - and if you had one of those, one would presume he could help you figure out where your character could come from anyway, no?

[2D8HP]

So far all my Realms based 5e PC's have either had Outlander backgrounds and come from "the woods", or Urchin backgrounds and come from "Waterdeep or other large city". I really don't want to restrict my DM's hands, while I do try "roll up" PC's I want to play, I'm trying to play the adventure on hand, not force the DM to completely re-write the adventure around my PC's history.
The two "back-stories" that I put the most tears into writing lately come from "a farm":

The girl screamed while the soldiers laughed.
He's forgotten so much, but he could remember that.
He didn't understand.
When the Queens soldiers took Paw away, Ma said Paw "was going to the Queen to be a hero", but they were hurting her! Heroes didn't do that!
Ma said that he was as strong as Paw now, maybe stronger, even though he didn't have a beard yet.
Ma said he needed to do what Paw used to, cut the tree's, dig the wells, and when the time came slaughter the pigs. With axe, hammer and shovel he would swing hisarms and do what Ma said.
Ma said "Ossian, you listen now to your cousin Gwen, she's got a good head".
Maw was the only one who called him "Ossian", everyone else called him "Ox".
Gwen was screaming!
Maw said "you need to do what your Paw would do".
Paw was a hero.
So he swung his arms.
The soldiers stopped laughing, but Gwen still screamed.
"You've got to run Ox, they'll kill you"! "Run far, go to the rebels".
So he ran.
He ran far and met the rebels.
They gave him a sword.
And he did what they told him.
He swung his arms.
So much he has forgotten.
But he remembered somethings.
He remembered Maw's, Paw's, and Gwen's faces.
Now when he looked into the water he saw Paw's face, but Paw's beard was never grey was it?
He remembered that they called him "hero" once, now if anyone used that word about him they put "was a" in front of it.
He remembered he used to be strong.
He was still strong, but not like he was.
And he remembered the Queen.
And that she would be back.
And he would have to swing his arms again.

And the "Woods".

Though he'd "lived", if you could call it "living" for years, growing soft in this city of men, Riardon remembered the forest.

Riardon loved the forest.

The sound of the wind, the river, the birds.
And foot steps.
He loved his family as well, but he always felt the call of the forest, where he could live without speaking, and be still.
And listen.
And wait.
For his prey.
He told himself he hunted to feed his family and neighbors, but deep inside he knew that wasn't true.
He needed the sounds of the woods, as well as the quiet.
And to watch
And to listen.

He heard the woods burning.

He had lived through forest-fires before, but this was different. There had been no lighting. And he heard screaming. Elf screams!
In an instant from so still he would appear to be part of the woods, he became quick as a deer running from a couger, and he ran towards home.
Towards his family.
Towards everyone he knew.
He saw the burned bodies.
And the arrows.
And something else.

A banner.

Men's banner.

Riardon knew then that he would leave the woods.

He had a new prey. If the farm or woods are near or far, and where they fit in the world, I leave to the DM (unless the DM insists I name the place, which when I DM I'd rather it be blank).

[SmokingSkull]

(I don't even know if there's info out there on where in the Realms Goliaths would exist, for example)

There's an old 3.5 book called Races of Stone, this was when Goliaths became playable and it also fleshes a good bit of their lore and where they reside. But other than that you're right in the fact that they're very scarce. Only notable figures of Goliath heritage are Tobin (Fighter/Comedian) of Corvus Nightfeather's Circus of Wonders and Gargan Vathkelke, a ranger who helped a moon elf named Fox-at-Twilight escape a place called Negarath. There was one other but it's more a title now since not only did the original pass away but they wanted to keep the legend alive, Mualio Lonehunter.

[Naanomi]

Every time we play actual forgotten realms setting I play a priest of Waukeen from Amn; though the character has been built many different ways mechanically over the years this is my defacto setting character

[DanyBallon]

Until 5th edition, I was never really appealed by FR. But I find that the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide does a really nice job to introduce a small part of the world, while still providing plenty of great locations to start from. Big cities for urban setting, countryside and savage frontier, large Elven forest, dwarven strongholds, a coastline and island for more naval campaign, and lots of wonderous lands neighboring the region that are just enough detailed to give DMs idea if their player want to explore beyond the Sword Coast area.

In fact, that book is what convinced me to move our campaing to the Realms.

[Fishybugs]

Until 5th edition, I was never really appealed by FR. But I find that the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide does a really nice job to introduce a small part of the world, while still providing plenty of great locations to start from. Big cities for urban setting, countryside and savage frontier, large Elven forest, dwarven strongholds, a coastline and island for more naval campaign, and lots of wonderous lands neighboring the region that are just enough detailed to give DMs idea if their player want to explore beyond the Sword Coast area.

In fact, that book is what convinced me to move our campaing to the Realms.

Storm King's Thunder does the same with a bunch of places in the north.

[DanyBallon]

Storm King's Thunder does the same with a bunch of places in the north.

I know, but since I'm about to run this adventure soon, I'm not too kind about letting my player use it as a reference for their character's creation :smallwink:

[Firechanter]

Most of my characters are either from the Dalelands, because our campaigns are often set there, or from the Neverwinter Region; the latter because I played the Neverwinter Nights games a lot.

Generally I usually play "locals" b/c then it's easier to tie in their agendas with the objective of the campaign. For instance, when we played Red Hand of Doom I made it so that my PC would defend bis homeland, so he came from those southern parts (I forget what the region is called in the FR).

Our next game will be SKT, so my toon will be from somewhere in the Northwest, maybe Icewind Dale.

[Asmotherion]

Q1 : So how do you guys go on about deciding where your character comes.from? Do you have a map of the whole forgotten realms and then pi choose a spot? If so how do you know that's an area where a village of your race would live?

Q2: I'm looking for a place where a dwarven blackSmith would come from, preferably a mountain. Anyone with suggestions? Preferably a town or city where the most population is dwarf. If that's available..

Thanks a lot guys in advance for any help !

A1: By looking at lore pages to see some place that fits my backround.

A2: I'd suggest either Mithral Hall (if the campain takes place after it was reclaimed) or Icewind Dale.

Both are on (or in) mountains, have a Dwarf population and are blacksmith-oriented. For more lore about those places check some wiki, or/and read the books of R.A.Salvatore.

[Temperjoke]

For me, it depends on the campaign and the character. For example, if your entire campaign is in the northern tundra, it might be difficult to be from the southern deserts. It might be hard to be a sailor/pirate if your campaign is entirely overland. Large urban centers are easy to be from, they tend to have diverse populations.