Paladin/sorcerer backstory help

[Haydensan]

Im going to be starting a game soon where I'm playing a paladin thats going to end up mostly as a favoured soul sorcerer. My problem is im terrible at creative writing and i really want to have an in depth back story thats a joy to read.

A quick run down of the character from whats on the sheet:


Lucian Willowspire
LN Human Paladin, age 22ish
Faction Agent order of the steelfang:
An elite fighting order dedicated to worshipping Tempus, whose members are counted among some of the strongest members of Tempus' clergy. One badge of the god seen among his affiliated mercenaries was a rusty brown dagger, shown diagonally with its point to the upper right, dripping four drops of blood.

He is haunted by dreams that he cant escape
Believes he has a higher calling and wont stop to find it
I idolize a hero of the old tales and measure my deeds against that persons. This is Wulfgar, Son of Beornegar, of The Tribe of the Elk
I don't often drink, but when I do its hard for me to stop.

I see him coming from a humble background. And upon reaching a turning point in his life where he began his training and took up the mantle of being a paladin he kept getting recurring dreams of a black knight killing off those he loved and knew one by one.

Its been discussed with my dm about mc'ing into the sorcerer favoured soul that the visions are from Tempus and he going to receive his favour, but Lucian doesnt know this yet.


Any ideas or feedback?

[Laserlight]

Im going to be starting a game soon where I'm playing a paladin thats going to end up mostly as a favoured soul sorcerer. My problem is I'm terrible at creative writing and i really want to have an in depth back story thats a joy to read.

Don't worry too much about an in-depth backstory, because
a) Most people won't read it--even moreso if it's longer than a paragraph or two.
b) You may get a new view of the character as you play him, and decide that some of your original ideas just don't fit. This happens more often than you might expect.
c) You don't really need it. Generally two conflicting motivations ("Feels compelled to become a hero" and "Wants to escape his fate" might do for you) and the basics of personality are enough. You might consult with your DM on a couple of hooks....or you might leave those until he knows what hooks he wants to hand you.

[Gastronomie]

A common misconception is that an interesting backstory is required for an interesting character, and that creating an interesting backstory always results in an interesting character.

Both are wrong.

The most important thing for a character is NOT what he has experienced or done in the past. It is what he will experience and do in the actual session. No one will ever care about your character's well-thought (and as a result, often tediously long) backstory if you do nothing interesting in-game. Especially if you think you're not good at writing - you shouldn't do it. It will be a fruitless task.

What's more important than backstory is the character's personality (moral codes, honors, flaws), and even more important, his goals and motivations. Those help a story get interesting. Backstory does not necessarily do that.

[Draco4472]

A common misconception is that an interesting backstory is required for an interesting character, and that creating an interesting backstory always results in an interesting character.

Both are wrong.

The most important thing for a character is NOT what he has experienced or done in the past. It is what he will experience and do in the actual session. No one will ever care about your character's well-thought (and as a result, often tediously long) backstory if you do nothing interesting in-game. Especially if you think you're not good at writing - you shouldn't do it. It will be a fruitless task.

What's more important than backstory is the character's personality (moral codes, honors, flaws), and even more important, his goals and motivations. Those help a story get interesting. Backstory does not necessarily do that.

Well that explains why no one at my table likes my tragic 3 paragraph backstories.

Have to agree with Gastronomie and Laserlight on this one though, the sessions you play are more important then your backstory. Create a personality and go from there, figure out your character's motivations as you decide how to play them. Are they LN because they wish to hide themselves from others put of fear of being hurt, like he was in the past? Did he choose to hone his sorcerous magic he was an outcast for with martial training, in an attempt to control it so he couldn't cause accidents? These are the things you should think about as you play, not before.

[SMac8988]

I agree and disagree with those above. While it's true most people at the table will not care for your back story. But as a player and dm I feel they are needed, even if loosely done.

As a player my backstory helps to keep me grounded in who my character is and where he comes from. I am currently playing a half orc barb/paladin. He strides tk be lawful good at all times but his berserker past sometimes swells up and he has to focus it. It gives him depth above just being this overly lordy knight or this savage with arcane powers.

As a dm I LOVE when my players have thought out backstory because it allows me to piece it into my world and get then more involved in some events. If you say you trained at blah blah blah temple for 5 years and the priest was a mentor, well I'll throw it in at some point and you will have friends and family there. Or you may show up and it's partial burned down and the priest is dying and leads you to stop the next big bad.

That's just me I guess.

[Gastronomie]

^ True, I did forget to mention that creating backstory can be helpful for when DMs want to throw the adventurers into a plot. That's a good one.

I myself tend to create character backstory a lot, but it's often more of an explanation how he's got his current motivations. Imagine something like the first episode of One Piece - the story of how Luffy developed his goal to become king of pirates. It certainly does help solidify the character. But the other characters don't necessarily need to know his backstory to understand what sort of person he is.

Now, note how in the above example, creating backstory is the means, not the ends. It's just a tool that justifies/explains his personality and motives. Creating backstory for the sake of creating backstory can become a wreck.

[Laserlight]

^ True, I did forget to mention that creating backstory can be helpful for when DMs want to throw the adventurers into a plot...it's often more of an explanation how he's got his current motivations.

And you've hit the key point. You don't actually need a backstory; you need motivations, because motivations are what compel you to take action. You may have an explanation for that motivation, but it's not actually necessary. Example: my longest running character (1983 to 2015) hated goblins, and we never established why. We didn't need to, because the DM knew that "goblins spotted near Wolf's Keep" would inevitably bring Lord Sharl a-hunting.

I'm not saying that writing a backstory is bad, but if you don't feel you can write one, don't worry about it. It really is optional.

Now, if you want to write a backstory and just don't know how, here are a few questions to get you started:
What would he say is the most important item he carries? What would he do if it were lost or stolen?
Is there anyone who can order or ask him to risk his life? Why does he obey?
What would make him drop what he's doing and travel for a week to investigate / avoid / rescue / participate in?
If he suddenly gets a lot of extra money, who/what does he give it to or spend it on?