I'm having writers block with my back-story. Help!

[Klorox]

Hey all.

I'm playing a half elf sorcerer in a game that starts in about a week and a half. Usually I am pretty good about a back-story, but I'm lost here.

This is a "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" game. I chose the guild artisan background (admittedly because it had the skills I wanted), and I was leaning towards the alternate merchant option.

My DM sent me some preferred background options to choose from, and I chose that orcs killed my family and the people of Greenest took me in. There is another option to be a dragon scholar. I chose that as well, as I figured it would kind of make sense to study and be interested in dragons once my character learns he has dragon blood in his veins.

Is this enough? Or should I work out more?

Any and all help is welcome.

[Chugger]

Hey all.



My DM sent me some preferred background options to choose from, and I chose that orcs killed my family and the people of Greenest took me in. There is another option to be a dragon scholar. I chose that as well, as I figured it would kind of make sense to study and be interested in dragons once my character learns he has dragon blood in his veins.

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I have never been able to do decent RP for a 1/2elf. I always pick them for the stats is part of it - I don't have a "feel" for them, what they are - and the "I'm stuck between two worlds" thing is...meh...done and done to dead-horseness." Or something.

What does your character feel about being orphaned? Look, if you want to make use of the obvious, do it in a non-standard way - you being half elf half human is one thing - parents murdered by orcs doesn't fit that - two separate things and so they are weak.

Why not try something more like "you were being raised by your elf parent with nothing but warnings against humans - the human parent was never mentioned - and being in elf-land got so boring and stagnant that you ran away looking for your human parent. And ...

at this point you have options...

...I found out my human parent wasn't so "human" - he/she was genesie.

...I began to wonder if my human parent had ever even existed; there was no sign of him/her.

...I found my human parent a wasted wretch living on the streets of a big city, and he/she whispered "blah blah blah" (you cook up that part) into my ear before dying.

I dunno - just break it open - be a little more adventuresome in this - and I'm sure you'll find something you like.

[LaserFace]

I don't know what your DM's policy is on backstory, but I think simple and vague is often best. I think if anything else I'd just want to know a little more about general personality traits. If you want, you could use those traits to further build upon background. They could involve your race or not, it doesn't matter IMO.

I just flipped open the page to Guild Artisan and checked the Suggested Characteristics table; the first entry labels the character as a Perfectionist. Maybe the people who brought him up were keen on getting every last detail in their trade exact; it could be with perhaps sparse resources, that significant errors could cause severe problems or even be deadly. Or alternatively, maybe your character has reason to believe that the reason the Orcs were successful only because the town watch were a bunch of incompetent dingbats; maybe you've committed yourself to being really disciplined, as to distance yourself from the people you blame for failing your loved ones. Maybe even both are true.

You might not want to use that specifically, but I think working along these lines is usually helpful for discovering ideas I like. Just go through the random tables and give them a ponder. If you find yourself deviating because inspiration has struck, you're probably doing something good.

[NecroDancer]

What if you were a part of a half-elf family that created works of art via innate magic? Your family lived in a small town to avoid the complications of living in a big city, you were busy delivering your families wares when the town was attacked which is why your survived.

[lunaticfringe]

Something I like to do sometimes is play a completely well adjusted, emotionally healthy adult. I find it deeply amusing to play the 'straight man' in a group Edgelord sociopaths in a world of fantasy tropes.

Be scared. Use Common sense. Become shocked when a Powerful King with a Standing Army sends Emotionally Stunted Young Adults (safe bet) to Save the World. Became confused at why most people are very accommodating and trusting to essentially a group of narcissistic ***** (another safe bet).

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I like that, play it normal but give you character a couple quirks. If he grew up around humans make him aware he is going to live longer than any mate he is going to pick. Opposite if he grew up around elves.

[lordarkness]

I too enjoy simple but that doesn't mean it can't also be interesting. One in important hook that might help you is how your character's parents came together (or apart). Perhaps they were orc slaves who met under those harsh conditions and found love. The father died helping the mother escape and your character was later born though she, weakened by the ordeal, died soon after. The character was then raised not just in Greenest by also by Greenest.

Perhaps instead the parents resided in Greenest when orcs invaded and destroyed most of the town killing the parents. Greenest rebuilt itself and your character along with it with the credo "Never again." This would tie in well with the perfectionist idea suggested earlier.

Then again we could flip the script where the parents were orc hunters who eventually fell into a trap and were killed. This adds the dimension where they put themselves in a position to die rather than the staid old idea of dying in a pointless orc raid.

Or we could toss out the whole script and your family was killed by orc rivals to your character's family "business" of murder, blackmail, theft, kidnapping, and extortion. The orcs raised your character but used him/her as well. It would be beneficial to an orc crime family to have an elf/human on its side. Your character survived based on unique skills and value to the group and now has crime family connections or a long-harbored resentment -- or both. Greenest was your character's pet project, their ticket to the big time and they'll be damned if they'll let anyone take that from them.

OR we could stomp on the script, turn it sideways then inside out and light it on fire. Your character's dad raised orcs for a living and used these to extort money from neighboring villages. The mother was sent to kill him but fell for the "bad boy" instead and got knocked up. Thinking that having a kid would mend his ways she hung around until giving birth. That didn't change anything however and so she "accidentally" forgot to feed the orcs for a week or three and then "mistakenly" locked the dad in there with them. Your character learned early on that people are edible and crunchy. From there she took your character to meet their great-great-great-grandpappy, an ancient red wyrm named Doomeskandrion which in dragon means "this is gonna hurt you a lot more than its gonna hurt me." Great-great-great-grandpappy Doom was a terrible role model since all he did was sleep all day, and yell at your young character if they touched any of his cool stuff; or even any of his crappy stuff. Looking to raise your character better mamma elf left and made your character grow up working in a soup kitchen for homeless orcs. One day a fight broke out and she was accidentally killed by some elderly orcs dueling with a large wooden soup spoon and a half boiled carrot. Your character went back to great-great-great-grandpappy Doom who incinerated the soup kitchen and the orcs before laying down for one of his famous decades long naps. Bored, your little character ran amok in the country side unwashed and unsupervised, pretending to kill insects with halitosis as a breath weapon. Your character ended up a random encounter for a group of traveling adventurers who took your character in and then quickly dropped your character off in Greenest saying "this isn't going to work out, it's no you it's my nose." Your character was then locked up in a circus and put on display as the "Scratch and Sniff Wild Thing." Brave visitors paid one copper for the chance to win 1 silver if only they could smell your breath and not pass out. Despite the lucrative scam, one day the circus quietly left town without your character fearing that if they didn't then then would never be able to get the smell out. Your character picked up some new found hygiene skills (by official decree from the mayor), and eventually clean up their act and learned a few skills to get by since the alternative was going to a soup kitchen, a place which your character is deathly afraid of.

... but I guess that wouldn't be simple.

[Jophiel]

I have never been able to do decent RP for a 1/2elf. I always pick them for the stats is part of it - I don't have a "feel" for them, what they are - and the "I'm stuck between two worlds" thing is...meh...done and done to dead-horseness." Or something.
My half-elf paladin was the product of a happy home where his parents celebrated their love and joy. His human mother knew that eventually she'd "age out" but he'd remain committed to her before continuing the rest of his life and she'd always be a treasured part. The character himself became a paladin of a deity of love & joy, dedicated to protecting people and allowing them the space and security to live their lives to the fullest.

Anyway, I found it more interesting than another "I have no people, no one understands me, trapped between two worlds, my elf mother was assaulted, etc" half-elf.

I don't know what your DM's policy is on backstory, but I think simple and vague is often best. I think if anything else I'd just want to know a little more about general personality traits. If you want, you could use those traits to further build upon background.
My backstory goal is to accomplish in a couple short-mid length paragraphs: Who I am, why I have the abilities I have, why I'm choosing to risk getting stabbed or eaten and a couple plot hooks that the DM can use or ignore without it weirdly impacting my character. For example, saying I skipped town after getting caught with the guard captain's wife can be turned into a hook or safely left to my history. But saying that the guard captain kidnapped my children means that it's bizarre that I'm off stabbing goblins instead of maybe doing something about that. I personally restrain myself to the size of the character story box on the sheet (typed) so I'm not tempted to veer off for six pages of unnecessary backstory.

[Joe the Rat]

Hey all.

I'm playing a half elf sorcerer in a game that starts in about a week and a half. Usually I am pretty good about a back-story, but I'm lost here.

This is a "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" game. I chose the guild artisan background (admittedly because it had the skills I wanted), and I was leaning towards the alternate merchant option.

My DM sent me some preferred background options to choose from, and I chose that orcs killed my family and the people of Greenest took me in. There is another option to be a dragon scholar. I chose that as well, as I figured it would kind of make sense to study and be interested in dragons once my character learns he has dragon blood in his veins.

Is this enough? Or should I work out more?

Any and all help is welcome.
If you're leaning merchant, is that something your family did (which makes the orc attack a caravan raid), or the Greenest connection (which makes Greenest a "home base" for you).
I have a half-elf languishing in AL tier 1 that's from a merchant family. Travelers have been known for their dalliances, and one such led to this character. (He has a younger half-brother I used in Out of the Abyss.) Or, if caravan companies are as diverse as adventuring companies, an unusual union between long-time traveling companions is not impossible.

All of this assumes a fairly mature shift - adolescence. Much older then it becomes more of Greenest being there for you, rather than having a hand in raising you.

Dragon scholar can work as an interest - possibly even before your discovered your heritage - like the images or knowledge seemed to call out to you. Alternatively, as an alchemist, or a book-binder, you might have a professional interest (materials to the alchemist, language and subject matter for the bookseller).

[smcmike]

Honestly, I think you've got enough already. It doesn't need to be fancy: most people do not have fancy backstories.

Orphaned + merchant makes sense. I'm imagining a Hamilton-like striver, attempting to build security where he had none as a youth, using his high charisma to navigate society.

Researching his dragon blood also makes sense: he wants to find some connection to his past, which he doesn't know much about, to build a foundation for his future.

This is probably plenty for backstory. I'd consider fleshing out a current relationship or two - who does he work with, or live with, or spend time with, and then focus on motivations and his general mode of social interaction. Like I said, I imagine a real striver, focused on fighting his way to status, but maybe you have a different idea.

[Chugger]

One of the funniest non-phb backgrounds I've seen is a "Disappointment." This character had a family that expected great things, but he failed and failed badly in some major and very embarrassing way. He's now a "disappointment" to them and has gone out into the world adventuring in a desperate, Hail Mary pass kind of way to hope to somehow redeem himself or die trying (and end the embarrassment that his life has become). He gets a special feature from this background that's very much like Hobgoblin's saving face, but it was called something like "desperate atonement" or desperate something - he so dreads making another big mistake that he can once a long rest redo a dice roll that he picks to simulate his power - the power from his desperation - of not doing it yet again. I forget where I read this - maybe on one of the homebrew sites - maybe ua - can't recall sorry. I looked just now, couldn't find it.

[Klorox]

Thanks everybody!