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dragsaw
2018-09-14, 06:06 AM
Im making a have outlander half-orc ranger and so far my backstroy is the most cliche thing ever. What can i do to make more unique?

Magnus Vargr grew up in a small village in Luruar on the edge of the Glimmer wood. His father a half orc named Drukk of tribe Shatter Tusk was a local hunter and forester. His mother Kolga Vargr a mage and herbalist who could connect with the spirits of the wild. They both taught young Magnus how to survival skills as a child. Drukk taught him about his ancestry, hunting and survival and orcish customs when Kolga taught they ways of magic.
Before Magnus was born the shatter tusk tribe collapsed with most members dying due to infighting or dispersing. Some like his father joined human settlements however when magnus was young some of the remnants reformed in the mountains under the leadership of Kemak. His uncle.
However as Magnus grew he began to question about his place in would, The townsfolk leered at him, they had not forgotten the orcish raids of the past. They thought of him as a common beast disguised as a man. The orcs respected his nartal strength and tenacity. However they thought of him as a soldier, a tool to raid and murder if they recover. Magnus feeling alienated by the villages and disapproving of the tribes mindset spent a lot of his childhood alone in the woods hunting and trapping. As Magnus grew not even deepest of the woods would phase him, areas were the sun seemed not to shine. Strange malformed creatures could be found and overtime Magnus developed a taste for hunting them.

Thinker
2018-09-14, 07:27 AM
Im making a have outlander half-orc ranger and so far my backstroy is the most cliche thing ever. What can i do to make more unique?

Magnus Vargr grew up in a small village in Luruar on the edge of the Glimmer wood. His father a half orc named Drukk of tribe Shatter Tusk was a local hunter and forester. His mother Kolga Vargr a mage and herbalist who could connect with the spirits of the wild. They both taught young Magnus how to survival skills as a child. Drukk taught him about his ancestry, hunting and survival and orcish customs when Kolga taught they ways of magic.
Before Magnus was born the shatter tusk tribe collapsed with most members dying due to infighting or dispersing. Some like his father joined human settlements however when magnus was young some of the remnants reformed in the mountains under the leadership of Kemak. His uncle.
However as Magnus grew he began to question about his place in would, The townsfolk leered at him, they had not forgotten the orcish raids of the past. They thought of him as a common beast disguised as a man. The orcs respected his nartal strength and tenacity. However they thought of him as a soldier, a tool to raid and murder if they recover. Magnus feeling alienated by the villages and disapproving of the tribes mindset spent a lot of his childhood alone in the woods hunting and trapping. As Magnus grew not even deepest of the woods would phase him, areas were the sun seemed not to shine. Strange malformed creatures could be found and overtime Magnus developed a taste for hunting them.

It sounds like you're using your character's background to justify your race and class choices for DnD. That's why it sounds cliché - every half-orc is an outsider and every ranger lived in the wilds. Focus on your character's wants, needs, and bonds with others. Then, figure out why those things exist. From your background, I can see one need - to be accepted and four bonds - Kolga Vargr, Drukk, Kemak, Shatter Tusk, and unnamed human settlements. What does Magnus want out of life? What does he need besides to be accepted? Are those four bonds relevant to who he is going to be in the game?

dragsaw
2018-09-14, 07:58 AM
That's good advice, i mostly feel like he just wants to travle and hunt monsters for funzies, i haven't thorght out the others much though.

LibraryOgre
2018-09-14, 08:14 AM
That's good advice, i mostly feel like he just wants to travle and hunt monsters for funzies, i haven't thorght out the others much though.

Also, consider his relationships and what they mean to him.

Are his parents still alive? How does he feel about them? What do they want from/for him? Does he have any siblings?

Is his uncle still alive? How does he feel about having an uncle who is a warlord? Does his uncle have any designs on his half-orc nephew? Do his cousins view him as a threat to their eventual leadership of the tribe? If the tribe is a raiding one, how will others react to his relationship with the leader?

These questions can help flesh out motivations.

Thinker
2018-09-14, 09:23 AM
That's good advice, i mostly feel like he just wants to travle and hunt monsters for funzies, i haven't thorght out the others much though.

Your character's background doesn't inform the decision to travel and hunt monsters for funzies. Maybe he's a big game hunter? Maybe he's out for revenge on a particular monster that destroyed his tribe? Maybe he wants to prove that he's the best hunter there's ever been? Maybe he's a traveling hunter who takes payment for his services of ridding villages and towns of monsters?

Rhedyn
2018-09-14, 09:55 AM
Im making a have outlander half-orc ranger and so far my backstroy is the most cliche thing ever. What can i do to make more unique?

Magnus Vargr grew up in a small village in Luruar on the edge of the Glimmer wood. His father a half orc named Drukk of tribe Shatter Tusk was a local hunter and forester. His mother Kolga Vargr a mage and herbalist who could connect with the spirits of the wild. They both taught young Magnus how to survival skills as a child. Drukk taught him about his ancestry, hunting and survival and orcish customs when Kolga taught they ways of magic.
Before Magnus was born the shatter tusk tribe collapsed with most members dying due to infighting or dispersing. Some like his father joined human settlements however when magnus was young some of the remnants reformed in the mountains under the leadership of Kemak. His uncle.
However as Magnus grew he began to question about his place in would, The townsfolk leered at him, they had not forgotten the orcish raids of the past. They thought of him as a common beast disguised as a man. The orcs respected his nartal strength and tenacity. However they thought of him as a soldier, a tool to raid and murder if they recover. Magnus feeling alienated by the villages and disapproving of the tribes mindset spent a lot of his childhood alone in the woods hunting and trapping. As Magnus grew not even deepest of the woods would phase him, areas were the sun seemed not to shine. Strange malformed creatures could be found and overtime Magnus developed a taste for hunting them.

Your father was actually the Leader of tusk tribe until he came to love a human women, who nursed him back to health after he was separated from the tribe because he was blown off a cliff. The Tusk Tribe being naturally nomadic could not stay in one place, which lead to your father and mother having a sporadic romance for several years. Your uncle, a powerful storm warden, encouraged your father to step down and follow his heart (even though it was your uncle who tried to kill your father with the wind so he could be chieftain).

Between your uncle's encouragement and the quickening of your mother's womb, your father eventually decided to leave the tribe (which he did in secret at the behest of your uncle to maintain tribe moral).

This lead to your happy childhood, until the orc raids started. For your uncle was unable to rally the whole tribe together. A part was still loyal and searching for your father. When these orcs found your father and learned the truth they were distraught but willing to follow still even if it meant taking up agrarian ways. Your uncle saw that he might lose control of the tribe, for many still loved your father, for he was a great leader. Your uncle then tried to kill your father by calling down lightening to strike his house. A tragedy of errors lead to the mistake that neither you or your father were there when it happened and the resultant fire from the lightening burned your house down and killed your mother.

Distraught as your father was, you were able to discover the odd orc tracks around the house and were able to determine that someone did this to your mother. With bow and a heavy heart you set out to get revenge for your mother.
This ends terribly with you being captured and scheduled for execution. Your father rushes in with his followers and saves you, but your uncle was able to escape.
These events resulted in a long and bloody conflict between the two rival orc factions with the humans caught in the middle. In the end your father was victorious and a proper orc war leader once again. You were a well enough soldier in your own right, but you were hesitant to follow the path of blood and war, and the local humans hated you as one of those "troublesome orcs that drag us into their problems". You decide that you must leave.

Your father is distraught to see you go. You are his only remaining family. In anger, he exiles you for cowardice. He takes his tribe raiding and you take the road of adventuring.

denthor
2018-09-14, 10:21 AM
Alignment choice? In this playground they take poorly to this. However this points the way forward. A backround is where you start. His family is nomadic(chaos) his uncle is greedy for power and will attempt murder to get it, that failing encourage brother to walk away before something bad happens (evil).

Father is chaotic most likely. What is the otherside? Evil/neutral

Mother is some form of? is she Hilga going against social norms for love of an orc. Rebellious teen girl I know everything and I love him. Chaotic? You get to decide

Now we pretty much know chaos is in the family.

Now fill out good neutral or evil.

Move forward with adventure and make decisions. This how all of my character become unique. My DM makes it hard to be good and very easy to go evil. In his games I ride the neutral/good line often.

If you persist on back story look at the skill set. How did he aquire that skill. Who taught him did he learn a new language (gnome) to craft gems?

Did he tie up his sister to learn use rope?

Does he swim? Was he thrown in a lake by other people.

Professional hunter? Move silent?

These are things very few think of and gives DM something to work with.

JNAProductions
2018-09-15, 05:30 PM
As a question-does it matter if you're cliche?

Look, if you come to the table, have a fun and interesting character that plays well with the party (not necessarily always agreeing with them, but not coming to blows, for instance) and are generally fun to play with, I don't give a rat's patoot if your backstory is as cliche as possible.

To put it another way, I'd rather have a cliche but fun character, than a unique, inspired, and boring or conflicting character. (Conflicting, in this case, meaning conflicting with the party too much.)

Because, when you get right down to it, that's a perfectly serviceable backstory. It's nothing unique, to be sure, but it doesn't have to be. It helps define who your character is without limiting them too much. And, for me personally, I'd rather flesh out a character IN PLAY than in a backstory.

AvatarVecna
2018-09-15, 06:16 PM
Backstory matters insofar as 1) it affects your personality, and 2) how the loose threads come up in-game. Think about each "keypoint" in your backstory, and think of how doing it this way or that way could affect either of those.

The Jack
2018-09-15, 07:49 PM
I don't have any problem with your backstory. It isn't fantastically well written, but the events aren't really a problem. So long as you don't lean into the melodrama of it all when you act in character it's perfectly serviceable.


I kinda want to make my own big-game hunter now.

Jay R
2018-09-16, 12:00 PM
It's a cliche if it's the ordinary generic thing that's expected. So get specific in ways that are unexpected.

How is this village different from others on the edge of a forest, Is there a nearby mine they were growing food for (and does he have a single point of Knowledge (mining)? Is it off the beaten track, with few visitors, or on a road between two important cities, and have three booming inns?

How is Magnus's father different from any other local hunter and forester? What did he hunt? What did he refuse to hunt?

How is Magnus's mother different from another mage and herbalist? What one unusual spell or skill did she teach her son?

What did they teach him about his ancestry? Are there potential Shattertusk orcs out there that will hate him, or embrace him like a brother? Is there a secret they passed on to him that might affect an adventure? Is there a prophecy that a Shattertusk will one day save (or destroy, or conquer) the world, or re-assemble the tribe? How does your character feel about others in the tribe? Is he proud of the lineage, or ashamed of the tribe for dispersing?

If Magnus meets Kemak, what will each one think of the other? [No, not the logic - the emotional reaction.]

You don't need to answer them all, but you should answer at least one of these questions (or a similar one) in a way that actually affects play.

I'm currently playing a very large human Ranger from the north. I decided that, due to his size, he grew up as a bully. He's ashamed of his past, and hates bullying. He will *always* attack the largest enemy. Last night, this led him to take on a nine-foot demon when split from the party.

You've explained why Magnus is similar to every other outlander half-orc ranger from a dispersed tribe. That's a cliche. Now figure out how he is different from them. Why will Magnus be more fun for you to play than some other half-orc ranger? How will you play him differently than another one?

From Harry Potter's scar to Kane's Rosebud to Athos's tragic past to Bruce Wayne's parents' death, every great character has a past that makes him or her unique. That's what you need to find. Then write it up, and play it.

mgshamster
2018-09-17, 03:46 PM
For 5e, here's what I use to generate unique backstories.

1) Roll on the Trinket table.
2) Write a story about how that trinket led to who you are now.

I often don't start with a race or class when I use this method. Instead, I see where the story leads me and decide on a race and class after I'm done.

With this method, I've written backstories that range from describing how someone grows up, describing why someone went adventuring, describing an entire people, and more. I've created unique locations in a world for a DM, unique monsters, unique cultures. It can be quite a fun experience.

Let's see....

1d100 -> 3. A gold coin minted in an unknown land.

Magnus always thought he was typical. A typical half orc, living in a typical village in a typical village on the outskirts of a typical forest. Typical parents, a father who was a hunter and an herbalist for a mother. He thought he was boring. Typical. Cliche.

So one on boring day, after his hunting lessons but before the lessons with his mother, he was out playing in the forest when he found a small chest half buried in the ground. The chest was filled with [however much starting gold you get], but one of the coins was from a land he had never heard of. It sparked his imagination - where was this place? Who are the people? How far is it? Are there other kids like me there?

He asked around, but no one from his village knew. He asked every trapper, hunter, farmer, and trader that came near. No one had ever seen it before.

This one simple coin became a treasure to Magnus. Every night he would go on adventures in his imagination. Each time the coin would he from a new land. A desert city on a far away shore, a cloister up in the hills, a demonic king ruling as a tyrant over a destitute land, an underwater city, a city made of nothing but ships and boats all tied together drifting across the ocean, an collection of underground villages and trade routes, and many more.

As soon as he was old enough, he would set off on his own, hopeful to find the place where this coin came from and to see the wonders of that mystical, mysterious far away place.

To this day, he keeps the coin with him, sometimes fiddling with it at night as he imagines yet another place it could have come from.

There you go! A unique story that explains who Magnus is, where he comes from, and why he's out adventuring. All of his background abilities are vageuly explained with lessons from his parents. The key, though, is he has a good motivation for why he's out in the world.

It also says a few things about him: he's curious, imaginative, wants to go on an adventure, wants to meet new people. He's not very fond of the small life or the simple village or of staying put.

It explains why he's an outlander: traveling from one place to the next, ever in search of his mysterious lands. It also explains why he's a ranger: partially taught by his parents and partially out of necessity for surviving the wilderness as he travels.

Keep it, modify it, or make your own. :)

Spore
2018-09-17, 11:00 PM
You can also switch around your parent's tribal professions and add in a little bit of chauvinism. The males of the tribes do not accept a female war leader and undermine her efforts at every turn. Only the wise man of the tribe, your father, sees her smart guidance. At least this way you have an explanation why the tribe slowly dissolved itself.

You could even add in the thought or thoughts that the Dark Elf saga made with Obould Manyarrows. Why should orcs be seen as invaders and raiders? Trade and established borders with the civilized folk are much more beneficial to both parties. People are slow to trust but they see the advantages this gives. But that doesn't mean they have to like it - or you. As a ranger, you are then naturally the guy that patrols the borders and enforces them.

Just dont kill off your parents during the backstory. There is nothing more cliche than an orphaned ranger outlander. Not only that but it ruins any potential plot hooks. It is much more interesting for a DM to have a character with parents ruling over a slowly failing orc tribe, with established borders and tensions considering the neighboring human dukedom.

Hooligan
2018-09-17, 11:03 PM
Like another poster said upthread, it does not matter if the backstory is a cliche or not. Hell, depending on the table/campaign/DM, the backstory may not matter at all!

Don't worry about it as long as you have fun with the character. I've seen much, much, much worse.

AMFV
2018-09-18, 12:28 AM
I think your problem is that your backstory only explains your character's race and class. It doesn't really explain any other choices he's made. Things are only cliche until they're not, so the more details you can add the less cliched it'll be. Basically you're starting with a template, Half-Orc outcast, which is not an inherently bad template. So to make him less cliche think about what makes him different than other half-orc outcasts.

Honestly, your description of somebody who "hunts animals for the lulz" is pretty different than most half-orc outcast types I've met in campaigns. That sounds like a fun loving hunter type, yeah people might dislike him, but he doesn't care he just wants to go hunting. Yeah, there's family drama, but it doesn't bother him, he can always go fishing. That would be the direction I'd personally take it with what you've described.

AceOfFools
2018-09-18, 02:28 AM
The problem with your backstory is that it tells us next to nothing about your character as a person. He could be an aggressive risk taker driven by the thrill of the hunt, or a cautions, guarded planner who hunts dangerous breasts to increase the population of what they prey on. He could genuinely enjoy solitude, or he could be as lonely as he is bitter, driven to travel out of a subconscious need to be part of a community that values him for him.

As written, you could replace the names and it could fit almost any other outcast half-orc ranger. This is what makes it cliche.

So start with the question "What is unique about my character? What makes him different as a person from other characters with the same race and class?" Does he love looking at statues and architecture? Does he hold those who need some goddess to tell them how to revere nature? Is he afraid of dying alone, and thus driven to seek out and befriend others too easily? Does he aggressively look for the best in every terrible situation?

Then ask, "What in his early life lead him to be like that?" Did he have an aunt or family friend who would regal him with exagerated tales of the great buildings she saw in her travels? Were the clerics of the towns and orc clan particularly cruel to him? Did one of his parents die and the other take it poorly, becoming a shadow of their former selves? Was his mother depressed, and only smiled when he found what little joy their was in the world?

THAT is what a backstory has to explain. That, and the things that drive them. Their unfulfilled desires that the GM can use to make you, the player, actively push the rest of the party towards some particular hook.

mgshamster
2018-09-18, 02:37 AM
Honestly, your description of somebody who "hunts animals for the lulz" is pretty different than most half-orc outcast types I've met in campaigns. That sounds like a fun loving hunter type, yeah people might dislike him, but he doesn't care he just wants to go hunting. Yeah, there's family drama, but it doesn't bother him, he can always go fishing.


I really like this. I love the idea of a character who avoids conflict with other people by going fishing. Group gets mad at him? Two party members get into a fight? Any sort of verbal arguments? "Screw this. I'm going fishing," he says as he walks away.

It makes for a wonderful character trait, and can even be a flaw if he leaves during critical times or in a dangerous area.

It can really add to the story.


So start with the question

In another game I run, there's a set of questions built into character creation that you have to answer. Here they are as I've re-writen them for a PBP game:

1) Describe one Positive and one Negative personality trait you have.

2) How do others make you feel? Do you like being the center of attention or bring left alone; is there a such thing as a stranger to you or do you even know what it's like to have a friend. Things like that.

3) Name one thing you value most. Then name one thing you could lose. These could be ideals, physical possessions, relationships, etc..

4) What do you fear? What do you hate?

5) What do you desire? What do you love?

6) You have (at least) one secret. What is it?

7) Have you done something Notable? What was it?

8) Are you in charge or do you let others take that roll? Do you rebuke authority or revel in it?

9) Do you follow through on your promises and obligations? Or do you delay or avoid? Do you feel guilty when you don't uphold them?

10) What are your opinions on Good and Evil? Do they exist? Or is it all shades of Grey? Where do you see yourself?

Aliquid
2018-09-18, 10:36 AM
I assume there will be other PCs in the game you are playing... one piece of advice I give everyone who has a "loner" type character is to think of a reason why that character would work in a group. You need to get along with and have a reason to stick with the other PCs in the game.

Maybe: "Magnus generally doesn't trust or like people because he never fit in... but he is fiercely loyal to someone who ____"

Or, "Magnus is amazing in the wilderness against beasts, but he realizes that he is over his head in all other situations. It looks like it is going to take a lot more than just hunting animals for funzies to achieve ___ goal (campaign plot). He realizes he is going to have to find fellow adventurers to work with, and figure out a way to get along with"

With that in mind... you also have to think of a reason why Magnus would even want to be part of the overall campaign plot, rather than just keep hunting.