Barbarian backstory help

[WorldOnFire03]

So in my campaign's last session my beloved ranger died (RIP) and I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with a backstory for my new character. She's a young triton barbarian who has only been living in the material(?) plane for a year. She's from a noble family in the elemental water plane but hated the lifestyle and wanted some adventure.

She's super bubbly but also naive (kind of imagined her as a mix between Nora from RWBY and Jester from Critical Role. Also I rolled for her height and she's 5'1 so she's super short too). I chose the totem warrior sub-class and the outlander background since my DM wants us to stick to the DMG backgrounds and it seems to fit the best, but I'm really stuck on why she wanted to leave or how to flesh out her backstory/character more.

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas I'd really appreciate them - I'm super excited to play her but I struggle so much with the backstory part :smallfrown:

[Particle_Man]

The first thing that comes to mind is that your motivation for adventure (or a particular adventure, or going with a particular group) would be that your spirit animal (whale?) told you to go, in a special dream. You are working towards totem warrior after all.

[CTurbo]

Stats and level?

[Unoriginal]

"Former noble, didn't like the lifestyle, so she left" is already all the reasons ons might need.

Think of what life as a triton noble would be like, and how a bubbly naive young person would want to quit that. Maybe they demanded of all to stay perfectly stoic and showing emotion was considered weakness. Maybe they kept her locked up because "what if she elopes with a partner we have not chosen?". Maybe she got into a duel due to others' manipulations or just her own outrage and the opponent's family never forgave her.

[WorldOnFire03]

I'm starting at level 6 (same level as my ranger when I died) and stats are:
- STR 18
- DEX 12
- CON 16
- INT 9
- WIS 14
- CHA 7
For totems I chose the bear at level 3 (replacing bear with shark though to fit better) and eagle at level 6.

I was considering choosing the "I suffer awful visions of a coming disaster and will do anything to prevent it" bond for her, I was thinking that potentially she could be having these visions and feel that its her duty to travel to the material plane to help? The only other thing I could really think of is that she pissed off some other noble and was banished or decided to leave because of it? D: Idk, most of the character's I've created have ended up being one-shots because of scheduling difficulties, but this group is really committed and I know I'll (hopefully) be playing her long term so I want something good but I'm so uncreative lol

[CTurbo]

I'm starting at level 6 (same level as my ranger when I died) and stats are:
- STR 18
- DEX 12
- CON 16
- INT 9
- WIS 14
- CHA 7
For totems I chose the bear at level 3 (replacing bear with shark though to fit better) and eagle at level 6.

I was considering choosing the "I suffer awful visions of a coming disaster and will do anything to prevent it" bond for her, I was thinking that potentially she could be having these visions and feel that its her duty to travel to the material plane to help? The only other thing I could really think of is that she pissed off some other noble and was banished or decided to leave because of it? D: Idk, most of the character's I've created have ended up being one-shots because of scheduling difficulties, but this group is really committed and I know I'll (hopefully) be playing her long term so I want something good but I'm so uncreative lol

You want her to be bubbly but also have a Cha of 7? Hmm... So she'd be bubbly, but annoyingly so. Possibly really unattractive as well if not just stinky. (sorry I don't know who Nora and Jester are)

Maybe she's "nice" but has always been spoiled so now that she's out on her own, she never cleans herself. Maybe her temper got the best of her and she ran away to prove herself.

[Nidgit]

The Outlander versus Noble family part is a little tricky but I suppose it's focused more on how she sees herself.

What if your character went to a giant music festival a few years back and got lost there, so she's just kinda been living on her own and finding herself?

Interplanar music festival Flochella was being held in the badlands of the material plane and your character was super excited to go to the material plane for the first time. She got talked into doing some serious drugs, hallucinated a sea turtle, and wrecked the place at its suggestion before chasing it off into the desert. Everyone was too afraid/annoyed to follow so she's just been out there ever since.

Really put the "manic" in manic pixie dream girl, you know?

[sophontteks]

Tritons are basically aliens with very little understanding of the lifestyles of the material plane. Social concepts are completely beyond them. Tritons just do their duty even if it kills them and they expect the same from those around them. They also see the world as very black and white. Either you are good, or you are evi, and all good things are aligned together to fight evil.

If you are rolling a Triton from another plane make them as alien as possible and you'll be fine. Almost everything on the material plane is new to them and their lifestyles are completely different. If your Triton had visions of a coming disaster, it would have gladly thrown its previous life away to see it through, gleeful to see it to its end, even if it means your death. If other Tritons did not share this visions, oh well. They need to step aside.

[WorldOnFire03]

You want her to be bubbly but also have a Cha of 7? Hmm... So she'd be bubbly, but annoyingly so. Possibly really unattractive as well if not just stinky. (sorry I don't know who Nora and Jester are)

Maybe she's "nice" but has always been spoiled so now that she's out on her own, she never cleans herself. Maybe her temper got the best of her and she ran away to prove herself.

I was thinking more bubbly and naive but also super blunt, doesn't understand most social situations (partly due to being a triton). Because she's so small and unassuming I think she'd be overlooked a lot, and I think the low charisma plays into that because it means shes really not intimidating.

Also of all the stats I'd prefer to use int and cha as stat dumps.

[WorldOnFire03]

Tritons are basically aliens with very little understanding of the lifestyles of the material plane. Social concepts are completely beyond them. Tritons just do their duty even if it kills them and they expect the same from those around them. They also see the world as very black and white. Either you are good, or you are evi, and all good things are aligned together to fight evil.

If you are rolling a Triton from another plane make them as alien as possible and you'll be fine. Almost everything on the material plane is new to them and their lifestyles are completely different. If your Triton had visions of a coming disaster, it would have gladly thrown its previous life away to see it through, gleeful to see it to its end, even if it means your death. If other Tritons did not share this visions, oh well. They need to step aside.

This is really helpful, thank you <3 The other party members are a tabaxi bard, a tiefling paladin and an aasimar fighter so my triton is going to be soooooo confused XD
I think this idea fits best with my character though, that she would throw aside family obligations and ignore all warnings to go and fight whatever she is seeing in her visions.

Thanks for the help everyone!

[Rixitichil]

Maybe they were first in line to be ruler of which ever domain your family rules. But due to a mutual decision that a younger sibling both would be a better ruler and wanted it they stepped aside. Now, they wander, finding purpose in discovery and travel, whilst at the same time removing the threat to their siblings rule that their continued presence would represent.

[thoroughlyS]

Based on a few of your responses in the thread and the description of tritons, I have a few recommendations. Firstly, the noble background is definitely more in line with the backstory you've given for your character. If you don't like the feature, maybe switch it out for the Rustic Hospitality feature from the folk hero. (Honestly the Far Traveler feature fits best, but you said you wanted to use PHB only.) Outlander doesn't make a lot of sense to me, because you didn't grow up travelling through the wilderness, you were a member of a noble family. Also, you probably wouldn't have a great mind for landmarks because navigation is so different on land compared to in water.

As for why you left, you're a barbarian. Fighting is in your bones—in your heart. Perhaps you wanted to defend your people and be on the front lines of battle, but your family forced you to remain cloistered away in a tower somewhere. There are a bunch of tables in Xanathar's Guide to Everything which help you flesh out your character's backstory. None of it is mechanical, so you won't be going against your DM's wishes.

Side note: Did you roll for stats?

[WorldOnFire03]

Based on a few of your responses in the thread and the description of tritons, I have a few recommendations. Firstly, the noble background is definitely more in line with the backstory you've given for your character. If you don't like the feature, maybe switch it out for the Rustic Hospitality feature from the folk hero. (Honestly the Far Traveler feature fits best, but you said you wanted to use PHB only.) Outlander doesn't make a lot of sense to me, because you didn't grow up travelling through the wilderness, you were a member of a noble family. Also, you probably wouldn't have a great mind for landmarks because navigation is so different on land compared to in water.

As for why you left, you're a barbarian. Fighting is in your bones—in your heart. Perhaps you wanted to defend your people and be on the front lines of battle, but your family forced you to remain cloistered away in a tower somewhere. There are a bunch of tables in Xanathar's Guide to Everything which help you flesh out your character's backstory. None of it is mechanical, so you won't be going against your DM's wishes.

Side note: Did you roll for stats?

Thank you :) I agree, I don't think outlander works the best but I don't like a lot of the personality traits, ideals, bonds and flaws for nobles since they mainly seem to be quite snobby and thats kind of the opposite of what I'm going for.

I'll have a chat to my DM and see if hes happy with me going with far traveler, and if not possibly switch to folk hero or noble.

Thanks for you help :)

[thoroughlyS]

Backgrounds are the most fluid part of the entire game. You don't have to pick traits, ideals, bonds, or flaws from the associated tables. You don't have to pick from any tables at all. I recommend leafing through them for inspiration, but you can do whatever you want for those. Everything else about a background—feature, skills, languages—are all customizable (PHB p.125).

Your character grew up in a castle and ran away from home. That sounds like the noble background to me. Your character doesn't fit in amongst the aristocracy, so the feature doesn't make sense. If your character fits in better with the peasantry, then Rustic Hospitality is a better fit. Your character is also from another plane, so All Eyes on You (SCAG p.149) also seems like a good fit.

[Samayu]

Why did you choose barbarian? How do you work the rage into her story? LG fighter-of-evil, super bubbly, maybe annoyingly so... goes off the hook in combat?

[WorldOnFire03]

Good news! My DM is happy with me to use the far traveler background which I think will fit well :)

I think she probably would have grown up hearing heroic stories about Tritons fighting in wars or battling monsters and idolized that life over her boring noble life. I was thinking of treating the barbarian rage as more of a honed/focused fighting.

[thoroughlyS]

I still think you should go noble background with the far traveler feature. All the proficiencies and gear from noble with All Eyes on You.

[WorldOnFire03]

I do see your point, but I think far traveler fits better since she's never really fit in with the noble life, and since I have negative modifiers for history and persuasion I'd only end up with a +1/+2 for either of them.

I really do appreciate all your help and advice though, I never would have known about far traveler or gotten any inspiration for a backstory if it weren't for you guys :)