Backstorys that prompted muliclassing, instead of vice versa

[moonfly7]

So, this thread needs a little explaining. This is a thread for characters who have a beautifully well made backstory that prompts multiclassing fluidly and easily. Instead of multiclassing first, then making a kick butt story based on the strange combo, tell us the story of the time your backstory not only supported, but prompted multiclassing.

My story is of a female dwarven life cleric who, along with her party, her friends of many years, delved too the 9th layer of hell to save a trapped, but still living, friend. During the journey down, they lost one of the items that would bring them back, so when they rescued their friend, someone had to stay behind. The dwarf calmly told her friends no one would stay when she could, and promised to see them again.

Then she began the journey out of hell.

Along the way, she encountered a demon who was trying to travel to the material plane. Neither could make it on their own, but together, they just might. So a deal was struck between chaotic evil and lawful good. Over the course of five years, the demon and cleric struggled through every layer of hell. Becoming at first allies, then comrades in arms, then, finally, friends. Eventually, they made it out of hell, and the cleric was once again able contact her god, they didn't part ways. Now, the god at first objected to the demon, who never left the clerics side, but, for once, cleric stood up to god.
" You teach that a friend is a friend until death. You teach that evil isn't always defeated through force of arms. And you instilled in me hope and devotion when I was wallowing, drunk, looking for my life in a tankard of ale. So I ask you, how is he any different? He has done wrong, he's killed. But he has changed, countless times I have risked my life for him, and his for me, he has repented, and he fights by me still. Have I too not killed, in your name no less?"
So, the clerics god relented, and eventually, the clerics class would go from pure life cleric to life cleric fiend warlock, with the demon becoming her pact of the chain familiar.

So, what are your stories?

[Keravath]

"Crimsn is the name I chose when I entered human society. I was 14. I was born deep in the fastness of the Sky Lizard Mountains of Chult. My parents were Yuan-ti, the snake people. They consider themselves better that any other race and it shows. The society is highly stratified and as a pureblood I was considered barely above the level of a slave. My parents chose to be Yuan-ti. I didn't have that choice. When I was young, I showed an aversion to the rituals and feasting that characterized the life of the people. I somehow empathized with those that were sacrificed as part of the rituals. Some would be elevated to be purebloods but the rest were fodder and most did not want to be there. At the age of 8, my martial training began, since purebloods were rarely deemed worthy of any role better than foot soldier or spy. This allowed me to escape the settlement, joining watch details or hunting for food. These were good reasons to be out of the settlement when the rituals were conducted. However, when I was 12, I started having odd dreams. A creature was trapped and needed help. Sometimes it was a dear, other times a dinosaur, sometimes a food animal or a human, in the dreams I felt an overwhelming need to aid them. This "feeling" was very unusual. It felt like sunlight on the skin after a heavy rainfall in the jungle. It felt liberating. Over the next few days, the dreams changed. They began to be more specific and included images from within the settlement. There was a room in a secluded section of the area of the settlement used by the warlocks and the malisons who ran the colony. It was an area that all but a few were forbidden to enter though there were ways to get inside. Having grown up here, I had explored extensively since my curiosity was seemingly endless. My urge to follow the dreams grew. Late one night, I escaped the creche where the young yuan-ti slept and stealthily made my way to the room in my dreams. In the middle of the room was a roiling mass of mixed dark and light surrounded by runes marked on the floor. It seemed to be a very small part of a much greater whole and it felt "sad". A voice spoke into my mind using no words. It promised to open my mind and expand my understanding and empathy, offered to guide and counsel me. All that was needed in exchange was for me to erase some of the runic markings. It was tempting, but I resisted and returned to the creche to ponder the offer. Over the next week, I returned to the room several times in the deep of night. The runic carvings changed and became more complex, the creature became more frantic and it became clear that the warlocks planned to sacrifice the entity to Dendar. On the third visit, I found within myself the resolve to prevent this sacrifice. It was wrong. I was not under the influence of the confined creature. I have always had a strong will and made my own decisions. That night, I defied my people, broke the runic circle and freed the creature. I returned to the creche without being noticed. The following morning was an uproar. A pogrom to discover the traitor who had freed the being began. They overlooked the children. The following year I disappeared into the jungle left Chult and journeyed to the Sword coast. My adventures had begun."

Yuan-ti pureblood - Fighter 1 then likely GOO warlock 2 and either dragon sorcerer X or Wizard 1-3 + dragon sorcerer X. He doesn't know that one of his parents carried dragon blood which allowed him to be a somewhat atypical yuan-ti.

[Laserlight]

Ledaal Yuyeh was in concept a D&D version of an Exalted character, a dragon blooded/ terrestrial Exalt with the Air aspect. I took Tempest Cleric and Storm Sorc, and if we'd had a few more levels I was considering some Bard as well, to account for the Air social charms.

[Dr paradox]

Lance Corporal Dilly Croyden, Arbalist 1st class!

I played him in a Ravenloft game. He was a soldier in the armies of Overking Grenell I of the Great Kingdom of Northern Aerdy, fighting against Delglath the Undying in his third term of service in the royal army (Greyhawk). He was badly unprepared for fighting the undead after his first two tours against orcs and goblins, and when his unit was surprised by ghouls in the middle of the night, he panicked and fled, leaving the men and women under his command to die horribly. He ran straight into the Mists, and found himself in Ravenloft.

Dilly was a lawful neutral devotee of Hextor, so once he regained his composure, he knew that there was only one thing to do - make his way back to military command, and present himself as a deserter to be hanged. Actually escaping the domains of dread was another matter altogether, but his mission was clear, and he set out with his erstwhile companions, encountering all manner of undead along the way. At first he was terrified of them, suffering flashbacks to the night of his ultimate failure, but with time and experience came a kind of manic and religious fervor. As he contextualized it, Hextor is a harsh judge, but fair - he has been exiled to this land to do battle with the creatures he once didn't lift a finger against. He began studying local texts, talking to priests and scholars, and assembling a bed of knowledge to take the fight back to these creatures.

In short, he started as a fighter, but eventually multiclassed into a ranger with the undead favored enemy. Hardly optimal, but it made sense for his arc.

[moonfly7]

Lance Corporal Dilly Croyden, Arbalist 1st class!

I played him in a Ravenloft game. He was a soldier in the armies of Overking Grenell I of the Great Kingdom of Northern Aerdy, fighting against Delglath the Undying in his third term of service in the royal army (Greyhawk). He was badly unprepared for fighting the undead after his first two tours against orcs and goblins, and when his unit was surprised by ghouls in the middle of the night, he panicked and fled, leaving the men and women under his command to die horribly. He ran straight into the Mists, and found himself in Ravenloft.

Dilly was a lawful neutral devotee of Hextor, so once he regained his composure, he knew that there was only one thing to do - make his way back to military command, and present himself as a deserter to be hanged. Actually escaping the domains of dread was another matter altogether, but his mission was clear, and he set out with his erstwhile companions, encountering all manner of undead along the way. At first he was terrified of them, suffering flashbacks to the night of his ultimate failure, but with time and experience came a kind of manic and religious fervor. As he continuedd it, Hextor is a harsh judge, but fair - he has been exiled to this land to do battle with the creatures he once didn't lift a finger against. He began studying local texts, talking to priests and scholars, and assembling a bed of knowledge to take the fight back to these creatures.

In short, he started as a fighter, but eventually multiclassed into a ranger with the undead favored enemy. Hardly optimal, but it made sense for his arc.

I Love it!!!!!!

[Agent-KI7KO]

My bard grew up as a daughter of a merchant class family, obsessing over fairy tales.

During a fair a bunch of bard colleges had sent scouting agents to look for talent, and one of those that was discovered was her.

The college sent her family a letter of invitation and she accepted it. She excelled in general knowledge but majored in Glamour so she had very well rounded training.

Since she studied Glamour there were many Fey on staff, and they showed an unusually strong reaction to her, all ranging from friendly to hostile.

Once she was set loose into the world she decided she wanted to get into a University of Lore, and to figure out this strange reaction from Fey.

The story goes that she needed to write a research paper to qualify for enrollment, and thus she set about doing odd jobs to fund her research trips.

==backstory ends here==

Skip a few months, and after completing a contract for an aberration, it accidentally glimpses into her mind and says that it could bring her one step to Fairyhood.

She was brought down to the Abyss where an Efreet lives and the aberration uses her to collect on a favour as an investment.

The Efreet didn’t like her employer, so decapitated, dismembered, and set her on fire, at which point the highly empowered Nothic leveraged his power over the Efreet and demanded he bring the Nothic’s new favourite agent back as an Elf. It grudgingly complies and reassembled her as an Eladrin.

She spends two weeks relearning everything from balancing and sleeping/trancing and then takes on a new contract for her Nothic employer.

After a gruelling slog through a cave in the desert and several near death experiences, they find a Sphinx. It offers them all power. Only she knew the exact cost, and it was the sacrifice of the rest of her party.

She weighed the cost against the offered artifacts and decided the gain in power was not worth the price of losing what she considered reliable henchmen.

She called out the Sphinx and it ejected her party from its pocket dimension. Growing increasingly irate and frustrated, she decided she would pay a visit to a certain Night Hag who keeps bothering her...

Did you guess Glamour and Archfey?