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4 years ago ::
Jun 09, 2009 - 7:50PM
#311
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327 Wizard school dropout: Your parents, wealthy merchants pay for you to go to school to be a ritual caster to enchant magic items. You come to a realization: this is hard. You read, okay skim, those “forbidden texts” texts to find a shortcut. You realize that the path of an enchanter is not what you want to do, but follow the information from the “forbidden” knowledge.
328 Kobold egg with a holy symbol of Garl Glittergold: When your egg was laid, it had the symbol of Garl Glittergold! Appalled, the kobolds disposed of the egg outside of the city. Some dwarves (or anyone for that matter) found the egg, and thought the gnomes may want it. The gnomes take the egg and prepare it for hatching. When you hatch, surprise, surprise, a baby of your arch-rival race is there. The gnomes decide what to do. Before you are disposed of again, the elders notice a holy symbol of Garl birthmark on your chest. What do they do?
329 Gifted mimic: As a child, you were orphaned and left to a monastery, but those rules…You were expelled from the monastery proper, forced to live outside. You watch and watch, and after up to 20 minutes of practice a day, you can do what those guys work on all day. The monks (or whatever) are upset that you can do what they can with ease, so they send you on missions.
330 Kender babysitter: You are a warforged bodyguard for a noble Kender family. You are a new model that has seen no action, but the wealthy Kender thought you were shiny and caught his eye. At some point in the first few weeks of service, the city where you reside is taken over. You take the noble’s kids and a set of everlasting provisions into a safe room. After several years, the city is retaken by the rightful owners. When the door is opened, you come out-a little “jaded.”
331 Left to “guard” You were the screw-up of your platoon. Every time something went wrong, there you were. Your father was friends with your sergeant, and he asked him to take care of you. While traveling through the medieval fantasy equivalent of Antarctica, you cause an avalanche, nearly killing you squad. The troops are about to kill you, but the sergeant once again saves your bacon. He realizes that he can no longer protect you, so he gives you the equivalent of boots of the Neverwinter, ring of sustenance, and a weapon to protect you. The sergeant “promotes” you to lord protector of the wastelands. After time (there could be a time loop, and hundreds of years could have passed, but you have not aged much), you find another group...
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4 years ago ::
Jun 09, 2009 - 10:25PM
#312
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Apologies if this or something similar has already been said.
332. A half-orc who grew up among orcs, becoming one of the most vicious warriors in the tribe. Despite the respect and fear his ferocity won him, in the back of his mind he knew it was fueled by desperation to prove himself and not genuine bloodlust. He charged into battle with (literally) suicidal fervor, routinely risked his life while hunting various large and nasty animals, and gouged out his own eye as a sign of (feigned) devotion to Gruumsh.
... until a raid on a nearby monastery. He found himself in a standoff with the abbot - an ancient but remarkably spry monk who showed no hint of anxiety at the attack. It was as though the abbot saw straight through him, recognizing the true nature of his aggression. The raid did not go well for the orcs, and this half-orc was the sole survivor. He abandoned his tribe and became an initiate of the monks' order.
Now, he is wholly devoted to honing his skills as a martial artist and achieving inner peace and enlightenment. Generally he is stoic and prudent, but occasionally his temper wells up and either it gets the best of him (with varying degrees of violence), or he restrains himself - breathing deeply, closing his remaining eye, and perhaps muttering "Namaste" while pressing his fist to his palm.
This will be more useful when 4e has monks...
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4 years ago ::
Jun 17, 2009 - 4:14PM
#313
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Date Joined:
Jun 15, 2009
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333. The odd child (girl only)
You were origionally sold to a collector because... well... you were an egg. After a while, you hatched, and the collector, a powerful wizard, decided having a medusa baby around wasn't such a good idea. He used his power to turn you into a more... human... appearnace, but your supernatural beauty kept seeping through, and he couldn't find a way to hide your green hair. Instead he sold you to a potter, who enjoyed having you around for a while... until some banits decided to burn your village down, and sell you into slavery at one of their favorite inns, waiting for the day you mature. They day you developed was the worst day of your life, since the bandits decided you were "ready" to start "entertaining them." But before they could do the dirty deed, a priest of the God of War (Aries, Kord, Bahamut, Raven Queen...pick one) shows up, burns down the inn, and takes you as his apprentice.
334. Outlaw with a concience
You started life as a military man, working your way up the enlisted ranks and eventually becoming captain (by way of battlefield promotions) of a small group. Faced with insurmountable odds, you lose the war, and are foced to a life of banditry to survive. Unfortunately, being a bandit with a concience doesn't seem to be as profitable as you thought it might, so you take up adventuring instead. After all, you've got 30+ mouths to feed.
335. Shadow of the Chosen One
Ok, so there's this kid that thinks he's the "Chosen one" and everyone around him thinks he's the Chosen One, problem is, he isn't. He's just the figurehead for all the assisins the BBEG can muster to focus on while you do what's needed. You're not in it for the fame or glory, but you do what you have to, giving credit to the bafoon who thinks he really is the "Chosen One" so you can move without being noticed.
During the final confrontation with the BBEG you have no intention of saving the bass-turd who's taking credit for all your work...
336. Merchant's child
Your parents are wealthy, but they believe that before they hand the billions of gold over to their kid, the kid needs to prove that they're worthy of the wealth. You've been trained in (insert class here)'s ways, but havn't used them against anything other than mock combat with your overpaid teacher. So, you pack your lute and bag, and head out to make a living as an adventurer, and if that fails, you're still a pretty good musician.
337. Sibling Rivalry
You're really sick of sitting in your older brother/sister's shadow. You do just as well in school, and activities, but its your older sibling who gets all the attention. Sick of hearing about them all the time, you decided to go into the world and make a name for yourself, becoming a well renowned hero. Problem is... so did your sibling.
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4 years ago ::
Jun 17, 2009 - 10:46PM
#314
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Date Joined:
Mar 31, 2008
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The Mercenary Extreme
You won't help anyone for free...
But you'll risk life and limb for even a token gesture. Your neighbor is being threatened by an elite league of assasins? That's HIS problem--unless he can cough up a copper piece, in which case you'll rain fire on those jerks!
Nothing for free. Everything... for so very little.
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4 years ago ::
Jun 20, 2009 - 3:22PM
#315
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338. The Last War Cadet
Most suited for the Eberron setting, but likely easily melded into any setting taking place after a large confrontation, your character was in the military just before the end of a large scale war. The large scale brutality towards the end of the war or some large cataclysmic event horrified you and, as soon as possible, you resigned from whatever military order you were part of in order to go try to rebuild. You seek primarily peace and order as opposed to the chaos and death of the battlefield, having not spent enough time in battle to get used to the latter.
339. The Last War Veteran
In a reversal of the above case, your character spent a great deal of their life constantly involved with the war, to the point that fighting and struggle became common nature to them. They can't readjust with a normal civilian life, and as a result, seek new conflict in a party of adventurers, REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE, in order to simply feel alive like they did on the battlefield.
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4 years ago ::
Jun 21, 2009 - 1:00AM
#316
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Date Joined:
Jul 23, 2007
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340. Lost Powers
Some time in the past, you possessed powerful magical abilities. Some cataclysmic event or battle caused these powers to become lost to you, and you now search for a way to bring them back.
Alternately,
341. Atonement
As with 340, you once had immense powers and lost them. But rather than try and bring them back, you now seek a way to forgive and forget your past, possibly through religion. Think Fullmetal Alchemist, in a way.
342. Captain Jack Harkness
You died. Once. But through some miraculous event, you no longer walk among the dead...and for some reason, you no longer can. Every effort to kill you ends in your resurrection by some strange means. You either revel in this ability, or seek a way to end your unwanted immortality...
(Got that one from Doctor Who)
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4 years ago ::
Jun 21, 2009 - 4:04PM
#317
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343. Someone else's dream Your sibling was the one who wanted to be a great hero. Then in a terrible accident you blame yourself for, they were killed. Now you have taken it upon yourself to fulfill their dream.
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4 years ago ::
Jun 24, 2009 - 3:18PM
#318
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344. (vestige pact warlock) you were once a sorcerer with incredible talent, until one day you were defeated unfairly. after the defeat the powers you used to use so skillfully have become almost unknown to you. You don't feel remorse though, but that's the problem, you can't feel anything, your soul is hollow, and the you are fixated on the fact that you are broken. That is how you come to know vestiges, broken entities, whose shards of empathy give you a power that is totally unlike the one you previously had. Do you want revenge? OR do you feel so detached from the world that you don't care about anything?
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4 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2009 - 3:52PM
#319
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342. Captain Jack Harkness
You died. Once. But through some miraculous event, you no longer walk among the dead...and for some reason, you no longer can. Every effort to kill you ends in your resurrection by some strange means. You either revel in this ability, or seek a way to end your unwanted immortality...
(Got that one from Doctor Who)
Jack certainly has a unique backround. Wonder how this could be used for PC backround without the character over-shadowing the others? After all, this is D&D, everbody misses that all-important 'Save' at least once in an adventuring career  .
/\ Art
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4 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2009 - 6:35PM
#320
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Date Joined:
Apr 20, 2007
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I think you'd have to play a deva. They're the closest thing D&D has to immortal, non-epic PCs at this point. He'd have to be a fighter so he could take the Undying Warrior epic destiny, which is the closest thing to Jack's immortality that D&D has.
And to keep the thread on track, I submit these, inspired by Satoshi Kon's magnificent film, Paprika:
346. The Chairman
You are dedicated to protecting the sanctity and integrity of something that most people think is the last thing people would need protecting. The dreams of mankind. To you, the attempts of careless wizards and sages to see and manipulate the dreams of others is the highest of all possible crimes, and you will stop at nothing to destroy those who you name as defilers or as disobedient.
347. Detective Konokawa
You are haunted with guilt over a percieved wrong you commited when you were young. You used to have a friend who was just like you in every way. He was the confident you, the one who could do anything. You worked together on some sort of project together, but you lacked confidence and you left the project unfinished, your friend left to finish it on his own. When he died, just before moving on to achieve his dreams, you felt that you had really let him down, and that guilt has lingered in your dreams ever since, causing you a great deal of stress. In actual fact, you are living out your project in real life, becoming the figure you represented in the project outside the project.
348. Doctor Tokita
You view the world around you with a child's sense of innocence and naivete. You have a brilliant mind, which leads you to create fantastic things, but unfortunately you also have a number of flaws. You lack a sense of responsibility to people, so your creations are very risky, and while you mean well, you don't like being ordered to do things, instead doing just what you want to do. Despite this, you are at heart a good person.
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