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Flag Zousha_Omenohu January 7, 2009 10:42 AM PST
267. Eco-Terrorist: You are dedicated to the forces of nature. So much so, that you will lay down your life to defend it from all comers. Perhaps you have a spiritual interest in protecting nature, like a druid or ranger. Perhaps you were a wild child, raised by the animals and are merely defending your territory. Whatever the case, you work tirelessly, and sometimes violently, to preserve nature, and push back the encroaching and insidious forces of civilization.
Flag elfwench January 8, 2009 11:58 AM PST

Aethergrey wrote:

5. Disaster Area - Bad things happen when you are around, not always your fault. You've been chased out of several places after unexplained fires, floods, poisonings and duck invasions have been blamed on you.


Sounds like a halfling's background to me!:D

Flag elfwench January 8, 2009 1:11 PM PST

Ian0311 wrote:

257. The Orphan

You were born into unfortunate circumstances, perhaps you parents were killed or you were lost for some reason or another. However, you survived long enough to get to caretaker(s) and that was the first time fate smiled upon you. However, you're quite different from the person who took you in. Perhaps you're the human raised by elves or a dragonborn raised by the halflings, or perhaps they're of your race but from an outlandish culture. No matter what makes them different from your biological parents, you have picked up some of these traits from being around them.

Perhaps you even consider yourself to be one of them. Maybe you share their practices and still stand out when you go somewhere else. This can be a bit of a lonely fate, because you might not really fit in anywhere. Or, perhaps, you're that outlandish stranger that everyone gets along with. The possibilities are endless with all of the different communities, people, and cultures to interact with...


This is a great one for the goodly drow (or any evil race, or any race that's doing something different than the norm for them). Used two variants so far...

Orphaned , times two: One was that a ranger took in a wounded Drow female who turned out to be pregnant. He tended to her injuries and, when the time came, helped deliver her child. Mother died in childbirth. The ranger, who had fallen in love with the drow woman who wasn't like most of her race, decided to take in. He taught her everything he knew. One day, the old ranger died. Going through his things, she opened a note that was to be opened on the event of his death. It contained a key to the back room, which contained her mother's belongings and a note warning her that the woods would no longer be safe for her. Armed with her mother's scroll case which contains a map and her mother's "necklace" (house emblem), a few gold, and some basic weaponry and equipment she leaves in search of finding out more about the people she comes from, only to find that the world views her kind as evil.

Foundling taken to the temple/kicked out of the nest: A blind man, on his way to the temple in search for a cure, hears a squalling infant that has been left alone. Unaware of the nature of the baby, he takes her to the temple with him, surely they will take care of her. After much argument, it is agreed by the clerics to take in the child, the winning argument being one of the dictates of the order (in this case, Selune, their mission to bring light to the darkness) would be exemplified by taking in this child. The one who argued the loudest was put in charge of raising the child. The cleric is a former [insert class here, in this specific case it's case rogue] who teaches the child everything she knows as well as how to best use her natural skills and racial abilities, "But only for the greater good." When the child became an adult, she was sent from the temple with what little belongings & weaponry she had to make her way in the world.

Flag Zousha_Omenohu January 10, 2009 10:33 PM PST
270. All Grown Up: All your life, you've never had any adults to tell you what to do. Your community was made up entirely of children who banded together to survive when the adults wouldn't help them. Unfortunately, the singlemost important law your community has states that when you become a grown-up, you have to leave. You may have learned a few things about how to take care of yourself, but you have no idea of what the world beyond your little community is like. If you plan to survive out in the big people's world, you're going to have to learn quickly.
Flag Orenthes January 11, 2009 1:03 PM PST
Yay! Let's go to Big Town, where all the Super Ogres come and beat us up.
Flag Zousha_Omenohu January 11, 2009 4:50 PM PST
Wondered if someone would get the reference.

One cookie coming right up!
Flag Zousha_Omenohu January 15, 2009 5:18 PM PST
271. Slave: You are the property of another person. This could have happened in any number of ways. Perhaps your parents owed the wrong person money, and that person killed your parents and then sold you to pay off the debt. Perhaps your people were conquered by another, and you were but one of many slaves taken. All that is certain, is that you adventure at the behest of your owner. Perhaps you are to serve as a bodyguard for your master, protecting him or her from harm on the quest. Perhaps your master has placed you with this group of adventurers to make sure his or her will is carried out. Perhaps over the course of your adventures you will escape bondage, perhaps not.
Flag WilwarinAndamar January 21, 2009 10:15 AM PST
Probably already mentioned, but there's only so many plots...

272) The Exile
You did something bad in the eyes of your society and have been kicked out. You adventure to either earn the right to get back in or find a new home.

273) The Run-away
You disagreed with your parents/clan over what you want to do in life. Your only option is to leave without telling anyone to follow your dreams.
Flag Zousha_Omenohu January 22, 2009 11:14 AM PST
274. The Bilbo Baggins: You were living a quiet, peaceful life, never had any adventures or did anything unexpected. Then one day, a bunch of strangers arrive on your doorstep and ask you to join them on an adventure! Naturally, you were shocked. But then they started to doubt your skill and courage. More a grocer than a burglar indeed! You decided to join the adventure just to prove them wrong. No matter what, you'll prove yourself to them. Maybe even become a hero in your own right. But one thing's for sure. You'll never be the same again.
Flag Zousha_Omenohu February 2, 2009 8:16 AM PST
275. Back From The Dead: You're not sure how or why it happened, but you've been brought back to life after you've been dead for a while. What's even more surprising is how well-preserved you are. Your time in the afterlife has eroded your skill however, so you must work yourself to get back to where you were before rigor mortis set in. Perhaps you seek to unravel the mystery of your resurrection. Perhaps you seek to live up this second chance at life, or reinvent yourself in a world that has forgotten the old you.

In other news, I CAST RESURRECT THREAD!:D
Flag Argo February 2, 2009 2:40 PM PST
Looks like we had the same idea Zousha. I decided to come here to rez this thread myself, but you beat me to it.

276. Futurama: As a young adult in a tiny village, you went exploring in a cave while looking for food for your family. Instead of finding an easy kill, you were turned to stone by a basilisk. Over one hundred years later, you are discovered by miners excavating the new branch of the sewer system for the largest city on the continent. Everyone you know has died. You find your great-grandson is an elderly wizard who owns a delivery service. Your only contact in this new world, you take a job as a member of his delivery crew transporting valuable cargo across vast distances for not very much pay.
Flag Zousha_Omenohu February 2, 2009 10:14 PM PST
Great minds think alike, Argo.

And on that note;

277. Otherworldy Music: You were always different from the other people in the village, an odd dance to your walk, constantly bobbing your head to some melody only you could hear. It has always been there, and has shaped the way you look at life. Life is music! Life is beauty! If only the others could see it. One night, everything changed. You wandered by the old stones outside of town, and the song seemed to gain strength. You danced around the stones, and the stars seemed to shine brighter. Then you did something you'd never done before. You sang. Faster and higher your hymn to the stars rose, until everything was blur of song and starlight. You collapsed onto the dilapidated altar in the middle of the circle, and in that one exhausted moment, the stars sang back to you, and you joined them. Today, you wander with a pack of adventurers you fell in with spreading the music of the stars wherever you travel. For some reason it causes bizzare reactions from some people, particularly your enemies. You figure that their minds are simply to small to join in the song.
Flag Shinikama February 3, 2009 7:38 AM PST

Zousha_Omenohu wrote:

Great minds think alike, Argo.

And on that note;

277. Otherworldy Music: You were always different from the other people in the village, an odd dance to your walk, constantly bobbing your head to some melody only you could hear. It has always been there, and has shaped the way you look at life. Life is music! Life is beauty! If only the others could see it. One night, everything changed. You wandered by the old stones outside of town, and the song seemed to gain strength. You danced around the stones, and the stars seemed to shine brighter. Then you did something you'd never done before. You sang. Faster and higher your hymn to the stars rose, until everything was blur of song and starlight. You collapsed onto the dilapidated altar in the middle of the circle, and in that one exhausted moment, the stars sang back to you, and you joined them. Today, you wander with a pack of adventurers you fell in with spreading the music of the stars wherever you travel. For some reason it causes bizzare reactions from some people, particularly your enemies. You figure that their minds are simply to small to join in the song.


Holy... Awesome Star Pact story. Too bad I just made one for myself (not good enough to post here), or I'd steal this.

Flag Zousha_Omenohu February 3, 2009 10:54 PM PST
No backstory is not good enough for this thread. Knock yourself out!

278. Chasing After Love: You used to be a spoiled princeling or flighty princess, living in the lap of luxury. You never really had much use or care for the arts of war or magic. But then he/she came along. The most beautiful man/woman you'd ever seen. He/she spent some time at your parent's court, and you and he/she became friends. As the weeks passed, you soon became smitten with him/her and you thought that he/she was starting to feel for you too, but as a famous hero/heroine, adventure called him/her away from you, but he/she promised to return to you one day. You, however, got tired of waiting, and decided to go after the one you love yourself. You're still a bit of a n0oB in terms of adventuring talent, but you're going to need every ounce of skill and luck you have to be reunited with your one, true love.
Flag Ian0311 February 4, 2009 7:07 AM PST
279. Parental Avenger

It's the Shiningdale Family Reunion 503 AD and you are so excited because you have the hog roasted just the way your oldest son/daughter would like it.

Twenty minutes later, the hog is gone when your lay about relatives saw it and the offspring of honor still isn't here like (s)he promised to be. In normal families, this would be a case for scolding the kid and getting along with life. In your family, however, this kid is a brave adventurer who promised to be home from spanking that Dragon from some place.

In a rage, you take up the family sword and shield (Because every family has a family sword and shield) and head out to find your child without regard for all the civilians and innocent dragons that get in your way!
Flag Zousha_Omenohu February 4, 2009 9:54 PM PST
280. Bink: Everyone you know seems to know some kind of magic. One person can manifest swords in the air. Another can weave powerful illusions. Another can fly! But you? You can't do any of those things as far as you've seen. You've decided to leave home, since your apparent lack of talent is embarrasing. But who knows just what kind of zany adventures you're bound to find in the magic-saturated world you live in?!

281. Chameleon: You have a very bizzare curse that you've had for as long as you can remember. Your intelligence is inversely proportional to your beauty, and they shift as time passes. Sometimes you're completely hideous, but you have a mind sharper than a razor. At other times you're the most beautiful person in the world, with a mind softer than mush. Between these two extremes is when you're as close to normal as you'll ever be. Average-looking with average intelligence. You find this cycle rather frustrating, since you're never the same person depending on the day.
Flag zeratulcraft February 4, 2009 10:18 PM PST

Ian0311 wrote:

279. Parental Avenger

It's the Shiningdale Family Reunion 503 AD and you are so excited because you have the hog roasted just the way your oldest son/daughter would like it.

Twenty minutes later, the hog is gone when your lay about relatives saw it and the offspring of honor still isn't here like (s)he promised to be. In normal families, this would be a case for scolding the kid and getting along with life. In your family, however, this kid is a brave adventurer who promised to be home from spanking that Dragon from some place.

In a rage, you take up the family sword and shield (Because every family has a family sword and shield) and head out to find your child without regard for all the civilians and innocent dragons that get in your way!


Must admit I was expecting that to end in a Punisher style event. Family gathered around and a dragon comes and eats everyone, but you survive somehow, etc.

Nice work with the surprise

Flag Zousha_Omenohu February 4, 2009 10:26 PM PST
282. Bad Day: One night, you were out drinking with some friends and you got really tanked. You left the tavern in a stupor and started walking in one direction, and when you finally came to, you had no idea where you were. All you want is to get home to your girlfriend, but odds are, you're gonna have a long way to go if you want that. Who knows? You might find some money on your way back, or maybe even become a king! All you really know is, it's gonna be another one of those days.
Flag Bharhash February 6, 2009 3:57 PM PST
283. Nico Bellic

After fighting battle after battle in a far off land you decide to move with your (person you know, could be any one, preferably cousin) to a new place. Hopelessly lost and a little confused about who is who. You set out to make yourself a name while helping those close to you. You care little for the world around you and your ( family/friends/relatives/someone ) means more to you then the law or any thing else. You are desperate and not afraid of a good fight now and again as long as you or your ( family/friends/relatives/someone ) survives. You will work with any one as long as they share the ideal that the world is in all reality a giant sandbox in which the main goal is survive and fight for the right to be free.

Currently using this as my background, although a bit cheesy in the details.
Flag AweStriker February 6, 2009 5:23 PM PST

Zousha_Omenohu wrote:

280. Bink: Everyone you know seems to know some kind of magic. One person can manifest swords in the air. Another can weave powerful illusions. Another can fly! But you? You can't do any of those things as far as you've seen. You've decided to leave home, since your apparent lack of talent is embarrasing. But who knows just what kind of zany adventures you're bound to find in the magic-saturated world you live in?!

281. Chameleon: You have a very bizzare curse that you've had for as long as you can remember. Your intelligence is inversely proportional to your beauty, and they shift as time passes. Sometimes you're completely hideous, but you have a mind sharper than a razor. At other times you're the most beautiful person in the world, with a mind softer than mush. Between these two extremes is when you're as close to normal as you'll ever be. Average-looking with average intelligence. You find this cycle rather frustrating, since you're never the same person depending on the day.


Heh. Xanthian backstories.

Anyway...

284. Underdark Combatant:

You were captured by Underdark races and forced to be an arena combatant. After a few years in which you miraculously survive, a random band of adventurers find you and free you. You promptly join them. The surface world is now a mystery and a wonder to you.

(Note: This background is intended to apply to starting-at-more-than-Lv.1 characters.)

Flag Duel_Masta February 6, 2009 5:50 PM PST
285: Child of the Church
You're an orphan, you have had to live in the streets saw in exorcisim and decided to go to the church, you were raised by the church and quite devout to the church and you aren't a cleric or paladin. You love priests and priestesses and have great respect for them. You're extreme devotion leads you into awkward situations. You have decided to do the will of your church to fight undead, demons and what not.
Flag Shinikama February 7, 2009 10:37 AM PST
OK, here goes. Best for Star Pact warlock.

286: The Living Ritual:
You were born under very specific circumstances. It looked normal enough to anyone else, but research indicated that there was more going on. Your birthday, the name of the doctor/midwife who delivered you, your village's name... everything, lined up in the correct order, spells out a complex ritual. Your existence was to herald a dark force's emergence into the world. However, the very last word was omitted. Whether by luck or fate, the final part is unfinished. Your power stems from the very beings that wish to invade reality. The only way to finish the ritual now is either to commit suicide (which you are not stupid enough to try) or to say the correct words of power. If you manage to live to old age and die of natural causes, the only gateway to this world will be shut to these monstrosities forever.
Flag Zousha_Omenohu February 7, 2009 11:00 AM PST

AweStriker wrote:

Heh. Xanthian backstories.

Anyway...


Correctamundo! Here's your cookie!

Flag Orenthes February 19, 2009 3:41 PM PST
bump
Flag Orenthes February 19, 2009 3:55 PM PST
bump
Flag Zousha_Omenohu February 21, 2009 1:45 PM PST
287. The Hero of _________: As long as you can remember, you have been troubled by strange dreams, and have heard people calling to you in your sleep. One day, you recieve a sword and shield, and are sent to rescue the heir to the throne from an evil demonic wizard. The way is not so simple though, as you must first travel through many dungeons scattered throughout the land, gathering the tools you will need to survive and slaying the wizard's most powerful lieutenants. You have the support of all peoples in the land, but you are a lone hero, armed with only the strength of your arm, the wisdom of the past, and the courage in your heart.

((Three guesses as to what this is ripping off and the first two don't count! ))
Flag Zousha_Omenohu February 23, 2009 10:39 AM PST
288. Over The Hills and Far Away:

They came for you one winter's night.
Arrested, you were bound.
They said there'd been a robbery,
your shortsword had been found.

They marched you to the station house,
You waited till the dawn.
And as they led you to the dock,
you knew that you'd been wronged.
"You stand accused of robbery,"
You heard the bailiff say.
You knew without an alibi,
tomorrow's light would mourn your freedom.

Over the hills and far away,
for ten long years you'll count the days.
Over the mountains and the seas,
a prisoner's life for you there'll be.

You knew that it would cost you dear,
but yet you dare not say.
Just where you'd been that fateful night,
a secret it must stay.
You had to fight back tears of rage.
Your heart beat like a drum.
For with the wife of your best friend,
you spent your final night of freedom.

Over the hills and far away,
you swear you will return one day.
Far from the mountains and the seas,
back in her arms again you'll be.
Over the hills and far away.

Over the hills and,
over the hills and,
over the hills and far away.

Each night within your prison cell,
you look out through the bars.
You read the letters that she wrote.
One day you'll know the taste of freedom.

Over the hills and far away,
she prays you will return one day.
As sure as the rivers reach the seas,
back in your arms again she'll be.

Over the hills and far away,
you swear you will return one day.
As sure as the river reach the seas,
back in your arms is where she'll be.

Over the hills and far away,
she prays you will return one day.
As sure as the rivers reach the sea,
back in her arms is where you'll be.

Over the hills,
over the hills and far away.

Over the hills,
over the hills and far away.

(Based on Gary Moore's classic song, "Over The Hills And Far Away.")
Flag Phoenix2r February 23, 2009 11:16 AM PST
289. The Saul Tigh

For years you've laboured for the cause of your (people, tribe, organisation, god) only to awaken one day to discover you are a sleeper agent for your worst enemy. Do you betray those you've fought alongside with all your life or do you follow your heart?

Apologies if BG backstories have already been covered.
Flag Nekros22 February 23, 2009 5:38 PM PST
290. Of Ink and Flesh
Through a strange fluke of magic, you are the main character from a famous writer's bestseller given physical form. You speak in limericks and because of your mystical connection with words can instantly absorb information from written sources. Will you follow the path laid before you by your author? Will you write your own destiny? Only you can decide...
Flag Zousha_Omenohu February 25, 2009 12:19 PM PST
291. Bizzarro Town: You wake up one morning, and something just feels different. You can't quite put your finger on it until you come downstairs to breakfast. Your family has mysteriously changed overnight. Perhaps everyone's gender has changed, or you're suddenly the only human in a family of halflings. Perhaps your family is now pious and holy-book-thumping, where before they were easy-going and tolerant. When you ask about the change, they look at you funny and ask what you mean by change. They tell you that this is the way they've always been, and you were fine with it before. When you leave your house, you find that the entire town has changed in the exact same way, and when you ask what's going on, they act like nothing's happened and the town was always this way. As the only one in the town unnaffected by this strange event, you decide to back up and leave, both to escape the strangeness before it affects you too, and to figure out just what in the Nine Hells is going on!
Flag Fey_Feline February 28, 2009 7:01 PM PST
Not sure if done yet, but:

Friggin' Insane: Your brain works.... sometimes. You just like making the fleshy thingies scream an' bleed reeeeeall nice alright um hm!

Far Realm Touched: The Far Realm broke you. You try to fix it... or not. (Can be tied to Friggin' Insane)
Flag Cyrano_de_Bergerac February 28, 2009 11:55 PM PST

Zousha_Omenohu wrote:

287. The Hero of _________: As long as you can remember, you have been troubled by strange dreams, and have heard people calling to you in your sleep. One day, you recieve a sword and shield, and are sent to rescue the heir to the throne from an evil demonic wizard. The way is not so simple though, as you must first travel through many dungeons scattered throughout the land, gathering the tools you will need to survive and slaying the wizard's most powerful lieutenants. You have the support of all peoples in the land, but you are a lone hero, armed with only the strength of your arm, the wisdom of the past, and the courage in your heart.

((Three guesses as to what this is ripping off and the first two don't count! ))


Link, from the Legend of Zelda series?

Flag Zousha_Omenohu March 1, 2009 12:02 AM PST
Yup! Here's yer prize!
Flag Auspex7 May 14, 2009 11:44 PM PDT
love the thread! i think a couple numbers were skipped, and we should be at...

294. The Hunted Hound.

You're a criminal. For quite awhile, that was really all that defined you. You had nimble fingers, a good eye for marks, and no silly morals to hold you back. You were good, too...

Alas, all good things come to an end. One night, you met your match. Luckily, you were able to avoid capture, and escaped empty-handed, but with your freedom. Hurrying back to your bolt-hole, you collected your belongings, and you were in the wind within the hour.

While pondering your next move at an Inn a days' ride outside of town, word came in that the local justiciar was in pursuit of a burglar who was believed to be responsible for a slew of robberies over the years. Knowing the justiciar's rep, you didn't want any piece of that. When thought failed, the bizarre happened... you found yourself riding hard for an isolated temple of Avandra, sensing that somehow, going there might help.

Help, it did. The priests took you in, no questions asked, and gave you sanctuary while you considered your future. After just a few days living amongst the priests there, you began to feel incredibly at ease, and by week's end, you had pledged yourself to the service of Avandra.

So now, you are a fugitive from the law, hunting down enemies of Avandra. You stalk the streets now wearing a cowled cloak adorned with Avandra's symbol, and wearing a sword on your hip. The same lawmen who would bring you to justice if they knew who you really were now instead give you a wide berth, and often fear you.

You are a criminal, still. And... you are an Avenger.
Flag Orenthes May 15, 2009 8:01 AM PDT

Orenthes wrote:

154. Disintegrating Sanity
Whatever it was that happened, the death of a loved one, a curse upon you, or you're just losing it. You find yourself less in control, you find that you find comfort in the rambling of madness. Your condition begins to deteriorate rapidly, will you return from the brink of madness, or are you doomed to wander the earth, gibbering endlessly?


I knew I'd already done this one somewhere

Flag Orenthes May 15, 2009 8:01 AM PDT

Fey_Feline wrote:

Not sure if done yet, but:

Friggin' Insane: Your brain works.... sometimes. You just like making the fleshy thingies scream an' bleed reeeeeall nice alright um hm!=


See Above post, but I still think it's funny

Flag Ferol_debtor_of_Torm May 15, 2009 10:21 AM PDT
All of mine are based on my LFR characters.

295. A place to call home. For whatever reason you were banished from your homeland. You miss it, but that is a life you can never return to. You are fiercely proud of your people and your culture but it pains you to talk about it because it reminds you of your shame. You travel the world seeking redemption, or at the very least a way to forgive yourself.

296. Fighting is all I've ever known. You grew up in the fighting pits of another land. Fighting for survival on a daily basis is way of life for you. Kindness is a foreign concept to you and sharing is straight up out of the question. While combat and showmanship is natural for you you get no pleasure from it. You struggle on a regular basis to fit in in the (relatively) civilized world as a free man/woman.

297. A hero from another world. You were raised by your family and grew up around your friends but you are nothing like them. Maybe you're a different ethnicity, race, or even physiology. Regardless of what sets you apart you've never really fit in. You can't help but feel it, the call to find others like yourself.
Flag Zousha_Omenohu May 15, 2009 6:04 PM PDT
Oh dear, it seems I have made a zombie thread!

Let's hope the revitalized interest brings us closer to our goal!
Flag Auspex7 May 15, 2009 9:39 PM PDT
296. The Xaul Xan:

You can't escape who you are, but that doesn't mean you can't hide it from people.

Of course, most people wouldn't understand why you'd WANT to hide your identity from folks. After all, isn't the point of this adventuring thing to want tales of your deeds to be sung by bards, and stories of your exploits to be recorded by sages? You should be thrilled at the reception people give you.

But you're not.

You've never been a glory seeker. You're in this because you love the adventurer's life, not the commonly sought rewards for it. The joy for you is in the doing.

So you travel, creating new aliases regularly, and being discovered just as often. Frustratingly, the more successful each alias becomes, the more your legend grows. As people piece together the names and deeds, you become only more famous.
Flag Blackfire43 May 16, 2009 3:18 AM PDT
298. Power Touched You were given the taste the power of a God/Deity/Noble/Etc... has or had. You did great unimaginable things with it. Now you Adventure/Research to find what it was you were shown, and to try and claim some or all of it for your own.


[I apologize if this or something like it was posted by someone else. I didnt read through everything. This is a brief part of one of my characters backstory. Wasnt trying to copy anyone or anything. Just sharing with the community. ]
Flag Zhuo-MingDao May 16, 2009 10:25 AM PDT
299. The Ritual: You were kidnapped by a viscous cabal with plans to use your body as host to an ancient, forgotten force of destruction. During the middle of the lengthy ritual a group of high level adventurers intervened, killing your captors, breaking off the ritual, and setting you free. They brought you home, collected their rewards, and disappeared into the sunset.

Life was normal again and it was over... until the nightmares began.

300: The Doppelganger: You lived a peaceful country life with your parents and siblings and you had a bright future ahead of you. You were learning a village trade and the prettiest girl in town had promised to go with you to the Spring Fair. Until one day a skeleton was found buried on your family land. It was just a toddler, but it was clutching your tattered security blanket and it had your golden necklace. The blanket and necklace that disappeared when you were two years old. Your parents remember that you acted very strangely for months after the day those things vanished.

In your impassioned confusion and frustration your girlfriend watched as your facial features and hair color seemed to fluctuate before her eyes. In fear, she fled from you and within a few hours the entire town had turned against you. Even your brothers and sisters joined the angry mob that was clamoring for your blood.

Now you are on the run, having lost your family, your career, your girl, and even your identity. Are you just a monster? Or does your future hold something more?
Flag TheStupacabra May 16, 2009 10:49 AM PDT
301: 'Cause I've Got Nothing Better To Do You were literally just sitting around on your day off from the old saw-mill, when you heard the local Duke was offering a bounty of kobold heads. You were kinda bored, so you decided, "What the heck? I've got nothing better to do..." So you go stomping off into the woods, probably picking up a large stick to use as a club on the way... Surprise, you're actually kinda good at this!

302: The Babysitter You're companions are friggin idiots. Whether they're old friends of yours, or the morons who hired you to guide them through the lair of [insert deadly monster here], these buffoons just keep doing things that are probably going to get them killed. You don't want their death on your head, so you tag along to make sure they live....

303: The Legend Killer This one is summed up easily... "Oh? You say you killed that Ancient Red Dragon plaguing the kingdom? Yeah... well, I killed Elminster... And Drizz't... both last Tuesday... "
Flag Eyriish May 18, 2009 1:19 AM PDT
304: An outcast For whatever reason you've just never fit with your own people. Whether you're an attention hungry gnome or a malevolent deva, you just don't fit with your own people.
Flag Eyriish May 18, 2009 1:20 AM PDT
305: Watching over another race: You've spent you entire life in the service of you own race's military. You've spent as many hours in dining rooms, fighting battles of the mind with the bureaucracy, as you have in the wilds, fighting battle of the body with great beasts. You are among the brightest members of your race, and that is why you're being sent as a sort of ambassador to oversee and look after another race. Whether you're an elf lending his bow to the defense of a war-torn human city, or a noble dragon born lending your blade to a clan of dwarves who are being attack by orcs, you represent the strength your race.
Flag jabbausaf May 18, 2009 8:26 PM PDT

Zousha_Omenohu wrote:

291. Bizzarro Town: You wake up one morning, and something just feels different. You can't quite put your finger on it until you come downstairs to breakfast. Your family has mysteriously changed overnight. Perhaps everyone's gender has changed, or you're suddenly the only human in a family of halflings. Perhaps your family is now pious and holy-book-thumping, where before they were easy-going and tolerant. When you ask about the change, they look at you funny and ask what you mean by change. They tell you that this is the way they've always been, and you were fine with it before. When you leave your house, you find that the entire town has changed in the exact same way, and when you ask what's going on, they act like nothing's happened and the town was always this way. As the only one in the town unnaffected by this strange event, you decide to back up and leave, both to escape the strangeness before it affects you too, and to figure out just what in the Nine Hells is going on!


That's textbook schizophrenia

Flag Kirjotusvihe May 19, 2009 6:12 AM PDT

Argo wrote:

243. A Hero's Death: You're good. Too good. Your tribe / clan / whatever believes that the only honorable death is in battle. You're the oldest soldier in the army by fifteen years, but you just can't seem to get yourself killed in battle. It would be dishonorable not to fight one hundred percent, and every day that passes brings you closer to a (gulp) natural death. You've heard stories all your life about enormous creatures that can kill entire armies, men so powerful they can cut through mountains with a greastword. So, you pack your things and set off to seek your hero's death at the hands of whatever terrible men and beasts the world has to throw at you. Unless, gods forbid, you somehow kill them too...
(This is the backstory for my next character.)


Have you ever heard of a book called Trollslayer? Because that reminds me of it very much.

Flag DrNick May 19, 2009 12:02 PM PDT
Lost has some good character backgrounds for D&D actually...

306 Jack

Your father was an alcoholic perfectionist and now can't help it, you have to fix all of your problems, your friends, and yes, even the world.

307 Kate

After a justifiable (in your mind) homicide, you went on the lamb but were caught only to have a sudden chance to escape which, of course, you took.

308 Sawyer

As a boy you were witness to the events that killed your parents. Since then you've vowed to exact revenge on the person who did this. As you go about your plans for revenge you find yourself becoming more and more like the person you hate.

309 Hurley

You are cursed. No matter how much money or influence you have, bad things seem to follow you.

310 Locke

All you wanted was a friend (or father). What you got was thrown out of a high window. Now, under mysterious circumstances, you have been healed and can walk again. This gives you a new purpose in life to find adventure (or follow an obscure god).
Flag Argo May 21, 2009 10:55 AM PDT
Continuing with the Lost theme...

311. Sayid
You used to work for the army as a torturer of prisoners. You were good at it. You ARE good at it. But when they arrested that beautiful young girl you've known your whole life and brought her to you for you to ply your trade, you just could not face the reality of what you do anymore. You had to get away. But you cannot escape what you are. You are a torturer. You are a killer, Sayid...

312. Benjamin
Your mother died in childbirth, and your father always blamed you for her death. Your whole life, he's been abusive and a drinker. Your village was at war with the tribe of nomads that lived in the nearby jungle. When the opportunity came for you to go join the nomads, you took your chance and set in to motion a chain of events that started with killing your father and ended with the death of every last person in the village. The tribe of nomads made you their leader and you were happy, for a time. Until some guy following an obscure god took your place and exiled you. And now, an old rival is coming to kill you. You're on your own, you and anybody you can talk into following you...

313. Charlie
You used to be pretty famous. You remember that bard a few years back, wrote that big hit ballad? Yeah, that was you. But the trials of fame hit you pretty hard. You gave in to temptation, drugs, women. All that gold got spent, and now you're hopelessly addicted to hard narcotics, disowned by your family, friendless, jobless, hopeless. So you take to the road. Maybe you can turn the whole thing around. If you're strong enough. If only that Oracle wasn't so damnedly sure that "You're gonna die, Charlie"...

314. Desmond
You've been a screw-up your entire life. But somehow, you've found the love of a wonderful, beautiful, wealthy (let's not deny it) woman. Unfortunately for you, her father won't let you anywhere near her. You're not good enough. To prove him wrong, you set off to win a race around the world. But on the way, you got lost and captured by a strange wizard who forced you to live underground and participate in strange experiments to "save the world". During a fit of rage, you managed to kill the wizard, but are you really free? The last competitor in the race must have returned home a decade ago. Surely, you've been forgotten by now. Surely your love has moved on. You don't even think you could find the way home if you tried. Where can you go? What can you do? As a result of the wizard's experimentation, you sometimes see flashes of terrible events in the future, but whatever you do, you can't seem to change them...

315. Danielle
Years ago, someone came in the night and stole your baby. You've been searching for years trying to get her back, mastering the art of tracking and becoming an expert with your bow. You've traveled alone for so long. Always, always alone. So alone. And slowly, over the almost two decades since your daughter was stolen, your sanity has started to slip away. Maybe letting some other travellers help you wouldn't be such a terrible thing after all. But, you're convinced you have to kill everyone you meet, to prevent the spread of a terrible disease...

316. Boone
When you were a kid, your mother married a very wealthy landowner who had a daughter just a year or so younger than you. She is very beautiful, and you've been in love with her for years. You would never admit this to anyone, but all the same, it's true. She is the rebellious type, always running off and getting herself into all manner of bad situations. And you, being in love with her and also her stepbrother, are always coming to her rescue. She's perpetually the damsel in distress, and just once, you'd like to get the girl...
Flag Argo May 21, 2009 11:12 AM PDT
317. Mr. Eko
When you were a child, a group of terrible barbarian raiders came to your village. They brought an unarmed, innocent man from your village into the town square and forced him to his knees. Picking your brother out of the crowd of helpless onlookers, they gave him a crossbow with a single bolt and told him to shoot the helpless man. To save your brother from becoming a killer, you took the burden on yourself. Rushing out of the crowd, you took the crossbow and killed the man. Your brother was spared from having that weight on his soul. But you were taken by the barbarians and made a member of their tribe. For years, you lived as they did, ruthlessly killing and stealing from the innocent. Then in a deal between tribes, you agreed to transport a cartload of expensive drugs across the continent. Deciding to arrange a disguise for yourself, you returned to your home village and sought your brother. Now, he was a man, and a true priest of Corellon. Threatening to kill him and burn the church to the ground if he did not comply, you forved him to ordain you as a cleric of that goodly deity. With your disguise in place, you set out with the cart of drugs. During a terrible storm, your cart and horses were washed over a massive unclimbable cliff, and you barely escaped with your life. But you can never return to your tribe, or they will surely kill you for destroying their chance at wealth. You can not continue to the end of your road, or the other tribe will surely kill you for destroying their shipment. You can not return home to your brother, for shame over what you had done to him. Realizing that the gods are surely punishing you for your wickedness, you decide to try to make amends for your past deeds. But now you are alone, with no skills except to kill. No possessions except your cleric's vestments. Fashioning a club from a nearby tree, and pulling your vestments tight around you, you set off into the world, to try to make a new life for yourself...
Flag Artifact May 26, 2009 9:12 AM PDT
318. You are a human whose body is inhabited by the spirit of an immortal. After untold eons of existence, the immortal's time was finally at an end. Rather than simply allow its essence to fade away, the immortal decided to offer itself to a willing and worthy host.

You retain your own mind and will even as a spirit immortal inhabits your body. Housing the essence of an immortal (even one in twilight) means you enjoy longevity unknown by any human. You recall the countless lifetimes of the immortal's existence as dreamlike memories (unlike with most devas, these are not your own lives).

[Most appropriate for devas o' course.]
Flag Zinger2099 May 28, 2009 7:40 PM PDT

Zousha_Omenohu wrote:

Oh dear, it seems I have made a zombie thread!

Let's hope the revitalized interest brings us closer to our goal!


Wow, I am impressed with how dedicated you have been to this thread, I think I've seen more backstories from you then anyone else.

In fact I am surprised with how far this thread has come. I made it absent-mindedly one day when I was looking for a backstory to use and was upset to find no such thread devoted to backstories existed. I haven't checked back since the first page though, lol. Happy to see it picked up.

319. Ludicrous bet: You were quite at home with staying at home once. In fact, there was a time when you would have never even considered leaving the safety of the city walls. But you had to let your pride get the better of you, didn't you? You made some ludicrous bet with an arrogant scholar, and now you adventure to win it. You could return home at any time, but it would be in shame, and you would be disgraced. No. You will continue to adventure no matter how long it takes, until you have won the bet. Whether it be traveling the world in 80 days, or diving 20,000 leagues under the sea, or even collecting 500 illithid tadpoles from an elder brain tank, you will see it to completion.

Thank you anyone who has supported this thread. ^^

Flag Nekros22 May 28, 2009 8:18 PM PDT
320. Infiltrator: You were designed, either by your God or some heretofore unknown evil entity, to act as an unwitting infiltrator into a group or organization. Think of yourself as a living crystal ball underneath the secret tote of an evil organization/demon/Far Realm monstrosity... (Just saw Terminator, couldn't resist...)

321: Dad???:You were designed by your father to be his vessel of reincarnation. From birth your sole purpose was to one day house the dead spirit of your evil father. (Got that one from "The Dunwich Horror")
Flag Zousha_Omenohu June 2, 2009 11:04 PM PDT
322. The Last of Your Faith: You were initially a fresh-faced initiate, just ordained and ready to work the will of your god in the world. Then everything came crashing down. Your fellow believers were almost completely wiped out in one night of horrific violence and destruction. When the dust settled, you were one only a handful of survivors. Since you were technically the highest ranking survivor, you ended up recieving the mantle of leadership. You have a divine mandate to rebuild your god's faith back up from the foundations. Your task is a daunting one. Many of your faith's holy texts have been destroyed, and you must rewrite them. Your god's temples have been desecrated, and you must rebuild them. You must proselytize to swell the ranks of the faithful. And in addition to all these duties, it is your personal mission to figure out why your religion was targeted and almost wiped out, and take revenge!
Flag Zousha_Omenohu June 4, 2009 5:17 PM PDT
323. The Hand of Destiny (Devas only): You were selected by a god, most likely the Raven Queen, but it could be any god or maybe the whole pantheon, to be their instrument of prophecy. However, you are not the Chosen One destined to save the world. Rather, you're more like a divine insurance policy that events turn out a certain way. You have been instructed to teach or protect specific individuals that the gods have selected for greatness. Several times you've been required to die to spur your charge into action and proceed with his or her destiny. Do you willingly follow the commands of your divine masters, ensuring that history goes according to plan, or to you wish to rebel and become your own hero?
Flag Nites2Dreamz June 8, 2009 4:16 PM PDT
324. Your Princess is in Another Castle You are a knight or whatever on quest to find the lost princess of the kingdom you serve, but so far you have come up empty handed.

325. Future Imperfect You are a time lost adventurer from the distant future seeking a way to prevent some catastrophe from happening.

326. Not Dead...Yet! You have been dead for quite some time, but miraculously have come back from the grave. Somehow you have been spared the horror of decay and appear basically the same as before your death. How has this come to be and why? These are the answers you seek.
Flag Auspex7 June 9, 2009 4:43 PM PDT
The One Shot:

You're standing in the doorway to a long-forgotten dungeon, surrounded by 3 friends--a Fighter, a Cleric, and a Wizard. You assume that you are probably a Rogue. You have to assume, frankly. You have no idea who you are. All you know is that the name in the top left corner of your sheet came from a 'fantasy name generator' from the realm of Internet, which you believe must be close to the Feywild.

You are level 27, but you get the sense that no one has ever heard of you. That would make sense since you were born 33 minutes ago when the guy with the spot of ranch on his lower lip copied a bunch of stuff from a forum thread.

You suspect that somehow, the answer to every question you have may well be found at the end of this dungeon. If not, that's OK. Ranch-on-lips will replace you, anyway.

TIME TO GO HIT STUFF!!!
Flag Jonny_H June 9, 2009 7:50 PM PDT
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...
Flag Happy_Dagger June 9, 2009 10:25 PM PDT
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...
Flag SnugglyHugs June 17, 2009 4:14 PM PDT
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.
Flag Auspex7 June 17, 2009 10:46 PM PDT
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.
Flag Asura8 June 20, 2009 3:22 PM PDT
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.
Flag Angelic_Demon June 21, 2009 1:00 AM PDT
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)
Flag MiksterKhan June 21, 2009 4:04 PM PDT
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.
Flag crystix June 24, 2009 3:18 PM PDT
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?
Flag Artifact June 25, 2009 3:52 PM PDT

Angelic_Demon wrote:

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 .

Flag Zousha_Omenohu June 25, 2009 6:35 PM PDT
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.
Flag Yackar June 26, 2009 12:04 PM PDT
Found him written all over a notebook. I had totally forgot about him. Since I have no use for him - take him, whoever wants him.

* * *

349. Dim

You grew up in a big city as an orphan and a street kid. As a kid you did not know who your parents were and you were raised by an old hermit, who lived in a rugged old shack on some back-ally and out of the kindness of his heart tended to many street kids, giving them a place to sleep and as much food as he could get. You're personality, even at young age was apathetic and you were quite the daredevil: having no great concerns over your own well being. As, seemingly, no one else did either. Because of this personality you soon became the leader of many street kid gangs. You organized theft and waged wars with other kids. As a leader you were short tempered, but clever, ruthless, yet proud. You were used to get around on your own, so you had little respect for the old hermit who tried to raise you.

Pretty soon though, things went wrong as you stole from an important bandit leader (an adult one). You were caught and thrown in to jail. Meanwhile, the bandit leader, called Gern -thinking that this theft was organized by none other than the old hermit - took his revenge upon him and killed him. You were unexpectedly touched by this and swore revenge.

You got out of jail, but not by a way he liked. Gern bought you out and made you a slave of his. He probably did feel a little sting of a conciseness, as he in his twisted way tried to act out as a father (that involved a lot of beatings) and tried to raise the kid as a bandit of his own. You however still had revenge on your mind and you grouped together with an old gang of yours on the streets. You then prepared a clever ruse, stealing from Gern's enemies and framing him. This started a great street war. You were forced to fight on Gern's side however - as he constantly had eyes upon you from now, suspecting you. This made your old street gang friends think that you have betrayed them though. In a tragic turn of events they tried to attack you, but were killed by Gern's men in the process. This left a great scar in your mind and now you were fixed on the idea of killing Gern fast and getting out of there.

Another thing delayed you though... you had started to sympathize with Gern's wife, who lived under the terror of his husband. You tried to organize an escape for her, only to find out that you were betrayed and an enraged Gern found out about your plans and killed his wife.

You had no option but to flee in the carriage that was supposed to carry you both away. Seeing no point for your life now you eventually end up in a monastery, where you stayed for 19 years. The monks deemed you a good student, as you were fast to learn all scholarly wisdom's, but you never achieved an inner piece, of which the monks constantly talked about. You had become a deep cynic and pessimist. The idea of "good" seemed fake to you, as in nature too it is only kill or be killed.

Eventually, with a heavy heart you leave from the monastery. You settle in the small, abandoned shack, where once lived the good old hermit who looked after street-kids. You however start a life of a loner.
You look up Gern and he works as a statesman now. You meet him - he does not recognize you.
"We all flow on and looking back is never good. Our sins are never truly forgiven or exalted - they live on with us. And so life becomes a sin and that's all that is left. What right have I to take his life? Still nothing is forgiven- neither for me nor to him."

With that sentiment you leave him alone - after spending some time teaching his kids - even.
You try to go back to the monastery, but you are refused. You fall in love once, but repress it. You live alone and wander the streets and sewers. You try to do justice wherever you can. You fill your life with adventures and try to give it point. But there seems to be none...

* * *

Sorry for it being so long. I wonder if anyone even bothers to read it through.
Flag Artifact June 26, 2009 12:40 PM PDT

Yackar wrote:

Sorry for it being so long. I wonder if anyone even bothers to read it through.


Kinda depressing at points but not a bad story .

A 'wall' of text can be intimidating and off-putting. Try breaking the story up into more manageable bits for ease of reading.

Flag The_Weretouched June 26, 2009 1:04 PM PDT
This is fun!

350. The Fallen Angel: After years of service to your god, you grew envious of the mortals and their passion for life, and everythign they do. You asked your god to remove you from their service, granting you a mortal's existance.

After being incarnated into flesh, you realize you have made a terrible mistake. You set out to regain your lost power and immortality, even if it means striking down the god who granted your request in the first place.

-----
On a similar note...
351. Lightning in a Bottle: You were a lesser primal spirit, caged into mortal flesh by an ambitious god. You embrace this new lifestyle, eagerly serving your new master, ever trying to keep your fierce nature under control.
Flag CyberMastah June 27, 2009 4:47 PM PDT
352. Weight of the world: You are an immortal, tasked with going around the world recording within a holy book every time a person throws away a second chance granted to him/her, or betrays those closest to him/her, goes against his own principles for gain, and any other situation where those who are supposed to be good fail at that task (people whose natures are evil cannot be recorded). If these situations do not present themselves, you make it possible to others (you cannot influence their decisions) and when they fail at it you record it (if they succeed you don't bother with it). once the book becomes complete with X (you or DM decides how many, too many makes it difficult to achieve, too little makes it too early) entries, it becomes a powerful artifact to rival the power of major gods filled with destructive and defensive spells, and becomes an undisguisable beacon to every being with even a hint of magic flowing through their veins for over a 500,000 miles. The result is the world is thrown into a dark age of chaos where every magic wielding being and every holy warrior battle it out with each other, bringing the world to a state of total war, forcing every living being to suffer under the weight of the world. You and your counterpart (next backstory) may never cross blades or spells or even cause the other any grief in the slightest, he who succeeds first nullifies the mission of the other.

353. Protecting the world: You know of your counterparts mission and have been tasked with writing up an opposing book to reflect the good within the world. You travel the world to find and record peoples actions of defending to the death their loved ones, sacrificing everything they hold dear to stand by those who have lost their rights, those who demand equal justice and mercy even to their enemies even if they are of evil races, and any other situation where a person may be left with nothing more than his principles. Once X amount of entries have been filled, the book fills its pages with education, philosophy, medicine and a copy is made available within every temple of any god, and all beings within 100 miles of each copy is put under the effects of a retribution spell (3.5e spell, have no idea if there is a 4e equivalent), and is allowed a deeper perspective on the world, giving them a chance to reconsider and re-evaluate their alignment. The effect of the book brings about another level of education to the world, bringing with it perhaps a new age where once a race may have been known to be evil is now instead one of the goodly races. You and your counterpart may never cross blades or spells or even cause the other any grief in the slightest, he who succeeds first nullifies the mission of the other.

354. Stabbed in the back (must be a goodly aligned being from an evil race): When those you called friends for years (who are all of a goodly race) were lied to by a common enemy that they had a backstabber in their ranks, they instantly suspected you and without hesitation struck you in hopes of killing you. You survived, and now three options seem to shine brightly: Kill your friends for turning on you, kill the one who ruined it all with his lie or leave your past behind you (this third reason is more of a reason behind your personality sort of thing so as to not force a story future for your character).
Flag Argo June 29, 2009 1:30 PM PDT
355. The Jock
You're a fantastically gifted athlete. You're the best in your village at every sport and game. You run faster, jump farther, lift more. You can pin any opponent in a wrestling match, or hit the bull's eye with an arrow. Unfortunately, you're not all that bright. Socially, you're inept. And as far as common sense, you two haven't met. You don't want to be burdened with learning a trade, you just want to spend your days running and climbing and wrestling and shooting and... what? What's this? Hm... 'Adventurers Wanted'.

356. The Nerd
You have a beautiful mind. You could outthink the village elders at the age of five. You can analyze and break down a plan of action and determine percent chance of success and failure without batting an eye. You just figure things out. Unfortunately, you're an uncoordinated weakling. Socially, you're inept. You leave every job you've ever had, as you get utterly bored within a few days. As you enter the local pub after dropping off a detailed plan at the mayor's office to increase food production by 75% in two years, you spy a notice on the wall. 'Adventurers Wanted'.
Flag Ryter_West July 3, 2009 7:21 PM PDT
356. Magnet:
For some reason, all sorts of monsters are attracted to you. No matter what you do, monsters find all sorts of ways to make your life a living terror. Maybe they see you as one of their own, and come asking you for help. Maybe you're related to someone who killed scores of monsters, and they're going to get their revenge one way or another. Or maybe you just seem to find a different monster around every corner. Any way it happens, you are perpetually surrounded by monsters. So seriously, might as well be an adventurer. After all, your life's just THAT close to being an adventure anyway.

357. Karas:

In life, you were a merciless killer. You felt no remorse, no fear, no pain. When you died, you were chosen by a certain being, whether a demon or diety, monster or primal force. You were reborn as a champion and defender of your benefactor. As long as you follow their will, they'll give you life and another chance to work off some of that bad Karma. When you rebel, you die.
Flag spamoo July 4, 2009 8:07 AM PDT
358. Last-Born Son: Let's face it; you're the youngest of 5 boys and three girls. Your parents are dirt poor farmers to an over-taxing lord. In short, you have no inheritance, no respect, and little to no love. On your fifteenth birthday you decide to make a future for yourself and releive your parents of your burden at the same time. You scrounge together enough food/money to make it to the nearest city and you duck town as soon as you can. Arriving at the city, you quickly discover two things about yourself: you have no marketable talents or skills, and that tome which you took off your family's mantleplace actually contains the secrets of (insert PC class here). The book consumes your life until you've managed to master a few of the basic techniques. Having no further stake in the city, you set off for a grand adventure!
Flag rbingham2000 July 4, 2009 11:22 AM PDT

Ryter_West wrote:

356. Magnet:
For some reason, all sorts of monsters are attracted to you. No matter what you do, monsters find all sorts of ways to make your life a living terror. Maybe they see you as one of their own, and come asking you for help. Maybe you're related to someone who killed scores of monsters, and they're going to get their revenge one way or another. Or maybe you just seem to find a different monster around every corner. Any way it happens, you are perpetually surrounded by monsters. So seriously, might as well be an adventurer. After all, your life's just THAT close to being an adventure anyway.


Guts from Berserk is a version of this. Ever since the Eclipse, he has this mark on his neck that draws hungry demons to him like a magnet. He was meant to be eaten by these monsters as a sacrifice like almost everyone else with him during the Eclipse, but he survived and the monsters are looking to finish what they started.

Flag Ryter_West July 5, 2009 7:51 PM PDT

rbingham2000 wrote:

Guts from Berserk is a version of this. Ever since the Eclipse, he has this mark on his neck that draws hungry demons to him like a magnet. He was meant to be eaten by these monsters as a sacrifice like almost everyone else with him during the Eclipse, but he survived and the monsters are looking to finish what they started.


Didn't know that. Wow, you learn something new every day.

Here're some more:

359. Ben Hur:

When you were young, you were the heir to a rich merchant family. But a boyhood friend betrayed you, and falsely accused you of trying to kill the local magistrate. You were captured, your family taken away, and were sent out to spend the rest of your natural life rowing one of the warships in the king's fleet. However, when the warship you were on sank, you not only managed to escape, but you saved the life of the fleet's commander. In thanks, he adopted you, and absolved you of your supposed crime. Now, with a new name and a new chance at life, you are free to go after your traitorous friend and save your family.

360. May you live in interesting times:

You know from personal experience that if anything bad can happen, something worse will inevitably happen. You're engaged to be married... multiple times... sometimes to people you don't even know. To top it off, most of these suitors have difficult personalities... and most come with jealous boyfriends to boot. But you have little time to worry about that, because your numerous rivals and enemies blame you for all the things wrong in their lives, whether or not you did anything to them. Just by stepping outside your door, you run the risk of becoming Chaos's plaything. That's why you escaped to a life of adventure, where it's safe. Just hope none of your hometown chaos follows you.

361. But I don't wanna...
All your life you wanted to be a warrior. Slicing things up with your sword and saving the day... what else could a person want? Of course, your family (one of the great magician dynasties of the realm) had other ideas. They force you to learn that boring ol' magic, when you could be outside practicing your swordplay. As you grow up, the problem gets worse. As you graduate from wizard's college and start out on your adventures, you look back and realize that all you really wanted to do with your life is to be a swordsman.

362. Champion of Prophecy

For your entire life, you wanted to be an adventurer. Unfortunately, you were born into a poor family, who could barely make ends meet, much less buy adventuring supplies. One day, you go to see who is named the champion of prophecy among the great fighters of your area. By sheer accident, you end up getting chosen as the champion. Now you MUST be trained, as the hopes of your area are resting on you to fulfill the prophecy. And if adventuring gives you the practice that you need... so be it.

363. Body Swapped:
No one knows quite how it happened. All you know is that suddenly you find yourself in the body of a great hero... you know, the one that just agreed to take on the impossibly complex quest that no sane person would ever think of attempting? When you go to your home to find the mind of the hero, you find that they happen to like laying around like a peasant. No matter what you say, they don't want to even think of switching back. And to make things worse, the king is threatening to kill you if you don't live up to "your" promises. You don't know what happens when you're killed in someone else's body, but chances are it's not pretty. So, with little choice, you head out. Sure, you have the muscle... but you definitely don't have the skills, and besides, you still don't have the foggiest idea what EXACTLY you're supposed to be doing anyway.

Flag ShadowCentaur July 6, 2009 6:09 PM PDT
364: Budget Cuts:
You were an academic, working in the quantitative magi-chemistry (known to the uneducated as 'alchemy') department of one of the most prestigious arcane universities. You had a successful theory, a great reputation and several underpaid apprentices following in your footsteps. Then an economic downturn hit, and your department got the axe. Well, time to go out and do some hands-on field work as an adventurer. If you find something interesting, you might even be able to squeeze a paper out of the experience!
Flag Mengu74 July 6, 2009 10:07 PM PDT
365: Fire Starter:
You never did figure out how to control your inner flame. Your parents wanted you to be an academic, but after the third scholar they hired, whose hair you set on fire, they gave up on that. They finally found a dragonblood sorcerer to take you on as an apprentice, hoping he could teach you control. Alas, he inexplicably died in his sleep from severe burn wounds one day, but not before he had tought you a good deal. No one believed spontaneous dragonblood combustion. You were the obvious one to blame, and you fled. You knew you didn't set your master on fire, and some day, you were going to find out who did, and make them pay.
Flag MiksterKhan July 6, 2009 11:09 PM PDT
366. Johnny B Good
You live back amongst the trees, amongst the evergreens, in a little log cabin made of earth and wood, just a simple country boy named Johnny B Good. And while you never learned to read or write so well, you could play that harp just like you was ringing a bell. Your mother told you that when you became a man, you would be the leader in an adventuring band. That people would gather from leagues around to hear you play your music after the sun goes down. The taverns will have to put your name up in lights, saying,"The Bard Johnny B Good Tonight!" Now go Johnny, go!
Flag Orenthes July 7, 2009 10:09 PM PDT
Criminal turned Holy Man
Once, you were a bandit who was feared around the land. Your devil-may-care attitude and fighting spirit was the stuff of legend, and you may well have become a folk hero among the various small towns and villages of the land. However, fate intervened one day in the form of a priest who offered to show you the path to redemption. His words affected you deeply and you took a knee to this man who offered you salvation. You took up your blade in the name of the church, bringing justice to the wicked and defending the righteous.
Flag The_Weretouched July 8, 2009 10:34 AM PDT
368: Snake Oil Salesman

As a traveling alchemist, you travel from town to town, peddling your goods to trusting villagers. You could sell water to a whale, or sand to a camel; Yes, you're THAT good. Only you wish your skills in alchemy were as good as your silver tongue. As such, your potions often have...other effects. After your amazing wart removal cream turned a local noble into a frog, you now spend your ill-begotten fortune hiding your past profession.
Flag 19Bookie July 9, 2009 5:04 PM PDT
367. Riches to Rags Your father a hero who brought home riches which were left to you after he died. You quickly spent the money on women (or men) lavish parties, exquisite homes, and rarities from around the world. Until one day you find out you have used up your entire inheritance along with your social status. Luckily your father did teach a little bit about using a sword and adventuring and you set off to get your own riches the way your father got his.
Flag SimpsonsParadox July 10, 2009 3:53 PM PDT
368: Way To Muck It Up, Gordon.
Alternative Title: "Way To Mess It Up, Hero."

You saved the Princess! Too bad the Princess was standing on the 'hold this button down to stop the Nex portal opening up and warping in legions on demons' button. Probably should check that next time. Now it's time to face the second threat...or not. It's up to you!

369: Sleepy Teim.

Alternative Title: "Pulling a Freeman."

*Yawn* Ah, that was a good nap. I should go check out the town newspaper. You know, it's got a pretty cute correspondant. I should really ask her out to the bar one niiIIIIIIIIIII WIEUALWIEAW? This date is ten years in the future! And it's says that we've been overrun by demons/slavers/aliens! Mix in some "Nice Job, Gordon" and you've got an award winning game!

370: Don't Poke The Warlock.

Alternative Title: "Headless Doctor."

Poking Warlocks is never a good idea, especially when said Warlock can trap your soul into the weapon you're carrying. Now your body takes commands from your sword, and you're trying to both control your body from a new perspective as well as return your soul to your body. Oh, yeah. You probably shouldn't drop your weapon, either. Super glue, maybe?

371: I Wouldn't Put Those Visions On Your Resume.

Alternative Title: "Ancestors? That's So Avatar."

Forget voices. You *see* things. It might be that you see the entire world as musical notes for you to manipulate. Maybe your Dwarven Ancestors are pointing you on. Maybe you took too many red pills and now you see yourself as a bad actor seeing ones and zeros. Whatever it may be, those visions probably restrict what your profession might be. Try talking to them for 100% more win!

372: I Left My Fourth Wall In My Deadpool.

Alternative Title: "SQUIRREL GIRL OH GAWDS."

Hi! Yeah, hi! You! Behind the computer screen! I see you! Your character was cured of the fourth wall. Maybe he's insane, or maybe he's SO insane that he has come back around to being totally sane. It doesn't matter. It sees you, your cheetos snorting companions, and your DM who seems to put a large amount of young Japanese school girls in your games. (S)he isn't out to destroy things, but merely to find the door that reads "Deus Ex Machina" so it can finally stop following the orders of that person behind the die.

373: Kyon Can Eat His Heart Out!

Alternative Title: "TV Tropes power, ACTIVATE!"

Sarcastic Arsehat? Check. Like your palm and your face a whole lot? Check. Caught up in just how stupid and insane your companions are? Check. Know that if you've got a Dwarven Cleric, a Human Mage, an Elven Ranger, a Human Fighter, and a Halfing Rogue that Dragons will soon follow? Double Check. Your sarcasm and genre saviness are deadly. Go out, and facepalm the world down.

373: The Person Who Controls Gods > Gods.

Alternative Title 1: "An Esper, A Robot From Space, And A Time Traveler Walk Into A Schoolroom..."

Alternative Title 2: "God Is A Japanese Schoolgirl. Welp, We're Dead."

Your Name? John Smith. Your occupation? Controlling gods. Hells yeah. Gods may create, but you tell them what to create and when. Too bad you have all those moral restrictions. Creating alternative universes at the snap of your finger gets some chicks. Someone ELSE creating alternative universes at the snap of your fingers? Pllllayyyyyy-eeerrrrr!
Flag Argo July 11, 2009 11:57 PM PDT
374. I'm no adventurer!
You've spent the last ten years seated comfortably behind your desk as a chronicler of the great deeds of Sir Travis, the bravest and most famous adventurer in all the land. You love your work, and you're darn good at it. You're always on time, your writing style is strictly factual and engrossing, and you follow every rule to the letter. Your files are in perfect order, you love the smell of ink, and the most exciting thing that ever happened to you was an invitation to a co-worker's surprise birthday party two years ago.

But this morning, on your way to your office to write up the tale of Sir Travis's latest glorious triumph, people keep NOTICING you. Not just that, they keep congratulating you. They keep thanking you. Thanking you for your decision to protect the Kingdom. What decision? It seems that Sir Travis has vanished, and the King wants YOU to take his place. After all, nobody knows more about his methods than you do. Nobody seems to care that you don't want the job.

If only you could find Sir Travis, he could clear up this whole misunderstanding. If you could find Sir Travis, he would take back his job as adventurer and you could get back to doing what you do best. With no other choice in sight, you reluctantly strap on the sword and backpack the King sent you, bundle up all your old notes on Travis's adventuring techniques, and set off to find the only man who can free you from the terrible, awful fate that has befallen you.

Now... what would Sir Travis do?
Flag Wolfe_Deckard July 16, 2009 1:14 PM PDT
375. Wolves in the World: *told while stealing a cure to a diesease from a corrupt noble so a little girl can live* My father told me there were wolves in the world that will do whatever harm they can to whomever they can without any forethought. Yes, I agree with that statement but with one change... Sometimes the best good guyd are made up from the best bad guys...
Flag mialee101 July 25, 2009 3:39 PM PDT
306. Creature of unknown origin Long ago your mother and father were wisked away from there humble home on a distant planet by some magical force and now reside in the plane they are currently in. You were then born there, they have books and written stories of there old life, but remember nothing. You embark on an epic adventure to restore the memory of your panrents and learn of your own origin.
Flag Lord_Raziere July 25, 2009 6:37 PM PDT
307. I hate normality!

Ever since you were a child you have been troublesome, when things got too same and normal and patterned, you pulled pranks, you caused chaos, you did something that caused a ruckus and for some reason this has continued into your teens, you just seem to hate normality, so you decided to run away and see something different and new everyday, cause you hate normality, if things get too the same for you, you start to go berserk, you start to go crazy and you start to do dangerous things- so you must constantly find new experiences and go on adventures to stay sane.
Flag Lord_Raziere July 25, 2009 7:46 PM PDT
just thought up of more!

308. Bitter Draftee

Some nation drafted you against your will into their army, maybe you were a criminal who they decided to send out into battle, a retired guy they decided was getting too relaxed, or maybe they were just oppressive pricks who took you, a normal village teenager into their ranks since they were short on ground-pounders, whatever the reason, you were in the military, and you didn't like and at first chance you got, you escaped or "betrayed" the army you were serving, and now you travel as adventurer since you can't go back home.

309. Broken Spy

you were a spy for some reason, undercover behind enemy lines, gathering info, sabotaging enemy efforts and all that, but then somehow you got caught, maybe you made a mistake, or maybe their investigators were just that good, whatever the reason, you got caught and to keep yourself from getting killed, you spilled the beans on your sides secrets, earning you lifetime in jail instead. being an experienced spy you eventually escaped, but now your first enemies are trying to catch you..... and your original allies want to kill you to for blabbing! being the undercover-type guy you are, you have decided to take on the role as an adventurer, as the identity allows you to travel without many questions being asked, lay low in any appearance and gives you allies to protect you from your enemies.

310. The Last Soldier.

you were a soldier on the front lines, you were apart of a regiment and a group of friends who shared your love of battle, fighting the good fight, you were apart of a war to defend your nation or some other reason, you were one of those soldiers who survived or even won battles. However the commanding officers made a strategical mistake, maybe they gone too far into offense, maybe the forces were spread too far apart, whatever, but what matters is that because of this, you lost a battle, and somehow you survived that battle while everyone else in your regiment died and you can't find your way back to the army, so you decided to move on and become an adventurer so you can find a new, better reason to fight.

311. The Failed Captain

Unlike the Last Soldier, you were one of the commanding officers, you liked the men under your command and you knew they would all fight to the end and that would do anything to defend the ones they loved, what hurts is that you failed them. you were the guy that made that tactical mistake, you were one the guy that walked his men right into a trap, while the Last Soldier is what resulted from the blunder, you were the cause, its your fault. it is because of you that the army lost that battle and their nation fell- at least you think you were the reason. Now you lead a group of adventurers, sad, trying to a find way to make up for your mistake- or at least do a better job than you did with your army.

312. The Conquered Escaper

For some reason, your nation got took over, and you weren't happy. The armies and wizards were all killed, the generals and commanders made mistakes, and the king or whatever was dethroned, so you were one of the many citizens who decided not to put up with the new guy in office and you decided to escape the country, either vowing to someday come back and free the nation, or just fleeing so you can find a better home, you now work as an adventurer either to enhance you skills and abilities or to just earn gold until you can get a house.
Flag funkAchick0n August 10, 2009 8:43 PM PDT
313: the barbarian warlord.


to long has your tribe been forced to live in filth and squalor while the other nations of the world took your land and pillfered your goods. It's time to strike back, but first you must live among them, learn their tactics and gain their trust. Adventuring lets you do all these while sharping your skills and gaining magic weapons.
Flag OldMansBeard August 12, 2009 11:03 AM PDT
314: The Epic Critical Fumble (Metagaming)

You have been adventuring with the same character for 34 years, carefully nurtured through countless campaigns and many editions of rules. It's like a favourite woolly scarf. An old friend.

Now, you are within a single 5' square of attaining your epic destiny. You need only roll 50d10 to determine your final level of immortality. Trumpets sound and with a final flourish born of years of play, you prepare roll your epic roll. You use your best dice, including those from your very first Blue Box set. It seems only fitting.

There is a heart-stopping moment as ...

All but one of the aged dice crumble into dust and the last one of all totters across the table and, with a final valiant effort, rolls a natural 1.

The walls echo as the ghosts of all the DMs you have ever encountered shriek with laughter. "Critical Fumble! Critical Fumble!" they taunt over and over again.

Finally, a Magic Mouth speaks ...

"Choose your Race and Class"

Flag rbingham2000 January 25, 2010 5:51 AM PST
315: Without a Homeland

For whatever reason (being on the losing side of a major war, suffering a major cataclysm, p***ing off the gods, what have you), whatever land or world that you called home is no more. Maybe you're a Cyran survivor of the Day of Mourning. Maybe the Empire wiped Alderaan off the face of the galaxy or the Alliance burned the land and boiled the seas of Shadow. Maybe your homeland was conquered by a powerful empire, and you're one of the lucky few who escaped.

Whatever the case, a life of wandering and adventuring is the only thing that you have left. Perhaps you're seeking revenge on whoever or whatever destroyed your home, maybe you want to take back your home from its conquerors, or maybe you want to find as many survivors of what went down as you can and find a new land to call home.
Flag Zousha_Omenohu January 25, 2010 6:31 AM PST

316: The Faerie Knight


When you were born, you were taken from your parents and raised in the Feywild by an eladrin queen.  No one knows why she took you and left a fey in your place, but she has trained you and your colleagues to serve as her knights.  When you came of age, you recieved your arms and armor in a grand ceremony, and the queen declared that as a reward for completing your training, in addition to your promotion as a knight in her court, she would grant you one boon.


Several months pass, and your colleagues soon depart the Feywild to pursue quests in the mortal world, leaving you behind.  Deciding that you cannot wait any longer, you ask as your boon from the queen a heroic quest to perform in her honor.  She complies, giving you the information you need and where you need to go.  She warns you, however, that your quest may take longer than you think, and it may take you through many trials before you may return to her.  You decide the chance to finally take your place among your colleagues as a true hero is worth it.


(Inspired by Edmund Spenser's epic poem, The Faerie Queene)

Flag Kosovodad June 20, 2010 6:02 AM PDT

Sep 26, 2008 -- 3:22PM, Shiftkitty wrote:

10. Drunken Bet- It always happens like this. Your head clears as you ride slumped over in the saddle, thirsty as hell with a pounding headache. You're armed for battle, although it looks like a schizophrenic chimpanzee dressed you. In your hand is an empty booze bottle, and in your pocket is a royal writ or something. "Gods be damned," you grumble as you unfold the paper. "What did I agree to do this time?"


Oh, I am definitely stealing this one...

Flag souldreamer September 13, 2012 8:21 AM PDT
(I hope this isn't too similar... and that it's okay to post after all this time)


317. The Ganger:

You are Theresa Jones. You have Theresa's memories and her maneurisms, not to mention her appearance. So, why is it that this other person who looks just like you is swearing that SHE is the real Theresa Jones? Could one of you be lying? And is it possible that you could be Theresa's doppleganger... and not even know it?



318. The Hollow Demon: (This is a variation of the above based on my first D&D character)

You are a hollow demon, a mysterious breed of demon that has the ability to take the form of someone else who has died. You take their form, but you also take their memories, their morals, and their purpose. And you discard your own. Your life is a series of "reincarnations" between different forms. Every once in a while, you are able to regain your senses to figure out that something isn't right... you aren't really Imbrianna the Elven Druid. But then you die and take another form and your memory is wiped clean again, to be replaced by that of your new form.

All you really know is that you are running... from something (or someone). Did you do something in a past life to anger some malevolent deity? Or is it something you /didn't/ do? Is the master that created you trying to collect his missing puppet? And when he finds you, what will you do?     
Flag Last_Abyss November 29, 2012 6:18 PM PST
319. Try Again


You were at the end of your journey, and of course, you had to partake in a 1 v Billion battle.  It's easy to say, you died, but . . . that is just the beginning of the story.  Some superbeing(god, demon, pirmal spirit, etc.) had taken a liking to you, and will not let you leave the mortal realm this soon.  So, back to the beginning you go, back to when you first set off on your adventuring.  Now you have to do it all again, but will you be able to change your death?
Flag mcherm March 26, 2013 7:24 AM PDT
320. The Cartographer

When you were young, you loved to sit with your grandmother and study the old maps she collected. She had a collection of maps from around the world and had fit them together to draw a master map of the entire world. Unfortunately, there was one area she left blank, because she had never gotten any maps from there. Now that you are of age, you have decided to set out and explore that place to create the map she never had and fill in the one blank section on your grandmother's map.
Flag WobblyH May 5, 2013 5:15 PM PDT
321: On the Run From Everyone

You were raised in a temple-fortress. A gigantic place, large enough to hold armies - which it did - and every inch of it dedicated to His worship. Perhaps you were unimportant, just another acolyte, a servant, a slave who cleaned up after everyone else. Maybe you were in a position of power, the chosen voice of your god, commander of his armies. Whatever your former glories were, they matter not now. Not since your Heresy.

It happened so suddenly. Someone very close to you died. Perhaps a brother, a parent, or your only friend in the world. Slain on the battlefield amongst dozens of others, or stabbed in the back, or burned at the stake. Whatever their method of demise, you had only one thing on your mind - bringing them back. You were desperate. Desperate enough to delve into the forbidden areas of the library, where the books would read you just as much as you read them, and come back with the kind of ritual you could be executed for simply knowing the name of. You would bring back your lost one - no matter the cost.

Of course, demons hardly have a reputation for being trustworthy. Summoning it in the first place was foolish. Worse was trying to bargain with it. It detected your weakness, broke through your amateur bonding and dove upon you, intending to devour you drag your soul screaming into the endless agony of the pits. You fled, the cackling monster close behind, until you broke through a door and found yourself in the armory - face-to-face with the reliquary carrying the sacred weapon of your order. Without a second though you snatched it up and struck at the demon, permanently corrupting the blade, and it was sent howling back down into its infernal home, but not before exacting its final revenge - a smouldering, agonising scar across your face.

You fled with nothing but the armour on your back and the corrupted blade in your hand. What choice did you have? You're permanently branded as a heretic, a diabolic consort, and if that wasn't enough of a reason to exile you there's the matter of the sacred relic you infested with demonic energy. If your order, your former friends, those you once considered yourself part of, ever catch you, you'll be burned alive for your crimes. Or hung, drawn, and quartered. Or perhaps you'll be flayed, and your still-bleeding skin used as a trophy to warn all of the dangers of meddling with the profane. There is no shelter for you there any more. Nor anywhere, really. Not while you still have this mark upon your face. There's also the small matter of the demon persuing you from across the planes...

You're on the run. Your friends want to burn you alive. An angry demon wants to eat your soul. Your sword keeps whispering to you at night. You're alone, with no idea whether your god can still hear you, or if he even wants to. You have nobody to rely on but yourself.

Perhaps it's time to find a few friends. 
Flag WobblyH May 6, 2013 10:58 AM PDT
Time to be a little less original. These may seem familiar if you've ever played a certain game about defending ancients...

322: Rogue Knight

There are many half-breeds in this world. Some accept them for what they are, shelter them, treat them as any other person would. The Vigil certainly did not. Your father was a Knight of the Vigil, executed for his illicit affair with a member of another race, of which you were the result. Swearing against all codes, all laws, all social orders, you learned that you could only rely upon yourself in this world. You offered yourself to the Vigil, your nature disguised, never revealing who you truly were but instead studying their ways and learning their secrets. Then, on the day of your final ascension, you struck, burning their holy books, destroying their relics, slaying their leaders. You finally got your revenge, and now you stride the world, forever solitary, still a knight... but a Rogue Knight.

323: One Man Army

You were nothing more than a grunt once, a long time ago. A mere peon in the barbaric army you had sworn your life to. But you were ambitious. You set your sights on the rank of General and there was no force in the world that could stop you - not even your own side. You slaughtered your way through years or decades of campaigns, skirmishes, wars, the body count on both sides growing ever higher, your blade cleaving flesh both hostile and friendly. You never hesitated to decapitate anyone who got in your way, whether 'twas the enemy or your own superiors. Eventually, the day of your ultimate victory was at hand, and you declared yourself General-Supreme. Of course, the troops you command now number precisely zero. But that matters not a whit to you. You know that a one-man army is by far the best.

324: Bloodhound

Blood. You need it, want it, crave it. Not for your own purposes, of course. You're just as mortal as anyone else. But your gods are not quite so ordinary. They need the constant sustenance of the life-force, and you were chosen to be their hunter. You seek out scenes of carnage, battlefields, dens of monsters, sieges, anywhere you can sate the demands of your masters. With each strike, you channel the blood through your sacred markings directly to where it's needed. When you're on the hunt, injuries become fatalities. 
Flag Panartias May 8, 2013 11:12 AM PDT

325: All for love…


You go adventuring for one reason: To prove yourself worthy of your love interest. S/he is clearly above your station, but hey doesn’t the hero always get half the kingdom and the hand of the princess for slaying the dragon? This works with many classes not just the questing knight.


As a variant you could be a ladies men and do it for all the women not just the one (already mentioned in 169 and 182). Anyway it gives you the opportunity for some wonderful lines:


“Once, I was a fighter – to conquer the heart of a beautiful lady,


then I became a thief – to steal myself a kiss from her lips,


and finally I became an mage – to enchant her face with a smile…”


­-Panartias

Flag Panartias May 9, 2013 2:49 AM PDT

326: The true journeyman


You have learned a traditional craft (like carpenter or some kind of smith) where journeymen are still required to travel around and take on odd jobs. When no other jobs presented itself, you fell in with a group of adventures. You still see yourself more as a craftsmen than as an adventurer and you tell yourself, that you can always go back to your craft, if you don’t like adventuring….

Flag Panartias May 9, 2013 3:41 AM PDT

327: Weird dragon slayer


The person who slays a dragon—especially a red one—is often celebrated as a hero. You have your own theory though:  The killing of a single dragon is, danger to your own life aside, quite futile and ineffective. In the long run, the most effective way to decimate a species is to diminish its food source.


As everybody knows, red dragons eat virgins.


You are sure everybody will agree, this kind of dragon-slaying is much less dangerous and certainly more fun. Ok, it is not totally without bloodshed...but most men are already proficient with the necessary ‘weapons’.


So you take up the fight and conquer the red dragons - there’s a hero in all of us!


In short: Dragon Slaying Through Virgin Laying


—Panartias

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