Dungeon Master Tools – Character Creation

Know What Books You Are Going to Use

Firstly, know what books you are going to use. If you are a new Dungeon Master, I think I would go with the Players Handbook and the Revised Ranger which you can find online. I wouldn’t add in anything else, because that is going to mean a few things. Firstly that you or someone owns those other books. And if you don’t own them, you need to know what’s in them pretty well. The other reason is that it keeps what you need to know focused and the character races and classes easier to keep track of.

As you play more and feel more comfortable, I think it’s totally valid to add in more books. In fact, I expect that most Dungeon Masters are going to add in more books over time. Though, if you are playing the revised 5E with the new books, you get to keep it limited, for now.

Is Anything Banned?

Next, know if you don’t want anything in your campaign. Is your setting one where all magic comes from the divine or demonic sources, maybe you don’t go with all the casting classes. Or if magic is banned or doesn’t exist for some reason, that’s good to know. Another example would be creatures with flying speeds that the PC’s (player characters) can play. Do you want to deal with a 3D battle scenario or not?

I think that banning is a last resort. In fact, I recommend that Dungeon Masters don’t do it. But there are thematic reasons why you may ban some class or class feature so be aware of that. Especially if this is your first campaign, and you want to run something that is maybe easier to understand, don’t ban anything, go with a setting that more closely resembles Faerun as it’s going to make your life easier as you and your players don’t need to remember anything.

How Do You Get Stats?

One of the final things here is how you get the stats. And I want to talk about a number of ways that you can get them. Because there are a lot of fun ways. But know how you want to do it. Why, because a player might like one better than another, so they can min/max or manipulate things more. So know which way you want to go so there isn’t a discussion. You run this game as the Dungeon Master, listen to reasons, but at the end, everyone does it the same way, however you land.

Point Buy

Firstly there is point buy system. In this players get a certain number of points, and all stats start at 8. Then you spend points to increase those stats. Before the bonus you get from being an elf or half-orc, whatever it might be, you can go as high as fifteen. Each number increase costs a point and you start with 27 total points. This is going to give the players complete control over how they handout their stats.

Rolling

Rolling For Stats is another way that you can go, and this can be done in a few different ways. The most common way is roll 4D6 (four six sided dice) and drop the lowest of the dice. For example, if you roll a six, two, five, and two, you drop one of the twos, and get a 13. Now, you complete that six times, one for each stat, and players assign them in the direction that they want. That is going to let some numbers possible be higher, but there isn’t a floor like you get with the point buy system.

You can also just go with rolling 3D6 and keeping that, it’s going to create a wider range of what you can roll, though. So it is possible that a player is going to roll very low. A three in a stat is too low to really even play with, and while it’s possible in the previous version, it’s less possible.

Finally, you can use either method and do a down the line approach to the stats. What I mean by that is you start with strength and go down. So if I decide I’m a wizard, I hope I roll well on roll four for intelligence. This is going to create a greater level of variance in characters and how good they are and it can be fun. Just let your players know ahead of time.

Standard Array

The final way is the simplest. This is the standard array. The standard array is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10 and 8 for your stats. Every player is going to start out basically the same. Now that order is going to change, but no one is going to have a very high stat by magically rolling three sixes. And no player is going to have a low stat. This is good, I think for a starting campaign. The more new people you have, the easier this is to use. Mainly, because, you don’t want someone to be in a position to dominate everything because of good rolls.

Is Anything Custom Allowed?

This is the final thing and generally my answer is going to be no for this. Again, if you feel comfortable with it, sure. But know that what is custom might not be balanced. And this could be from a custom class that a player found on the internet that they want to try. Or it might be customizing a spell so it does a different type of damage. Generally I saw go with rules as written. Unless you want that extra challenge in something, keep it simple. And if this is your first game or early on in your dungeon mastering career, definitely don’t do it.

Final Thoughts

This, I think, is a good bonus topic to add into the mix. I don’t think it’s as much of a tool that I would recommend specifically to make your life easier. It is just some good things to think of before you session zero. Especially when it comes to how you want to get your stats and anything custom. That way you know what you are comfortable with.

For me, personally, I like the roll 4D6 and drop the lowest. Though, with that, it is not too hard for a player to get some really good stats. So even with my preferred system, I generally look through and make sure everyone is balanced. If someone rolls everything over 12, for example, I change one. I want you always to have a bad stat, and some good stats, no Batmans (someone who is good at everything) on the team. Use your discretion with that and keep it fair.

So what is coming up next?

• Session 1
• Story Arcs
• World Building
• Combat
• Exploration
• NPCs/Social Interactions
• Meta Game and Players at the Table

And let me know if there are other things to cover as well that you want to know more about, or help with. I think that there are a ton of different things that new Dungeon Masters are curious about or that feel intimidating. So I hope that I can help make them clearer and simpler for you. And this one is really that first step that you can take before you even start to think about the other elements.

Send an Email
Message me on X at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

The Dungeon Master

The Dungeon Master has the most that they need, and even that isn’t all that much. As the Dungeon Master there are two books that you need, plus a few other things. The two books are Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook and Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual. There are a lot more books, but those are the two books that you need.

The Player’s Handbook is going to have all the options for your players as to how they can build their characters, or at least what they need to know for starting out in a very first game. There are additional books with more options, but those are just options, and you don’t need all of them to start, or really ever. The Monster Manual is going to give you a ton of things for your players to fight against and to build a campaign around. It’s really a great way to figure out what you are going to do in your campaign by just flipping through the book.

The last thing that only the Dungeon Master needs to provide, in my opinion, is character sheets. Now, not filled out ones, but ones for filling out for session 0. This doesn’t meant that they don’t need more, but it’s stuff that everyone will need. The character sheets are important because I’m not going to recommend that players have the Player’s Handbook, for me that is not an essential thing. So as the Dungeon Master, that person will have a copy of the character sheet they can make photocopies of, or you can find it easily online and print them.

What Does Everyone Need

I thought that I was going to split this between the players and the dungeon master, but really, the dungeon master just has more that they need to have before starting a game. So what do you recommend that everyone has?

Firstly, everyone should have their own set of dice. Personally, I probably have enough dice sets for 15 people comfortably, but that’s just me and a lot of other players who have been playing longer. When you start out, a single set of dice (should be 7 dice) is all that you need. It should have a D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, D20, and percentile die in it (D4 = four sided die, D6 = six sided, etc). While you might need to roll some of the dice multiple times for things, you don’t truly need more than one set.

Next I think everyone should have a pencil, which you need for making your character, but also a notebook. The notebook, or paper, is for taking notes. It’ll be handy for character creation, but also for during the campaign remembering everything that is going on. For the players, they should be jotting down what they find interesting, what seems to be important plot points, etc. For the dungeon master, you’d be using it for keeping track of NPC’s, plot points you’re creating, and general recaps of what the players have done.

And really that’s about it that everyone needs to get going on a game of Dungeons and Dragons.

What I skipped

So, I do think it’ll be useful to talk about some of the things that I skipped as well and why I skipped them.

Why not the Player’s Handbook for the players or everyone?

I don’t think that the players really need the players handbook. It is nice to have at least an extra copy around for character creation and leveling up, but it isn’t needed. So if someone wants to spend the money on it they can, but you really just need one copy. Also, for new players, they often get stuck in the rule book looking something up during the game and not paying attention. So for a lot of people it detracts from the game instead of enhances it having their own copy.

And the Dungeon Master’s Guide for the Dungeon Master, why not that?

While the Dungeon Master’s Guide contains a lot of useful information, it can be overwhelming. What magical items are out there is interesting, but is a lot. How to create an NPC or a bad guy also interesting, but also can be done without it. I think personally it’d have been too much for me at the start. The information is really good, but it could lead to delays in starting playing because of trying to get your campaign “right”.

Finally, these are the physical things that are essential for playing Dungeons and Dragons. Things like being willing to try it, having a good attitude, having fun, and everyone else having fun, those are important as well. And I will talk about those coming up because they are important, in fact more important. Without what is above, you can play something close to Dungeons and Dragons, but your experience won’t be as full as if you started with all of those. Thankfully, you can make it a pretty cheap hobby with cheap dice and those few books.

What do you consider to be essential for starting playing Dungeons and Dragons?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Tieflings, for those not familiar, are tainted in their bloodline somehow by demons. Mainly, the lord of the nine hells. In the players handbook you get the rules for creating a character who has some influence of Asmodeus in their bloodline. In Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, you get it for the rest of the Lords and Ladies of the nine hells. All Tieflings are generally charismatic as they all get an improvement to that stat, that generally makes them good at being Warlocks which makes a ton of sense. However, Bard and Sorcerer are also Charisma casting races. Most interestingly, the Paladin is also Charisma based, so that could make a really interesting role playing experience. As you’d expect, the main feature for a Tiefling is that they are resistant to fire.

Now, how that infernal influence gets into your bloodline is going to be up to you as a player. You could have had a relative that screwed one of the Lord of Hell, but that isn’t the only way. If your family worshiped one of the Lords of Ladies of Hell for a long time, it’s possible that they just became tainted through that and spawned the PC. I think that either of them provide some interesting role playing opportunities, but the biggest thing that the Tiefling provides for role playing is the fact you look different and that tells people that somehow your family consorted with someone evil.

Tieflings, themselves, don’t have to be evil, but might lean towards that alignment. And even if you don’t, again, people aren’t going to trust you, because you are very different. In the PHB (players handbook), you feel like most likely a Tiefling came from a human line, but there is no reason that your Tiefling couldn’t be based size wise off of some other race. But, back to my main point, the distrust of your character is going to be something that you are going to have to role play out with your DM. Maybe even your party doesn’t fully trust you because you are a Tiefling, and I find this interesting, because as a charismatic humanoid, you are not just naturally magnetic. It’s more of a situation that you can just sit down and win people over if they give you the time and aren’t running screaming when they see your horns and tail.

So what are some backstory ideas for playing a Tiefling?

When you were born, there was a lot of shock in your community, and you were tossed aside and left to die. However, the old Priestess in your town wouldn’t allow that to happen and went and took you from the woods where you had been left. She, in secret for several years, raised you and taught you the ways of the church. When you reached the age of ten, a new priest came to town as the priestess was getting old and frail. He didn’t treat you as well, but he promised the priestess he wouldn’t kick you out or abandon you. When you were old enough, he told you it was time to go on a mission and spread the word of your god to others and help where you could. So you went out and found a group that seemed to be doing good.
Class: Paladin
Alignment: Neutral Good
Background: Acolyte
Note: I would play some into the tension between the infernal and the divine.

Your parents told you that the village you had been born in burned when you were young, and that’s why you lived all alone with only a few close family friends who had been able to survive. You found out later that might have been the case. As you grew to know more, you found out that your parents and their friends were worshiping a devil. And it turned out, as you overheard, that the village had burned because the village hadn’t wanted your family there when you were born, and your family and their friends had burned it to the ground while everyone was trapped in the temple. That didn’t sit well with you, so when you were a teen, you escaped and started wandering the woods, hunting and gathering as you needed. Then, one day, there was a tug on your heart and you went into a village, in disguise to see the humans as thralls and your family and their friends controlling them. You knew they had to be stopped.
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Background: Outlander
Class: Ranger

Being a Tiefling is generally looked down upon, but you were bred to be that way. Your kingdom is very pragmatic living in the shadows of a Red Dragon. Tieflings really make good firefighters being able to handle the heat and flames better than any humans. So each generation, a few women are selected to be part of the ritual and give birth to Tiefling children. However, your mother had told you that when she was carrying you a seer had told her that you were going to be important at a time when the world was in flames and that you could bring on the end of the world. You didn’t want to do that, but as compared to other Tieflings, it quickly became obvious that you had more power and that whichever Lord of the Nine Hells had sired you was helping keep you alive. Now you’re running, hoping that will protect you from what the seer foretold.
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Background: Haunted(?)/Soldier(?)
Class: Warlock
Note: What I like about this idea is that your character has a different feeling Warlock patron because they were given it as a way to defend themselves and stay alive, not because they made a deal, could offer some interesting role playing options.

So, what about you? Have you played a Tiefling before? How easy are they to play in your opinion? How hard are they to fit into the group?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Now, it’s very possible the noble doesn’t consider it a step down. Maybe they consider it to be more exciting or interesting to be an adventurer than to be doing whatever they were doing before. Regardless, I do still think there are some key differences between your standard adventurer and one who is or was a noble. The noble is often going to care or know more about the history of the locations they and their party are going to. A noble gets the skills of history and persuasion from their background, so they are going to look at situations differently than just another chance to kill monsters in a dungeon; they will care more about the history of the dungeon or at least know more about it. It is also probable that a character with a noble background will expect to be more in charge. They’ve had people waiting on them for much of their life, and camping out in the woods might not be quite their thing.

Before I give away all my story ideas while talking about the background, let’s get to them. Here are some suggested backstories for your D&D Noble.

I was only a child when my uncle killed my father and took over his lands. I was supposed to have been killed myself, but my father gave his life to give my mother and myself time to escape into the woods. We walked for days before we were taken captive by a native tribe living deep in the woods. I was young, and my mother says she was terrified for both our lives, but they didn’t kill us. They saw how hungry we were, and they fed us and taught us to live off the land. I honed my skills as a hunter, and my mother instilled a hatred of my uncle in me by telling me stories of a father whom I could barely remember. Much later, we were forced to run again as my uncle tried to clear his lands of all the natives. The tribe used me as a scout, and I realized I could integrate myself back into society and get my revenge. I said goodbye to my aged mother and my spouse from the tribe, promising to return. Now I am trying to get revenge on my uncle, take back my lands, and let the tribe return to their lands. But taking down my uncle won’t be easy — I’ll need help.

Class: Ranger
Alignment: Lawful Neutral

I put the last of my money down onto the table. It’s not that I’m a bad gambler, I just have bad luck when it comes to games of chance. I felt the weight of my signet ring in my pocket and thought about putting that on the table. Or maybe I could sell it if I found the right vendor. It might get me enough money to get back to my lands. I didn’t really want to come back to my parents as a beggar. I had run away from home several years ago, and I had a decent amount of money with me. It’s amazing how much things you don’t own will sell for when they come from a noble’s household. If I don’t come back with some money, it’s going to go very poorly for me. I have a sword still, and I can fight; maybe that will be my plan, since I just lost the last of my money.

Class: Fighter
Alignment: Neutral

When you come from a large family, you can’t always get what you want. In my case, I wanted to just live an easy life. My parents are rich — what would you expect for someone who is nobility? I was given a few options. I could marry into another family to strengthen an alliance, I could join the military, or I could join the temple. Those were the only positions that were good enough for me; anything else was too much of a step down. Ideally, I’d choose one of the last two and still do the first anyway. I might be ready to settle down sometime, but it is going to be on my terms, and I am not much of a fighter. So my option was to join the temple. That life was a little bit boring for me, but I found ways to make it interesting, much to the chagrin of the temple. Turns out, that might not have been my brightest plan, because they have decided I would be a good person to start an offshoot of the temple in a small town. I need to travel there, but maybe I’ll do it in a roundabout way and have some fun as I go. They can’t complain if I say I’m spreading the good word, right?

Class: Cleric
Alignment: Chaotic Good

There are expectations for every child born into my family. You had to look a certain way, you had to behave a certain way, and you could not be connected to magic at all. Magic is evil — that is what I was taught from a very young age. I believed that too. But a voice came to me in the middle of the night, and took me away from my bedroom. According to my parents, I was gone for less than a day, but to me it seemed like a week. They could tell that something had changed when I came back. There was magic running through my veins. The doctors said that my blood had been tainted, and my parents believed them, and I believed them. They kicked me out even though I cried. I said that I wouldn’t use the power, but the law of our land is clear — I’m an outcast. I want to find out how I got these powers to see if I can get rid of them, but they have helped me, so I need to know more to see if they are evil or not. I don’t know much about the world, so I probably should find someone to travel with.

Class: Sorcerer/Warlock
Alignment: Neutral Good

What sort of Noble have you played before? Is it a background that has interested you, or does it seem too simple/straightforward?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

The Players Handbook gives a number of ideas for what your charlatan could be like, they  might cheat at games of chance, be a forger, or take on new identities. There are a ton of different ways that you can go with it. It gives you some skills that you’d expect with deception and disguise, you’ve become good at those. It also gives you a second identity that you have already prepared, yes, you’re always going to have the charlatan background, and your class won’t change for it, but it provides very interesting role playing opportunities.

So, without further ado, what are some backstories?

You came from a poor family and you saw the wealth that various religions and religious officials had, and it was something that you really wanted to have yourself. So you started coming up with a con, you went to a new town, found out what temples were there, and founded a new one of your own. A little bit of flattery and you got the city lord to help you get it started. You didn’t believe in the deity at all, this was your way to have money and live a plush comfy life. Things were going great, you have people fawning over you, you had all the money and food that you’d ever want. Then one day you were sitting in the temple by yourself and you had a vision, the vision of the deity that you’d be pretending to serve. They told you that even though you hadn’t meant to do their work. But now it was time to pay back what I had taken from the poor and the needy, those who didn’t deserve to have their money taken. The deity gave me a list and told me to use my skills to pay back and spread their word across the lands.

Class: Cleric
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Just a few notes on this one, their background is chaotic good because I’m going to have them following a good deity, but because of the charlatan background they are going to be pretty chaotic. And that works, while they were scamming people they might have been neutral evil, but now as time has passed, they can easily be chaotic good having moved up on the spectrum.

I can’t resist a pretty face and a good story and good drink now that you mention it. Some would call it a flaw, but I just consider myself to be blessed with a strong appreciation for the finer things. Now, that isn’t to say that it doesn’t get me into trouble every now and again, but I can get out of trouble in a pinch. Didn’t I say I have a silver tongue before? When you accidentally sleep with the betrothed the day before their wedding, their parents get a little pissed off at you, when you accidentally sleep with the parents before the wedding, the betrothed get pissed off. But I was so charming, so what would you expect. This means I kind of have to change who I am pretty often, it’s a bit tricky, remembering where I’ve all been, what faces I’ve put on, but I’m pretty sure that I can juggle it easily enough and one of these times it will be true love. Then I found out that one of my dalliances might have led to a kid to try and keep me around, that was a big mistake. But I’m not a bad person, so I’m trying as hard as I can now to make the world a better place for them.

Class: Bard
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
This would generally be thought of as a male character trope, but have some fun with it. It’s very possible that your character while having a fling with a bride to be talked about how she wanted to eventually settle down and have kids, and the bride to be, calls off the wedding for the character (at which point the character skips town to avoid the parents of the betrothed) and ends up getting knocked up and letting your character know that she’d started a family for them. It would be fun twist on how it normally would go.

The sound of coins clinking together is what I love, nothing makes me happier than money, at least that’s what I thought. I was one of the best as games of chance, but that was because they weren’t chance for me. Whenever I could find cards or dice, I’d hop into a game and swindle them until I’d taken just enough of their money that they wouldn’t be too mad at me. It was a solid way to make a living for myself and my younger sibling. Then I got into the game with the Count of [Insert City/Land Name] and got a lot of money from him. He was pissed off, he couldn’t prove that I cheated though. That night while resting in the tavern, I was having a drink while my younger sibling was sleeping. I go back to our room to find them dead, stabbed in their sleep with a handkerchief of the Count resting across their face. I’m not a fighter and I was scared for my own life, so I ran and hid in the woods where I met a druid who taught me skills that might help me get my revenge, now I’m ready to come back out of the woods, find some help, and get my revenge.

Class: Druid
Alignment: True Neutral

Bits and Bobs was a great shop. I’d buy people worthless junk, or even go digging through their trash, polish it up a little bit, and convince the nobles that it was going to be perfect for their sitting room. If I charged them 100x what it was worth, that’s their own fault for believing me. Plus, it gave me a great life. I spent my money faster that I made it, and soon I found myself in debt to some less than savory characters. I’m now trying to figure a way out of that debt, I’m getting close, but they keep on having me steal from people. It’s not like I’m bad at it, I’ve had experience with my scrounging before, and it was all going well. But there was this man, down on his luck,  you could easily tell it, it was his one prize possession and actually worth a chunk of money and might have gotten me out of my debt. I’m fine screwing over the rich, they don’t need all of their money, but this guy would have been out on the street if I’d taken it from him, so instead a ran. Now I have the unsavory characters after me and I need to leave town. Maybe I’ll find some other way to pay them back later.

Class: Rogue
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
I went lawful here because this character has a set of moral codes, they might not match the laws because they are willing to swindle people as long as they are rich. However, they clearly have defined who they are willing to steal from, and prior to being made to steal stuff to pay off, stealing wasn’t something that they did. They’d scrounge for stuff and maybe had a liberal opinion of what had been thrown away, but they weren’t a thief.

I was young when I found out about my powers. I didn’t know how to control them well back then, but I noticed that I had an ability that really let people open up to me. I found out all sorts of juicy gossip about my little town, and as a kid, I didn’t think anything about it, until a couple of really pissed off adults, because I told the baker’s son that his dad might actually be the blacksmith, because his mom wasn’t going there to get smithing work done for them like she claimed. That one got me in trouble, and got me run out of town. My parents stood up for me and were going to protect me. I used my ability on them to tell them that it was okay, and that I had left for a better reason. I’m not sure if it worked on them, someone will likely remind them of what I’d done, but I was on the run. My ability was useful though, stick me in front of someone who looked like they could help me for a few minutes, and I got enough information about them that I was able to play off their fears, desires, and sometimes even blackmail. I made a name for myself, not for being a sneak, because who wants to admit that I knew a dark secret about them when I could then blab that secret to anyone willing pay and listen. The only tough part for me is that I’m moving around a lot. I’ve made some great friends and that is what really matters to me, but when I find out a secret about them, I’m never sure if it’s because of my ability or because they really like me. It’s hard and I can’t stand it, so I leave. I want to know that I have a real friendship with someone some day, that’s what I really want.

Class: Sorcerer
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

There are a number of ideas for how you can play a charlatan. The rogue class is the most obvious answer when thinking about classes, but I started with a cleric who had been a charlatan. It’s helpful to remember that this is your background, so you don’t need to lean into it too much. For one of them, I even went with the personality trait of that really suggests you steal whenever you can. So, this is one that I’d recommend being careful (as well as Criminal which will be next week), as you can end up playing against the party if you aren’t careful. But, as my examples show above, you can find ways to play a former charlatan or still an active one without being mean to your party.

Have you used the Charlatan background, what are your thoughts on it?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

What is a Background?

Seems like a pretty straightforward question and answer. A background is what your character did prior to becoming an adventurer. The less straightforward part is that your character might not have done that thing in a while. For example, if you were an urchin and you’re now 50 years old, you weren’t an urchin that recently. It can also be very recently, though; maybe your adventuring started when you, with the criminal background, were caught by the owner of a mansion and instead of reporting you, they were impressed by your skills, so they hired you to do a job for them and leave them alone, and that’s where the game is starting.

I like it when players use their background to enhance a mystery or something in their backstory that I as the DM can grab onto as a plot hook. It doesn’t have to be a huge plot hook, but if there is something interesting, like an intriguing NPC or place or monster that is in your background, that helps me flesh out the world so that as a player, you feel more connected. Even if you’ve closed your past off — everyone is dead, I now have a traumatic event that happened in my past, etc. — how do you react when something like that happens again?

How Much Should You Use the Book for Backgrounds?

This is a situation where there isn’t really a right answer. As much or as little as you need to. The nice thing about the backgrounds from the player handbook (PHB) is that it helps you figure out things like flaws, personality traits, etc. if you’re having troubles or you only have a loose idea. The downside is that sometimes people feel beholden to use the ones that are in the book. I let my players tweak things as needed, or if they have an idea for a flaw, bond, personality trait, or ideal already, we make it so it works in the game. What you’re trying to avoid is making a character that is Batman and who doesn’t really have a personality, flaw, or bond.

Wait, What’s All in a Background?

A background is something that you’ve done in your past that was an important part of your life. We kind of covered that in the first part, but this is something that defines you heavily at the start of your game. Things can change as your character develops and as possible flaws are overcome or bonds aren’t bonds anymore. Let’s talk about the different parts of a background, though.

You generally start by picking out a single background — it might be that you were an urchin or criminal as mentioned above, but maybe you spent most of your life studying and were a sage, or you did something amazing and became a folk hero. There are a number of these options in the PHB and more in other books. I don’t have all of the other books yet, but I’ll probably be adding some as time goes on.

In each background, you have a few tables that you can roll on or pick from, and this is what I was talking about in the above section. Each background has a table containing personality traits, and then tables for flaws, bonds, and ideals as well. You can roll on them and get a random one to help you figure out your characters backstory, or you can pick, choose, and alter them so that they fit the backstory you already had planned for your character.

The reason that they do this is to give you a spot to start roleplaying from. It helps you fish around less to start a game to find your character if you have a baseline. It also gives you some things, like different proficiency depending on the background you took. Maybe as a Sage you are now proficient in investigation and knowledge about the arcane, but for a criminal background, it might be that you are proficient at sleight of hand and deception. Along with that, it gives you some ability or trait that you can use. For example, if you are a soldier, even retired, other soldiers still recognize your rank. Or if you’re a Guild Artisan, you can also go to the guild of your craft, but those seem to come up less. It also gives you some gear, if you’re getting gear that way, and possibly some more languages.

What If I Have Multiple Backgrounds?

Now that you’ve heard more about different backgrounds, you might be thinking that you fall into multiple categories. That’s certainly possible, so I’m going to go into story mode with you and talk about two different characters, Silver and Syldi.

Silver had a rough life and saw many horrible things. He didn’t know all of what was going on, but has been haunted by some of it. He also didn’t grow up well and was on the street and poor as an urchin. Those two things shaped him into the god-fearing man he is today. So, when Silver was looking at different backgrounds, the player didn’t feel like a single one quite fit. So instead of just picking one, he combined two. He took the skill proficiency, and gear from just one, but when building out his bonds, personality traits, flaws, and ideals, he worked from both lists. That’s one way you can get a couple of backgrounds into the same character.

Syldi, on the other hand, grew up on the street, barely making it. She had to steal from street vendors and eventually caught the eye of the local thieves’ guild. She started working with them until she was able to land on her feet and become a bartender (at least part-time) at the Queen’s Retreat. Syldi would make sense to have a combination of criminal and urchin background. However, Syldi was a thief because of necessity, not because it’s something that she really wanted to do. Her being a criminal wasn’t a defining feature of her as compared to being an urchin, and while she has thief skills (and is actually a Rogue with the archetype of thief), those are because she was an urchin, not because she was a criminal. So, that’s one kind of thing you can lean into; maybe there is one that is more important so that is the one you really get your skills from.

But What if None of Them Are Right?

With Dungeons & Dragons, playing the game and creating characters is more of an art than a science, I’d say. If you can’t find something that works as well as you’d hoped, work with your DM. Maybe the Sage options don’t quite match what you are looking for, because you want to be a student still, and a sage seems like they’d know too much. Work with your DM on it — maybe there are parts you can use from the sage, but then tweak the other parts or come up with your own. There’s nothing that says that you can’t come up with your own background, and if you have a great idea for one, run it by your Dungeon Master.

However, if your background idea gives you four new skills, a bank full of platinum pieces, and the ability to mind control any person within twenty miles of you into giving you their home as your own so you always have a spot to stay, that might be a bit overboard, and as a DM, I’m going to nix that. Certainly, though, come up with your own ideas and skills within reason. Even if you only get a couple of skills like most classes do, don’t give yourself the option of the two best ones for yourself; look at how other backgrounds do it and balance that out on your own. Your student might have skills that look more like a sage, but maybe you’re a student of martial arts; if so, don’t give yourself investigation and stealth because those seem the handiest. You’re probably not getting much investigating done if you’re practicing your sweet kung fu moves.

The same goes with your background traits such as personality, bond, flaws, and ideals. You probably don’t have a personality trait that everyone always likes you. If you suggested that as a personality trait in a game that I’m running, I’d either tell you just get the Charm Person spell or that maybe it’s your flaw — you think everyone likes you. Or, if you decide that your bond is to the empire because you’re the sister of the emperor, that can work, but don’t expect that to get you what you want. You’re going to have to defend the empire against the common folk who think the emperor sucks, and oh, by the way, while it opens a lot of noble doors for you, the emperor is pretty sure you’re trying to steal his throne, but thanks for the plot hook.

Basically, just be reasonable about it. I’ll nix anything as a DM if it is too strong. However, if your DM isn’t going to do that, don’t take advantage of it. The game is meant to be fun for everyone, so come up with your really fun background that the DM is going to enjoy and that you’re going to enjoy; just don’t take away from the fun of the other players.

Finally, What’s the Difference between a Background and Backstory?

This is a question that is pretty simple. Your background is basically your skills that you gained through your backstory. The backstory you choose is going to be what really shapes who you are as a character, and you can slot your background into it. That means, if you’ve spent your whole life apprenticing to be an armorer in the mines of Moria, you don’t have the criminal background. You can work at it from either direction; you can use your background to create your backstory and use those traits, bonds, flaws, and ideals to flesh out what happened to you. Or you can work it from the other direction, where you have a story and pick the background that works for you in that backstory.

Now that you have an idea of how backgrounds work, we’re going to delve more into some of them, and I’ll be giving examples like I did with the classes as to how you can use backgrounds and potentially turn them into something different than what your typical sage or urchin or criminal is like.

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

We are trying a new thing with Amazon Links! If you’re interested in what we talk about in our articles or use for the podcast, please consider making a purchase through our links. Purchases help support our website and offset our costs. Thanks!

[amazon_link asins=’0786965606′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’nerdologists-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’edd5fd71-db9a-11e7-88a1-d70a450710e0′]

[amazon_link asins=’0786966114′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’nerdologists-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’a0a43b17-ea6a-11e7-8d29-3ff1ed9217a5′]

[amazon_link asins=’0786965983′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’nerdologists-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’206f0624-01dc-11e8-b501-371c5856c559′]

One of the nice things about a sorcerer is that their spell-casting is based off of charisma. That means that you don’t end up being a spell book caster, like a wizard can often be played; instead, you can play a character whose magic is sourced from something bigger than life. My mental picture is similar to Shiny Chariot from Little Witch Academia — someone who is a showperson who wants to make people have a great time, so they put on big shows. Now, that isn’t the only way you can play it, but since you’re going to have a lot of charisma, there will always a slight element of showmanship, or of people deferring to you, but that might just be because you are a man or woman of the people and are easy to approach. Or maybe you cast wild magic and you are just the crazy uncle whom everyone loves and wants to spend time with but who they don’t take too seriously.

Another big thing for the sorcerer is the idea of meta magics. These are ways that you can focus your magic, and are one of the biggest mechanical parts of playing a sorcerer. Maybe you are a careful caster who has area of effect spells, but you can mold your spells around your allies so that they don’t end up being hurt by your magic. Or maybe you are all about letting the world burn, or at least all of the evil zombie horde burn, and you are casting twinned spells and covering the whole battlefield in fireballs.

There are many other directions you can take it, as well — let’s look at a few examples:

Growing up in the wild, there wasn’t that much to entertain yourself with, which was okay, because mainly you just needed to help around the house. But when you got a chance to go exploring, you did, and found that there were caves nearby to explore. One day, you found a glowing stone in one of the caves. Being a young kid, you didn’t think much about it, so you immediately went and touched it. It transported you somewhere — you really aren’t sure where, and you weren’t sure for how long, but when you came back to the cave, ten years had passed, and you now had powers that you didn’t have before. It was scary, and there were things happening that you couldn’t control.  You had to leave your village behind, and seek out answers and how to control your magic.

Class Archetype: Wild Magic
Background: Sage/Folkhero

There were legends in your society that there was some great power in the storm. The storms would come down over the mountains with the fury of the gods, and they always brought destruction. When one of these massive storms came through, it destroyed your family’s house and killed your parents. You were taken in by the church, and that is where you learned more about the storms. The storms became more frequent and more powerful as time went on. One day, when you knew a storm was coming, you slipped out of where all the other acolytes had hunkered down and walked into the face of the storm. It seemed like the storm was angry with you, or with someone. You spoke to it, and it spoke back to you. You asked what was wrong, it told you, and you offered to help. When the storm passed, most of your village had been destroyed, but you were still standing, and had new powers. You now have a quest from the storm that you’re going to need help completing.

Class Archetype: Storm Sorcerer
Background: Acolyte

As a young child, you were sent to the church by your parents, like all seventh children — with so many siblings, there wasn’t any way for your parents to support you. You joined the standing army of the church and were supposed to be trained to be a paladin. But the gods never spoke to you, and you never got the powers. But the church didn’t give up on you; they never let someone they had trained go. But you became a simple infantryman while watching others gain powers and become paladins. There was a horrible battle that you were forced to fight in, and the rest of your unit were killed. You weren’t sure how you survived, and as you sat among their corpses, you cried out to the gods to strike you down as well. Then, you heard it — an answer. The answer was no. You were called to be a scion of the gods, and you felt a strange power well up in you. When you returned to the army and told them what had happened, you were kicked out of the army as a heretic. Now you need to complete a mission for the gods and prove yourself to the church.

Class Archtype: Divine Soul
Background: Acolyte/Soldier

Have you played a sorcerer before? What type of sorcerer have you tried? Do you find the meta magics too confusing? What was your sorcerer character’s origin story?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

We are trying a new thing with Amazon Links! If you’re interested in what we talk about in our articles or use for the podcast, please consider making a purchase through our links. Purchases help support our website and offset our costs. Thanks!

[amazon_link asins=’0786965606′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’nerdologists-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’edd5fd71-db9a-11e7-88a1-d70a450710e0′]

[amazon_link asins=’0786966114′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’nerdologists-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’a0a43b17-ea6a-11e7-8d29-3ff1ed9217a5′]

Just to explain what lawful stupid is and why you should avoid it: this is when you have a character that is so lawful good that they won’t do anything or be party to anything that might be even a little bit shady. For example, if the rogue in your party steals a single copper piece, you bring them in to the city guard. Or if a non-player character insults you slightly, you challenge them to a duel. That’s lawful stupid, and it can happen when players think their character needs to always be doing “good,” and that lawful good means that you have to follow every rule perfectly and can’t do anything that might cause you to slip up, like have a drink in a tavern. It’s better to look at it this way — lawful good is your alignment, not every single character trait that you have. Finja in Dungeons and Flagons was lawful good, but she would still have a drink or be part of the party’s random shenanigans, and she wasn’t always perfect in that she let Tate get away with less-than-savory antics.

The Paladin is the fighting cleric, and almost always falls onto the lawful good side of the spectrum. There are a few mechanical ways that you can handle this character, the first being that you can be more of a fighter who doesn’t really spend their spells on anything except dealing extra damage. Or you can lean into the healer side of it, taking on a combative role but with more of a focus on supporting and healing other characters in their party. Paladins use charisma for casting spells, so they can lean into being the face of the party if they want. This can also allow the paladin character to spread the good news of their faith.

As I mentioned, mechanically speaking, you can either go as a damage-bumping tank or a support healer. The different paths you can follow focus on areas from nature to law and order. The team at Wizards of the Coast did a good job of giving you options to be a fallen or even evil-focused paladin if you want. You get some spellcasting and fighting, but the strength of a paladin, in my opinion, is more in the combat aspect.

But because you aren’t fully focused on that, it allows you to play in a number of areas–let’s take a look at a few of those in my paladin backstory ideas:

As a young child, you became a squire for a paladin who was charged with protecting the head of your religious order. You learned under him, and eventually, when he was no longer able to do his job, you took over for him. One night, you were watching at his door and were relieved by a guard you didn’t recognize. That wasn’t all that odd; there were new guards coming in fairly often. But when you woke up the next morning, that guard had disappeared, and the head of your religious order had been killed just a single room over from where you slept. In your guilt, you headed out on the road, where you met up with an adventuring group. While traveling with them, you’re still searching for any clues about what might have happened to your leader.

When you were a teenager, a horde attacked your village. You didn’t know what to do as your friends and everyone you knew were dying around you. The only thing you could think of was to drop to your knees and pray to your deity. You didn’t think your call would be heard, but you felt a surge go through your body, and holy energy poured out of you, striking down the bulk of the horde while the rest fled. When they were gone, those who were still alive lauded you as a hero, but you felt lost. You weren’t anything special, and you had no one left. A kindly family took you in, but when a cleric of your deity came through the town, they heard of you and offered you a chance to come with them and train to be a defender of the deity. It was something to do, so you left your town and started training until you became a paladin who people loved and revered for miles around. But now, you have a mission that you are going to need help with.

The life of a paladin was what you had always wanted — a life of devotion and holding to the oaths you had sworn. That had been your life, but that life had become boring. You felt a call from somewhere else, in a moment of weakness — or was it newfound strength? Hearing that call, you struck down the priestess of the temple and left. The connection you had to the deity of your order had been severed, but you felt something take its place — a darkness now filled you, and you were going to use it. It would be great if this was something you could do by yourself, but the darkness is calling you to others to help you complete your new goal.

There is so much evil in the world. When you were young, there were some from far away who came and took control of your town, making you and your family slaves. You were only recently able to escape, thanks to the help of a missionary who came and saw what horrors were being wrought on your village. He told you about his deity, and how that deity could bring law and order to the world. You listened, and you understood. You understood what you needed to do, as well. This missionary had been brought to you to help you get away, so that you could ride against those who did not believe and bring law and order and justice to the world, something you never could have hoped for before. Now you’ve been trained, and you have found a party of those whom you think can help you.

Have you had a chance to play a paladin before? Were you very lawful good, or did you try and find a way to play a paladin who was conflicted? How did that go? Would you try it another way the next time?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

We are trying a new thing with Amazon Links if you’re interested in what we talk about in our articles or use for the podcast, please consider making a purchase through our links. Purchases help support our website and offset our costs. Thanks!

[amazon_link asins=’0786965606′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’nerdologists-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’edd5fd71-db9a-11e7-88a1-d70a450710e0′]

[amazon_link asins=’0786966114′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’nerdologists-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’a0a43b17-ea6a-11e7-8d29-3ff1ed9217a5′]