Character Stories

Role-Play ++

This presents a good opportunity for adding Roleplaying elements to the Character.

: This is a required part of character building and gets no reward. Some aspects drill deeply into roleplaying and gain reward tokens which allow them to start off with added options.

A key part of player participation is the story made for a character. A character with a crafted story is a player vested in it’s success. A story helps to envision characters and bring them to life; these can be a few sentences to dozens of pages. A character story can allow the player to make one which deviates from the rules, allowing a piecemeal approach to fulfill any concept of race, background, vocation, locale, and archetype/path. Each added story element the player creates adds more rewards.

  1. This must include vaguely how the character got their general background and the type of life that lead to acquiring vocational or basic life skills and place in the local society.
  2. Youngest years – Family (social status, place, and history), place or birth/place raised, etc. Who were their parents and siblings, and what role did they play in the character’s life?
  3. A story of growing up – What was the character like as a child? Their environment? Was there defining moment where they “grew up” and their world view changed?
  4. A story of exemplifying beliefs – Tell a story about how they were tested and kept to or developed their general alignment or code of conduct. What are the things that motivate them (will always cause them to act), and what are the things they avoid?
  5. A story explaining how they got their Background/Upbringing.
  6. A story of what made the character become an Adventurer.
  7. A story of how the character came to be in the group – What circumstances lead to the character being introduced to the group? This should cover just the immediate circumstances.
  8. All major powers could have a explanatory story… why/how did they acquire it, how did they develop it, how are they known to use it?
  9. All instances of characters “seeking their path” should have a story. Mentors, inspirations, locations, experiences and how it shaped the character.

D20 Story Rewards

“Seeking a Path“: This is assumption of a specific class (for each class), the choice of a class path (ex: magic school, circle, berserker, etc. – usually at second or third level), and class features (ex: channel divinity).

Background Perspectives: The background perspectives (Personality, Ideal, Bond Flaw, etc.) provide a opportunity to give your character some outlooks and motivations. You can choose or randomly generate (+1 ) the values for these. If you tell the story behind the suite of all the perspectives, it is worth 2 character reward tokens ().
REWARDS ARE CUMULATIVE:

  1. x 1 = The character starts play with single measure of Lore (A +2 on a subject, such as Elves, that is used by multiple skills).
  2. x 2 = The character starts play with a measure of Inspiration.
  3. x 4+ = Gain an additional +1 on a single Ability that is less than 15 at the time of character creation.
  4. x 7+ = Detailed Upbringing: The character starts play with another measure of Lore. Their second Hit Dice in their primary class is maximum. The character begins with +1 Essence. Some or all of these may be exchanged for additional knowledge or power (spell, use, feat, etc.) agreed upon by the GM.
  5. Alternate Upbringing: This badge can be used if a player writes a character’s background stories in such a way that the character does not fit into (or gain the benefits of) any setting-normal culture/racial upbringing. Physiological traits such as dark vision are possessed by the character, but they gain no other racial aspects. Instead, the may use the Alternate [Human] Traits or a specific racial upbringing profile (though the story must explain how they were raised to adulthood in that racial/cultural mode). In humans this ignores all regional aspects, and takes the place of the normal ability score adjustment.

ICore Story List

“Seeking a Path”: