So, here's my character: https://www.dungeonmastersvault.com/pag ... frame=true

A tiefling warlock named Zanzilbar
Stats: Str9, Dex14, Con9, Int12, Wis9, Cha20
Mods: Str-1, Dex+2, Con-1, Int+1, Wis-1, Cha+5
Hp 7/7 Sanity 10/10
Afraid of fire.
Zodiac sign: Rat.

I ain't going to be a frontline fighter with those stats, but Warlockery and ranged weapons will be easy to provide with my Cha and DEx. I can also be the face of the party with my crazy social skills. I have +7 Intimidate and Deception, so that can get us out of scrapes.

Right now Zanzilbar's personality is a bit of a blank slate. I'm waiting to see what everyone else has going before I commit to any characterization. Stats suggest I am great at intuitive thinking more than book learnin'. I understand people, not things. Along with the Dex, maybe a little ADHD?
So what does everybody else have?
Any ideas about how our characters know each other?

Background: Grown in a tiny village, a big fish in a small pond, he joined the army to Make A Difference believing he'd quickly gain glory and fortune. The reality of war taught him some harsh lessons, but he never turned his back to his comrades, striving to improve their morale and volunteering for many risky tasks. With time, however, the powerlessness of feeling a single small soldier in a Universe-wide war eroded his discipline, driving him to skim insubordination to save more lives.
One day, he saw a group of escaped slaves being chased down by Hell Knights. The whole troop saw them, but the commander refused to help. The "primary goal" - whatever that was - would be compromised by making their presence known. As if he had waited all his life to do that, he ripped all insignia of the army from his equipment, grabbed his backpack and ran after the fugitives.
His intervention distracted the Knights enough for the slaves to regroup and win a desperate fight, but he almost paid that victory with his life. After days of fruitless efforts from the makeshift healers of the group, his deadly wounds spontaneously closed, and he woke up to the incredulous stare of the freed slaves.

Personality: He behaves like an unshakeable - and from time to time almost laughably naive - hero tirelessly working for the Greater Good; he is a good person who genuinely wants to help, but from time to time the facade slips for a moment, showing the doubt and guilt beneath. He'll never admit that he never had a full night's sleep since his near-death experience, or that he can hear the people he couldn't protect howl for vengeance whenever he allows his mind to wander. He doesn't know who or what saved his life and granted him his powers, and he's not sure he wants to know.

He wanted to be a hero. Now he's struggling to keep himself together.

This should work as a sheet (lemme know if there's any problem), here's the bare bones and the narrative stuff for ease of use.

Alan Vohnheim, Human Paladin

Abilities: Str 21, Dex 11, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 18
Perk: Strong
Shortcoming: Light Sleeper
Fear: Bridges
Zodiac Sign: Rooster
Feat: Polearm Master



In other words, something resembling BNHA's All might and FMA Alex Armstrong. He's not highly educated (tho he may be proficient in History to reflect his passion for legends) and likes simple things, which doesn't necessarily mean he's stupid: in his youth a simple worldview was all he needed, in his adulthood he latches onto it to avoid darker thoughts. He's interested in people and their goals - he's happy to find people living somewhat resembling normality in this troubled times - and he'll probably have both Persuasion and Intimidate to either smooth things or... convince misguided people to reconsider their life choices. Not a schemer, more of a believer in a good first impression.

In the group of escaped slaves mentioned in the Bg there was Aaarrrgh's character, so there's one point of contact. My character didn't travel a lot as a boy, getting as far as the nearby towns for festivities and related competitions; as a Soldier, he has moved around more, and he may have met new people in the cities the army protected or took back from the Knights. I don't know how much time has passed since his desertion, during which he probably lived as a mercenary/errant knight.

PS: Since as a deserter I can hardly use my military rank, can that feature be replaced with the Rustic Hospitality of the Folk Hero Background? Given Alan's temperament and time as an "errant knight", he could have enough goodwill among commoners to justify that.

...Huey, or concepts keep stepping in each other's toes. I was going to pick the Folk Hero background. I'm looking over options now to keep us different.

Also thinking about personality. We need to make sure we're not too similar there either. Am I understanding correctly that you put up a happy facade to hide your pain? Because of so I might go more stoic and grumbling.

No, it's fine! I think playing non-humans is more fun, honestly. And it will be easy enough to tweak the backstory I had in mind to fit a dragonborn.

Edit: so if we're allowing mix-and-match backgrounds, could I stick with Folk Hero but replace the feature with a variation of the Gruul clan background from Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica? Basically it would allow me to find food and shelter in inhospitable wilderness, which seems like a skill I could have developed while leading a group of refugees through a warzone.

Could I get an answer to this question? If it's a yes, the dragonborn version of the character will be ready to go.

Some character concepts I've been playing with here. Any of these look like good meshes for the group?


Pseudo-Aghori mystic. I seek to cut attachments to the material world, perhaps to tie myself more closely to the purer world of spirit. I detest emotion and endure strange and horrible trials to test my detachment from the material. Sounds kind of villainy...

I was a dog until I was polymorphed and still sometimes act like one. Would explain the charism certainly.

Stageshow magician, but also an actual magician. Dissapointed nobody gets the brilliance/point of his nonmagical tricks.

He (or she, I don't care) has been stuck in a treadmill of crises of faith, unsure if they should take their cues from parents (and which one), village elders (what, you mean they disagree too?!), or the church and philosophers (tried a few, but nothing really stuck). Now, after a life of uncertainty and inaction, my PC has decided that it's time to take charge even if their not 100% certain, because indecision is definitely not the best action. Probably going to dip my toes in a few philosophies before learning to take chage for myself.

Actually an artifact from long ago or far away that possesses the character you see.

Cursed to be continual joyful. Always acts nice. Hates it, hates it so much. Maybe I'm unable to be mean except through sarcastic obsequiousness?

Refuses to take anything seriously as a sort of defense mechanism. Mocks enemies a la Spiderman.

Tell me if any of these seem like they have a good dynamic with your character/world.

okay, first draft after taking a walk:
Esther Harcourt used to be an assassin by trade, exchanging life for money under the banner of Black Recluse. One eventful day, he gained a glimpse of the upper echelons of the organization, a web of schemes meticulously woven by drow. Time grew and Esther's paranoia grew with it, as he unveiled pieces of the puzzle and connected the dots, balancing the best he could to pretend not having seen anything, and frightened that his escape would all but confirm it. Eventually, stress overcame him and his mind snapped, relieving him of all his burden. Esther forgot all about his troubles, and many other things of his past, now carrying the last name he could remember, a nobleman and the victim of his last assassination. The symbol of the drow will forever haunt his mind though.
Freed from an immeasurable and long-forgotten burden, Esther is now a carefree traveler looking for a purpose in life, untroubled by his lapse of memory. However, there is no denying the fractures in his mind, and from those cracks he slowly unravels the cryptic riddles of a strange form of power. And while not usually one to propose violence, a lifetime of bloodshed sometimes makes him overcorrect when forced to retaliate.
tl;dr: former assassin stressed out so hard he got amnesia and latent psionic powers, now he's a kind of weirdly easy-going guy, for the most part