You do make your level 1 characters have appropriate backgrounds for their level right anon?
>>96803449>LevelsAlready fucked up, anon.
>>96803449According to the character proposals I've come across for my most recent lfg announcements, this is still beyond the capabilities of ChatGPT.
>>96803449You don't. Levels 1-3 are the background
>>96803449I unironically do "Bob the farmer picked up his grandfather's sword to defend his village from goblins" type shit for like 90% of my backstories.
>>96803765Based>>96803613Cringe
>>96804052It is unironically fun to be the simple farm boy with good traditional values in a party full of drama-whores with theater-kid problems. Dumped Charisma? Doesn't matter, you're still the most approachable, level-headed, and trustworthy. Clark Kent may not be the most Charismatic super hero either, but I'd trust him to watch my kids over Tony Stark any day.
>>96803449You play through level 0 and their background is that
>>96803449Even level one adventurers are considered above average compared to regular people.Part of the backstory should explain their training, even if it's only basic training by some random.
>>96804071This. Players who are unable to adapt their character and let him grow and/or change are complete bitches.>>96804093>5e is implied
>>96803449I don't run zero XP games in any system but the likes of Barbarians of Lemuria.
>>96804093My "training" is that I was one of the ones who stepped up and grabbed a weapon to defend our home with. The rest can happen in the actual campaign. Fuck this nu-age D&D 5e shit your character is best friends with Cthulu at level 1 or whatever.
>>96803449Of courshe, and it baffles me when people get upset that you do this
>>96804159I meant more like a soldier that went to boot camp or a wizard who took Intro to Magic. It doesn't have to be elaborate.
>>96804159>Friends with Cthulu at level 1The Warlock class (and removal of prestige classes in general) was such a fuking mistake.
>>96804071>theater-kidIs this the new "X-shitting"?
>>96804399>theater kid>new
>>96803449Considering the backgrounds are baked into the character options of my games, yes I do.
>>96804399Please lurk more, or better yet just fuck off with your retardation forever.
>>96803449I built 4 characters recently, a cluster of options for a game my friend was possibly going to run.I try and keep D&D and similar characters to less than half a page of bullet points unless I'm building above 5th level. Pic is my backstory for Nathan "Jib" Salle. a hexblade warlock, pact of the tome. (built at level 3).
>>96805434I do something similar, except I separate bullet points between the past, inciting incident, and how they got to the current location.I also try to name any important NPCs while providing a goal the character wants (pic rel is missing one).
>>96805721that was an excerpt. whole document is 4 pages.but mostly thats all the mechanical stat details (where I get what stats, equipment etc.) and the build level-to-level and notes about what the DM would allow (like adding the ritual tag to more spells for my Book of Ancient Secrets invocation.) one page was just a list of every ritual spell in the rules as written. I also try and get the art threads here to make me a character portrait (a good character isnt complete without one!) here is someone's rendition of Nathan in Pixel Art form.
>>96803449You don't write a background that presupposes power and abilities you don't have yet.
>>96803449I guess, if I want a character have some not worthy accomplishment in their background I always have it as a group effort.
>>96804399found the theater kid
levels aren't really good for storytelling, but in both DnD 3.5 and 5 a level 1 character already has an array of supernatural powers the commoner does not have. it represents training or inherent talent, but its still something your level 0 peasent would take years to achieve. IME if you are playing 5th its better to start people at level 3 and have them already have had a decent amount of training or real world experience.many of the traits you get at around 3rd/4th level are usually something very tied to backstoryand its better to skip the awkward phase of squishing goblins until you unlock the power that's in you backstory already.Great example is a warrior getting find familiar from a feat or a scholar having a lot of points in a knowledge skill they trained in before the adventure. Additionally, its hard to play old characters at level 1 due to levels trying to gamify gaining experience, which old people should already have some more than a 20 year old level 1.Some classes its easy to say you just woke up with powers one day, like sorcerer, but a fighter trained in a longbow had to spend years building muscle and skill to operate it at all. proficiencies in 3rd especially really speak of formal training
This character is a monk. This is a wizard. And this is a ranger.O no no no they must all be just random farmboys, the specialization must happen after they clear their first lair of goblins! Now give me the yous, maybe even call me based. Fuck those dnd theater kids am I right?
>>96806277No freakshit either, they must all be white human men. They must have ordinary lives, non of that story hook shit. Plain DnD only.Fuck libatards, am I right?
>>96806277>>96806505Nobody who is playing D&D in 2025 is based. I'm sorry.
>>96803449No I do not. What will you do about it?
>>96806582
>>96804218Nah, if he wants to be a farmboy who picked up a random weapon, just let him start as a Commoner who got lucky enough to kill a couple goblins. He can multiclass into Fighter after the game starts.
>>96808518this
>>96803449>He plays games with levels>He plays them by starting at level 1
>>96803765>>96804071I unironically think you are a never game fishing for (You)s, so here is mine
>>96803449level 1 narratively is supposed to represent people in their first steps of whatever class or journey they've set themselves on, so beyond what happened in your childhood and teenage years (if teenage years isn't filled with training for weapon proficiencies that martials begin with, for example) their backstory should be pretty bare because they're building it right now at the table.
>>96803449... why the fuck are you playing/running lvl 1 games? Are you fucking insane? This game doesn't fucking work if you are below lvl 4
>>96803449You can do "killed a dragon" as a level 1 character in D&D 5e. A couple hundred conscripts with crossbows can kill an adult red dragon (albeit suffering significant losses). You just make your level 1 guy one of those conscripts.
>>96810101This, Ive never played an edition of DnD (3.5, 4th, 5th, Pathfinder 1E and 2E) where starting level 3 or 4 didnt just open up backgrounds, storytelling and creative freedom massively with zero downside.
>>96803449>90% of the background is a story about how the character go isekai'd
