Tuesday, November 29, 2011

UADnD Character creation: Part Four:Why have a background concept

Several different forms of Dungeons and Dragons have tried various techniques for background history, based on the concept that, as with the real medieval world, a person in an imaginary medieval fantasy world can have his present life affected by his upbringing.

For the most part, a low social class should not overly inconvenience the player. If he rolls very low, and it doesn't work with his character concept, the DM should try to be understanding. Anything below serf (which a character without a background is assumed to be) should be considered optional unless everyone is getting it. If a player is willing to play it, the DM should be generous with other things, like one-time XP bonuses, or finding a decent weapon to start, and offset the loss in starting funds.

What's the point of a background, though? Other than the ability to maybe get bonus proficiencies and extra money, why should it matter?

Imagine you're in charge of the Justice League. The bad guys have hatched a plan to screw over the USA by hitting it in the Bread Basket, screwing over midwestern crop and cattle production. Which of your Superheroes do you send?

You send Superman....and not just because Superman is the one you should always send, but because Superman grew up on a farm, and knows about tractors and crops and cows.

Now imagine you're still in charge of the Justice League, and a rich socialite daughter of a crazy engineer is missing...who do you send?

You send Superman, because sending any other superhero is dumb, unless the badguy has Kryptonite, but let's assume Superman's still busy in Kansas: You send Batman, who has experience with socialites and gadgets.

So your background helps round out your character, explains why your Superman knows a haystack from a heifer, and also provides you with a small sense of reality for the character. It did not come into being the moment it was rolled, but instead it grew up on a farm in Kansas or where ever, and as a result has some small amount of information regarding how to plow a field or harvest grain.

Since we use a proficiency system, that's how it is expressed, by giving bonus proficiencies.

The following describes the method I use for determining background. It is a bit extensive, and it's almost unchanged for 25 years, so that's kind of impressive, yeah?

Step One: Legitimacy Roll 1d6, if you roll 1-4, go to Step two. If you roll a five, your character is a bastard, the son of an unknown person raised by your mother, go to step Three. If you roll a 6, your character was raised in an orphanage or in fosterage, your parents are unknown to you. You begin with normal starting funds, money you've scraped together or that was given to you out of charity, skip the entire background process and go to Part Four: Proficiencies.


Step Two: Social Class Difference (If Any) Determine Parent's Social class difference. Roll 1d6. If you roll a 1-5, go to Step Three. If you roll a 6, your Mother or Father married "Below" his/her station and you should go to Step Four.


Step Three: Social Class Roll on the following chart to determine your Parents Social Class (If your character is a bastard, reduce all scores except 100, 99, 98 by five points. This is because the Nobility and Royalty will ignore a Bastard and all other Social classes will reduce the woman in their esteem, occasionally reducing her Social class altogether.)

Racial Note: Non-Drow Elves- Reroll all scores below 16

Class Note: All Knight Characters or Paladins playing Knight-like Paladins count all rolls beneath 93 as "Chivalric."

1d100 Class

1 or less Slave or poverty (player's choice)

2-15 Poverty

16-60 Serf

61-75 Yeoman

76-85 Tradesman

86-92 Guildsman

93-97 Chivalric

98-99 Nobility

00 Royalty/Other

Social Class Descriptions

Slave: The character is a former slave, begins at -500XP and gains three bonus Proficiencies based on duties (DM’s choice), but no starting funds, just clothes. That is the total of the character’s background information; the character can skip to Part Four: Proficiencies.

Poverty: The character grew up with nothing. If the character has a large family (s)he may want to send money to them. Half starting funds. The character does gain the bonus Proficiencies of brawling and begging, however. The player skips to step six of the character background information.

Serf: Serfs farm on land they don't own, and receive 1/12th of the land to farm for themselves. It's not fair, but it is a living. The character stands to inherit nothing...except maybe debt. Serf background characters with living parents and good alignments often donate some of their profits to their parents in the hope that the parents may buy the land off. Starting funds are normal, but result from well-earned savings. In cities, the serf character often seems like he just fell off of the turnip cart, and it may well be that he arrived in the city on an actual turnip cart. The character chooses one of the following proficiencies: Agriculture, Animal handling: Shepherd, Animal handling: Swineherd, Animal handling: Goatherd, Animal handling: Poultrer, or Animal handling: Fowler. The player skips to step six of the character background information.

Yeoman: Yeomen have it nice. Small-time landlords, these people own the land that the serfs farm and are ruled in turn by the chivalric class. The character stands to inherit little or nothing, as most Yeoman are in debt to their lords, either due to low crop production, unruly serfs or tyranny. The character's starting funds are normal. The character gains the following proficiencies: Accountancy, Read/Write regional language, Maths, Riding, land based: Horse, and selects one of the following: Agriculture, Animal handling: Shepherd, Animal handling: Swineherd, Animal handling: Goatherd, Animal handling: Poultrer, or Animal handling: Fowler. The player skips to step six of the character background information.

Tradesman, Guildsmen: Tradesmen and Guildsmen are skilled workers who inhabit cities. While the PC may have a small inheritance of money or a building, his family has no land or title. Tradesmen are lesser paid, semi-skilled workers, whereas Guildsmen are masters of their craft, often spending years as an apprentice. The character whose social class is Guildsman or Tradesman gets normal starting funds, but must roll for his parent's profession (Step Five) Note that characters that were instructed to roll on the table in Step four may need to roll a profession for each parent. The player goes to step five of the character background information.

Chivalric: Parents have a land grant, they own and patrol lands until they pass away. Character stands to inherit little or nothing. Characters get normal starting Funds, but may re-roll any ones. The character gains the proficiencies of Land-based riding: Horse, Heraldry, Etiquette, Sewing, Read/Write: Common, Maths, and Languages, Ancient: Dm's Choice (spoken). The player skips to step six of the character background information

Nobility: Parents and character are titled, 98 indicates Barons, Dukes, etc., 99 indicates lesser Royalty, Princlings, Royal sibling, etc. The character gains the same bonus proficiencies as the Chivalric class, plus Barristry, Fencing, Animal Handling: Falconry, Musical Instrument (DM’s Choice), Higher Maths and Read/Write: Languages, Ancient: DM's Choice (written) plus a bonus weapon proficiency in Sabre, Rapier or Main-Gauche (regardless of class) The human or half-elven character will be 1d8yrs older than other starting characters, as he is required to go to school until age 13, when he then must serve as squire, page or apprentice for another 3. The Character has twice normal funds, but may be subject to the whims of his family. The player skips to step six of the character background information

Royalty: The character is heir to a throne, the present king/queen's immediate sibling or the child of a god, Powerful figure or similar being. Character begins with the same proficiencies as the Nobility, but with four times the starting funds. The character's face may well be on several of the coins of the realm and he will be recognized in his homeland. The player skips to step six of the character background information.


Step Four: Multiple Social Classes (If you have been told to skip to Step Five or Six, this does not apply to you.) Use Table below to roll one parent's class, discarding 15 or less, then roll d100 Note: you gain the abilities of the higher social class, and the starting fund thereof. It is your choice which parent is higher, mother or father.

1d100 Difference in professions:

01-20 Lower by three or poverty (higher of the two)

21-40 Lower by two or poverty (higher of the two)

41-75 Lower by one or poverty (higher of the two)

76-85 Higher by one(discard if first score is Royalty)

86-95 Higher by two (disregard if first score is Royalty or Nobility)

96-00 Higher by three (disregard if 1st is Royalty, nobility or Chivalric)

If parents are Guildsman or Tradesman, go to step Five, rolling on the appropriate chart. (if both are, roll twice) If parents hold two different G or T skills, you may take both bonus proficiencies, otherwise go to step six.


Step Five: Guildsman or Tradesman Skills: Determine parent's profession on the “Guildsman or Tradesman Professions” chart (following pages). If a class is determined by "G" or "T", the profession is allowed only of a Guildsman or Tradesman. If your bonus proficiency includes a bonus you already have, count it as taking the proficiency twice. Then go to step six.


Step Six: Parents and Siblings Determine family size, birth order and parent's status. When complete, go to Step seven. If a 1(or less, if a modifier appears) is rolled on # of siblings, character is an only child. Oldest (of character or siblings) is first born, same year indicates twins if desired. Choose gender, or, if desired, roll even-sided die to determine gender of siblings, even is female, odd male. In the case of multi-race siblings, roll the die for sibling age for the appropriate race. It is completely likely for Half-Elves have human or elven siblings, and there is a small chance of many other races having half-breed offspring. If this fits in your character concept, you can roll the “% sib dif race” on percentiles. You may choose any other characteristics of your siblings.

Family Size By Race (from Step Six)

Character Race:

# of siblings

sibling age:

% chance siblings are alive

% chance parents alive:

Both/One/Neither

% Sib dif race

Changeling

1d6-4

1d20-1X10+d100

40%

20%/40%/40%

0%

Dwarf- default

1d10

1d100

60%

60%/30%/10%

0%

Elf-default

1d8-4

2d100

80%

80%/15%/5%

5% half-elf

Elf-Grey

1d8-4

3d100

50%

30%/50%/20%

5% half-elf

Fey/Sidhe

1d6-2

1d20-1X10+d100

90%

90%/9%/1%

0%

Gnome-default

1d10

1d100

60%

70%/20%/10%

0%

Half-Elf-default

1d10-3

1d100

75%

20%/70%/10%

15%human

40%elf

Half-Elf-Grey

1d6-2

1d100+2d20

60%

20%/70%/10%

5%human

20%elf

Half-Giant

1d4-2

1d20

50%

30%/30%/40%

5%human

5% giant

Half-Orc

1d8-3

1d20

30%

20%/50%/30%

1% human

20% orc

Halfling

3d6-3

5d20

90%

80%/15%/5%

0%

Human

1d20

1d20+2d10

60%

50%/30%/20%

1%half-orc

1%half-gia

5%half-elf

Ogre

1d20

1d20+2d10

50%

30%/50%/20%

0%

Wolfen

1d20

1d20+2d10

50%

30%/50%/20%

0%

Zandar

1d10

1d100

40%

30%/50%/20%

0%

Guildsman or Tradesman Professions (From Step Five)

d100

Parent’s Trade

Bonus Proficiencies

d100

Parent’s Trade

Bonus Proficiencies

1

Apothecary

Herbalism, 1st-Aid, Lab Skills

55(G)

Goldsmith

Goldsmithing

2 (G)

Architect

Architect., Maths

Read/Write: 1 lang

55 (T)

Hatter

Haberdashery , Millinery

2 (T)

Architect’s Assistant

Read/Write: 1 lang

56(G)

Harpmaker

Musical Inst:Harp

Wiredrawing

3-6

Armorer

Armorer, Smelting

56(T)

Hewer

Hewer

7

Alchemist

Alchemy, Herbalism, Lab skills

57(G)

Herald

Read/Write

8-9

Arrowsmith

Arrowsmithing,

Fletcher

57(T)

Hosier

Tailor

10 (G)

Assassin (d20/level)

Anatomy, Venom Handling

58 (G)

Herbalist

Herbalism, Lab Skills

10 (T)

Fence

Appraising, Fast-talking

58 (T)

Joiner

Carpentry

11 (G)

Astronomer

Astronomy, Read/Write

59

Horner

Taxidermy

11 (T)

Astrologer

Astrology, Read/Write

60 (G)

Hosteler

Read/Write,

Management

12

Baker

Baking

60 (T)

Tavern Help

Brawling

13

Barber

First Aid

61

Ironmonger

Smelting

14

Barrister

Barristry,

Read/Write

62(G)

Leech

Anatomy, Healing

First-Aid

15

Bellmaker

Smelting

62 (T)

Knife-Grinder

WP:Knife, Knowledge:Knives

16

Blacksmith

Blacksmith, Animal

Handling:Horse

63

Latoner

Brass and lead working,smelting

17

Bloomer

Smelting, Mining

64(G)

Locksmith

Locksmithing

18

Bladesmith

Bladesmith, Smelting

64 (T)

Laundress

Sewing, Soapmaking

19

Bookbinder

R/W 2 languages

65 (G)

Lute-maker

Wiredrawing, Craft Instrument:Lute, MI:Lute

20

Bard

Musical Instrument, local history

65 (T)

Laborer

+1 to STR score

21

Bowyer

Bowyer

66 (G)

Marbler

Masonry

22

Brazier

Brassworking

66 (T)

Limeburner

Mining, Fire-building, Lab Skills

23

Brewer

Brewing

67

Limner

R/W 1lang, Calligraphy, Illumination, Art.Abil:painter

24-26(G)

Mason

Masonry, Engineer. and Stonemasonry

68

Minstrel

Musical Instrument, Local History.

24-26 (T)

Bricklayer

+1 to STR, Bricklaying

69 (G)

Minter

Appraisal, Forgery (coins only) or +2 to forge coins.

27

Butcher

Butcher, Anatomy

69 (T)

Messenger/

Porter

Read/Write, direction sense

28

Carpenter

Carpentry

70

Mercer

Haggling, Appraisal, Knowledge:Textiles

29 (G)

Page/Courier

Lo.History, Politics, direction sense

71 (G)

Navigator

Navigation, Astronomy, sailing

29 (T)

Carrier/ Messenger

Read/Write, direction sense

72 (T)

Miller

Miller, Baking

30

Cartwright

Carpentry

32

Chandler

Candlemaking

31

Carver

Artistic Ability: Carving

33

Chapman

Haggling, Appraisal


Guildsman or Tradesman Professions (From Step Five) (Continued)

34

Clerk

Organization, Read/Write

73

Needler

Smelting, wiredrawing

35

Clockmaker

Clockwork

74

Paper Maker

Papermaking

36

Cobbler

Cobbling

75

Prostitute

Courtesan

37

Coppersmith

Coppersmith

76

Pewterer

Smelting, Pewterer

38

T: Cook

G: Chef

Cooking, Etiquette

77

Saddler

Leatherworking, Land- based Riding: Horse

39

Cooper

Carpentry, Knowledge:Barrels

78 (T)

Rat-Catcher

Pest-Control, Biology, Venom Handling

40

Cordwainer

Cobbling, Leatherworking

78 (G)

Sage

Two NWP, DM’s choice, based on race and culture

41

Cutler

Bladesmith, Knowledge:Knives

79

Potter

Pottery

42 (G)

Dragoman

Lo.History, 3 Mod. languages

80

Scribe

Read/Write 2 languages.

42 (T)

Draper

Tailor, Knowledge: Fabrics

81

Scrivener

Read/Write, Politics, Maths

43 (G)

Embroiderer

Embroidery, Sewing

82 (G)

Shipwright

Shipwright, Carpentry

43 (T)

Dyer

Tailor, Dye-Making

82 (T)

Sailor

Sailing, Swimming

44(G)

Enameller

Craft: Enameling

83

Spy

Espionage, Tailing

44 (T)

Farrier

Blacksmithing, Animal Handling: Horse

84

Seamster/

Seamstress

Seamstress/Tailor

45 (G)

Engraver

Engraving

85

Shepherd

Animal handling: Pick one:

Sheep, goat, pig, cattle,deer

45 (T)

Fisherman

Fishing, Butcher, Net use, Knowledge:Fish

86

Vintner

Winemaking

46

Fletcher

Fletcher

87

Skinner

Tanner/Furrier, Butcher

47

Forrester

Hunting, Forestry, Survival: Temp. Forest

88

Soapmaker

Soapmaking, Herbalism

48

Furrier

Tanner/Furrier, Butcher

89

Tanner

Tanner/Furrier, Butcher

49

Gardener

Agriculture, Gardening, Knowledge:Plants

90

Teamster

Teamdriving, Animal Handling: (pick 2)Horse,Ox, Elephant, Goat, Gi.Lizard

50 (T)

Gem-cutter

Gem-Cutting, Appraisal

91

Tinner

Tinkering, Tinsmith

51

Glover

Leatherworking, Craft:Gloves

92

Trapper

Set Snares, Butcher, Tanner

52

Glassblower

Glassblowing

93

Waterlender

Haggling, Teamdriving

53 (G)

Glazier

Glazier, Lab skills

94

Weaver

Weaving, Knowledge: Textiles

53 (T)

Groom

Animal Handling:Horse

95

Wheelwright

Carpentry, Craft: Wheels

54

Goldbeater

Craft: Gold Foil

96

Tinker

Tinker, Haggling, Tinsmith

72(G)

Nailer

Smelting, wiredrawing

97

Multiprofessional

Roll twice.

Step Seven: Starting funds

Using the multipliers in your social class, if any, roll according to the class below, and then go to “Part Four Proficiencies” on the next page:

Character Type

Starting fund dice

Character Type

Starting fund dice

Men at arms

5d4 X 10gp

Spellcasters

(1d4+1) X10gp

Rogues

2d6 X 10gp

Clergy

3d6 X 10gp

Mentalists

3d4x10gp

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