Building a description for my character

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Right, Basically with myself having created a new character and also with thanks to the 'Backgrounds you like' topic, I have come up with alittle inspiration to create a new topic.

Basically, I'm going to give you his stats and the feat chosen. What I would like you to do, is if you could possibly create a background for him as to why he has those stats. I myself have an idea personally of why he has the stats but it is alittle rough around the edges and I am hoping that you guys could give me more ideas and to also help come up with some D&D creativity

Right, here we go:

Balgonard - aka Bali (only to his friends)
Barbarian
Chaotic Good

Str: 18
Dex: 12
Con: 16
Int: 8
Wis: 10
Cha: 6

Feat: Toughness
Hitpoints: 18

There we go chaps, please help me out on this, and again, thanks

 

Why on earth did you choose toughness? you are a barbarian with good con so you certanly could do without the 3 extra hp.

 

Might be a prerequisite for a Prestigeclass he's aiming for?

What's his race? Trademarks of his personality? Is he a member of a barbarian tribe, or is he a regular joe that just fights really passionately? What's his current occupation? Does he have family? What's his favourite weapon? Stuff like that.

I have no problems with helping you get a background, but you'll have to give me something more than stats/feats. I'm not going to do all the work for you

 

I can't actually help people with a background that someone else is gonna play, but if I have to, I agree with Faragon that we would need more info:

Where is he from? Does he worship a deity? Why doesn't he have any inventory ( )? What is his age?

 

Caleb, when you play in the world of Living Greyhawk and hardly have any hitpoints, it is always a handy idea to be taking toughness at low levels Besides, he's a dwarf. They almost always have thick hides to help take the damage

Right, alittle history hmm?

Basically he and his brother were travelling with their parents who were traders. Along one of the traderoutes, a band of Orcs attacked the caravan and would have slaughtered all had not a roaming human barbarian tribe intervened. With their parents already dead, the humans took the dwarfling brothers in and raised them as their own.

As for the country that we originate from ... its Onnwal (Yes, we play LG UK)

Kali (Balgonard's brother) is the brighter of the two brothers (Int 10) and Balgonard's effective occupation is following his brother and looking out for them.

His favourite weapon is that of a Great Axe though he also likes the warhammer as well

Deity wise, I'm guessing that it would be Moridian (sp)

His inventory includes the usual kit along with wearing an iron pot for a helmet, a chain shirt, a throwing axe and a portable battering ram with the head being moulded into that of an orc's head with its lips pouting.

Age wise, i think he's 44 and the younger of the two brothers

As for taking toughness, apart from the explanation above, leading the life of a barbarian and not being the brightest of the lot leads you into a bit of trouble (and pain) and as a result, Balgonard has toughened up quite well

I hope this is enough information, but if you need more, just let me know

 

To my shame I must say I'm not familiar with Greyhawk. I use to look at a character's livingplace to give him a character, adding information and using it while developing his attitude etc. So now I'm less interested in creating a background... (As if I can do that for someone else.)

I could give some more useless and usefull information perhaps.

Bali (I think I can say I'm his friend ) could also worship Haela Brightaxe i.s.o Moradin. She is the deity assosiated with luck in battle and joy of battle, CG, but, to my surprise, wields a greatsword. She's worshipped by dwarven Barbarians and fighters.

Here is a silly idea on why he has his stats, just in short:
Strength 18: Should not be to hard. He gained strength in battle and Kali uses him as a mule, carrying loads of stuff (battering ram etc)
Dexterity 12: No comment. It's just like that.
Constitution 16: The rough life (?) and different climates on his travels has made him tougher.
Intelligence 8: He used to be smarter, smarter than his brother even. But one time when enraged, he got a hard blow against his head (again the batteringram comes to mind) and is no longer capable of logical thinking.
Wisdom 10: Nothing special with that, so no special explanation.
Charisma 6: The blow against his head has left its marks and people notice he is not that bright and don't take him that serious. Also, being a dwarven barbarian might make a rude impression and he doesn't smell that good. But! He does eat with knife and fork!

Just some ideas.

 

Toughness does sound like a waste of a feat. There's not much difference between 15 and 18 HP, then 30 and 33 or 45 and 48. I strongly suggest Power Attack and then Cleave when you get another feat. Roleplaying-wise, this suits a barbarian well, and particularly a not oh so intelligent one. With Power Attack, Great Cleave and Improved Criticals (Great Axe) at level 9, you would be quite deadly.

 

Wouldn't the deity of the human barbarian tribe be a more suitable deity for your dwarf? You can of course think of a reason why he should be worshipping Moradin or another dwarven deity, but since he was raised by the humans, wouldn't they also have thought Bali and Kali to worship the tribe's deity?

 

Wasn't Moradin LG? Perhaps a CG dwarven deity would be more appropriate.

 

Haela Brightaxe.

But this guy wouldn't worship a dwarven deity if he never learned of them

 

That is correct. Need some CG or CN deity of war, but I don't really remember the name in the Greyhawk pantheon.

 

Kord comes to mind from the PHB, but anything beyond that would need to come from a more expanded book.

 

The deity would kind of depend on the region where the tribe is living. Different races of humans have different deities for certain portfolio's in Greyhawk. Kord would be an excellent deity for a Suel character, but an Oeridian or Baklunish character may worship another deity.

So, what region does your character live in? Onnwal doesn't have many barbarians, but has dwarven clans, so does your character originate from Onnwal, or is the tribe living there (or is it something completely different)? If the tribe does live in Onnwal, Kord would be a suitable deity as the citizens of Onnwal are from a Suloise-Oeridian decent.

 

Thanks for the input guys I do indeed appreciate it and it has given me some more ideas to use.

Now, unfortunately, I myself have shifted Balgonard's stats around and feats etc so I shall give you the new stats come next week as I'm away in Southampton this weekend.

Also along with some stat changes, i think that his background is being replaced as well. I think we are going for a dwarven clan or something. Not too sure... I'l lfill you in on the details soon