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I always have a background career written into my backstory along with choosing my first level skills & equipment according to what would be appropriate for said job. My character starts out doing something involved with my chosen profession when the story allows. I think it helps make my PC more 3 dimensional.
My recently retired character was a master chef. With the two I am running now, one spent time as a crab fisherman and farmer, the other is a grifter with a habit of faking his death when he gets caught.
They drink in taverns and try to seduce barmaids.
My current character got tired of being cooped up in a tower (son of a wizard) and struck out just for the sake of seeing the word. Then he joined a mercenary group to get money to live off of (and get his level 6 WBL).
Sort of. I have played in/ran more than one game where the character's motivation or identity was closely tied in to his original career ("I need start up capital"), or where the character in one capacity or another, continued in his "day job." The later works well for city or town games, and gives a very easy out in the event someone can't make it to a session. ("Sorry, but my uncle's sick and I have to help out at the shop, so I can't help you raid the Lair of the Slaver Lizards.")
There's occasionally some RP overlap between the two. It's great for The Blues Brothers-esque scenes when other members of the party show up at the workplace of the other.
For example, combining the two, one of the more...effective 'getting the party together' scenes really took the "you meet in a bar" to a whole new level: basically, some of the players thought the other players were only playing roles of people with jobs in or at the bar for the sake of having something to do as two of the PCs played out a scene.
They drink in taverns and try to seduce barmaids.
But, isn't that what adventuring is all about?
My current character was a traveling tinker. Others have been carpenters, city guides, guardsmen, researchers, criminals, or just about any normal occupation you can think of.
I really enjoy having a session or two at the beginning of a campaign where we play our characters before their serious adventuring days begin. (I've set it up as the GM, too.) Sometimes it's meeting as kids so that when we meet up again at the start of the 'adventure' we'll have a reason to trust each other. I've seen it done as a low-level adventure on the way to the campaign site (ship ride), or as another kind of mini adventure.
I think it's a great way to start characters out.
with my saturday group, my current female Tian inquisitor of Zon Kuthon works as a jailer, torturer and executioner, she is now also a sherrif and a captain
some other notable characters are
Dimitri Molotov "The Steel Seer" was a scientist, architect, and engineer, he designed his own crazy projects, tuned up his prosthetics, and cursed the gods.
Kira Moonsong, unlike most 76 year old elven females; would skip class and tease old lecherous human males by appealing to thier lolicon side. she never bedded with them, but she would tease them to the point of dangerous levels of arousal, take thier wallets, and run faster than the speed of sound. she also had a tendency to accidentally kill lecherous nobles by slapping them for huge amounts of sonic damage.
Usually my characters all have backstories that involve some profession or some quest they are on. One of my wizards (lawful evil and totally insane) is working on taking over the world when he's not adventuring. He's got a nice little tower on a remote island where he lives and works on magical research and building up magical items for his next adventure.
My ranger is a for-hire dragon hunter, so when he's not adventuring he's either taking a well-deserved vacation or he's researching dragons that need to be dealt with.
My druid has her woods that she manages and protects. She also provides help for some local human farmers on occasion. Plus she is a master craftsman bowmaker and fletcher, and she sells her bows and arrows in town.
My fighter is a divorced, alcoholic gambler who spends way too much time in bars and casinos. He is a doting father though, who sends 1/3 of all his income to his daughter to help her build a dowry which he hopes will get her married off to a rich noble. Unfortunately he tends to gamble his 2/3 away and needs to go off adventuring again pretty quickly.
My illusionist wizard is a scholar and lecturer who travels the world to advance the cause of illusion magic. He's an advisor to the local king and has free room and board in the palace. He is also an architect but he hasn't done much architecting in a long time.
My cleric is an ascetic monk who lives in a monastery when he's not sent on an adventure by his superiors or his god.
I had a 3.5 spellthief once who was last seen tumbling off a cliff on the shoulders of a troll stabbing at it with both flaming daggers. I dunno what he's doing, the DM never said if he survived or not...
My 4e ranger is the only character I have that doesn't have much in the way of a personal life. He's been on crazy adventures non-stop for years in-game and never really had a chance to develop a life away from his adventuring group. I guess I better start figuring out what he's gonna do with his time when the campaign finally winds up...
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Most of the games my group and I play in, start with the PC's before they become adventures. Sometimes they are learning their trade and something happens and they have to go save their home town and then become adventures afterwards. Other times one of the PC's might decided he has heard so many stories about adventures (like star athletes today) and wants to be one, so gets stuff set up and then goes and recruits the other PC's to join him on her quest etc.
Now some times we start the games with them already as new but established adventures but most of them time our games start with them just before they become adventurers.
My Cavalier was the middle child of a logging family in Ustalav. He eventually set to prove himself and decided to join his brother as a member of the Korvosan guard. However, his brother was eventually slain in riots in the city and he joined up with a group to go fight up at the Worldwound.
He trains for a year and learns his chivalrous ways, growing to become a true Cavalier. After a few months, his group is ambushed by a gang of Allips. His Wisdom drained, he slips into a coma for two months before eventually coming to. Obviously shaken up, his commanding officer assigns him with the task of answering a charter sent by the Swordlords of Restov. After a month of travel, he arrives in Brevoy, ready to liberate the Stolen Lands.
Well my Witch that was in Shackled City is now the High priest of the Church of Urgathoa in Cauldron, Enslaves random Clerics of Nethys (they're good for making tea), and when not eating random foods or living a life of Decadence he also serves as the Town's Fortune teller.
Oh Kevin, how awesome you were, and still are. (True Neutral)
My Witch in Curse spends his time with the City Guards, Especially now that he has aquired himself a Guard Uniform (since level 1 he's been after "one of those Snazzy Guard Uniforms, for personal reasons.")
You can either find Him in the Guard's Citadel thingy, or he's walking the streets with a couple guards Carousing, and healing the sick.
Ezekiel, Honourary (Official) City Guardsman, happiest man in Korvosa. (Neutral Good)
let's see who else....
My Master Chymist Sebastian (Serpent's Skull) works with the Red Mantises as a Poison Crafter, and also goes out on Missions with them to 'eliminate' anyone who Breaks a contract or fails to maintain their side of the deal. His Alter Ego Thresher however, is dedicated to making the World a Better place, and is willing to kill anything and everyone who gets in his way of making said Paradise, so he doesn't stop Adventuring, and as he gets more dominance over Sebastian's life, Sebastian spends less time at Izlamagorti (or however the Island is spelt) although, since the Mantises are aware of THresher they generally send Sebastian to places where there is a contract breaker, conveniently the place is also the dwelling of various Evil groups (who coincidentally compete with the Mantises).
Thresher leaves the Mantises alone because they were the ones that created him Mostly, and y'know, they point him at things that are more "evil" (or so he thinks). (Lawful Neutral/Chaotic Good)
and my last Character:
Aspexia Thrune, Chellaxian Enchantress Slaver. She collects pretty people, and lives a life of Decadence, generally using her pets for furnature and the like. If she needs money, she Suggestions, or Dominates, or Charms or whatever she has available at the moment, to get some rich guy/girl (she doesn't care) to donate some and/or all of their money to her. (Lawful Neutral, with Evil Tendancies)
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Lets see:
Xirrion the Sorceror is well a Calistrian Prostitute in his spare time and is a Pathfinder who studies Runelords...
Zirrion the Necromancer tends to spend his spare time making constructs and crafting magical items to sell.
Jack the Priest runs a tavern named the Haunted Harrow with his wife who is a Priestess.
Lucien the Ranger is a bounty hunter and hunts rare delicacies for fun and profit he also enjoys raising large sized animals like Rocs, Dire anything, dinosaurs if its big/rare he likes breeding them for mounts.
Drax Stoutblast is a dwarven alchemist who worked as a mining engineer till his father the mine owner told him to go out and see the world, get some real experience under his belt. Suggested he come back in a hundred years to take over the family business.
During his non adventuring down time, he is usualy going over surveyers maps looking for good mining sites.
Depends:
Choose any 9.
Hmm. Prior to becoming an adventuer, Morag was a happily-married 1st level expert. Then she was a slave. Then a corpse. Then reborn as a 1st level cleric. In her non-adventuring time since, she's made medicines, tried to survive in the wild, trained with monks, been ship's medic, put down riots...all this before campaign started.
In campaign, my character spends an extra hour meditating at night, takes an extra watch, maybe does a little sewing. We haven't had a lot of non-adventuring time, so what she's done has been to create magic items, get to know people, gather side-quests, complete side-quests, meet the Rovers, study in libraries...doesn't seem like she's ever NOT adventuring. I think she has the modern American view that you have to be working all the time. Of course, she's in the lucrative adventuring business....
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Not much - I'm in PFS for the money, to avoid having to work for a living. Recover from injuries. Drink. Try to find some new bright shiny objects to buy.
I suppose before I retire from PFS, I'll learn locksmithing or a story telling or something. I only just turned 125, and it won't take too long (in elf years) to reach 12th level and forced retirement.
My tian paladin/monk of Irori is mostly absorbed in his daily regimens of training and meditation when he is not adventuring. He used to be the next in line for the head seat in the assembly of lords in his prefecture, until they realized he was into equality, fair payment, abolishing slavery etc and had him sent on an impossible "holy quest".
Steadily growing more and more acclimated to the strangeness of the west, he spends his time when not adventuring writing poetry and keeping a journal of his odyssey to the west, actively preaching peace and cohesion between rival local factions and courting the party rogue, who prefers to keep their relationship a secret, which he respects, when they retire at night.
Depends:
Hookers
Time
Hard time
New Orleans
Hard Drugs
All of the above.
None of the above
Nothing Choose any 9.
but there's only 8!
I don't know anything about Golarion yet, but isn't it against the law in most (civilized) places to do that ?she Suggestions, or Dominates, or Charms or whatever she has available at the moment, to get some rich guy/girl (she doesn't care) to donate some and/or all of their money to her. (Lawful Neutral, with Evil Tendancies)
Slavery is mostly legal in Golarion, (Taldor and The River kingdoms being the only places it's Illegal IIRC), so i don't see how Dominating someone out of their Bank account is Illegal, especially in Cheliax.
beyond that, just because she's Lawful Neutral doesn't mean she follows the laws of the Land so much as she has her own Laws, and she refuses to break them.
pretty people make wonderful couches, don't you think?
Lesee...
My bard has been a pretty spunky sacred prostitute of Calistria, after being a just plain prostitute to continue to survive in the harsh outlands of the River Kingdoms. Every spare coin went towards her education with the first master of music and magic she could find. In the nature of a willful teenager, she trained against her master, to become a mistress of debuffing, and despite her humble and sleazy origins dreamed of reaching Pitax to somehow influence things there so that no other special little girls would have to suffer as she did to come to some gainful employment (she is a court bard). The call to adventure came on the heels of heartbreak, and has been a very thrilling ride. As of late, she spends her spare time entertaining homeless children, infuriating ignorant old women who believe her efforts to improve morale through music are selfish, and repelling the advances of Pitax's least competent and disciplined Regulars when she performs at the tavern.
My tiefling Rogue/Wizard/AT was formerly a courier of sorts in Ollo, in the Shackles. She essentially ran most of the less skilled but no less dangerous errands for her master, a horrible thief who used her youth and naivete and the fact that she was living in squalor and eating garbage before they met to his advantage. That all ended when the organization that was looking for him found them, and she was offered the choice to make herself scarce or die. Currently in our Serpent Skull campaign she is the crafter of wands, when the group has the money to spare for components. Otherwise, she researches spells and is attempting to compile the history they have learned of Saventh Yhi since her party arrived, and sometimes she incorporates the designs of the city into tattoos she intends to craft at some later date.
My cleric of Sarenrae is a former slave and harem girl, who for her uncanny resemblance to the sun Goddess's avatar, kindly disposition and aptitude for divine magic was allowed to study at Her temple, where she attained a manner of freedom. When her princely father decided it were about time she settled into some more advantageous position, she bolted from Katheer, plying her trade as a healer among merchant fleets and caravans till she came to the fabled River Kingdoms, where all men are free. She joined up with a group of mercenaries who intended to settle The Stolen Lands and make a new government, an opportunity she could not pass up. She currently serves as the High Priestess of the Kingdom of the Narlands, she is recently married, and lately has conceived a child, a personal goal of hers. In her very taxed free time about the capital and in the various cities of the kingdom, she uses whatever magic she has to spare to heal and tend to the sick that petition her, and oversees a rather large network of adepts who are healers, doctors, surgeons and midwives.
Depends:
Hookers
Time
Hard time
New Orleans
Hard Drugs
All of the above.
None of the above
Nothing Choose any 9.
but there's only 8!
That's why I'm a genius!
FWIW, I like to have characters that have a style background or profession/hobby that they can sort of do while adventuring. A lot of times this leads to being the party chef, as it's easy to throw in details about that stuff mid-adventure to help create a more "full" character.
Currently, my human-adopted and raised-by elves brews really high-brow alcohols as a side hobby. He tends to get a few batches going, then go off to right some wrongs, then come back and tend to the different alcohols. As he is an arcane caster, his eventual goal is to learn to fuse magic with alcohol (not creating potions), creating new kinds of "wondrous brews" that no one has ever thought of before. Eventually, I'd like for the character to open his own Pub, that would ideally become renowned for the strange and fantastic brews served within.
On of the more colorful backstories of a character I've GMed for was an Alchemist that had to resort to adventuring after a failed attempt to burn down his newly-inherited family alchemy shop for the insurance payout.
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I'm playing an Oracle of Life who's convinced he's The Chosen One, tasked with make the world a better place before the end of the world commeth..
He has the wasting curse so tends to avoid direct diplomatic actions.
To this end, when he's not adventuring he spends his time in taverns writing 'Jerk Letters' to various authorities and influential people.
''Dear Sir,
I am writing to inform you of the terrible conditions your workers are forced to endure whilst tending to your fields. They are often dirty, smell and terribly poor.
Soon the world will end and we all shall be embraced by righteous fire. The soul of the sinner will burn longest.
Please ensure you clean your workers and pay them more money and in return I shall ensure your soul finds salvation.
Thank you for you time,
The Chosen One''
Are you describing your character's choices or your own? :)Depends:
Hookers
Time
Hard time
New Orleans
Hard Drugs
All of the above.
None of the above
Nothing Choose any 9.
Yes.
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I'm playing an Oracle of Life who's convinced he's The Chosen One, tasked with make the world a better place before the end of the world commeth..
I play a shy female undead who won't talk to people, so she writes them letters signifying their impending death.
Let's see...
Daern (who is not a cleric, but a fighter) performs marriages, funerals, and mundane armor crafting for cash.
Gauthak runs an Adventurer's supply shop in skullport.
Haen makes the finest Serren wood bows you can find.
Shump runs a shipping company.
Mordis runs a bar.
Droog (an orc) runs a small dwarven citadel that he and a band of humans founded - go figure.
Brianna (a good drow) owns a set of franchises that manufacture magical armor and robes from spidersilk to order.
Viktor is the Count (and now only ruler of the area, so I guess he's King, by all rights) of a small group of lands and head of a group of knights who patrol on giant bats at dawn and dusk.
Crud has used his Endless Bag of Sausage to start a butcher's shop.
There's plenty of others, but those are the highlights.
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I play a shy female undead who won't talk to people, so she writes them letters signifying their impending death.
** spoiler omitted **
Do you read Terry Pratchett by any chance? (Specifically Reaper Man, I think?)
Do you read Terry Pratchett by any chance?
Of course! How can I not? I'm a fan of fantasy, and of puns. And nobody puns like Sir Terry!
Well,it depends upon the character.
I always give some thought to the 'pre-adventuring' background of my PCs. Often I'll take a skill or two to represent a former apprenticeship, professional experience, etc.
A few of my former PCs
D&D, Ravenloft setting
Ephraim Marot was a planter. His farm produced fruit trees and indigo. He was involved in directing the slaves in farm tasks, as the family didn't employ a fulltime overseer. His free time was often taken up with hunting with his dogs and bodyservant in the woods around his farm.
His brother ran the mercantile side of the family business, operating a riverboat.
Tristan Appleman was the son of an alchemist. He helped his father about the shop, making matches, soap, small quantities of black powder, etc.
Edmund Hastings was a game-keeper on 17th century England, ebfore being transported to the Dread Realms by the Mists.
Call of Cthulhu:
Alisdair MacGregor was a moderately successful children's book author, who also wrote for the pulps under a nom de plume. He had a wife, but she killed herself early in play.
Cyberpunk:
'The Spectre' grew up in the walled slums of Detroit. All his schooling was from old braindance tapes. He watched a lot of Miami Vice reruns. He fell into crime at a young age, showing a real talent for burglary. At 14, he escaped the slums by climbing over the neighborhood walls and running the gauntlet of police, his baby sister strapped to his back.
My half-orc fighter was an apprentice to the local smith before adventuring caught up to him. He still works at the forge during downtime.
Do you read Terry Pratchett by any chance?Of course! How can I not? I'm a fan of fantasy, and of puns. And nobody puns like Sir Terry!
I LOVE Discworld.
I've been in two campaigns that started at 'Level 0', and they were both great fun... I will actually go on to say one of them was one of the most extraordinarily well run and well put together campaigns I ever had the enjoyment of (ages ago) and the excellent GM really gave us an awesome canvas upon which to build our characters.
That also being said, I built a campaign at L0 that ended up going for around seven years, and over time had around a hundred players go through it - a few of the originals came and went from time to time, but because of the depth and solid understanding of the evolution of the game world there were always hooks for new players. Some players left to go to other universities and colleges, work etc, and others left when 'their characters work was done' so to speak.
So yeah, its a great platform, but can take some effort and planning - rewards are well worth it, especially if players like grittiness. My campaign was low magic/high grit at the start, evolving in to high end fantasy over time... the idea was them to have the transformation into heroes be a hard one full of struggle - so they shone with pride at the end.
Jana, NG Inquisitor of Erastil. Gnome. Works as town priest. The only real cleric in town is a "traveling cleric" of Cayden Cailean who claimed to be traveling and moved into the tavern three years ago. Jana chafes at his presence since she'll never be able to command the magic he has the potential to wield. She adventures to one-up him in the eyes of the townsfolk. It hasn't worked quite right, as adventurers gain levels they attract higher CR monsters which tend to stomp near or into town.
Eravyr, N Bard. Elf (Ekujae). Went against the village elders by suggesting if the evil they fear and train for exists under the ground then maybe they should seek it out and fight it. Tried to lead a group into a cave, got caught by village warriors, was exiled into the Mwangi wilderness. Is still stuck on Smuggler's Shiv after five months of real-time.
Sesehen, NE Cleric of Ydersius. Yuan-ti Tainted One pathfinderized into Augmented Human in service of the serpentfolk. Born to human slaves in Ilmurea, was groomed by her serpent-folk masters to invade the surface world and gather information on the humans above, gauge their strength, test their mettle, weaken their governments, aid in the search for Ydersius's severed head to pave the way for the rebirth of the empire. This campaign began before Serpent's Skull was even announced, was finished this past August. Made for a beautiful lead-in to Serpent's Skull.
Gwaenlyn the Everproud forges blades-the mastery of steel is more than swinging it well.
Alina Las'Baelin runs from her responsibilites, doing as she will between bouts of playing hero.
Ryliah Las'Baelin searches for her sister so she can come home and see their father one last time before he dies. However, her compassion ofr others also means she is torn between her real duty and her drive to help others.
Rachel and her husband, Alisander, run a charity boarding school for orphan children.
Iryna runs a low-key healing lodge in the Dog's Teeth of Cassomir. Though she does not advertise her worship of Sarenrae, not does she hide it. She simply relies on the community's need to keep her work hidden from the Taldoran authorities.
GNOME
The dwarf cleric I am currently running generally works within his town temple or helps with the family brewery.
I always create a history for my characters - it gives me a better idea how to play them and a better appreciation for who and what each one is. But, that's me.
My character is a fighter. As several posters have repeatedly said, that means he can't do anything outside of combat. So, I guess, he just sort of stands and stares off into space.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Do you read Terry Pratchett by any chance?Of course! How can I not? I'm a fan of fantasy, and of puns. And nobody puns like Sir Terry!
I LOVE Discworld.
Had both Discworld and Xanth as well, but those were sillier times... OOH, almost forgot Tales from the the Floating Vagabond the easiest RPG to run a Labrynth or a Through the Looking Glass inspired campaign.