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I am working on a plot and I need a backstory for one of my NPCs, I have made 4 of the 5 backstories that I need but am now stuck on the last one. All I have is the class/race/alignment of the character, if someone could lend me a hand coming up with a backstory for him it would really help.
- Grobnar: LE Elf Ranger
--Gwynbleidd
Can you give us the backstory of the other 4 NPCs, so that we can get a feel for your style of NPC's backstory ? I think it will help fire our imaginations more than a near empty slate.
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His alignment, race and class choice all offer suggestions as to why he'd be the sort of person he's become.
Elves are generally chaotic and good. He's lawful and evil. He's got to have a reason for that drastic alienation from his birth society. Likely he holds them in contempt, or sees his people as weak, soft-hearted, frivolous, lacking in focus & discipline, etc.
His choice of ranger as a career suggests that he spends a lot of time alone, and even when in the presence of others, regards them as beneath him. Perhaps he thinks of himself as purified and made stronger by whatever bad thing happened in the past (the loss of a loved one, some awful thing that led to a more carefree and kind-hearted elven relative or lover dying). In the pure act of the hunt and the kill, alone in the wilderness, he never abandoned his grief, but instead sublimated it into become a solitary predator, as incapable of being emotionally hurt as a mountain lion, a perfect engine of revenge, taking out his long-buried outrage on the entire world.
His first favored enemy would likely be the sort of creature that led to the death of his idealism (and any elven lover / family that might have exemplified that idealism), although, once starting down that path, there's no reason why he wouldn't continue, adding new favored enemies not out of hate or revenge, but just to continue proving himself in this new forge, not just a perfect predator of X, but a perfect predator of *all,* always increasing his skills and his range of potential targets, always proving himself the hunter, who brings the pain and fear, never again the prey, who must endure the pain and fear.
This event is open ended. Based on the characters first Favored Enemy choice, the sibling/lover/parent/friend could have been mauled by an animal, dragged down by an undead abomination, devoured by a tatzylwurm, cut down by an orc, etc. The relationship of the individual lost is open as well. It could be a parent that he never felt approved of his focus or training, and whom he can now *never* appease, leaving him feeling like he can never earn their respect or validation, as that darned whatever-it-was robbed him of that opportunity. It could have been a sibling, an idealistic stereotyped perfect older sibling, to whom he looked up to, perhaps a bard, chaotic and good and representing the fun-loving rules-defying kind-hearted whimsical elf of tradition, and in his/her death, he came to resent everything that made the sibling more popular, and, in his mind, led to their senseless death. If only they had been more careful, more disciplined, less soft-hearted and giving and vulnerable. If only elven society didn't encourage this sort of reckless dangerous thinking, and elven children weren't discouraged from being cold-blooded, practical, ruthless and safe.
He's channeled his anger at the loss of his own innocence into the art of the kill. Every time his arrow (or sword) ends a life, he sees some other stupid creature's dreams die the way his died, and it gives him a grim sense of satisfaction. He's channeled his rejection of his own people and their flighty frivolous endless-party ways, to become a cold-eyed bringer of death, who looks at everyone with an eye to criticizing their weaknesses, their softness, and imagining how they would look running in terror from his deadly arrows from the dark.
The only things he would openly admire would be the sleekest and most efficient of killers, particularly those that, like himself, hunt alone, such as panthers, sharks or owls. (Eagles and wolves, mating for life and travelling in pairs, or packs, he'd be less enamored of, as they're dependence on packs or family units he would regard as a sign of weakness.) If he has an animal companion, he would treat it with the exact amount of reward and discipline required to make it obedient and efficient. There would be no love there, because he never allows himself to risk that pain again. The animal companion would likely not be named, for such things are meaningless, frivolous and sings of emotional sloppiness. When it dies, he replaces it. If it's something edible (like an elk or bear) he will not let the meat go to waste, although he won't carry trophies or remembrances of his past companions (although he'll see nothing wrong with making a pair of boots out of one, should he be in need of new boots).
Like a serial killer, he likely *will* carry trophies of kills that hold some significance to him, where he proved himself superior to someone or something that was a good challenge, or a particularly satisfying hunt and kill. Some weakling or easy kill does not warrant a trophy, but someone who spit in his face before dying may be 'worthy' of occupying a space on his belt.
Pick the individual who died. Pick what sort of 'weakness' (in his eyes) led to this death. Pick the agent of this death (generally by going backwards from whatever Favored Enemy you wanted at 1st level). Pick a rationale for why he would have hardened his heart and blamed more traditional elven views on liberality and kindness on the death of this loved one.
Note that it doens't *have* to be a loved one. The resented parent or 'perfect' sibling whom he will never be able to truly prove himself to (or superior to...) because they were taken from him before he got to shove in their face how much better he was, how much more deserving of their respect he was, etc. works just as well. He could blame first Favored Enemy for stealing away his chance to prove to his overly critical father, or teacher's pet older brother that *he* was the better man. Perhaps, even as a child, he wanted to punish and humiliate this authority figure or relation, and with their death at the hands of Favored Enemy numero uno, he was outraged with the knowledge that he would never have the opportunity, and took out this frustration on the species in question.
Perhaps the orc/ghoul/whatever that killed 'dear old dad' robbed him of the day he'd dreamed of, where he'd be able to put an arrow in the old fool's throat, and see the fear and helplessness in his eyes as he tried to stop his life from draining away, while his 'never good enough' son watched in satisfaction...
I am working on a plot and I need a backstory for one of my NPCs, I have made 4 of the 5 backstories that I need but am now stuck on the last one. All I have is the class/race/alignment of the character, if someone could lend me a hand coming up with a backstory for him it would really help.
- Grobnar: LE Elf Ranger
--Gwynbleidd
Isn't Grobnar the name of a Gnome somewhere?
LE Ranger.. hmm. Mercenary - I'm not a bad person, I just work for bad people.
Who needs a tortured childhood? Maybe some one just happens to have more of an interest in money than in moral compunctions?