So, I'm going to be playing a Preservationist Alchemist in about a week, focused on summons/bombs. I love how the characters turned out, but I have no idea what to do backstory-wise.
Can you guys just shoot me some ideas? Idc how ridiculous it is, I just need a starting point. Thanks! =3
You seek to preserve some small portion of a Phoenix' body for it's curative properties with which you'll use to formulate grand curatives to help folks!
Hm... That's certainly an interesting idea. Thank you sir, hadn't even considered anything along those lines yet. XD
Hm... That's certainly an interesting idea. Thank you sir, hadn't even considered anything along those lines yet. XD
They thought you mad for resorting to your "eccentric" methods! Only they cannot understand what you do!
Your character has always depended on someone to get by, maybe a family member or a close friend that looked after you when no one else was around. Perhaps you are physically weak, or you just don't see your own strengths.
You were separated from your guardian not too long ago, and a difficult situation forced you to improvise.
Some thoughts on this situation:
-you were the torchbearer for your guardian, who was also an adventurer. He was defeated when a quest to rout out some kobolds turned out to be a fight against a young blue dragon. Fascinated with your intellect and the alchemical trinkets (just toys really) you carried on you, the dragon let you live in an effort to garner some skill at the alchemical arts. You learned a few things from the dragon too, and now weave magic and science together to ensure you're never without a companion to defend you.
-you were drafted into a regional army and found yourself producing simple alchemical items for the troops. You learned a good deal from the castles resident physician and add more to you knowledge each day. Perhaps the war was lost and you're now in exile from your homeland. Perhaps you had a close call that drove you to learn to summon allies. Perhaps you were selected to accompany the army as it moved into occupy the neighboring lands. Perhaps you aren't well liked by your fellow soldiers and don't think you can depend on them to protect you.
Just a couple of notions. I'd probably have had more with details of your race, ability scores and some general details about the setting/campaign. There's a lot of places you can go with just "preservationist."
There are a few keys to a good backstory in my opinion, and that's to have a reason for being an adventurer and know why you chose the path that you're on, nothing too epic for a low level character. But the most important thing is to have some motivation, or room for the character to grow.
In this case, it's about a character that doesn't trust in his own abilities. Maybe he always saves a summon for fear of being caught without someone to protect him. He's jumpy and suspicious and absent-mindedly handles the bottles that store his friends in them. He doesn't make real friends easily because he doesn't think he can trust anyone to keep him safe. Maybe he's running from the dragon that helped to teach him, or from the army he deserted. At the same time, his desire to learn more and make more powerful allies puts him into danger.
Those are some REALLY great ideas. Seriously.
As far as race, It's honestly still a toss-up between human and half-orc, although I'm favoring human.
As far as ability scores, he has high INT/DEX/CON, pretty much everything else is dump.
Weapon-wise, he carries excessive amounts of explosives, relying on them to back-up his summons and the group. Everything from Iron-Pellet Bombs to Fireworks and even Tanglefoot bags and the like, plus plenty of alchemical utility items. Prepared for everything, really.
He also carries brass knuckles and a sling as backup, just in case.
Alignment-wise, I'm leaning towards Chaotic Neutral or maybe Lawful Evil, although I could be persuaded to go Chaotic Good.
I think that pretty well covers things. Thank you guys so much for the ideas you've presented thus far, and I'd love to hear anymore you come up with.
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You have a phobia to people getting too close to you. Even living animals were too much for you to bear. Maybe a fear of being contaminated with their diseases or of being the target of their violence.
Still you were fascinated by death, life and its variations. You collected preserved dead animals (and some humanoid body parts maybe) and dived into studies of anatomy, treatment of dead bodies and so on. You were delighted to discover that with the proper reagents dead animals could be temporarily revived and yours to order around as you see fit. You hope to one day find something similar for sentient beings. Alternately, you might look for a cure to your phobia.
The bombs are for the times when you all other means to keep creatures at bay have failed. Also they make you feel more powerful/respected.
Melee combat is a big No-No though. Even worse if it involves natural attacks or unarmed strikes. You may well go catatonic or panic (if you as the player wish it so of course).
Needless to say, this kind of studies and powers did NOT make you popular with the locals. Hence adventuring.
Note : after writing the first 2 sentences, I kept on thinking of the Black Hand (villain from DC), aka William Hand.
That's an interesting idea as well, could be quite fun to RP...
Edit- And yeah actually that sounds quite a bit like Black Hand. XD