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<---- My PFS character, the first one I started leveling up. He is Chelaxian Human, currently a Sorcerer 5/ Green Dragon Disciple 3. I’ve been trying to get a backstory for him but I can’t think of anything. The only thing I have is based off of Dragons Revisited and dragons in general. Green dragons are the most likely of the chromatic dragons to forgo evil and destruction in favor of knowledge and magic. That’s how I envision him, a seeker of knowledge and magical artifacts, and also a hoarder of gold and treasure. He is in the Qadira faction because I figured allying with them would equal more wealth.
But, that’s about it. No backstory, no vision of his bloodline. I love the character, class, bloodline, and all. I just wish he had more “character”.
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Samurai JaneIn the Dragon Empires of Tian Xia, Aasimar mostly come from Tianjing the country which is straight-up blessed by the gods, formerly ruled by celestials, and was the one of the few to never be ruled by the Lung Wa.
But Kimyōna Shukufuku (strange blessing) was found in Hwanggot and essentially raised as a "spiritual arms race" trying to undermine Tianjing's heavenly mandate with their own god-touched citizen.
Gotta take a shower, so that's all I got for the moment.
I was looking at Tianjing, but I don't know if I can see that kind of rivalry with Hwanggot. They're both good nations, and there are monster run evil nations nearby. You'd think they'd be allies, or at least cordial neighbors.
But being from Tianjing might explain how there's a spare, abandoned aasimar baby around. When the race is the majority of the country, there's bound to be the occasional orphan.
Dragon Empires Primer talks about Tianjing having to fend off bandits and things since the fall of Lung Wa, so returning to their much earlier militaristic roots. There's even a trait called Tianjing Temple Guard that's based around guarding one of the nation's temple cities from bandit raids. So the idea that an orphan baby might be sent to such a temple city to be raised, and would end up with military training because of it, kind of fits. It's not quite as isolated as I originally had in mind, but it still works.
I was also looking at Japanese names on the internet. Apparently, Keiko means "lucky/blessed child", which seems appropriate for a baby found abandoned. Hamamoto means "near the sea shore", which could be a descriptor for where she was found. So I think I like Keiko Hamamoto for a name.
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Well, I definitely like the name I came up with, but I'm not really sold on the back story. Though the last name Hamamoto means "near the sea shore, but I also found Yamamoto, which means "base of the mountain", so I could use either, depending on where I decide she was found as a baby.
What I really want more than anything is a back story that answers the question of why she's obsessed with swordfighting, and then why she'd leave her homeland to go join the Pathfinder Society in the Inner Sea region. Being raised specifically to be a soldier, and sent away to get some real world experience works, but it's kinda generic and boring. Also, I'm thinking any nation with a really organized military wouldn't have sent her away - she'd just be part of that military hierarchy.
Maybe she wasn't raised from birth to be a soldier, but chose to focus entirely on her katana and the goddess of swordplay herself. But why? The whole growing up in isolation thing works for explaining her low wisdom, being young and naive, but it still needs an explanation. Also, "young" is relative, given that aasimar reach adulthood at 60, so the minimum age for a paladin would be 66, and average starting age would be 81.
Looking through the Dragon Empires again, I noticed the elven nation of Jinin. Shizuru is one of the major deities there, and it says they live similar to the samurai of Minkai, more devoted to honor and tradition than western elves. Unlike growing up in human lands, this could give an aasimar a chance to grow up with adults who won't die of old age before she reaches adulthood. Although being raised by humans who died of old age could be an excuse for her to leave her original home, so maybe a human nation would be most appropriate.
So I keep tossing ideas around, but I'm not entirely happy with any of them.
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Yeah, I know about the naming order. My other Tien character follows that, even while living in the Inner Sea. His name is Norowareta Nagagorjo. I got Nagagorjo from a list of "typical" nagaji names in one of the books. Norowareta is Japanese for "cursed", which replaced his family name when his oracle curse kicked in and he was banished from his family and home village. His fellow Pathfinders call him "Gorjo" for short.
I'm not sure what the standard is exactly in Golarion, especially when dealing with the Inner Sea. I'm just assuming this one will try to fit in when dealing with "westerners", since family name second just sounds better to me personally for this name. Also, if her family name is made up and doesn't reflect a real family, it might just not be important to her. Which goes back to the whole wondering about her real ancestors thing.
I'm thinking she shouldn't come from a country with a strong military or an immediate desperate need for warriors to fight oppressive rulers. Either way, the incentives to stay home would be too great. Maybe a human country, where she was raised by the community (an orphanage, monastery, etc), not adopted by a specific family. The people who raised her keep dying of old age before she truly reaches adulthood, so she feels even less like she fits in than just because she's a different race.
I like the suggestion that maybe she turns to Shizuru while trying to understand what to do about her uncertain ancestry, and what to do in life. The goddess's role in swordplay is what influences her to become a warrior. Wanting to do good in the world, but not truly fitting in where she lives, she seeks out someone to train her in swordplay in relative isolation, away from her earlier home. And not having specific ties to her home gives her plenty of excuse to go wander and end up in the Inner Sea.
This works, but my problem is that it still doesn't give her a personality. We've come up with a few possible back stories that I could use. But she needs a personality quirk, besides just a back story, to make her interesting to play.
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So I had an evil notion for my paladin. Maybe she calls herself a samurai of Shizuru, even though she's a paladin. That could confuse the heck out of the other players at the table, especially since this is for PFS, where I'll be playing with different people each session.
I still want at least one good personality quirk to make her interesting to play. I'll probably use some combination of back stories from above, but I like having something that I can use every session to give my characters some personality.
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Well, I'm always one for NOT sticking to class names when in character. My wizards frequently refer to themselves as mages, fighters call themselves warriors or soldiers, and I can't think of hardly any situations where a rogue would actually call themselves a "rogue", even if they're okay with admitting they're a thief, charlatan, or scoundrel.
So your paladin calling herself a samurai - if she's from or at least pretending to be from Minkai or Shokuro - would be encouraged in my book.
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Just FYI, I made some pretty big changes from what I said earlier about that aasimar paladin of Shizuru.
First, I ended up switching genders and sticking to male after all. I'm not sure why I got the idea to do this one as a female character, but the personality I came up with is based on a male character, so I switched him to male.
Second, his name is Yoshi Yamamoto. Yoshi means good luck, righteous, or good. Yamamoto means base of the mountain, reflecting the fact that he was found near the Zi Ha Mountains, which brings up...
Third, he's from the elven nation of Jinin. So even though aasimar live much longer than humans, they don't live as long as elves, so he's considered young and immature for 71 years old. The nation has no immediate threats to it, so the back story idea of sending him out to see the world before returning to protect his homeland seems to work.
Fourth, in searching for a personality, I struck on the idea of basing him on the character of Hiro Nakamura from the TV show Heroes. He's young, idealistic, and likeable. I have him talk with a bad Japanese accent and yell "Yatta!" when he does something right.
Since this is for PFS, and I have several PCs, I've only played him once so far. I think it could be fun playing a paladin with that type of personality in the long run, though.
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A note on age: There's a bit of danger in regards to playing "young" long-lived characters, because while they aren't quite as mature as older members of their own race, you don't live for several decades without picking up at least a few things, so trying to play the elven equivalent of a teenager is nothing like playing a human teenager. The average elven teen (equivalent) will be more worldly than probably even many humans in their 20s and 30s. That said, one of the classic ways they are probably just like human teenagers is thinking that they know more about the world than others around them - probably even worse about it, all things considered. But I also think they're likely to be more... subdued or subtle about it; a side effect of even an 'immature' individual who is older than most shorter-lived races will ever be.
Now just to be clear, that isn't to say don't do it, just some things to keep in mind.
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Yeah, that's a great idea! He's a natural genius at illusions, but is so hung up on the fact that he can't summon so much as a rabbit or evoke massive balls of fire that he doesn't even realize how incredible he is at making illusions so convincing that they might as well be real.
Lawrence, did you ever play this guy? He sounds just like one of Luke's Jedi Apprentices named Corran Horn from the book I, Jedi.
Corran can't use teleknisis, so he Jedi Mind Tricks the others into believing he can move rocks.
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Time to revive this thread again. I need some back story suggestions for a new PfS character I'm making.
Based on what I want mechanically, I made an elf with dumped charisma, and a strong focus on his elven heritage. I'm thinking he embodies the stereotype of the snobby elf who looks down on other races. I kinda want to put him in Sovereign Court, just for variety, so making him a minor noble of his homeland would work well.
The elven nation of Kyonin is a monarchy, but I don't have Elves of Golarion, and Inner Sea World Guide doesn't talk about any other nobility. Is there a minor noble class? If not, what other nation would be more appropriate to be his homeland?
Also, it's a fairly isolationist nation (which goes well with this guy's Elven superiority complex), so what would cause him to leave home and join the Pathfinder Society, while still remaining loyal to his homeland and people? Maybe an assignment from his elders to go out and see the world? A quest to find something in particular, and just using the Society as a source of funding for his travels?
Suggestions?
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Thread resurrection! I know it's a couple years too late, but you never did get a reply and not to be too proud of myself, but I think this is a pretty good thread idea that ought to stay alive. So...
I don't have Elves of Golarion either, but I'd say it's safe to assume that anywhere that has nobles has a healthy gradient of nobility, including a bottom tier of technically nobles. The core of an aristocracy is basically the royal family tree, with those on more distant branches making up the lower noble ranks. This is then modified and layered upon by marriages and the occasional granting of a peerage or noble title. Elves are usually implied, if not outright stated, to have fairly low birthrates for their lifespan (which is how they can be the longest lived race and yet not be nearly as populous as humans), and so I wouldn't think it a stretch to assume that elven nobility is much closer to that original core where the baron- and count-equivalents are all still fairly closely related to the main royal family. Alternatively, there could be more completely unrelated elven nobles in order to "fill in" and make up for this low birthrate. Indeed, if this is the elven standard, it may even be that granted peerships are more common - or even given precedence over hereditary titles. Since elves have such long lifespans, it could give them a longer period of time to find the ideal successor rather than just sticking with the current noble's kid for the sake of stability.
If this is the case, it would give you an interesting twist on the haughty elf assumptions. His haughtiness isn't (immediately) due to others just not having the right blood/heritage, but because each individual in elven society is expected to <i>prove</i> their worth while humans and other shorter-lived races seem content to just assume that their leaders will be good enough based solely on who their parents were. Of course, in effect this would lead your character to considering his elven heritage to make him inherently better than everyone else, but more because of the way that elven culture works in comparison, and his own ethnocentrism.
And then when it comes to proving worth, consider how long elves typically have to prove said worth - a single great deed would not be enough to impress an elf as over a century or two, pretty much anyone can stumble into performing a single great deed. Worth could only be proved by <i>consistently</i> performing great deeds -
appropriate to whatever "worth" the individual is trying to prove, of course - slaying a bunch of dragons, while great, says nothing about how good an author's books are. Basically, you can draw your haughtiness from imagining the dystopic version of a meritocracy.
As for why he's adventuring, I'd personally go for a fairly simple solution drawn from the pleasant convenience of his noble background and presence in the Pathfinder Society: he was assigned to it as a Kyonin representative. The Pathfinder Society is large, famous, and influential enough that I could easily see most countries -
even a fairly isolationist one - essentially treating it as a sort of pseudo-nation, and have all the same diplomats, embassies, and so forth with it as they would with any other influential country. While the majority of these would probably be diplomats who simply stay in Absalom and spend the majority of their time negotiating with the Society's leaders, the Society would probably require that each country that does so also send a certain number of individuals to join the Society proper as part of those negotiations. The Society isn't hurting for recruits, so they would probably only ask for a nominal number of these representatives - few enough that the quota could easily be met solely by volunteers who would see it as an honour to perform this duty for their country.