Character backstories

[Crucis]

One of the things I wish that this forum or the wikis had was a list of ideas for character backstories.  Not character builds, but backstories.  I can't speak for other players but I find it VERY difficult to get into creating a new character without a backstory.  To me, my characters are more than a hollow shell of pixels and stats.  It's hard for me to get into any character that doesn't have a backstory.  

 

I wish that there'd been some pinned forum thread or a page on the PoE wikis for backstory ideas for people like me who care about back stories, but often find it difficult to come up with ones that fit the character we might like to play.  But for what it's worth, I know that that ship has sailed so to speak.  Still, I thought that I'd bring it up, if only to get it off my chest.

[daven]

Can't you get some inspiration from the backgrounds available in the game? I'm pretty sure you choose background/former profession or something for your character. In the first game you have a conversation with someone which allows you to develop it further if I remember. I quite liked that in the intro to the first game. 

Edited March 6, 2020 by daven

[Boeroer]

I always do backstories "backwards": I'll come up with a mechanically interesting/fun concept and when it works I'll figure out a backstory that justifies the build choices I'll make.

Example: I will build a SC Berserker focused on Vengeful Defeat, Effigy's Husk, Barbaric Retaliation and (cloned) Ring of Reset and then think about a backstory about a manic guy with a death wish who put on a cursed ring he got from his former wife who now is a Banshee so he can't stay dead but has to rise again and again. Like masochistic Romeo and sadistic Juliet - but without dagger, poison or family feuds...

[claudius]

On the Pillars of Eternity 1 General Discussion (No Spoiler) section of the forum me and another forum member named Alendra posted backstories of our characters.  We each had our own thread.  It's on second page of PoE1 General Discussion forum.  You could take a look at those and you could make your own thread inviting Pillars people to share backstory ideas??

[Crucis]

9 hours ago, daven said:

Can't you get some inspiration from the backgrounds available in the game? I'm pretty sure you choose background/former profession or something for your character. In the first game you have a conversation with someone which allows you to develop it further if I remember. I quite liked that in the intro to the first game. 

Honestly, Daven, the backgrounds are a little too thin on info to provide enough inspiration.  The best source I found online was a DnD related website with about 33-34 backstories.  The general idea, at least for me, isn't to get details as much as inspiration.  The details can be filled in later.

https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/100_Character_Backgrounds_(DnD_Other)

 

7 hours ago, Boeroer said:

I always do backstories "backwards": I'll come up with a mechanically interesting/fun concept and when it works I'll figure out a backstory that justifies the build choices I'll make.

Example: I will build a SC Berserker focused on Vengeful Defeat, Effigy's Husk, Barbaric Retaliation and (cloned) Ring of Reset and then think about a backstory about a manic guy with a death wish who put on a cursed ring he got from his former wife who now is a Banshee so he can't stay dead but has to rise again and again. Like masochistic Romeo and sadistic Juliet - but without dagger, poison or family feuds...

I guess that it's just a difference between you and I, Boeroer.  I don't worry that much about the build beyond choosing whether to play single class or multiclass, and what subclass or classes to play.  I particularly don't like planning a build in such detail that I'm planning out what end game equipment I want to use for the build.  (It feels a little too meta-gamey to for my taste.)  I prefer to just take it as it comes.

Also, I guess that I'm a bit stuck in my own box, so to speak because I've gotten to prefer playing my PC as a front liner, as least mostly so.   In my last run through, my PC was a Swashbuckler, who generally ended up in melee, but would fight from the mid rows at times.  Never finished that run through because I'd set the difficulty to increase with character level, and it got to the point where I was having so much difficulty killing big bads that the runthrough stopped being fun for me.  So, I'm tempted to do a similar character, though perhaps not a swashy exactly.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, claudius said:

On the Pillars of Eternity 1 General Discussion (No Spoiler) section of the forum me and another forum member named Alendra posted backstories of our characters.  We each had our own thread.  It's on second page of PoE1 General Discussion forum.  You could take a look at those and you could make your own thread inviting Pillars people to share backstory ideas??

I'll check it out, Claudius.