this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2025
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I've become increasingly convinced that people don't want to play low level characters. Level 1 characters are neophyte adventurers. Their backstory shouldn't include significant a mounts of adventure, combat, or heroics, because it introduces a significant amount of ludo-narrative dissonance into the campaign.
Unless there's a reason they've been de-leveled.
The only time I ever loved an OP backstory for a lv1 was a friend who was a great mage of death and destruction who destroyed anything deemed beautiful out of hatred.
A witch turned him into a diamond, and his necromancy (somehow) allowed him to possess whomever held the diamond.
He was a goblin for 3 levels and then a wolf ate him and the diamond so we had a pet dog for awhile basically.
empathicvagrant@lemmy.world Backstory is probably the wrong concept for a low-level character. They, instead, have a background. Backstories are prequel fodder, while backgrounds are used to figure out character motivation, and how a character reacts to future events.
Generally speaking, you don't want to fill in blanks you don't need filled i, because it's creatively limiting your future self. If the events that got you to Session 1 are too interesting, you've probably written too much.