Gwenevere Rothwell
May 19, 2023
So, you’re playing Pathfinder 2nd Edition, you’ve got this fancy build made and even planned it out all the way to level 20. You go to discuss it with your friends while feeling super excited, but then you realize they’re talking about these interesting and in depth backstories and you… have nothing. You have a build, but not a character. So, what do you do?
So, you’re playing Pathfinder 2nd Edition, you’ve got this fancy build made and even planned it out all the way to level 20. You go to discuss it with your friends while feeling super excited, but then you realise they’re talking about these interesting and in depth backstories and you… have nothing. You have a build, but not a character. So, what do you do?
Giving Flesh to your Skeleton
This has happened a few times to me in the past and when it happens I sit down either by myself or with the friends I’m chatting with and figure out the basics of a story. You don’t need to figure out every single moment of their life, but I try to figure out the following elements:
How does their ancestry fit into the world around them and how were they treated?
Who are their parents?
Are their parents alive? Did they raise your character?
How did they get into their chosen class and background?
Why did they become an adventurer (or whatever occupation they’re going into for the campaign)?
Think of one memorable moment from their past.
These don’t have to be figured out in order, in fact I often figure out the first four all at once because your ancestry is going to affect your parents (and perhaps even their relationship) and whoever raised you is likely going to form the how and why of your background and class. Not always, but likely.
How you became an adventurer or whatever occupation it is you’re going into is entirely up to you and you can make it as epic or cute as you want. A few examples are:
You were just starting to get your life together. You were about to be married, had a child on the way, your parents got back together, but that all changed when the White Dragon showed up and froze the entirety of the town with its frost breath. You survived. Somehow. But you’ve changed. You feel the chill of the dragon’s breath run through your veins and you feel nothing but hatred towards it. Thinking about it makes you overwhelmed with anger of supernatural proportions. There’s only one thing you must do: hunt down and slay that dragon for what it did to your family.
Your life has always been pretty mundane. You’re a farmer, but you’ve always longed to be more. You taught yourself to read and you’ve read so many interesting stories about adventure, death defying stunts, and incomprehensible levels of magic. One day, that’s going to be you, but you know what? That day might be today. Not wanting to worry your parents, you decide to sneak out in the middle of the night to go on adventures. Your time as a farmer has made you strong and you steel yourself with your family’s old sword and your bow for hunting season. It’s time to show this world what you’re made of!
You were born, as a twin, to a family of halfling wizards. They’re an unusual bunch. Startlingly traditionalist. They believe that above all else, study makes right. You, however, have absolutely no magical abilities within you. You struggle to master even basic cantrips. Your twin on the other hand, is practically made of magic. The way they can wield it is effortless and even leaves your parents to be astonished. Despite their incredible magical talent they still study hard into magic, and despite your efforts and countless hours of studying and practice you still haven’t mastered a thing. Your parents are far from pleased with this, and it’s clear that their favouritism is shifting towards your twin. Eventually, you discovered an old book in the town library about a different kind of magic: alchemy. You applied the same dedication to alchemy as you used to with magic, but this time… it works. Where a wizard manipulates the world around him to cast his magic, and a sorcerer is born with innate magic within themselves, you work with the world. Instead of casting spells and flinging fireballs, you concoct potions and elixirs that no wizard could dare to mimic, and you throw incredibly devastating bombs. Sadly, your family was less than pleased with this outcome and insisted that you should learn magic. So, you left. You seek adventure not only to test out your latest concoction, but to also prove to your family that alchemy is just as good as wizardry.
By just figuring out these core elements of your story you can make what feels like a fleshed out character in a few minutes. From there, as play continues, you can build upon that backstory. You don’t need to figure out ahead of time what your character’s favourite food is, but in the moment, in a tavern, you might ask yourself what they’d order. You ask your GM what’s on the menu, you think about it, and you order fish, potatoes, and a cup of coffee. If you’d like, you can mention to your party why they love fish and potatoes so much, or maybe the reason they love coffee is because it smells like home to them. Or, maybe, they just like fish, potatoes, and coffee and there’s no real reason behind it. The power is in your hands.
Wrapping Up
Hopefully this little guide helped you out with turning your build into a character. If ideas pop into your head as you make them or something just doesn’t feel right, then go with that feeling. Follow that idea. Maybe you start thinking that your character is going to be a farmer, but then you decide to make them a humble noble who goes out to help the farmers with their work. Maybe working on your backstory leads to you changing things with your build, and that’s certainly okay too (as long as it’s before actual play, otherwise you’ll need to talk to your GM about it). It’s better to do these things before Session 1, but you might not realise you have no backstory until Session 0. This is what Session 0s are for, after all.