3 Ways to Write a DnD 5e(2014) Character Backstory
You’re all done figuring it out. Done figuring out your very first character in Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). Done navigating the various classes and races that D&D has to offer. Done with rolling your dice for stats and doing the math.
The Dungeon Master (DM) – your best friend – looks around the table and tells everyone that they expects you to have a backstory to them at the latest a week before your first play session. (Whoa – Wait – What?!) When did D&D state anything about homework? First all the math and now language arts? This was supposed to be fun! What the hell?
Hey fellow struggle bus! My name’s Kat and I’m a DM of over 12 years. Don’t worry! Even the most experienced D&D player struggles with building character backstories. You can honestly make your backstory just a handful of sentences. Or you can be an overachiever – like me – and submit a 13-page short story about your character. (I’m so sorry, Slathien. I really was trying to make it shorter.)
Mind you, you don’t have to be a good writer to craft a great backstory. If you think that I have an advantage because I’m a DM, you’re wrong. If you get stumped when coming up with these dramatic arcs for your D&D character. You aren’t alone, even I get stumped.
Let’s lay out the different styles and where to find the information for your success.
Character Backstory Types
You don’t need to be intimidated by any of these options. Most DM’s are looking for one of these common styles of Backstories. Each starts with the same information and just grows the more you explore whichever character you are looking to make.
Oh right… The Player’s Handbook is your best friend through this process. You can find more elaborate backgrounds or options for classes in the expansions but to limit confusion just start with the Player’s Handbook. You can open your book to page 125 and halfway down the page you’ll get an explanation of what a background is.
Think of it as your origin story. Everyone starts somewhere before becoming something or going somewhere else. The list starts on page 127 with Acolyte and not only shows you what details your life may have started as but gives you 4 – 5 different tables to choose your traits from. These are the building blocks to your Basic Backstory.
So I know I’ve blithered a bit in getting you set up so let’s go over those styles.
Basic Backstory – This is the type of backstory that’s just a small paragraph summarizing the parts that are given or discovered in character creation and through those tables of your Background.
Journal Entry – This is the middle ground for a lot of people. As the most common backstory submitted it’s a good option to be able to explore some of your character for a better start then just the summary of traits.
The Short Story – This is for those overachievers, or just the super creative people who know where their character came from, where they are going and what they really want in life.
So how do you write any of these? Which one should you choose? You start all of them by gathering the same basic information from your chosen background, so start with the basic backstory. If you want to do more after that then keep reading to find out how.
Creating a Basic Backstory
This is for those who aren’t as creatively inclined, those pressed for a time limit or just those who have no real idea on what they want out of their characters just yet. Always remember everything can be expanded upon as you go through your play sessions.
The basic backstory is just that — basic. It’s a summary of all the table choices from your background written out to explain who your character is.
There are often four tables that most DM’s care about knowing though each background has its own unique table associated with it. In this you can focus solely on your Personality Trait, Ideal, Bond and Flaw. Most DM’s are also perfectly fine with you hand picking the ones you want off these tables so you don’t have to roll if you don’t want to.
Here’s an example of a basic backstory for a character named Kita. She has an Entertainer’s background with the variant of Gladiator since she is a Halfling Barbarian. Why a halfling barbarian, you ask? Because I find it funny and functionally unique as a class and race combination. 😊.
When Kita rolled her tables, she found out that she has the:
Personality Trait – She’s a hopeless romantic, always searching for that ‘special someone’.
Ideal – The lawful choice of Tradition. The stories, legends, and songs of the past must never be forgotten, for they teach us who we are.
Bond – She wants to be famous, whatever it takes.
Flaw – She’s a sucker for a pretty face.
So now that you’ve got this information you can turn that into a paragraph like this:
“Kita is a Gladiatorial Barbarian who wants to be famous no matter what it takes while still holding to the traditions of her people. She is a hopeless romantic and a sucker for the first pretty face she sees, thinking that this time they might just be her special someone.”
See? Simple, easy, and you get the feel of who she is.
Now for those of you who wanna step up your game a bit and embellish your character, you can do that by writing your backstory as a journal entry.
Creating a Journal Entry Backstory
For those of you who prefer writing in first person this is the way to go for creating your character backstory. Always start with the basic backstory so you can get the understanding of your Trait, Ideal, Bond, and Flaw before you get into the journal entry itself. This sets you up for success in the long run.
The journal entry is a little more intricate and takes a touch more thought to how the character came to be what they are and what they like instead of just something like taking the tables and making a paragraph. Sometimes the best way to start is by going basic and trying your hand at the journal entry.
The journal entry is a good balance between basic and short story since you get to learn more about why your character became the way they did from their start and why your character is going the direction they chose. It’s in depth enough that you can start to be the character you’ve created with room to expand during your campaign. It also gives your DM a bit more fluff to work with to be able to hook you (and your character) into the game better.
So, with all that in mind, here’s an outline to start your journal entry.
Introduction – This is where your, “dear diary” start is. Usually starting out with a “Hey my name is and I’m this.” There isn’t much to this section to embellish unless you want there to be.
Explain your character’s personality trait – This is where you get to expand on why your character’s personality is the way it is. Give it some thought, and an event attached as to why, how, or what caused them to be this way.
Explain your character’s bond – This is where you expand on why your character as the connections they do. Again, think on why, how, or what happened to cause it and give a little explanation.
Explain your character’s ideals – This is a perfect place to explain why prior events caused your character to have the ideals they do.
Explain your character's flaw – Like the ideals usually events of the past cause our flaws for the future. This is the perfect spot to explain why things happened or why the flaw is connected to the personality trait or the other tables.
Explain why your character became their class – In this you can lace it throughout the Journal Entry if your one event changed your character leaning them into their class as well as their background choice.
Add a closing statement – Tell why your character is changing, going to, or becoming something else at the end of the journal entry so they have a reason to be where the DM is having the game start.
These sections can be rearranged minus the intro and closing to create a seamless journal entry for your character. For an example, let’s go back to Kita, the Gladiatorial Halfling Barbarian so you can get the feel of what a journal entry might sound like.
“My name is Kat and I’m a gladiator. I’ve always been one for tradition even if I’m nothing like my fellow halflings. I follow a much more violent path, but I still believe that at my core the stories and songs I grew up with, those of my people will never leave me and have taught me who I am.
Even though I’m a stickler for my traditions, I still want to be a famous gladiator one day. I mean – just being famous in general would be perfect. No matter what it takes! I’m not afraid to bleed for it. I am a barbarian after all.
Though I do have to say that I did meet someone. Several someone’s… I guess that I’ll find someone one day. Dwarves are especially gorgeous. There’s just something about those broad shoulders and beard that gets me every time.
But I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what started it first. Whether my temper was the thing getting the better of me or if it was the battle that tore apart my home. I knew after that fight thought that there was nothing more thrilling to me than the thick of battle.
And now, after all this time in the arena I can say that I’ve grown bored. I think that’s why I started this journey to Icewind Dale. I think that’ll be a great challenge for me.”
You can start to see how the journal entry is a good way to start understanding your character with a little more detail with a small amount of work. It’s the way to fluff up your backstory and gain ground so you can play your character with a better thought to what drives them down the line.
Now that we’ve got those writing gears grinding, we can lean into the short story. Don’t worry! No panicking at the thought of this. DM’s don’t expect this level of detail. We absolutely love it, but don’t require it because we know how difficult it can be to think about this in depth for a character. Sometimes words are hard.
Creating the Short Story Backstory
Aka the overachiever. I know that in using both those names for it, it gives it a negative feeling, but they really are meant as affectionate. As a player, you can make life rich stories for your character and that’s how you know you’ve really connected with them. It’s not that you can’t connect to your character by using the Basic or the Journal Entry style of backstory but sometimes you find yourself a lot further down the rabbit hole than you anticipated.
As every story goes, you need the basics before you start.
With the short story, you learn who your character was,
What drove them to their choices?
What drives them now?
What problem/tragedy occurred for them to move on or stay?
What they want to do with their lives?
Who are the people they met or lovers they may have had?
You can also explore familial relationships or childhood. In the case of an elf it may be the midground of their life since they are long lived. In the case of a Tortle (think Ninja Turtle) you’re only a year when your parents die and start adventuring. You’ve got to think about what you made and why you made the character that way.
What I will do, if you feel inspired to take this route, is give you questions to ask yourself or your character depending on how you connect to help you learn more about who they are. Otherwise, you’ll wind up reading a 12-page story about how Kita became a barbarian, her time in the gladiator pits and lost loves with whatever strife occurs. 😊.
Some things to think about when writing your Short Story:
Where did you grow up?
Were you close with your relatives?
Did you have siblings?
Who was your best friend?
Who was your crush?
What drew you as a child?
What happened for that to change if it did?
What happened to lead you on the path of your class?
Who taught you?
How did you wind up in this place?
Why do you know a certain language?
What happened on your journey to get here?
When did you discover you could do this skill?
What drives you?
What do you want to do now that you’re an adult?
Where do you want to go?
Do you like sightseeing?
Do you prefer battle?
Are you good at talking to people?
There are a few more I’m sure you can think of on your own, but if you answer these questions, even some of them, you can begin building who, what, when, where, and why you started in what class and where you did. I would suggest aiming for the first-person view. I have trouble with the easiest way to write so I always write in third.
When you go to hand it over, as a DM and someone who constantly forgets to do this, please read it out loud and fix at least the spelling errors. My grammar sucks without editing help so I can’t beg for that. 😅
Now where do you go, you ask? You go out and do the hard part. Start writing.
What Style Should You Write?
You’re armed with 3 simple but great ways to write a character backstory. Basic, Journal Entry, and Short Story all start the same. It’s all about how you expand and ask questions of your character and yourself as to how elaborate your character becomes. In short, it all depends on how far down the rabbit hole you wish to go, my friend.
Whether you are looking for a quick backstory that you can flush out as you go or if you’re looking for the rabbit down the rabbit hole – like me – write what you want how you want about your character. And as a DM and a player both these are all acceptable ways to write a backstory.
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