Hero Builder's Guidebook (part 3)

Alright, let's wrap this puppy up and move on. The next section is 'Creating Your Personal History'. This is basically a set of random tables that will give your character a full-on background complete with home, family, training, life events, and relationships. The home communities are race-based; dwarves roll on a different table than halflings, for example. Strangely, the terrain part of the home climate section is not race-based; your elf could roll 'desert' as his home terrain, for example, which would be odd. But, sometimes random oddities are fun.

Your character's family is next, and you start off by rolling for your family's economic status. I love the idea of a half-orc rolling 'wealthy' on this table. Although 'wealthy' in this context isn't that impressive. Social standing comes next, and you could actually roll a combination of 'wealthy' and 'slave', which would be hilarious. How well can your family defend themselves? What are the family's ethics, both private and public? How religious are they? What's their reputation in the community? What about their politics? Who runs the family? Was there anyone impressive in your family tree? How about any scoundrels? All of these things are determined by random rolls here.

I think I'll actually use these tables for a quick minute just to see what we can come up with. Should I use Relgar Bloodhawk? I think I should. So, Relgar is a half-orc ranger; I didn't give him a background. So, this should be interesting. And will take up the rest of this post, so I'll have to finish the book next time.

I rolled a 25 and a 30 for the Home Climate table, which means he was born and raised in a temperate plains region. That's reasonable. I don't have a particular terrain in mind for Relgar, so temperate plains works just fine. A 59 on the Half-Orc Home Community table means roll again on the human table. So, he was raised by his human parent. A 48 gives us a hamlet, so somewhere between 100 and 400 people. That makes sense; a half-orc raised by a single parent would draw quite a bit of attention in a larger town, and hamlets are wilderness-adjacent enough to explain his ranger class.

Now we move on to Relgar's family. The Family Economic Status is Moderate; his family owns their house and has enough money to live comfortably enough. Good so far. A 29 on the Family Social Standing means they are lower class, so laborers or servants. I'm going to assume that Relgar's human parent is his mother, so she worked as a maidservant in the hamlet's liege's home. But that could change...

And there we go. A 74 on the Family Defense Readiness table gives us 'Outstanding'. The family has a tradition of military service, and family members are taught from birth to be courageous and stalwart companions when battle is joined. The family armory contains...magical weapons and armor?! Well, now. No wonder their economic status is moderate, if they can afford to hoard magic like that.

The Family Private Ethics roll is 62, which is Good; the Bloodhawk family is known for involvement in the community and acting to help others. However, their Public Ethics roll is 66, which means Undeserved. The community doesn't think too highly of them. Possibly because of Relgar himself; a half-orc bastard isn't the most welcome child, after all, and there will always be gossips who take exception to a child of that nature.

The Family Religious Commitment roll is 10, which is Neutral/Uninterested. Okay, I can see that. Too bad we didn't get a 'Hidden Heretics' roll, because that could have been interesting. For Family Reputation, I rolled a 9, which means 'Unknown'. So, the family itself doesn't have a particular reputation (even though they aren't thought of very highly), and its members are judged individually. Alright. So, what's Relgar's reputation? Or his mother's, for that matter? We might see later on.

The Family Political Views are 'Enfranchised' (38 on the roll), so the family is a part of the political system and supports it. Well, that goes along with the tradition of military service. The Family Power Structure roll is a 7, which means 'Unorganized'. So, there's no real family leader. I was thinking that there would be a head of the household who would more or less run things, but nope, it looks like that idea is out the window. Random rolls are so much fun. Still, that doesn't mean Relgar and Mom are all alone.

For Ancestors of Note, I rolled a 12, which is 'none'. Well, that's disappointing. Oh, well. You would think that with their military service tradition there would be someone in their past that did something notable. Maybe they're just the Lieutenant Dan clan of the campaign; plenty of family members serve, but they generally die in combat.

So, to review: Relgar lives in a small hamlet with his mother in a family-owned home. The family has money (and magic items), and has a tradition of military service. They are good people, but the family has a bit of a rough reputation in town. They avoid religion, but support the political structure; the family more or less sticks to themselves, and the family members are judged on their own merits rather than as a clan. There's no official head of the household, and their history is a quiet one with no standout ancestors of note.

Let's move on to his education, shall we? For Early Childhood Instruction, we get 'Religious'. Hm. The family is neutral or uninterested in religion, but Relgar was raised to learn the religious beliefs of the community or the family. I'll go with 'community' here. For Formal Education, I got...Astronomy (74 on the roll). Um...what? That really doesn't fit. At all. In fact, I really don't see anything on this table that seems like it would fit a half-orc ranger living in a tiny community. This is more for city-folk or the bright kids that went to wizard school or something. I'll use DM fiat here and ignore this roll altogether.

For Learning a Trade, I rolled a 90...Special Military Training. Ooh, that's definitely going to fit. Way better than astronomy, that's for sure. And this isn't simple military training, this is the good stuff. That's where Relgar learned to be a ranger for sure. So, he grew up learning the local faith (which will be Obad-Hai, since that's Relgar's patron deity), and ended up getting special military training at some point. I would think that he would have been tapped by one of the local lord's lieutenants as someone who could serve the community best by not actually being in it, but rather tracking the lord's enemies. Sure, that works. Sort of like a Drizzt thing when Ten-Towns was happy he was around, but happier when he wasn't too closely around.

Alright, now it's the Life Events (So Far) section. What happened to shape Relgar's childhood and adolescence? On the Early Childhood Events table, I rolled an 85, which is 'Death in the Family'. Now, Relgar is only 18, so this would probably be a relative but not his mother; he's not an orphan, after all. Let's say it was his mother's older brother, who was killed in the line of duty (Lieutenant Dan syndrome again). He didn't know his uncle well, but his mother told him stories about him.

For Youth Events, I rolled a 12...Battle. Alrighty, then. So, Relgar aided in the defense of the community against raiders or a marauding monster. I'm sure I can come up with something there. Being a big strong boy, Relgar would indeed have been of use in a battle, and in fact that may have been the impetus for his ranger training. Let's see what else we have. The Pivotal Events roll is 45, which means 'No Pivotal Events'. So, his uncle's death and his own battle participation are the most significant events of Relgar's life thus far.

Okay, now we're into 'Relationships'. First up is Parents, and I rolled an 87. 'Parents Lost or Unknown'. Hmm...I've already established that he's living with his mother. However, this roll actually fits for his father, who is a random orc who did the 'plunder, pillage and rape' thing on Relgar's mother nearly twenty years ago. So, Relgar doesn't know his father (and likely doesn't actually care). Next up...Siblings.

I rolled a 99. Twin. The hell?! Relgar has a twin?

You know what? I'm going with it. Relgar has a twin, a half-orc twin. Mom must have had it really, really rough when they were itty bitties. So, it's going to be...an identical twin. Yeah, that works. Relgar's got a twin brother. Why not? I don't have to define him just yet; he can get stats later on. For now, it's just wild to think of half-orc twins.

Grandparents are next. I rolled a 69, which means three grandparents are alive. Well, that doesn't really work here since we don't know anything about Dad's side of the family. But his maternal grandparents are both alive; Relgar's mom came home to be with them after her unfortunate encounter with Relgar's father. For Extended Family, I rolled a 91, which means there's a huge extended family here. And yet they have no notable ancestors, and not much of a reputation to speak of. Plus, it's a hamlet of less than 400 people, so just how extended is this family going to be?

Well, I rolled it, and I've already scrapped one roll, which is my limit. I'll make this work somehow. Moving on, we get Friends. And I rolled a 75, which gives us 'Some' friends. Well, it's an isolated village, and two brawny half-orc brothers will certainly be able to make friends somehow, even if one of them does have a Charisma of 7. For Enemies, I rolled...a 1. That's a lousy time to get that roll; no enemies as of the beginning of Relgar's career. For Instructors, I got a 28, which means 'Basic'. Relgar had a very good teacher in the basic skills, which will be another uncle teaching him how to fight. Probably his brother, too. His uncle eschewed the use of the sword and preferred the battle axe, so that's what he taught his nephew(s). Yeah, I like that.

And that's it. So, what does all of this mean? Well, Relgar's mother, Dilys, was an adventurer who suffered a rape at the hands of an orcish band, and got pregnant. Worse, from her perspective, she bore two children instead of just one, twin brothers. Unwilling to give up her children despite their parentage, she returned to her home village to raise the boys under the watchful eye of her father and older brothers, none of whom had ever approved of her adventuring career. Still, she was family, and so were the boys, and they were welcomed with mostly open arms.

As the boys grew up, Dilys' brother, a militiaman, was killed by raiders in an attack on the village. Too young to do anything about it, Relgar vowed to learn how to fight so as to prevent such an attack from happening again. His other uncle began teaching him how to fight with axes, and he became quite adept with the battle axe. As a young teen, he was given his first battle-test when another raider attack on the village threatened his mother and brother. Relgar stood alongside his uncles and fought off the raiders. Impressed by his skill in battle, the militia leader (a retired ranger) agreed to take Relgar on as an apprentice tracker. Now, as an adult, he is ready to begin his grand adventuring career. And maybe, just maybe...he'll find the orc that sired him and give him the opportunity to beg for mercy.

Alright, that's not half bad. I think it's a workable background for Relgar. If you disagree, let me know another way to put those rolls together. Aside from the Astronomy roll and the extra grandparent, I kept the rolls as they happened. No fudging, no re-rolls, and I am allowed to make minor changes when they simply don't fit at all.

So, that's it for tonight. So much for finishing the book, but I'll get to that next time. For sure this time. Stay tuned, everyone.