Personality and Background

Characters are defined by much more than their race and class. They’re individuals with their own stories, interests, connections, and capabilities beyond those that class and race define. This page expounds on the details that distinguish characters from one another, including the basics of name and physical description, the rules of backgrounds and languages, and the finer points of personality and alignment.

## **Character Details**

Your character’s name and physical description might be the first things that the other players at the table learn about you. It’s worth thinking about how these characteristics reflect the character you have in mind.

### **Name**

Your character’s race description includes sample names for members of that race. Put some thought into your name even if you’re just picking one from a list.

### **Sex and Gender**

You can play a male or female character without gaining any special benefits or hindrances. Think about how your character does or does not conform to the broader culture’s expectations of sex, gender, and sexual behaviour. For example, did the rigid structure of Dark Elf society propel you to leave your country behind in search of better opportunities.

You don’t need to be confined to binary notions of sex and gender. The Lizardmen, for example, are a completely non-binary race that express their gender identities in a variety of ways. You could also play a female character who presents herself as a man, a man who feels trapped in a female body, or a bearded female Dwarf who hates being mistaken for a male. Likewise, your character’s sexual orientation is for you to decide.

### **Height and Weight**

You can decide your character’s height and weight, using the information provided in your race description. Think about what your character’s ability scores might say about his or her height and weight. A weak but agile character might be thin. A strong and tough character might be tall or just heavy.

### **Other Physical Characteristics**

You choose your character’s age and the colour of his or her hair, eyes, and skin. Some cultures in Magnula also have other physical characteristics that you might want to consider. Lizardmen, for example, practice ritual piercing and tattoos so a Lizardman character might have these characteristics as well. You might also want to give your character other characteristics, like a limp.

### **Alignment**

A typical creature in the world of Magnula has an alignment, which broadly describes its moral and personal attitudes. Alignment is a combination of two factors: one identifies morality (good, evil, or neutral), and the other describes attitudes toward society and order (lawful, chaotic, or neutral). Thus, nine distinct alignments define the possible combinations.

These brief summaries of the nine alignments describe the typical behaviour of a creature with that alignment. Individuals might vary significantly from that typical behaviour, and few people are perfectly and consistently faithful to the precepts of their alignment. It is also important to consider that mortality is a matter of perspective. A citizen of the Empire of the Shadow Dragon, for example, might be considered lawful good by their society's standards but be seen as lawful evil by the standards of another.

* **Lawful good (LG) -** creatures can be counted on to do the right thing as expected by society.
* **Neutral good (NG) -** folk do the best they can to help others according to their needs.
* **Chaotic good (CG) -** creatures act as their conscience directs, with little regard for what others expect.
* **Lawful neutral (LN) -** individuals act in accordance with law, tradition, or personal codes.
* **Neutral (N) -** is the alignment of those who prefer to steer clear of moral questions and don’t take sides, doing what seems best at the time.
* **Chaotic neutral (CN) -** creatures follow their whims, holding their personal freedom above all else.
* **Lawful evil (LE) -** creatures methodically take what they want, within the limits of a code of tradition, loyalty, or order.
* **Neutral evil (NE) -** is the alignment of those who do whatever they can get away with, without compassion or qualms.
* **Chaotic evil (CE) -** creatures act with arbitrary violence, spurred by their greed, hatred, or bloodlust.

For many thinking creatures, alignment is a moral choice. Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and other intelligent races can choose whether to follow the paths of good or evil, law or chaos.

Most creatures that lack the capacity for rational thought do not have alignments - they are unaligned. Such a creature is incapable of making a moral or ethical choice and acts according to its bestial nature. Sharks are savage predators, for example, but they are not evil; they have no alignment.

### **Languages**

Your race indicates the languages your character can speak by default, and your background might give you access to one or more additional languages of your choice. Note these languages on your character sheet.

See the languages page for an explanation on how languages work as well information on the various languages you might speak.

### **Personal Characteristics**

Fleshing out your character’s personality - the array of traits, mannerism s, habits, beliefs, and flaws that give a person a unique identity - will help you bring him or her to life as you play the game. Four categories of characteristics are presented here: personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws. Beyond those categories, think about your character’s favourite words or phrases, tics and habitual gestures, vices and pet peeves, and whatever else you can imagine.

Each background page, which are listed later, includes suggested characteristics that you can use to spark your imagination. You’re not bound to those options, but they’re a good starting point.

#### **Personality Traits**

Give your character two personality traits. Personality traits are small, simple ways to help you set your character apart from every other character. Your personality traits should tell you something interesting and fun about your character. They should be self-descriptions that are specific about what makes your character stand out. “I’m smart” is not a good trait, because it describes a lot of characters. “I’ve read every book in the city library” tells you something specific about your character’s interests and disposition.

Personality traits might describe the things your character likes, his or her past accomplishments, things your character dislikes or fears, your character’s self-attitude or mannerisms, or the influence of his or her ability scores.

A useful place to start thinking about personality traits is to look at your highest and lowest ability scores and define one trait related to each. Either one could be positive or negative: you might work hard to overcome a low score, for example, or be cocky about your high score.

#### **Ideals**

Describe one ideal that drives your character. Your ideals are the things that you believe in most strongly, the fundamental moral and ethical principles that compel you to act as you do. Ideals encompass everything from your life goals to your core belief system.

Ideals might answer any of these questions: What are the principles that you will never betray? What would prompt you to make sacrifices? What drives you to act and guides your goals and ambitions? What is the single most important thing you strive for?

You can choose any ideals you like, but your character’s alignment is a good place to start defining them. Each background page includes six suggested ideals. Five of them are linked to aspects of alignment: law, chaos, good, evil, and neutrality. The last one has more to do with the particular background than with moral or ethical perspectives.

#### **Bonds**

Create one bond for your character. Bonds represent a character’s connections to people, places, and events in the world. They tie you to things from your background. They might inspire you to heights of heroism, or lead you to act against your own best interests if they are threatened. They can work very much like ideals, driving a character’s motivations and goals.

Bonds might answer any of these questions: Whom do you care most about? To what place do you feel a special connection? What is your most treasured possession?

Your bonds might be tied to your class, your background, your race, or some other aspect of your character’s history or personality. You might also gain new bonds over the course of your adventures.

#### **Flaws**

Finally, choose a flaw for your character. Your character’s flaw represents some vice, compulsion, fear, or weakness - in particular, anything that someone else could exploit to bring you to ruin or cause you to act against your best interests. More significant than negative personality traits, a flaw might answer any of these questions: What enrages you? What’s the one person, concept, or event that you are terrified of? What are your vices?

## **Backgrounds**

Every story has a beginning. Your character’s background reveals where you came from, how you became an adventurer, and your place in the world. Your fighter might have been a courageous knight or a grizzled soldier. Your wizard could have been a sage or an artisan. Your rogue might have gotten by as a guild thief or commanded audiences as a jester.

Choosing a background provides you with important story cues about your character’s identity. The most important question to ask about your background is *what changed*? Why did you stop doing whatever your background describes and start adventuring? Where did you get the money to purchase your starting gear, or, if you come from a wealthy background, why don't you have *more* money? How did you learn the skills of your class? What sets you apart from ordinary people who share your background?

The background pages, listed below, provide both concrete benefits (features, proficiencies, and languages) and roleplaying suggestions.

### **Proficiencies**

Each background gives a character proficiency in two skills. In addition, most backgrounds give a character proficiency with one or more tools.

If a character would gain the same proficiency from two different sources, he or she can choose a different proficiency of the same kind (skill or tool) instead.

### **Languages**

Some backgrounds also allow characters to learn additional languages beyond those given by race.

### **Equipment**

Each background provides a package of starting equipment. If you use the optional rule to spend coin on gear, you do not receive the starting equipment from your background

### **Suggested Characteristics**

A background contains suggested personal characteristics based on your background. You can pick characteristics, roll dice to determine them randomly, or use the suggestions as inspiration for characteristics of your own creation.

### **Customising a Background**

You might want to tweak some of the features of a background so it better fits your character. To customize a background, you can replace one feature with any other one, choose any two skills, and choose a total of two tool proficiencies or languages from the sample backgrounds. You can either use the equipment package from your background or spend coin on gear. (If you spend coin, you can’t also take the equipment package suggested for your class.) Finally, choose two personality traits, one ideal, one bond, and one flaw. If you can’t find a feature that matches your desired background, work with your DM to create one.

### **Background List**

Below is a list of potential backgrounds your character might have. Read their respective pages to learn their features and suggested characteristics. This is not necessarily a restrictive list, but merely a series of potential ideas that you could use for your character.

* Acolyte
* Businessperson
* Charlatan
* Criminal
* Entertainer
* Farmer
* Folk Hero
* Guild Artisan
* Hermit
* Lone Survivor
* Noble
* Outlander
* Sage
* Sailor
* Soldier
* Urchin