Schism: Background

## Life in the World of the Tower

Creating a character background is only a small fraction of your character's life. There are many circumstances that influenced your character externally that helped shape who your character is and influences how they make decisions. This guide examines just a few ideas for creating a character in this setting and offers elements to add randomization to your character's life - just like how it would affect a real, living person in our world.

I encourage you to use this as a jumping off point for designing a character before getting too attached, it has both opportunities for great wealth before your adventure even begins, or tragedy that can potentially lead to better roleplay opportunities.

I also suggest, if you are inclined to a more portentous or unique backstory, to do the following:

* For "Birthplace," roll until you receive a result of 70 or greater.
* For "Life Events," accept the maximum number possible of life events.
* Forgo two "Life Events" rolls. Roll for one Adventure, and then roll a d6. On a 1-2, roll for a Supernatural Event. On a 3-6, roll on the Weird Stuff table.

## Character Traits

As the players choose backgrounds for their characters, they can use the following tables to help determine their characters' personality traits, ideals, bonds and flaws. Players can use these tables instead of the ones that appear in the Player's Handbook, or they can mix and match them. If a rolled result doesn't make sense for a character, the player can roll again or choose a more appropriate entry on the table.

These tables, while optional, are well suited to the adventure themes and are *strongly encouraged* for any character who decides to play a Theandric subclass.

### Personality Traits

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 7
 8

### Ideal

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6

### Bonds

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 3
 4
 5
 6

### Flaw

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 3
 4
 5
 6

## Cosmic Uncertainties

Each player character in this campaign has a nagging sense of something being "wrong" with the world. Whether they discovered this as a child or more recently, for at least the past year the player character has been burdened with a quite implacable uncertainty about reality. As a consequence of this uncertainty, the players can currently only gain Inspiration as *Caico Inspiration* until they find a resolution (*Caico Inspiration* as the temporary Inspiration given by the consumable item *caico*).

For each character in the adventuring party, roll a d6 and consult the Uncertanties table below to determine that with which the character is struggling. If a player doesn't like their result, they can choose an option they prefer at the DM's discretion. The player can swap out some of the entries on the table with others that they create, using the ones described below as models and with the DM's input.

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## Origins

### Homeland

Roll on the table below to determine what part of the world you come from. The adjacent columns provides some context for active societies in that region and if your character might be an alien to that land or a native. You might well reroll areas where your character might not reasonably originate.

### Birthplace

If the result is 96-00, some strange event coincided with your birth or conception. This could be that your mother had a dream where she was visited by a lion wreathed in flames when she became pregnant, or that on the eve of your birth, your family's heirloom sword turned from iron to silver.

### Siblings

First, determine how many siblings you may have using the table below. Your roll will have the following modifiers applied based on your race:

* Humans, changelings and half-humans: +0
* Orc, goblinoid, half-men and beastfolk: +2
* Elf, muezza: -2
* All others: -4

Then, roll on the table below that one to determine birth order of your siblings, whether they are older, younger, or the same age as you. Finally, roll on the following tables for each sibling:

* Occupation
* Alignment
* Status
* Relationship

 3-4
 5-6
 7-8
 9-10

 3-7
 8-12

### Family and friends

Use the modifier you are given in the Family Lifestyle roll to add to your roll on the Childhood Home table. If you have an absent parent or absent parents, roll on the Fate of Absent Parent Table. Apply the results of the Childhood Memories table accordingly based on who raised you, and let that influence your Relationship.

In addition, roll for each parent or guardian on the following tables:

* Occupation
* Alignment
* Status

#### Family of origin

 02-08
 08-13
 13-19
 20-34
 35-55
 56-67
 68-00

#### Fate of Absent Parent

 2
 3-4
 5-6

#### Family Lifestyle

 4-5
 6-8
 9-12
 13-15
 16-17
 18

#### Childhood Home

 1-20
 21-40
 41-50
 51-70
 71-90
 91-110
 111 or higher

#### Childhood Memories

 6-7
 8-10
 11-13
 14-16
 17-18
 19 or higher

## Life Events

First, roll your character's age to find out how many important life events they have experienced on their own. Then, roll on the corresponding Life Events table to find out what events happened throughout your life to influence your standing today. Many require rolling on additional tables; do so once you have rolled all of your Life Events.

If you are a race with a lifespan exceeding 100 years on average, subtract 100 from your maximum lifespan. Then, add that number to your Current Age if your roll on this table is 50 or more.

#### Life Events

 20-29
 30-44
 45-50
 51-56
 57-73
 74-80
 81-89
 90-98
 99-00

#### Boons

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 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
 10

#### Crime

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8

#### Punishment

 3-6
 7-8
 9-12

#### Tragedies

 4
 5
 6-7
 8
 9-10
 11-12

#### War

 2-3
 4
 5-7
 8-9
 10-11
 12

## Supplemental Tables

### Alignment

 4-5
 6-8
 9-12
 13-15
 16-17
 18

### Cause of Death

 3-4
 5-6
 7-8
 9
 10
 11
 12

### Relationship

 5-10
 11-12

### Status

 4-6
 7-10
 11-12
 13-15
 16-17
 18

## Character journey

**I strongly urge you to create your own background independent of the PHB**. You can use those as templates but you are urged to modify them to fit your specific role for a wide variety of character options. These include such positions as a journeyman, firefighter, civil-law notary, fisherman, flaneur or playwright.

***Why should I take the time to make my own background?*** This question requires a short explanation of narrative genres. Every story has a sort of narrative genre attached to it, and our own lives are no exception. We frame things in narratives because the only way information can be interpreted is by ordering other information with it, creating a history. This history will have a tone associated with it, necessarily because to tell a story is to have a reason to tell it. Our ideas for characters thereby require a genre, and to best embody the character, we should take care to represent them as best we can in the story we tell about him or her.

The narrative you choose for your character does not explicitly dictate how their story ends, or even their demeanor regarding their own past. It does, however, put their story in a certain light as you the player understand it, as well as how the DM understands it. This genre usually follows a premodern dramatic form, not how we divide genres today; think in terms of tragedy, comedy, chivalric romance, redemption, satire or heroic epic. Literary genres, especially drama of the past, have set stock characters based on historical and lived realities. These do not have to have one dimension, but not every story needs heaps of nuance upon every twist, turn, man or woman to comprehend its genre.

### Designing a character

A typical character has four brief sentences that describe their place in the world and how others understand their person. You can break these down into two personality traits, a bond and a flaw.

#### Personality traits

Traits must elaborate on a character's behavior and how they interact with the world or with other people. These take many forms, and there truly is no limit as to what might define a personality trait for your character. Yet the best traits embody some piece of their history and reflects a character's deepest motivations, making real in your role-play the things that they experienced or currently believe.

These personality traits must embody what the character knows himself or herself to be. These cannot be meta-descriptions of a character from the perspective of the player, but ways a person they know might describe them to a stranger. The best traits usually answer questions you might have when being introduced to a friend, especially the superlatives of his or her person. What do they enjoy doing, or what do they dislike more than anything? Do they have mannerisms make them a unique interaction? Why would I want this person on my team? Is there something they are especially good at – or bad at? What is his or her perspective on common states of affairs?

If you are at a loss, try describing interesting behaviors or deeds this character may have done on occasion. These can be descriptive in their own right. To say, "I love to win" is one thing. A much more compelling way to say the same thing is, "If I am losing a game of cards, I will cheat if I have to, though I will make sure to pay back my winnings afterwards." We get a glimpse here of this character's perverse idea of fairness and an acknowledgement of their attraction for even a Pyrrhic victory, because they clearly hate losing more than they love winning. Even more descriptive traits such as, "I have a passion for Roman philosophy" does not speak as much as "I have translated all of Cicero's works. Twice." The former gives us what amounts to a hobby, and might be mentioned in passing. The latter gives us an idea of the character's pastimes as well as their grading the importance of rhetoric, their commitment to share it and ultimately his or her diligence in improving their understanding of it.

#### Bonds

A bond is a brief description that ties your character to the world, most often through their actions or relationships to relevant people. Bonds signal to a DM that your history in the world matters and that you'd like a specific decision or event in their life to resolve in the process of the story. This is not because you couldn't think of a solution yourself. Rather, it is a way to demonstrate the kinds of interactions you have had in the past and the revisiting of bonds enables you to practice the development of your character. They also show distinct motivations that you take seriously as a player. Remember, the word "bond" refers to servitude and commitment – it will only matter as much as you make it matter, to your character and to the DM!

#### Flaws

Despite the way these are all distinguished, your character's flaw is not a crippling mental health disorder, and it is not your only negative trait. A flaw represents a kind of hindrance to your own goals present in your personality. It should be seen as a contradiction, or an obstacle that betrays a deeper struggle within yourself to be overcome. This flaw can be expressed through the types of errors that Aristotle would call *hamartia*, though they are more intentional and embody strong emotional undercurrents for your character, more than a mistake.

To repeat, not every negative personality trait or bond needs to be considered a flaw. Think about flaws as the reason you have not accomplished all you want to accomplish, or the biggest hurdle you might encounter to a character ending a narrative journey on their terms. A well-written flaw will often appear like a well-written personality trait: rather than "I have a bad temper," choose specific instances that this might come up: "I must return an insult with an insult, and can only ever escalate from there." To repeat another important point, your flaw should represent what creates conflicts between you and your goals, and has purpose and deliberate choice at its heart. A flaw will not be something truly outside your control, nor will it be inconsequential in the fate of your character.

### Making a feature

Features, as a strictly governed mechanic, present opportunities for enhancing your role-play. A feature can do this in many ways, but most features can be reduced to offering a shortcut through an otherwise difficult or open-ended challenge. For specific situations common to campaigns, such as finding lodging or making contact with particular organizations, a feature reinforces the salience of a background for a character's journey in the world and presents a chance for that background to be useful for a party. Features do not bestow direct mechanical benefits to a character.

A feature usually follows a specific formula: *I know (noun) because I (verb) and so I do not have to (expense of time or resources).* This principle is sufficient for a myriad of features that makes every character quite useful in different ways. See the examples listed below and note how they differ while utilizing this simple formula.

* I know (a secret about the world) because I (studied a subject in isolation) and so I do not have to (spend time on a quest to learn it twice).
* I know (the largest religious order in the region) because I (served in their churches) so I do not have to (find lodging in places where they are present).
* I know (a faction) because I (worked for them for years) and so I do not have to (gain additional renown to reach rank 2).
* I know (legal terminology) because I (act as a civil law specialist) so I do not have to (spend time convincing people that we are acting in the law).

### Reasons for your background

While this section might appear superfluous or unnecessary, the narrative of your character's life most commonly comes from this particular description of your past. As mentioned earlier, the purpose of your character's journey up to the time you actually sit down to play as that character is to give due credence to what he or she represents and assign their life a genre. This not only allows you to enmesh yourself deeply in the character, but also elevates them from a mere mask for pretend to a believable person with depth and growth.

Use this table to establish a root cause for your character's particular background. Though the specifics are up to you, common elements remain similar from background to background.

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## (Optional) Roll for Race and Class

### Race

First, roll for whether or not you are a human or a more exotic race.

 10-20

If you rolled "Other," you may roll on the below table to determine your race. You can also use an additional die roll to determine your subrace if you wish, though this option is bracketed to allow for a desired granularity.

### Class

Similar to the race and subrace table above, you can choose to roll on this table for your general class or determine your subclass in the bracketed column.

## Class traits

You can choose to roll on the corresponding table for your class, one for each column, to make distinctions between yourself and others who belong to your class.

### Motivations

Your character must have grave concerns to engage in the reckless gamble that is battlefield prospecting. The rigid hierarchy of social castes in Pelys society as it is, opportunities for acquiring wealth are few. What kind of passion has driven you this volatile trade?