Step 05. Roleplay

The final thing you should do to create a character, is finish up some items that really bring them together as a real character, and finalize a reason that they halted being their background, and first became their class.

Height and Weight

Your path will have a list of heights and weights, and even a way to randomly generate one. However, you can look at your ability scores too! High Brawn characters tend to be bulky with muscle. Low Heartiness characters might be sickly-thin, or overly fat. As a reminder: age should be randomly rolled.

Backstory

Your ancestry, background and class choices should be a primary driver on your backstory. Gnomish Clerics may have been acolytes before; dwarves warriors may have been militia men. But it’s also quite possible that a Human Magic-User was a fisherman before deciding to learn the ancient arts!

Of course, these are just some ideas. Some players may choose to simply be “Sister Madeline Greygriff, Cleric of the Knights of Glory”, and describe herself as a “Young woman with long red hair wearing chain mail armor, carrying a mace and a shield”, and be done with it. This might even be encouraged with how easy it is for a lower level character to become maimed, or die. Of course, as you gain levels, and gain renown, you may wish to flesh out a little more of your character.

It is highly recommended that when you create your characters, you remember that these are low level characters. They have not established themselves yet. For now “I am a blacksmith who had some training in the militia” or “I was a diplomat who learned to fight, and now wish to adventure instead” or “I was a low-ranking member of the thieves guild, and my first job went wrong, and adventuring keeps me out of town” are all short, sweet, to the point. Your characters’ most interesting story should be told during the adventure.

Many adventure paths will have a method of generating your backstory. You can use the random tables located inside, or you can use them to help generate ideas for yourself. Of course, your backstory should include some hook on why you are willing to adventure, delving into dark caverns and dungeons.

Finally, remember that the framework for ITD&TD assumes that you’re following years and years of campaign. Your characters may eventually grow to have children, and those children may become adventurers themselves!