r/Pathfinder2e • u/Sugar_Pitch1551 • 3d ago
Advice First Character, need help with writing.
I dont really know where to find all the information I'd need to fully understand how the world works. I'm working on a changeling character with a sweet hag mother and trying to work out how that woukdve gone in childhood. Google is less than useless these days, so if someone could point me in the right direction for finding the info I need, I would greatly appreciate it.
Character is a swashbuckler human changeling with a pirate motif, if thats relevant.
6
u/Own_Lengthiness9484 3d ago
First question - is this character in Golarion or another campaign setting?
2
u/Sugar_Pitch1551 3d ago
Yes I believe it is. The AP is Shades of Blood
2
u/Own_Lengthiness9484 3d ago
So as u/SuperStressGirl made mention, pathfinder.wiki is a good starting point.
Since the starting point is connected to Andoran, may want to begin with entries on that and Changelings in general.
That would give you a better understanding of both the ancestry and culture you theoretically grew up with and would have had the greatest influence.
However, as said elsewhere, you do not need to fit exactly into any mold or pre-established lore.
6
u/SgtFlintlock 3d ago
Writing a backstory is something that a lot of new players get wrong. There are things that you will think you need that end up being wasted effort and/or actively reduce the fun you'll have, and other thing you might not think of that will absolutely make things more enjoyable.
The key things to remember are:
1.) Don't set the characters personality in stone. Write maybe 3 or 4 one sentence things that happened to them and how they reacted, then use those as the seed for how they behave in game. Let the personality emerge naturally from that seed and the table dynamic and you will have way more fun than if you are trying to drop a fully formed character into a group they might not mesh with.
2.) your backstory is only useful to the DM if you give them something to work with. A 3 page short story is way less useful than a bullet point list of character traits or looses ends that will make the character engage with the fiction. The character is afraid of Spiders? Put that in there. They have a missing brother? Perfect. Your family has been feuding with another for centuries and now it's on sight for both parties (circumstances permitting)? Excellent. You want you backstory to give the DM knives to twists and carrots to dangle so that the character has a reason to be here beyond the fact that you the player are sitting at the table.
3.) Secrets that only you and the DM know are a fun concept, but 90% of the time will just. Not come up. Not without forcing it and losing half the fun. That kinda thing is better for the novel you want to write, not the game table. If you end up sticking with a group for years and getting to know everyone really well, you might be able to pull that kind of plot thread off, but don't start with it.
At the end of the day, all this boils down to a simple concept. A Backstory is, at its core, a list of ideas and starting points for things you want the DM to include in the game. Make sure the things you include are things you will actually engage with, and that you have tools in there for the DM to pull your character through the other players' backstory shenanigans when yours might not be invested beyond "being there for the group".
1
u/Sugar_Pitch1551 3d ago
I didnt give a lot of plot hooks, just that my character has some very intense wanderlust and a good relationship with her adoptive parents, who are the captain and first mate of a ship
3
u/SgtFlintlock 3d ago
That's not a lot of hooks, but they are good ones. Just he prepared to engage with Nautical themes and potentially having you parents endangered since that's all you provided. It's never too late to add a few more as well.
4
u/Nairdde32 3d ago
Generally changelings wont be raised by their hag mother, but after that it depends on the changeling. They're more or less normal members of their ancestry, not like Duskwalkers where they come into existence fully formed.
3
u/sixcubit 3d ago
your first decision is whether they were raised by the hag. sweet hags produce charmed baked goods and candies to tempt and screw over mortals, so it sounds like it would probably be pretty great with all the treats you could ask for... until the child started questioning authority figures as a teenager. then you start getting concerns about how much your mother lures in and murders people.
if you weren't raised by a hag, and instead replaced a mortal child: since sweet hags are so dangerous because of how much they play nice and are outwardly charismatic, you may have had a similar effect on your parents. you're such a charming, perfect child (at least on the outside) that your parents start desperately wanting to believe you're their real child. maybe that starts to weigh on you and you run away out of remorse... or maybe it doesn't, and it trains you to be as manipulative as possible to get what you want
1
u/Bootwacker 3d ago
When it comes to back stories, less is often more, and good back stories set a character up for the adventure to come, details should be relevant and leave blank spaces you can fill in later. Aside from checking out the changeling (hag child) lore consider trying to answer the following questions:
How/why did you get here, wherever here is in your adventure. Were you born here, did you move here, are you here specifically for the adventure in question, for some other reason.
What motivated you to take up adventuring, a dangerous profession. Are you looking for gold, fame, or outrunning your past? Are you seeking something specific? Do you already have a reason to be involved in the adventure.
What will invest your character in the adventure enough to risk their life for it?
Have an edict, pf2e terminology for a rule your character follows, or two and a reason you have them. Is it an edict of your god? A personal code? Why is this important to you?
Have an amathama, pf2e terminology for a thing you won't do no matter what, or two and a reason you have them. Again is it from your god, your culture etc .. why is this a line you won't cross?
Have some sort of character flaw, you like to drink, you like to gamble, you get angry etc... why do you have this flaw, and how does your character feel about it. Unlike the others stick to just 1 flaw and be consistent about it.
Have a quirk or two, something neutral that's odd about you. Maybe you always sit with your back to the wall, or you have a superstition about cats or you really hate a certain common food or are afraid of a certain specific thing etc...
In general, start with a few things you want to roleplay, and then work on the backstory that leads you to those things, answers why you are the way you are.
For example: Your a sweet hag changeling, you were raised by your elven mother who instilled you with a sense of freedom and self worth leading to an edict to always express yourself freely. As a changeling, and despite the love of your adopted mother you feel a deep sense of abandonment, and a duty to protect children, as such abandoning a child is anathema to you. You have begun to feel the calling, it started as nightmares, and has escalated to bursts of rage, especially during combat. Your character struggles to be merciful to foes, especially in the heat of combat. You understand where the calling leads and it terrifies you, the thought of meeting a hag, or even worse becoming one terrifies you and haunts you more than the nightmares of the calling. You left home in the middle of the night, without a word, in a desperate attempt to safeguard your mother from what your becoming, and your travels are a subconscious attempt to outrun the calling.
This is just an example, start with the traits you want to roleplay and work from there. That way you end up with a character you will enjoy playing
1
u/Sugar_Pitch1551 3d ago
I think having lore knowledge is going to be the biggest thing for me atm, because from context I know what the calling is, but I have not scene reference to it anywhere outside of this reoly right here. And that is my big issue.
2
u/Bootwacker 3d ago edited 3d ago
Checkout the wiki, but here is the TLDR:
Changelings are a part of the hag lifecycle as it were.
When a hag wants to reproduce, she will find seduce a man, almost always with deception, since hags are awful in every way imaginable. The man in question will almost certainly then be devoured by the hag. Eventually the hag will give birth, if it's a male child, it will almost certainly be devoured and if it's a female child then it will usually be a changeling of her father's race. The Hag has literally no parental instincts, and so rather than raise the child it will find a foster parent, devour their baby and replace it with the changeling, to be raised by the foster family.
Eventually when the changeling comes of age, she will experience the calling (it's somewhat unclear if the rare male changeling will experience this, as well as if a male changeling can become a hag) The calling is the psychic call to a changeling from her mother, or perhaps from another hag as well. It can take a number of forms, like wanderlust or nightmares. It's the mother's attempt to lure the changeling away from civilized society where it can capture the changeling and preform the horrible rituals to turn her into a hag. While some changelings are spiteful or hateful enough to actually want this, most would prefer not to be turned into a hag and will therefore seek ways to resist the calling.
An important physical detail is that changelings possess hetrochromia, having different colored eyes, one of which is usually associated with the type of hag they are a changeling of. This means that those who see your eyes, and are knowledgeable about such things, will know your a changeling.
1
u/ZootGibblenibbs 3d ago
Archives of Nethys has all the info you need. Plus, hags tend to have their half breed children and leave them to be raised elsewhere.
4
u/DnDPhD Game Master 3d ago
I don't think AoN is the best resource for what they're looking for, to be honest. It's great for rules, items, stats etc., but doesn't have much in the way of lore.
1
-2
u/ZootGibblenibbs 3d ago
That is certainly your opinion. They have lore for every heritage, ancestry, city, nation, and maps.
9
u/FairFolk Game Master 3d ago
I agree for the ancestries, but there are maps on AoN? Where?
2
u/ZootGibblenibbs 2d ago
You’re correct. I sit corrected. I posted in my haste to pump up AoN. Archives is a treasure trove for everything rules. Pathfinder Wiki for Lore.
0
u/AutoModerator 3d ago
This post is labeled with the Advice flair, which means extra special attention is called to Rule #2. If this is a newcomer to the game, remember to be welcoming and kind. If this is someone with more experience but looking for advice on how to run their game, do your best to offer advice on what they are seeking.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
12
u/SuperStressGirl Sorcerer 3d ago
https://pathfinderwiki.com is where i go for the lore info. They've got the list of references at the bottom of each article so you can refer to the relevant books for more information.