Page 62 - Xanathar's Guide To Everything

THIS Is YOUR LIFE
The character creation rules in the Player’s Handbook
provide all the information you need to define your char-
acter in preparation for a life of adventuring. What they
don't do is account for all the circumstances that shaped
your character during the years between your birth and
the start of your career as a member of a class.
What did your character accomplish or experience be-
fore deciding to become an adventurer? What were the
circumstances of your birth? How large is your family,
and what sorts of relationships do you have with your
relatives? Which people were the greatest influences on
you during your formative years, for better or worse?
To answer these questions and more, you can use
the tables and the advice in this section tO compose a
well-developed backstory for your character—an auto-
biography of sorts—that you can use to inform how you
roleplay the character. Your DM can draw from this ma-
terial as the campaign proceeds, creating situations and
scenarios that build off your previous life experiences.

IDEAS, NOT RULES
Even though these pages are full Of tables and die rolls,
they don’t make up a rules system—in fact, the Opposite . 1‘
is true. You can use as much or as little Of this material _ U _-' - .- _ __ .
Li;
as you desire, and you can make decisions in any or— '._ ,2: _ U k
der you want. A vOUNo STREET URC‘r-HN messes n. POUCH AND, TO HER
For instance, you might not want these tables to help SURPRISE, BECOMES THE NEW OWNER OF A SPELLBODK
you decide who your parents and siblings are, because
that’s among the information you’ve already come up
with. But you can still use other parts, such as the sec- Personal Decisions. After you have selected your
tion on life events, to provide added depth and detail. character's background and class, use the appro—
HOW AND WHEN TO USE THE TABLES priate tables tO determine how you came to make
those choices.
lfyou’re comfortable with letting the dice decide a cer- Life Events. Your character’s existence until now, no
tain fact about your character, go ahead and rOll. If not, matter how brief or uneventful, has been marked by one
you can take charge and make the decision, choosing or more life events—memorable happenings that have
from among the possibilities on a table. Of course, you had an effect on who you are today.
also have the option of disregarding the result Of a die Supplemental Tables. Your life has intersected with.
roll if it conflicts with another result. Likewise, if the the lives Of plenty Of other people, all the way from your
text instructs you to roll on a table, that’s not meant tO infancy tO today. When a result mentions such a person,
be taken literally. You can always make your own choice. you can use the supplemental tables (page 72) to add
Although these tables are meant to augment the needed details—such as race, class, or occupation—to
step-by—step character creation process in the Player’s that person. Some tables in the other sections direct you
Handbook, they don’t occupy a specific place in that pro— to one or more of the supplemental tables, and you can
cess. You can use some of them early on—for instance, also use them any other time you see fit.
it’s possible to determine your parents and other family
members immediately after deciding your character’s ORIGINS
race—but you could also wait until later in the process.
You might prefer to establish more facts about your The usual first step in creating your character’s life story
character’s game identity—such as your class, ability is to determine your early circumstances. Who were
scores, and alignment—before supplementing that infor- your parents? Where were you born? Did you have any
mation with what‘s offered here. siblings? Who raised you? You can address these ques—
tions by using the following tables.
SECTION BY SECTION
This material is divided into four sections, each address- PARENTS
ing a different aspect of your character’s backstory. You had parents, of course, even if they didn't raise you.
Origins. To find out who and where you came from, To determine what you know about these people, use
use the “Origins" section. When you’re done, you will the Parents table. If you want, you can roll separately on
have a summary of facts about your parents, your sib- the table for your mother and your father. Use the sup-
lings, and the circumstances under which you grew up. plemental tables as desired (particularly Class, Occupai
tion, and Alignment) to learn more about your parents.