Quote Originally Posted by Sparky McDibben View Post
Hey Tawmis,
I have a character for an upcoming campaign, and I'm stuck on backstory. His stats are as follows:

Variant Human Fighter 1 (going Battlemaster)

STR: 11 (+/-0)
DEX: 19 (+4)
CON: 17 (+3)
INT: 13 (+1)
WIS: 13 (+1)
CHA: 7 (-2)

For feats I took Ritual Caster (Druid) because I want him to have a druidic vibe. I'd like to take Magic Initiate (Druid) as well. He has a longbow, rapier and shield (dueling fighting style), and his Dex focus means he can hit from anywhere. The focus of the campaign will be in a civilization ruled by magi (of all stripes except warlocks, not just arcane casters), and the characters will be vigilantes judging these casters for their various crimes.
Thanks!
Because this sounded like a custom/homebrew setting, I didn't use any Forgotten Realms references...
As such, created an island to explain your character's ties to being a fighter with some druid skill...
And went on to create the organization that manages these Magi (your DM can use it, rename it, or discard it)... Could easily be explained, you did this on your own, and it's not required...
I also explain why, as a fighter, you focused on Dex and Con as stats....
As always, would love to hear feedback....
===========================================

Breathe in, breathe out. Control your breathing.

The very plants seemed to tear at my flesh as I ran through the jungle. But this was no ordinary jungle; this was anything but ordinary.

The Jungles of Skarn’tahl.

Skarn’tahl is an ancient phrase that means “violent death.”

Legend states that, long ago the fabric between the Shadowfell and the Prime Material Plane ripped apart as a great weapon from a demon had cut the fabric of reality open. From that tear in the fabric, creatures of unimaginable horror spilled out of the Shadowfell and landed here in the jungles of Skarn’tahl.

I don’t live on this island where this lethal jungle resides. I didn’t get shipwrecked here.

I came here willingly.

All of my life, I’ve trained to become a part of the Vigilant; an organization of vigilantes that judge casters for their various crimes. Being thrown into the Jungles of Skarn’tahl is done for many reasons. First and foremost, the entire jungle is alive with beasts not seen beyond these jungles. Panthers that blur with large tentacles called Displacer Beasts, Hook Horrors, Basilisks, to name a few are all infused with magical properties. As if the beasts of Skarn’tahl did not pose enough of a danger, the floral of these dense jungles were also often enchanted – as beautiful as they are lethal. Hidden in the floral, such creatures as blight, gas spores, shriekers, and shambling mounds were all painful methods of promised death.

Years of studying plants and with Druids has given me a deep understanding of how to hone my body to understand the natural order around me in preparation for this day.

In order to survive this jungle, you learn to use the jungle in your favor. I lure the Displacer Beast chasing me right into the explosive arms of a Gas Spore, floating aimlessly that I’d seen before, using my dexterity to leap onto a branch and out of the way of the explosion of the Gas Spore, which violently and painfully infects the Displacer Beast.

It takes nearly a week to make it from one side of the island to the other. An incredible feat of endurance since most of those nights are spent wide awake, because when there are beasts and fauna both seeking to devour your flesh for nutrients, there is little to no time to sleep.

I knew this was the test. I knew that, despite years of training to fight and be ready, the test ahead of me would require endurance and agility rather than raw strength to survive. I relied on a longbow I forged in the jungle to hunt for my food, rather than engaging up close. The one weapon I was allowed to bring was my rapier, which I often used to deliver the killing blows in the back of the creature’s neck, after I had struck it with my bow. A shield made of a turtle’s shell had spared me many times from the venomous attacks from snakes and even plants, whose pollen would burn my flesh or make me slumber, had I inhaled them.

I am glad to be done with the Jungles of Skarn’tahl. I’ve seen what magic – uncontrolled – can look like and I now understand why the Vigilant must endure this test. Not only do we see the horrors of magic gone wrong; but we learn how to survive it.

As the ship sails into view in the distance, the sun setting behind it, I know I am ready for my life ahead of me…