Monday Motivations #4

Article #4 in a regular series where I offer up some ideas for character backgrounds by class.  I aim to collect these ideas together for a future pdf publication.

What made your character decide to become a wizard? Why did they leave their home town? Did they leave family behind or are they looking for something? These are all questions players face when generating their characters, with the best will in the world it's tempting to rely on cliché.

ASSASSIN

1. Revenge from Within - A loved one was murdered by an Assassin, the only way you can wreak your revenge is to become an Assassin yourself, gain access to the Guild's records and find out who hired the killer and why your loved one had to die...

2. Assassins Orphanage - When your parents died in a tragic accident the city's council made you a ward of the city, as is the law, and placed you in the care of the city orphanage whilst a search for your relatives was undertaken.  Only a select few are aware that the orphanage is a front for the Guild of Assassins.  They select the brightest orphans to undergo the complex and arduous training to become a silent killer like yourself...

WIZARD

1.  Royal Edict - some people say that the King is paranoid, but most keep their tongues in their heads lest the tyrant pluck them out.  Worst still are the many heinous persecutions he has exacted on those who possess magic.  From the mere hedge wizard to the master of guild of wizards he has imprisoned , tortured and executed all those who show even the slightest sign of thaumaturgical ability.  What drives him is a mystery but his edict banning the practicing of magic on pain of death resulted in you being spirited away from your mother and father, as a child, by your crazy old grandfather to his tumbledown tower just outside the king's reach on the other side of the border.  Your life has been one long lesson interspersed with drudgery, your reward being able to bend arcane forces to your will...

2.  Power Awakened.  Your idyllic childhood on a smallholding in a peaceful part of the kingdom was shattered when you almost killed your brother with a lightning bolt.  When your magical powers were awakened, your families' attitude to you changed, where once there was love now you found fear.  One day your father brought a strange old man to the house who poked and prodded and waved his hands around you.  After a short discussion with the man your father took you aside and with tears in his eyes handed you a backpack full of  your things and told you to be good and do everything that azusul tells you.  And as your home disappeared from sight among the trees you knew that you would not see your family again for a very long time, until your training as a wizard was complete...

THIEF

5. Kleptomaniac - Some people say that even as a child you couldn't keep your hands out of other peoples pockets, but they don't know what they're talking about.  It's like there's a part of your brain which is autonomous and just picks up other peoples things which they've left lying around.  With that kind of natural ability it was only a matter of time before you started to actively looking for opportunities for profit...