Chapter 1: This Is Your Life
The character creation rules in the Player’s Handbook provide all the information you need to
define your character 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 before 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 autobiography of sorts — that you
can use to inform how you roleplay the character. Your DM can draw from this material as the
campaign proceeds, creating situations and scenarios that build off your previous life
experiences.