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 is true. You can use as much or as little of this material as you desire, and you
can make decisions in any order you want.
For instance, you might not want these tables to help 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 section on life events, to provide added depth and detail.
How and When to Use the Tables
If you’re comfortable with letting the dice decide a certain fact about your character, go ahead
and roll. If not, you can take charge and make the decision, choosing from among the
possibilities on a table. Of course, you also have the option of disregarding the result of a die roll
if it conflicts with another result. Likewise, if the text instructs you to roll on a table, that’s not
meant to be taken literally. You can always make your own choice.
Although these tables are meant to augment the step-by-step character creation process in the
Player’s Handbook, they don’t occupy a specific place in that process. You can use some of them
early on — for instance, it’s possible to determine your parents and other family members
immediately after deciding your character’s race — but you could also wait until later in the
process. You might prefer to establish more facts about your character’s game identity — such as
your class, ability scores, and alignment — before supplementing that information with what’s
offered here.
Section by Section
This material is divided into four sections, each addressing a different aspect of your character’s
backstory.
Origins. To find out who and where you came from, use the “Origins” section. When you’re
done, you will have a summary of facts about your parents, your siblings, and the circumstances
under which you grew up.
Personal Decisions. After you have selected your character’s background and class, use the
appropriate tables to determine how you came to make those choices.
Life Events. Your character’s existence until now, no matter how brief or uneventful, has been
marked by one or more life events — memorable happenings that have had an effect on who you
are today.
Supplemental Tables. Your life has intersected with the lives of plenty of other people, all the
way from your infancy to today. When a result mentions such a person, you can use the
supplemental tables (page 72) to add needed details — such as race, class, or occupation — to