Someone asks my character's reason for adventuring

>My character's order will march through this place within 5 years to make war on it's enemies
>The war is likely to drag on so we need allies or subjects
>Be dispatched to assess the mood of the lands, seed a positive opinion of the order and if possible found outposts and sympathetic settlements
>Tell strangers who ask "I'm on a recruitment mission"
>Alternatively "I'm on a penitent crusade for the sin of pride"
>Either will sell as a 6 foot something aasimar paladin

I don't understand why the farmer put the cows in the river instead of just slaughtering them and burying the carcasses like actual farmers do.

Farmer ignorance? the belief that spending any amount of time around the stricken corpses will kill him as surely as eating them? that burying them will poison the crop or that the river will just remove the problem that much faster?

Maybe there's some law about it, or they're technically the king's cattle and burial is super obvious

You're a retard and the other guy is right. Fuck cover letters. I have skills, they have money, what else do they want from me?

given the girlfriend in the OP was a nixie, he talks about healing her, and there's a fundamental environmental moral to the story, it sounds more like a Druid since their magic is also considered divine and nature itself can be a greater god.

Maybe an Archfey warlock.

not everyone's going to have the same backstory approach. Hell, you'd be surprised, my better player has the flimsiest reason to adventure out of my three players.

>The tiefling sorceress has been cloistered in a ruined monastary all her life for fear of the world killing her over her fiendish heritage. Her master knew she could not be hidden forever though and arranged for safe passage and a means to conceal herself from the world, she hopes to vindicate tieflings among colonists.

>The halfling fighter dreamed to revive his family's ancient tradition as a line of noble knights and great warriors, but his people being regarded as comical and other hardships have left him as a pitiful mafia legbreaker who is stuck adventuring at the whims of his don and tries to do as much good as he can in between.

>The bard wants to find the heart of a dragon (a race believed extinct for over a hundred thousand years) to impress a bar wench he's got the hots for.

>DM asks player to my right what's their character
>"Two years ago a farm-"
>Some convoluted backstory that doesn't fit the tone of the game and sets himself up as neither likable nor relatable, just a disease-fixated murderer
>DM gives me a pleading look
>wonders if he's asking me to point out the twenty plot holes in the guy's backstory just so he has to start over from scratch
>realize that he just wants me to throw down a quick motivation so we can start playing

I don't get it. Why would an animal handler not know how to handle sick animal?

One reason for adventuring and what do I get? A whole goddamn drama.
"I like money", as cheap as It sounds might be a better, more coherent reason than yours. There's an easy direction for gm to exploit, a legit driving force and maybe even a weakness.

It's not a backstory proper, sure but It's a legit motivation.
Yours is "I want to master my divine power so that I never have to see someone die from disease". So simple.

and that tale of yours is pretty "meh"

>meh

It's pretty dumb. It's exactly the kind of backstory I'd hope was forgotten about and never brought up again.

"Splash! Hear that sound boy? That's the sound of somebody else's problem!"

you also forgot the part of his backstory where he's on the run from authorities for being a murdering or that his whole cause for adventuring began with basically a "don't pollute" story.

Do you know how you can exploit that and lead the party along?

Just gotta tie it all together.

>one player wants money
>another save others from such environmental carelessness
>Insert story about dwarves building shit that causes a lot of environmental problems and elves trying to stop them because that shit is running right into their forests
>Add in a little conflict as the dwarves offer money but they are showing clear disregard for any population's wellbeing, including other dwarves.
>Shut down their new mining facility?
>or rake in the dollars and silence the protesters?

OP here, actually a sorcerer who draws from the cleric spell list.

... Okay, no offense but that is starting to ring some snowflake bells on my end.

Why couldn't you pick a cleric of a nature deity or druid? Or an Oath of Ancients Paladin or Archefey pacted Warlock?

Three out of four are already divine casters and the warlock can be swung as a 'discount divine caster' of sorts.

Why does your sorc, of all other sorcs, have a cleric spell list? I am guessing your GM approved at least though.

Because favored soul wasn't a thing yet.

okay, you pass the check, sorry for disturbing you, sir.

>somebody else's problem
>pissed off bumpkin hunts you down and shanks you

Guess it was his problem afterall!

>Why does your sorc, of all other sorcs, have a cleric spell list?
>Why couldn't you pick a cleric of a nature deity or druid?
Because splats other than PHB exist.

>Someone asks my character's reason for adventuring
>GF and other people of my village died due to a negligent farmer polluting the water supply. "I want to master my divine power so that I never have to see someone die from disease like that again."
>Other guys are asked
>"I LIKE MONEY"
>Why do I even bother?

You bother OP because you love your hobby and just because other people have given their PCs simpler motivations does not mean your character's motivation is cheapened. Feel proud that your character has some attachment to the world and a reason for doing what they do that goes beyond mere profit. Talk to your GM and see if they could make a plot or two where disease features heavily.

This was a long-ass time ago

>be the son of wealthy merchants
>Be dragonborn
>be sent away to the summer estate often enough to get talking with minders
>one is a minimalist monk whose monastery is sponsored privately for access to his skills
>teaches me to punch and the virtue of minimalism
>Grow up a man with business sense, a racist fondness for gold and a lifestyle that has no need of it
>Become the wealthiest man in town and live in a shack, unable to marry these conflicting concepts

A simple backstory can be a very good building block to a great character. It lets the character grow more organically rather than instilling a certain predetermined idea of how you want your character to develop.

An adventurer that's only in it for the money has a lot of potential for development. Maybe they find love or dear friendship along the way and gain a new reason to fight. Maybe they kept their backstory vague on purpose because they're character is in hiding and they want the other players to discover their backstory in character instead of knowing it already. And sure, they could just stay as a money-hungry adventurer but what does that really matter? You're not the one having to play them.

And you're still this mad that you put more "work" than necessary into a GAME that you played for FUN, like it's a competition or something.
What do you expect us to do about it?

Tell him he's right to have done so and that the other players are faggots he should send threatening messages to. Fucking duh

My backstory approach is simply not having one and simply letting the DM/GM plothook me and/or slowly make it up as I go along, not outright injecting myself into the backstory of the game and rather giving the DM/GM a rather juicy school of fish to hook.

Obviously it's not the best method, but I'm not going to sit around writing a bunch of paragraphs if they're going to be completely irrelevant in the long run.

Relate stories and anecdotes in a similar manner?

Yes faggot, you are having fun wrong, if other players are putting effort into roleplaying you should too.

How the fuck do you manage to drown a cow? You ever try to force a cow to go anywhere without a corral? Good fucking luck. Your backstory is stupid and unbelievable you tryhard elitist twat.

Yeah cows are completely impervious to all symptoms of disease and wont become lame, crippled, or incapable of movement from nasty bacteria infesting their organs.

Idiot.

The question is how are you moving these sick animals into the river, and why.

>My girlfriend was a nixie
the moment I realized your backstory is unironically worse than the other guys'

>The question is how are you moving these sick animals into the river, and why.
I think it's because OP grew up in an urban environment and doesn't actually know anything about animals, farmers, or nature.

Only on Veeky Forums is a short paragraph a "whole drama".

You're pretentious.

I'll go on the nixie fuckers adventure. We're in the same party, we're probably friends.

Believe it or not there are games where the latter is preferred. Sometimes a DM wants the characters to be more or less blank slates to be shaped during play

>Why do you work here user?
>I like money
>GET OUT YOU DONT WORK PROPERLY REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

I know it sucks to admit OP, but most people only do what they do in life to make money and eek out a living. This would include adventurers too. Think about it, most objectives involve getting money. Saving a town, ensuring your family is successful, stopping a war, thwarting an Armageddon plot, all require or prevent loss of money. And so what if a guy just legitimately is only in it for the money? That could say a lot about his character. Perhaps he feels cooped up in a stable job? Maybe he lost his son to disease because he couldn't afford the medicine and hit the road so that he can ensure that he never lacks the money to provide for his family again. Maybe he grew up poor and goddammit he if he has to eat porridge one more time he's going to stab someone. Perhaps he wants to save up a small fortune to ensure his children are taken care of. Maybe he just wants a really bitchin crib with a pimped out caddy.

This is the kind of thinking that makes people talk down to plumbers and electricians and then we wonder why we get charged out the ass to get a toilet fixed because there's a labor shortage.

Not all of course, but I think it'd be safe to say that the majority of adventurer motivations revolve around money and how to get it, just like in real life. Adventurers are just taking a far more risky but potentially higher reward path to it. Most would never admit it, but even many "selfless" characters have money as some sort of motivation, even if only to donate it to a needing cause.

I made a character that liked money.

But I did it in a really nice way.

I wasn't aware we were holding fantasy worlds to the same standards as modern agriculture. If we did, farmers would be the most technologically-advanced beings on the planet

>My girlfriend was a nixie
Stopped reading there, fuck off snowflake

People don't do things like go to work for money, right guys? Even if you look at some of the most adventurous jobs around, half the people are there for money. The other half are gonna tell you something like, "I just like doing this."

Some of us put that much work into a game BECAUSE we enjoy that game. Hell, some of us enjoy doing the work that we put into the game.

What's wrong with fey girlfriends? They stay pretty longer than humans and they don't get raped by orcs like elves.

>he thinks wanting fortune isn't a valid character motivation

The best characters are the ones people can relate to the most. Who wouldn't want to stop the evil dragon and loot his vast amount of gold?

I feel you OP. You want to actually give someone a motivation greater than themselves, and have them actually give a shit about the problems in the world.

Reading the thread I see a lot of "Well you need a job, gotta get cash money", but unless you pull a Han Solo and realise there's more to it than that and that's your intended arc, it's inherently apathetic at best and selfish at worst. Saying that your characters, whom by their nature are exceptional enough to influence events on a scale larger than most people, are doing this just to get paid feels like a "Fuck you, I got mine" response.
I can't articulate very well, it's late, but I'm with you on "I just want the loot!" not being interesting. Or maybe I've just seen it too much, more than like half the people I've played with have been in it for the loot and just... I want other players to actually give a shit about the world they inhabit rather than just doing it for cash, y'know? You can go and do far easier things for cash, you could be the bodyguard of a nobleman or open up an alchemy shop or something; you're doing all this out-of-the-ordinary shit, give yourselves out-of-the-ordinary reasons.

>"I LIKE MONEY"
Are you implying that isn't the best reason to adventure.

>tfw you're essentially playing Rika Kitami and no one has caught on but you know for a fact that half of them have watched BB

Seems kind of dangerous if money is all you want. Why don't you just become a doctor or royal asskisser instead?

I don't see anything wrong with 2 or 6 examples of simple greed overcoming danger sense and someone with an idealistic motivation and fleeing legal ramifications for illegal vigilantism ending up in the same band if adeventurers.

>a new player submits a backstory and motivation that is a small novella
>come game time is completely silent and goes full retard during combat

I've never had a bad player who chose "I want money or the thrill of adventure" as a motivation.

Nothing ventured nothing gained.

>Why don't you just become a doctor or royal asskisser instead?
Limited upside. it'd be hard to put together a stake for further speculation purposes.

Because becoming a doctor or royal in a fantasy setting involves a lot of know thing right people, politicking successfully, and luck.

Or do you mean why not make a character who is one of those two things from the start?

I just mean that there are less dangerous occupations available if you want to earn money. But as you say, the uneducated masses probably can't attain them.

>SKADADLE SKADOODLE
>YOUR DICK IS NOW A MAGNUM DONGOODLE.

That was needed to justify the Nymph's Kiss feat

Played a fuck up a character.
She was a simple farm girl. All her brothers and sisters are known in the village for some sort of amazing feat.

One of her sisters is the prettiest in the village, her brother went to fight in a crusade, her other brother is taking over the farm, her other sister became a mages apprentice and her younger brother causes trouble for the village but is loved by all.

She's just kinda there, everyone looks past her. So one day she snuck out of the house to go on an adventure. Thats it. A no-name nobody in a party of epics. GM loved it.

This.
In fact, this kind of adventurers should be much more common than the noble ones

He shouldn't be ignorant, he spent his entire life doing it

This. OPs motivations are anime-tier

>>"I LIKE MONEY"
straightforward, relatable, can take you far

>My father was an honest farmer
>He believed in a hard days work and did good by his family and community
>He never raised his hand against anyone and was a meek and humble person
>A year ago a strange unhinged man came to the farm and murdered him while ranting and raving about the fairy tale creatures.
>Without my dad to keep the farm going and with the recent sickness that spread through the cattle my family went hungry
>I'm the last of us now, my family was to weak from the hunger to fight off the illness that passed through town
>The authorities tell me that that monster has gone free for a full year since that day joining up with some money hungry mercenaries to keep killing things
>That monster is still amassing more power
>I don't care if all I have is my dad's old handaxe, someone has to do something to stop him
>Even if in the end I can't stop him at least my family is waiting for me on the other side.

Human Paladin 1

On the contrary, I always hear about people killing brigands, hired muscle, and fat barons.

Tell that to doctors that fuck up prescriptions on the regular and think that siblings can't both contract meningitis at the same time.