hottest of takes: Personal tragedies in your backstory are overrated. Heck, having a large, complex backstory is overrated too. Many of the best characters I have ever played have had the most basic of backstories and motivations. It’s so much more fun to throw your all into the story the DM is telling my inventing a reason why you care super hard, rather then wanting to have the story be about your character specifically.
My two favorite backstories are
Techlan Que, the halfling former snake oil salesman. His dad’s in jail for selling snake oil, but he’ll be out in a year or two. In the meantime Tek and his brother are working to put their kid sister through wizard school and send money home to ma because she doesn’t have a paying job
And Simon Blackwood Jr., a kobold rogue. His parents were high ranking thieves’ guild members before they retired to take care of their kids, but they took one last job to clear some kobolds out of a cave. They couldn’t bring themselves to smash the only egg, so they brought it home and raised him as their own son. Now he’s 8 years old, fully grown and out looking for work, much to his mother’s dismay. She’d prefer he to to school with his older sisters, aged 11 and 13
I’m playing a wizard who had a great life but was fascinated by the Underdark and wanted to go there. Everything was fine until she started adventuring lol.
I always make my characters have both parents alive and well, and generally from a good home, if not an entire good region as well. Both my current Lancer and Fabula Ultima characters get into issues due to generally being who they are, and not necessarily from being raised in dire circumstances or having a tragic background.
Heck, one fun contrast to me is that my Lancer character is a young-ish noble who had everything she could want, and decided to venture out in the stars half for the thrill and half to spread her family’s reputation, while the rest of the party are more mature and jaded adults who don’t know any other type of life. The fact that she could stop at any point and go back to a comfy life isn’t a drawback to the roleplaying, its a plus and adds more good conflict between them.
No. 4 sounds like Terry Pratchetts tourist.
