Players sometimes come up with imaginative backgrounds that may require some revision or moderation to fit into the game world. For this we've created the system of submitting the background to staff for review and approval. At first all of these where denied, as too fanciful and world bending but we wanted to allow interesting characters to be played as long as we could find a way to fit them into our world.

Use this to apply to play your character as a nonstandard race, powers, afflictions, heritages, genders, or affiliations.

To submit an Unusual Background, go to:
http://z6.invisionfree.com/Haven_Forums/index.php?showforum=38(Legacy Forums) or http://nwnhaven.com/forums/technical-help/unusual-background-requests-and-avatar-requests (New Forums)

The UBR system exists for the sole purpose of upholding standards of character creation in a setting where everything is meant to be special and magical, but not downright outlandish. Without these standards, one would not be able to walk the streets of Sharessia without seeing purple elves and demi-gods. It isn’t a perfect system of course, but in the end we as volunteer workers can only do our best, and the UBR system has served us well in the past. Many may not realize it, but the UBRs also help to flesh out characters even further before creation. It gives the player the opportunity/motivation to research a character concept in detail and show it off to the rest of the world before the character is even conceived on Haven.

If your UBR is accepted, please indicate the date of approval in your character bio, so that DMs and others can confirm the status. Do not begin playing your character’s unusual background until the UBR has been approved.

Races

Haven unconditionally allows character races that are available at character creation. Players may be permitted to portray another race (or subrace) after submitting and receiving approval for an Unusual Background.

See Races Character Creation Guide

Wings and Tails

Many players want wings and/or tails without taking a character class or race that gains the trait normally. Having wings or a tail granted via a token counts as an unusual background and requires an approved UBR.

Not every wing/tail UBR is going to be approved. For practical and philosophical reasons we don’t want there to be a glut of winged/tailed PCs running around Haven. (This is especially true of winged PCs: they take up three times the amount of space and are hard to click around.)

If you are submitting a UBR for a winged/tailed character, keep these guidelines in mind:

How not to get approval

1. “Character X was born with wings because s/he is aasimar.” Aasimar do not have wings, so that is not sufficient reason to get them.
   
2. “Character Y was born with a tail because s/he has tiefling blood, though s/he’s not a tiefling.” If s/he has tiefling blood, s/he is a tiefling, so pick the tiefling race.
   
3. “I hate the tiefling faces but I still want to play a tiefling with a tail, so I’d like to have a human character who is tiefling for RP.” No, that’s a tiefling: see #2.
   
4. “Character Z was cursed/magically ass-kicked by a god/priest/wizard/gremlin when s/he was younger, and now she has a tail/wings.” Once #1-#3 are shot down, players tend to try out #4. But then it’s not unusual, it’s just unoriginal.
   
5. “Player A and I were RPing and Player A’s character used magic on mine and s/he got transformed.” The only way this is acceptable is if Player A already received an approved UBR for the magic that caused the transformation. And it is virtually guaranteed that s/he didn’t, because DMs do not approve those. (The same goes for divine magic, potions, herbs, alchemy, medical devices, curses, mysterious tropical baths, mischief-making pixie dust and anything else that occurs or is used in Haven within the geographical an historical boundaries of the server.)
   
6. Do not ask us to fiddle with your BIC (character file), not only does this sound obscene, its time consumer and often requires multiple iterations to get right. We've spent time creating ways to do many things in game and that's the only thing we will support.
   

How to get approval

1. Agree to take all appropriate feats that are available.
   
2. Come up with a detailed, relatively original explanation of how the PC acquired the traits. This can be from birth, misadventure or intentional transformation, but it has to be richly detailed enough to indicate to the DMs that you spent a lot of time thinking about the whole character and not just the parts attached to the backside and/or shoulderblades. In fact, the best UBR descriptions spend as little time as possible on the actual wing/tail acquisition, and go into more detail about the character’s overall well-rounded background. But please, this still needs to succinct. Too long of a UBR submission can delay approval.
   

Powers

Generally speaking we do not approve additional powers that effect things in game. RP only and then with great care and in moderation.

With few exceptions, players are not permitted to perform them in public if they cannot do so via current NWN2 game mechanics. In private, however, players are welcome to perform any acts they desire, under the following two conditions:
• All players involved in the private RP consent to the use of these special talents
• All players involved in the private RP agree not to discuss these talents outside the context of the private RP

Afflictions

Rule number one is you are responsible for your acions IC and OOC. Afflictions need to be moderated to keep from being disruptive. They are not a shield for your actions. You can't have your affliction cause you to wig out in the middle of a DM event and then claim you where just playing your char. It won't be considered a valid excuse. Mental/Physical afflictions and curses will be evaluated on a case by case basis.

Heritages

Birthrights and titles need to be approved. We can't have everyone just deciding they are princes and princesses.

Genders

Non-standard genders (such as hermaphrodites and shemales) have been classified as Highly Unusual Background Requests.

Affiliations

To start with an affiliation with an organization (examples: Shadow Thieves of Amn, Purple Dragon Knights of Cormyr, Harpers, etc.) you need to submit a UBR. Once approved it's the DM's staff's responsibility to DM those organizations, you should not take it upon yourself to "play" the organization to your ends.

Approval Tips

The best way to get approval is to follow a few simple guidelines:

Research

Haven follows Forgotten Realms lore. Supply source links if possible, or references to source books. Remember that Haven operates off 3e/3.5e, and anything outside that will not likely be valid here.

Detailed Creativity

Don’t be afraid to post a long submission and try to grab the readers attention with it. If your UBR is 4 sentences long you’ll just be asked to flesh it out more anyway, if it isn’t outright denied.

Sanity

Sometimes players forget the beauty of simply roleplaying a standard race or background. Your half-elf can be more fascinating than that succubus; it comes down to how you RP. Try to avoid outlandish backgrounds unless you have some really fascinating reasons for them.

Accept the decision

DM’s try not to hold grudges, but they do have memories, and if you explode on them for not approving your UBR it really does hurt your reputation as a person. DM’s do their best to polish a UBR up to something more reasonable, but sometimes denial is the only way.

Also

• Do not make your character and begin roleplaying unapproved things before a response is given on your (H)UBR. It may well be archived for doing so. Additionally, if your UBR is denied, you've just become invested in an illegal character and have no one but yourself to blame.
  
• Don't demand approval. Don't complain if you're denied and plot the death of the DM who judged your UBR.
  
• Don't try to pull a fast one, we're faster. Editing your post after approval to slip in an additional aspect of the UBR is one example.
  
• Don't poke us in game about your UBR, especially if we're on PC mode. DM tolerance of this stuff varies, but generally not a good idea to do.
  
• Put some serious thought into why you're making the UBR. This is more for you than anything. Is it a character you're just going to scrap after a week? Are you only making it because everyone else has one and you want one too? If it's a non-standard race, do you fully understand everything involved with it?
  
• Uncomfortable? PM your (H)UBR to any member of the staff privately. We understand that not everyone is comfortable posting publicly.
  

See Also

Highly Unusual Background Requests
http://z6.invisionfree.com/Haven_Forums/index.php?showtopic=10807
http://nwnhaven.com/forums/technical-help/unusual-background-requests-an...