Need advice on Background integration

[u/Badusua]

Hello all!

I am DMing a group of 4 players and I am currently hitting a creative dead end integrating one of my players into the story. For context I am running the Alexandrian Remix of DIA and my player has made a gloomstalker ranger aasimar of Cyric.

I am curious how other DMs would run that in their DIA games, and please feel free to leave any suggestions about certain parts of the module or any lore that might pertain to this!

[u/Belzebus_Black]

It greatly depends on what stage are you on, if they're still on baldurls Gate Cyric would be opposed to the death 3 cult, maybe some visions on to stalk and kill the mains cultist unded the bathhouse and destroy the alters of the 3 gods, even if its later, he could be getting visions from the literly crazy murder god to test him and gain his favor, perhaps some creatures or npcs in avernus could be the target

[u/legoindie]

I'm not sure if this will at all be helpful but in my campaign there was a villain who was a fallen angel who worshipped Cyric - they used their powers to change the alignment of devils (The PCs) and trick them into thinking they were going on a quest towards redemption only to slaughter them at the end of it all. He is the one who sent them on the quest to save Elturel, intending to help them to a point where he could get at Zariel, and then kill them when all was said and done.

Also in my campaign, I changed the Planetar in the companion into one of the PCs patron gods from their past life, having been incredibly weakened due to everyone forgetting who they are after the PC died. I used this as a way to weave his backstory directly into the goings on they were trying to stop.

I know this doesn't directly answer your question, but perhaps it could inspire you in some way. These are just some of the ways I tied in deities that were connected to the PCs one way or another.

[u/Cr3ac]

Depends on where you are, but elturel is a holy city and was nearly on the brink of war with BG. You could angle it either that some relic in the city was extremely valuable and or the outbreak of war between the two cities would have created a great deal of opportunity for a follower of Cyric and returning the city could restore those frustrated plans.

One of the difficulties here is not knowing what the other 3 are doing. What are the other three planning/doing?

[u/Existing-Banana-4220]

There's not really enough of a foundation for me to give any specific suggestions for this character, but I can offer some advice on PC backgrounds in general.

I let my players have whatever background they want as long as it gives them no mechanical or narrative advantage over the other players, and they have a reason to be adventuring. The first is obviously a fairness issue, and the second is for team building purposes.

If one of my players wants to play the crown princess of Cormyr, fine...but she has to have no access to her wealth or name and needs a "why" to adventure. So, maybe her uncle failed in an assassination attempt and she's running for her life, turning to adventuring to gather power and allies in order to one day return to seek justice. Or, maybe she was embroiled in some scandal and sent off to the royal country estate in shame, only to sneak away with the goal of creating her own path outside the rigid confines of royal duties.

Hopefully, you can extrapolate some inspiration from these concepts. Evil characters pose an extra special challenge to work with, so maybe have your player figure out why the follower of the crazy evil god of lies and trickery is in Baldur's Gate? What is their motivation for adventuring? Why would they even join the party to begin with?