Before First Level: Magic Users

d12
1. Thrown out of several reputable academies, killed last headmaster to cross path and made off with spellbook
2. Woke up to find self fully vested member of arcane secret society after lengthy black lotus bender
3. Snuck into sorcerer's tower, captured and imprisoned in library until mastered first spell: took ten years
4. Well-connected parents employed graft and bribery to gain admission into exclusive training facility
5. Tormented in dreams from childhood by terrible outer being who trades nocturnal peace for pursuit of the mystic arts
6. Unquenchable lust for power from early age, long list of enemies to one day blast to smithereens
7. Turned wholeheartedly to sorcery after late-childhood revelation of secret lineage: witch-doctors, magi, necromancers, psychics, diabolists and even a vampire thrown in for good measure
8. Kidnapped and trained by hermit-mage after handily winning math competition at village fete
9. After witnessing injustices of the world, hates the gods and will devote researches to finding the magic bullet needed to dispense with them once and for all
10. Strong innate sense of the fullness of reality combined with major social inhibitions, threw self into studies and never came out
11. Vision following blow to head partially revealed cosmic mysteries, triggered lifelong pursuit of knowledge
12. Sole survivor of barbarian village destroyed by snake cult but far too congenitally feeble to even entertain revenge by the sword