Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Edymnion 07-18-03, 12:14 AM	I'm just wondering how many of you actually go to the lengths of coming up with an emblem for your character? The current sorceress I've just finished has two focuses. First is her spells, which revolve around lightning, wind, and the power of a raging storm (elemental magic). Second is her religion, a devout follower of Selūne, the goddess of the moon and magic in the Realms. In her description, I mentioned having her person symbol engraved on the head of her shortspear (and a big symbol of Selūne embroidered across her armor). And since I like to go into some detail for things like this, I had to think up what the symbol actually was. I ended up describing it as being a crescent moon half hidden by a cloud and thunderbolt, pulling on her moon-centric religion and her storm casting. Anyway, to help me visualize it, and to show others in the game exactly what I mean, I opened up Paintshop Pro and made it: http://www.geocities.com/edymnionii/AmythestSymbol.txt Was wondering if any of the rest of you ever bother going to this sort of length with their characters? I plan on having a bit of fun with this, especially since she knows Arcane Mark :D
Fox Lee 07-18-03, 01:47 AM	Not quite the same thing, but I played an elf from a noble house once, so I had him an crest type thing to go on his signet ring and such. http://hypercrescendo.net/foxlee/fls/art/orig/yl_crest.gif
KotJC_Enigma42 07-18-03, 01:58 AM	Nope. Never had a crest or symbol or anything for my chars. But I do normally make character sketches. I'm going to ask my DM to come up with the banner for my current parties lord though... mainly because the fighter is wearing it on his shirt, and i'm drawing a picture with him in it...
Edymnion 07-18-03, 02:14 AM	Originally posted by Fox Lee Not quite the same thing, but I played an elf from a noble house once, so I had him an crest type thing to go on his signet ring and such. I think that counts. That, and you never say no to a cute nekkid elf girl :angel:
Fox Lee 07-18-03, 02:46 AM	Heh. It's a boy. Actually, that's not entirely true; but it explicity is not female. Their crest specifically features an elf with no gender, a symbol of the belief that beauty is neither male nor female, and both genders should aspire to beauty. Which is kind of ironic, because my character - their last surviving member - was a frequent crossdresser who used Change/Alter self to jump genders as well. Old, crappy pic (http://hypercrescendo.net/foxlee/fls/art/orig/bgllor.gif) Older, crappier pic (http://hypercrescendo.net/foxlee/fls/art/old/llormod.gif) Old, crappy chibi (http://hypercrescendo.net/foxlee/fls/art/old/headllor.gif)
Trydan 07-18-03, 12:22 PM	Was wondering if any of the rest of you ever bother going to this sort of length with their characters? Certainly... depends on the character though. Some of my more lawful/ordered characters have emblems/crests, but others do not. My favourite was a white dragon (like the d20 modern patch), on a black background, whose tail turns into a lightning bolt and blasts into a band across the bottom, which is white at the striking point, and fades out to dull red. Difficult to describe, but unfortunately, I don't have an electronic copy. I'll see if I can scan it though.
King of Diamonds 07-18-03, 12:29 PM	Ive just finished putting together a fighter that always caries a banner around with him with his symobl on it. a sea of flames with a gauntleted fist rising from the flames to grasp a sword that has rays of white light shining from it. however I had a character that had its own personal calling card. everytime it got into a fight with any of the inteligent spiecies she would leave a playing card (ace of spades) on every dead or disabled body
Vel_Ziliuse 07-18-03, 01:02 PM	Originally posted by Edymnion Was wondering if any of the rest of you ever bother going to this sort of length with their characters? I plan on having a bit of fun with this, especially since she knows Arcane Mark :D When I enter in a room all the pencils flee in terror (tha is: I don't know how to draw) so I don't draw emblems or character sketches. Instead I collect pictures from internet and use them, I also like to draw the plan of my characters' houses (straight lines, the only ones I can use -_-). Anyway it depends a lot on the character, for some of them I made their soundtrack, for others I did historical research etc. [OT] A question for Fox Lee: a lot of your characters are cross-dresser or you are often talking about those few? Why am I asking? Simple, my second name is "curiosity" and you are the first person (that I know of) to have such an original idea. Most of the character I've seen had no social life. ^_^' Fortunately enough my current group is much better than that.
Edymnion 07-18-03, 02:41 PM	Originally posted by Fox Lee Heh. It's a boy. Hehehe, whoops. Just looked like the classic waifish elf girl to me.
xirkal 07-18-03, 08:20 PM	I would love to do this, but unfortunately I have the artistic ability of a stale ooze.
Fox Lee 07-19-03, 07:02 AM	Originally posted by Vel_Ziliuse [OT] A question for Fox Lee: a lot of your characters are cross-dresser or you are often talking about those few? Why am I asking? Simple, my second name is "curiosity" and you are the first person (that I know of) to have such an original idea. Most of the character I've seen had no social life. ^_^' Fortunately enough my current group is much better than that. Um... I'm guessing at an "Are" in front of that question, since that would actually make it a question ^^; If that's the case, then the answer is probably yes - at least, I've probably played a lot more of them than your average player. It's not really so original, though; aside of yoinking the archetype directly from half a dozen anime I like in the first place (male crossdressing is a lot more accepted in this genre... *happysigh*), it's just me being gratuitously self-serving. Your stereotypical player has buxom "warrior" women in chainmail bikinis; I have cute crossdressing mages <^^; Of course, regardless of how many crossdressing characters I've actually played, I do tend to talk a lot about those I have played. They've been some of the oldest and most memorable of my bunch - but aside of that, I feel like someone has to speak up for the gender-confused-bishounen minority :p
Talmariel 07-19-03, 10:41 AM	Only drawing a symbol? I've got the symbol, character sketch, and when I rework the sword design for this bladesinger character I'll be forging the sucker! How's that for obsessive! :D
Salla 07-19-03, 12:07 PM	If I had any artistic ability whatsoever, I probably would.
texaskron 07-19-03, 03:08 PM	Originally posted by Talmariel Only drawing a symbol? I've got the symbol, character sketch, and when I rework the sword design for this bladesinger character I'll be forging the sucker! How's that for obsessive! :D Dude, I'd hate to be your DM if the character died in a dungeon crawl. :) "Um, Talmariel takes 300 damage from the Uber-charge Umberhulk monk... I think I'm leaving now...."
Tzalice Minoladir 07-19-03, 05:06 PM	actually, I'm a bit of a heraldry nut, so when my character had something that would have a device or symbol, it's been made for them. My halfling rogue, Marigold has a brand on the back of her neck (a ring with leaves and her thieve's guild name. She had a pair of eyes burnt onto her forarms that were kind of eye of ra-ish for her shadowdancer's guild. My elven princess mage had a signet ring (a flower with a small coronet and three stars), a coat of arms (sky blue with a white chevron inverted with a griffin and unicorn proper juxtaposed), and a mage sigil (modified signet ring with a different flower) My paladin has her father's signet ring (a fist and a star), her mother's (a moonflower) and her ex lover's (I haven't decided yet), plus her coat of arms that's blazoned on her surcoat (a symbol of st. cuthbert coming from a blooming moonflower) my vampire lady had a mage sigil (a fang with a lotus blooming from the top with a drop of blood coming from the fang) and her signet ring used the same design minus the lotus). None of my other characters have been the sort to use devices or such. but I usually draw pictures of them too :)
Daddio42 07-21-03, 10:32 PM	I once had a DM who, when I created a character with royal blood (99% on a D100!) insisted that I create a coat of arms including using the correct heraldry terms to describe it. I had to study for a couple of weeks to get it right and it never entered into the story.
hiryuu 07-21-03, 11:03 PM	How bout these? http://www.nazro.net/gallery/hoodsymb.jpg and: http://www.nazro.net/gallery/shoosym.jpg
Fox Lee 07-22-03, 12:50 AM	Originally posted by hiryuu http://www.nazro.net/gallery/shoosym.jpg :rofl: But I would probably approve of anything to do with Shoo :p
lee_hadley 07-24-03, 10:35 AM	My current character, a Ranger by the name of Bryn, isn't the type to have a crest or heraldic symbol. But his enemies do. His back story is one or murder and revenge. Aged 8 his entire family was murdered by the local feudal lord. Bryn survived in the dark forests of Anval (our game world) and grew into a skilled hunter and ranger. As an adult, now out in the wider world, his prime motivation is revenge. He has spent years, and many game sessions, seeking the Lord that killed his family. One of the few clues that Bryn has is the heraldic device or the lord that killed his family. A black sun with a black arrow through it. Our GM has woven this back story into the game world we are playing quite well. In between adventures, Bryn uses his growing skills, contacts and money to investigate the owner of that infamous symbol. He has had a few false leads but little by little he is drawing closer to his quarry. It may take years (game time and real time) for this to develop to a conclusion and for me this just adds to my enjoyment of RPG’s.
hiryuu 07-24-03, 10:46 AM	Originally posted by Fox Lee :rofl: But I would probably approve of anything to do with Shoo :p Yeah. The first is the symbol of Hood, whose memories have a four year gap between the age of 14 and 18. That's the symbol on her right hand. It's always been there, even when she was a child. It glows softly when she uses her magic. And the second is Go Away Shoo's, obviously. "Why?" "Because people need symbols." "Why?" "To identify when they were there." "Can't you just smell them?"
PcSpider 10-02-03, 08:32 AM	:bump:
Ghoti 10-02-03, 06:53 PM	Well one of my earlier character's used the planescape symbol (Lady of Pain, it wasn't a really a planar campaign so I didn't get flayed). I've also had a character who would always leave an iron star at the scene of every assassination. My next character will most likely do somehting similar, except he's a thief, so maybe a monogrammed dark blue silk handkerchef.
Moonstar 10-03-03, 01:43 AM	I always sketch the characters of the group I'm playing in, twice I even tried doing them "in-character" - it's funny to compare the more delicate, realistic style of my elven bard to the heavy, anime-themed scribbles of my kender rogue ("I'm not a thief! I'm a handler!"). When I play wizards I usually end up drawing their sigil by using either FR Espruar, Tolkien's elvish, or actual Elder Futhark runes and then embellishing them somehow.
The Sinner 10-03-03, 03:17 PM	My last character's emblem was that of his knightly order; two lances crossed beneath a star of Cuthbert. but he hated horses so just used the regular star most of the time(including branding onto several devil's heads). My new char is an outcast from a noble family, so he cant use their crest. Im thinking something like a heart pierced with a rapier or something.
ieattrollsforbreakfast 10-03-03, 03:37 PM	My old character (who was my favourite so far!) was an avariel who eventually become one of the lords of waterdeep at 12th level. Her symbol was a quill surrounded by flames
Cli' San Aquanova 10-04-03, 01:29 PM	I don't have a picture to post, but my emblem is a great sea-serpent, writhing and roaring between two cresting tidal waves, each going in the opposite direction. http://www.geocities.com/flammabledragon/mermangrin.TXT
The One and Only... 10-04-03, 01:29 PM	I was thinking about having a red spade as a character symbol.
Mr. Wilson 10-04-03, 09:32 PM	yep, my current character does have a Coat of Arms as his father was the Marquis of a powerful Duchy, before it fell to the combined forces of the church and the gnomes. Hjalmar's all encompassing goal is to re-establish the empire those two forces overthrew. His coat of arms is: Argent, a Bend Sinister Gules, a Rampart Bear countercharged.
catharz 10-08-03, 01:40 AM	A allways thought the Onager Ramapant was a nice coat of arms.
lordasrael 10-09-03, 03:20 PM	My new char is an outcast from a noble family, so he cant use their crest. Im thinking something like a heart pierced with a rapier or something. Why not a modified version of the family crest? Like if the coat of arms includes a white horse, make it a black horse, or something. Marquis of a powerful Duchy I know this is really pedantic, but Duchies have Dukes. Counties have Counts, etc... Admittedly I can't remember what has a Marquis...:confused:
Silvershadow 10-10-03, 04:40 PM	Marches have Marquises, the English just sort of bastardized the French word. A wife of a marquis is a marchioness. Think Eomer, Lord of the Mark (March). And please don't ask me to pronounce it; I've gotten in WAY too deep over that with some friends. -Silver