Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TheBard 02-25-05, 11:06 AM	A high level DnD Hero must surely look ridiculous. This came up at one of our recent gaming sessions. You guys all know Boots of Flight, right? These thin, soft leather boots which have little wings at their side when not in use. Granted, these 'can' look cool on a Rogue or a Wizard, but imagine a Warrior or Paladin, wearing a Full Plate, heavily armored... and instead of plate boots, they wear this flimsy Boots of Flight. Laughable, no? There are several magic items which may offer interesting advantages, but many of them look silly on certain characters. Do you "dress" your character to look "right" or do you use cool items you find, regardless if they don't fit your visual character concept? Do you have any other ideas for ridiculous item/character combinations? Whats 'your' opinion?
psionichamster 02-25-05, 11:14 AM	i was talking about something similar to a fellow gamer the other day every character i've played has ended up with some kind of goggles/lenses/glasses/etc... every one. even the human fighter who thought he was samurai, wearing fire resistant, kevlar reinforced great armor, with the fiberglass composite bow (dwarves + isolation + decent tech=fun) and a pair of glasses that allowed him to see 2x as far as normal or justen the tech mage (crafter supreme) who kept upgrading his goggles (first lowlight, then darkvision, then lights, then arcane sight, etc...) current mage Jeremiah has goggles of minute seeing/eyes of the eagle...they must look like Mr. Magoo glasses, but he can see REAL well, even in the dark i did have one player who kept her boots of elvenkind and cloak of elvenkind forever (got them from thieve's guild at like lvl 3-4 for seperate missions) even though she had the opportunity to upgrade a couple of times. why? cuz they looked slick, matched, and grey goes well with black silk (her preferred clothing) namaste, the hamster
mcnoo 02-25-05, 11:25 AM	As my drow rogue (the one who "aquires" the most items) i have a great many different outfits for all ocasions (i have a pair of portable holes as wardrobes) and i'm a quick change expert. As such, i have to be able to make all my items change the way they look at a moment's notice. I usualy wear my items under things, such as wrap my boots in cloth, which helps because it muffles the sound (in common sense, no actual benefit), or wear my belt under my outer layer of clothing. When fully kitted up for stealth, it's often impossible to tell i'm carrying any items without massive spot checks. Fingerless gloves are great for hiding rings while still leting you disarm traps etc. perfectly.
Super Guy 02-25-05, 12:56 PM	I try to customize my equipment so that I look cool :) Maybe a little cluttered. My last character, who ended up at level 18, looked like this: Slightly over 6', strong and mobile. A glimmering mithril breastplate with nice designs is his armor. In one hand, a darkwood shield. In the other, a magical bastard sword. His head is covered by a wolf-head-shaped helmet, and behind you can see the tails of a red bandana sticking out. On his arms are hard bracers, which lead up to metal gauntlets. Looking from the front, you can see a red-inlaid cape down to his inner-knee. But, from the back, is a swooping dark green cloak, covering everything nicely, and dwarfing the cape. At the nape of his neck is a gilded iron clasp, covering another clasp. At his side, on his belt, is a handle for his dagger, and handles for immediate access to important potions, stealthily tucked away. At his side is a sheath for his bastard sword. Of course, on his back, there are three sheaths, and a quiver. In each sheath is a bastard sword (adamantium, cold iron, silver) and with the quiver, in the center, is a composite longbow. Laced on his feet are two plain looking leather boots, deceptively magical. No goggles- in fact, all of my characters take a serious disliking to ANY NPC or PC that wear goggles. If I have anything that I don't think looks cool, I either don't wear it (i.e. goggles) or color it differently if I can, etc... And yes, I know that I can't get the benefits of two cape/cloak/mantles, I just take the green one off when I need to use the red one. Once, my DM had us stumble upon some Half-Orc that was wearing goggles AND had bad hygiene *shudders*. Needless to say, the fight was bloody (I knocked him down to about 2 or 3 HP from probably around 100, and knocked off his goggles, but the lucky bastard got two criticals on me, knocking me to around 2 or 3 HP, so I retreated from the large fight and let the party finish him)
Callista 02-25-05, 01:04 PM	I'm running into that problem, actually. My level 6 barbarian is currently upgrading her armor... the masterwork greatsword she started with has been enchanted more than once, now, and that's cool; but the armor and other items... they're just not her. For example: A mithril breastplate. It gives me the AC I need to survive Rages, but I really don't see my Nature Girl barbarian wanting to wear much metal at all. Problem is, I can't find leather (or other natural) armor that will give that sort of protection... I can't imagine what she's gonna look like at level 20, with glasses and boots and... ugh! I think I'll have my magic items custom-made of leather or bone or something else that my character can harvest off the animals she hunts, or it's just gonna get ridiculous. (Do you have any suggestions as to that annoying metal armor, by the way? I've heard dragonhide offers decent protection but I haven't seen the stats...)
ServantOfTheLordYawgmoth 02-25-05, 02:01 PM	I find that most players (myself included) tend to go for power over appearence, mostly because we're constantly looking at our stats, but the graphics in your typical game of D&D are sort of... a battle grid and some small figures that don't necessarily look all that much like your character to begin with (especially as my group tends to make do with boardgame pieces and beads for the most part). However, I think I have also yet to meet a player (myself included) who has not at least once said "I'm not using that, it'd look stupid." Still, I think the most absurd-looking item for any class would have to be an Iounn stone. My group loves these things, but I just can't imagine using one. Who can take someone seriously when they're hiking through the Orc-infested wilderness with a little gem floating around their head at a distance of two feet? It's just absurd! Especially in towns. Of course, in a game I'm playing in, there was one party member that spent a significant amount of time in a magic shop last session, debating whether she would buy any of the rings or amulets there. Her main point of concern was that her halfling sorceror was wearing all black and she wanted to avoid getting anything brightly colored.
psionichamster 02-25-05, 02:12 PM	@Callista: IIRC, the dragoncrafter feat from the draconomicon allows someone to make dragon-hide armor, weapons, and the like. you could get a set of hide made from a huge or gargantuan dragon, as well as some other items (shield, i think) thing is, its identical to regular steel armor (except more easily enchantable, slightly lighter, and not vulnerable to heat metal and the like...also has resistance or immunity (don't remember which) to the element of the dragon) ie, white dragon armor= resistant to cold. note, this resistance does not transfer to the wearer (although it can be enchanted easier, IIRC) but only applies to the armor itself if you have a mithral breastplate, the best thing would be to see if you can't trade that for a similar dragon-crafted item... enchanted hide or leather can give you the AC you need, too, but it just aint as cool as dragon-hide. when i get to look at the draco. book again, i'll see about the stats specifically, unless someone beats me to it. namaste, the hamster
Black Kitten 02-25-05, 02:44 PM	I had some of the same problems with my previous character (RiP 25-02-05). She was originally a bard, but my DM allowed me to re-design her as a Cleric and that meant she was going Full Plate. It just wasn't her and it wasn't fashionable etc, etc. So I decided that I was going to buy her a mithral chainshirt (because it shines better than regular metal :-P). I today also designed a new Cleric of Bane for a partymember and because she is going to do a lot of interacting I gave the character (lvl 9) a glamered mithral breastplate rather than a fullplate.
Andrew_980 02-25-05, 09:49 PM	My current PC is wasting all of his magic and treasure to create magic items because they look cool. he is a psion and is creating the magic items partly as a disguise so he can be a "superhero" (the psyskins are a lot like the spiderman symbyote) and he's just been dying to enchant the boots he had made out of the first dragon he killed
psionichamster 02-25-05, 09:58 PM	psionic boots? get boots of skating +15 speed, you fly across things like a rollerblader, and they cost 7k plus, you can get crystal toed shoes... always wanted that namaste, the hamster
Andrew_980 02-25-05, 10:00 PM	boots of skating it is indeed, only 3500 to make (hey i'm 3rd level and poor)
Ze_Mighty_Vegetable 02-26-05, 12:34 AM	A player in my group always carry more than 4 weapons at the same times, on a harness. He always carry a 20' pike (swore I'd hit him on the head if he so much as utter the words monkey grip), a strange weapon (currently a flax), a crossbow of some sort and a big blunt object. Once, he tried to sneak undetected into the thieve's quartier. Him: I try to move through the crowd unconspisiously (or something like this. Damn long words...). Me: :eek: ...with a 20' pike straped on your back?
Mumbling Rogue 02-26-05, 03:01 AM	I find that the more magical an item is, the more unique it is. A lot of normal short swords look the same, but maybe that sickle +1 is actually a torture hook with a handle made of human bone and a blade caked with fresh blood. A lot of the times me and my players will substitute the style of a suit of armor for something that fits their character better. Sure, it _is_ a metal breastplate by the rules, but maybe it looks like hardened leather with sharpened bone spines and reinforced rock plates :cool:
psionichamster 02-26-05, 08:05 AM	yeah, i can get behind the "change of appearance" thing you've got going @Andrew: are you planning on styling the boots in a particular manner? since you are crafting them from scratch, you've got a blank slate with which to work. my psion (Wralf) had a mastercrafter cobbler make him custom footwear in order to enchant them...no sense in ugly shoes you'll have forever, is there? they looked a bit like Neo's boots from "The Matrix"...mid calf length, black leather, with buckles across the ankle, midway, and at the top. The buckles were crystal, chased with silver, and the toes were capped with more crystal. When he ran, little "whoosing" sounds came out of the bottom of the boots, and the crystals glowed ever so softly... i loved that character...:( too bad we stopped playing that game namaste, the hamster
Andrew_980 02-26-05, 08:59 AM	they are dragonskin boots he got from an earlier adventure, shiny black dragon skin
psionichamster 02-26-05, 09:29 AM	nice... remember: it's not whether you win or lose, it's how good you look while doing it... and since you are gonna have black dragonhide boots (resistant to acid, IIRC, no?) that float an inch or so over the ground, you are gonna be looking pretty slick! namaste, the hamster
Andrew_980 02-27-05, 10:54 AM	got them enchanted last night and barely survived to use them. we had 3 level two and 2 level three PCs against 5 level 2 fighters, lvl4 rouge, lvl4 sorc,lvl4cleric.damn near tpk