D&D 5E D&D Next weekly art column!

[Kynn]

I'm okay with pointy hats as long as all the wizards aren't old white men with beards.

 

[RangerWickett]

Pointy hats, not just for old guys with beards:

Image from Final Fantasy X-2

 

[Kaodi]

Let me throw a question out there for you guys and gals....

Where do you stand on wizards? Pointy Hat or No Pointy Hat?

And please give your reasons why...

I could live with the pointy hat. I mean, I am not sure I really think of it as a huge defining feature anymore (especially for non-human wizards), but it is a nod to an old tradition.

However, there is one detail that could perhaps use some attention: hats in open quarters, no hats in cramped quarters. Unless your magical powers flow from your headgear, a tall decorative hat is not going to be very practical inside a dungeon with low ceilings, doors, and lots of cobwebs.

 

[Dausuul]

Let me throw a question out there for you guys and gals....

Where do you stand on wizards? Pointy Hat or No Pointy Hat?

And please give your reasons why...

Generally speaking, I am not a fan of the Pointy-Hatted Bearded Old Gandalf Clone. I do recognize that this is a popular archetype, so it probably ought to get some love, but I don't want it to be the dominant face of the wizard. It's just such a cliche at this point.

I do rather like the idea of a beardless (though perhaps stubbly) wizard in a low-crowned hat with a very broad brim, shading the eyes. Something like how Odin is portrayed here. I think that would make an awesome iconic wizard for D&D. It gives a nod to the Gandalf archetype without slavishly imitating it, also gives a nod to the Dresden Files, and really plays up the mystery of the class.

 

[Hussar]

Just out of curiousity, why the pointy hat in the first place? Sure, I know that wizard=pointy hat, but, where did that come from?

I could live with pointy-hat wizard as an iconic. Would be better than Buckles McBuckleton the sorcerer in 3e. Although, thinking about it, I wonder if it's iconic or cliche. It rather has been done to death.

 

[Stormonu]

I believe it was the case that the pointy hat supposedly focused the wizard's mental power - somewhat like a magical lightning rod to the wizard's brain.

 

[TwinBahamut]

The pointy hat is a strange subject...

For the most part, I think the point hat looks silly and overdone, but if it is done right it can actually work. Somehow. If nothing else, the Tactics Ogre wizards and enchantresses (seen below) can pull it off. So, I guess that style isn't dead yet.

Still, that example aside, I'm not really a fan of playing up the stereotypical elements too excessively. You can put forward the classic look of a book-loving wizard who wears robes without being Gandalf in a pointy hat and a dress-like robe. Soren, one of the mages from the Fire Emblem games (also seen below), showcases that pretty well. He looks clearly wizardly, but doesn't play it up so much that he looks silly (and yes he is a bit effeminate, but that's not the point).

 

[Stormonu]

I think when it comes down to it, I don't want to see wizards in the stiff-pointy hat covered with stars, moons and whatnot. It seems stilted and peculiar these days. The wide-brimmed, toppled over pointy hat is fine, but like everything else, if EVERY wizard had it, it would be irritating.

And of course, my avatar is based on the old Red Wizard of Thay picture - don't be afraid to put in a few bald wizards with tatooed foreheads and the like. A few "painted man" wizards - whose tatoos come to life at his command, would make for an interesting picture and unique way of depicting spells - perhaps illusions or conjurations. Let pictures inspire creative thought, rather than limit it to "what's on the pages/in the rules." Give folks a chance to say, "wow - I didn't think of that; how could I model that in the game!?!"

 

[Yora]

I've seen a few pictures in which the pointy hats did actually look quite good. But I'd say it's always a gamble, which I think has a much higher chance of looking just silly.

New article is up: Appropriate Armor

 

[steeldragons]

Just out of curiousity, why the pointy hat in the first place? Sure, I know that wizard=pointy hat, but, where did that come from?

I could live with pointy-hat wizard as an iconic. Would be better than Buckles McBuckleton the sorcerer in 3e. Although, thinking about it, I wonder if it's iconic or cliche. It rather has been done to death.

I believe it was the case that the pointy hat supposedly focused the wizard's mental power - somewhat like a magical lightning rod to the wizard's brain.

Close. Yes. The image of the conical pointy hat of witches and wizards was a nod to (or limited understanding of) the ceremonial magicians of old and their process of "raising power" within a sanctified "magic" circle. Within that circle (the base of the hat) you then raised a "cone of power" that was then the energiy used to direct toward whatever purpose your spell/ritual was supposed to bring about.

The stars and moons, I believe, came about due to the general use of astrology and understanding of astronomy along which lines, one's ability to raise power (and how much) was viewed as dependent.

Personally, MUs are my favorite class. always have been and I've played plenty. Never did I dress one in a pointy hat and I am afraid, as Dasuul mentions above, they have crossed the line from "iconic/symbolic" to "clicheed."

I like the brimmed floppy pointed hats of Gandalf and/or along the lines ofthe "Sorting Hat" in the HP movies. And think that is an image that might be more familiar and acceptable in style tto today's audience...while still being a nod/hommage to the "traditional//ceremonial" brimless, straight up, pointy hat.

Back in the original Against the Giants, every image of a "magic-user" in the interior art involved an old bearded man in a pointy hat...and yes, it made it readily understandable/interpretable that if that other guy in robes wasn't wearing a pointy hat, he must be a cleric/priest...but I still thought it was hokey...even back then.

I do not think, speaking for myself, I would care to see "iconic" characters portrayed as such. Maybe an eccentric NPC, a court astologer or circus/carnival magician or the occasional background figure in a crowd street/tavern/court, would be fine. But not as an "every wizard you meet is gonna be wearing this"...especially if they are not in the process of spellcasting.

In my own homebrew world of Orea, I have a nation of magic-usrs/mages. There is a fashion, for formal occasions, that I depict the well-to-do wizards of the noble houses and courts wearing various pointy hats (the higher and more outrageously adorned, the more "fashionable") but it is a throughback cultural thing...not an everyday fashion...like tuxedos are today...a special/formal fashion that noone really questions or knows why they do it...nor has any special power/meaning other than to be "formal."

A singular magic item of a pointy hat with stars and moons and planets on it, that shift and change to reflect the position of the stars and moons in the sky/immediate area of the wizard, lending some kind of bonus or enhancement to their spellcasting, or that when certain constellations form upon the hat give the mage some added power (shapeshifting into a centaur archer or a giant warrior with a club...a hippocampus to breathe underwater, etc...), would be exceptionally cool, I think...but not something one would wear all of the time.

Just my two pointy coppers.
--SD