How you imagine physical features of OTHER player characters

[Driddle]

When you're gaming with other D&D'ers in one of your more usual fantasy adventures, to what degree do you envision the physical features of their player characters (not just your own)?

 

[WayneLigon]

Normally, we'll find art or pictures or photos to use for character descriptions. We're normally very specific as to what they look like, what they wear, personal habits or expressions, etc. Same for major and some minor NPCs.

 

[Raistlin717]

y thats a good question. I normally picture him in my head and write him out detail by detail in terms of gender,race, eye color, skin tone, etc. The armors and weapons I sometimes let my imagination take over day 2 day

 

[Masquerade]

I try to imagine characters as closely as I can to how their players imagine them. This usually means option 2, but if it's a new/lazy/uninterested player then I probably have to settle for option 1. I'm lucky enough to have gamed with a few very talented artists, so I definitely enjoy option 5 whenever applicable as well.

 

[boerngrim]

Hi
Here's an interesting twist on this.
I'm white. Up until 5 years ago I lived in the Atlanta, GA area and my friends I gamed with were African Americans. One day it dawned on me that I imagined their characters, you know elf, dwarf the usual mix as being basically white skinned, but with pointy ears or short dudes with beards. Out of curiosity I asked them how they saw their own characters and others' . The answers varied. One guy saw his characters and the other black players' characters as having brown skin and other african features regardles of race. On guy said when he played humans he thought of them as black, but other races he imagined as they are typically depicted in the art. The rest were varying degrees along the same lines. Our perceptions of our shared imaginary world were each influenced by our perceptions of the real world. I know that's not really a stunning revelation, or anything, but it was a bit of an eye opener for me. I learned a lot from my time among those friends.
Thanks.

 

[Odhanan]

When you're gaming with other D&D'ers in one of your more usual fantasy adventures, to what degree do you envision the physical features of their player characters (not just your own)?

I do to a certain degree, whether in my mind's eye or when painting their miniatures or drawing their characters. I always have some visual representation of what another's PC looks like. I need it for my own make-believe.

 

[GreatLemur]

This is a tough one to answer accurately. I'm somewhere between options 1 and 2, depending largely on how much detail the players bother to announce (and how well I can retain that information), but also I play with a couple artists, who will occasionally draw their own characters, and eventually others' as well.

 

[Driddle]

Hi
Here's an interesting twist on this.
I'm white. Up until 5 years ago I lived in the Atlanta, GA area and my friends I gamed with were African Americans. One day it dawned on me that I imagined their characters, you know elf, dwarf the usual mix as being basically white skinned, but with pointy ears or short dudes with beards. Out of curiosity I asked them how they saw their own characters and others' . The answers varied. One guy saw his characters and the other black players' characters as having brown skin and other african features regardles of race. On guy said when he played humans he thought of them as black, but other races he imagined as they are typically depicted in the art. The rest were varying degrees along the same lines. Our perceptions of our shared imaginary world were each influenced by our perceptions of the real world. I know that's not really a stunning revelation, or anything, but it was a bit of an eye opener for me. I learned a lot from my time those friends.

Thank you. That's interesting, and it speaks to the issue that initially prompted this poll.

 

[rossik]

as a DM, i ask them to draw their character or print/cut a figure that represent them.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

I try to go off of what amount of description I can get or what I can glean from the setting as well.

The viewpoint of the African-American gamers is interesting as well. Being white & Asian, I never really pictured many characters that would look like me, namely because I don't really see anyone that quite looks like me, even here the N.W. where there's a large Asian population. If I was from Hawaii, maybe I'd have a different perspective, I dunno. Only people who could guess what I was were from Hawaii.