Beauty in D&D

[D-rock]

I let people pick how they look in my game.

Fantasy art almost always has beautiful people, especially beautiful women. Monsters are fierce, men are mighty, and women are stunning. Sure, a lot of us try to get away from these rather trite stereotypes of fantasy, but from time to time it's fun to embrace the cliches and see how silly we can be without becoming offensive.

Yah, sometimes realism just isn't to great. How many ugly people do you think Michelangelo painted, besides realism is watching a 007 movie and seeing James Bond get shot by the first guard that catches him sneaking in somewhere.

 

[Stalker0]

I like that 3d6 + cha as your appearance score idea.

 

[fusangite]

I don't tie looks to charisma nor to any of the three physical attributes to which one could also argue they might be linked. Frankly, people's looks tend not to come into my plots and so, as a result, I have never really thought through who to determine them or whether being good-looking is something characters should get for free. I guess it has just never come up.

That's not to say I don't respect those who integrate people's looks into their stories. Certainly, in myth, history and literature, people's looks are important. It's just that thinking through the implications of looks and working them into issues of NPC motivation, conduct and the like is just not at all my strong suit. So, I'll certainly keep checking in on this thread for ideas/advice on how keeping track of peoples' looks affects a campaign and what if any current D&D stat functions as a proxy for them.

 

[Runesong42]

I've played GURPS, and recall having to "buy" appearance for having lack of a Charisma stat. I think it was something like 5 points for every degree of attractiveness (and greater modifiers to influence NPCs). There was another one called Voice that said you had an excellent oratory skill and/or a pleasant, musical voice that also gave bonuses to influence NPCs. What if we added a Cha related feat to represent attractiveness?

Hollywood Good Looks - Requirements: must be taken at first level, Cha 15+
You have the striking good looks of the movie heartthrob of your choice. Ladies/men swoon at your feet and everyone competes for your attention. Select a preferred gender (male or female). This feat doubles your Cha bonus when trying to influence the reaction of NPCs of your race, and triples your Cha bonus when influencing the gender of your choosing. Assume that persons choosing the same gender as their character simply have "the stuff" that other people admire; this can have other effects if your game can handle elements of sexuality (GM's discretion). Upon other humanoid races, this effect is halved (round down), and has no effect on creatures of other types.

At the GM's discretion, other creature types that resemble humanoids (nixies, nymphs, incubi/succubi etc) CAN be affected, at your own peril, and oftentimes without your consent. Being pretty has its disadvantages, too.

Thoughts?

 

[boredgremlin]

You know i think that is the simplest and still effective solution to this i have seen yet? Definately joinked for my next campaign. Thanks.

 

[Runesong42]

Boredgremlin, you're the first person ever to 'yoink' anything I had to say. I'm honoured, and thanks!

 

[boredgremlin]

Boredgremlin, you're the first person ever to 'yoink' anything I had to say. I'm honoured, and thanks!

Lol no problem. I mainly go to forums to chat a bit about game concepts and look for good ideas to bring into my future games. I have allways believed that no one person has all the good ideas. Lol so why not go look for other peoples? Standing on the shoulders of giants and all that.

 

[Klaus]

Very nice, Runesong42!

 

[Seeten]

In old ad&d times a female gamer played a female necromancer with cha 18.
She often wore some bone armor. Later we discovered some pictures from Royo.

My female Pale Master with cha 16 has the Bone Armor Royo Pic, and the cloaked bone armor pic, and the skull helm pic.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

We used comeliness very briefly when it came out, but that quickly fell by the wayside. These days, a character is considered to be more likely to be good-looking with a high charisma, but charisma is not the sole indicator of physical beauty.

*Ahem* On the subject of the chain mail bikini, Larry Elmore's Snarfquest d20 had the funniest rules for them. The AC bonus is equal to either your charisma bonus or penalty (this is going with the idea that charisma directly equals beauty, obviously). So that if you're really beautiful, your displayed beauty distracts anyone trying to strike you. And if you're really ugly, your displayed ugliness distracts anyone trying to strike you.