Good character designs (visual and thematic)

[RangerWickett]

Any of you have any interesting designs for characters in your games? I just watched a 45-minute medley of dozens of different anime music videos, and I was struck how very few of the characters looked alike. A lot of them were very iconic. What sorts of memorable designs do you have among your characters?

Likewise, any really great hooks for a character? Several examples from things I saw today:

* Vampire with a soul.
* Half-human with emotions, half emotionless alien.
* Normal guy who copes with aliens by going a little insane.
* A woman who's been rescued so many times, she can't help but help others who are in need.
* Son of a super-hero, with no powers, but who keeps up the fight.
* A former millionaire, traveling the world as a normal man after disowning his parents in spite.

 

[Cor Azer]

Well, the only real visually different character I've ever designed for D&D I haven't gotten to play yet. The character is basically a cowboy version of Eomer/Theoden (Movie versions), with a little Jayne Cobb (Firefly) thrown in. He was going to be visually different because he'd have a duster and hat (like a cowboy) rather than the "traditional" cloak and hood of medieval times - so not so much different from any iconic character ever, but it's at least a different visual in a medieval setting.

 

[The_Gneech]

For the SW game I'm playing in, I wanted to get around the "no Jedi at 1st level" restriction for the rebellion period, so I came up with a Jedi who had been frozen in carbonite early into the Clone Wars and then revived during the rebellion era. I thought it was kind of a cheesy bit, but the GM loved it and has all kinds of plans to incorporate it into the campaign. So it's a win-win!

-The Gneech