D&D General How Do D&D Adventurers Dress?

[MGibster]

Let's get this out of the way. Of course it depends on the setting, the PCs culture, and what they do for a living. But how are they dressed compared to the average person in the campaign? In the default D&D campaign, the player characters are adventurers, or weirdos as I like to call them. These folks are often well equipped and well armed itinerate workes whose main labor involves a copious amount of violence. They live very different lives from that of the average person in your campaign. (Probably. Maybe you have a campaign where everyone is an adventurer. I don't know.)

I bought the 2024 PHB not too long ago, and as I was browsing through the section on Wizards I spied this little picture. Can you imagine sitting in a tavern, drinking some ale with your pals, talking about all the cargo you unloaded today (you're a stevedore), and you see this dude walk in.

"Who the hell is this and why is he dressed like that?" is what you might say to your drinking pals. Quietly of course. It's obvious he's an adventurerer and it's bad luck to make an adventurer angry. You wouldn't like them when they're angry. It'd be like me sitting at my local BBQ joint here in Arkansas and seeing this man walk into the establishment.

Looking at the 2024 PHB, most of the depictions of character classes show them wearing rather ostentatious fashion. I can't help but think there's something kind of awesome about that. Like it or not, how you dress conveys a message to other people. People like these two adventurers are trying to say something to everyone who sees them. Something along the lines of, "I envy you because you get to look at me."

Does anyone take note of what their characters and others wearin D&D games? When I play a Wizard, I always make sure I'm dressed like a traditional Wizard. My character didn't go to Wizard University to dress like a regular schlub. He gets to wear the pointy hat so everyone knows he's a Wizard instead of one of those community college Sorcerers or one of those Bards who went to art school.

 

[Distracted DM]

Let's get this out of the way. Of course it depends on the setting, the PCs culture, and what they do for a living. But how are they dressed compared to the average person in the campaign? In the default D&D campaign, the player characters are adventurers, or weirdos as I like to call them. These folks are often well equipped and well armed itinerate workes whose main labor involves a copious amount of violence. They live very different lives from that of the average person in your campaign. (Probably. Maybe you have a campaign where everyone is an adventurer. I don't know.)

I bought the 2024 PHB not too long ago, and as I was browsing through the section on Wizards I spied this little picture. Can you imagine sitting in a tavern, drinking some ale with your pals, talking about all the cargo you unloaded today (you're a stevedore), and you see this dude walk in.

View attachment 388691
"Who the hell is this and why is he dressed like that?" is what you might say to your drinking pals. Quietly of course. It's obvious he's an adventurerer and it's bad luck to make an adventurer angry. You wouldn't like them when they're angry. It'd be like me sitting at my local BBQ joint here in Arkansas and seeing this man walk into the establishment.
View attachment 388692

Looking at the 2024 PHB, most of the depictions of character classes show them wearing rather ostentatious fashion. I can't help but think there's something kind of awesome about that. Like it or not, how you dress conveys a message to other people. People like these two adventurers are trying to say something to everyone who sees them. Something along the lines of, "I envy you because you get to look at me."

Does anyone take note of what their characters and others wearin D&D games? When I play a Wizard, I always make sure I'm dressed like a traditional Wizard. My character didn't go to Wizard University to dress like a regular schlub. He gets to wear the pointy hat so everyone knows he's a Wizard instead of one of those community college Sorcerers or one of those Bards who went to art school.

I think that the issue is just misalignment in expectations. The character art you shared, as well as some others, are very flamboyant. It's very high fantasy, where every tavern has a healthy mix of all sorts of ancestries wearing all sorts of fashions and everyone stands out. Or maybe just adventurers do, because they're adventurers.

If you're thinking low fantasy or gritty greys or something else that has some basis in "medieval realism" etc etc... yeah, the super colorful characters you see in the PHB are either not going to fit into the setting OR you make an excuse for them fitting in. My excuse is, and I think I stole it from ?Torchbearer?, that adventurers are crazy.. so them looking crazy can make sense in that aspect.

 

[GMMichael]

It's not the blue-trenchcoat elf in the tavern that you need to worry about. It's this guy:

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I read an article somewhere that said something to the effect that many medieval dies would actually look quite gaudy and clashing to our modern sensibilities. I have no idea to its authenticity.

But yeah, anyhow, I have no problem with PCs being outrageous to normal (NPC) folk!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

medieval realism

Those with money would have dressed very flamboyantly. The medieval grunge look is a complete misconception.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I read an article somewhere that said something to the effect that many medieval dies would actually look quite gaudy and clashing to our modern sensibilities.

Especially when it comes to male dress. It became extremely drab in the 19th century, and that influence still persists, especially in formal wear.

The trade in brightly coloured dies and jewellery goes back thousands of years BCE. Humans have always enjoyed dressing up to look good.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Does anyone take note of what their characters and others wearin D&D games? When I play a Wizard, I always make sure I'm dressed like a traditional Wizard. My character didn't go to Wizard University to dress like a regular schlub. He gets to wear the pointy hat so everyone knows he's a Wizard instead of one of those community college Sorcerers or one of those Bards who went to art school.

Yes I do, and as DM I establish fashions for settings and locations too.

But when it comes to wizards, I make a point NOT to dress like a traditional wizard, because everyone knows to kill the wizard first. A pointy hat makes you a prime target.

My last PC, a sorcerer:

 

[Horwath]

practical, generic, looks on the poor side even if quality is top category.

you have more than enough problems as an adventurer, no need to attract any more attention than it's needed.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

My table of players are into the roleplaying aspects of gaming, but their PCs relation to clothing tend to fall into one of three categories depending on character:
1 They don't give a f
2 They make efforts to dress inconspicuously
3 They are flamboyantly fashion-aware and spend lots of effort and gold on it

 

[delericho]

Depends how 'realistic' you want your campaign to be.

If you take the view that adventuring is an extremely dangerous profession, PCs should dress for danger - no robes, no bare metal, no excess weight...

If you go for full-on fantasy and don't care about practicality, I'd treat adventurers as the rock stars of their day. They're famous (or want to be), and their signature look is part of that. Whether that means Elton John or Ozzy Osbourne is up to the individual.