Need shield symbol ideas!

[RatPunk]

OK, I'm drawing a blank and I need help!

The main bad guys in my recently started campaign are an evil Wizard and his gnome Rogue/Assassin buddy. They have recently joined forces with a local hobgoblin tribe to use as muscle.

The PCs are about to discover their first clue as to the what the baddies are up to (although the PCs won't know it): A dead hobgoblin's shield with some interesting new markings on it.

What I have so far is that the shield is divided into three areas: the top two corners and the bottom. The bottom section contains the hobgoblin tribe's symbol (a horned skull). The two corners are going to have the symbols for the rogue and the wizard. BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE!!!

Does anyone have any ideas for cool, yet simple, symbols for a rogue and a wizard??

 

[Buttercup]

Possible icons for a wizard:
scroll
wand
beaker
stack of spell books
spell book w/ skull on top of it
bell, book & candle
an open hand with a flame hovering above it, perhaps in an unusual color


Possible icons for a rogue/assassin:
single shuriken
switchblade
mask
stack of coins with a dagger
a knife w/ wings on it
a black cat
lips w/ a finger held against them in the shhh gesture

 

[fba827]

Does the wizard have a flare for certain spells?

ie casts fireball a lot, well perhaps a large ball of fire or a staff with a ball of fire on the top of it. If the wizard is prone to cast lightning-based spells, perhaps just a large electric bolt diagonally across the section of the shield... that sort of thing, does the wizard have a "theme"

As for the rogue/assassian, i'm partial to a non-descript stilleto (slim dagger) pointed downwards. Or perhaps if the assassian has a nick name ("the wolf" or something) perhaps something to do with that nick name (like a wolf's paw print -- hmm, that would make the PCs think of a druid or ranger if they figure out that the shield symbols mean something) -- great potentials for a red herring if you make the symbol for the rogue be based on a nick-name of sorts.. hmm, how about "red herring" ?

(i would imagine that these aren't colored symbols since shields used in combat (as opposed to decorative ones for walls and such) are simply eched with a design rather than actually painted/colored since the color would be a hinderance to attempts to hide and color would easily fade through use.)

 

[Ferret]

An albino mole with a dagger, and a scroll in a skull going from the left eye to out of the mouth.

 

[Valmur_Dwur]

the Fighter's issue of Dragon mag had ideas on Heraldry both the real and the fantastic. Or do a web search for Heraldry and take a cool idea and make it "fit" the MU and/or rogue.

 

[Kyramus]

evil wiz and assassin.....

if the wiz is a necromancer, use a skull.
If not a necromancer, you'd still want to give the guys a hint but not so obvious that even the guards of the city would go "Hey I know that mark"

So here are a few possibles for the evil wiz:
Book that is bleeding
Scroll held by a severed hand
3 red stars in the dark of a cresent moon

Here are a few possible for assassin:
Stiletto dripping poison
Bloody Garotte
a dagger impaled in a skull (ala Sword in the stone)

 

[Hand of Evil]

FYI


http://digiserve.com/heraldry/pimbley.htm