D&D 5E PH(B) Soldier Background (Art is new)

[Azgulor]

Sorry, folks, although I'm a fan of the female samurai depiction in concept for this soldier, she looks like she should be named Samurai Barbie with the eye makeup, long hair, and hair rod & decorations that makes it impossible to wear her helmet.

Also, her left hand seems disproportionate compared or her right. Her clenched left fist is as large as her face.

This pic gets a below-average grade.

 

[Nergal Pendragon]

Sorry, folks, although I'm a fan of the female samurai depiction in concept for this soldier, she looks like she should be named Samurai Barbie with the eye makeup, long hair, and hair rod & decorations that makes it impossible to wear her helmet.

Also, her left hand seems disproportionate compared or her right. Her clenched left fist is as large as her face.

This pic gets a below-average grade.

If the hair makes it impossible to wear the helmet, then I don't think any samurai would have worn them. Long hair was part of the samurai station, so the helmets had to be designed to account for it. It didn't matter if they were male or female.

 

[evileeyore]

Yay. A preview of more stuff we've already seen the basic pdf. :/

You should probably get used to it. i doubt they will reveal too much that isn;t in the free download. (aside from art).

The Thousand-Yard Stare

That was my first thought. The eternal sadness of the Samurai was my second thought.

This is probably my favorite art piece revealed so far. It's excellent.

 

[variant]

First you say you want traditional armor in your western fantasy, then you complain when they use traditional (read: popular) armor in the eastern style they are using for this particular picture. So you want, tradtional eastern fantasy armor unless they are using something that is non traditional so then you want something that no one knows about (korean armor) ... or something? Also you must have missed that this round of D&D they are trying to expand their horizon in their base game. If you want only western D&D fantasy, you might want to go back to another edition or deal with it in this edition.

I never once used the word traditional.

I am buying this edition for the ruleset, not anything else. So I kindly ask you to not tell me what I should or should not do.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I like the concept of the art, but the execution leaves me a little cold. It's just not quite as... expressive or emotionally engaging as I might hope (I often knock 4E's art, but even in the core 3 books, many pieces were more engaging than anything we've seen so far from 5E, which actually surprises me a lot).

 

[pemerton]

I liked the art, but my main thoughts were rules-related.

(1) If my personality trait is "I can stare down a hell-hound without flinching", do I get a bonus to morale checks/fear saves? If not, in what way is that a personality trait?

(2) Live and let live - that ideals aren't worth killing or warring over - is classified as neutral, not good. Does that mean that in 5e there are no good pacifists?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

(1) If my personality trait is "I can stare down a hell-hound without flinching", do I get a bonus to morale checks/fear saves? If not, in what way is that a personality trait?

Well, flinching and internal fear aren't the same thing. Flinching is more about controlling the outward appearance and/or startle reflex, depending on how literal it is. You could have a pulse of 180 and adrenaline and so on flowing wildly, and just appear undaunted (tons of examples of this sort of thing in fantasy fiction, actually it's very common).

(2) Live and let live - that ideals aren't worth killing or warring over - is classified as neutral, not good. Does that mean that in 5e there are no good pacifists?

Presumably that's just bad short-hand, because otherwise that would be pretty hilarious. I do note that the wording on NG means it's pretty much Marxist, not sure if that was intended.

EDIT - I would also strongly question that independence was "Chaotic" and blindly following orders "Lawful", based on military history. That would be a lot of war criminals as "Lawful" and the people who tried to stop them as "Chaotic", and I don't buy that. Similarly "Nation" is "Any"? Er, no it bloody isn't. If you think only your nation (a political construct with no inherent value) and only your people matter, you are at best Neutral, because you are saying that no-one else matters, and devaluing their existence completely.

 

[SavageCole]

The picture's not my style personally, although I like her soulful expression and the questions it begs.

Someone made a comment about her hair and that helmet. Yes, with those hairpins, it would be pretty difficult to fight with that lid. At the same time, that armor looks pretty ceremonial to me and more in-line with makeup. Of course, in traditional Asian culture a woman would not typically be wearing armor, so this is a fusion of conflicting Japanese samurai imagery and courtly Asian ideal of womanhood. Maybe that's the conflict in roles that she's pondering. Who knows. She looks small in that armor, which gives another possible rationale for his expression.

So as an image for the background section, it does encourage you to inquire about her character, beliefs, etc. As much as I prefer grittier, more expressionistic artwork style-wise, I think this image suits the subject matter surrounding it.

I'm benignly indifferent to the emphasis on ethnic diversity in the art. If it's more welcoming to new players and helps groups see broader potential in the game, that's a good thing.

 

[pemerton]

Well, flinching and internal fear aren't the same thing. Flinching is more about controlling the outward appearance and/or startle reflex, depending on how literal it is. You could have a pulse of 180 and adrenaline and so on flowing wildly, and just appear undaunted

But if you are running away due to a failed morale check or fear save, then it what way is it true of you that "you can stare down a hell hound without flinching"?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Of course, in traditional Asian culture a woman would not typically be wearing armor, so this is a fusion of conflicting Japanese samurai imagery and courtly Asian ideal of womanhood. Maybe that's the conflict in roles that she's pondering.

Asia, well certainly Japan, if anything, had less of a "courtly women never fight" deal than the West, historically. I mean, the Naginata was considered a woman's weapon for a reason, and women were trained to fight with it, in Feudal Japan, for example.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naginata

I seem to recall China having less of a taboo on that than the West, too. So you may be overstating that conflict, and may want to consider if you'd say the same thing were she wearing plate rather than Ō-yoroi.

Fair enough if you just didn't know any of that.

But if you are running away due to a failed morale check or fear save, then it what way is it true of you that "you can stare down a hell hound without flinching"?

Morale checks aren't a thing for PCs, are they? Are they even a thing in 5E?

Fear saves seem to be exclusively for supernatural fear, so far, in 5E (for better or worse) and do Hellhounds cause supernatural fear?