Reskinning PCs

[jasin]

One of the things I disliked in 4E at first was a significant disconnect between the flavour and the mechanics. Many more elements went the way of hit points and stopped representing any one specific element of the game world, and started being primarily game pieces, with descriptions to be devised to fit taste and situation.

Now I'm thinking this can be leveraged in interesting ways. Is there any reason why you shouldn't let players describe anything in any way they want, as long as it fits the game, and doesn't affect the mechanics?

The core books (not sure whether it's in PHB or DMG) suggest this when they talk about swashbuckling games (where you might describe the paladin's plate armour as just a breastplate) or wuxia games (where pretty much everyone describes anything in whatever manner they like).

I've seen many threads about reskinning monsters like that, but does anybody do something like this with PCs?

For example, I have an eladrin warlord who uses a sword and a light shield, and has the wizard multiclass feat. Eventually, I might want a staff, but for now I can neither afford one nor do I really need it (I have only a single arcane encounter power). But is here any reason not do describe my warlord as walking around with a sword in one hand, and a staff in the other, and uses the staff to parry, for +1 to AC and Ref?

Or you could have a dwarf rogue that sneak attacks people with a hammer, as long as that hammer is a superior +3/1d8 weapon which doesn't work with hammer feats or powers, but works with light blade feats and powers (i.e. it's a rapier).

Or, in a Rokugan game, you could have a Soshi ninja-shugenja who throws 1d10 shuriken that target Ref and disappears when he kills (fey pact warlock shooting people with your run of the mill eldritch blast).

Do you have any interesting ideas for alternate descriptions, or situations where you've used them, or situations where they might have caused problems (like when the dwarf rogue finds a shiny new magic hammer... but can't use it, because it's an actual hammer)?

 

[Prism]

I converted a 3e fighter wizard to 4e and initially tried to do it via multiclass options. But eventually I realised that I mostly took 3e buff spells and fighter get buffs themselves. Now in 4e the fighter buffs aren't called spells of course and aren't arcane but there is no reason why I can't refer to them as spells

So my converted character has true strike aka exacting strike and haste aka quciksilver stance along with the normal multiclass feats to take some 'real' spells. I when I use the abilities, if i described them, I would refer to them as spells

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I as both a player and a DM have no problem with reskinning PCs and PC abilities as long as it doesn't mess with the math.

This is actually one of the reasons why I like 4e, since it means that it is much easier to create your own fluff because they separated mechanics and fluff so much.

 

[Rechan]

As long as you clear it through with your DM. Because otherwise you might do some monkeying. Using that Staff as a shield, with the mechanical benefits... then taking TWF Defense/Offense (neither of which require you to attack with that off-hand), and now that Shield provides +2 AC/Ref and +1 to damage.

Back in 3e, I liked the idea of reskinning all of a wizard's spells to represent summoning. Chill touch was a scorpion-like entity perching on the back of his hand, Ice Storm was opening a portal to the Elemental Plane of Ice and some elemental chucking chunks of ice out, invisibility was summoning a very peace-loving air spirit that would leave if you were violent, etc.

It's also easy to do that with the cleric's spells, reskinning the cleric as a shaman that summons elemental spirits, et al.

When it comes to a Warlock, if I picked a power that was not central to my pact, I would reskin the power to fit the flavor of my pact. If I'm a Starlock, and I pick up Crown of Madness, I can easily describe it as bringing a pale tendril from the Madness Beyond the Stars and letting my foe glimpse the terror.

I recall someone on the 4e Fan board who reskinned an Elven Ranger as a blink dog PC.

 

[Soel]

On the Wizards' boards, someone reskinned a warlock into a martian, complete with raygun (eldritch blast.)

I want to make a dwarven monk, using the rogue class (sneak attack=flurry of blows, with a small house rule allowing bare hands to accomplish such a thing.)

 

[Lord Xtheth]

I played a little bit of 4E (not realy enough to call it playing) but I changed almost every spell my cleric cast into somthing cooler just because of the God he worshiped.
Raven Queen

I turned Cascade of light to Cascade of Ravens, where a flock of Ravens blackened the sky and flew past my foes biting and pecking.

I turned Lance of Faith into Raven's strike, sending a single raven clawing at my opponent's face

Thats it acutally. I only played him to level 2, so there wasn't much to work with.

I want to make a dwarven monk, using the rogue class (sneak attack=flurry of blows, with a small house rule allowing bare hands to accomplish such a thing.)

Actually, I found a 2 weapon Ranger to make for a better monk so far, with the 2 weapon attack powers and hunters quary, it lives up to things pretty well. You can also use your fists as improvised weapons, or buy weapon gauntlets of some sort.

 

[jasin]

I played a little bit of 4E (not realy enough to call it playing) but I changed almost every spell my cleric cast into somthing cooler just because of the God he worshiped.
Raven Queen

I turned Cascade of light to Cascade of Ravens, where a flock of Ravens blackened the sky and flew past my foes biting and pecking.

I turned Lance of Faith into Raven's strike, sending a single raven clawing at my opponent's face

Ha! That's exactly the idea I've had, and the thing that finally let me make peace with the idea of the laser cleric.

 

[Pbartender]

Is there any reason why you shouldn't let players describe anything in any way they want, as long as it fits the game, and doesn't affect the mechanics?

No there isn't. I make it a point of telling my players exactly that everytime we start a campaign.

I don't care what it looks like, so long as the rules don't change.

 

[Merkuri]

I think some effort should be made to make sure that the new "skin" matches the mechanics, just to save your sanity. For example, changing a light blade into hammer so that you could sneak attack with it is pushing the bounds of disbelief for the reasons that the OP said. (What happens when he finds another hammer?)

Reskins should probably only affect your character and not the world at large. The sneak attack with a hammer example works here. You're reskinning a weapon that somebody else could pick up and use. That's not as much a reskin as a change to the way the world works.

But changing a spell so that instead of a bolt of light it sends a flock of ravens, that's fine. The only problem with that would be explaining why the ravens deal light damage (if that's the case with that spell, I'm not really familiar with 4e stuff yet).

 

[Walknot]

No there isn't. I make it a point of telling my players exactly that everytime we start a campaign.

I don't care what it looks like, so long as the rules don't change.

For the group I am in, a complete re-skin (flavor only) was too distracting to maintain suspension of disbelief. I guess that is a fancy way of saying, "your group may not like it". And since everyone is there to have fun, then that could be one reason not to allow it.

Does that seem narrow minded? Suppose you were running a serious game of D&D and one of your players wanted to re-skin their PC into a Smurf. In that case, the groups fun takes precedence over one player's poetic license.