tall, with long flowing black hair and dark eyes.

[MrFilthyIke]

and what an advantage! wouldn't you want your rogue to disappear easily?.

I think in D&D I tend to play distinct characters, but in Call of Cthulhu, my characters are always absolutley normal...in the beginning!

 

[der_kluge]

I think part of the problem is that there isn't a comeliness score included on the character sheet.

All the Sorcerers, Clerics, Paladins, and Bards with high charismas automatically become beautiful people through a loose interpretation of what charisma really represented.

Obviously, Hitler was highly charismatic, but ugly as sin, so one score doesn't really work.

I think BoEF includes a new Comeliness attribute, which I imagine will be a necessity for those using such rules.

 

[ledded]

In our Modern game, we all pretty much played normal folks.

One guy is a fat comic book shop owner with thinning hair (think Jack Black with about 8-10 years on him and less hair).

Another is an overweight evangelist who wears a white stetson and has a powerful demeanor, but is otherwise unremarkable.

My character looks very similar to Samuel Jackson in Formula 51 (sans kilt), though he even tries to blend into a crowd because he is a low-rent PI.

One character is a fairly good-looking archeology student (she has been described as resembling Jackie from that seventies show) but can be so acerbic at times that it's easy to forget she's a hot chick ;^)

 

[Harlock]

As an aside... do any of the miniatures makers have "normal people" molds? I normally see a very striking figured sculpted.

 

[the Jester]

As an aside... do any of the miniatures makers have "normal people" molds? I normally see a very striking figured sculpted.

I got a couple a human commoners for ya... Check out the dnd minis packs.

 

[Oni]

I tend to prefer my heroes charismatic and handsome, at least after a fashion, but I've no problem making characters with different looks. Personally since I'm an artist what matters most is that their appearance is somewhat interesting. Of course I believe even "plain" people are interesting when their personality is allowed to shine through.

 

[ledded]

As an aside... do any of the miniatures makers have "normal people" molds? I normally see a very striking figured sculpted.

I've seen some 'townsfolk' types and some fairly normal guys, but one of my favorites is on the www.discounthobby.com site, cant remember the maker (Metal Magic?) but is a short, fat guy with shabby clothes, a bad crew cut, and a short sword. Very nice 'normal' that we've used quite a bit.

For Modern, copplestone castings and foundry both have some very normal looking folks, and foundry has a couple preview packs of 'townies' who aren't gesticulating with various shotguns and automatic weapons. I actually have a mini now of a guy in a hard hat who is halfway climbing out of a manhole, and the manhole cover is also on the base. So normal it's funny.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

I have played ugly and I’ve also played attractive....

It's just what ever I feel is needed for my character concept.

Right now I have characters that range from 6 to 20 CHA. (Both non magical)

 

[Voadam]

i keep reading character descriptions from folks all over the place and they are always playing "pretty" people. is it just me?

does noone play a pudgy, balding axe-weilder with a patchy beard?

remember zoltan fom that flash gordon movie? heroes more usually look like that too me.

i realize it is a small thing, but i keep running into "with a thick ponytail hanging past his waist and dreamy eyes that look right through you. he is slow to make friends but steadfastly loyal through even death if he finds.."

i am thinking most would be "sorta thick in the middle with a patchy beard and a echoing laugh that betrays his small mouth. his gnarled, scarred hands are thick and have yellowed fingernails. he likes most everyone, and has come to trust nearly all men at arms. a small bit of his gut hangs out past the bopttom edge of his chainmail shirt and this is the only place he hasn't lost the thick blanket of coarse wooly hair on his chest. he walks with a bit of a waddle."

is it just me? i know this is just a pet peeve, but all the character descriptions i am reading all start to sound alike.

That is your archetypal hero image? Waddling guys whose overfed bellies spill out from beneath their armor is not even my image of typical nonheroic men at arms or mercenaries.

When I come up with hero images I think of the mental pictures I have of literary fantasy heroes, Conan (image derived from the books, comics, the movies), Elric, the Grey Mouser, Rand al Thor, Gimli, even modern/sci-fi characters like wolverine, colossus, spiderman, batman, etc. Pudgy is never an adjective I associate with heroic bad ass characters as most D&D characters are designed to be. Overweight and waddling I associate with hobbits (who like to stay at home and tend their gardens), and decadent nonadventuring soft city-folk.

My character descriptions tend to be physical descriptions that do not generally indicate handsome, plain or ugly. For example "A large heavily muscled man with numerous scars and hard steel blue eyes, his dark brown hair is worn long and his beard is full." That's my current viking background eldritch knight character, he has a 14 charisma. The rest would be equipment and clothes descriptions and descriptions of his current actions.

"A lean hard looking man with dark jet black hair and dark eyes, he hasn't shaved in the last couple of days." That's my brujah vampire with a 2 (average) appearance and 3 charisma (vampire has a scale of 1-5 for human attributes).

 

[Dogbrain]

i keep reading character descriptions from folks all over the place and they are always playing "pretty" people. is it just me?

does noone play a pudgy, balding axe-weilder with a patchy beard?

I do. Generally beetle-browed, grumpy, ill-tempered, good-hearted louts with bad breath and worse social graces. He knows every off-color drinking song in a day's journey or soon learns them. He'll give you the shirt off his back, but it won't be this year's top fashion. He's the kind of guy you'd want to watch your back but would never introduce to polite society. He knows he's ugly, and he's fine with that. Women love scars that come with a good story--or at least the sort of women he likes to spend time with do.