tall, with long flowing black hair and dark eyes.

[Corinthi]

I've noticed a fair bit of variety in the character descriptions for our games, but that's just the sort of folks I play with.

My wife is rather fond of unusual characters with matching appearances. First, Fifi Le Mort Mechant was a female halforc Barbarian with a 14(!) charisma. She was also /really/ stupid and more than a touch psychotic. She was extremely attractive in a big boned, greenish sort of way. It was hilarious to watch her try to use her womanly charms to influence people. 'Me know you want Fifi. Fifi is very sexy. You be nice to Fifi and Fifi be nice to you.'

After Fifi she played WoWo, who was one of Fifi's many children. (It was a legacy game, so this isn't really out of bounds.) Wowo was a 1/4 Orc, 1/4 Human, 1/2 Halfling. Basically she was a strongheart halfling with greenish skin, oily hair, and a pig nose.

She also plays a number of cute, but woodsy gnomes, halflings, and faen.

Some of my favorite characters include Sir Reginald Weatherby, a potbellied Balding Wizard with spectacles and a hook nose. He actually had a decent Charisma, but it was all noble bearing and force of personality rather than appearance.

Sir Cyranoze de Bandersnatch Esq. was a 2E fighter/thief Swashbuckler who was very handsome. He was basically a shorter Gimble, dressed like a Musketeer with a small wheel on the end of his rapier sheath to keep it from dragging in the ground.

Laviter Elldawn is my bard I used to play for Living City. He was extremely pretty in a vaguely androgenous sort of way, complete with long blonde hair and slender build. Laviter was all about the bling and used to obsess over his clothing and jewelry.

And the ill fated Renn. Renn was a 3E Monte Cook Ranger Wild Elf with a 6 Charisma. He was a wilderness warrior who looked the part. A number of unpleasant scars, general lack of hygiene, twigs, leaves, and burrs mixed into his hair, and dull brown eyes. He rarely spoke in more than grunts and clipped phrases. He died miserably at 4th level when he successfully managed to track the DM's pet monk back to his hidey hole. The Monk 8/Thief 5 popped out of the hiding place, and killed me in a single flurry. (Stunning Fist+Sneak Attack is icky.) The DM seemed genuinely confused when myself and several of the players seemed a bit irked at the CR 13 attacking our 4th level party.

C'est la vie.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

It's not something I've noticed a lot in my games. We have one guy whose characters all look more or less alike (and that alike is fairly handsome), but noone goes out of their way to describe awesome good looks.

In my current game, the extremes of Charisma run from the 6 CHA Mechalus gunslinger to the 18 CHA little girl (played by the same person!)-- the Mechalus is average looking, but nondescript, and the little girl is more creepy looking than beautiful, though some people seem to find her cute.

Personally, almost all of my characters have at least decent Charisma scores, though I very rarely make them spectacularly attractive. They're forceful, or intense, or radiant, but their appearance itself is fairly normal.

 

[Silverglass]

Daniel's got a point - one thing you'll notice about most literary and Television characters is that one physical trait or characteristic stands out - they are gorgeous, or at least handsome, or they have a characteristic laugh, or facial feature, or hair style, etc. Ever seen very many ugly people on a soap opera or prime-time TV show?

Plain and boring tends to get lost in the shuffle.

Um yes, but then I watch English TV, and those do feature the whole range from pug-ugly to gorgeous.

My PCs tend to fill the range from handsome to ugly, it just tends to scale with their Charisma, and with 3rd Eds point buy I do end up with a lot of fairly average looking PC's as most have charismas of 8-12.

 

[nimisgod]

I like describing my heroes as short, with dark eyes and dark flowing hair mainly because that's what I look like. Nowhere do I mention handsome though...

I've played some fugly characters, but by some strange quirk, they all either end up dead or utterly boring after a few sessions. In a game that uses mostly imagination, characterization and not a physical description is what catches on to me... unless you've got an artist or two to make character sketches like in my previous games. But even then, how a character is role-played is usually second to how a character looks, IMO.

edit: I can only wish my hair was flowing. It's usually frizzy thanks to traitorous hair products.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

He thinks the charisma score is more about how you act towards others than beauty.

I tend to think that charisma is more about how you present yourself. For instance, you could have a physically bland character who has such a great personality or is so good at speaking to people that his or her charisma score is really high. Likewise, you can have a drop dead gorgeous person who is a total bore, or a miserable person to be around. I think that "Looks" and "Charisma" are very different things. But I suppose, like in real life, average looking and even terribly deformed people can come across as extremely likeable if they smile alot and are fun to be around.

I was watching an episode of , I think it was 'Ripley's' once, and they showed this older woman who had horrible bubble like tumors all over her body and face and hands. Midway through the interview, I literally no longer saw them, but just saw her smile and her eyes and thought about what a wonderful person she sounded like, because that was how she presented herself. Was she pretty? No. Was she charismatic? Definately.

 

[diaglo]

Pepto, my halfling rogue that I played in Olgar's game, had terrible acne and was no beauty.

and she's my cousin.

Fiddle (read the story hour in my sig and the character's link for pics) is no beauty either. he is a rascal. needs a shave badly. and more often than not a bath.

 

[WayneLigon]

In general, I'll play a character that is at least better than average appearance (more common is someone that wouldn't feel left out in bishounan anime) and certainly one that is very athletic-looking. If there isn't another compelling reason, I'll stick that 16 into Cha rather than Str or Dex or Wis, even if I'm playing a fighter, rogue or cleric If there is a Feat related to attractiveness, I'll probaby take it.

I have done other types. Morg the hook-handed dwarven rogue ex-pirate comes to mind, after poor die rolls and the dwarven racial adjustment gifted him with a 2 Cha (though this was in 2E, where it didn't matter nearly so much). Right now the concept for my next character is the 'you forget him ten seconds after you meet him' rogue archetype, but all that's still up in the air.

But that kind of change is rare for me, and pretty unusual.

 

[Urbannen]

I roll 3d6 for a Comeliness score. Elves get +2 to their score.

Comeliness scores have been:
Male human Ftr/Cle/Hos: 10
Male human Cle: 9
Male human Cle: 12
Female moon elf Ftr/Abj: 12

No one else in my group does this (or even cares about the relative attractiveness of their characters). I figure the comeliness scores get pluses and minuses as normal to determine relative attractiveness.

10-11: average
12-13: above average looks/cute
14-15: good-looking
16-17: gorgeous
18: drop dead gorgeous

8-9: below average looks/"plain"
6-7: ugly
4-5: hideous
3: horrific

 

[Voadam]

Thing is, I'm so good-looking that playing unattractive characters is just pointless. I'm not a good enough actor to overcome the handicap of my incredible handsomeness.

Curse you, Potter, for revealing my secret shame! How dare you mock me with your ugly characters, your non-descript rogues and your chubby, grimy, hairy dragon-slayers! You think I don't dream of playing foul, grotesque weirdoes with crappy skin and bad personal grooming? Why must I be straightjacketed just because I'm so gorgeous?

It's not fair. It's just not fair.

Poor Barsoomcore, doubly cursed to running a game where all the players are stewardesses as well. It is just not fair. Some are just doomed to suffer. My sympathies on your plights.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Me, I'm playing a verrik (from Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed) with a Charisma of 4. I can't even pretend I'm pretty or personable.

I envision her as a hatched-faced woman with very short hair, and far too thin for strength. I play her as a dry and gravely-voiced, sharp-tongued, rude, greedy, opinionated harriden who gives her loyalty only to those who have proved it ten times over. She's a challenge to role-play, but really quite fun!