D&D General The ph icon characters

[FitzTheRuke]

Well… I guess that explains why she’s pulling her pants down, though it does raise new questions about why she has a tattoo that matches this statue…

I know! I've never cared about that picture before, but now I feel I want to know... HOW did she get a tattoo that's on this statue, and WHY does she seem to be surprised about it?

 

[Charlaquin]

I know! I've never cared about that picture before, but now I feel I want to know... HOW did she get a tattoo that's on this statue, and WHY does she seem to be surprised about it?

Exactly! Like, I can imagine some scenarios where she might knowingly have gotten a tattoo with some significance to whatever culture made this statue. But in no such scenario can I imagine why she would feel the need to double-check that they are in fact the same symbol. Maybe the tattoo was flash art, and the artist copied the design from some ruin? And she’s just now realizing that maybe the artist was up to some tomb robbing shenanigans? I dunno.

I mean, I guess if the goal was to make the audience want to know more about the world the piece is set in, it succeeded. But 20 years too late, because the intriguing part of the piece was too subtle for me to pick up on at the time.

Was the piece captioned in the book? Maybe there’s an explanation in there I didn’t read…

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Wouldn't that mean all humans and all orcs related to any half-orc die (etc) die too?

Well, this spell has a history of unforeseen drawbacks...

 

[Koloth]

Exactly! Like, I can imagine some scenarios where she might knowingly have gotten a tattoo with some significance to whatever culture made this statue. But in no such scenario can I imagine why she would feel the need to double-check that they are in fact the same symbol. Maybe the tattoo was flash art, and the artist copied the design from some ruin? And she’s just now realizing that maybe the artist was up to some tomb robbing shenanigans? I dunno.

I mean, I guess if the goal was to make the audience want to know more about the world the piece is set in, it succeeded. But 20 years too late, because the intriguing part of the piece was too subtle for me to pick up on at the time.

Was the piece captioned in the book? Maybe there’s an explanation in there I didn’t read…

One possible scenario: Generations ago, Lidda's ancestors were forced off their land because <fill in the blank reason>. The had to travel so for that they lost the way back BUT knowledge of certain symbols were retained and passed down by tattoo. Members of LIdda's people are always on the lookout for any items with their ancestral tattoos as such items might have clues to their ancient homeland.

 

[pukunui]

Exactly! Like, I can imagine some scenarios where she might knowingly have gotten a tattoo with some significance to whatever culture made this statue. But in no such scenario can I imagine why she would feel the need to double-check that they are in fact the same symbol. Maybe the tattoo was flash art, and the artist copied the design from some ruin? And she’s just now realizing that maybe the artist was up to some tomb robbing shenanigans? I dunno.

I mean, I guess if the goal was to make the audience want to know more about the world the piece is set in, it succeeded. But 20 years too late, because the intriguing part of the piece was too subtle for me to pick up on at the time.

Was the piece captioned in the book? Maybe there’s an explanation in there I didn’t read…

I don’t have the book in front of me, but IIRC there was a caption … it just wasn’t a very enlightening one. The exact context was left to the viewer’s imagination.

EDIT: According to artist Jeff Carlisle's website, he painted that picture of Lidda for the "Class Acts: Body Modifications" article published in Dragon Magazine #359. There's no caption in the article, but it looks like it may have been intended as an illustration of the Living Spellbook / Skincaster modification (which doesn't really make sense, since Lidda is a rogue, not a wizard). I'm fairly certain WotC reused this art in one of the later 3.5e splatbooks, but I can't seem to figure out which one online. I'll have to flip through my hard copies when I get home.

 

[Gorck]

Exactly! Like, I can imagine some scenarios where she might knowingly have gotten a tattoo with some significance to whatever culture made this statue. But in no such scenario can I imagine why she would feel the need to double-check that they are in fact the same symbol. Maybe the tattoo was flash art, and the artist copied the design from some ruin? And she’s just now realizing that maybe the artist was up to some tomb robbing shenanigans? I dunno.

I mean, I guess if the goal was to make the audience want to know more about the world the piece is set in, it succeeded. But 20 years too late, because the intriguing part of the piece was too subtle for me to pick up on at the time.

Was the piece captioned in the book? Maybe there’s an explanation in there I didn’t read…

Or maybe it’s some sort of Blind Spot situation where Lidda woke up one day naked and covered in tattoos. Now she has to figure out what each of them mean.

 

[pukunui]

I can't find it in any of the 3.5e books I've looked in. I'm so sure it's in one of them, but I'm just not finding it. I suppose it's possible it only ever appeared in Dragon Magazine ...