Changing a Character's Physical Appearance

[Cisturn]

Hey fellow Playgrounders,

I was wondering, are there any DM's out there that like to change the appearance of their characters? And Players how would you feel about an unexpected appearance change?

In my games whenever someone is dropped to zero hit points or lower, I try to make some sort of modification to their character. For example, when someone confirms a critical hit, I have them roll on a table to leave a scar. Or when one of my players had been drained to zero strength by a Shadow (in a 3.5 game), he gained permanent dark bags beneath his eyes and a slight tremble in his hands. They're usually little things that don't typically affect the characters functionality, but I hope would lead to more role playing opportunities.

What do you think Playground? Useful tool or annoyance?

[Averis Vol]

It depends how often it happens. If theres an entire story arc devoted to fighting shadows, the fighter may end up looking like he has parkinson's. It becomes a case where if it is a really rare thing, I see no problem (for characters I play online I normally take getting put into the negatives as the point where scars come in. (my barbarian has a nice face scar in the shape of our goliath swordsages handprint from a burning brand while he was mind controlled).

I think the system you have is fine personally, just make sure that it doesn't happen every other fight due to ridiculous rolls.

[Subaru Kujo]

I usually do it myself. When my halfling thief in the ADnD group got cleaved hard by a Githyanki (like, one round bitchslapped), I gave him a lovely scar that went from right collarbone to the abdomen on the same side. Would have been quite dead if we didn't rule in the -1 to -9 HP grace zone, so I made the wound reflect that.

[Kaun]

Depends on the game i guess.

For grim dark style games then yeah, slop that on thick. Life is hard and your heroes should go from naive wet behind the ears kids to world weary warriors who have seen the worst the fates can dish out.

In high fantasy or overly heroic games, maybe only do it in really climactic situations. Your hero sports a gnarly scar from when he defeated the zombie King. But the nicks and cuts from the skeleton horde should heal with time, ready for the next adventure.

[Angel Bob]

In a particularly dramatic encounter a few months ago, the party fighter wound up lying unconscious in a fire jet trap for a few rounds, ultimately coming to within 1 hit point of outright death. (Let me tell you, that was intense! It got the players to actually work together and care about the game!)

The party cleric had been separated from the group, so when they ultimately did save the fighter, his only healing came from his own innate healing surges (this was 4E). I suggested that, because he hadn't been healed magically, he would likely still have some pretty grisly scars. The player laughed it off, though, pointing out that since he was at 56/58 HP it didn't seem realistic to him that he would still be scarred.

So I dropped the matter. Although a burn-scarred dragonborn would have been a hell of an awesome look, I realized it wasn't a big deal; he got some healing from an NPC after the next battle anyway. So in short, changing PC appearances to reflect battles and such should only be done with player approval. If they're not going for that kickass "battle damaged" look (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0450.html), then don't force it on 'em. :smallsmile:

[Weiser_Cain]

Depends, most likely an annoyance and doesn't make sense if you have decent clerics. All bets are off in 'boss fights' though.

[TheCountAlucard]

In Exalted, the player characters have the hale constitution as befits the demigods they are, which means that among other things, they generally heal from even crippling injuries naturally without so much as a scar; having your legs broken repeatedly and your eyes stabbed with needles means you won't be walking or seeing for a few weeks, but once you've recovered others might not know it ever happened. Explicitly magical attacks from another Exalted hero are another story, but even then, it's probably a good idea to talk it out with the player before making a call like that.

So, in short, it's okay for some games, but not for all.

[hymer]

In general, I don't do it at all. If the player thinks some experience changed the looks of the character, that will probably be fine with me. But at most I would ask a player to think about what, if anything, this should have of permanent effect on a PC.

I recall a game not so long ago, where the GM changed the hair colour of a PC to all white as a consequence of reading a book. My first thought was "What an arse." Fortunately, the player took it better than me.

[VeggieWombat]

Agreed with the "don't change the PC appearence unless they're ok with it".
Either suggest it beforehand, or hint in game that it may leave scars/burns

[DigoDragon]

I usually leave it up to the players if they want a lasting scar or change after some major incident with their hit points. Happens rarely, but usually more often in systems that allow for body part replacement like Shadowrun (for example, your left cyber-eye gets broken and you only replace that one with a 'not-quite-the-same model' so now you got different colored eyes).

[lytokk]

The only scars that my characters ever received were as a result of a double crit with a keen weapon removing an arm, and as a result of deaths/resurrections. In each of these instances I was perfectly alright with the scars, as it makes sense and always serves as a reminder of what happened.

Granted, scars aren't for everyone. But usually I don't see it as a problem so long as its the result of something intense. But if a player doesn't want the scar, I'd say a lesser restoration should be able to remove it.

[Blackjackg]

Once as a DM I kept track of the more interesting critical hits that a particular character received and recorded them as scars. It was about fifty percent characterization and fifty percent running gag, and the player loved it because by the end of the long-running campaign he was more scar than halfling. Outside of that, and once making a character completely hairless due to a magical effect, I try to stay out of PC's appearances.

As a player, I've occasionally given my characters scars from particular encounters, usually as a reminder of some powerful emotional scar. I once had a character who was confused by the spell-like ability of some monster crit himself with his own greataxe, bringing him down to -10 hp. I described it as "he stops his charge, looks around blankly for a moment, and buries the axe between his own eyes." The DM, being a softhearted sort, gave an on-the-fly ruling that -10 was only "mostly dead," in the same way that being at 0 hp was only "mostly unconscious," and the character survived thanks to some quick healing, but he was forever changed. He was already becoming desperate at the cruelty and nonsensicality of the world, and nearly dying with his own axe in his head was the last straw that pushed him into an alignment change (CG to CN), and he's got the physical evidence in the form of a huge axe scar that splits his face from hairline to nose.

[Black Jester]

When it comes to critical injuries, the basic assumption I have always made (and the only one i find utterly logical and not detrimental to the moot and verisimilitude of the game) is that yes, critical wounds that do not receive magic healing will lead to scars. Magic is magic, and it can do whatever is most convenient for the players, so sure, magic healing will also minimize scarification to little more than fading lines which disappear after a few months. But without magic healing? Veterans get the rugged look of people who went through a harsh battle and live to tell the tale and for me, that implies scars.

Another thing is hair. Hair burns rather easily. There is just no way that a full mane of hair and a bushy beard will survive a full hit with lots of fire, even if the burning scars are healed with a spell.

Otherwise, we once had a game where the basic rule was "if your character de facto dies by the rules but you want to continue to play that character, he will survive with tsome critical injury. We You as the player and me as the GM) will pick a fitting disadvantage for your character." As a result, one of the characters ended up horrifically scarred and with only one eye, another one was rendered sterile, and a third one had a significant limb, all injuries gathered in a two years campaign.

[Mastikator]

Depends on the game i guess.
[snip]
In high fantasy or overly heroic games, maybe only do it in really climactic situations. Your hero sports a gnarly scar from when he defeated the zombie King. But the nicks and cuts from the skeleton horde should heal with time, ready for the next adventure.

In this case even then the PCs should be able to regain their original look by using the magic orb of magical healing and magicalness.

[Subaru Kujo]

In this case even then the PCs should be able to regain their original look by using the magic orb of magical healing and magicalness.

But of course. Has to depend on the character though and what it takes to get the "orb" (my thief hates spending money. He's vain, but greedy first, while the cleric (another character I am playing in the same campaign) of the group has him on a tight leash of obey or die). :smalltongue:

[Tanuki Tales]

This isn't really an issue with either myself or anyone I game with. We just take it as part and parcel of the job of being a murder-hob...ahem..."adventurer" and just carry on our merry way.

Sometimes you get a nasty sneer, sometimes you lose a limb, sometimes your wedding bits get reversed and sometimes you're suddenly a lizard man, but that's the business we're in.

[Psyren]

In D&D you can regrow eyeballs and limbs. Scars shouldn't really be permanent unless they're a badge of honor or the bearer is poor or something.

It reminds me of Wheel of Time, where all the Forsaken think Sammael is a weirdo for keeping that scar over his eye.

[Cisturn]

Along with the aforementioned rules, a usual houserule with my group is that confirmed critical hits cannot be healed by magical means, hence the scarring. The current game is played in a low level/low magic world, the idea was to help it be more gritty/realistic, or as much as you'd want a DnD game to be.

[ReaderAt2046]

Also, healing magic is sometimes fluffed as speeding up natural healing, which means that any wound that would leave a scar regularly still does so.

[Warlord476]

Depends on the game i guess.

For grim dark style games then yeah, slop that on thick. Life is hard and your heroes should go from naive wet behind the ears kids to world weary warriors who have seen the worst the fates can dish out.

In high fantasy or overly heroic games, maybe only do it in really climactic situations. Your hero sports a gnarly scar from when he defeated the zombie King. But the nicks and cuts from the skeleton horde should heal with time, ready for the next adventure.

This.

I'm nearly at the end of a sword and sorcery campaign, and it's not just armour that has taken a beating.

In season one the ranger led the team through nighted Pictish forest and emerged with his hair permanently silvered. Most NPCs assumed he was the old man of the group.

The stabby-rogue decided he had a yellow lotus habit, so his appearance progressively worsened to look decidedly dissipated.

In the middle season characters got a bit of hiding then ran away a lot. Come next season most of them were described as "aged beyond their years."

The ranger went off on his own track shepherding nomads back to their ancestral lands across icy wastes. His appearance worsened and he lost more hair.

In the same season their cleric prepped some potions at short notice and with a secret roll I decided their side-effects. So combined with the above, two characters were prone to berserker-like fits. The players decided they must have been cursed by one of the many enemies.

So in season four their adventures led them to a place they could get the curse lifted. By that time the ranger was being mistaken for an aged, balding holy man. So everyone except the ranger decided to lift the 'curse' of their 'illness' - the rogue was cured of his addiction, the others simply looked more their age - while the ranger decided to do something about his hair. Result, he has a fine head of hair and looks like the old geezer of the group.

Having said all that, sometimes appearance changes just invite themselves because some players.... well.

In our d20modern campaign a certain player (same as played the ranger above) decided he was 'not overly tall.' Then he corrected that when I tried to pin that down. He was suddenly a good 6' plus. In a much later season, the player looked at a height:weight chart and decided he had to be 270lb. His previously svelte character ballooned out to portly. I had fun with my blog making him wheeze around the battlefield. All self-inflicted. We're now playtesting DDN, he's playing an elf and I couldn't resist inciting him again when I found he hadn't thought about height. 'No doubt your mage is taller than any elf anywhere' I suggested, and sure enough he decided to max out on height. With a strength of 8 he has the build of a pipecleaner.
:P

[CombatOwl]

Hey fellow Playgrounders,

I was wondering, are there any DM's out there that like to change the appearance of their characters? And Players how would you feel about an unexpected appearance change?

In my games whenever someone is dropped to zero hit points or lower, I try to make some sort of modification to their character. For example, when someone confirms a critical hit, I have them roll on a table to leave a scar. Or when one of my players had been drained to zero strength by a Shadow (in a 3.5 game), he gained permanent dark bags beneath his eyes and a slight tremble in his hands. They're usually little things that don't typically affect the characters functionality, but I hope would lead to more role playing opportunities.

What do you think Playground? Useful tool or annoyance?

On a scale of 1 to "Oh, you were wearing THAT mask when you stole something? Welcome to being a Level 1 Thief..." that rates like a 1.2.

Note: that mask is an official 2e item too...