How do you imagine your characters/combat?

[Saruman]

How do you usually imagine your characters? i.e., like real actors from movies like LoTR, Game Of Thrones, etc...; like cartoons, anime characteres, Final Fantasy characters, or others? Or you imagine the adventure from the PC's Point of View?

And how do you imagine combat?
This is kind of hard, since players (but not characters) take turns making actions and attacks, when actually the combat is supposed to be simultaneous (in a six second round).



[3.5]

[Raezeman]

i currently play 3 characters (1 has been on hold for a while now), but only one i imagine to look like someone specific:
my dwarven duskblade in my mind is gimli
my human dragonfire adept is just some guy with scales
my raptoran sorcerer is just a raptoran

and combat, well yeah, due to that rounds system, i don't imagine it as a smooth continuous battle, but i image each action separate. examples:
missed attack --> enemy blocks my sword with a shield
hit attack --> stab 'em in his kidney!
reflex save succeeded on a breath attack --> enemy pulls his hands in front of his face to block some of the flames
failed reflux --> screams of agony
evards black tentacles--> little cobold tries to escape the huge tentacle, but keeps getting squeezed

only those action, not in between, so i for example don't imagine the transition between when someone blocks with his shield and when he then attacks back
This is probably due to the fact that these 2 actions are rarely followed one after the other, unless those 2 initiatives are close...

[Saruman]

i currently play 3 characters (1 has been on hold for a while now), but only one i imagine to look like someone specific:
my dwarven duskblade in my mind is gimli
my human dragonfire adept is just some guy with scales
my raptoran sorcerer is just a raptoran

and combat, well yeah, due to that rounds system, i don't imagine it as a smooth continuous battle, but i image each action separate. examples:
missed attack --> enemy blocks my sword with a shield
hit attack --> stab 'em in his kidney!
reflex save succeeded on a breath attack --> enemy pulls his hands in front of his face to block some of the flames
failed reflux --> screams of agony
evards black tentacles--> little cobold tries to escape the huge tentacle, but keeps getting squeezed

only those action, not in between, so i for example don't imagine the transition between when someone blocks with his shield and when he then attacks back
This is probably due to the fact that these 2 actions are rarely followed one after the other, unless those 2 initiatives are close...


Yeah, sometimes I get a hard time getting the whole "simultaneous" combat thing. It's like very abstract.

I mean, if one evil wizard is going to cast a spell on an innocent NPC, and one PC wants to get in the middle of the attack to protect him, how is the player supposed to proceed?

[Aegis013]

I mean, if one evil wizard is going to cast a spell on an innocent NPC, and one PC wants to get in the middle of the attack to protect him, how is the player supposed to proceed?

Readied actions, for the most part. The player would have to have his turn come up and say "I'm going to prepare to jump in the way of the evil wizard's spell. Just in case." (or even better "I ready an action to attack the wizard if he tries to cast a spell.") then when the evil wizard casts the spell, the player actually gets to act before the spell completes, jumping in the way, or (probably the better move) bonking the wizard on the head to try to interrupt the cast.

Relevant rules (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialInitiativeActions.htm)

[ArmoredSandwich]

OR your initiative is lower than the evil wizards and your character is too late to react.

EDIT: Oh, and as a DM I always try to explain what is going on when someone hits (where does it hit and how does it look), or if someone misses (did the guy evade the blow? use his shield? his full plate? his weapon?) same for the other actions. Sometimes I try to summarize the round as well, to remind the players everything is happening all at once.

[Saruman]

Readied actions, for the most part. The player would have to have his turn come up and say "I'm going to prepare to jump in the way of the evil wizard's spell. Just in case." (or even better "I ready an action to attack the wizard if he tries to cast a spell.") then when the evil wizard casts the spell, the player actually gets to act before the spell completes, jumping in the way, or (probably the better move) bonking the wizard on the head to try to interrupt the cast.

Relevant rules (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialInitiativeActions.htm)

Yes, I knew it had something to do with reading actions.

[DarkEternal]

Depends from character to character. The Iaijutsu focus factotum that I'm currently playing is usually imagined like Citan Uzuki from Xenogears.

[Talya]

How do you usually imagine your characters? i.e., like real actors from movies like LoTR, Game Of Thrones, etc...; like cartoons, anime characteres, Final Fantasy characters, or others? Or you imagine the adventure from the PC's Point of View?

And how do you imagine combat?
This is kind of hard, since players (but not characters) take turns making actions and attacks, when actually the combat is supposed to be simultaneous (in a six second round).



[3.5]


It's difficult to imagine a smooth flow of combat at the time you're rolling it out, and you probably shouldn't, because not everything that's going to happen at the same time has happened yet.

Once a round is over though, I enjoy going back over all the actions that took place and imagining the frantic chaos of those 6 seconds in my head. (This is one of the few ways combat in "Play by Post" games is good, you can actually summarize everything and imagine it all as you re-read through it.)

I typically find portraits/pictures to represent my characters in my mind, and there's a definite style to how they move or act in my head during any game situation. They are rarely represented by real actors, though.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I picture most characters in anime style, with some exceptions; for example I imagine my current pbp campaign in Oots-style since the game is set in Aequar (the setting of Coffeeincluded's webcomic murphy's law; which, you guessed, is in stick-style).

For combat I image a sort of continous battle, everyone is moving, dodging attacking and stuff at the same time, but the actual actions (in game terms) are specific, dramatic and cool moments that happen in between the above.

[Helcack]

My ridiculously multiclassed chameleon who's dog recently became a ghost dog I imagine as a super gritty real-life inuit actor. My standard druid I imagine as more of an anime character, but one of the creepy hyper-realistic ones(because of the campaign setting) and my old and retired drow sorceror/druid I imagined as cartoony(because the campaign's story was similar to an 80's cartoon's show)

[FinnDarkblade]

A lot of the time my characters are inspired by characters from books, so there really isn't a specific appearance. I'm currently about to play one inspired by an anime character, but even then it's his personality and character motivations that inspired me, not his appearance. I must admit though that quite a few of my characters have been made to look a lot like this (http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs50/i/2009/322/a/6/Artemis_Entreri_by_aditya777.jpg) picture of Artemis Entreri .
As for the way combat looks, I'd have to say that I generally just treat it as turn-based while in-game but reimagine it as continuous combat once a couple turns have gone by.

[Saruman]

Yes, I was thinking that before the game begins, I should tell the other players how to invision their characters. Like "You must visualize them as LoTR characters, rather than Final Fantasy guys"

[hymer]

I imagine my own PCs and my NPCs as real people, or as close as you can reasonably get - something that would only look out of place out of my window for its fantastic quality, not because it was giving the impression it was out of a cartoon.

As for combat, I don't usually imagine it while it's going on. But you do sometimes get individual episodes that play out. I remember one case where some bad looking monster came at a big melee fellow and managed to hit, getting a strong hit. Then it's melee's turn, and he turns and takes full PA, gets the crit he was praying for, killing it in one blow.
That little episode gets its own little moment in my imagination, as the big bad monster assaults the mighty hero, trying to bite his jugular. For a moment he looks like he's in real trouble, but he then pushes the monster off of himself, and before it can come back whips his axe around to a heavy blow, cleaving the thing's skull in two. He pulls his axe back and turns to look at the other monsters, with a growling "Come on ya bastards, Skullsplitter is hungry for more!"

Edit: You may want to tell them how you envision things, maybe show them some pictures. It's good if everybody is on the same page. But you shouldn't be dictating how they see their characters.

[Ravens_cry]

That can certainly help set the tone.
I often draw my character, and I guess I imagine them in a similar stylized yet emotive style. I've never, well, almost never, had a character I thought of looking like someone in real life. I had an idea for a neutral necromancer who looked rather like Pete Postlethwaite, though completely bald.

[mistformsquirrl]

For me it really depends on the style of the game and what mood I'm in. Sometimes I think of them anime/manga style, other times it's live action, sometimes western comic book style... it just varies depending on the story and the character.

That said I'd say the most common is probably anime style, simply because I draw a lot of my characters and that's the style I attempt to use in my art.

[Subaru Kujo]

Current rogue used to be a duelist type. That is, rapier mainhand, dagger palmed in the offhand. Used the rapier to get them to overextend, at which point he'd slam the dagger into the opponent's throat. So I suppose a bastardization of the standard Rapier/Parrying Dagger style.

Now he's more of a chain fighter, where he does sort of the same thing, but harasses with the chain from 60ft away, then lapses back into his duelist ways once an opponent closes. Either that or he forces them to close through the chain's Baneful Teleport ability.

[Madara]

I usually wait until the session is over, and kinda ponder it, filling in the blanks. It works pretty well, and helps me come up with new ideas. I often try to add fluff when casting a spell though, otherwise its not very exciting to cast Bear's Endurance

[The Fury]

depends on the game I guess. In the Pathfinder game I'm in I imagine the characters as anime-esque cartoon characters in a world of gorgeous scenery and landscapes. Maybe that just comes from my love of shows like Avatar The Last Airbender.
As for combat, I like to think of different fighting styles that might exist in this world. Maybe this comes from my love of western martial arts. Though I always think of it as being very loud-- lots of shouts and the like. I think of my character using a very simplified sword style which heavily relies on a shield for defence.
Spellcasting though-- I guess it would be making a gesture and reciting a mantra? I confess, I haven't really thought too much about it. Though, this particular Pathfinder game includes ritual spells too, most of which involve drawing a magic circle on the ground. These, I imagine look and function sort of like the Transmutation Circles from Full Metal Alchemist.

[ericgrau]

During combat I'm usually too busy figuring out my turn. But I develop a personality ahead of time and act on it later in and out of combat. In reverse order I've played or am about to play:

A brash/annoying steampunk tinkerer seeking police justice via his creations and via help from his not so law-abiding magical trickster associate
An egotistical elite instrument maker / swordsman struggling internally with this whole murderer-adventurer thing,
A hyperactivate twin swordsman seeking wanton destruction, fights and magical boom toys (this personality very much decided combat decisions)
A half-illithid paladin of cthulhu seeking to unlock dark secrets at a time when humanity is unadvanced, yet while carefully maintaining righteousness and justice: "I have a plan to obtain the artifact for our quest" in between slurping sounds and wondering if foes will have tasty brains.
An innocent and naive cleric who's a half-troll fisherman. Rips foes to shreds one minute, wonders what lewd words mean the next, accepting of all as long as he gets food and shelter, and has an irrational fear of exploding produce.