The Four Horsemen (lacking ideas for Famine)

[Rion]

I'm trying to come up with avatars of the four horsemen, but I just can't come up with something for Famine. So I'm looking for ideas on how to make him.
Here's the three others:

Avatar of Death:
You see a man riding towards you. His skin is deadly pale and his skin clings to tight to his bones, that it almost looks as if he is a skeleton. His black clothes are aristocratic, richly decorated and as dark as the night, with his hair being the same colour. His horse is as pale as it's rider, with an skeletal look and it's ribs are highly visibly. A slender steel blade hangs by his side. Darkness follows him and every time the hooves of his horse touch the ground it looks like darkness flows from it.

Avatar of War:
You see an enormous man riding towards you on the biggest horse you have ever seen. His blood red clothing torn and damaged, with the maille he wears over it, covered in blood. He has incredible large muscles and the large bastard sword he holds in his right hand still drips blood from his last kill. The horse dark red-brown and almost feral with it's rider nearly being incapable of holding it back from charging towards you, and the look on his face also tells you he is nearly incapable of holding himself back.

Avatar of Pestilence:
You see a man riding towards you. He wears average maille armour with a white tabard over it. His arms, hands and face is covered with white bandages. Both the tabard and bandages are covered in blots of blood. The few and small patches skin the bandages leave exposed, have black boils and blood oozing out of skin. His horse is no better, with it's white caparison also covered with blots of blood and its neck, head, and legs covered in blood splattered bandages. A old and rusty sword hangs by his side and swarm of flies follows him and the stench of dead that clings to him.

So any ideas on how to make Famine so he is similar to the others?

[Xuincherguixe]

Someone who looks incredibly starved? To the point where you can count each of their individual ribs?

[Riva]

Hmmm. I think your problem is that the description for death has almost everything you'd want for Famine. I would focus more on shadows/unknowable theme for Death... maybe he is somewhat hazy or indestinct? The last bit, the darkness flowing, I'd use that as the theme for Death and then make Famine all skeletal and gaunt.

For his horse, maybe it leaves footprints of withered vegetation, dry husks rinsed of all nutrition?

[kwanzaabot]

Go the opposite of Death. Instead of being someone who hasn't eaten in weeks, make him the fattest man on Earth. Like Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers movies, but even more disgusting.

After all, what better way for an apocalyptic bringer of famine to do his job than to eat everything himself?

[Rion]

Withered vegetation and dry husks of plant life sounds good.
Also I could make Death more of pale person while Famine is gaunt and skeletal.

[Lycan 01]

Pale and gaunt, he is jolted by every gallop the horse makes, and it looks as though his fragile body may rattle itself apart at any moment. His eyes, sunken back into the sockets, have a distant stare and a dull haze in them, and his gums have shrunk back to leave his teeth greatly exposed. His long white hair has patches of it missing, and his pale yellow robe hangs loose around his boney frame. You can see his clavical, sternum, and upper ribs as clear as day rising out of the robe.

The horse he rides upon is as starved as he is. Its eyes are barely visible in their sockets, every bone is exposed, and every movement of its lean muscles are visible through its gaunt skin. Flowers fade and grass wilts in its wake, and all who stand in its path shall soon know the gnawing hunger of Famine.

[Riva]

Ooooh. Sexy. I like that one best! =D

[Talic]

Well, here's my concepts:

Death: You see before you a figure, mounted astride a horse with a creamy pale whitish hue. The horse appears quite beautiful, a fine specimen in every way, save one detail... Its eyes. Black as night, and devoid of life, the sight of those eyes alone changes the horse's countenance from ephemereal to unsettling. The rider is similar in feature. Simple and elegant black robes accentuating smooth, pale features and perfect silvery hair. A pair of feathery white wings extend from the rider's back, and his eyes, a steely green-gray, are hard, calculating, and betray no sign of compassion. Across the rider's back rests a scythe, borne with such familarity and ease that it seems as if the rider is well used to it.

War: A massive figure bars the road ahead, sitting upon an equally massive horse. The horse, jet black, has hoofs that flame and spark each time they contact the ground, and small puffs of smoke and flame escape the creature's nostril's with each stamp. The rider is fearsome to behold, fiery red hair descending to her shoulders, brushing against the field plate with glowing runes outlined in red and silver along its surface. In a sheathe along her saddle rests a horseman's flail, and slung across her back is a greatsword. An aura of almost palpable menace surrounds her, her mere presence inciting feelings of aggression and anger from you.

Plague: A sickly figure comes into view on the crowded street, mounted on an unremarkable mare, making its way slowly through the market district. The man, while obviously adorned in the finest of clothing, appears to be hanging on death's door. There are oozing pustules here and there, on his exposed flesh, and the portions of flesh that aren't oozing or scarred seem to be covered in some form of ugly rash. Still, he moves with ease, as if the toll that the illnesses he has weigh on him no more heavily than the silk shirt on his chest, or the aristocratic crest adorning his velvet cloak. The figure's very presence appears to be drawing the joy from those around him, filling the area with a general drab aura, a feeling of malaise pervading the edges of your thoughts.

Famine: An aura of overwhelming heat fills the area as a figure ahead of you comes into view over the hill you're approaching. His horse is skeletal, clad in an ancient looking barding, nonetheless exquisite in its craftsmanship. The rider appears gaunt, flesh stretched over bone so tightly that you can just begin to make out the color of the bone through the skin. Hollowed dark circles sit underneath his eyes. The heat clearly seems to be radiating from the gaunt figure, severe enough to cause nearby plants to wilt.

[KKL]

Ugh. If you don't mind, some parts of your post are riddled with poor choice of words and grammar. Gonna make Death pretty before I slink into bed like the nocturnal bastard I am.


Avatar of the Horseman of Death
Before your eyes rides a man clothed in a black, flowing aristocratic robe, richly decorated with patterns set in black. It is difficult to see, but beautiful. A robe covers his head, and you can almost discern hair dark as night, despite the lack of light in the surrounding area. With a start, you see his face, deathly pale and tight over his bones, so white that he looks like a skull. You finally notice his horse, just as pale as it's rider, and every bit as bony. You swear you can see it's ribs, the akward way they jut out as if it has never eaten--or as if it were dead. The man carries a large unwieldy scythe in his right hand, and you scream in terror as you see the blood-stained blade, and the rider for who he truly is.

How could you not see that Death rides toward you on this magnificent night.

EDIT: This is directed at OP.

[Talic]

Ugh. If you don't mind, some parts of your post are riddled with poor choice of words and grammar. Gonna make Death pretty before I slink into bed like the nocturnal bastard I am.


Avatar of the Horseman of Death
Before your eyes rides a man clothed in a black, flowing aristocratic robe, richly decorated with patterns set in black. It is difficult to see, but beautiful. A robe covers his head, and you can almost discern hair dark as night, despite the lack of light in the surrounding area. With a start, you see his face, deathly pale and tight over his bones, so white that he looks like a skull. You finally notice his horse, just as pale as it's rider, and every bit as bony. You swear you can see it's ribs, the akward way they jut out as if it has never eaten--or as if it were dead. The man carries a large unwieldy scythe in his right hand, and you scream in terror as you see the blood-stained blade, and the rider for who he truly is.

How could you not see that Death rides toward you on this magnificent night.

EDIT: This is directed at OP.

I'm not too keen on the railroading of player's actions. DM gets control of nearly everything in the game. He doesn't need to infringe on the actions of the players. Screams of terror, insights and recognition, and beliefs? Those are part of a player's choices for his character, not the DM's. The only times DMs have valid justification for the screams of terror part is when the character gains the panicked condition, and the only time the DM should rule automatic recognition is when relaying some point the character has already grasped and seen before, as evidenced by player interaction.

Not to mention, it's too artsy, IMO. Let players draw their own conclusions. The description should stand on its own, without having to plotstick the characters into knowing, believing, or fearing. Let the NPC's demeanor, visage, and actions chill the players. You don't need to draw the character's insights for them.

[KKL]

I'm not too keen on the railroading of player's actions. DM gets control of nearly everything in the game. He doesn't need to infringe on the actions of the players. Screams of terror, insights and recognition, and beliefs? Those are part of a player's choices for his character, not the DM's. The only times DMs have valid justification for the screams of terror part is when the character gains the panicked condition, and the only time the DM should rule automatic recognition is when relaying some point the character has already grasped and seen before, as evidenced by player interaction.

Not to mention, it's too artsy, IMO. Let players draw their own conclusions. The description should stand on its own, without having to plotstick the characters into knowing, believing, or fearing. Let the NPC's demeanor, visage, and actions chill the players. You don't need to draw the character's insights for them.Shrug. I'm big on artsy bastard descriptions because they're good at making images, and I'm not really much a fan of abstract things.

Also, it was more of a suggestion, I literally have no experience with DMing at all and didn't know that OP was using this for DMing.

[Talic]

Shrug. I'm big on artsy bastard descriptions because they're good at making images, and I'm not really much a fan of abstract things.

Also, it was more of a suggestion, I literally have no experience with DMing at all and didn't know that OP was using this for DMing.

Don't get me wrong, most of the description you have is good. It's just that you fill in too many blanks right away. Initial encounters (and the description is being given from a storyteller/DM point of view) are characterized more by what you don't know than what you do. Quick descriptions that give people a clear, vivid mental image of what this thing look like, what they may infer from the nature of its stance, and descriptions of how they perceive certain abilites that they can perceive (such as a dragon's frightful presence). The true allure of a good story is that the player doesn't have all the information right away... Is it an mounted death knight? A vampire? A lich? A skeleton? Something else? Why is it here? What is it doing? Is it good? Evil? Is it hostile? Can it be reasoned with? These questions and a hundred more should be whirring in those character's heads, and THAT's what you've got to instill with your description.

When you put forth something new into a campaign, at first, it should raise far more questions than it answers.

[Athaniar]

When are people going to learn? The first horseman is Conquest, not Pestilence! Get your Knowledge (Religion) straight!

[Evil DM Mark3]

Sigh
The original four horsemen include only one named figure. Death. The other three are not named in the bible. Older interpretations put the line up as Death, War/Conquest, Famine and The Anti-Christ. However the modern perception is Death, War, Famine and Pestilence.

[Lycan 01]

*checks Bible*

Hm.

White horse who's rider had a crown and a bow, who went forth conquering, and to conquer.

Red horse who's rider wielded a great sword, with which to take peace from earth, that they may kill one another.

Black horse who's rider held scales.

Death on a pale horse, after whom Hell follows, and who has the power to kill 1 fourth of the world with famine, war, and beasts.

[Shademan]

a teenage girl with anorectics?

[Spiryt]

Yeah, Bible mentions Conquest, War, Famine and Death.

Metallica sings about Famine, Pestilence, Death and Time.

Wonder where they took that from.

[Evil DM Mark3]

White horse who's rider had a crown and a bow, who went forth conquering, and to conquer.

Red horse who's rider wielded a great sword, with which to take peace from earth, that they may kill one another.

Black horse who's rider held scales.

Death on a pale horse, after whom Hell follows, and who has the power to kill 1 fourth of the world with famine, war, and beasts.

Exactly. Only Death is named, although the others can be interpreted quite clearly, although by this description you seem to have Conquest, War, Judgment and Death.

[Lycan 01]

Actually, the one with scales is Famine, as he is told to effect the prices of food and drink as he rides off to do his work. The instructions are kinda odd, and I'm unsure of how they'd translate into modern terms. But part of it was "a measure of wheat for a penny" and that oil (cooking oil) and wine should be left as they are.

So yeah, famine, or economy. Perhaps economy... Dunno, kinda up in the air on it all...

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Alright. By my count, that makes 8. Or 9, if you add in my addition of Fire, from the Discworld. So that would be Death, War, Famine, Pestilence, Conquest, Justice, Time, Fire, and the Anti-Christ.

My take on each, in no particular order. (Actually, now I have an sudden urge to homebrew all of these.

DEATH
A tall figure, pale, confident, rests his hand on the pommel of the saddle of the horse on which he sits. The man is clothed in stately clothes that were much in fashion 20 years ago, except the only colour in them is that of black, and have a layer of dust on them. At his side is a scabbard, black like the rest of his items, with the hilt of an elegant sword sticking out. On his brow rests a simple circle of wrought gold, on top of slicked back raven hair. He is, all in all, good-looking, at least, until he looks you in the eye, and for but a fraction of a second, you see, overlayed on the image of the young nobleman, a second image, that of a fearsome skeleton, with a tattered black cloak around it's shoulders, atop of an equally fearsome skeletal steed. The skeletal figure brandishes a reapers scythe. As quickly as it came, the image leaves, and what before you thought was merely a simple member of the minor noblesse smiles, his teeth unearthly white. He stretches his left hand towards you.
"Hello there."

(Here I'm aiming for an unnerving touch.)

WAR
A slight young woman sits upon an equally delicate horse, clearly not one built for heavy work, neither the woman, nor the horse. Her face is angular, her eyes, sparkling. She wears simple clothes, done around her waste with a girdle, but the simpleness enhances her natural beauty. Her long blonde hair is tied back in a ponytail, and falls smoothly, mirroring the suns rays. Her only weapon is a dirk tucked into her belt. When she smiles, she doesn't just smile, she laughs, a tinkling laugh that you swear you can hear echoing in the wind. Her white hands daintily hold the reins to her mare. Here, no doubt, was a woman for whom you would kill, and, aye, even die for.

(Not so much the outcome but the cause of war. The reaction listed here would be an ability the statted out version would have.)

FAMINE
This man has obviously seen better days, that much is obvious. From his tattered peasants trousers, to his sunken eyes and cheeks, drawn back, cracked lips, and falling out hair, everything about him seems depraved. His chest is bare, revealing ribs that stick out so far, one could use him as a xylophone. However, if properly clothed and fed, he would be quite handsome, as he no doubt once was. He can't be too badly off, though, for he is mounted, though his mount is in no better condition than he is.

(This is, as opposed to my figure for war, the results of famine, personified.)

PESTILENCE
The crowd shies away, as a tinkling of bells sounds over the rest of the Sunday Market hub-bub. A lone man rides a donkey down the lane. The donkey gives a hacking cough. He is completely covered in cloth: not even his eyes are showing. The man carries two implements in either hand. In his left, he carries a short rod, no more than a foot long, covered in bells. This was, no doubt, the object that rung his approach. In the other, he carries a long pole, with a basket at one end, which he extends towards the crowd. One or two people put coins into the basket, but most shy away, muttering prayers, flinching as he attempts to talk, but only babble comes out.

(He is dressed as a leper from the middle ages would, though a leper wouldn't ride a donkey, and would be able to talk.)

CONQUEST
A man, or possibly a woman, in the prime of their life nonetheless, rides towards you, proud, victorious, 3 feet of naked steel clutched in their right arm. On their left hangs a shield, with no emblem blazoned on it, but only a field of pure weight, matching both the cloak that flutters behind them, and the horse on which they ride. You cannot quite make out any of their features, but, as they hoist their sword towards the sky, you feel insignificant, though not nessecarily in a bad way.

(Once again, the reaction listed here would be an ability the statted out version would have.)

JUSTICE
Just ahead of you, an old, venerable man, whose beard is both long and grey, moves with deliberation. He walks up to a horse, one fine enough to be that of a prince, not that of an old man. He mounts easily and nimbly, as if he was but 20 again. From the depths of his robes, he produces a golden measuring scale, and on one pan places a swan feather. Then, reaching once again into his robes, he produces a golden sword, which you could have sworn wasn't there a few seconds ago. You feel that anything this old man can do, is the right thing to do.

(Inspiration taken from a statue on one of the buildings in a town square somewhere in Belgium. The reaction listed here would be an ability the statted out version would have.)

TIME
As you come closer, you see that the figure on the horse is not one person, but 2, one sitting in front of the other. The one behind, the one holding the reins, is as ancient as one could be without being dead. He is completely bald on the pate of his head, but his beard and the rest of his hair reach down to his knees. His eyes are grey, staring straight ahead, not registering anything, blank. If you couldn't see his chest moving, you could have sworn he really was dead. In front of him is a baby riding side-saddle, it's back to you. It has no hair yet, save for a small curl of blonde hair on the very top of it's head. It's head turns to face you, and it looks at you from startlingly clear blue eyes. It opens it mouth, and speaks with the voice of an adult.

(Time is both old and young.)

FIRE
A youth a barely 16 years squats in front of the campfire, his horse grazing a few feet behind him. The fire reflects of his eyes, as he gazes into it. The fire is mirrored in his unruly red hair, which springs up at odd angles. The fire begins to die down, allowing you too get a better look at his face. His eyes are bright and carefree, his face freckled. All of a sudden, the flames leap up, and you cannot see him anymore. Then, he is there, atop his steed, both his hair, and the mane of the horse flaming, the hooves of the horse starting small grass-fires. They leap off among the trees, the youths ringing laughter echoing in his wake, waving the dozens of small fires left in his wake.

(Unpredictable, passionate, yah, that's fire right there.)
THE ANTI-CHRIST
Innocent, young, playful, these are all words you might use to describe the boy standing in the stirrups of the horse ahead of you. He seems like a trusting fellow. His bright blue eyes smile at you, as do his white teeth. His straw-coloured hair, which manage to be both unruly and in place, adds to this image. As you look at him, unbidden, burning questions spring into mind, chief among these, "Why not?"

(The reaction listed here would be an ability the statted out version would have. You may notice now that War, Conquest, Fire, and the Anti-Christ are all young. They are all also the most destructive.)

[Evil DM Mark3]

Fire, from the Discworld.

Chaos, erstwhile Kaos, AKA Ronnie Soak, not FIRE. Fire is a demigod who was suggested as the possible fifth by Lu Tze to annoy Kaos. Of course what is interesting is that this is the physicists horseman, Chaos (or rather entropy) WILL destroy the universe.

[chiasaur11]

Chaos, erstwhile Kaos, AKA Ronnie Soak, not FIRE. Fire is a demigod who was suggested as the possible fifth by Lu Tze to annoy Kaos. Of course what is interesting is that this is the physicists horseman, Chaos (or rather entropy) WILL destroy the universe.

Except Death. And Paperclips come back.

Anyone suggested Good Omen's horsemen?
Grevious Bodily Harm is always fun.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Meh, I decided Fire. Though chaos works as well...

[Evil DM Mark3]

Except Death. And Paperclips come back.

Ah yes, I believe it is a reference to the theory listed under 1 google years (http://www.exitmundi.nl/exitmundi.htm)

[Flickerdart]

Chaos, erstwhile Kaos, AKA Ronnie Soak, not FIRE. Fire is a demigod who was suggested as the possible fifth by Lu Tze to annoy Kaos. Of course what is interesting is that this is the physicists horseman, Chaos (or rather entropy) WILL destroy the universe.
Blast, I knew someone would name Kaos before I got here.

[chiasaur11]

Ah yes, I believe it is a reference to the theory listed under 1 google years (http://www.exitmundi.nl/exitmundi.htm)

Mainly to Faust Eric. Discworld is one of the few settings where Death being the last person alive is okay with me.

[KKL]

a teenage girl with anorectics?
Death is a perky goth. And hot, too. Also, not anorexic.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I actually am statting my guys out, the CR's are as follows. Death(20), Chaos (Antichrist)(18), Justice(17), Time(15), Famine(12), War(8), Pestilence(7), Fire(6), and Conquest(5).

[Revanmal]

These are a little different, but I hope you like them.

Death: You don't know what it was. It may very well have been nothing. But all the same, the skin on the back of your neck crawled for just split second. Your heart skipped a beat, you gasped - your breath cut short. The remains of a breeze brush against your skin. You didn't see anything, but all the same, the faint gallop of hooves rings in your ears, and a single image replays in your mind, a cloaked figure atop an equine, bloody scythe raised in the air. You blink, and the breeze is gone.

Death is swift.


War: You see before you a massive steed, a powerful dun with a mane of deep gray, which billows in the air like smoke. The horse dances and bucks aggressively, almost certainly after your blood. But even more frightening, somehow, is the rider. A small boy, no older than 10. He grins down at you with a disconcerting sadism, a rust-red lance that seems much too big for him clutched in one hand. A miniature suit of charred and dented armor sits on his frame, his youthful face lightly freckled with dirt and grime, and a messy mop of mud-flecked hair atop his head. He giggles gleefully as he charges, destroying all with hoof and lance.

What's more destructive than one who does not know what he is doing is wrong?


Famine: A loud, jovial laugh echoes as the figure appears over the ridge, slowly climbing. A man of enormous girth, his proportions almost ridiculously rotund, rides toward you. Sausage-like fingers encrusted with gemmed rings squeeze out from a deep blue coat of silk, cut with the finest of noble styles and almost more gold embroidery than actual cloth. Multiple chins roll like dough out of the high collar, and silk pants and coat alike are almost splitting at the seams, as they strain to hold the laughing man's enormous girth. His steed, in contrast, is emaciated and neglected, the animal pressing diligently onward, despite the titanic strain it must be under. It pants and groans heavily, its ribs heaving against taut skin, muscles straining stiff sinews to move just one more step forward.

The profit of others can oftentimes come at the expense of those below them.

Nothing for pestilence yet, but I'll see if I can't work on it.

[ForzaFiori]

another one, found in Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series, where Death and War are Incarnations, and the four horseman work for War. They have Conquest, Pestilence, and Famine (which have been covered) and Slaughter (a new one)

[Mewtarthio]

Alright. By my count, that makes 8. Or 9, if you add in my addition of Fire, from the Discworld. So that would be Death, War, Famine, Pestilence, Conquest, Justice, Time, Fire, and the Anti-Christ.

Isn't that a bit much? Bear in mind, the Four Horseman aren't actually supposed to destroy the world: They just start things off (they're supposed to be the weakest of all the apocalyptic nasties).

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

At the moment, I'm planning a long campaign where you kill these guys off, one by one...

[EvilElitest]

I'm trying to come up with avatars of the four horsemen, but I just can't come up with something for Famine. So I'm looking for ideas on how to make him.
Here's the three others:

Avatar of Death:
You see a man riding towards you. His skin is deadly pale and his skin clings to tight to his bones, that it almost looks as if he is a skeleton. His black clothes are aristocratic, richly decorated and as dark as the night, with his hair being the same colour. His horse is as pale as it's rider, with an skeletal look and it's ribs are highly visibly. A slender steel blade hangs by his side. Darkness follows him and every time the hooves of his horse touch the ground it looks like darkness flows from it.

Avatar of War:
You see an enormous man riding towards you on the biggest horse you have ever seen. His blood red clothing torn and damaged, with the maille he wears over it, covered in blood. He has incredible large muscles and the large bastard sword he holds in his right hand still drips blood from his last kill. The horse dark red-brown and almost feral with it's rider nearly being incapable of holding it back from charging towards you, and the look on his face also tells you he is nearly incapable of holding himself back.

Avatar of Pestilence:
You see a man riding towards you. He wears average maille armour with a white tabard over it. His arms, hands and face is covered with white bandages. Both the tabard and bandages are covered in blots of blood. The few and small patches skin the bandages leave exposed, have black boils and blood oozing out of skin. His horse is no better, with it's white caparison also covered with blots of blood and its neck, head, and legs covered in blood splattered bandages. A old and rusty sword hangs by his side and swarm of flies follows him and the stench of dead that clings to him.

So any ideas on how to make Famine so he is similar to the others?

Famine

The man before wears a torn and wrinkled mud grey cloak, with hole and scratches all through. He carries a sickle, and underneath his robes you can see his body. While at first he seems plumb, it is revealed that his stomach is in fact swollen, and cancerous. Famine's body is bloated, and tisted. his eyes are barely in his sockets his deformed head stars at you. His teeths are yellow and twisted, and his voice is the worst of all. As he speaks, the very energy within those who here is drained, sucked, and destroyed by hte power of his voice, digusting and cancerous. Those who touch him find that their bodies start to devolp a tumor, that drains all of the life from their body. Famine's hair is made up of tape worms and his horse is a almost skelatal. The tape worms are in fact devoured souls, died of hunger and scream "Help me, help me, help me please" as Famine crackles
from
EE

[Athaniar]

Since Revelations can be interpreted quite differently, I see Conquest as the Antichrist, and Famine as a kind of "evil noble" (letting the people starve while taking all the goods for him/herself. War is a violent, brutal guy, but with a sense of tactics (think Ares), and Death is... well, Death.

[NakedCelt]

1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. (From Revelation chapter 6.) "Pale", by the way, in the description of the Fourth Horseman, is a poor translation. It means sickly, ghastly, not off-white. The Greek word (chloros) was only translated "pale" because everyone knows there's no such thing as a green horse.

[Rion]

Sorry for the disappearence, but I went on vacation and the hotel I stayed on turned out to not have internet.

Lycan:
I really like your version of Famine and would probably use it.

KKL:
One the things I wanted to avoid was the image the traditional "reaper", and make Death more like the people in the middle ages would have seen him.

Also, my grammar is probably not very good, but I'm willing to learn. So if anyone spots grammar mistakes in my posts, feel free to correct them.

Gwyn_ap_Nud:
Fantastic work! Some are quite different from what I would have envisioned, but they are certanly quality work. Specially your version of War is interesting.
Also didn't lepers have eyeholes? If they didn't I would have to change my version of Pestilence (based on Kingdom of Heaven's King Balduin, his outfit nothing like the real King Balduin's (I think), but if you remove the mask, crown and crest, he doesn't seem out of place in a fantasy world).

EvilElitest:
A quite interesting view on Famine, I would probably not use (it's not in the same style), but it definitely doesn't lack creativity.

Lord Xavius:
Wasn't Ares more of "God of Slaughter" guy? IIRC he switches sides in the Trojan War, depending on who has the most troops (for him to kill). I think Athena is the God of tactics, as she is the God of Wafare

[D_Lord]

Death did look mostly like he does now. His look goes back to the middle ages. They are the ones who created that image for death.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

I, for one, like the idea of Death being incorporeal and with as vague a description as possible. Death is the end to which all other means reach their conclusion, so it should be unkillable, only temporarily warded off. It takes many forms, and should thus be a shapeshifter so that you never when you are facing Death.

[Rion]

I, for one, like the idea of Death being incorporeal and with as vague a description as possible. Death is the end to which all other means reach their conclusion, so it should be unkillable, only temporarily warded off. It takes many forms, and should thus be a shapeshifter so that you never when you are facing Death.

But Death is described as a rider on a pale horse, also my inspiration for Death comes from a picture in "A distant mirror" (I've lost the book so I don't which page) from the late middle age. The picture depicts a black clad rider brandishing a sword, his horse is pale and he is leading an attack of undead against an army.

Found an online version (so I remembered wrong about the colour of clothing, but my book wasn't in colour and it's a long time since I lost it):
http://img136.imageshack.us/my.php?image=deathjr5.jpg

[Hadrian_Emrys]

Did I say that the HORSE shouldn't be described? :smalltongue: I imagine Death's horse to be an undead Asperi (MM2, I think) with craptons of that advanced/evolved template from Lebris Mortis. As for Death's description, it should change each time the party fights it. Hell, it should change repeatedly WHILE they fight it off. If anything, It should work like a ghostly lich, but with an invincible, extraplanar phylactery.

[Rion]

I would say to just fight Death off would be extremely tough, let alone defeat him. For some reason I think Death would have an ability for every hit with his sword to count as a Finger of Death spell.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

Constant save or die abilties seem to be the name of the game. Players should fear the reaper. :smallamused:

Edit: I take back the Lich thing. Death is a ghost with at least 15 HD so that it ALWAYS comes back. Odd's are, it's also probably a Cloistered Cleric CoDzilla. I'm thinking Death, Undeath, and something else are it's domains. What 1 HD, no LA creature has the highest Cha mod?

P.S. I'm now officially obsesssed with making stats for Death. >_<