GM's Tip of the Week
This week’s tip might be focused on Players, but it’s good for us GMs to remember too! Demagor is our guest blogger this week, remember to thank him for taking the time to write it.
Hello, Everyone!
Pretty much self-explanatory, a Character Description is just that- a sufficiently detailed explanation of what someone would see if they looked at your character. While this may have no impact on game mechanics, it’s one of the components which help you become more integrated with, and woven into, the game. A good description can start conversations (“Where’d you get that scar?”, or “What a beautiful pendant! Was that a gift from someone?”, etc.), can hint at your character’s profession (a polished and sparkling holy symbol of Garl Glittergold (cleric), some blackened full plate armor studded with sharpened steel spikes (fighter), a flare of movement under a sleeve and the head of a toad peeking out (wizard’s familiar), etc.), or it can just plain draw the image of your character in another player’s mind, making them more believable and helping everyone become further embedded in the game, the mood and the setting.
The biggest mistake I’ve seen in character descriptions is when a player includes things that no one would know from a mere glance. Essentially, your character description should be a summary of what your character looks like, what they’re wearing and any obvious, overt mannerisms and behaviors. This should be explained in an accurate but brief manner; you should be able to get your point across in one nice paragraph, maybe two. People won’t know your personality, what you’re thinking, what you’ve experienced in life, what foods you like and don’t like just from your appearance, so don’t share it. There are clever ways around this however; if you want your character to show that he’s done hard labor his entire life, mention the battered and scarred skin on the palms of his hands, the dirt under his nails, the lingering smell of manure, or sulfur, or freshly cut lumber.
Lastly, the relationship between your character’s description and their picture should be close, if not precise. Personally, I like to find a picture that resembles how I see my character, then create the description to match that pic. Understandably, some details may differ (the picture shows blond hair and the character’s is brown or your fighter uses a greataxe but the picture shows a longsword and shield), but you shouldn’t have the picture of a stout, bearded dwarf when you’re really a towering, hairless half-orc. When you are submitting a character for a game, it helps to have a picture already in mind, so that the image your DM assigns your character sheet will match the description you’re offering.
To change a character’s description, go to the ADVENTURER OPTIONS section and from the game’s menu, select the Edit Character link. You are then taken to the Character Builder section (identical to the one where you build/create characters in the CITIZEN OPTIONS section), where you will see the Description field. Simply type in the description for your character and, once you are complete, click on Update Character. Note how this field accepts basic HTML, but it’s entirely optional.
Don’t forget to click on Update Character! Otherwise, if you move to another screen on the Portal, all of your hard work will be lost!
(Sylverthorne would like to add that basic HTML is optional, but if you have written a fairly long description, line breaks or use of the paragraph tag – don’t forget to close your tags! – will make it much easier to read.)