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I am having a discussion with another player at our table. Succinctly put, we both have represented our characters, metaphorically, as paintings. The rub lies in when we each believe the painting to be completed. I was hoping for your input on the topic.
If your character is a painting, when is the painting done?
A: Before game one. I am bringing the finished work and the games are where we showcase our works, like a joint showing. Sessions are figuring out how to best arrange our pieces in a communal gallery.
B: Not until the game is over. I bring a blank canvas and an idea to game and we work together to create all our character paintings. Some of my paint will end up on your canvas and vice versa. Sessions are where we get together to paint.
C: Other.
I'm really having a hard time knowing if I'm following exactly what you're meaning, but if I do follow correctly, then I must ask does it need to be one or the other? The best representation of your character isn't necessarily at the beginning or the end.
I say the painting ain't done til the campaign ends because the character changes all the way up to that point and afterward when all is being brought to a close and the dice get put away then the painting is done. Sorry , I too am waxing metaphorical today, I just buried my father about an hour ago.
Your avatar is aptly titled then. I am sorry to hear about your father. I haven't lost anyone that close to me yet in my life, but imagining one of my parents gone is bad enough that I feel your loss.
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Before the sessions starts you prep the canvas and paint the background. The Shadow that your character casts can only be completed by his actions and deeds. I've played characters from 1st to 15th over the years and can truly say you never know how they will end up, often a completely different picture than your original concept. Sorry to hear about your loss my friend.
Well this question is fairly interesting.
If you write a GREAT piece of music but nobody hears it, is that really a great piece of music? You need listeners to experience your music. Without them it's nothing.
Think of the completed level 1 character as your music.
Think of playing the campaign as your performance. Sometimes you might have to improvise. Sometimes things go wrong when you play live (trust me, i've done it a lot).
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I don't always paint, but I always draw every PC I play.
I prefer to do so before the first session, as I like a clear representation of my PC.
I usually offer to draw other player's PCs if they wish, and keep a short questionnaire for them to fill out to assisting me in doing so.
I cannot keep a drawing of every possible outfit my PC will wear, and that is something anyone should try to do.
I suggest doing the picture before, as the image will live in the minds of all players throughout the campaign and beyond.
Ok, if I understand the original question then my answer is B. A 1st level, never been played character is the start of a work. It is only when I have played them over time and leveled to the highest levels and retire them that the work is completed.
What you bring is the first portrait. You play through the storyboards and can always get a new portrait done. =)
GNOME
I don't always paint, but I always draw every PC I play.
I prefer to do so before the first session, as I like a clear representation of my PC.
I usually offer to draw other player's PCs if they wish, and keep a short questionnaire for them to fill out to assisting me in doing so.
I cannot keep a drawing of every possible outfit my PC will wear, and that is something anyone should try to do.
I suggest doing the picture before, as the image will live in the minds of all players throughout the campaign and beyond.
That's awesome by the way, I have done it before and would like to with more chars but it usually takes getting attached to the character and most charaters I make never see play or only go a few sessions before the group goes seperate ways for months at a time.
Not all though, Ive played a wizard to 34th a barbarian to 29th(both 3.5) a fighter to 30th (2nd ed) and several into their teens (13-15th) and one to 20th.
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From a metaphorical point of view, the character isn't finished until the campaign is over because they are so significantly affected by the events as they unfold, and your party members are a big part of those. So definitely option B.
From a literal point of view, I'd ideally like a character portrait before and after a campaign, and maybe at one or two turning points within the campaign, so I get a feel for how the character changes. But that takes artistic talent or an artistic friend.
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Are you the same person you were ten years ago? Twenty? Will you be the same person in fifty more years? Would snapshots from different times of your life not be both equally representative of the moment but also equally different from one another?
Whether I'm writing about a character in fiction, or playing a character in a game, I know who they are at level 1 or Chapter 1 isn't who they'll be at 10th level or by the end of the trilogy.
So a painting of a person, or a character, is a representation of the person they were at that time. They will have changed by the end, but that doesn't change who they were at the beginning or in the middle. Each one is a complete picture.
I have several characters that have been part of my character library for almost 35 years now. I don't have "paintings" of them, but I do have sketches I've drawn, and I have my own mental image of them. In pretty much every case my mental image is not from either the start or end of their career, but instead from somewhere in between where I finally really nailed down their concept.
For example, my 16th level wizard is best "painted" at about level 8 when he finally went completely insane. My 18 level ranger is best portrayed at about level 11 when he first tamed his hippogriff mount. My 26th level 4e ranger is best portrayed at about level 18 when he settled in on the weapon selection and armor that he more or less stuck with the rest of his career.
To me it's all about completing the concept.
I admit that I cheat a bit, and steal pic ideas from other artists.
Many of the characters I have played in the last 5 years have been based off of cool looking figurines I previously found and painted (Mostly Reaper, and Games Workshop before that). Sometimes I customize them, others times I leave them as is and base the character build after it. This has caused me to play more shielded warriors than two-handed warriors, although once I sculpted a greatsword.
The one time I spent some time sketching a character in pencil, he came to a grisly end too soon.
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Splunge
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No, I'll have to go with a series of paintings, or maybe just a triptic.
(close to Firebeard's storyboards:)
The painting is also up to the painter.
So, he may be painting the scene of the character before and after as he/she envisions it.
Now this vision will certainly change by the time the game is over, so he'll most likely paint a new one when it's all over.
Go with a triptic. Painting of the character as he see's it, and maybe how he envisions it by 'the end'.
Then do the same for the middle panel roughly halfway through the campaign.
Then the last panel on the last day of the campaign, then compare all three panels.
Hope that input helps - lol
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...and sorry for your loss Conundrum.
Ya had a 13th lvl Duergar assassin get slaughtered along with my 13th lvl Orc warlord companion by a cadre of disjunction scroll wielding watch wizards and ten companies of archers outside a shop in Sundabar(Faerun, silver marches region). I spent over an hour sketching that character about three sessions before he bought that great big farm in the sky.