How to design clothes for your D&D character 

I love that!! What a fun detail!!

I got Carol Burnet wearing a window curtain vibe from the "silks stolen from rich people's houses" part.

Cool! Great plan! That being said- It drives me kind of crazy, as a hand spinner and weaver IRL, that the so-called Weaver’s Tools… are for hand sewing, and have *nothing* to do with weaving. Arrgh. (A loom can be a index-card-sized heddle and some string; weaving for thousands of years has been done with nothing more than sticks and string. It doesn’t require a big heavy piece of equipment.)

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Me, a fully clothed human being: WTF do people wear? Are you some kind of wizard for knowing?

Yo same. Whenever I draw my characters I try to A) be historically accurate with clothings to the time period and region in which the game is inspired (currently playing a campaign that has an empire based on a mix of Italian and Spanish culture in the 14th century, where my character is from) B) be somewhat historically accurate and faithfully portray practical armour from said period (lost my armour on my way to a region of the world that is inspired by Turkish culture with elements of East African, adopted a typical scale armour from the bronze age but made with steel)

Nice! Same here! Also an aspiring costume designer. I start studying at UCLA TFT this fall.

Me and my Dm too do a entire search for all weapons, armor, and dress for the 1600 secol for 5 different country it was hard but now our campaign is 100% historical accurate

but charisma 14+ IS required to go pantsless :P

@@FluxDeimos not if you're a satyr

@@trueaidooo If you are joking about satyrs does that make it satyrical?

@@FluxDeimos WELL. PLAYED, good sir!

I like using male figure skaters who compete in pair competitions as a reference for body and clothes. Because while they are very acrobatic and flexible to do the jumps and tricks, they also lift like a damn forklift when they lift their partner.

Same, my characters have loads of outfits too... and then I went so far as to design their relatives ... that are now new characters.

@@jacobyspurnger8488 I think you've confused Glammerweave with Shiftweave. A suit of Shiftweave can store up to five outfits in it. Glammerweave allows the wearer to create moving illusory pattern on one piece of clothing or have it rise from the cloth.

And on the other side of the spectrum, we have me: "Uhhmm... Pants and ... probably a shirt? Of some kind. Oh, and shoes! Yeah, definitely shoes."

I admit, I am guilty of trawling pinterest fringe fashion boards for character clothing ideas. And I have written down detailed clothing descriptions on the backs of more than a few character sheets.

ok so changing character designs all the time is normal? good to know

So she’s The Phantom? Fashion wise anyway.

@@dubbingsync Yes, I definitely stole that whole aesthetic. She's also a scourge aasimar so her angelic power explodes out the damaged half of her face. Has a nice "remove the mask and angelic light fills the battlefield" thing going on.

@@quinnsinclair7028 That sounds like such a cool character!

She's here, the Phantom of the Opera!

@@quinnsinclair7028 Badass!

that's such a cool idea! I like how its translating the historical clothing into a different piece of fantasy clothing

That’s so fun!

Would that make her vulnerable to fire? Or is it magic wicker?

I love that idea so much!

Superficial girly nonsense = "See, girls do it, so it sucks". Don't get discouraged!

Superficial girly nonsense? Designing outfits for characters is one of my favorite things. I'm a 6foot 3, 220 pound construction worker that lifts materials heavier than myself on a regular basis. Your friends is dumbdums. Don't listen to them.

As the only girl in an all-guys group who's also playing a fashionista, I feel this in my SOUL

@@Anvandiel I'm sorry to hear that, it really sucks. I gladly left that group to find people who are not mysoginists, I totally recomend

Your group lacks culture. Keep being you

Your rouge reminds me of that one person who wears yellow in blood borne

Eyyyyy

She's defiantly the 'confident in their skills they can wear that they want' lol

@@proffesornugget1613 "Your rogue" Uh, no, pretty sure they're talking about Nott, Sam Riegel's character in Critical Role's 2nd campaign

@@reptiliannoizezz.413 i wouldnt know I dont watch critical role

absolutely adorable

Absolutely love this one. I can imagine it.

No, they're not dirty. They're WEARING THE DIRT!

Bless her

i love her

What… what is that a reference to? Do I want to know?

​@@deinogreenstreet8631 My best guess is that the bear from Critical role is named Trinket

Vox Machina probably

Just a shit ton of those things Vex keeps Trinket in strapped onto the belt. Would actually look pretty cool... And then you'd pull all of them off and bears spawn out of them

​@@deinogreenstreet8631 a character from campaign one of critical role (Vex) has a familiar which is a bear named trinket, hence the many a stuffed bear on a belt reference! Hope this helps!

"My friends and I have just started a brand new campaign where all the characters woke up naked in a mud pit." That sounds like the end to an interesting weekend :D

I....as someone who doesn’t play but watches a lot of campaigns,I’m honestly not surprised that’s how the adventure started Wouldn’t put it past a DM

Ahh the old naked in a mud pit start, brings back fond memories.

Chelsea Barrett: that's hysterical!

@@jacobyspurnger8488 I GM pathfinder and I started requiring people at my table produce or find a picture that at least somewhat visualises their character (we play online) I framed it as use for the token to begin with. I've found since doing that, that cross table roleplaying between characters has grown greatly while cross table off topic chatter has diminished proportionally. Certain members have been offput by this but overall MOST of my players have found it to make the game a lot more fun. They actually CARE about who their character is more now than ever before. It's not just an extension to beat up mobs with anymore heh.

@@jacobyspurnger8488 As someone artisticly impaired I know exactly what you mean lol

Someone who understands! I'm very critical about not just my character's appearance, but everything about them! I feel the necessity for stats such as Strength, Constitution to match well with their build, Wisdom, Charisma with their personality, etc. Character appearance and backstory are the two things I get stuck on the longest! When describing my character's main outfit, it's second nature for me to try and include as many details about an outfit as I can. It becomes demoralizing for me when I'm not able to create an outfit that's both unique enough and one that I'm truly satisfied with. XD

I like to imagine their type of stealth is more distracting than actually sneaking. Like here let me just throw something down the hall and then slip on by.

XD My arcane trickster rogue wears mostly white but she's not on that level of stealth yet. She's actually /trying/ to be flashy because I built her as being a street performer that used to be nobility.

Nobody’s eva’ seen a purple ork

How'd you get a +19? Highest I could think of was a +17 with advantage on checks relying on hearing or sight

Magnificent

On the other hand you could meet a history nerd that would send you a name and a picture of all the armour pieces the character is wearing.

@@annasolovyeva1013 Is that supposed to be like a bad thing? I love it when they do that

@@scrabs4855 often people don't like the meticulousness of the historical reenactor-style approach. Artists I know even post "I don't draw armour" because they don't enjoy drawing THAT much complex details. Especially - if they are traditional artists and drawing all the details and texture of an historically accurate armour in detail is difficult to them (or they request several times more money for an armoured character then for a said caster). A late medieval knight's armour is a lot of details, decorated and layered in an elaborate way. There are also all the ties with pointy hanging eglets and buckles that hold them in place and douplet or chainmail peaking from underneath. There's also such a thing as mail with flat big rings, that are clearly visible from distance, but still a lot of very small things. And there are armour gauntlets - they're often x3 difficulty to drawing hands. Also remember the volume that armour adds to a figure, it should be correct - not too thin, like in Hollywood, not too thick, like in Warhammer. Armour pieces may be each also be shiny and reflecting light of different colours, and metals also have their own shade undertone like purple for silver. For a tank character their armour is a lot of their personality, it's what they are and how they want others too see them in the battle. people who do reenactment tournaments, basically say "your armour is your face, it's what people see". I have three tank characters of my own (one dnd palladin and two fictional war caster knights), and you can easily tell who is who without looking at their faces. In fantasy an armour may be enchanted, it can also add a lot of details. Especially if you bother with a systematic approach to magical artifacts like I do. (I prefer considering that a long-term enchanted artifact is like a computer - it has a physical structure of mana baterries, rune enchantment modules and wires mostly on the inside of the armour, but not 100% inside). To summarize, realistic armour is a complex thing difficult to draw

@@annasolovyeva1013 You touched on some really good points! As a character designer I’d also add that for most figurative artists, complex, inorganic forms (such as plate armor) are so much harder and less intuitive to draw than organic forms (such as the human body). It’s very easy to tell when armor looks wonky in perspective because it’s usually hard, symmetrical, and overall just not malleable in the way that most living creatures are. (Also, I personally would love if someone commissioned me with detailed images and historically accurate names for costume pieces they wanted, it makes my job easier and I get to learn something new)

@@annasolovyeva1013 I had this request once and i was so excited- they nailed everythin down and gave me so mamy references

That's amazing omg

I'd be more likely to give that bag if you actually went to that much trouble to think about what it is going to have in it!

That is awesome dude

I mean, what else would a noble do?

Dont check out her twitter than xd

@@kaades_ what? her twitter has the same energy

@Hawks16 I don't vent here because I'm not gonna make a 15 minute video about being depressed, but it's very easy to be honest about my feelings on twitter, and unfortunately I am human and not always happy. 🤷‍♀️ But I'm glad to have the opportunity to share and spread happiness here! That's important to me.

@@GinnyDi I totally understand it. But still, venting on twitter achieves nothing, and ventig about trolls or the like will only make more of them

@@GinnyDi Checked Twitter. Encountered no problems whatsoever

Thanks for sharing, I can totally picture this.

I did try to get a cosplay friend of mine into critical role by showing them spectacle of Laura and Talison describing the formal wear they bought for all the rest of the party.

Both of those ideas are really smart! The second one is like those historic getting dressed videos I like to watch.

Plot twist, the character doesn't wear underwear

I'm thinking about a Raven Queen Warlock all the time and right now, my idea actually is like a hooded cloak. One that would make every bard go green with envy for its vibrant weird chaotic color mix scheme thing - and a hood that's like coated in vbx2 (the new vantablack... y'know, the blackest black ever but this one is the new version that even hides wrinkles in tin foil due to its darkness xD)

Really? How Vaxing- in mean Vexing.

aaaaaand now I'm inspired for a Grave Cleric build. halp

@@LucRio448 I’m thinking of making a bard/warlock based off of the violin fencer from Tuba Boss. I was thinking of having the Raven Queen be his patron.

This character sounds incredibly chaotic and I love it

They want to be the center of attention? *cough cough* who's character could that be

And once you get it designed you can save it, and more importantly right click and save the picture. That way you have what it looks like without having to buy the figure. But definitely save the design so you can buy it later you'll probably want to.

That's so cool that I'm mad I didn't think of it first!!! /lh

Unless youre in star trek... Then you are guaranteed to die

@@MystraRavenwind Well, you are more attractive... to disrupter fire?

It's actually because of her I got into it. So fun!

Love self sufficient characters 🥰

His hair was perfect!!

Yesssssss

What's funny is I have a Kobold Bard who wears Hawaiian T-shirts and Cargo Shorts and this video was like, could I reflavor the handy haversack to be Cargo Shorts? Like don't mind me casually pulling a a ridiculous amount of things even for cargo shorts. And i love it

This hits too close to home

SAME

Yeah. I play a lot of young male characters because they’re fun and stranger DMs are less likely to sexually assault them than they are a female player-character combo. However, I have no idea how to design them. I usually end up playing with colors, but I’ve also used scarves and tattoos for designs if I think it’d fit.

capes, shoes, boots, hair and acessories are all stuff you can play with. There's a lot of good references, and a whole lot of variety if you know where to look. (different sleeve shapes and shirt cuts. Collars, high-waisted vs low waisted. buttons, buckles and bags) i still struggle with designing male outfits, but I've improved greatly by finding more reference and practicing.

Oh god the male one is literally my character's outfit

Additionally, my current character, Professor Abdullah Kiln is a Fire Genasi rogue, and a member of the clandestine “Brotherhood of the Smoking Glass”. He is one part archeological professor, one part ninja, one part tomb raider, and AAAAAAAAAAALL Indiana Jones. (Seriously, I’ve made a joke of making Kiln say “it belongs in a museum” as often as possible). The setting of my campaign is heavily Arabic coded, and Kiln himself was born of a genie, so all his clothes are meant to be evocative of the garb of Baghdadi academics in the Islamic Golden Age, but exceptionally more tactically-minded. These clothes are all black, and serve as the uniform worn by a Brother of the Smoking Glass. They are designed not only to be formal, but to be worn during combat, stealth, lectures, and casual time. This versatility of dress not only reflects a great deal about the Brotherhood Kiln is a part of, but also of his own personality. He strives to be meticulous, efficient, and practical. The color is also important, as the Professor seems to be incredibly hesitant to wear anything else. As a Fire Genasi he obviously has a very distinct look to him, and is somewhat self-conscious about it. When he was forced to wear white nearly-translucent white robes in order to hold audience with the Emperor-of-sorts he felt tremendously insecure. ... Man, I sure did ramble about my OC, didn’t I? God, I’m such a dork. Especially since I’m probably NEVER gonna cosplay as this guy, considering that he’s Arabic-coded, and I’m porcelain-white.

Fits his clerical domain too--Kind of like my Trickery Domain boy and his glitzy scalemail armor, and his loose and flowy stuff that just screams whimsical like a trickster. High five for clerics (and Cure Wounds)!

@@magenstaffarts That's brilliant design choice, I like the sound of your decorum! High five!

Yay weaving!

Something that can help with that is Pinterest or moodboards! There are lots of great, unique places to start, and they can help you piece together a much clearer image of your character's details without having to imagine it all in your head

@@artbysamc I do have Pinterest boards for a couple of my characters, though I usually end up making them into mood/aesthetic boards instead of clothing inspiration haha. It's definitely a good idea though!

Catheadphone-ception

Gimli do you play dwarf or other races

@@proffesornugget1613 haha good question. My first character was a dwarf, but this guy is a half orc.

Like a tabaxi or just a regular cat that has somehow learned to speak like Meowth?