Well, my players are about a week from meeting the Mad Archmage, a retired, reclusive know-it-all who was once the…

Well, my players are about a week from meeting the Mad Archmage, a retired, reclusive know-it-all who was once the…

Well, my players are about a week from meeting the Mad Archmage, a retired, reclusive know-it-all who was once the most famous magic-user because of inventions which furthered the empire. He wasn’t an adventurer, or a battle-mage, just a really clever guy who used magical discoveries to improve the land for a large fee.

I’m trying to decide how he looks/dresses and don’t want to go with trope-mage-robe, beard or pointy hat. I’m leaning more towards the idea that he’s like Parry from the Fisher King – all beanie and fingerless gloves, greasy hair, etc.

Does anyone else have any good ideas for a non-typical look for this guy?

15 thoughts on “Well, my players are about a week from meeting the Mad Archmage, a retired, reclusive know-it-all who was once the…”

  1. If he’s clever, and used magic, chances are he’s got a bit of coin to throw around? So how about, rich red velvet clothing with gold adornments, instead of the played-out old blue robes? How about a bit of a belly on him? Bald on the top, perhaps, with a ring of that aforementioned greasy hair?

    And maybe his fingernails are grubby and uneven. Maybe, since he’s clever and has made discoveries, there’s a pencil ever present behind his ear and a notebook on his person to scribble down things as they come to him. Just a couple of thoughts 🙂

  2. A fastidious control freak with a meticulously groomed moustache. You don’t accidentally make magical breakthroughs – they take years of painstaking, controlled, exhaustively documented research, let me tell you!

    Walks around after the players repositioning the precisely arranged furniture and knick knacks that they accidentally move.

    Could easily be mistaken for a treasury scribe if it wasn’t for the fact he could reduce you to a very small pile of oddly coloured ash with the correct incantations. Which he might just do if you don’t PUT THAT RIGHT BACK WHERE YOU FOUND IT RIGHT NOW!

  3. HA HA HA! This is all gold.

    The reason I asked is that my players are dressing as their characters for Hallowe’en and that leaves the DM to dress as the most prominent NPC of the session…so I am going to be some amalgam of these parry/flavor-flav/doc brown/maurice/librarian/jobs ideas.

    So far, I am intent on incorporating pyjama pants because I WAS TOO BUSY MAKING MAGIC TO BE BOTHERED CHANGING. Yes.

  4. What was once a finely tailored suit, now ripped at the seams and dingy. He wears a stocking cap over the few strands of bright white hair still left to him. 

    He’s now taken to animating tea sets for the children who live on his street. He does love a good spot of tea.

  5. What kind of wizard is he?  The kind that doesn’t give a damn what other people see him has anymore?  Or the kind that’ll spend a small cantrip to look incredibly impressive to visitors?  Would a jacket, tie and pajama pants be appropriate if he’s sitting down behind a table to meet them?  Also, you said he’s mad, is that something you want to get across in his appearance?  Did he magically remove all his hair so he wouldn’t have to take care of it anymore?  Does he have magical contraptions constantly massaging him or feeding him grapes?

  6. Why don’t you make him a lady.

    The male persona everyone knows was just an actor hired so the reclusive genius didn’t have to appear in public.

    You could hobo dress for Halloween as the male persona (who they assume they’re meeting), then take out your lady wig for Monty Python style female impersonation …

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