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Iconic

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An iconic character is a named character depicted in artwork in Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks as an example of a given character class. They were widely used in D&D third edition.

OriginsEdit

The term "iconic" is used in the title of Enemies and Allies (2001), p.53, Appendix II: Iconic Characters. That chapter provides statistics for Alhandra, Devis, Ember, Hennet, Jozan, Krusk, Lidda, Mialee, Lidda, Nebin, Regdar, Soveliss, Tordek and Vadania.

The term was previously used in 2002 to describe Regdar, Jozan, Lidda and Naull.[1]

The web enhancement for the D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook uses the term "iconic":

"The new 3.5 Player's Handbook provides one starting package for each character class. This package includes preselected equipment, skills, feas, and spells, plus starting gold for a 1st-level character of the iconic character's race."

UsageEdit

Iconic characters were widely used in Dungeons & Dragons third edition, where artwork including the iconic characters repeatedly appeared in both the core rulebooks and sourcebooks.

Iconics are often used to show a consistent and familiar party of characters progressing through a series of adventure modules or demonstrating content appearing in rulebooks. They typically depicted recommended combinations of race and class, often representing a race's favored class.

Throughout the core rulebooks and supplements, text describing characters of a given class standardly used the pronoun of that class' iconic character. For example, a paragraph describing a wizard or rogue typically uses "she", while fighters and clerics are typically described as "he". This contrasts with AD&D 2nd edition, which used "he" for clarity,[2] and D&D 5th edition, which typically uses "he or she".[3]

Several iconic characters appeared in Dungeons & Dragons novels published between May 2002 and December 2003 by Wizards of the Coast by nine separate authors under the pseudonym T.H. Lain, to ensure that the books would on remain together on shelves.[1][4]

List of iconic charactersEdit

Player's HandbookEdit

The primary iconics used in the character class section of the Player's Handbook are:

Additional named characters appearing in the D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook include:

Other sourcebooksEdit

Numerous other name characters representing a class or prestige class appear in D&D sourcebooks, although some appear in as little as single piece of artwork in the book where their class appears. All prestige class iconics also have levels in at least one other class.

ReferencesEdit

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Savage Caves: Iconic Review
  2. ↑ "The male pronoun (he, him, his) is used exclusively throughout the AD&D game rules. We hope this won't be construed by anyone to be an attempt to exclude females from the game or imply their exclusion. Centuries of use have neutered the male pronoun. In written material it is clear, concise, and familiar. Nothinge else is." - A Note About Pronouns, Player's Handbook (2e revised) (1995), p.9.
  3. ↑ "The final oath, taken when he or she reaches 3rd level, is the culmination of all the paladin's training." - Player's Handbook (5e) (2014), p.85.
  4. ↑ Will the Real T.H. Lain Please Stand Up!
  5. ↑ D&D Miniatures Database: Miniature: Dragoneye #22 - Kerwyn, Human Rogue
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