i'm in the 'use the same one' camp. i'm not at all a fan of using minis 1-2 times and then leaving them on the shelf. Use whatever works, its just a placeholder.
The only issue, and it's not a big one, is that it doesn't relate to your character, and if your mini is a Wizard, it can be a little odd if you're playing a Barbarian. Nothing game breaking though.
My personal opinion is that if you're going to the trouble of playing with minis, you might as well have ones that look like your character. You can always add them into your NPC/enemy collection afterwards. For example, one of my characters was a Goblin Ranger. His figure is now the boss of my mob of Goblin mooks.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Since miniatures are not essential to the game, there's no imperative as to what your miniature must resemble. A lot of players skip minis (or custom tokens or standees) and just use abstract tokens (coins, chess pieces, dice, poker chips, tokens from other games, lego figs, action figs, etc). DMs don't often have a miniature for every monster in play especially for large encounters, no need for players either other than vanity (not necc bad vanity, but let's not grief the players who don't show up with a mini representing each and every character they play).
The miniature is a subclass of a physical game token. The primary job of that token is to provide spatial orientation of a character's position and facing on a battle map. The "illustrative" aspect a miniature has is secondary to this positioning function, it's almost another hobby entirely.
[SOAPBOX] I suppose some tables may "expect" a player to provide a mini rendering that character; but especially if I was new to that table, I'd find that expected overhead a little steep and pretentious if it was really insisted. Like many players invested in sharing the hobby, I'm very big on making the experience of TTRPGs in general accessible, including economically accessible. It's probably for that reason miniature heavy tables (so to speak) rub me a bit the wrong way. I mean if someone has really bought into custom terrain etc. that's great. But if someone shows up with a bottle cap as their character, I'd hope that bespoke table still welcomes the player. [/SOAPBOX]
You should also ask your DM this question and learn their preference and expectations for miniatures. A DM running a game using miniatures is doing so because they add a textured ambiance to the table you can’t quite capture with a drawn or printed map. Part of that tone the DM is going to set could involve whether they want player characters’ tokens to parallel the characters themselves. A matching token also can help a DM easily identify what character is who, especially in a complex battlefield with lots of moving pieces.
If your DM is indifferent, it might also be worth asking the other players what they are doing to get a better feel for table expectations.
In the past I have used things like M&M's, marshmallows, other candy, glass beads (at the time there were sold for games but we found buying them at the pet store (for fish tanks) was a lot cheaper), coins, bits of food, small squares with drawing on them, tabs from cans, different types of cookies and even rocks.
But some groups do like there mini's and have some expectations when it comes to fig's, but I have also found that those groups may have a huge supply of figs they have used in the past and often lend them out to others.
BTW, I still have figs from my first AD&D box set of Dwarves from the early 80's, they are a bit beaten up but they can last a long time.
The funny thing is, using minis is a relatively new concept. Theater of the mind used to be the preferred way to play. The DM would just say, the orcs are 60 ft from you. Then 3e added flanking rules, and then the minis became more popular to represent position. Now 5e has no flanking, but people still assume minis are a part of the game. It's not even in any of the books. It simply not part of the game, yet nearly everyone uses them.
Still, I bought a bag full of multicolored Meeples on Amazon. You can buy a bag of 100 for the price of one mini. These are great for stand-ins. You can also use toddler counting tokens. Also very cheap, and cute.
The funny thing is, using minis is a relatively new concept. Theater of the mind used to be the preferred way to play. The DM would just say, the orcs are 60 ft from you. Then 3e added flanking rules, and then the minis became more popular to represent position. Now 5e has no flanking, but people still assume minis are a part of the game. It's not even in any of the books. It simply not part of the game, yet nearly everyone uses them.
Still, I bought a bag full of multicolored Meeples on Amazon. You can buy a bag of 100 for the price of one mini. These are great for stand-ins. You can also use toddler counting tokens. Also very cheap, and cute.
I will disagree with you. I started back around September 1980 and my group always used minis. Now we did not always stick to the grid like 5E but we had battle mats and the dm would occasionally draw out the room in detail. Most of the time it was 60 by 60 foot room with only the exits and BBEG marked. And depending on if was square or hex grid, the number of orcs surrounding my poor Purple Paladin changed.
In my XP with the various groups I played with it was 75% minis with maps and 25% theatre.
The funny thing is, using minis is a relatively new concept. Theater of the mind used to be the preferred way to play. The DM would just say, the orcs are 60 ft from you. Then 3e added flanking rules, and then the minis became more popular to represent position. Now 5e has no flanking, but people still assume minis are a part of the game. It's not even in any of the books. It simply not part of the game, yet nearly everyone uses them.
Still, I bought a bag full of multicolored Meeples on Amazon. You can buy a bag of 100 for the price of one mini. These are great for stand-ins. You can also use toddler counting tokens. Also very cheap, and cute.
I will disagree with you. I started back around September 1980 and my group always used minis. Now we did not always stick to the grid like 5E but we had battle mats and the dm would occasionally draw out the room in detail. Most of the time it was 60 by 60 foot room with only the exits and BBEG marked. And depending on if was square or hex grid, the number of orcs surrounding my poor Purple Paladin changed.
In my XP with the various groups I played with it was 75% minis with maps and 25% theatre.
I've never been a minis person, but D&D grew out of miniature wargaming rules. Dragon magazine was full of ads for miniatures. There's always been a substantial amount of people who play with miniatures. And, except probably for fourth edition, a substantial set of people who don't.
The funny thing is, using minis is a relatively new concept. Theater of the mind used to be the preferred way to play. The DM would just say, the orcs are 60 ft from you. Then 3e added flanking rules, and then the minis became more popular to represent position. Now 5e has no flanking, but people still assume minis are a part of the game. It's not even in any of the books. It simply not part of the game, yet nearly everyone uses them.
Still, I bought a bag full of multicolored Meeples on Amazon. You can buy a bag of 100 for the price of one mini. These are great for stand-ins. You can also use toddler counting tokens. Also very cheap, and cute.
I will disagree with you. I started back around September 1980 and my group always used minis. Now we did not always stick to the grid like 5E but we had battle mats and the dm would occasionally draw out the room in detail. Most of the time it was 60 by 60 foot room with only the exits and BBEG marked. And depending on if was square or hex grid, the number of orcs surrounding my poor Purple Paladin changed.
In my XP with the various groups I played with it was 75% minis with maps and 25% theatre.
I've never been a minis person, but D&D grew out of miniature wargaming rules. Dragon magazine was full of ads for miniatures. There's always been a substantial amount of people who play with miniatures. And, except probably for fourth edition, a substantial set of people who don't.
Yeah, that's right. Saying mini's weren't used in play (and were just there as some sort of table totem) ignores the fact that RPGs and wargaming were very adjacent hobbies (I'd say in the 70s most RPGers were wargamers, 80s more of a cointoss and even less common in the 90s, these days rarely do I find TTRPG who also dig table top wargaming, but I also don't seek it out so who knows). Yes some folks "theater of the mind"'d it, but "mapper" was actually a role at a lot of tables (I think described in the Red box and maybe AD&D), and folks would often translate those maps either onto a grid or using square inch scales to show spatial orientation, and some folks got very precise/granular on exactly what would be within a cone, or cylindar, or spherical or other area of effect. Pretty much just like today. I'd say the only thing that's really changed with D&D minis is that these days WizKids (I think) turned minis into a collectible treasure hunt game with their mini collections designed for specific advetures and miniatures in those sets would be issued with varying rarities. That wasn't a thing I remember back in the 80s/90s, maybe it happened a bit on the 40k space.
I never got into minis, probably because I never really learned proper painting techniques (almost all minis were unpainted back then, and while painting wasn't demanded it was certainly encouraged), and even as a decidedly not minis guy then, I could not avoid mini advertisements in game catalogs, Dragon magazine, the glass case at the shop''s cash register. I'd actually go so far as say a lot of gamers mini to dice ratio in their gaming hoards were opposite of what they are today (there were simply not as wide a variety of dice back then).
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Minis are not really that expensive. They can be, but you can find 3D printed minis on Etsy for not much at all. Just make sure you read the item description because sometimes they look like minis, but are actually bigger. Like 3 ft tall and that kind of stuff. Some sellers will measure to the top of the head instead of the eye line, but 28/32 mm is a good scale to use.
If you are looking for a mini for a larger or smaller (than a human) character double check the size (not counting the base/stand). You dont want a dwarf mini that's tall as an elf mini. I also noticed that the giants are relatively bigger than what they are in the book. For instance mountain giants are about 14 ft tall I think. Thats a little more than double a human. Though when putting them next to each other the mountain giant mini is more than triple that of the human.
If you want a mini to represent your character you can find one for less than going to McDonald's or something like that. If you're already planing on playing with a specific group ask the DM if they use 28 or 32 mm. Technically 28 is the scale, but 32 (and somewhere in between) is not uncommon. The scale is named after the length from the foot to the eye line of the mini for a human.
The funny thing is, using minis is a relatively new concept. Theater of the mind used to be the preferred way to play. The DM would just say, the orcs are 60 ft from you. Then 3e added flanking rules, and then the minis became more popular to represent position. Now 5e has no flanking, but people still assume minis are a part of the game. It's not even in any of the books. It simply not part of the game, yet nearly everyone uses them.
Still, I bought a bag full of multicolored Meeples on Amazon. You can buy a bag of 100 for the price of one mini. These are great for stand-ins. You can also use toddler counting tokens. Also very cheap, and cute.
I will disagree with you. I started back around September 1980 and my group always used minis. Now we did not always stick to the grid like 5E but we had battle mats and the dm would occasionally draw out the room in detail. Most of the time it was 60 by 60 foot room with only the exits and BBEG marked. And depending on if was square or hex grid, the number of orcs surrounding my poor Purple Paladin changed.
In my XP with the various groups I played with it was 75% minis with maps and 25% theatre.
In the early 70s, DnD came out of the War Gaming. TSR was selling minis and dice on the side out of their original headquarters. By 1985, minis had fallen out of style as the game transitioned into more role-play. TSR tried to create a battle-system in the late 80s, but by then, the war gaming had faded out and War Hammer was taking up most the shares. By 2e, Minis was mostly just a hobby for painting. You didn't see it very often in games. I knew a lot of guys that would paints hundreds of minis and never use them in game.
In the early 70s, DnD came out of the War Gaming. TSR was selling minis and dice on the side out of their original headquarters. By 1985, minis had fallen out of style as the game transitioned into more role-play. TSR tried to create a battle-system in the late 80s, but by then, the war gaming had faded out and War Hammer was taking up most the shares. By 2e, Minis was mostly just a hobby for painting. You didn't see it very often in games. I knew a lot of guys that would paints hundreds of minis and never use them in game.
Again, no it hadn't.
Minis were still being sold sell into the 80s and 90s. People were still playing with minis. Only certain groups decided to move away from using minis.
I have multiple characters. Is it alright to use the same mini for all my characters, or should I have a different mini for each character?
Your choice.
It might be a bit weird to play a wizard and use a figure that is totally covered in plate armour.
i'm in the 'use the same one' camp. i'm not at all a fan of using minis 1-2 times and then leaving them on the shelf. Use whatever works, its just a placeholder.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Some people use dice instead of minis.
The only issue, and it's not a big one, is that it doesn't relate to your character, and if your mini is a Wizard, it can be a little odd if you're playing a Barbarian. Nothing game breaking though.
My personal opinion is that if you're going to the trouble of playing with minis, you might as well have ones that look like your character. You can always add them into your NPC/enemy collection afterwards. For example, one of my characters was a Goblin Ranger. His figure is now the boss of my mob of Goblin mooks.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
if you don't want to commit to mini's, then a pack of character tokens can be pretty cheap. Then you just choose the token for your class as needed.
Since miniatures are not essential to the game, there's no imperative as to what your miniature must resemble. A lot of players skip minis (or custom tokens or standees) and just use abstract tokens (coins, chess pieces, dice, poker chips, tokens from other games, lego figs, action figs, etc). DMs don't often have a miniature for every monster in play especially for large encounters, no need for players either other than vanity (not necc bad vanity, but let's not grief the players who don't show up with a mini representing each and every character they play).
The miniature is a subclass of a physical game token. The primary job of that token is to provide spatial orientation of a character's position and facing on a battle map. The "illustrative" aspect a miniature has is secondary to this positioning function, it's almost another hobby entirely.
[SOAPBOX] I suppose some tables may "expect" a player to provide a mini rendering that character; but especially if I was new to that table, I'd find that expected overhead a little steep and pretentious if it was really insisted. Like many players invested in sharing the hobby, I'm very big on making the experience of TTRPGs in general accessible, including economically accessible. It's probably for that reason miniature heavy tables (so to speak) rub me a bit the wrong way. I mean if someone has really bought into custom terrain etc. that's great. But if someone shows up with a bottle cap as their character, I'd hope that bespoke table still welcomes the player. [/SOAPBOX]
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
You can also buy cardboard minis - even in PDF for print at home - so you can choose one of many different pictures for your PC.
You should also ask your DM this question and learn their preference and expectations for miniatures. A DM running a game using miniatures is doing so because they add a textured ambiance to the table you can’t quite capture with a drawn or printed map. Part of that tone the DM is going to set could involve whether they want player characters’ tokens to parallel the characters themselves. A matching token also can help a DM easily identify what character is who, especially in a complex battlefield with lots of moving pieces.
If your DM is indifferent, it might also be worth asking the other players what they are doing to get a better feel for table expectations.
In the past I have used things like M&M's, marshmallows, other candy, glass beads (at the time there were sold for games but we found buying them at the pet store (for fish tanks) was a lot cheaper), coins, bits of food, small squares with drawing on them, tabs from cans, different types of cookies and even rocks.
But some groups do like there mini's and have some expectations when it comes to fig's, but I have also found that those groups may have a huge supply of figs they have used in the past and often lend them out to others.
BTW, I still have figs from my first AD&D box set of Dwarves from the early 80's, they are a bit beaten up but they can last a long time.
Dude sometimes I use a pente piece. Aka flat marble for mini. I you have a favorite mini use it.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
Starburst can be carved and or pressed into shapes, so have some fun.
The funny thing is, using minis is a relatively new concept. Theater of the mind used to be the preferred way to play. The DM would just say, the orcs are 60 ft from you. Then 3e added flanking rules, and then the minis became more popular to represent position. Now 5e has no flanking, but people still assume minis are a part of the game. It's not even in any of the books. It simply not part of the game, yet nearly everyone uses them.
Still, I bought a bag full of multicolored Meeples on Amazon. You can buy a bag of 100 for the price of one mini. These are great for stand-ins. You can also use toddler counting tokens. Also very cheap, and cute.
I will disagree with you. I started back around September 1980 and my group always used minis. Now we did not always stick to the grid like 5E but we had battle mats and the dm would occasionally draw out the room in detail. Most of the time it was 60 by 60 foot room with only the exits and BBEG marked. And depending on if was square or hex grid, the number of orcs surrounding my poor Purple Paladin changed.
In my XP with the various groups I played with it was 75% minis with maps and 25% theatre.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
I've never been a minis person, but D&D grew out of miniature wargaming rules. Dragon magazine was full of ads for miniatures. There's always been a substantial amount of people who play with miniatures. And, except probably for fourth edition, a substantial set of people who don't.
Yeah, that's right. Saying mini's weren't used in play (and were just there as some sort of table totem) ignores the fact that RPGs and wargaming were very adjacent hobbies (I'd say in the 70s most RPGers were wargamers, 80s more of a cointoss and even less common in the 90s, these days rarely do I find TTRPG who also dig table top wargaming, but I also don't seek it out so who knows). Yes some folks "theater of the mind"'d it, but "mapper" was actually a role at a lot of tables (I think described in the Red box and maybe AD&D), and folks would often translate those maps either onto a grid or using square inch scales to show spatial orientation, and some folks got very precise/granular on exactly what would be within a cone, or cylindar, or spherical or other area of effect. Pretty much just like today. I'd say the only thing that's really changed with D&D minis is that these days WizKids (I think) turned minis into a collectible treasure hunt game with their mini collections designed for specific advetures and miniatures in those sets would be issued with varying rarities. That wasn't a thing I remember back in the 80s/90s, maybe it happened a bit on the 40k space.
I never got into minis, probably because I never really learned proper painting techniques (almost all minis were unpainted back then, and while painting wasn't demanded it was certainly encouraged), and even as a decidedly not minis guy then, I could not avoid mini advertisements in game catalogs, Dragon magazine, the glass case at the shop''s cash register. I'd actually go so far as say a lot of gamers mini to dice ratio in their gaming hoards were opposite of what they are today (there were simply not as wide a variety of dice back then).
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
It most definitely isn't!
We were using minis back in the late 70s, early 80s for our D&D.
Minis are not really that expensive. They can be, but you can find 3D printed minis on Etsy for not much at all. Just make sure you read the item description because sometimes they look like minis, but are actually bigger. Like 3 ft tall and that kind of stuff. Some sellers will measure to the top of the head instead of the eye line, but 28/32 mm is a good scale to use.
If you are looking for a mini for a larger or smaller (than a human) character double check the size (not counting the base/stand). You dont want a dwarf mini that's tall as an elf mini. I also noticed that the giants are relatively bigger than what they are in the book. For instance mountain giants are about 14 ft tall I think. Thats a little more than double a human. Though when putting them next to each other the mountain giant mini is more than triple that of the human.
If you want a mini to represent your character you can find one for less than going to McDonald's or something like that. If you're already planing on playing with a specific group ask the DM if they use 28 or 32 mm. Technically 28 is the scale, but 32 (and somewhere in between) is not uncommon. The scale is named after the length from the foot to the eye line of the mini for a human.
Have fun!
In the early 70s, DnD came out of the War Gaming. TSR was selling minis and dice on the side out of their original headquarters. By 1985, minis had fallen out of style as the game transitioned into more role-play. TSR tried to create a battle-system in the late 80s, but by then, the war gaming had faded out and War Hammer was taking up most the shares. By 2e, Minis was mostly just a hobby for painting. You didn't see it very often in games. I knew a lot of guys that would paints hundreds of minis and never use them in game.
Again, no it hadn't.
Minis were still being sold sell into the 80s and 90s. People were still playing with minis. Only certain groups decided to move away from using minis.
We basically use the minis to pinpoint our locatiion on the map.