I've gone over different costume designs for weeks trying to make a light chain mail suit that was different than anything else I've done lately and flattering without being entirely useless as armor. I ended up making a few more concessions to vanity than I had intended but it fits the character. I was thinking of having flared gloves and boots but having just done those for Virago I decided to go with a costume with less contrast of width. I decided on a bit of an 80's rock look and so went with fingerless gloves and two tone hair. The boots are more of a noble shoe than an adventurer shoe but the character is not intended to look entirely practical. The last hurtle I faced was the hair. When it got to it I realized I had no idea what I wanted to do. It was my messing with hairstyles that suggested to me the 80's-esque look that also got the bandannas added. I was also originally going to go with green, given how popular it was last time. I ended up with too many major bright colors and the character looked too much like part of an Italian sports team. Since red and yellow are power colors and red is one that studies suggest make people look more attractive I decided to keep them and dump the green.

I had been trying to make an Ardent for some time so I could say that I now had active LFR characters for every leader class in the entire game (nobody in my local likes to jump on the "cleric grenade" in my 3-4 table a week local D&D group, so I end up having to play one more often than anything else). The problem was that I just could not wrap my head around the Psionic power source, especially for the classes that did not have a high intelligence, which is what you normally associate with powers "of the mind". I was re-reading the fluff text for Ardents in Player's Handbook 3 and Psionic Power and where the books talked about the Psionic Leader class effecting the emotional states of their allies, especially the Mantle of Elation which increases Diplomacy and Intimidate a though hit me. Walking Party Drug.

So an Ardent is like a living drug diffuser. I could not find any good names for stimulants so I went with two depressants (to numb the pain of allies since hit points in 4E are more psychological than physical); Poppy the plant from which opium comes and Thebaine the name of a form of opiate. I got the idea of a bored, hyperactive, attention-addicted, rich, party kid who developed a latent Psionic talent by trying to be the life of the party and center of attention all the time feeding off of the energy of the crowd. Of course, a character like this would join adventuring groups for excitement and as a way to get easy money (as she probably spends it like water). I also found an obscure neutral deity of deceit and trickery who may be dead, definitely is nuts, and lies so much that he does not believe in truth named Laeris. That seemed to be fitting for a character who lives by lying and manipulating people for cheap thrills. Despite being so self-centered, I figure that in her mind she is doing good, making people happy and living life to the fullest. In reality, she's more of an early career drugged up rock star than a messiah.

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