jonesy
A Wicked Kendragon
Have you ever seen a fat D&D elf? Have you ever played one? If a player made a dwarf who was born as tall as a human (with both parents still dwarves), how would the character need to be built? Trolls have been a player character option in some settings (like Mystara). What about a troll who looked at least as good as a half-ogre? Or is that 'looking bad' from the troll perspective? There's variation among people in the real world, and special exceptions to every rule. Player characters are all special somehow (unless you're playing a character whose entire concept is 'boringly avarage').
It isn't just about the player characters, though. It's about the people in the setting looking more than just 'member of race X'. Almost all D&D art seems to depict above avarage or just plain good looking specimen from each creature group. And with largely stereotypical fashion statement. How about a chubby Sun Elf positive emo? Tiefling with a skin condition where the extra bones and horns don't grow? How would one go about making the art more varied without said individual of race X looking like a member of race Y instead? "I drew a large elf." "It looks like a human." "What about the ears?" "Ok, a half-elf."
And that's not to say that there haven't been exceptions along these lines. Dragonlance had ogres more beautiful than elves (the Irda). Sundered dwarves are slim and tall (for dwarves). Athas had the Mul who were descended from dwarves and as tall as humans. And so on and so on. But all these fall to the same trap where every member of said race variant follows the typical body type of that variant.
And fat elves? A condition affecting metabolism which made it impossible to lose weight? What if the trait was inherited and they became a race of their own? And what is fat from an elven perspective? Slightly heavyset? And then someone comes along and makes a thin Fat Elf. Am I thinking about this a bit too hard?
It isn't just about the player characters, though. It's about the people in the setting looking more than just 'member of race X'. Almost all D&D art seems to depict above avarage or just plain good looking specimen from each creature group. And with largely stereotypical fashion statement. How about a chubby Sun Elf positive emo? Tiefling with a skin condition where the extra bones and horns don't grow? How would one go about making the art more varied without said individual of race X looking like a member of race Y instead? "I drew a large elf." "It looks like a human." "What about the ears?" "Ok, a half-elf."
And that's not to say that there haven't been exceptions along these lines. Dragonlance had ogres more beautiful than elves (the Irda). Sundered dwarves are slim and tall (for dwarves). Athas had the Mul who were descended from dwarves and as tall as humans. And so on and so on. But all these fall to the same trap where every member of said race variant follows the typical body type of that variant.
And fat elves? A condition affecting metabolism which made it impossible to lose weight? What if the trait was inherited and they became a race of their own? And what is fat from an elven perspective? Slightly heavyset? And then someone comes along and makes a thin Fat Elf. Am I thinking about this a bit too hard?