This Worries Me a Little...

[MGibster]

Black is actually not the best color for stealth at night. Dark purple and dark blue are actually harder to see. If your player has a problem with the blackface connotations, talk to them about changing it to one of those colors for your campaign.

I know we're talking fantasy, but purple dye is pretty expensive. I don't know how cheap blue pigment is, but I imagine it's more expensive than using soot.

 

[reelo]

I know we're talking fantasy, but purple dye is pretty expensive. I don't know how cheap blue pigment is, but I imagine it's more expensive than using soot.

Pretty sure we're not talking about "regal" purple here, but rather dark mauve...

 

[Jd Smith1]

Ash & tallow are cheap. Or just a burnt stuck rubbed on the skin. It'll take the shine off, at least. Or burnt cork.

I've had face-blacking in my fantasy campaigned for decades; its not the best color, as noted, but it is cheap and everywhere. I've never had anyone object.

Its use is historical, and commonplace.

 

[aramis erak]

I know we're talking fantasy, but purple dye is pretty expensive. I don't know how cheap blue pigment is, but I imagine it's more expensive than using soot.

For dies? Depends upon the area for blue. Scotland? Blue was pretty easy - Woad. Sure, the prep is smelly, and the effects of application to skin are mildly psychadelic...
Middle East? far less so. But Purple can be had ... expensive but available. Everywhere else imports it from the eastern Med.

The easiest dies are yellows, oranges, and greens...

Soot isn't a dye - and for camouflage, that's both a benefit and a drawback - it means it comes off easier. It's also dry, so less glint. But if you sweat, you wind up with it migrating downward. Likewise, it's easier to remove by friction.

Likewise, dies on the skin are usually harder to remove - days or weeks - think henna, woad, or indigo - and usually rather rub resistant.

The most important element of camouflage - not actually known until the renaissance, and not implemented for nearly a century- is breaking up the edges/lines... WW I was the rise of Camouflage, but the Spanish American War was the first time field uniforms were routinely colored to not stand out in theater. The gray-green and browns were not too far from much of Northern Mexico... WW I you get the Zebra Dazzle on ships, and the khakis for US, UK, and French soldiers, and the Feldgrau for Deutschland.

If you want to see the effects of even that level of camouflage, I'll recommend the movie 1917... period correct (or very close) uniforms. Right colors of mud and fields...

 

[Ukko the Scribe]

Sorry if I did offend, but that player doesn't even seem interested in my game anymore.

 

[aramis erak]

I know we're talking fantasy, but purple dye is pretty expensive. I don't know how cheap blue pigment is, but I imagine it's more expensive than using soot.

The Celts had a wondeful source of green and blue - Woad - what the shade is is determined by the dying methods used. They also had a good burnt orange color - used often on the various leine (tunics, usually linen, IIRC; styles varied from the 3rd C CE to 17th C; I don't know about earlier). The orange, if not allowed to fully set, can be rinsed and set to give a medium amber, or even to a Budweiser beer's level of lack of color.

The Celts had a bunch of dyes that others didn't, and the ability to use them... but they were dyes, not paints... they soak into and bind to the material, rather than sit atop.

This page: https://www.jennydean.co.uk/dyes-of-the-celts/ shows some results of experimental use of known sources and techniques - but it doesn't sort by time...

Oh, and we know some Celtic Warriors colored their skin before battles,,, with woad. The Romans and Romano-Britons both recorded this from the 4th and 5th C, but the credibility of the sources isn't quite good. A few Celts also noted this of the Picti, and avoid mentioning other Celts doing so.