D&D 5E Tasha's Drow Art and the Future of Their Depictions in D&D

[Burnside]

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The last example is the Rune Knight from TCoE, which has significantly less bulk than the other examples and paler blue-gray skin.

I think the rune knight illustration from Tasha's is probably a half-orc.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I think the rune knight illustration from Tasha's is probably a half-orc.

Not what it says in the book, "Orc Rune Knight".

 

[Faolyn]

Considering humans have a large variety of skin tones, there's no reason why any of the demi-humans races wouldn't also. So there should be dark-skinned wood elves, and light-skinned drow elves, just like there should be snirfneblin with white skin, grey skin, dark grey skin, purplish-grey skin, etc.

Agreed. Have drow be actual-white through gray through actual-black.

My personal take is that elves pick up, and blend into, the coloration of their homeland. So wood elves have green or brown skin; sea elves would have light to dark blue or blue-green; snow elves would have white to light gray; city elves would have stone-gray or brick-red skin; and so on. And it might change, if an elf finds a different homeland. I mean, if some elves can change their sex on a biological level overnight, then skin coloration should be a snap.

 

[The Glen]

The cover of the gazetteer they appear in has them having darker skin than the Drow from Tashas.

That was due to a communication error with Caldwell, same reason a drow appears on the cover of Alfheim in a setting without drow.

 

[grimslade]

I am glad drow are being depicted in varying shades. The 'black as pitch' skin was always a killer to represent in art. I do miss the giant handlebar mustaches for drow males. I just hope we can avoid the WoW Night Elf eyebrows. I can handle giant ears, but the old-school Kung Fu master eyebrows are a step too far. /s

 

[dave2008]

Dark skin is beautiful and they shouldn't try to remove it from the game.

There is a lot of dark skinned people in D&D art. They are not eliminating or even reducing the dark skinned art. They are, possibly, changing how drow are depicted.

 

[dave2008]

Stuff that lives in caves with no natural sunlight has less skin pigmentation, not more. That idiotic charcoal skin tone was immersion breaking and lacks verisimilitude.

I would agree with you if there was anything natural about it, but we are talking about magic here. If I lived underground, and I had the magic to do it, I would prefer to have really dark skin.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I would agree with you if there was anything natural about it, but we are talking about magic hear. If I lived underground, and I had the magic to do it, I would prefer to have really dark skin.

Well, you don't even need magic. Plenty of creatures that live primarily underground and/or avoid exposure to daylight have dark coloring.

 

[Mecheon]

Well, you don't even need magic. Plenty of creatures that live primarily underground and/or avoid exposure to daylight have dark coloring.

Its hardly a rule but the vast majority of troglobites (Exclusively cave-dwelling creatures) are pale due to the lack of any pigmentation. Pigment just, doesn't matter in the lightless caves

 

[Sacrosanct]

Its hardly a rule but the vast majority of troglobites (Exclusively cave-dwelling creatures) are pale due to the lack of any pigmentation. Pigment just, doesn't matter in the lightless caves

For the purpose of melatonin, you're absolutely right. But for prey and predator purposes, it could exist