D&D General Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings of Color

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Aaaand you definitely CAN die from alcohol consumption.

That's why I have being Drunk act as Exhaustion in my campaigns, instead of just Poison. Too much drinking will kill you.

 

[Zardnaar]

Aaaand you definitely CAN die from alcohol consumption.

Lies!!! I don't really drink enough in one sitting to get a hangover let alone anything else. 6 drinks abv is my upper limit usually 1-2.


Anyway a not Egyptian Dwarf from Nuria Natal. Con and Int mods. Midgard setting.



I'm playing a non Caucasian halfing on Saturday but that's Darksun. Not sure what time I'll describe him as but may use Polynesia and Mesoamerican weapons. Taiha, Patu, that Aztec sword etc.

 

[Tonguez]

I mean in real life it's definitely the result of being poisoned by consuming the byproduct of rotting fruit. Humans are just so dumb and determined that we just decide warning signs not to consume things mean they're awesome.

See also hot peppers and hallucinagenics (sp?).

Its not dumb though, quite the opposite in fact. Its the same suppression of instinct that lead to Hominids picking up flaming branches and playing with wolf pups

 

[Vaalingrade]

Its not dumb though, quite the opposite in fact. Its the same suppression of instinct that lead to Hominids picking up flaming branches and playing with wolf pups

“Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans.” ~ Douglas Adams

 

[Dire Bare]

Previously only Humans were ever shown as being non-European in D&D, and the other common core races of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings were always depicted as being "white" even if some published campaign settings have for example said that some Dwarves have brown skin or that Wood Elves are "bronze" colored. Now I pick those four in particular because they're the most human-like (not counting the hybrids) and they're a core part of D&D along with all the classes and alignment, it's generally assumed they're there unless the DM says they aren't.

So if a player wants to play an "Asian" Elf or a "African" Dwarf, I suspect most DMs in most campaigns would just let them be with very little questions. It doesn't necessarily need to be fully explained why that Elf or Dwarf is like that. Some people might just want to have character who might be like them, or might fit some image they have (or justification for a class/subclass with a lot of cultural baggage). I'm approaching this as a Person of Color, who is a minority in the western country I live in. So I care less about cultural purity, and more about representation.

Dara from the Netflix adaptation of Witcher as an example.

But for others DMs they have to work in something. Are Halflings and the others for example as widespread as Humans are in that campaign world, virtually living everywhere that Humans do? If so then yes. This would in many ways be the Shadowrun approach, which conceivably Shadowrun might be the first RPG where "metahumans" of different ethnicities are a canonical and established thing where a Dwarf could be from Shanghai and an Elf could be from Nairobi.

But there also could be something like for example, where at one time there were different cultures and ethnicities of Elves (not counting subraces) but they moved around a lot and mixed, such that there is no real distinct cultural differences in Elves anymore. A lot of times the assumption is that they somehow default to a European culture, though Eberron has an Elven culture that's sort of has a bit Arabic influences, and another that has African and other influences.

Now the idea of Elves, Dwarves and Halflings in D&D of course comes from Tolkien's work. Despite Elves and Dwarves having origins in Germanic myths, Elves as commonly depicted in fantasy are sort of the Aos Si of Celtic myths, and despite the fact that Tolkien tried to depict Dwarves as being Jewish they somehow commonly became Scottish (someone once joked what if Dwarves were Mexican). Halflings (as Hobbits) are mostly original to Tolkien's work but sort of represented the humble Englishman, and Gnomes were first mentioned in the Renaissance and somehow became a caricature of Jewish people. But despite all this, they are a core part of D&D's identity among the core assumptions about most D&D campaigns.

Some settings which attempt a deep-dive into certain Earth cultures assert that there are none of those core races in the setting (but there may be local alternatives), because there's no myths about such things and cultural purity would be more of the goal. And that's fine if it's the primary setting and focus of the campaign. But in a campaign that's a lot more international where there are various "expy's" various Earth cultures living on the same world and the PCs could be from anywhere, then this is where the question of "could gnomes be from over there too?" In terms of world-building it's likely easier just to have Gnomes there, with some sort of parallel culture to the region. They may be of the same subraces as Gnomes in the PHB, but there could be some sort of local Gnomish subrace for the region. Having a completely different race in place of Gnomes everywhere else, might be too much work for many. And if there are for example regional races like Hengeyokai to use an example, then why aren't they in other places?

So back the original point is that overall I feel that Humans should not be the only race with diversity as its thing. Despite whatever the origins of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings, in core D&D they are now far removed from their mythological Earth origins, so they don't need to be locked in as exclusively European.

Joining the conversation late, apologies if I missed anything . . .

Beyond the obvious, that elves, dwarves, and hobbits spring from European sources, originally for a Euro-descent target audience, I think another reason why we tend to see diverse humanity and less diverse demihumanity is that the concept of "race" is problematic either way, a blend of genetic (inherent traits) and cultural (learned traits). In my view, fantasy races are essentially super-ethnicities, differing sometimes by not only culture and language, but skin color, height, ear-shape, lifespan, and some sort of magical ability. They are still, in practice, very human rather than different species . . . .

We know what diversity in humanity looks like, so that's easier to comprehend and represent in our games. It's less clear what elven diversity looks like, especially when elves are a European folk construct. So, for the longest time, elves and dwarves were almost always drawn "white", even when the text described them as otherwise.

Is it okay to portray elves as inspired by other cultures or ethnicities? An African elf? A Japanese dwarf? While I think it's certainly possible to do so poorly and insensitively, certain Western tropes have become so widespread I don't think it's a problem anymore, if it ever was. I think the trick for any future sensitivity editors out there (professional or armchair) is to ask . . . would the people who are a part of that culture NOW have a problem with the depiction? If you want to create a culture of African-inspired dwarves, share the concept with some folks from Africa first, worry less about what folks in the US might think. Although, I do think it's important to include the views of indigenous cultures and diaspora cultures. Not only is Africa diverse, but African-Americans (or other African diaspora folk) might not view things the same way.

I'm really enjoying more recent fantasy art that shows elves, dwarves, and all sorts of fantasy folk in all sorts of colors, body shapes, hair textures, and more. We certainly haven't solved the problem of systemic racism in D&D, but we've made a lot of progress in recent years. As an aside, I did find a troubling criticism of Mr. Witch (or is it Mr. Light) from an upcoming book as being to heavyset for a shadar-kai elf . . . why can't elves be heavy?

 

[Stormonu]

Aaaand you definitely CAN die from alcohol consumption.

I mean, it's even called alchohol poisoning...

 

[Dire Bare]

I never played in Dark Sun, but just assumed that demi humans there were ethnic due to the climate. A quick google search reveals that's not the case, and they're almost all white. That's....disappointing and a miss from the TSR team when creating Dark Sun, and WoTC when continuing it.

I know what you mean, but . . . we're all ethnic. Just like we all have an accent!

 

[slobster]

I know what you mean, but . . . we're all ethnic. Just like we all have an accent!

lol yes, I always get a kick out of the aisle at the supermarket labeled "ethnic food". Like, was the rest of the food in this place extruded by robots or conjured out of a cultureless vacuum by faceless entities?

...you know what, given what stocks most of the shelves in my local supermarket, don't answer that question.

 

[Tonguez]

". Like, was the rest of the food in this place extruded by robots or conjured out of a cultureless vacuum by faceless entities?.

 

[Yaarel]

As an aside, I did find a troubling criticism of Mr. Witch (or is it Mr. Light) from an upcoming book as being to heavyset for a shadar-kai elf . . . why can't elves be heavy?

For mythological accuracy, as part of "elfness", the Elf must be visually appealing. There are many ways to be beautiful and that includes heavyset.

D&D has traditionally described the Elf as unusually slim. But it is more important to describe them as unusually beautiful.