D&D (2024) Half Race Appreciation Society: Half Elf most popular race choice in BG3

[Yaarel]

There are no less than three main drow cultures in Xen'drik - and as the continent is very much treated as an largely unexplored land of mystery from the perspective of Khorvaire, almost certainly more.

Both the Sulatar and Umbragen have magical traditions on par with, if not surpassing, those of Khorvaire (the secrets of elemental binding that allow for airships were stolen from the Sulatar, for example), and while the Vulkoori/Qaltiar are generally tribal warriors who worship nature spirits, I would hardly call any of them primitive.

Heh, even Eberron can benefit from a cleanup.

5e Eberron (Rising from the Last War) seems ok. In Eberron all Elves originate from Eladrin who Giants captured and enslaved. A few sentences raise eyebrows: "The mage breeders of the giants bound magic into the elves who remained loyal to them, forming the drow − assassins bred to prey on their other kin."

But the Eberron fan sites sometimes seem more problematic. Fan sites tend to collect and feature anything ever said about the setting. Things from earlier editions that in hindsight seem less helpful remain in full force even now, as part of the fan site worldbuilding.

For example, the wiki at fandom .com gives the impression as if all Elves of the Drow cultures are evil.
• Vulkoori are jungle tribes who worship an Evil scorpion god.
• Sulatar are isolationist fire mages who hide away until they acquire the power to rule the world.
• Umbragen who inhabit the Khyber (Underdark) wield a kinda-sorta Evil Shadowfell magic that corrupts their souls.

Not exactly an affirming portrayal of ethnicities here.

5e quietly retires some of this objectionable stuff. But it is out there in cyberspace. WotC cannot and shouldnt try to control fan sites. I do think it would be helpful for WotC to offer some official advice for how fan sites can handle some of the difficult content. I feel the website contributors would be happy to have this advice as part of the overall effort to collect and feature anything ever said.

It is a normal challenge that any culture deals with − including the cultures of D&D players: adapt to the future while preserving authentic continuity with the past.

 

[Mistwell]

In their day, many players complained about removing sexism and sexist mechanics from D&D.

Missed the point by a mile.

I totally understand why you want the change you want.

Do you understand why "WOTC must do X" doesn't come across as well as "I would like WOTC to do X because"?

 

[Frozen_Heart]

There's still sexism in D&D.

The Drow, for instance, are a viciously negative stereotype of a matriarchal culture ... and FemDom.

I mean, if that's drow from a specific setting is there an issue with it? Having a setting with sexism/racism in it doesn't' instantly make the game inherently sexist/racist.

• Having an a negative and evil drow culture in forgotten realms isn't sexist or racist. It's just how things are in that setting.
• Saying drow have to be evil and matriarchal in all settings is sexist and racist.

Of course, ideally the core books should be setting neutral. With individual cultures focused on in dedicated setting guides.

 

[Remathilis]

Obligatory gesture to Eberron, where the drow have none of the traditional drow baggage

I love Eberron, but considering they gave them the stereotypical "black skinned headhunter tribes from darkest Africa" as their culture, it's not much of an improvement.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Having a setting with sexism/racism in it doesn't' instantly make the game inherently sexist/racist.

A racist/sexist in-universe view isn't what's in question here; racist/sexist depictions are.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I mean, if that's drow from a specific setting is there an issue with it? Having a setting with sexism/racism in it doesn't' instantly make the game inherently sexist/racist.

It's less about the specific race or setting, and more about evil spider-cult drow being the stand-out portrayal of matriarchal society in the game's lore.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's less about the specific race or setting, and more about evil spider-cult drow being the stand-out portrayal of matriarchal society in the game's lore.

Well, bad guy groups are always going to get more press than good guy ones.

 

[Epic Meepo]

I love Eberron, but considering they gave them the stereotypical "black skinned headhunter tribes from darkest Africa" as their culture, it's not much of an improvement.

Agreed. Why must every official D&D jungle setting be a fantasy retelling of “Heart of Darkness,” where the indigenous people are two-dimensional stereotypes designed to be foils for foreign explorers instead of being the main characters in their own story? Either that or it’s the old RPGA Living Jungle campaign, set in a magically-isolated, sparsely-populated, stone-age wilderness whose inhabitants have no impact on the wider world.

I would have liked to see a Forgotten Realms adventure featuring PCs native to the (illusion-cloaked, Wakanda-like) city of Mezro exploring the world beyond their jungle homeland. But WotC doesn’t let inhabitants of jungles have nuanced cultures and narratively-interesting things to do. The 2017 Tomb of Annihilation hardcover tells us the gods have shunted the city of Mezro into an undescribed, inaccessible demiplane. Apparently, WotC thought the world would be more interesting without it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Agreed. Why must every official D&D jungle setting be a fantasy retelling of “Heart of Darkness,” where the indigenous people are two-dimensional stereotypes designed to be foils for foreign explorers instead of being the main characters in their own story? Either that or it’s the old RPGA Living Jungle campaign, set in a magically-isolated, sparsely-populated, stone-age wilderness whose inhabitants have no impact on the wider world.

I would have liked to see a Forgotten Realms adventure featuring PCs native to the (illusion-cloaked, Wakanda-like) city of Mezro exploring the world beyond their jungle homeland. But WotC doesn’t let inhabitants of jungles have nuanced cultures and narratively-interesting things to do. The 2017 Tomb of Annihilation hardcover tells us the gods have shunted the city of Mezro into an undescribed, inaccessible demiplane. Apparently, WotC thought the world would be more interesting without it.

I assume WotC figured more people are interested in (will purchase) the traditional story structure. That's why they do everything, after all.

 

[Remathilis]

Agreed. Why must every official D&D jungle setting be a fantasy retelling of “Heart of Darkness,” where the indigenous people are two-dimensional stereotypes designed to be foils for foreign explorers instead of being the main characters in their own story? Either that or it’s the old RPGA Living Jungle campaign, set in a magically-isolated, sparsely-populated, stone-age wilderness whose inhabitants have no impact on the wider world.

Eberron, for all its progressive takes on D&D with regards to alignment and removing Tolkienisms, was at the same time attempting to emulate pulp novels that were rife with some bad takes like that. They weren't aiming for terrible optics, they just wanted to do Temple of Doom with drow elves in a giant's temple. But in the end, replacing dark skinned humans with dark skinned elves didn't quite hit the note they thought they were hitting. (It's the kind of tone-deafness that has become a hallmark of their design philosophy.).

They have made some strides in the subsequent years to improve the image of the drow in Xen'drik, notably moving them away from the headhunter/Cannibal Holocaust vibes they originally had. Which is good, but it is a reminder that even Eberron has some facepalming design moments scattered throughout its run.