D&D General How Do D&D Adventurers Dress?

[Distracted DM]

Most movies and depictions of people in medieval or fantasy eras are quite drab and colorless. As far as we can tell though, that's not how people actually dressed though. Bright colors were the rule for most people. Outfits we would consider quite flamboyant today were quite common as a display of wealth.

So I don't consider most of the images out of line.

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Selection bias!

No but really, I was curious so here y'all go:

Generally, the colours available to the lower/working class were dyes obtainable locally from plants without a lot of additional preparation, along with the colours generally found in sheep (wool being the predominant fibre for outer clothing for most people.)

So these would include the wide variety of plants that produce yellows and oranges (such as weld, dyer's broom, etc.), and browns (walnut being a fairly well-known one). Blue was produced from woad and can be processed using urine, which is, of course, available everywhere. Weld and woad can be combined in a two-step process to produce green. Red was a little trickier; madder (produced from a root) is fairly common (basic madder red is often known as Turkey red) but intense shades took more processing.

I also mention in the reply above that dyebaths were often used for several rounds of dyeing, with the most costly articles dyed in the first round and less costly ones dyed in subsequent "dips" (known as exhaust baths), leading to the phenomenon of more muted shades being associated with lower-class items.

One of the reasons reds and purples are associated with the upper classes and royalty is that the dyestuffs which produce the most intense, light-fast results were extremely costly. These include murex (Tyrian or Imperial purple--actually, more of a reddish wine colour, extracted from a type of mollusk), cochineal (ground-up insects), brazilwood, and, by the 16th century, logwood (blues, purples, reds, and eventually, black). There is also alkanet, which is widely available but not water soluble, so it needs special preparation before being used, and produces lavenders and purples that are not quite as light fast as some of these other dyes. Madder can also be used in more complex dyebaths with mordants and with tweaks to pH to produce very deep shades of red, including crimson. True black was a difficult shade to obtain, although deep browns and greys were more common. One of the most common processes involved a multi-step process involving dyeing first with woad, and then overdying with madder. I mentioned logwood above--this is a New World dyestuff and is responsible for the black dyes that became associated with Spanish clothing first, and produced something approaching a "true black" that was colourfast and didn't degrade the fabric as some other iron-based dyes that could produce black colours. By the 16th century anyone with any pretense of status was seeking out black clothing, with it becoming ubiquitous for both the upper and merchant classes by the 17th century.

City-dwelling merchants and craftspeople (I like this term better than "middle class") would have access to commercially-available cloth (as well as tailors), and tended to buy the most costly fabric they could afford (which is in fact the origins of "sumptuary laws" restricting certain fibres and colours to certain classes; these were usually observed more in the breach, with being able to pay the fines being a source of pride). Those of the labouring classes that lived in the countryside might also have had some access to commercially-produced cloth, but also homespun-and-dyed cloth. For obvious reasons, therefore, the dye processes would need to be simple and straightforward using locally-available dyestuffs, with the very poorest likely forgoing dyeing altogether.

 

[MGibster]

If you're thinking low fantasy or gritty greys or something else that has some basis in "medieval realism" etc etc... yeah, the super colorful characters you see in the PHB are either not going to fit into the setting OR you make an excuse for them fitting in.

If I'm thinking low fantasy then I'm not playing D&D.

Most of the outfits you see in 3e and onward are ludicrously impractical. Especially all the buckles in 3e art, how long does it take to get dressed when you have 100 buckles? How long do you spend each night cleaning and oiling them to jeep them from rusting.

That is not an adventuring outfit. That is a fetish outfit. That guy is going to the type of club where they don't allow cellphones in the common area. I disliked the art in 3rd edition for the most part. I tend to think of the aesthetic as dungeonpunk and it didn't do anything for me. It didn't look practical, realistic, or even cool for the most part.

 

[Oofta]

Selection bias!

No but really, I was curious so here y'all go:

So .. the outfits were as colorful as the dyes available and what they could afford? In a world with the level of technology (or magi-tech) is as high as most D&D worlds, I would actually expect a lot of color and even more flamboyant outfits. For the wealthy? Permanent illusion cast into individual threads could be this years fashion trend. We probably limit the art too much.

 

[Horwath]

Listen, that's the half elf sorcerer right there. He had a lot going on in his life, very complex, he needed the emotional security provided by dozens of buckles, and he'll have you know that he had a specific spell that he developed just to buckle and unbuckle his outfit at a moment's notice.

I think his name started with an H?

At least we got to see what 8 STR looks like in D&D.

 

[Oofta]

Seasoned adventures would dress practically, knowing that staying alive was more important than looking good.

Most of the outfits you see in 3e and onward are ludicrously impractical. Especially all the buckles in 3e art, how long does it take to get dressed when you have 100 buckles? How long do you spend each night cleaning and oiling them to jeep them from rusting.

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Yeah, this guy has a really weird buckle fetish. On the other hand ... we have had trends like this one

 

[Autumnal]

Clothes, mostly.

5e art lines up very well with my favorite fantasy styles. I also like the suggestion of city and field outfits. That’s just plain good sense. And I love the idea of non-magical cool clothing as quest rewards. Gonna have to swipe that one.

 

[dave2008]

I think that the issue is just misalignment in expectations. The character art you shared, as well as some others, are very flamboyant. It's very high fantasy, where every tavern has a healthy mix of all sorts of ancestries wearing all sorts of fashions and everyone stands out. Or maybe just adventurers do, because they're adventurers.

If you're thinking low fantasy or gritty greys or something else that has some basis in "medieval realism" etc etc... yeah, the super colorful characters you see in the PHB are either not going to fit into the setting OR you make an excuse for them fitting in. My excuse is, and I think I stole it from ?Torchbearer?, that adventurers are crazy.. so them looking crazy can make sense in that aspect.

I think the relevant part of the OP is this:

Does anyone take note of what their characters and others wearin D&D games? When I play a Wizard, I always make sure I'm dressed like a traditional Wizard. My character didn't go to Wizard University to dress like a regular schlub. He gets to wear the pointy hat so everyone knows he's a Wizard instead of one of those community college Sorcerers or one of those Bards who went to art school.

So do you make it a point to think about, describe, or depict what your PC wears?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

While each character's attire is up to their player, one thing I think about is all the lines and lines written about how adventurers exist outside of the bounds of common society. They might show up to the royal ball in worn leathers or help out with the harvest in gaudy silks. Some people might be bemused, others might figure "well, that's just how adventurers are."

 

[Oofta]

I think the relevant part of the OP is this:



So do you make it a point to think about, describe, or depict what your PC wears?

Depends on the PC and if what they're wearing is outside the norm. So if they're dressed in rags, the best finery available, or running around in a loincloth like some fantasy barbarian romance book cover.

 

[aco175]

The big question is if what we wear today affects what we picture our PCs wearing. I'm just thinking of some of the things we wore in the 80s and seeing kids these days with their different clicks and such.