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

RangerWickett · Apr 15, 2021

I'm open to other arguments, but to me it seems like "nearly every person in this culture is evil" is the bigger problem than "there is a group of subterranean elves with dark skin."

I think about the cruelest, most evil societies in modern history, and even they had plenty of people trying to resist the power structures of the villains in charge, with most of the everyday citizens being force-fed lies and propaganda and being threatened with prison or death if they question the official line.

If WotC wants to do it, hey, it doesn't really bother me. It's not the answer I would've gone with, but I suppose it's less effort than removing all conceits of racism from a game that has a tradition of sorting morality by color.

Scribe · Apr 15, 2021

Sigh...it is what it is.

jayoungr · Apr 15, 2021

Not a fan of the new look aesthetically, but I get why they did it.

Keefe the Thief · Apr 15, 2021

I know that some people will dislike this interpretation, but it made me very happy when i saw it. The players I have right now are all young and first-time D&Ders, and they love drow pictures like these. None of them would even look at the old drow as possible player characters, but this was instantly very popular.

Now, there would have been a time when this would have made me very angry. They changed an integral part of D&D that defined its identity etc. gnargl gnargl fistshake grumble grumble.

But these days, I smile when something is approachable and popular. Good for my players. Good for me.

Jaeger · Apr 15, 2021

Count_Zero said:
...Also, a branch of elves that were predominantly underground and had serious problems with sunlight would probably also have a melanin problem, so this feels like the right move for me.

This + 100

I always thought a paler more proper subterranean look was the way to go.

Not for any alleged “problematic” reasons. ( I reject the underlying premise of those arguments.)

But because it was stupid.

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.

RobJN · Apr 15, 2021

How long before they appropriate the Shadow Elves, from Mystara, I wonder?

Tales and Chronicles · Apr 15, 2021

Charlaquin said:
Why not both? Or, I guess neither, depending on how you look at it. Skin a color other than charcoal and a full range of possible alignments.

Yeah, I would agree. Its just that to me, the ''first step'' was the wrong one. Like, its only an esthetic change that dont changes much to tackle the deeper problems of an ''always evil race''.

Its like if they kept orcs as savage rampaging brutes with evil blood, doing evil stuff because its in their genetic, but made them pale blue with better teeth.

And knowing WotC is quite slow to make those steps, there's always a creeping fear in me that those esthetic changes will be the extent of their ''effort''.

Professor Murder · Apr 15, 2021

Another reason for the change: Potential for cosplay.

Spohedus · Apr 15, 2021

The drow culture is evil when it’s centered around the worship of a demon queen, not when they have dark skin.

The whole think was whack fantasy from the start. They were kissed with dark skin because they were cursed to live in the dark. In the real world, subterranean creatures would be the whitest, with those regularly in the sun being the darkest, because the sun tans skin.

I find the current narrative intellectually dishonest and timid.

Oofta · Apr 15, 2021

In my campaign world I justified drow black skin/white hair as camouflage for the underdark where pretty much everything has darkvision. White/albino would stand out if you can see black and white. Their hair is like polar bears, it's actually hollow and only looks white in the sun.

As far as the new artwork I have no problem with the skin color. It's difficult to give much depth to solid black and this looks less human (same reason I like green orcs for that matter). I kind of hate the giant dog ears, but that's a different issue.