D&D (2024) Comeliness and Representation in Recent DnD Art

[Incenjucar]

I have to say I quite don't get what's the purpose of having fantasy species is supposed to be at this point.

The experience of playing someone who watched humans be born, live full lives, and die of old age before you were even considered an adult.

The experience of being a person with the markings of the most powerful creatures in the world, your body naturally deadly and mystical, yet with all your claws and scales deadly breath and energy resistance you are still very much a person with the same struggles as the soft ones around you.

The experience of being nimble and swift as a leopard yet as clever as any human, adorable and deadly and quick quick quick but perhaps a bit distract- oooh is that a mouse!?

 

[Gradine]

The aesthetics, dear boy

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Far be it from me to stand in the way of what people find fun at their own tables. Let a thousand flowers bloom and all that. But I can't help wondering, if all fantasy species are mechanically interchangeable and have exactly the same range of appearance features as humans ... is there any point to having different species at all?

Yes. Because even if they're mechanically interchangeable, that doesn't mean they're physiologically or culturally interchangeable.

Don't make me trot out the "dragonborn physiology would lead to several very significant sociocultural differences compared to humans" rant. I'll do it. I can up cast wall of text to third level now!

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I have to say I quite don't get what's the purpose of having fantasy species is supposed to be at this point.

To explore being something that is almost, but not quite, human.

As a human belonging to more than a couple uncommon groups, there is quite a lot of appeal in the idea of someone who is very similar to others in most ways...but who diverges sharply in one or two key ones. Or who is broadly similar, but many small differences linger, just below the visible surface, waiting for those moments when you had become comfortable thinking of them as "exactly the same" and they prove they aren't actually.

To see the strange in the familiar, and the familiar in the strange.

 

[jayoungr]

You’re telling me that elf doesn’t have a distinctive appearance?

Well, that's what I'm asking--what is the distinctive elf appearance, apart from pointed ears, which seems pretty minor? (Again, genuine question. I don't have a preconceived answer here.)

ETA: Just noticed you specified "that elf," so presumably you were referring to the one in the illustration. But take away the pointed ears, and I'm not sure I would be able to identify that figure as an elf.

Elves live a bajillion years, have inherent magical abilities and a connection to fae creatures. Dwarves are preternaturally strong and tough, have an inherent connection to the earth, and are usually uncannily crafty.

Living a "bajillion years" and having a connection to fae creatures is all dependent on the individual campaign setting, though? "Our elves are different" is a trope for a reason--they vary wildly from IP to IP. And dwarves aren't preternaturally strong and tough under the new rules, where their stat bonuses can be applied anywhere.

Plus, don't we keep hearing that nature-loving elves and crafty mining dwarves are cliches that worldbuilders should strive to challenge? @Faolyn was just saying upthread that those are examples of human-like (and by implication trite) cultural traits:

Besides, it's not like most gamers go out of their way to think up any truly non-human cultural elements for their elves and dwarfs, besides the most basic of "elves are skinny and like nature" or "dwarfs are bearded, like mining, and tend to be scottish."

 

[Charlaquin]

Well, that's what I'm asking--what is the distinctive elf appearance, apart from pointed ears, which seems pretty minor? (Again, genuine question. I don't have a preconceived answer here.)

Pointed ears, yes. Also generally fair, aquiline features.

Living a "bajillion years" and having a connection to fae creatures is all dependent on the individual campaign setting, though? "Our elves are different" is a trope for a reason--they vary wildly from IP to IP.

Those are two nearly universal elf traits. Yes, there are IPs that make exceptions, but they’re pretty reliably part of the general elf package, and when they’re not, they generally have other typically-elfy traits to compensate. It can be a fun design challenge to take away one of the most common traits of a fantasy species and still make it feel recognizable as that species.

And dwarves aren't preternaturally strong and tough under the new rules, where their stat bonuses can be applied anywhere.

So what if their ability score bonus can be assigned elsewhere? They still don’t get weighed down by heavy armor, resist poison, and get extra HP.

Plus, don't we keep hearing that nature-loving elves and crafty mining dwarves are cliches that worldbuilders should strive to challenge?

You’ll notice that nature-loving and mining aren’t among the traits I listed for those species.

What people want from fantasy species is for them to have supernatural traits that mark them as different from humans. Not body types or personalities prescribed by their birth.

 

[Fifth Element]

Heck Santa Claus is known as a Jolly Old Elf, and he's the poster boy for jelly bellies.

You can largely thank/blame Tolkien for that, and the subsequent modern fiction that has arisen since then which has tended to adopt the idea that elves/elfs are lithe and pretty. In folklore they did not have that connotation.

 

[jayoungr]

What people want from fantasy species is for them to have supernatural traits that mark them as different from humans. Not body types or personalities prescribed by their birth.

Okay, but then how can you say elves have "fair, aquiline features" or any other typical look? Isn't this thread about getting rid of assumptions about appearance?

You can largely thank/blame Tolkien for that, and the subsequent modern fiction that has arisen since then which has tended to adopt the idea that elves/elfs are lithe and pretty. In folklore they did not have that connotation.

Tolkien's elves also borrow from the folklore on fairies, who typically are described as lithe and pretty.

 

[jayoungr]

Just for fun, I decided to edit the ears out of the Daggerheart illustration. Does this still look like an elf to people (i.e., does it have a "distinctively elvish" look), and if so, why?

Speaking for myself, I'm pretty sure I would assume this was a human if I saw this illustration with no context.

 

[Fifth Element]

Tolkien's elves also borrow from the folklore on fairies, who typically are described as lithe and pretty.

From SOME folklore. In folklore, the lines between different types of supernatural creatures are very blurry. The firm line between elves and dwarves, for example, is a newer idea. In folklore it's fair to say that dwarves are a type of elf, or fairy. In Norse folklore, for example, it seems that svartalfar are the same things as dwarves.