Daily Art Preview

[DandD]

I hope that whenever possible, we are now going to see a picture depicting male and female of that race/monster type/whatever (when they do actually have a gender, of course). So far, with the cambion, the Githianky and the Githzerai, it seems we're going well.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Hmm... I wish they had gone with a more exotic style of garb for the Githyanki to really emphasize their alien/planar nature. And further, each new edition seems to want to make them more and more human.

And every edition has been trying to make the Githzerai look more and more like the Githyanki. I remember when the Githzerai just looked like pale and really gaunt humans.

 

[Klaus]

Githyanki today.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/artpreview

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@ DandD I think that's just lighting

And Michael Komarck hits another one out of the park!

For decades the arms and armor of the Githyanki have been described as "ornate" and "baroque", but this is the first time they are portrayed that way.

Just look at the hateful sneer in the center githyanki! That's some good acting ("acting" here being used as it is in the comics business, to denote an artist capable of portraying emotions well).

 

[Dunamin]

Hmm, its very nice art and all but I had sort of hoped the two gith races would be a bit less human-like and more distinct from each other than that. I mean, compare the githyanki on the right with the githzerai on the left. Just a tad too identical for my taste.
Also, would have been nice with a depiction of githyankis that in stance and appearance were more aggressive and intimidating, as befits their nature.

Ah, what the hell - I'm nitpicking... Its great art on the whole!

 

[I'm A Banana]

The similarity is a feature, not a bug.

The ARE supposed to be basically the same people, after all, just recently separated in a schizmatic conflict.

They should be more like Brits and French, less like Chimps and Patrick Stewart.

 

[Dunamin]

The similarity is a feature, not a bug.

The ARE supposed to be basically the same people, after all, just recently separated in a schizmatic conflict.

They should be more like Brits and French, less like Chimps and Patrick Stewart.

Well, their separation is not recent, certainly.

If the history of the two races is at least somewhat preserved their divide should be ancient news - enough, at least, for them to have become evolutionarily different. The current edition puts racial mods for githyankis as +2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Wis and for githzerais as +6 Dex, -2 Int, +2 Wis – I’d like to think that meant a keen-eyed observer of the two races could tell physiological differences, subtle though it might be.

I’m not talking appearance difference like chimps and Stewart, more like very varied people within the same general “ethnic group” (moreso than French and Brits, at any rate).

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

The ARE supposed to be basically the same people, after all, just recently separated in a schizmatic conflict.

Well, their separation is not recent, certainly.

If the history of the two races is at least somewhat preserved their divide should be ancient news - enough, at least, for them to have become evolutionarily different. The current edition puts racial mods for githyankis as +2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Wis and for githzerais as +6 Dex, -2 Int, +2 Wis – I’d like to think that meant a keen-eyed observer of the two races could tell physiological differences, subtle though it might be.

I’m not talking appearance difference like chimps and Stewart, more like very varied people within the same general “ethnic group” (moreso than French and Brits, at any rate).

How long ago did the schism happen? A few thousand years?

I'm going to agree with Kamikaze Midget and say that the differences between the Githzerai and the Githyanki could be not so much physiological as cultural.

Perhaps the outside appearance of the races is more dissimilar than that of French and Brits... But I'm pretty sure that, to an alien species, the differences between Chinese and Korean, Hindu and Thai, Australian and German, Mexican and Filipino, are fairly few and insignificant.

Indeed, its a lot better to have both races look very very similar to outsiders at first glance.... It even inspires me to include the war between both Gith races in an adventure as a commentary on real life ethnic conflicts... Are the Kosovo Albanians and the Serbs so different from each other, deep inside? They are both human beings!*



* Disclaimer, this comment is not meant to derail the thread into real-life politics or history, I am only sharing what the art pieces make me feel...

 

[Hussar]

Hang on a tick.

Doesn't the Githzerai on the left:

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look almost identical to the Githyanki on the right?

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Same beard, same features, just a bit different tatoos.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Yes, they do look alike, for a moment I thought the Githyanki picture and the Githzerai picture were 2 halves of one big picture.

 

[Baron Opal]

All we need is the mind flayers and my trifecta will be complete.