D&D 5E It's Dwarfy McDwarferson from the Player's Handbook!

[variant]

The skin tone descriptions in 3e and now 5e never made any sense. Where do they get the concept that most dwarves have a brown skin tone? Just from a fantasy historical perspective it's wrong. I don't think there have ever been any dwarves with brown skin tone in D&D novels or any other fantasy novels, if there are it's far and few between.

Also, what about blond haired dwarves? They seem to be at least as common as red haired ones, if not more so, an example off the top of my head is Ivan Bouldershoulder. Dwarves are from Nordic mythology, why is the description excluding blond hair of all things?

The text just seems to be diversity for diversity sake with the added red hair pale skin thrown in because Bruenor Battlehammer has red hair with pale skin.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Dwarves were described as earth/tan/etc tone in the Holmes Basic, BX Moldvay, BECMI red box, and 1E MM. They were downgraded to ruddy in 2E PHB they are described as deep tan or light brown in the MC.

It is not a new thing but it is weird how the game and fiction/art do not tie in often.

 

[variant]

Dwarves were described as earth/tan/etc tone in the Holmes Basic, BX Moldvay, BECMI red box, and 1E MM. They were downgraded to ruddy in 2E PHB they are described as deep tan or light brown in the MC.

It is not a new thing but it is weird how the game and fiction/art do not tie in often.

Just wondering, but how is being ruddy a downgrade?

I was only familiar with 2e. The earlier description of them probably came from Gygax's hatred of all things Tolkein. The authors of fantasy fiction don't have such hatred or need to be different from Tolkein, so they describe dwarves how they have always known dwarves to be in fantasy.

 

[Lalato]

Then there is my old character Sigrid Sildhamar (a commission I had done). It's a shame she died in a TPK.

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/137/0/c/sigrid_sildhamar_color_sketch_by_jebriodo-d503e7o.jpg

 

[mach1.9pants]

Ruddy is just a complexion, not really a colour.

 

[GX.Sigma]

The skin tone descriptions in 3e and now 5e never made any sense. Where do they get the concept that most dwarves have a brown skin tone? Just from a fantasy historical perspective it's wrong. I don't think there have ever been any dwarves with brown skin tone in D&D novels or any other fantasy novels, if there are it's far and few between.

Also, what about blond haired dwarves? They seem to be at least as common as red haired ones, if not more so, an example off the top of my head is Ivan Bouldershoulder. Dwarves are from Nordic mythology, why is the description excluding blond hair of all things?

According to my Wikipedia research, in Norse mythology, the term "Dvergar" (Dwarves) was interchangeable with "Svartalfar" (Dark Elves)--"svart" literally meaning "dark-skinned."

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Ditto that.

 

[jbear]

I think the art is gorgeous. I am not seeing any awkwardness in her pose either. She is just bracing a heavy hammer ready to rip into action if needs be in my opinion. Love it. I am definitely going to show this to the dwarven cleric in our group. I am certain she will love it.

 

[pemerton]

"Dwarven skin ranges from deep brown to a paler hue tinged with red, but the most common shades are light brown or deep tan, like certain tones of earth."

White is not "a paler hue tinged with red."

Agreed.

How interesting that the text says the most common skin tones are brown, but the picture is a white person.

There's no problem with showing a pale dwarf. The problem is when the text says "most dwarves are brown," then then all the dwarves they show are pale.

Dwarves were described as earth/tan/etc tone in the Holmes Basic, BX Moldvay, BECMI red box, and 1E MM.

3E and 5E dwarves are described as brown or tan skin, tho 4E says mostly same as human. Has anyone ever seen a brown/tan skinned dwarf art from D&D? I can't recall any

I've also noticed over the (many) years that illustrations of dwarves and gnomes frequently depart from the way they are described in those earlier books, as primarily dark-skinned. It's a little odd that the tradition is continuing in 5e.

Tolkin never said Dwarven women had beards, if fact, he never even mentioned them.

Tolkien did mention them, in Appendix A to LotR. He describes them as indistinguishable in appearance from dwarf men. This is what generates the implication that they are bearded, or at least very masculine in their appearance. (Contrastingly, elf men are often characterised as very feminine in their appearance, although not to the extent that they are indistinguishable from elf women.)

I haven't got my copy of the DMG ready to hand, but I think Gygax describes dwarven women as bearded in that book.

 

[variant]

According to my Wikipedia research, in Norse mythology, the term "Dvergar" (Dwarves) was interchangeable with "Svartalfar" (Dark Elves)--"svart" literally meaning "dark-skinned."

It is only speculation from some scholars that think the svartalfar and dvergar were the same thing. Other scholars disagree and speculate that they are two distinct peoples and even others think svartalfar, dokkalfr, and dvergar were all distinct.

Also, 'svart' doesn't mean literally dark skinned, it means literally 'black, dark, or dirty'.