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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 6285979" data-attributes="member: 58172">DROW EYE SHAPE: SAY YES TO PUPILSThe poll has a certain option that enjoys strong official support - and yet there seems little support for this option from the community.A surprising result is the weak enthusiasm for Drow eyes that are solid without iris or pupil.The result surprises me because both WotC and their ‘rival’ Paizo feature Drow with solid eyes.Why doesnt the ENWorld community find these eyes interesting for the Drow?I suspect the answer is simple:The solid eyes connote an otherworldy origin. But the Drow are part of this world.The Drow might have had an otherworldy origin. However the archetype of the Drow is a ‘fallen’ creature. The Drow have fallen into this world. The Drow have flesh and blood, and are deeply part of the earth that the Human walks on.In settings where the Faerie, Alfheimr, Feywild, or so on, are a significant spirit world, the Drow no longer have a strong connection to it. There is still a hint of the magic of that otherworld among the Drow. But it is like the poem by Wordsworth, the Drow are ‘<a href="http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww331.html" target="_blank">trailing clouds of glory’</a>. The Drow have become part of the physicality of Nature, of the Prime Material Plane. But there is still a feeling of the marvel from where they came.Somehow to lack pupils is to lack physicality. Whether Greek statues or bogeys whose eyes glow in the forest night, these solid eyes belong to spirits, who are alien to this world. These spirits can see without needing physical eyes to see. But the Drow have pupils. They see physically. It is a fantasy version of infrared radiation. It isnt a psychic clairvoyance. The Drow see body heat, or whatever, not souls.Really, any color or shape for Drow eyes seems possible, and the community seems comfortable with any possibility. The majority dont seem to have strong feelings one way or an other. That said, among those that do voice feelings about the shape of Drow eyes, most see the eyes as human-like, with iris and pupil. Physical.EYE SHAPE:• iris and pupil are human-like (16/24 votes)• solid without iris or pupil (3/24 votes)• solid with large iris-sized pupil (5/24 votes)A defining majority of two thirds (16/24) pictures human-like eyes as making sense for the Drow archetype. Only an eighth (3/24) pictures the Drow with otherworldly solid eyes.The lesser support for Drow solid eyes seems noteworthy because both WotC and Paizo support it. It seems to go beyond the artifact of an edition war and to ‘cross party lines’. The Drow in both the Nerath setting and the Golarion setting have solid eyes. Additionally the Nerath setting attributes to the Drow otherworldliness via ‘Fey’ origin, with similar anemic response. The ‘fallen’ Drow might have been Fey spirits once, but they are in this world now.Notice the third option: Drow eyes are solid with a large iris-sized pupil. It achieves roughly a fifth of how voters picture the Drow. Now I must thank everyone for voting for this option. I created this look for the Drow for one of my settings. I am sure there are others who have done the eyes this way too. But as far as know, I dont know of anyone else that does, nor do I recall anything in the D&D tradition that does the eyes this way. I appreciate your support.It is telling. This relatively obscure option (iris-sized pupils) is gaining slightly more traction than the option (solid eyes) that has full-on official support.I suspect a reason for the relative appeal is: physicality. Drow can see in the dark because their eyes are somehow more sensitive to tiny amounts of light. So, big pupils make sense because they let more light in. Moreover, with big pupils like that, bright light seems like it would blind or even hurt. Perfect. The big pupils cohere to some degree with the archetype of Drow physicality.I like the big pupils because they look ‘normal’ but have an exotic feel. The pupils look like a dark-color iris, so when drawing Drow eyes, they ‘look right’. But when the rest of the eye is some iris-like color, instead of white sclera, it is the telltale that says, ‘Not Human’. Like the pointy ears are a telltale. These ‘strange’ eyes say, ‘all the better to see you’. Living in utter darkness except for a Faerie Fire here or there? Bigger pupils. ‘Makes sense’. Of course, ‘fantasy sense’, but still.Ultimately, the Drow archetype seems to have room for various kinds of eyes, including these three possibilities.The human-like eyes make sense to Drow communities who interact with the surface world and its humans.The big pupils make sense for deep hard-core Drow who adapted to the Underdark to the point of dependence.Using the standard distances in the Playtest, maybe some Drow communities have normal darkvision upto 50 feet without penalty in bright light, while others have darkvision upto 100 feet but suffer the penalty. Pupil size can signify the difference.The solid eyes have nothing to do with seeing in the dark. Theres no pupil. They cant see at all. The solid eyes depict spiritual vision. Drow with solid eyes are otherworldly. There are contexts where this might make sense.Some Drow might be ‘redeemed’ and now inhabit the Feywild alongside their Bright Elf companions. These Drow dont return to the surface to live alongside the physicality of the Human. They return to the otherworld whence they came. The ‘restored’ Drow are fully Fey.Some Drow might be demonologists, whose eyes see into the realm of spiritual darkness and see out from such darkness.Note, Drow with solid eyes that are understood as dark semi-reflective spider eyes of myriad microscopic lenses - seem ‘naturalistic’ enough to work with the archetype. (Naturalistic in the dreamy sense of a fantasy trope, of course.) It would be creepily nonhuman and physical. Drow are too human for this to work. But a couple of freaks in the mix might sense.All in all, one can imagine certain Drow individuals who have solid eyes - whether eyes of spirit or eyes of spider - in a way that might work.For the sake of the typical Drow - the type - the archetype - say yes to pupils.</blockquote>

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