Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Elves should look more otherworldly

Maybe you're right. Anyway, to me, companions don't matter as much as the options we have available for the character creation. Even if Larian does not make a total modification to the elves, they should at least make their current faces more delicate, because at the moment half-elves seem more elven than the "pure" ones.

I had a quick look online for some Forgotten Realms art, and from what I could see Faerunian elves do seem to have more human-like faces than pan-planar elves.

I always thought that Elves are supposed to be beautiful, but 3.5e elf descriptions have them being so deformed as to be disturbing and ugly. I can draw elves that are a good middle ground between the two extremes but I can't expect Larian to create their art the same as me.

Seems to me Larian actually got elves and half-elves confused at a point and just went with it. The half-elves are supposedly of elf-human heritage, yet look quite fey - whereas the elves somehow has adopted distinct human ethnic traits. This is exacerbated by the grotesquely masculine looks (apart from the pouting duck face lips) of the elf male models. Bioware uglified their elves for DA, no need to follow their example at all.

Can someone show what a FR/ethereal elf looks like?

played around with creating a Drow character today. I have to say I don’t think things that pass in animation are going to translate into these hyper real renderings the way you want.

Reading in a book that a creature has blue/black skin and white hair, even painting it is easy, but getting it to not look super weird in photo-real graphics is near impossible.

I eventually got something that I was Ok with and close to the lore, but now my char looks totally weird and out of place among the other characters. There’s something about DnD where everyone wants everything to be fantastical, but it’s a lot harder to translate that into this medium and keep it believable than you think.

You can’t have a cartoon, a stop-motion character, a muppet, a bear and a person all standing around having a conversation. And that’s kind of what we’re always asking for. If we got it we wouldn’t like it.

You'd be surprised at how loose the 'official' descriptions actually are. Like most things in a fantasy setting, the actual look is largely down to your own interpretation. Yes, there are pictures of FR elves available, but they are simply someone else's interpretation of an imaginary being. Nobody can show you what one looks like because they don't exist, but you can certainly get inspiration for your own version from looking at pictures other people have drawn. A quick Google will find no shortage of elf pictures. None are any more or less 'canon' than the others.

I would also point out that there is nothing to say that your version is originally from Faerun. FR is a large place and you could have grown up elsewhere. A KaraTur elf (for example) might look different to a Faerun elf. The Forgotten Realms is not Faerun, there are many more areas and, logically, many variations on the different races/species that live there.


Yeah, some people like odd-looking characters. Everyone wants their character to be in some way special in an RPG (I'm no exception), and you do tend to see some right monsters out there. Be strong and stick with your own vision, It's your game.

I agree about the Elf male models, they have very pronounced jaw line and also the eyes seem to be too high and almost squinty looking. I also notice in the female models that the High Elves and the Drow have are the exact female face models. I know that they are both elves just different subraces, so they should've made different face models. At least to differentiate between High Elves and Drow besides skin color. It doesn't have to be drastic just different models so that the Drow doesn't look like the High Elves evil twin.

It's a high fantasy title, why do you think people wouldn't care if choices where made to dilute this?

Elves in FR are meant to have angular, elongated and alien features and their renown for beauty is not just due to their unblemished skin or fair features but subtle magical grace. By changing the features to make everything homogenous and consistent with reality not only are you diluting the identity of the race but also the source material and high fantasy aspects of the game. Homogenization is not inclusion because regardless of anything else you cannot and will never be an elf and inclusive options are already present in human races. I can understand this mentality for the half races but pure elves? I don't think we should constrict creativity and dilute originality to appease a fantasy that can never be fulfilled.