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

The only reason I mentioned you, is from my observation that you, the OP and DumbleDorf have been very passionate about not having ethnic minorities like Asian or black represented in fantasy characters. If I have mistaken you for someone else, then I apologize. I agree this thread is a trainwreck. I want to set the record straight that I am not against elves looking like elves just that I don't see a problem with them having somewhat of a real world ethnic minority represented, like a subtle similarity. Since DnD is all about storytelling and how you, the player, sees the world and characters.

You are mistaken, at least when it concerns me, I cannot speak for anyone else. I have been an advocate to have both options so that everyone is happy. I have stated so multiple times.



Apology accepted though.

I'm not going to bother reading the whole thread, especially as it seems to involve a lot of drama.

I will just say on the topic that I agree that the elves currently look just plain awful. They look more robust than the Half-Elves, which is stupid and counter-intuitive. They don't have the traditional D&D elven appearance, but look much too human. This needs to be rectified ASAP.

The standard colour palette should also support the traditional 'ethnicities' that are known of in the lore, such as Sun Elves, Moon Elves, etc. One minor thing I'd like is a copper hair colour for High Elves of Sun Elven heritage.

I don't really want to argue but I feel like a third party may be needed here. Anung whole point is that he wants elves to look more stylized, lean, chiseled, basically, the classic elf looking. And the classic elf looking doesn't ressemble minority or anything, he looks like his own race. Its basically hight cheekbone, Hollow cheek, slanted eyes, and so on , everyone know what I mean. But in your comment, you called anyone that didn't want elves to look like a real world minority a ''racist'' and that include people who want otherwordly , androgynous, slender elves (because otherworldy elves don't look like world minority. nor like world majority, actually; They just look different). Thus,I understand that you didn't mean that, but the way your comment is put can be misleading.

Like I mention in another response to someone else, I don't have a problem with elves looking like traditional elves. The issue some of us have comes mostly from DumbleDorf who brought in his dislike of identity politics and is blaming Larian for that. I believe there were also others, I do don't remember who, that also stated they don't want faces to represent ethnic minorities. I am not directly calling anyone a racist. All I'm saying is to be careful not to "seem" like a racist when talking about identity politics as that is a very sensitive subject for some people.

I am willing to believe that you were not talking about me so we can get back on the topic. So I'm sorry for what I said about you. I thought you were implying that I was a racist because I said that elves with human features break my immersion.

I do want minorities represented in the game. What I said is that i prefer that elves and other non-human races to have their own characteristics, which have already been presented in D&D books. Honestly, I don't mind if Larian keeps the current faces, but at least modify them to look less human and more like those of the elves, and by that I mean sharp and angular features, a diamond-shaped face, narrow in the line of eyes and chin, but with high cheekbones.

I really think that the options for human faces should present all ethnic groups, and although I have no problem if the other races also have these options, they should not overlap the original characteristics of each race.

Thank you! You said it perfectly.

It's obvious that the elves look like humans. Here's my proof.. The first thing I tried to create as a character was my ideal male form and it didn't exist under the Human face options. There are two elf male faces that look native to northern Europe, while the Human has two faces that look Anglo. There I was representing myself.. And then I found the Githyanki and said hell yeah! I want to be weird!
@Larian I ask kindly, please let us be weird. Thank you =)

Elves are Elves, they are not a "race" from our universe, they do not represent any "race" in our universe either, they are fey-born creatures of another plane. Thats how they should look like, alien and different they are not a template to map one of the ethnicities of our world to. They aren't humans with pointy ears.

They are an alien race.

Now Half-Elves, thats a different story.

I like elves in their current state and tottaly fine with their apperance. I don't wanna play freaks. Please,devs, don't listen these fools.

So... yeah elves come from the Feywild yada yada yada... none of that explains why elves can't have features which set them apart ethnically. The Feywild is a "wild" mirror of the Prime Material Plane is it not? So the elves/eladrin/fey whatever that come from the equator of that reflection (the tropics) are going to look different than the elves who come from the far north. Just as humans do who have developed in different parts of the world. This is why "Asian" or "African" looking elves are just as valid as any other sort of elf. Same goes for dwarves, halflings, etc.

I agree - give them more delicate, angular features. Make them look less human - but I still guarantee an elf from the desert, who's people have lived their for millennia, will look different than elves from a temperate forest.

There's really no argument in my mind against the existence of elves with features other than caucasian.

No one's arguing to make them Caucasian-looking (or if they are, they're missing the point). The argument is that elves in D&D are not humans and do not resemble any human races. They are unique and they have their own unique races. Sun Elf, Moon Elf, Drow, etc. Those are the elven races, and they are not comparable to human races in characteristics. This should be represented faithfully in the game.

Very much, the ones that resemble their human lineage are Half-Elves, no issue with adding ethnic influences there because it fits.

as people above have said, Elves DO have their own ethnic divergences, thats the whole point to subraces. In Forgotten realms there are quite a few
High Elves
- Sun Elves: Regal looking, typically bronzed skin, they have hair colours of brown/red/copper/gold typically and their eyes are usually black, gold or silver
- Moon Elves: Pale skin, often with a blue or purple hue, hair colours covering all human ones plus silver and blue, their eyes are usually blue or green with gold flecks
- Star Elves: pale skin with gold, silver or red hair and tend to be particularly slender, their eyes are similar to moon elves

Wood Elves
- Copper Elves: tend to be broader and sturdier, tan or bronzed skin, copper, brown, black or golden blond hair with eyes of green, hazel or brown. Wood elves are technically one of the only races of elves native to Faerun, the reason for this is they come from intermingling of Wild Elves with other elves over many generations.
- Wild/Green Elves: tend toward darker skin tones from tanned to dark brown, usually have darker hair colour and eyes similar to copper elves.

Eladrin : Eladrin are Elves native to the feywild still, their appearance literally changes with the seasons, they look a lot like Sun Elves in terms of their regal appearance, but their hair, skin and eye colours change with the passing of each season, as does their personality.

Drow
- Lolthian Drow: Shorter than surface elves, they're graceful and regal looking, their skin is almost always shades of obsidian, purple, grey. brown or blue undertones differentiate them though, their eyes are almost always red, with violet and amber being rare exceptions, their hair is always white or off white. Their colouring is part of a curse put upon them by Corellon for their actions around the early crown wars.
- Dark Elves (Seldarine drow in this game): These drow have had Corellons curse lifted due to actions shortly before the spellplague. They have reverted to their original colourations (NOT how they're shown in the game) and look a lot like Wild/Green Elves for colouration.

Lythari: Esentially a unique non-evil breed of Elven werewolf that doesn't have a hybrid form, they're usually depicted as pale with grey or white hair both in elf and wolf form. But they're usually found in Wood Elf lands, so in theory make more sense to match their colouring to some extent.

Avariel: Winged Elves, their features are even more delicate than other elves, with eyes that are larger than most too, their eyes tend to be bright blues, greens or even purple, their skin colour isn't really described anywhere but the only art of them shown has been pale/tanned. Their hair and wings tend to be black/white/silver. Though the most well known Avariel, Aerie from BG2 has blond hair. Avariel are noted as being shorter than High or Wood elves in the same way that drow are.

Aquatic Elves: their build is probably the most sturdy of all the elves and tend to be tall. Their skin tends toward blues and greens, but sometimes browns or even silvers, their hair is usually blacks, greens, blues, browns or even red. Their eyes are usually black, blue, white, green or very rarely silver.


Regardless of the kind, they all have the angular features, almond eyes and pointed ears. None of them can grow facial hair or have body hair.

If Larian really want to include human ethnicities in the different elves, they should at least try and correlate the human ethnicities to those subraces and go from there. Right now the Elves are just /wrong/ and it's crazy because there are EXCELLENT resources available for multiple editions of D&D describing all the above.

Most notably for D&D 5e, Sword Coast Adventurers Guide which should honestly be a default inclusion for this game anyway, considering the setting.

+1

So does Astarion look enough like an Elf?

Are you able to give your opinion without offending anyone?

I don't want to play elves, full stop. They are over-rated, narcissistic and so up their own digestive systems that they can watch their stomachs emptying. Odd bat-eared anorexics that they are.

Bah. Remove elves altogether and fill the space with gnomes and more dwarves. You know it makes sense.

I don't know why people keep throwing my name around or accusing me of racism when all I had done was get upset about what Larian themselves have stated and written as per this article:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/20...e-faces-of-eight-races-for-early-access/

I have stopped making connections to real world issues since I was asked to, however note that the OP in this thread did also make this connection, so it was an on topic discussion:



Neither me, the OP, or anyone else are making these connections. Larian themselves however have:



People are simply trying to say that we not only do not like this decision, and that I personally find it highly offensive, but this design choice has evidently not created good results, mainly due to the fact that people are not fantasy races.

We would prefer the traditional method of either fully customisable characters, and / or hand crafted faces created by artists, as it is not only tried, tested and long proven to create better results, but this new method that Larian have used has comparatively created far inferior faces than would otherwise be possible.

I do not like any of the faces I can choose, and this prevents me from playing most of the races, not just limited to elves.

I would at least like to have the option to handcraft my own characters.

You need to grow a thicker skin, mate.