Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Elves are not Elven - Tel-quessir feed back ;)

GM4Him, in this very thread, you've agreed with the topic creator (and myself, but, hey, that's a matter of vanity) on multiple occasions. Why the reversal? Why the need to play contrarian?

Here's an idea: the art changed because it is effectively impossible to differentiate between a Human and an Elf in some of these (arguably low-effort) pieces. As for your displayed example of Laurana from Dragonlance, I've proven that the same artist (Larry Elmore) can render her looking like an Elf ->

Does she look the same?

Additionally, if an Elf looks just like a Human but with slightly elongated ears, then how do you distinguish a similarly bland/low-effort Half-Elf from the pair?


Tolkien's Elves =/= D&D Elves. However, you are correct: there is no description (at least, from what I've scanned thus far) in any of the D&D PHBs which describe Elves as possessing pointy ears. Should artists simply draw normal humans with a tag saying "Hi, I'm an elf." and save themselves the trouble of truly distinguishing those creations?

P.S. As for your "But some examples..." argument, then how do you reconcile that with art of the Drow which essentially makes them look African-American? Picking outliers (e.g., the aforementioned low-effort pieces) and running with those seems like a poor strategy.