Drow in BG3 have the wrong color skin.

[Brian_the_Brute]

Had to use an appearance mod to fix Minthara and my drow party members to dark Moontones. Not sure why all the dark elves all have light grey skin unless this is just a 5e D&D edition trend (?). If some drow are shown as grey, they should at least be very dark grey (almost appearing blue), not this bright off-white color that is being used.

[Ereghor the Enigmatic]

Likely because every, erm, "socially aware person" out there will automatically associate obsidian-black skin (close to 0.0.0 RGB) with human black skin (a shade of dark brown), and with drow being evil, think that this is a racial stereotype (saying a few things about how they themselves think in racial stereotypes).

In EA there was at least an option for very black-adjacent colours to be picked, but they all went up in brightness in the full version, so now mods are the only way to make a proper-looking drow.

[Brian_the_Brute]

Originally posted by Ereghor the Enigmatic:

Likely because every, erm, "socially aware person" out there will automatically associate obsidian-black skin (close to 0.0.0 RGB) with human black skin (a shade of dark brown), and with drow being evil, think that this is a racial stereotype (saying a few things about how they themselves think in racial stereotypes).

In EA there was at least an option for very black-adjacent colours to be picked, but they all went up in brightness in the full version, so now mods are the only way to make a proper-looking drow.

OMG, you are probably right, so sad. I'm half African myself and it never even occurred to me why this was done until your explanation.

[CreapMeat]

Original Drow, especially in earlier editions, could be very dark and ranged from black to light or pale blue. In fact, the darker the Drow the more ancient and powerful their heritage was supposed to be. Light blue or pale blue was considered weak blood or that of one who spent a lot of time on the surface. Mid or bright blue was considered pretty common. Dark blue was the bloodline of nobility, and black to blackish blue was a sign of a powerful and long lasting bloodline.

The amount of paleness that you can create in game would suggest your Drow came from mixed blood but not quite a Drow half elf, or from a family line that spent some generations on the surface. That is, if the oldschool D&D lore still applied. You can rationalize this as artists attempting to be more politically correct or you can think of it as the chances of a Dark skinned Drow (being from an ancient, powerful, and rich bloodline) being anywhere near the surface or in an area where they could be picked up by a Mind Flayer ship being basically impossible probability wise.

Still, its an interesting thought on whether this is due to political correctness, artists trends, or some sort of gradual retro changing lore over the decades. I can't say which or any but coming into D&D in the 90s, I pretty much recall lore and novels describing it as I did above.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Brian_the_Brute:

Originally posted by Ereghor the Enigmatic:

Likely because every, erm, "socially aware person" out there will automatically associate obsidian-black skin (close to 0.0.0 RGB) with human black skin (a shade of dark brown), and with drow being evil, think that this is a racial stereotype (saying a few things about how they themselves think in racial stereotypes).

In EA there was at least an option for very black-adjacent colours to be picked, but they all went up in brightness in the full version, so now mods are the only way to make a proper-looking drow.

OMG, you are probably right, so sad. I'm half African myself and it never even occurred to me why this was done until your explanation.

It is hard for that to occur to anyone unless they want that really, really hard. Comparing fantasy races with real world humans is a weird thing to begin with.

[Cartesian Duelist]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

It is hard for that to occur to anyone unless they want that really, really hard. Comparing fantasy races with real world humans is a weird thing to begin with.

It is a strange thing to do. And yet...

https://www.wired.com/story/dandd-must-grapple-with-the-racism-in-fantasy/

https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/29/884824236/dungeons-dragons-tries-to-banish-racist-stereotypes

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357572385_Are_orcs_racist_Dungeons_and_Dragons_ethnocentrism_anxiety_and_the_depiction_of_evil_monsters

[Brian_the_Brute]

After a nights rest IRL, I now think the way Drow are depicted in BG3 is very disrespectful to people with Albinism.... ie. red eyes with white sclera and light skin with lack of any pigmentation. The Drow sclera in BG3 should at least be black and their skin given some sort of pigmentation. As it stands right now the game shows Albinos to be evil.

Drow should be like a Moontone 15 (darker than 10) ...which in no way would be confused with brown skin by anyone. OG drow in 1st ED. were dark purple or obsidian, which doesn't look like any actual race IRL.

There are albino drow in Forgotten Realms called the Szarkai, but making all the drow whether Seldarine or Lolth-sworn all look like albinos is not respectful to people who have this genetic disorder. While I am sure this was not intentional, I think there has been an over-reaction and it has this unintentional consequence.

[Wokelander]

Originally posted by Brian_the_Brute:

Had to use an appearance mod to fix Minthara and my drow party members to dark Moontones. Not sure why all the dark elves all have light grey skin unless this is just a 5e D&D edition trend (?). If some drow are shown as grey, they should at least be very dark grey (almost appearing blue), not this bright off-white color that is being used.

Drow get lighter/faded in skintones when exposed to the sun (which defies all RL physiology as far as I know but who cares?) IIRC so that could be why, but honestly I just think Larian aren't particularly deep in the more niche lore stuff