D&D General Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings of Color

[Kobold Avenger]

Previously only Humans were ever shown as being non-European in D&D, and the other common core races of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings were always depicted as being "white" even if some published campaign settings have for example said that some Dwarves have brown skin or that Wood Elves are "bronze" colored. Now I pick those four in particular because they're the most human-like (not counting the hybrids) and they're a core part of D&D along with all the classes and alignment, it's generally assumed they're there unless the DM says they aren't.

So if a player wants to play an "Asian" Elf or a "African" Dwarf, I suspect most DMs in most campaigns would just let them be with very little questions. It doesn't necessarily need to be fully explained why that Elf or Dwarf is like that. Some people might just want to have character who might be like them, or might fit some image they have (or justification for a class/subclass with a lot of cultural baggage). I'm approaching this as a Person of Color, who is a minority in the western country I live in. So I care less about cultural purity, and more about representation.

Dara from the Netflix adaptation of Witcher as an example.

But for others DMs they have to work in something. Are Halflings and the others for example as widespread as Humans are in that campaign world, virtually living everywhere that Humans do? If so then yes. This would in many ways be the Shadowrun approach, which conceivably Shadowrun might be the first RPG where "metahumans" of different ethnicities are a canonical and established thing where a Dwarf could be from Shanghai and an Elf could be from Nairobi.

But there also could be something like for example, where at one time there were different cultures and ethnicities of Elves (not counting subraces) but they moved around a lot and mixed, such that there is no real distinct cultural differences in Elves anymore. A lot of times the assumption is that they somehow default to a European culture, though Eberron has an Elven culture that's sort of has a bit Arabic influences, and another that has African and other influences.

Now the idea of Elves, Dwarves and Halflings in D&D of course comes from Tolkien's work. Despite Elves and Dwarves having origins in Germanic myths, Elves as commonly depicted in fantasy are sort of the Aos Si of Celtic myths, and despite the fact that Tolkien tried to depict Dwarves as being Jewish they somehow commonly became Scottish (someone once joked what if Dwarves were Mexican). Halflings (as Hobbits) are mostly original to Tolkien's work but sort of represented the humble Englishman, and Gnomes were first mentioned in the Renaissance and somehow became a caricature of Jewish people. But despite all this, they are a core part of D&D's identity among the core assumptions about most D&D campaigns.

Some settings which attempt a deep-dive into certain Earth cultures assert that there are none of those core races in the setting (but there may be local alternatives), because there's no myths about such things and cultural purity would be more of the goal. And that's fine if it's the primary setting and focus of the campaign. But in a campaign that's a lot more international where there are various "expy's" various Earth cultures living on the same world and the PCs could be from anywhere, then this is where the question of "could gnomes be from over there too?" In terms of world-building it's likely easier just to have Gnomes there, with some sort of parallel culture to the region. They may be of the same subraces as Gnomes in the PHB, but there could be some sort of local Gnomish subrace for the region. Having a completely different race in place of Gnomes everywhere else, might be too much work for many. And if there are for example regional races like Hengeyokai to use an example, then why aren't they in other places?

So back the original point is that overall I feel that Humans should not be the only race with diversity as its thing. Despite whatever the origins of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings, in core D&D they are now far removed from their mythological Earth origins, so they don't need to be locked in as exclusively European.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

So back the original point is that overall I feel that Humans should not be the only race with diversity as its thing. Despite whatever the origins of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings, in core D&D they are now far removed from their mythological Earth origins, so they don't need to be locked in as exclusively European.

Great idea!

I'd only add that the one difficulty with the other, older races (less so the Tieflings and Dragonborn) that used to be referred to as demi-humans is that while humans were a monolithic whole that you could customize as you want, the other races had specific subraces that often were differentiated by ... skin color.

Aka, the drow problem.

 

[Bitbrain]

Previously only Humans were ever shown as being non-European in D&D, and the other common core races of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings were always depicted as being "white" even if some published campaign settings have for example said that some Dwarves have brown skin or that Wood Elves are "bronze" colored. Now I pick those four in particular because they're the most human-like (not counting the hybrids) and they're a core part of D&D along with all the classes and alignment, it's generally assumed they're there unless the DM says they aren't.

So if a player wants to play an "Asian" Elf or a "African" Dwarf, I suspect most DMs in most campaigns would just let them be with very little questions. It doesn't necessarily need to be fully explained why that Elf or Dwarf is like that. Some people might just want to have character who might be like them, or might fit some image they have (or justification for a class/subclass with a lot of cultural baggage). I'm approaching this as a Person of Color, who is a minority in the western country I live in. So I care less about cultural purity, and more about representation.

Dara from the Netflix adaptation of Witcher as an example.

But for others DMs they have to work in something. Are Halflings and the others for example as widespread as Humans are in that campaign world, virtually living everywhere that Humans do? If so then yes. This would in many ways be the Shadowrun approach, which conceivably Shadowrun might be the first RPG where "metahumans" of different ethnicities are a canonical and established thing where a Dwarf could be from Shanghai and an Elf could be from Nairobi.

But there also could be something like for example, where at one time there were different cultures and ethnicities of Elves (not counting subraces) but they moved around a lot and mixed, such that there is no real distinct cultural differences in Elves anymore. A lot of times the assumption is that they somehow default to a European culture, though Eberron has an Elven culture that's sort of has a bit Arabic influences, and another that has African and other influences.

Now the idea of Elves, Dwarves and Halflings in D&D of course comes from Tolkien's work. Despite Elves and Dwarves having origins in Germanic myths, Elves as commonly depicted in fantasy are sort of the Aos Si of Celtic myths, and despite the fact that Tolkien tried to depict Dwarves as being Jewish they somehow commonly became Scottish (someone once joked what if Dwarves were Mexican). Halflings (as Hobbits) are mostly original to Tolkien's work but sort of represented the humble Englishman, and Gnomes were first mentioned in the Renaissance and somehow became a caricature of Jewish people. But despite all this, they are a core part of D&D's identity among the core assumptions about most D&D campaigns.

Some settings which attempt a deep-dive into certain Earth cultures assert that there are none of those core races in the setting (but there may be local alternatives), because there's no myths about such things and cultural purity would be more of the goal. And that's fine if it's the primary setting and focus of the campaign. But in a campaign that's a lot more international where there are various "expy's" various Earth cultures living on the same world and the PCs could be from anywhere, then this is where the question of "could gnomes be from over there too?" In terms of world-building it's likely easier just to have Gnomes there, with some sort of parallel culture to the region. They may be of the same subraces as Gnomes in the PHB, but there could be some sort of local Gnomish subrace for the region. Having a completely different race in place of Gnomes everywhere else, might be too much work for many. And if there are for example regional races like Hengeyokai to use an example, then why aren't they in other places?

So back the original point is that overall I feel that Humans should not be the only race with diversity as its thing. Despite whatever the origins of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings, in core D&D they are now far removed from their mythological Earth origins, so they don't need to be locked in as exclusively European.

In my Eberron game, the only people who look “white” are the ethnic Karrnathi humans, ethnic Aundairan humans, Bloodsail Elves, and Mror Dwarves.

 

[Oofta]

In general the closer you live to the equator, the darker your skin in my campaign no matter what humanoid species you are. There are exceptions to the rule - one set of clans that lives in the north has darker skin because they were forced out of their homeland centuries ago.

But TBH I regularly forget this when describing NPCs and it's only come up once with a PC.

I did once briefly consider having a clan of gnomes that had blue skin, but then I sobered up.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I did once briefly consider having a clan of gnomes that had blue skin, but then I sobered up.

Some sorta gnome/xvart hybrid!

 

[Sacrosanct]

I never played in Dark Sun, but just assumed that demi humans there were ethnic due to the climate. A quick google search reveals that's not the case, and they're almost all white. That's....disappointing and a miss from the TSR team when creating Dark Sun, and WoTC when continuing it.

 

[aco175]

FR does have gold dwarves that are dark skinned and drow elves which we all know about. I agree with your first point in that most DMs would simply allow them. In my games if a player wants a PC halfling from another land I would allow most anything similar to darker skin or more asian (ish).

Would any of this Earth-like races being applied to other fantasy races have a problem with becoming political, like what we were having with orcs and drow from a few weeks ago? I do not want to bring the big discussion up, but think it should be thought about first. I would think it is not a problem unless we start assigning bonuses and penalties based upon the other types of halflings or dwarves. Although gold dwarves may not be in 5e material.

 

[Mercurius]

I don't think that humans are "the only race with diversity as its thing," but that fantasy races tend to follow different types of diversity not analogous to Earth ethnicities, thus don't represent Earth human diversity.

A fantasy world, by its very nature, does not have to incorporate Earth analogues. From a world-building perspective, I like to focus on what makes sense in terms within the context of the world itself. Of course if you want to build a world in which there are, say, African dwarves and South Asian elves, I don't see why not. But it really depends upon the nature of the campaign setting. Is it a small and insular region in a northern or temperate climate? Is it a cosmopolitan city? A sub-tropical region? Etc.

In terms of skin color, most fantasy races are non-white, or have non-white sub-races. Gnomes are described as "tan or walnut brown" skinned. Dwarves range from "deep brown to a paler hue tinged with red," more commonly "tones of earth" and the gray-skinned duergar. Elves are "the normal human range" as well as "copper, bronze, and bluish white" and then, of course, the drow. Halfings are "tan to pale with a ruddy cast."

That said, the art doesn't seem to reflect the text, and most depictions of all four races--on memory--are more pale/white.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Would any of this Earth-like races being applied to other fantasy races have a problem with becoming political, like what we were having with orcs and drow from a few weeks ago?

There was an accusation that Asian/African/Etc Elves/Dwarves/Etc would be European colonialism forced on other cultures. I disagree with that statement considering how far they moved from their real world origins, and that I'm approaching this as a POC from a western country.

 

[ccs]

Spoiler

Previously only Humans were ever shown as being non-European in D&D, and the other common core races of Elves,

Spoiler

Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings were always depicted as being "white" even if some published campaign settings have for example said that some Dwarves have brown skin or that Wood Elves are "bronze" colored. Now I pick those four in particular because they're the most human-like (not counting the hybrids) and they're a core part of D&D along with all the classes and alignment, it's generally assumed they're there unless the DM says they aren't.

So if a player wants to play an "Asian" Elf or a "African" Dwarf, I suspect most DMs in most campaigns would just let them be with very little questions. It doesn't necessarily need to be fully explained why that Elf or Dwarf is like that. Some people might just want to have character who might be like them, or might fit some image they have (or justification for a class/subclass with a lot of cultural baggage). I'm approaching this as a Person of Color, who is a minority in the western country I live in. So I care less about cultural purity, and more about representation.

Dara from the Netflix adaptation of Witcher as an example.

But for others DMs they have to work in something. Are Halflings and the others for example as widespread as Humans are in that campaign world, virtually living everywhere that Humans do? If so then yes. This would in many ways be the Shadowrun approach, which conceivably Shadowrun might be the first RPG where "metahumans" of different ethnicities are a canonical and established thing where a Dwarf could be from Shanghai and an Elf could be from Nairobi.

But there also could be something like for example, where at one time there were different cultures and ethnicities of Elves (not counting subraces) but they moved around a lot and mixed, such that there is no real distinct cultural differences in Elves anymore. A lot of times the assumption is that they somehow default to a European culture, though Eberron has an Elven culture that's sort of has a bit Arabic influences, and another that has African and other influences.

Now the idea of Elves, Dwarves and Halflings in D&D of course comes from Tolkien's work. Despite Elves and Dwarves having origins in Germanic myths, Elves as commonly depicted in fantasy are sort of the Aos Si of Celtic myths, and despite the fact that Tolkien tried to depict Dwarves as being Jewish they somehow commonly became Scottish (someone once joked what if Dwarves were Mexican). Halflings (as Hobbits) are mostly original to Tolkien's work but sort of represented the humble Englishman, and Gnomes were first mentioned in the Renaissance and somehow became a caricature of Jewish people. But despite all this, they are a core part of D&D's identity among the core assumptions about most D&D campaigns.

Some settings which attempt a deep-dive into certain Earth cultures assert that there are none of those core races in the setting (but there may be local alternatives), because there's no myths about such things and cultural purity would be more of the goal. And that's fine if it's the primary setting and focus of the campaign. But in a campaign that's a lot more international where there are various "expy's" various Earth cultures living on the same world and the PCs could be from anywhere, then this is where the question of "could gnomes be from over there too?" In terms of world-building it's likely easier just to have Gnomes there, with some sort of parallel culture to the region. They may be of the same subraces as Gnomes in the PHB, but there could be some sort of local Gnomish subrace for the region. Having a completely different race in place of Gnomes everywhere else, might be too much work for many. And if there are for example regional races like Hengeyokai to use an example, then why aren't they in other places?

So back the original point is that overall I feel that Humans should not be the only race with diversity as its thing. Despite whatever the origins of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings, in core D&D they are now far removed from their mythological Earth origins, so they don't need to be locked in as exclusively European.

Ok.
At the table this is all easy enough to do.

But several concerns art wise;
1) So long as the Drow are depicted as BLACK vs whatever shade you'd make a POC Elf. There should be a distinct difference between the unnatural shade of Drow black & even the blackest normal skin tone. This is a Drow vs this is a POC Elf. Same for any other race that has a specificly colored sub-group.

2) Other than specific recurring characters who'll have a set appearance, for general art of random people/scenres? MIX IT UP. Imagine the wildly varied art styles of the 1e days. It all showed D&D.... Now imagine that with different skin tones.

3) That said, every scene does not need to be a visual rainbow just "because".