#dnd tyr

[neotaki]

Worshipper of Tyr - Paladin of the Crown

[alpaca-clouds]

I hate the design of the gods (and especially the goddesses) in DnD. Let me tell you why.

Okay, let me ramble a bit about DnD. And especially about this one thing that I really loathe about the visual design of the game: The designs of the gods, and especially the goddesses.

Now, let me say, that a part of the issue is, that many of the gods still use their designs from early on. So from 1e, 2e or 3e. Some got new artworks, yes, but they still have the same design as those early gods. Which is very much the root cause for the issue I have, but it does not change that this issue exists.

The issue?

I fucking hate that most of the Faerûnian gods are:

human

white

thin

abled

Yes, there are a few gods, who break out of this. Ilmater is disabled (but also, the fact that he is kinda the god of self-sacrificial suffering... does seem really ableistic), and of course there are the pantheons of the different other species. Though it should be noted that they are generally not part of the Faerûnian pantheon.

And... like, the gods really do not have any variety among them, and this is especially true for the goddesses. Which is obviously the typical character design problem.

(No idea, who drew that one, but it kinda is very fitting - especially for the DnD Gods.)

The male gods look actually quite different at least in terms of body build and stuff.

Like, if you look at the gods... I mean, looking through the different gods I have not found a single one, that was really overweight, but at least there is some body diversity - even if there is not going on a lot else in terms of diversity.

But the goddesses? Yeah, no they all look the same.

You could argue that the current design for Shar looks a bit East Asian, but other than that? I mean, they are all super pale and shit.

Now, I already hear people say: "But Faerûn is BASED ON EUROPE! And it is majority human!"

There are only two issues.

Given that since 3e the world outside of Faerûn was not really developed further, WotC decided to turn Faerûn into this super diverse place - but this is not reflected in the gods.

Some of the gods are just mortal who through ascension became gods, while the forms of other gods were formed through their avatars - which then should reflect the diversity of Faerûn, too, and it doesn't.

I mean, while I started reading into the lore of the game, I came across this one artwork of Mystra, which still has her as white - but very much as a fat woman. Which actually is such a nice look for her.

Meanwhile I have decided that in my stories I will depict Tymora not as a white, blonde human woman, but rather have her use an avatar of a Black, halfling woman. And Loviatar in my stuff has a more Arabian, brown skin tone and thick black hair. Because why... would I want all of them be white, normal folks?

It is in general an issue I have, and where especially the (yes, very underfounded) novelization part of WotC is doing shitty work. Because most of the canonical characters that get to play a big role in novels and comics are still white, abled, thin. And man, it sucks.

It is boring. It is bad design.

And yes, Baldur's Gate 3, I am also looking at you. You know I love you, you stupid game. But really, a bit of melanin would have done wonders for you.

[flyboyelm]

We played dnd today, damn it i love my half orc paladin of tyr