Racial Options for Avatars and Portraits

[Brasidas]

When I select my portrait and character avatar in PoE, will I be able to select my race? Can I choose to be Black, White, East Asian, South Asian, Native American, Middle Eastern, etc? Will the features and hairstyles of my avatar reflect those associated with my race? I realize the cost of including such differences is large; however, the extra effort is meaningful to gamers like me who often feel invisible in the games we play. 

 

I'm not trying to start a troll or anything, and I want to applaud Obsidian's work with class, gender, race, and sexuality in video games. It's clear they are paying attention, and I have been particularly impressed by their thoughtful and subtle work representing folks who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual. So, kudos to taking on issues that are often easier to ignore, even if they get messy at times. 

Edited March 19, 2014 by Brasidas

[Gfted1]

Yes, you will be able to select your race, but PoE is not based in the real world. Instead of black, white, etc... you will choose Orlan, Aumaua, etc... and yes, this will be reflected in your avatar and ragdoll.

 

Races of PoE.
 

[Brasidas]

Thanks for the link! Apologies for bringing up a topic already covered. I was referring specifically to the human race in PoE, and it's clear from the concepts on the wiki that at least black is represented.

Edited March 19, 2014 by Brasidas

[Gfted1]

Theres a picture of a black Godlike floating around the forums somewhere. Ill see if I can find it.

[butterfly]

For humans you will be limited to three in universe ethnicities corresponding roughly to white, black and mestizo.

 

reference http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Human

[drake heath]

The Savannah humans look Turkic.

 

Mostly in the way they dress, reminds me of the Altaic people of Central Asia.

Edited March 19, 2014 by drake heath

[khalil]

I'd like to create a Jewish Dwarf.

I'd name him Samson.

[Prometheus]

The Savannah humans look Turkic.

 

Mostly in the way they dress, reminds me of the Altaic people of Central Asia.

The clothing of savannah human is inspired by albanian and bulgarian clothing. See quote below.

 

 

The Ixamitl are of the Natlan ethnicity, but the clothing is mostly inspired by Albanian and Bulgarian styles. It's true that there are some South American influences, but not all elements of clothing styles in our world are exclusive to a particular region.

source(could be behind a paywall)

 

Edit for different Ethniticities:

 

The differences between Meadow Folk, Ocean Folk, and Savannah Folk (from Aedyr/Dyrwood, Old Valia/Vailian Republics, and Ixamitl) could be simplified as Euro/African/Central American, but those are just broad and superficial physical similarities.  The real differences come down to culture.  E.g. while the Vailian Republics are overwhelmingly populated by "Calbandrans" (Ocean Folk), there are Meadow Folk, Savannah Folk, and other races/ethnicities in the republics.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Prometheus

[Barothmuk]

Brasidas, on 20 Mar 2014 - 04:41 AM, said:Brasidas, on 20 Mar 2014 - 04:41 AM, said:Brasidas, on 20 Mar 2014 - 04:41 AM, said:Brasidas, on 20 Mar 2014 - 04:41 AM, said:

Thanks for the link! Apologies for bringing up a topic already covered. I was referring specifically to the human race in PoE, and it's clear from the concepts on the wiki that at least black is represented.

I'm going entirely off memory here so anyone can feel free to correct me.

 

The human race is split into three playable ethnicities:

- Meadow: Not explicitly stated but do appear to generally look 'caucasian'.

- Savannah: Visually they look 'mestizo' with a native culture that looks Balkan.

- Ocean: Visually black with a native Renaissance style culture.

 

Elves are split into two ethnicities:

- Wood: Know nothing about (at least visually)

- Pale: Tall, albino, with some having epicanthic folds (Asian eyes).

 

Dwarves have two:

- Mountain: Know nothing about.

- Boreal: Nothing explicitly stated but visually and culturally there seems to some kind of quasi-Inuit style influence.

 

The rest are either visually alien or haven't had that much said about them (Aumaua have loose Japanese and Polynesian cultural influences, Godlikes can be born anywhere, Orlan (Orlans?) are little, furry and haven't had anything said about their cultural influences). Of course it's worth mentioning although there are clear visual racial differences the peoples of PoE are divided more by culture than by race thereby having it possible to play an orlan with an "ocean human" (Vailian) style culture, an ocean human with a meadow culture and so on (although certain combinations would of course be seen in-universe as odd).

 

Also worth noting is none of these races are meant to be synonymous with Earth cultures or ethnicities so obviously it'd be foolish to boot up the game hoping to play as Chinese, American or whatever.

Edited March 21, 2014 by Barothmuk

[Lephys]

Of course it's worth mentioning although there are clear visual racial differences the peoples of PoE are divided more by culture than by race thereby having it possible to play an orlan with an "ocean human" (Vailian) style culture, an ocean human with a meadow culture and so on (although certain combinations would of course be seen in-universe as odd).

You know... that'd be a REALLY good basic background system: Select your race, THEN select the culture you were raised in. I mean... I guess some sub-races would work with any culture? But then, some might not. *Shrug*. I dunno. Depends on how much of the sub-cultures is genetic, and how much is not. I mean, if the Boreal Dwarves develop the complexion/build/etc. that they do because of where they live and the diet they consume, etc., as they're growing up, then being born to Boreal Dwarf parents, in the Ocean Human lands wouldn't really result in your being a Boreal Dwarf -- you wouldn't really be Boreal unless you LIVED and developed in that culture... But...

 

An Orlan raised by foster parents in the Ocean human sub-culture? Sweeeet!

 

Your chosen culture could function sort of (the key words being "sort of") like Etiquettes in Shadowrun. Almost like an abstracted set of various knowledges specific to that culture (knowledge of the mannerisms of that culture, how to act and speak as one from within that cultural group, etc.).

 

8D!

Edited March 21, 2014 by Lephys

[Barothmuk]

You know... that'd be a REALLY good basic background system: Select your race, THEN select the culture you were raised in.

I can't be certain what it means but I did stumble across this:

 

You can take class neutral talents as long as you meet one of the prerequisites. Prerequisites are designed to be "or"s and many of them will have an option that opens at higher levels. E.g., to take this talent you need to be an Elf or Aedyran or 9th level.

Source

[drake heath]

Are there any Asian looking humans? Or is it like TES where they all got eaten by snake-people?

Edited March 22, 2014 by drake heath

[Jarrakul]

 

Of course it's worth mentioning although there are clear visual racial differences the peoples of PoE are divided more by culture than by race thereby having it possible to play an orlan with an "ocean human" (Vailian) style culture, an ocean human with a meadow culture and so on (although certain combinations would of course be seen in-universe as odd).

You know... that'd be a REALLY good basic background system: Select your race, THEN select the culture you were raised in. I mean... I guess some sub-races would work with any culture? But then, some might not. *Shrug*. I dunno. Depends on how much of the sub-cultures is genetic, and how much is not. I mean, if the Boreal Dwarves develop the complexion/build/etc. that they do because of where they live and the diet they consume, etc., as they're growing up, then being born to Boreal Dwarf parents, in the Ocean Human lands wouldn't really result in your being a Boreal Dwarf -- you wouldn't really be Boreal unless you LIVED and developed in that culture... But...

 

An Orlan raised by foster parents in the Ocean human sub-culture? Sweeeet!

 

Your chosen culture could function sort of (the key words being "sort of") like Etiquettes in Shadowrun. Almost like an abstracted set of various knowledges specific to that culture (knowledge of the mannerisms of that culture, how to act and speak as one from within that cultural group, etc.).

 

8D!

 

 

This is actually what I've started to do for my pen-and-paper games. "Racial" modifiers are split between race and culture, and a given character has one of each. You have to monitor it a bit to keep players from just selecting some bizarre race/culture combination because it gives them the bonuses they want, and sometimes it's a pain to balance properly, but overall it seems to work.

 

That said, I don't really expect or even want it in Eternity specifically for the monitoring issue. Although maybe it could be done with a small penalty for race-inappropriate cultures, so as to deter the powergamers but not the roleplayers (for whom a small penalty is a small price to pay). I'd be cool with that. I sort of expect we'll only see race-appropriate cultures as options, though.

[Tauron]

I think portrait should be most obvious disclosure of your characters most subtle features. So if one doesnt find decent portrait ingame depicting your character, how much you guys think a comission is for some artist to do ingame portrait?

[exodiark]

I've tried playing DA2 with asian Hawke, and it feels SOOO weird. Nobody besides my noble family is an asian, so how can an outsider like me be noble anyway?

 

Anyway, I think PE should have portrait from all races, but they should also add some NPCs from other races as minorities too to make it feel less jarring. Or they could add a racially-sensitive dialogues, a lone asian in a medieval society should raise attention, right?

[Silent Winter]

 how much you guys think a comission is for some artist to do ingame portrait?

depends on the quality you're after - professional artist, you could be looking at a few hundred dollars (unless you want the copyright in the image too - then more).  Semi-pro, a bit less maybe.

You could find a hobbyist to do it in return for a GOG game or something.

Or just wait til the community start churning out portrait packs for PoE sizes and hope one fits.

 

Personally, I like to make my own portraits.  They won't be as good as Kaz can do, but they should fit the style enough to not look out of place.  Eventually (too busy right now), I'll add a few to the art-thread.  At such a time, if you like the style, you can offer 'suggestions' on what kind of portrait would be 'cool' and I'll try to accomodate

[Merlkir]

 

 how much you guys think a comission is for some artist to do ingame portrait?

depends on the quality you're after - professional artist, you could be looking at a few hundred dollars (unless you want the copyright in the image too - then more).  Semi-pro, a bit less maybe.

You could find a hobbyist to do it in return for a GOG game or something.

Or just wait til the community start churning out portrait packs for PoE sizes and hope one fits.

 

 

That sounds about right. Depends on how complicated the portait, but I'd probably do it for 200 or so.

[drake heath]

You can also find a lot of good DnD and fantasy pictures online, you can use GIMP to make it a portrait.

 

As long as you don't monetize it or anything you should be fine with lifting someone's art and using it in a single player CRPG.

[Tauron]

 

 how much you guys think a comission is for some artist to do ingame portrait?

depends on the quality you're after - professional artist, you could be looking at a few hundred dollars (unless you want the copyright in the image too - then more).  Semi-pro, a bit less maybe.

You could find a hobbyist to do it in return for a GOG game or something.

Or just wait til the community start churning out portrait packs for PoE sizes and hope one fits.

 

Personally, I like to make my own portraits.  They won't be as good as Kaz can do, but they should fit the style enough to not look out of place.  Eventually (too busy right now), I'll add a few to the art-thread.  At such a time, if you like the style, you can offer 'suggestions' on what kind of portrait would be 'cool' and I'll try to accomodate

 

 

That sounds pretty good and thank you kind soul and I like idea that it fits with ingame artstyle. Until such time than  

 

 

 

 how much you guys think a comission is for some artist to do ingame portrait?

depends on the quality you're after - professional artist, you could be looking at a few hundred dollars (unless you want the copyright in the image too - then more).  Semi-pro, a bit less maybe.

You could find a hobbyist to do it in return for a GOG game or something.

Or just wait til the community start churning out portrait packs for PoE sizes and hope one fits.

 

 

That sounds about right. Depends on how complicated the portait, but I'd probably do it for 200 or so.

 

 

Well, I had to know, now I know. Thanx for offer tho

[Bryy]

It's best not to dwell too much on if this or that is or isn't in the game. Ultimately, if you want a black character, or Asian or whatnot, you can add that shade to your character's skin tone. 

[Silent Winter]

It's best not to dwell too much on if this or that is or isn't in the game. Ultimately, if you want a black character, or Asian or whatnot, you can add that shade to your character's skin tone. 

If the character's face is 'almost' right then changing the skin-tone is pretty easy with GIMP/Photoshop.

If you want to change facial features (e.g. give Chinese eyes to a caucasian) then it's a little harder but still doable if you have the skills (I generally lack those skills but I'm getting better)

[Messier-31]

Theres a picture of a black Godlike floating around the forums somewhere. Ill see if I can find it.

 

Pallegina can be found here

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Godlike

and here

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Pallegina

 

[Gfted1]

^Thanks. I couldn't find the picture and had given up.