Pure Black and Pure white

[EDM Entori]

Well given this is a place for contemplation on our Roleplay..

Can we please sort of have a discussion as a community on the uses of PURE black and PURE white, versus say something along the lines of charcoal and light gray.


I know the Technical argument for years is that mages can dye their armor/clothing any color with prestidigitation but I don't think when the creators of dnd made this spell they thought of colors beyond normal clothing means.

I've always been one to advocate "realistic" colors, and I would like a discussion to start on it.

as I've seen this many times of late

*eyes the Giant Inksplot*

and well not to disagree or agree, but I do feel these players are emoting a bit passive aggressively against this, and I feel the conversation needs to be had.

[Aodhan the Unusual]

I don't mind Pure Black or Pure White when used as accent colors. Small doses. However, using them as a main color... No offense, but I seriously want to take the dye kit and make them all pink! Using it as a main color 'cause you're "evil" or "good" and want people to know... No. Just no! All Pure Black does is make you stand out like a sore thumb (yes, even in stealth!) and Pure White just looks like there's a graphic glitch. It'd be awesome if those two colors could be taken out of the palette.

[lakhena]

What's wrong with pure whites? I haven't done it here, but there are some out there who can attest to my love of blinding everyone with my PCs dressed in blinding whiter than white.

I'd rather we start a rant against tree leaning, treating caravan rides like they're instant teleportation, or PCs who jump right up right after they've been dead for a while or... *head explodes*

[EDM Entori]

Dec 1, 2010 17:45:22 GMT -5 lakhena said:

What's wrong with pure whites? I haven't done it here, but there are some out there who can attest to my love of blinding everyone with my PCs dressed in blinding whiter than white.

I'd rather we start a rant against tree leaning, treating caravan rides like they're instant teleportation, or PCs who jump right up right after they've been dead for a while or... *head explodes*

I'm up for THAT too!

[Teneas]

They are nice as highlights to certain areas of armor. Very very small pieces. Using them, and one of my characters here did for a long time, as a main color just looks horrible imo.

Some people don't utilize the dye kit to it's full potential. Not their fault really.

[DM Justicar - Creator of FRC]

I am pretty sure we used to have a rule against overuse of pure b/w as they tend to look extremely unrealistic in unacceptable doses.

I am not sure when the rule got wiped out but this is likely poll worthy if we want or need to institute this as a rule again.

Accents, I can see as being ok as well, but the pure b/w color scheme is dreadful.

[Deleted]

Unfortunately the pure black color is much more visually appealing than charcoal (charcoal is just horrible IMO for most textures). Enough that the loss of texture is sometimes secondary to the improvement in color. I won't use pure black for main pieces because I can't stand the loss of texture, but I understand why people choose it over charcoal. I definitely do use pure black as an accent color.

I think if people considered shiny black and dark dull/shiny obsidian instead of charcoal, they could have a better dark color than charcoal without completely losing texture with pure black. Given all the awesome shades of grey that are in the dye kits, it is a shame that more "near pure black" colors are not available.

Pure white should never be used - you can just use white ice instead. White ice is very near pure white while still having texture. White ice can be a bit blinding if used as the main color for an outift, but at least you can see whether the outfit is cloth, leather or a chainmail bikini ;D

[DM Justicar - Creator of FRC]

Agreed, I just get bummed when I see a robe or surcoat in pure black or white... it's just something akin to people calling their PC's toons, lol.

[lowstorm]

I'd love to use pink... but the shading from the top of my boots doesn't look good with anything but pure black on the bottom...


What I'm saying is, sometimes there's aesthetic reasons behind the black (Elva prefers pink!!!!)

[Mehangel]

I personally use the pure black on one of my toon's outfits. I do this because the robe I chose shows a chain shirt underneath (something I wouldn't be wearing) and so I cover it up with black, it works nicely I think. I honestly don't have much of a problem with using pure white or black, just as long as they dont overdo it. I have seen players who chose skin tones pure white and hair pure white and with clothing pure white that if anyone dared put their mouse over them they would be blinded. I have seen likewise with black (except instead of blind, one cannot make out any detail whatsoever).

[The Supreme Watcher]

Never use it, never will.

I prefer browns and blues anyhow

[Charon's Claw]

It's hard to take characters who wear pure black or pure white as a dominant color seriously. I always have my character ask if they had trouble using their dyes. LOL

Besides, the pure white hurts my eyes.

[Lady Frost]

I agree!

As an accent, I think it works well. Example: Charcoal doesn't work for the texture on Zoe's arms under the red bands so I use pure black and I think it looks good but the rest of the outfit is charcoal. As a full cloak or robe or jacket or the main body of clothing I think it looks silly and most of my characters will make passive comments about it. I don't see pure white nearly as much. Ice White is still -really- bright and there should never be a need to be brighter than that. I even prefer "White" over "Ice White" most of the time.

[lakhena]

Dec 1, 2010 22:31:55 GMT -5 Mehangel said:

I have seen players who chose skin tones pure white and hair pure white and with clothing pure white that if anyone dared put their mouse over them they would be blinded.

This is my Sehanine priestess on another server! Everyone keeps thinking she's a ghost because she's so monochromatic. I did that purposefully though because she /is/ supposed to be somewhat eerie.

Plus, I like blinding people.

Plus, it makes people feel sorry for me and then they make me outfits for free, which means I don't have to spend the time doing it! It's a win for everyone! ;D

(Obviously, I am procrastinating from paper writing or something.)

[minsafedistance]

Pure black is good for highlights

It is also good to hide patterns, as some of the styles have bits that are just really odd black outlined or patterned panel which disappear when you make them all Pure Black

Pure White
please supply me with either
- sun shades
- proof that you have very bad eyesight
- a darkness scroll for hiding you
- a invisibility scroll for hiding you
- an implosion scroll for hiding bits of you all over the place
- a scroll of cure blindness/deafness for the eyesight damage

(warning: some of the comments in the pure white section contain sarcasm and/or humour that may be subjective to the reader. )

[828stingstingneo]

I have no idea what everyone is talking about. Personally, I've never seen a character on NWN and thought, "That's too white/black to be realistic." Maybe I'm just lucky or maybe I'm just blind or maybe I'm just lucky to be blind?

[Aodhan the Unusual]

Not to call out any body, but Vladislav Tpish is a character that runs around in a 95% pure black outfit. There have been others here and there that have done it, but he's the most recent one I can think of that still does.

[EDM Entori]

..only takes a trip to isinhold these days!

[Syd's Blue Sky]

Dec 1, 2010 17:45:22 GMT -5 lakhena said:

What's wrong with pure whites? I haven't done it here, but there are some out there who can attest to my love of blinding everyone with my PCs dressed in blinding whiter than white.

I'd rather we start a rant against tree leaning, treating caravan rides like they're instant teleportation, or PCs who jump right up right after they've been dead for a while or... *head explodes*

*high high high high high*

That's five of them, by the way.

Use it tastefully and it's fine with me. James is well aware of his limited understanding of the nebulous vorticies of the universe, so when I'm faced with someone wearing a black hole I just pretend that it's created through some odd transmutation of a Darkness spell of which he is unaware. Not immersion breaking at all. Lotta guys walk around with pure white cloaks that looks just fine to me as well.

[Syd's Blue Sky]

Dec 2, 2010 11:44:29 GMT -5 Aodhan the Unusual said:

Not to call out any body, but Vladislav Tpish is a character that runs around in a 95% pure black outfit. There have been others here and there that have done it, but he's the most recent one I can think of that still does.

Wait... What?

"Not to call out anybody, but. . . *calls out someone.* "

I'm no Player Advocate, but... At least be honest!

[berforam]

I only use that much pure black cuz I do miss another black option.
charcoal isnt the thing I am looking for, and there is no other "black" then pure black

[Aodhan the Unusual]

Dec 2, 2010 14:11:05 GMT -5 Syd's Blue Sky said:

Dec 2, 2010 11:44:29 GMT -5 Aodhan the Unusual said:

Not to call out any body, but Vladislav Tpish is a character that runs around in a 95% pure black outfit. There have been others here and there that have done it, but he's the most recent one I can think of that still does.

Wait... What?

"Not to call out anybody, but. . . *calls out someone.* "

I'm no Player Advocate, but... At least be honest!

lol - I meant not to call anyone out in a negative fashion. Someone said they had never seen a character that wore all black before. Vlad is one that does. And one day, he shall wake up dyed in the colors of easter eggs! Muhahahahahaa!

[Syd's Blue Sky]

I say someone gives him an elf costume for Christmas.

VERY LATE EDIT: LMAO... santa elf not DnD elf.

WOW yeah... that went over my own head hahahahha

[Teneas]

I never thought that black was easily done right in my mind anyway, but charcoal is what I use for Ten's stuff. It's also based upon if it's metal or cloth/leather you are going to dye. Metal is even worse to find a suitable black for imo.

Either way, I say use pure black sparingly, as well as pure white, and..get in those dye kits and really really look hard at all the options. Some times things pop up that suit your taste better.

[marredwolf]

seeing this topic made me redo my own armor. i like it better, but i still felt the need to use pure black merely for that lack of shades available in the dye kit. i'd also like to say that whats pleasing to others is not pleasing to you, obviously. your aesthetics are your own and trying to force someone to change their style to fit yours is silly, in my opinion. let people make their own chars the way they want to and feel good about. having a certain look seems very important to some people and i would hate to see that diminished. even forceful arguments are out of place in my opinion.

[Deleted]

Dec 2, 2010 17:25:43 GMT -5 berforam said:

I only use that much pure black cuz I do miss another black option.
charcoal isnt the thing I am looking for, and there is no other "black" then pure black

Actually there's shiny black for leather/cloth, the dark/darkest dull/shiny obsidian for metal. You can also try black onyx, but it looks more green than black on many (but not all) textures. None of them are a true black like pure black, but they are better than charcoal on most textures.

edit: I also really like smoky dusk and the dark black cherry (though those are both dark purples, not blacks).

[berforam]

There is a black option on nwn for cloth and leather, but it isnt within the dye kit of FRC.
charcoal isnt black, it looks more like a dark grey.
So vlad uses the cloors of Set (Gold + Black), since I lack of black options I´m forced to use the pure black.

I do like the pure black, but I wanted to use it on details and maybe on leather 2 only, and not on cloth 1, leather 1, leather 2 and metal 1. kkk

[Munroe]

For blackened metal I also recommend Dark Graveyard Fog.

There's also the default color that adamantine armor starts as, but I forget what it's called. Maybe shiny black or obsidian.

[Deleted]

Dark Obsidian.

~Sio

[DM Justicar - Creator of FRC]

Dec 3, 2010 3:44:16 GMT -5 Sioladuil said:

Dark Obsidian.

~Sio

Thank you.