Faerûn Human with metallic golden skin?

[Darlock]

I know that the real answer is always "Ask your DM" but I wanted to see if there was any general consensus on this question.

As a point of reference, the Dragonlance character Raistlin Majere has metallic golden skin. Is there any type of human in 5E that can have gold skin?

I'm mostly unfamiliar with the Forgotten Realms setting, which is the default for 5E. I bought the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide to check for answers, and it provided two potential candidates.

Tuigan - "a bronze or golden cast to their skin"

Ulutiun - "golden-skinned people"

Both of those appear on page 112 of the SCAG, but I don't know if they literally mean golden like shiny metal. After all, when people say "olive complexion" they don't actually mean green, so maybe these physical descriptions aren't meant to be taken at face value.

I also bought the 1992 accessory "The Great Glacier" so I could find out more about the Ulutiuns, but in that booklet they are described as having "light yellow skin" which I suppose could be poetically referred to as golden. I don't know if this old book is still considered to be canon or not though.

So, what do you think? Are there meant to be metallic gold-skinned humans in 5E? Or is that skin tone reserved for Sun Elves and certain Dragonborn?

[CaptAl]

Not even Raistlin had that skin tone naturally. It was the result of Fistandantilus' protecting him from a dark elf's fireball. To the best of my knowledge no humans in Faerûn or anywhere else has that skin tone naturally. All of the "races" of humanity in the SCAG are just mirrors of what we have on Earth.

The race you're referencing would most closely resemble indigenous people from the Arctic, such as Inuits.

[Darksidebro]

Well... Raistlin Majere is a Human from Krynn, the Dragonlance world. He looked like a normal (although sickly) human until he completed his time at the Tower of High Sorcery. At that point he was cursed with hourglass eyes and the Golden skin.

That being said. All the art I've seen of him hasn't been literally Metalic, more like light olive that looks like no t-shiney gold.

THAT being said. I'd refrain from giving an entire race of humans Metalic skin.. it just seems like an individual thing rather than trying to justify the entire race having it.

[Toadkiller]

But your could look at fey blood, say 1/4 elf and all you get us the skin color. Or a genasai or teifling that looks mostly human.

[Arkhios]

Aasimar do sometimes have metallic skin, and often are of human descend. Might as well be golden...
Ask your DM if you could play an Aasimar.

[Coffee_Dragon]

Maybe there's an El Dorado in Maztica?

[Azreal]

Aasimar would be a good bet for you since its been noted in other systems (Pathfinder) to be a thing they sometimes have as their mark so to speak.

Course they are only like 99.5% human, .5% celestial

[baticeer]

Aasimar does seem like a good option for you. Just wanted to point out, I'm fairly sure Sun Elves don't have metallic, shiny-gold skin either. If they're described as golden-skinned, it's meant to be read that have the same skintone in the description of those Faerunian humans. It's a kind of tone that can be found in a variety of different human ethnicities.

From your first post, the Tuigan are modeled on the Mongols, and Ulutiun are based on Inuit peoples.

[Sigreid]

Step 1: Get immunity to fire
Step 2: Have your self bronzed like baby booties
Step 3: Profit

[DragonSorcererX]

I know that the real answer is always "Ask your DM" but I wanted to see if there was any general consensus on this question.

As a point of reference, the Dragonlance character Raistlin Majere has metallic golden skin. Is there any type of human in 5E that can have gold skin?

I'm mostly unfamiliar with the Forgotten Realms setting, which is the default for 5E. I bought the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide to check for answers, and it provided two potential candidates.

Tuigan - "a bronze or golden cast to their skin"

Ulutiun - "golden-skinned people"

Both of those appear on page 112 of the SCAG, but I don't know if they literally mean golden like shiny metal. After all, when people say "olive complexion" they don't actually mean green, so maybe these physical descriptions aren't meant to be taken at face value.

I also bought the 1992 accessory "The Great Glacier" so I could find out more about the Ulutiuns, but in that booklet they are described as having "light yellow skin" which I suppose could be poetically referred to as golden. I don't know if this old book is still considered to be canon or not though.

So, what do you think? Are there meant to be metallic gold-skinned humans in 5E? Or is that skin tone reserved for Sun Elves and certain Dragonborn?

Go dragon sorcerer of the gold dragon heritage, your skin is now covered in golden metallic dragonscales!

[Darlock]

Wow, thanks for all of the great replies. This has been educational for me. Of course in retrospect, after seeing it all spelled out above, it now seems obvious that of course human skin tones would be within the range of normal human-colored skin, because they're humans.

I rather sheepishly admit that my preoccupation with the character being human was purely motivated by the fact that they get a feat at first level. I was just looking for a "by the book" way to also get golden skin, mainly because it would look cool, but I now see many reasons why that doesn't really fit, barring special circumstances.

This has all been very helpful! Thanks!

[Malifice]

If you want Golden (metallic) skin, just have it.

Some magical experiment gone awry, or a curse in your lineage (some say your ancestor was a Golden dragon), or whatever cool thing you can think of.

What DM is going to say 'no'?

[Belac93]

I would allow it. There really isn't any problem. Check out the Malazan book of the fallen, the people called the 'Napan' I believe. It is said many times that their skin is tinted blue, but you really forget about it when just reading the book, because they are exactly the same as all other humans, apart from their appearance.

[baticeer]

Yeah, if I were your DM I would definitely let you have golden skin if you just want it because it'd look neat. Might not be strictly "by the book" but it'd be fun. You'd want to have people reacting to your character with confusion, and assuming you might be some kind of non-human creature. But yes, you're not going to find a large population of naturally gold-skinned humans in Faerûn.

Out of curiosity, what class is the character you're planning on? I just had the idea of a barbarian whose Unarmored Defense is flavored as an effect of some magical curse which turned his skin to metal...

[tieren]

Just do it.

And then make him from a tribe of people that ritualistically cover their skin with earth tones of mud. Could make for a fun reveal down the line.

[Darlock]

Out of curiosity, what class is the character you're planning on?

The character is a warlock, and my original desire for golden skin came from the fact that I'm a big fan of the comic book character Adam Warlock.

I'm encouraged by the prevailing opinion that most DMs would probably allow it anyway though.

[Joe the Rat]

Note that metallic does not mean polished. Almost ever instance of Raistlin (and Adam Warlock) depict odd a metallic color, not a metallic finish. Think closer to gold paint.

Sorcerer can get there through 1) Draconic Heritage (Gold or Brass), or 2) Wild magic (because why not?).
Warlock... Prestidigitation or Disguise self (available at-will at level 2) can make you look golden... or not golden as needed.
A Brass-colored Fire genasi would be pretty cool. Works better on Wizard. Then again, so might Him.
Sell your DM on having gold-colored skin as a result of whatever gave you the power that you have.

[Dalebert]

I have a similar question. The SCAG described sun elves and moon elves. Moon elves have pale blue skin. AL rules limit you to the PHB plus one other sourcebook for character creation but moon elves are just fluff--appearance and personality. Such things are generally allowed, i.e. you can say that you're unusual in some way if it has no mechanical impact and you have a background to justify it, AFAIK. At least I've never seen anyone challenge such things.

Does simply saying my character is a moon elf, which is just a fluffed high elf, now limit me from other sourcebooks? Because other than being a moon elf, I went with Elemental Evil.

I'm just curious what folks think. I'm going to run with it unless and until someone uppity-up demands otherwise.

[HeyBJ]

The character is a warlock, and my original desire for golden skin came from the fact that I'm a big fan of the comic book character Adam Warlock.

I'm encouraged by the prevailing opinion that most DMs would probably allow it anyway though.

Warlock? That's easy. Your character's golden skin was a result of the pact with his patron. Have fun coming up with the details, seems like there could be some juicy character reveal/development as a result.

[Inevitability]

Aasimar would be a good bet for you since its been noted in other systems (Pathfinder) to be a thing they sometimes have as their mark so to speak.

Course they are only like 99.5% human, .5% celestial

Well, it depends. Aasimar can appear in any family that has at least one celestial ancestor, but there's nothing preventing someone with an angel grandparent becoming an aasimar, regardless of edition.