In my homebrew world, elves have a different skin pigment that reflects UV light (whereas melanin absorbs it). Lower amounts of pigmentation mean darker skin, and more means whiter skin
Because of this, deep elves aren’t as dark skinned as some humans, with the darkest being an ashy charcoal gray, but desert elves develop extremely white skin with almost no translucence
Sometimes if my party wants to do something REALLY dumb that I think might be fun, I’ll let them “quicksave” and run it through. Players get to attempt the impossible without fear, and I get to TPK without guilt =D