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Dark
elves, also known as drow, are the most divergent of the elven sub-races.
Their form similar
to other elves, but their skin color
is the inky black
of a moonless night and their hair is normally pure
white or silver.
Classes open to dark elf PCs are cleric,
fighter
(incl. ranger),
cavalier,
MU,
and thief (incl. thief-acrobat
and assassin).
Males and females
of this sub-race differ in the maximum level
attainable in the
cleric, fighter, and MU classes.
Drow are generally
evil and chaotic in nature, though player
characters are not
required to be so.
A dark elf PC is
considered an outcast from his or her
homeland deep within
the earth, whether by matter of choice, alignment,
or merely being
on the losing side of some family-wide power
struggle. As such,
drow characters do not have immediate access to
the weaponry, armor,
cloaks, and poisons that are normally found in
the possession of
NPCs of this sub-race.
The
50% MR possessed by NPC dark elves is likewise
not a property
of PCs, who have
abandoned their homeland; it is
likely that this
power is the result of extended dabbling in the dark arts
as well as the effecs
of their environment. Once having made the decision
to embark upon an
adventuring career, a drow PC
can never regain
this magic resistance short of the USE of [wish] spells
or similar magicks,
but can still rise in power and dominate fellow dark
elves. Outcast dark
elves do retain the customary elven resistance to
charm and
sleep,
and they receive a +2 bonus to all saving throws
versus magical effects.
Dark elves do not
gain the combat bonuses of the surface elves with
regard to sword
& bow, but may FIGHT with 2 weapons without
penalty, provided
each weapoin may be easily wielded in one hand.
They cannot USE
a shield when performing this type of combat, but
may use a spiked
buckler as one of their two weapons. <>
Drow can speak the
common tongue, the language of "undercommon" (a trade language of those
who dwell beneath the earth), plus
the elvish and gnomish
languages, as well as other languages up to the limit
prescribed by intelligence
score. In addition, all dark elves
"speak" the silent
tongue of subterranean dwellers, a language of
complex hand signals
and gestures, combined with facial expressions
and body language.
The range of communication in this silent
tongue is only 30',
but it is as informative as any other language
within that range.
Only the drow may fully master this tongue, though
other races may
be taught its basic signs and symbols.
Dark elves have infravision
out to a 12" range. The base movement
rate of female drow
is 15", while that of male drow is 12". Drow have
the ability to detect
secret & concealed doors just as other elves
can, and they can
also detect new construction, stonework trapas, sliding walls,
and depth underground
as do dwarves.
Dark elves can move
silently in the same manner as other elves, under the same conditions,
and are surprised
only on a 1 in 8 chance.
All dark elves have
the innate ability to USE the following magic spells
once per day: dancing
lights, faerie fire, and darkness,
5' radius.
Upon attaining 4th
level in any class, dark elves gain the abilty to CAST
detect
magick, know alignment, and
levitate,
also once per day.
Females of 4th level
or higher also can USE clairvoyance,
detect
lie (or its reverse), <>
suggestion,
and dispel magic, each once per day.
Ability scores for
drow characters may be generated either by normal
means, or by the
method described on page 34 of
the FIEND FOLIO Tome,
at the option of
the DM. If the latter method is used, the adjustments
to initial dice
rolls for elves given in the "Penalties and Bonuses for Race" section
(PH, page
14) do not apply.
Drow are affected
by light in the same manner as gray dwarves (see above). <>
They will prefer
to travel either at night or in gloomy, overcast
conditions when
they venture out into the surface world.
< When drow of
promising ability reach 6th level or slightly higher,
Lolth will summon
them and put them through a specially-designed test.
The drow that fail
will become driders. >
serleran
wrote:
Sweet!
Am I invited?
Now, for the good Colonel--
Maybe
this has been answered somewhere, and if so, then I'm just blind and dumb.
But...
why are there at least 3 versions of the Drow? There's the one from the
MM, one from FF, and the stat method and character classes options in UA.
For everyone else-- Which one, or something else, is the most commonly used?
As for the convention to be held here in LG, I do believe all gamers are invited!
Now, under the heading of water under the bridge :roll:
Hmmmm...
I don't
recall any drow in the MM.
AS
a matter of fact I know there were nont there, as I created the race after
the MM was written.
As
for drow apearing in the UA work, those details
there were for DMs who were looking for information on how to create potent
NPCs of that race.
Cheers,
Gary
Quote:
Originally
posted by Redleg06
Gary,
Someone may have asked this before, but I cannot resist throwing the hand-grenade into the china shop.
Kla-BLAM!
Okay, as the smoke and fragments clear, I step forth unharmed
Quote:
Drow.
Was the original intent to create a reace of evil elves? Or just to create
a race of sub-terrainian elves with dark skin and kewl abilities? (And
those nifty little hand-crossbows!) [/B]
Both,
as a matter of fact. I wanted to have a new, unique, and interesting race
of demi-humans that dwelled in and command much of the vast underworld
of Oerth. They were, as stated, of Evil bent as a race, so the clear intent
was to have fell opponents for non-Evil PC. That all drow were not of Evil
I also noted in the "Gord the Rogue" tales, for Leda, a drow, was certainly
not of malign sort.
The drow abilities were given to them to highlight their unique nature and potency.
Cheers,
Gary
Originally
posted by Dinkeldog
As
an addendum to Redleg's question, was the intent that all drow would be
evil and no player could ever be one?
Noppers.
As noted in my reply to Redleg's post, I didn't think all drow had to be
evil--only maybe 99% It then follows that some player might have a drow
character, Evil or not, as the DM allowed
Cheers,
Gary
Quote:
Originally
posted by Felon
There
was a thread over on the WotC board fairly recently about drow and their
weapons. It dwelled on the fact that in 3e, the rule for drow weapons &
armor degrading in sunlight was thrown out. Sean Reynolds' stated that
rule was discarded intentionally because the only reason that rule existed
in the first place was to "screw the players". Do you feel that statement,
and the accompanying general sentiment expressed by others that AD&D
drow were over-the-top and introduced solely to be the "ultimate party-killers",
is at all fair and accurate? [/B]
Heh,
and my opinion of Mr. Reynolds' statement must be self-censored. Given
that the whole concept of the game is fantasy, what, pray tell, makes drow
weapons disintegrating in the radiation from the sun any more unreasonable
than just about everything else of fantastic natute in the game? More likely
he was unable to find a rationale for the effect, and needing a rule for
everything had to do as was done.
As
for drow being too difficult to defeat, boo-hoo-hoo. Good players managed
to do so with their PCs pretty handily, second-rate ones lost. Is the game
to be a cake-walk or a challenge? Speaking for OAD&D, I can state the
former was meant to be the case. As for 3E, well, you be the judge...
"DRow"
in an Anglo-Saxon word. I found it in an old unexpurgated dictionary way
back when. It means "dark elf." From that entry I created the drow race
for AD&D, of course. There is no other background for them in myth
or fable. Their characteristics were designed as they were to make them
a suitable set of inhabitants of the subterranean world.
Cheerio,
Gary
Originally
Posted by LordVyreth
Quote:
Moving
on from alignment questions, here's something similar. It seems that people
are getting more into playing good individuals of typically evil races,
like orcs and drow, and even generally universally evil beings like demons
and vampires. Do you agree that it's a new thing, or has that been a constant
throughout the game? If it is new, do you think it reflects a way gamers
look at the world and concepts like universal evil, or is it just because
evil characters are considered "cooler" for some reason? I'll post my opinions,
but I'd like to hear what you think first.
Vyreth
As
there will well be abberations in nature, a chaotic good orc, or drow,
is of possible interest to the player who wants a challenge for the PC--
virtually
every hand will be against such characters.
Having
demons and vampires of similar stamp is so much nonsense, comparable in
my mind to a grass-eating lion or a friendly wolverine.
The
nature of true evil is just that--no good in it whatsoever.
As for when such approach commenced, I can't say, but the politically correct view of evil individuals as mere victims of their surroundings and upbringing might be involved.
Cheers,
Gary
Quote:
Originally
Posted by Tuzenbach
I
had a character who was a Drow (ambidexterity) specializing in darts (ordinarily
4 thrown darts per round but double it due to ambidexterity) who always
carried a couple of potions of speed. My view was that if one such potion
was imbibed, his rate of fire would increase from 8 to 16. If the second
potion was taken, his rate of fire would then jump to 32. In fact, I kept
this knowledge to myself until such a time that I was able to single-handedly
knock off a 100-hit-point-plus black dragon! Ah, ignorant DM's can be so
fun. :-)
Anyway, was it your intention for the Drow's ambidexterity to double his number of attacks? And were potions of speed cumulative with each other to a probable infinity? I only ask because I could never find anything in the rules opposing my theories. And if a Drow lives to be 1000+, who cares about a bit of magical aging, 'ya know?
Again, humble apologies if these sorts of questions were answered in previous Q&A's. But if so, just let me know and I'll go look for them. Thank you!
Well...
I suppose that the Drow ambidexterity would extend to hand-thrown missiles, so you were not off base there. An ambidextrous character can attack twice, yes, but of course that means no shield, and a penalty on the second attack is usual, eh? You were well out in left field though claiming speed potions were cumulative. I can't blame you, though, as I have attempted to bulldoze GMs in like manner when i was power gaming <paranoid>
Realistically, a drow character would care about losing 1% of his lifespan on a regular basis, don't you think?
cheers,
Gary
Quote:
Originally
Posted by Tuzenbach
Erm,
what? Are you referring to the "off-hand" attack? I took the Drow's ambidexterity
to mean they had NO off-hand and, thus, no off-hand penalty.
Does
anyone use common sense? Even an ambidextrous person can't hammer two nails
at the same time with equal skill...
Quote:
Originally
Posted by Tuzenbach
You
mean .01% of his life, surely. There I go again, rules-lawyering like a
madman. Actually, I had only meant for this muti-speed thing to be a sort
of "secret weapon". Afterall, where was he to get replacements for the
spent potions on a regular basis? Hence, it was only ever used once.
Yuppers,
my bad. I had the wish spell in mind, a 10-year aging effect. and single-use
with a year lost would not be a factor to any adventurous, long-lived demi-human,
I agree,
Quote:
Originally
Posted by Elfdart
My
nickname on the web boards comes from the old English term for back spasms
(which I suffered several years ago) being labeled "elf darts" because
the ancient Germanic peoples thought sudden pains and spasms were caused
by invisible darts from the elves. On the other hand, Tolkien nerds are
more of a pain in the a$$.
Interesting
origin of the name, and something I had not read before. thanks.
Happy for you that the spasms have ceased. I injured by back when I was working as a mover in my late teens, and had many a chiropractic treatment before a kinesiologist one cured the proble,
Cheers,
Gary
As
for Drow, I never envisaged them as a standard PC race.
I
guess I erred in not making them more loathesome...although malign subterranean
elves that love spiders seem pretty unappealing as is...
Cheers,
Gary
Quote:
Originally
Posted by Pbartender
Which
exactly what makes them so appealing to a certain sub-set of players...
Some people like playing the loathesome critters.
Better
playing one that being one, eh?
Quote:
Originally
Posted by Aeolius
Gary,
Were
there any beasties from the 1e days (and prior... I respect anyone who
puts a tuatara in their monster lists) that you considered to be "classic",
that never seemed to catch on with the masses?
That
is something I had not considered.
Upon
reflection I have to say no, the "architypical" monsters were pretty well
accepted across the board and included by DMs...includine many very clever
variations and permutations.
What astonished me was the players' being smitten with the drow, desiring to play a PC of that race. I devised them as a most unlikable, ruthlessly evil subterranean race. To cater to the demand, the Drow were made into realtively more warm and fuzzy sorts. I can only liken that into changing Hannibal Lector into a visiting nurse.
All that said, do you find that some "classic" critters to be generally ignored?
Cheers,
Gary
Quote:
Originally
Posted by Gentlegamer
Do
you regret catering to that demand (or any other demand)?
Don't
look at me when you ask that question, for I had nothing to do with the
making of the Drow into more namby-pamby sorts, their males on a par with
the females 
The
demands I regret catering to are the ones for adding psionics to OAD&D
and the adjustments for weapons vs. armor.
I
am delighted I refused to do detailed encumbrance tables as a number of
vocal fans advocated.
Cheerio,
Gary