Pride and personality
The key to the dark elf's personality is
pride. Any dark elf, no matter how lowly
his station, feels that he is a natural aristocrat. No matter how powerful a nondrow
is, or how awe-inspiring his achievements
are, the most open praise a dark elf will
usually give is: ?You did about as well as
could be expected, for a [fill in racial
name].? When dealing with drow, other
beings often note a hint of elaborate,
subtle mockery in the dark elven manner.

When among other races, even the humblest beggar-drow carries himself like a
prince in exile.
For a dark elf, pride in clan comes just
after pride in self. The achievements of a
noble house are believed to reflect upon
all its members; a merchant clan?s successes, for example, are sources of pride
for each member. At the same time, this
pride often leads to bitter feuds between
noble houses, since no drow is willing to
believe that a house other than his own
should be more prominent in a drow
colony. These internecine feuds often
grow very nasty, with assassins plying
their trade briskly or with open battles
breaking out in little-traveled corridors.
One reason the drow give for the preemi

nence of the priestesses of Lolth among
them is that the priestesses ensure that
these feuds are never taken to the point of
endangering any one colony of drow. As a
result, many dark-elven ballads celebrate
heroes and heroines whose loyalty to their
clans and kin saved the day.

The third sort of pride all dark elves feel
is pride in their race and its accomplishments. To be sure, the drow do have reasons for being proud. In one of the most
threatening environments on the Prime
Material Plane, they not only survive but
thrive within and dominate their surroundings. Dark-elven legend states that in
the beginning, all elves were challenged to
enter the underworld and test themselves
against its elements. The ancestors of the
drow accepted this challenge, and were
made different from all other elves to
commemorate their courage. Because of
this, dark elves scorn their surfacedwelling kinfolk for choosing the easy,
u n t r o u b l e d   l i f e .   ?More danger, more glory?
is a common drow saying.

Dark societies
Some commentators have wondered
how the chaotic-evil drow manage to hold
themselves together and survive at all,
much less how they have done as well as
they have. The answer lies in clan loyalty,
as noted earlier. Even the most chaotic,
evil, and primitive drow differentiate
between the "in group" with whom an
individual cooperates and the ?out groups?
who are fair game. This is reflected among
primitive tribes in our own world: Many
of the names these tribes give themselves
translate as ?the people,? indicating that
outsiders are not quite regarded as human.
The drow feel much the same, although more so about their merchant clan
or noble house, purely as a matter of
survival. Clan loyalty among dark elves is
intense and deep, even though it does not
preclude nonlethal infighting for positions,

of dominance within the group. The drow
feel that leadership should go to those
who show themselves worthy, and a
leader worthy of the title is able to keep
subordinates loyal to the clan.

Drow adventurers are usually social
exiles, and have no clan to which they may
cleave. This loss tends to make drow adventurers intensely loyal to their adventuring party, although their normal
tendency for domination is exacerbated by
dealing with nondrow. Such a drow defends the group with fervor and fury
(simply as a matter of survival) in order to
preserve the only surface-dwellers with
whom he feels even partially comfortable
-- yet may constantly quarrel with and
engage in petty rivalries with group members when with the group alone.
One tendency drow share with the other
elves is a deep appreciation of beauty and
quality in all things. For the drow, this
appreciation is manifested in a drive to
excel at whatever is done. A drow craftsman with centuries of perspective thinks
nothing of taking a few decades off to
become skilled in some new craft technique. This drive for excellence ensures
that any items manufactured by drow are
of the best quality and beauty. The love of
b e a u t y   i s   s o m e w h a t   s p o i l e d   b y   t h e   s h a r p
and egotistical pride they feel in viewing
their own works.

The drow love of beauty is one main
reason their race engages in the construction of free-standing buildings in the high,
wide caverns they favor. Queried on this
practice, a drow often responds: ?What
scope for skill can holes grubbed out of
the rock afford?? This tendency for building runs contrary to that of most other
underground races.

The drive to excel at all things, combined with personal pride, tempts most
dark elves to leave menial work to slaves
or servants, thus providing the free-time
for studying spell-casting or practicing the

warrior's arts. Even drow thieves and
assassins take great pride in their skills,
often competing to see who can steal the
most in a set time, or to see who can assassinate a particularly difficult target first.
Dark-elven society, unlike that of any
known race of surface elves, is basically
matriarchal. Whether or not this came
from the widespread worship of the demoness Lolth is unknown. In any case,
noble houses are usually led by their most
dominant female member. The males
accept this rule without cavil. Like other
elves, the dark elves do not discriminate
against a dark elf of proven ability simply
on account of sex (noble houses led by
males exist, though they are rare).
The priestesses of Lolth, along with their
male assistants, form an elite group and
provide such race-wide leadership as
exists. When an intrafamily vendetta
threatens the colony, or an outside threat
has been detected, the priestesses of Lolth
usually rally the other dark elves to their
banner. No drow could willingly accept
domination by any single noble house, but
those who serve Lolth serve a cause that
almost all evil (and even some neutral)
dark elves revere.

T h e   d r o w a d v e n t u r e r
Drow adventurers are even rarer than
halfling adventurers. A drow needs very
powerful motives to leave his or her clan.
One common motive for such departure is
alignment. Any good-aligned dark elf finds
his entire society repugnant. The casual
acceptance of betrayal and treachery as
methods of advancing the clan's cause, the
worship of Lolth and trafficking with
other demons and devils, the casual cruelty with which slaves are treated -- all of
this tends to alienate a good dark elf.
Attempts at reforming drow society might
follow, only to be promptly quelled by the
amused majority. When a good dark elf
has had enough, he might well decide to
defect to the side of the predominantly
good, surface-dwelling races.

Evil drow might also find themselves
trying their luck among the surfacedwellers. In this case, the predominant
motive could well be that their clans have
been virtually destroyed as a result of a
vendetta or assassins? war. With no clan
and many enemies, the surface might hold
fewer terrors than the drow?s subterranean home.
Still another motive that could apply to
any drow adventurer is greed. Dark elves
are well aware of their relative advantages
over other races, and a dissatisfied dark
elf might easily decide to put his skills to
use against inferior opposition. This sort
of dark elf usually plans a brief surface
sojourn with intentions of returning much
richer than when he set out.

As can be expected with such a unique
race of beings, the dark elves approach
each profession in their own distinctive
manner. Often, their perspective on a
given profession is unlike that of any other
known race.

Dark-elven cavaliers are immediately
recognizable (even in full plate mail with a
closed visor) by the holstered handcrossbow they invariably carry. Since
cavaliers must start out as good characters, these dark elves are converts from
evil. Like many other converts, they are
often more fervent about the cause than
those whose lives have been spent in its
service. Good and neutral drow cavaliers
are among the most relentless foes evil
has. Their race is often an advantage in
itself, for many evil beings are more at
home in darkness  ? an element in which
the drow operates at peak efficiency. As
the drow reach higher levels, their innate
spells become more useful, particularly
against enemies who are unaware of the
fact that they?re up against a dark elf.

Dark-elven clerics are almost all female.
Unlike other elves, dark-elven females have
unlimited advancement in the clerical class,
which gives rise to some anomalous situations.
A case is known in which a dark elven female cleric of Corellon Larethian
rose far past the highest level that the
worship of Corellon Larethian normally
allowed. Like regular cavaliers, goodaligned, dark-elven clerics are particularly
remorseless in battling evil; their familiarity
fuels their hatred of it.

Fighters hold a relatively low status
among dark elves, even among the ranks
of adventurers. Most dark-elven fighters
are multi-classed, if any talent for another
career exists. No dark elf likes to think
that  all  he is good for is fighting. Nevertheless, a dark elf with fighting skills alone
works just as hard to perfect these skills
as he would in any other profession.

Drow rangers are a rare and special
breed. Like dark-elven cavaliers, they are
usually converts from evil, and are just as
fervent against it as are dark-elven cavaliers. Not surprisingly, drow rangers prefer operating at night, making them
invaluable members of any rangers? organization. Since many evil beings think that
the night is  their  time, a few drow rangers
can often be more effective than their
numbers warrant. This is due, in part, to
the overconfidence of their foes. Taking
advantage of their race?s evil reputation
also helps. A drow ranger has a better
chance of entering an orc encampment
and being accepted as a nonthreatening
stranger than any surface-dwelling demihuman does.

Magic-users among the drow tend to be
male for the same reasons that female
drow tend to be clerics. Often, a darkelven male who chafes at female domination within his society takes up magic in
an effort to excel at something few female
drow are capable of. Good drow magicusers tend to be less dismayed over the
concept of dealing with demons than they
do over dealing with magic-users of other
races, especially since drow magic-users
are so familiar with various beings from
the lower planes.

Thieves and thief-acrobats of dark-elven
race steal primarily to prove their superiority over nondrow characters. Their
predilection for operating in darkness,
combined with their innate spell-ability
and high dexterity, make drow thieves
difficult to stop. In thieves? guilds, dark
elves often specialize in the kinds of jobs
that cause other thieves to despair. Drow
thieves believe that success where other
thieves fear to dare demonstrates darkelven superiority.

Drow assassins seldom bother to go
adventuring. In drow society, these characters perform a function that is both
valuable and in high demand, and one in
which they take great pride. In the eternal
cold war between various noble houses
and their associated merchant clans, darkelven assassins often do the perilous work
of removing leaders who pose a particular
threat. At other times, they perform the
task of removing particularly charismatic
troublemakers who threaten dark-elven
society with reform or the overthrow of
Lolth?s priestesses. Since the drow seldom
dare to war openly among themselves, the
skillful assassin receives much of the status that a fighter receives among other
races. In fact, the drow attempt to hire the
services of nondrow assassins of higher
rank than they themselves can attain.
These higher-level assassins are offered
enticing rewards and challenging work.
Several human Guildmaster Assassins have
accepted these offers; one Grandmother of
Assassins who disappeared mysteriously is
said to have taken on the job of defending
a hard-pressed noble house.

R a c i a l   c o n s i d e r a t i o n s
Dark elves distrust most characters  ?
dark elven or not  ? who are not members
of their noble house or clan, but they do
make some judgments by race.

Generally, dark elves respect humans of higher level
than they themselves can attain.

Contrary to  Unearthed Arcana,  dark elves should
have a neutral disposition with respect to
halflings. Unlike the other races to which
they bear antipathy, halflings are not
competitors for dark-elven food and living
space. Furthermore, halflings do not even
vaguely resemble races whom the drow
disdain; as a result, most dark elves are
entirely unfamiliar with halflings.

Gnomes, despite their similarities to
halflings, are another story. Deep gnomes
and dark elves have feuded throughout
history, fighting over alignment, food, and
living space. The deep gnomes are also
tempted by the wealth of the dark elves,
who share an envious greed over the
wealth of the gnomes. This tends to make
dark elves prejudiced toward all gnomes,
whether ?deep? or not. The gnomes? love
of pranks and japes makes matters even
worse. Although dark elves have a good
sense of humor, they find jokes directed at
them extremely unamusing.

Hill and mountain dwarves, being easily
the most subterranean of all the surface
d w e l l i n g   r a c e s ,   h a v e   a   l o n g   h i s t o r y   o f
c o n f l i c t   w i t h   t h e   d a r k   e l v e s .   T h e   d w a r v e s
u s u a l l y   c l a i m   t h e y   w e r e   t u n n e l i n g   a l o n g
w h e n   t h e   d a r k   e l v e s   a m b u s h e d   t h e m
w i t h o u t   w a r n i n g .   L i k e w i s e ,   t h e   d a r k   e l v e s
c l a i m   t h a t   t h e   d w a r v e s ,   h a v i n g   d i s c o v e r e d
t h e   d r o w   w e a l t h ,   d e l i b e r a t e l y   t u n n e l e d
t o w a r d   t h e i r   t r e a s u r e   c a c h e s .   T h e   u s u a l
d w a r v e n - e l v e n   d i f f e r e n c e s   i n   o u t l o o k
m e r e l y   m a k e   t h i n g s   m o r e   b i t t e r .   T o   t h e
d i s d a i n f u l   d r o w ,   d w a r v e s   a r e   g r o t e s q u e ,
s e l f - e n s l a v e d ,   c o m p u l s i v e   h o a r d e r s .   T h e
d w a r v e s ,   f o r   t h e i r   p a r t ,   c a n ? t   u n d e r s t a n d
h o w   a n y   r a c e   w i t h   t h e   u n d e n i a b l e   s u b t e r r a n e a n   s k i l l s   o f   t h e   d r o w   c a n   b e   s o   f l i g h t y .
F u r t h e r m o r e ,   t h e   d r o w   p e n c h a n t   f o r
s l a v e r y   a n d   e v i l   e n r a g e s   d w a r v e s .

T h e   d a r k   e l v e s   a r e   o f   t w o   m i n d s   a b o u t
h a l f - o r c s .   T h e   f e w   h a l f - o r c   a s s a s s i n s   o f
l e v e l s   a b o v e   t h o s e   t h e   d r o w   t h e m s e l v e s
c a n   a t t a i n   a r e   r e s p e c t e d   ( t h o u g h   n e v e r   t o
t h e   s a m e   e x t e n t   t h a t   h u m a n s   o f   e q u a l   l e v e l
a r e ) .   O t h e r   h a l f - o r c s   a r e   l u m p e d   t o g e t h e r
w i t h   o r c s ,   h o b g o b l i n s ,   a n d   o t h e r   h u m a n o i d s   i n   t h e   d a r k - e l v e n   m i n d .   S u c h   h u m a n o i d s   a r e   r e g a r d e d   a s   u s e f u l   c a t s - p a w s   a n d
p a t s i e s ,   b u t   a r e   n o t   d e s e r v i n g   o f   m u c h
r e s p e c t .   T h u s ,   h a l f - o r c s   a r e   o f t e n   u n d e r e s t i m a t e d   b y   t h e   d a r k   e l v e s .   T h e   e x c e l l e n t
c r a f t s m a n s h i p   o f   t h e   g n o m e s   a n d   d w a r v e s
i s   r e s p e c t e d   b y   t h e   d r o w ,   a n d   t h e   f e w
h a l f l i n g s   t h e   d r o w   e n c o u n t e r   a r e   r e s p e c t e d   f o r   t h e i r   s u p e r l a t i v e   t h i e v i n g
a b i l i t i e s .   B u t   h a l f - o r c s   h a v e   n o   c r a f t s   o r
a r t s ,   n o r   a n y   r e a l   p r o s p e c t   o f   i m p r o v i n g
t h e m s e l v e s ,   C o n s e q u e n t l y ,   h a l f - o r c s   o f t e n
r e c e i v e   e x a g g e r a t e d   p r a i s e   f r o m   t h e   d a r k
e l v e s   f o r   a n y t h i n g   t h e y   m a n a g e   t o   d o .
( " O h ,   l o o k !   Y o u   a c t u a l l y   m a n a g e d   t o   k i l l
t h a t   m o n s t e r !   I s n ? t   t h a t   w o n d e r f u l ! ? )

G r a y   d w a r v e s   a r e   p r o b a b l y   t h e   r a c e
w i t h   w h o m   t h e   d r o w   f e e l   m o s t   a t   e a s e .   A s
u n d e r g r o u n d   d e m i - h u m a n s ,   b o t h   r a c e s
h a v e   a   l o t   i n   c o m m o n .   I n   m a n y   a r e a s ,   b o t h
r a c e s   h a v e   d i s c o v e r e d   t h a t   c o o p e r a t i o n
b e n e f i t s   b o t h   s i d e s .   D a r k   e l v e s   a n d   g r a y
d w a r v e s   h a v e   o f t e n   f o u g h t   a s   a l l i e s .   L i k e w i s e ,   t h e   t w o   r a c e s   o f t e n   e n g a g e   i n   a   g r e a t
d e a l   o f   t r a d e .   T h e   d a n g e r s   o f   t h e   u n d e r g r o u n d   e n v i r o n m e n t   f o r c e   b o t h   s i d e s   t o
s u p p r e s s   t h e   t r a d i t i o n a l   d w a r v e n - e l v e n
d i s t r u s t   t h a t   i s   t y p i c a l   o f   t h e i r   s u r f a c e d w e l l i n g   c o u s i n s .
S u r f a c e   e l v e s ,   a s   i s   w e l l - k n o w n ,   a r e   t h e
p e o p l e   t h e   d r o w   h a t e   m o s t .   E v e n   g o o d a l i g n e d ,   s u r f a c e - d w e l l i n g   d a r k   e l v e s   s h a r e
s o m e   o f   t h i s   f e e l i n g ,   a l b e i t   t o   a   l e s s e r   d e g r e e .   T h e   d r o w   f e e l   c o n t e m p t u o u s   o f   t h e
e a s y   l i f e   l e d   b y   t h e   s u r f a c e   e l v e s ;   i n   l i k e
f a s h i o n ,   t h e   s u r f a c e   e l v e s   a r e   r e v o l t e d   b y
t h e   d e m o n - w o r s h i p   c o m m o n   a m o n g   t h e
d r o w .   C i v i l   w a r s   a n d   i n t r a f a m i l y   f e u d s   a r e
u s u a l l y   t h e   m o s t   b i t t e r ,   a n d   t h e   f e u d   b e t w e e n   d a r k   a n d   s u r f a c e   e l v e s   i s   n o   e x c e p t i o n .   I n d e e d ,   m a n y   d a r k   e l v e s   w h o   d e f e c t
t o   t h e   s u r f a c e   b e c a u s e   o f   a l i g n m e n t   d o   n o t
a s s o c i a t e   w i t h   s u r f a c e   e l v e s   i f   p o s s i b l e .
O f t e n ,   t h e s e   d e f e c t o r s   f i n d   i t   d i f f i c u l t   t o
q u e l l   t h e i r   c h i l d h o o d   t r a i n i n g   o f   f e a r   a n d
h a t r e d   f o r   t h e i r   s u r f a c e - d w e l l i n g
c o u s i n s .