It's based purely on the literature and the early drow from Fiend Folio, Unearthed Arcana, ect.. It's definitely accurate. It isn't about making them super elves. If I were to do that Id just play a dark leShay. As much as I would love to take credit for the truth behind their abilities, I honestly can't. I didn't make drow like this, they just are. This is an entirely accurate portrayal. Drow were never intended to be PCs and people should really stop trying to PCify them. It's sickening. I would never allow drow as a PC race in my campaigns. Nor would I wussify them just to make it feasible. That's akin to stripping a balor of it's abilities just so a person can use them as a PC race...lame.
Individuals like Drizzt were supposed to be freakish aberrations amongst the drow mentality. His dexterity was only a 20 and he was not the most dexterous of his race, although when they tried to PCify him, they used his stats as a base for the whole race, which is totally inaccurate. All drow have very high dexterity scores, though not all drow reach the max, unless DMs are maxing the NPCs. Take a closer look at the old rules and you will see exactly what I mean. As for wisdom and intelligence, drow males were more intelligent then drow females, they had to be. While drow females were more inclined to learn from their mistakes (wisdom). With males focused on scholarly learning and females obsessed with clerical responsibilities, is it any wonder their mental statistics are arranged in such a manner.
In drow society, female wizards were not unheard of, but were considered rare. Especially since...in the beggining...there were no other drow gods than Lolth...and she wasn't a god, she was a demoness. There was no, "Hi I'm Lolth, relative of the wussy seldarine gods." nope nope nope...it was "Hi I'm Lolth, a hungry evil spider demoness and I'm so pissed I'm going to eat you face off."
Their level adjustment may make them a bit lopsided, but the level adjustment is to discourage people from playing them as a PC race, not make them more feasible as a PC race. Any fool willing to play drow as a PC race had better expect severe complications, survival in the early stages of drow life is difficult. Considering the average noble drow has a dexterity of 16, the average noble drow wont get most of those bonus feats. Exceptional individuals are the only ones who even get half of them, while the most elite would get all of them. The most elite being a female drow noble. Non-noble drow don't really get
for feats.
Of course, remember, this is a straight-edge conversion, without the down-sizing. If you want wussified PC drow, just mix a drow with an elf and you'll have a completely wussy drow.
These drow are the pure, pitch black, white-haired, drow, not the chocolate brown impure drow that abound these days.
Perhaps I should label them "PURE DROW" then it would allow for people to play the current impure version. The "PURE DROW" would be the most elite of all drow, hidden deeper in the underdark then most are willing to go.
Another note, even if I allowed drow, I would certainly never allow noble drow. I think people who want to play nobles are just greedy.
It's bad enough people play drow at all. Im a traditionalist when it comes to evil races. Drow, half-orcs, orcs, ogres, half-ogres...all evil...without them, the lines between good and evil become too muddied and paladins get confused. I hate that so many people want to make GOOD characters from EVIL races. There is far to much of an obsession with anti-heroes and redemption. Everyone either wants to be the badass or the class clown.
Individuals like Drizzt were supposed to be freakish aberrations amongst the drow mentality. His dexterity was only a 20 and he was not the most dexterous of his race, although when they tried to PCify him, they used his stats as a base for the whole race, which is totally inaccurate. All drow have very high dexterity scores, though not all drow reach the max, unless DMs are maxing the NPCs. Take a closer look at the old rules and you will see exactly what I mean. As for wisdom and intelligence, drow males were more intelligent then drow females, they had to be. While drow females were more inclined to learn from their mistakes (wisdom). With males focused on scholarly learning and females obsessed with clerical responsibilities, is it any wonder their mental statistics are arranged in such a manner.
In drow society, female wizards were not unheard of, but were considered rare. Especially since...in the beggining...there were no other drow gods than Lolth...and she wasn't a god, she was a demoness. There was no, "Hi I'm Lolth, relative of the wussy seldarine gods." nope nope nope...it was "Hi I'm Lolth, a hungry evil spider demoness and I'm so pissed I'm going to eat you face off."
Their level adjustment may make them a bit lopsided, but the level adjustment is to discourage people from playing them as a PC race, not make them more feasible as a PC race. Any fool willing to play drow as a PC race had better expect severe complications, survival in the early stages of drow life is difficult. Considering the average noble drow has a dexterity of 16, the average noble drow wont get most of those bonus feats. Exceptional individuals are the only ones who even get half of them, while the most elite would get all of them. The most elite being a female drow noble. Non-noble drow don't really get
for feats.Of course, remember, this is a straight-edge conversion, without the down-sizing. If you want wussified PC drow, just mix a drow with an elf and you'll have a completely wussy drow.
These drow are the pure, pitch black, white-haired, drow, not the chocolate brown impure drow that abound these days.
Perhaps I should label them "PURE DROW" then it would allow for people to play the current impure version. The "PURE DROW" would be the most elite of all drow, hidden deeper in the underdark then most are willing to go.
Another note, even if I allowed drow, I would certainly never allow noble drow. I think people who want to play nobles are just greedy.
It's bad enough people play drow at all. Im a traditionalist when it comes to evil races. Drow, half-orcs, orcs, ogres, half-ogres...all evil...without them, the lines between good and evil become too muddied and paladins get confused. I hate that so many people want to make GOOD characters from EVIL races. There is far to much of an obsession with anti-heroes and redemption. Everyone either wants to be the badass or the class clown.
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