D&D 5E Altering Drow Culture.

[Sithlord]

Look, lets be real: if Drizzt wasn't the iconic Drow hero, said iconic Drow hero would've been the Drow version of David Bowie. Ziggy Stardust drow edition even.

Drizzt is not an iconic drow. He is the outlier with a sense of morality and compassion. An almost nonexistent trait among drow.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Until someone writes something as good as those early Salvatore novels, Drow ain't gonna change. It's got to fire the imagination and spread like wildfire, some niche sourcebook won't change much.

For me, Drow are black, evil and super-cool. And old-skool Drizzt is the iconic outcast rebel somehow out-cooling even them.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Yeah, but then how is #1 edgy boi Drizzt going to be cool if he's rebelling against sex, drugs and rock and roll?

"Whatever, Mom! I'm going to church and buy slacks and there's nothing you can do about it!"

Why do people think of Drizzt as edgy? He's pretty bland, outside of not being evil, which is hardly "edgy boi" material. His most notable traits are his equipment, followed by his non-standard race.

 

[Weiley31]

Why do people think of Drizzt as edgy? He's pretty bland, outside of not being evil, which is hardly "edgy boi" material. His most notable traits are his equipment, followed by his non-standard race.

Association simply because he's a Drow and Edgelord being a common DND character trope type.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Further degrading his coolness, sorry kewlness, Drizzt is far from the only goody two shoes drow nowadays. There's scads of them, IIRC, who have returned to the surface and become... hippies it sounds like. I dunno, it's Forgotten Realms and I try to ignore that. Add to the FR hippies the number of PCs who are Drizzt clones. Sooooo many good drow.

He was never a loner, either. The first time we meet him he's got a bunch of close friends.

But hey, isn't this thread about altering drow culture? Coming up with ways to make them different and interesting? How about a civil war between the one's who pronounce their name to rhyme with "cow" and the ones who pronounce it to rhyme with "sew."

 

[bulletmeat]

Further degrading his coolness, sorry kewlness, Drizzt is far from the only goody two shoes drow nowadays. There's scads of them, IIRC, who have returned to the surface and become... hippies it sounds like. I dunno, it's Forgotten Realms and I try to ignore that. Add to the FR hippies the number of PCs who are Drizzt clones. Sooooo many good drow.

He was never a loner, either. The first time we meet him he's got a bunch of close friends.

But hey, isn't this thread about altering drow culture? Coming up with ways to make them different and interesting? How about a civil war between the one's who pronounce their name to rhyme with "cow" and the ones who pronounce it to rhyme with "sew."

I don't care what anyone says, drow is closer to crow than cow. Even The Crow movie made me think of a drow.

Actually that might be an interesting take. 1e said elves could not be resurrected, but maybe Drow are mysteriously resurrected elves.

 

[Sithlord]

I feel bad for the OP. This thread turned into some really good humor. But probably very little material for him to create what he wants.

 

[Krachek]

Ever hear something that absolutely clicks and may resolve a problematic concept?
Drow is glam rockers as a culture
they are more Bon Jovi than dominatrix.
they just don't like adventurers, but they will put on the most 80's show ever.
The spider symbology and the history of Lloth: for merchandising purposes (It was for a Stephen King concept album). .
it also explains the widow's peak hairstyle of male drow in 1st edition.
**************************
Would you Use this?

Use not,
but certainly like it.
It’s always fun to turn thing upside down.
Drow are the rebels against the tyranny of Pelor and its son Asmodeus who want a World of virtue and piety!
Drow are guided by the banished angel Loth.
and so on!

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Yes, sorry OP, dumb jokes aside.

First time I used Drow I gave them weird drugged, surgically altered, choirs. Each member of the choir was modified to produce only one (perfect!) note. The idea was inspired by the pod people choir used by the Skeksis in Dark Crystal. Oh and this guy:

(SFW)

In that same instance I also gave them 3D cities; buildings hanging from ceilings, caves carved into ceilings and giant stalactites. This 3D geography necessitated all sorts of cable cars that were powered by lobotomised slaves.

And despite all of this I played them as very friendly, civilised, sophisticated, and cosmopolitan people.

 

[Dire Bare]

My drow commonly refer to Lolth as the Dreamweaver, and consider dreaming (like, actually dreaming, not the mental exercises performed during trance) a sacred communion with her. They achieve it via the famous drow sleeping poison, which is harvested from the venom of a particular species of spider found only in the Underdark. The other elves consider Lolth a goddess of deception, who betrayed the other elven gods and lead their brethren astray with this foul drug, poisoning their minds as they lay unconscious.

WotC's current approach to "fixing" the drow problem is to expand on existing lore, which is okay I guess, but . . .

I really like what you've got going on here. Not sure how far you've taken it, but I like the idea of reinventing, or retconning, the drow so that existing drow culture isn't really evil. Dark, maybe. Antagonistic even, but not truly evil. The story we all think we know is just a stereotype based in fear and misunderstanding, but the truth is much deeper and complex.