D&D General better dark elves?

[Mind of tempest]

It doesnt have to be. "Evil" in the Alignment/Game Term for me can be distilled into a single other word, Selfish.



Ah, Shadar-kai then.

selfish has its uses, maybe malice is more pure evil never seen malice as a good thing.

shadar kai have three clear weaknesses.

name is a mouthful
planer thus making them harder to integrate into most settings
just goth elves they lack a coolness factor

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I kinda agree that it is redundant to have both shadar-kai and drow in the same setting. To me they seem like variations of the same basic concept. But D&D has a lot of conceptually overlapping stuff like that. I do some serious curating for my own settings.

 

[Scribe]

selfish has its uses, maybe malice is more pure evil never seen malice as a good thing.

Something having a use, doesnt make it good.

I will grant you however that the primarily failing of Shadar-kai, is the name. I hate it. lol

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I will grant you however that the primarily failing of Shadar-kai, is the name. I hate it. lol

Shadow elves? I think that would be the generic name for them, just like the drow are dark elves. But that indeed sound like having wood elves and sylvan elves as separate things...

 

[MichaelSomething]

Drow are the perfect opportunity to parody emo culture!

"Life is pointless and full of pain!
Just experiencing it will make you insane!
If you're getting swept away by the flow,
Then buy some tickets to our next show!"

 

[Mind of tempest]

Drow are the perfect opportunity to parody emo culture!

"Life is pointless and full of pain!
Just experiencing it will make you insane!
If you're getting swept away by the flow,
Then buy some tickets to our next show!"

that is neither the wheelhouse of emotional hardcore punk nor the multiple types goth although both can be sad they both have some optimism to them.

those are now called by my peer group as doomers as they think everything is terrible mostly they have depression.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Shadow elves? I think that would be the generic name for them, just like the drow are dark elves. But that indeed sound like having wood elves and sylvan elves as separate things...

it has been done in basic dnd.

 

[Scribe]

Drow are the perfect opportunity to parody emo culture!

"Life is pointless and full of pain!
Just experiencing it will make you insane!
If you're getting swept away by the flow,
Then buy some tickets to our next show!"

Again, Shadar-Kai.

 

[Oofta]

In my campaign, dark elves are not dark because of their species. They're just elves. However the ones that have dark gray skin have that coloration because they follow Lollth or one of the other dark gods. If they choose to abandon that faith and want to take a different good or at least neutral path their coloration fades over time. They also lose some of the blessings of Lollth like 120 foot darkvision and the darkness spell.

There's a bit more to it than that, basically my version of the underdark is actually Svartleheim that I loosely copy from Norse mythology and almost all inhabitants of Svartleheim such as Svirfneblin also have dark gray skin that is just a reflection of the dark powers that influence them.

 

[The Soloist]

long term dark elves as you evil elves seem both likely to die and has too many unpleasant implications but what else could they be?

what other role could they take up past evil subversion?
not only about drow more all evil subversion options as well I wonder if there is anything left for them past the dustbin?

I prefer the Mystara Shadow Elves. They are more viable:
'Far beneath the Broken Lands, in the tunnels where even the humanoids fear to venture, are the lands of the mythic Shadow Elves. Pale and xenophobic, their lands actually cover networks of tunnels directly underneath Alfheim itself, and running as far as Glantri and Darokin. These tunnels are miles beneath the surface, and few outsiders ever set eye on them, none have returned to tell the tale.'

Source: The Newbie's Guide to Mystara.