TwilightWhisper
First Post
Can anyone tell me what the tactics for the drow would on two scales. The skirmish strategies and war strategies.
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Drow Fighting Tactics!
- Thread starter TwilightWhisper
- Start date
Sejs
First Post
Skirmish strats would really depend on the type of engagement - your turf vs their turf, type of terrain in the area and so on. If your on their turf, they've got two main advantages that you need to deal with: 1) they're familiar with the region. they know what tunnels go where, which ones dead-end and so forth. Good scouting or a nice Commune with Nature (if you're friendly with a druid.. as all parties should be) can help greatly. 2) they've got superior visiual abilities; 120' darkvision is hard to beat in a lightless environment. Either overload 'em with light and just deal with the fact that you'll be visible from a long ways off, or beat 'em at their own game. Magical darkness (not that crap 3.5 dim-light BS. talkin' ball of impenetrable blackness kind of dark) and some ability that lets you ignore it - tremorsense, blindsight, or something that lets you see thru magical darkness.
As for in open warfare? That's not as bad. The drow generally have all the discipline of a well-shaken bag of skittles, and the larger the group the worse it gets. Just keep engagements in open terrain, hold your formations, use teamwork, and don't let they turn it into a running series of ... skirmishes... and you should do just fine. In open warfare, drow's ECL works against them in a metagame sense - they have less HD (thus less hp and ba), but give more exp when killed.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
... unless I totally missed the point of the post and you were asking for what kind of tactics the drow would use themselves, rather that what to do against some drow. *shrug* ah well.
As for in open warfare? That's not as bad. The drow generally have all the discipline of a well-shaken bag of skittles, and the larger the group the worse it gets. Just keep engagements in open terrain, hold your formations, use teamwork, and don't let they turn it into a running series of ... skirmishes... and you should do just fine. In open warfare, drow's ECL works against them in a metagame sense - they have less HD (thus less hp and ba), but give more exp when killed.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
... unless I totally missed the point of the post and you were asking for what kind of tactics the drow would use themselves, rather that what to do against some drow. *shrug* ah well.
Dark Jezter
First Post
Read R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Trilogy and Legacy of the Drow novel series if you want to read about how the drow fight.TwilightWhisper said:
The first book in The Dark Elf Trilogy (titled Homeland) features many scenes of rival drow houses going to war with each other.
The Legacy of the Drow 4-part novel series (books 1 and 3 in particlar) feature an all-out war between the drow of Menzoberranzan and the dwarves of Mithral Hall. Lots and lots of battle scenes, where you get to see the tactics of both drow and dwarf armies.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=books/fr/fightstyle
There was this article on the FR Novels site some time ago. Hope it helps.
There was this article on the FR Novels site some time ago. Hope it helps.
Use slaves, slaves and more slaves.
Drow love to send waves of kobolds, goblins, orcs et al. while they sit back and watch the enemy tire. Then when they have seen their enemies waste their resources on the overwhelming number of mooks, the Drow sit far back in their 120 ft darkvision range and pelt you with magic and poisoned crossbow bolts. Then when you have all passed out or been captured via spells, the cruel dark elves take you back to their lair where they subject you to torture after torture after torture, slashing and tearing your skin and then healing you just slightly so that they can do it all over again.
YAY!
Drow love to send waves of kobolds, goblins, orcs et al. while they sit back and watch the enemy tire. Then when they have seen their enemies waste their resources on the overwhelming number of mooks, the Drow sit far back in their 120 ft darkvision range and pelt you with magic and poisoned crossbow bolts. Then when you have all passed out or been captured via spells, the cruel dark elves take you back to their lair where they subject you to torture after torture after torture, slashing and tearing your skin and then healing you just slightly so that they can do it all over again.
YAY!
LoneWolf23
First Post
Green Ronin's "Plot and Poison: a Guidebook to Drow" has a good section detailing common Drow tactics and their various fighting advantages.
Ranged Tactics, Guerilla Tactics and taking advantage of their Darkvision are the primary tactics of the Drow. They have a long sight range in total darkness and take advantage of it: at night or underground, they almost always see their enemies first. They prefer to fire and move, or fire from multiple angles, confusing their less-sighted opponents. And they're not ashamed to run if the tide of battle turns against them.
Besides, they don't need to rest as long as many other races, allowing them to launch attacks on a faster cycle then most other creatures can, fatiguing them quickly. They also have the advantage of Magic Resistance, the ability to cast Darkness and Dancing Lights (the latter being useful for baiting traps).
Ranged Tactics, Guerilla Tactics and taking advantage of their Darkvision are the primary tactics of the Drow. They have a long sight range in total darkness and take advantage of it: at night or underground, they almost always see their enemies first. They prefer to fire and move, or fire from multiple angles, confusing their less-sighted opponents. And they're not ashamed to run if the tide of battle turns against them.
Besides, they don't need to rest as long as many other races, allowing them to launch attacks on a faster cycle then most other creatures can, fatiguing them quickly. They also have the advantage of Magic Resistance, the ability to cast Darkness and Dancing Lights (the latter being useful for baiting traps).
Kranton Zo`erth
First Post
Drow tactics......
When considering drow tactics one must remember some key elements about the drow as a whole. 1.> they are a society designed to make use of magic in everyday life. 2.> Fanatically loyal (at least against a common foe, of course when one of their numbers needs to be removed what better time than the heat of battle) followers and multiple slave races to throw in as cannon fodder to their cause. 3.> Their society was designed to be chaotic, and therefore has a weakness with lack of discipline (at least partially....Lolth designed them to be paranoid and chaotic so they were easier to control.) 4.> deviousness, and liberal use of innate abilities, not to mention sleep poisons. 5.> Sheer ferocity.(Once again....they were designed to be chaotic.....makes for a semi-beastial persona coming out in the heat of battle.) 6.> Life above all else. each drow has a sense of self over anything else, and should be taken into consideration when deciding their tactics.
Hope this helps, even a little.....
Kranton Zo`erth
p.s. mental note to self: no more checking the boards the day before the game....or at least no more checking Twilight's posts......just doesnt pay to help the DM hurt your character.....
When considering drow tactics one must remember some key elements about the drow as a whole. 1.> they are a society designed to make use of magic in everyday life. 2.> Fanatically loyal (at least against a common foe, of course when one of their numbers needs to be removed what better time than the heat of battle) followers and multiple slave races to throw in as cannon fodder to their cause. 3.> Their society was designed to be chaotic, and therefore has a weakness with lack of discipline (at least partially....Lolth designed them to be paranoid and chaotic so they were easier to control.) 4.> deviousness, and liberal use of innate abilities, not to mention sleep poisons. 5.> Sheer ferocity.(Once again....they were designed to be chaotic.....makes for a semi-beastial persona coming out in the heat of battle.) 6.> Life above all else. each drow has a sense of self over anything else, and should be taken into consideration when deciding their tactics.
Hope this helps, even a little.....
Kranton Zo`erth
p.s. mental note to self: no more checking the boards the day before the game....or at least no more checking Twilight's posts......just doesnt pay to help the DM hurt your character.....
Sejs
First Post
1.> The problem being that not all of them can use magic. Tt would make perfect sense for them to integrate what magic they have access to into their tactics, however. Hit-and-Run archery from behind illusion cover, magically trying to douse your light sources without generating darkness they can't see thru, ambush parties hiding in rope trick spaces, and gunning for enemy spellcasters as a top priority. Things like that would all fit, but not every one of them will have several levels in wizard. If they had the men to spare, you'd probably see something along the lines of an assigned spellcaster per squad.
2.> I can't really say that I've seen alot of fanatic loyalty in the drow as they're presented. Well... other than fanatic loyalty to their own personal wellfare. As for their slaves; their slaves don't love the drow. The drow don't do anything to inspire love or loyalty in their slaves; their slaves fear them, and have been broken by them. The typical drow-slave mentality would run something like: There's nowhere to go. You can't escape. Anger them and they'll make you wish you'd just commited suicide instead.
3.> Yep. The drow are really more of Lloth's favourite plaything, then her chosen people. She doesn't -care- for them, she just doesn't like it much when other people touch her stuff.
4.> Totally agree with you on the devious bit - "fair" shouldn't be in a drow's vocabulary. What we would see as dirty and underhanded, they see as slick and practical. The use of innate abilities.... that could go either way. The abilities are really one-shot per day, and an individual drow might want to keep it in reserve as an ace-in-the-hole should he need it to cover his own arse. The sleep poison thing... eeh... on important missions and the like, sure, but the stuff has to come from somewhere. There can't just be an endless supply of it.
5.> Ferocity is what slaves are for. If you're being ferocious, you're not thinking properly, and if you're not thinking properly, you're not paying attention, and if you're not paying attention, you're dead. I could more easily see a drow force trying to goad an enemy into getting worked up by commiting some atrocities and letting them be known. Then once the enemy is in a frenzy throw a screen of slaves at them, let the slaves draw the enemy's ire, and then move in from another angle to ream the opponent while their discipline is waning.
6.> Small but important distinction: the drow's own life above all else. As far as the drow are concerned, there's only one number that's important, and that's Number One. What was the quote about a drow army? "You'll likely never see a more formidible group of individual warriors." Discipline and teamwork for them are like the doily under a cake: sure, it's pretty and all, but you certainly don't -need- it.
^_^
2.> I can't really say that I've seen alot of fanatic loyalty in the drow as they're presented. Well... other than fanatic loyalty to their own personal wellfare. As for their slaves; their slaves don't love the drow. The drow don't do anything to inspire love or loyalty in their slaves; their slaves fear them, and have been broken by them. The typical drow-slave mentality would run something like: There's nowhere to go. You can't escape. Anger them and they'll make you wish you'd just commited suicide instead.
3.> Yep. The drow are really more of Lloth's favourite plaything, then her chosen people. She doesn't -care- for them, she just doesn't like it much when other people touch her stuff.
4.> Totally agree with you on the devious bit - "fair" shouldn't be in a drow's vocabulary. What we would see as dirty and underhanded, they see as slick and practical. The use of innate abilities.... that could go either way. The abilities are really one-shot per day, and an individual drow might want to keep it in reserve as an ace-in-the-hole should he need it to cover his own arse. The sleep poison thing... eeh... on important missions and the like, sure, but the stuff has to come from somewhere. There can't just be an endless supply of it.
5.> Ferocity is what slaves are for. If you're being ferocious, you're not thinking properly, and if you're not thinking properly, you're not paying attention, and if you're not paying attention, you're dead. I could more easily see a drow force trying to goad an enemy into getting worked up by commiting some atrocities and letting them be known. Then once the enemy is in a frenzy throw a screen of slaves at them, let the slaves draw the enemy's ire, and then move in from another angle to ream the opponent while their discipline is waning.
6.> Small but important distinction: the drow's own life above all else. As far as the drow are concerned, there's only one number that's important, and that's Number One. What was the quote about a drow army? "You'll likely never see a more formidible group of individual warriors." Discipline and teamwork for them are like the doily under a cake: sure, it's pretty and all, but you certainly don't -need- it.
^_^
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