Do Bane (and similar) effects against elves work against drow (and vice versa)?

[Wolfspider]

Do Bane (and similar) effects against elves work against drow as well, and vice versa?

I'm trying to wrap my mind around how this works.

Thanks.

 

[hong]

Drow have the elf subtype, so an elfbane weapon would affect them as well. By the book, you can't have a drowbane weapon ("drow" isn't a subtype of humanoids, the way "elf" is), so whether this works on elves is moot. There's certainly nothing stopping you as DM from creating a bane weapon that only works on drow, though.

 

[Wolfspider]

OK. Thanks for the clarification. I thought that was how it might work, but wasn't sure.

I guess those Ancestrial Avengers have to be careful not to slip and cut themselves with the weapons they use to kill their drow brothers with.

Hmm...but what about a ranger's special enemy ability? Does it work in the same way? Does that mean a surface elf can't have (dark) elf as an enemy and still remain good?

Or do these abilities work differently?

Hmmmm...

 

[kreynolds]

Does that mean a surface elf can't have (dark) elf as an enemy and still remain good?

Yep. Pretty funny, isn't it?

 

[Wolfspider]

Yep. Pretty funny, isn't it?

So, you're saying it DOES work the same way, huh?

Hmmm.

Yes, very funky.

I guess kinslaying is an evil act no matter what the motivation, and that spilling the black blood of their long lost cousins taints their souls even as they drive back the hordes from the Underdark....

Naw. It's just a stupid rule.

 

[kreynolds]

Naw. It's just a stupid rule.

I agree. I rule-0'd it.

 

[Taluron]

We ruled 0'd it (Ranger thing) as well. Humans kill humans all the time in RL and most would not consider Special Forces to be comprised entirely of evil beings..

 

[The_Gneech]

OK. Thanks for the clarification. I thought that was how it might work, but wasn't sure.

I guess those Ancestrial Avengers have to be careful not to slip and cut themselves with the weapons they use to kill their drow brothers with.

Hmm...but what about a ranger's special enemy ability? Does it work in the same way? Does that mean a surface elf can't have (dark) elf as an enemy and still remain good?

Or do these abilities work differently?

Hmmmm...

I'd say it depends on your world. How differentiated are drow from elves? Anatomically, they're very similar, but culturally, they're worlds apart. In my particular campaign, "drow" is a sub-subtype, so to speak. Drow still have elvish blood, but they are not the same race, for purposes of racial enemies.

-The Gneech ("Goblins and kobolds are more like each other, than either one is like a bugbear. Or is that the other way around?")

 

[Celebrim]

I decided against it too. I thought a human Ranger with human as a preferred enemy was too obviously a class choice for a bounty hunter/thief catcher/reeve/detective or other agent of the law - and I didn't want to rule that all those were evil.

 

[Voadam]

Ranger bonuses go basicly by entry in the MM, for outsiders you can pick devils and you get eyrines as well as pit fiends and lemures, similarly you pick humanoid type elf and you get high elves, wood elves, drow etc.

Masters of the Wild gives an option for picking evil groups of your racial type so good elves can get drow.

Based on what the bonus represents, the restriction is a poor rule, human bounty hunters should be good at tracking humans regardless of alignment.