Does This Look Like A Drow to You?

[Zardnaar]

This is a Drow from my homebrew game which is kind of an OSR based game but with some 3rd ed isms such as feats and ascending ACs and a basic skill system. I ported the advantage mechanic from D&DN into the game, rewrote feats and buffed saves to AD&D levels for fort/ref/will.



Drow
Medium Humanoid Level 2 Fighter
Initiative+2 (roll twice take best result) Senses Perception +6 darkvision120'
HD 2d10+2hp17
AC 18
Saves Fortitude +7 Reflex +7 Will +6
Speed 30'
Attack:2
+6 short sword damage 1d6+3,
and
Dagger +6 1d4+3 or
+6 hand crossbow, dmg 1d6+ poison (DC 15 fort save or fall unconscious)
SQ: Cleave1/round, spell like abilities, MR
MR:12 (12 or better on a d20)
Spell Like Abilities: faerie fire, dancing lights, darkness 1/day
Str 14 Dex 14 Con 12 Int 12 Wis 10 Cha 12
Alignment: CE Languages Goblin,Elven,Under common
Feats:Improved Initiative, Skill focus: Stealth, Weapon focus,
Skills: Acrobatics+6(advantage), Perception +6 Stealth +11 (advantage)
Equipment: Drow Chainmail +1, Drow Cloak (advantage stealth), Drow Boots (+5 stealth), Drow +1 short sword, Drow +1 dagger, masterwork hand crossbow, 4 doses of poison

Advanatge= roll twice take the best result

If exposed to sunlight drow boots, cloaks, armor and weapons becomes useless in 2d6 days. If protected from sunlight they will retain their properties for 31-50 days. If exposed to the radiation of the underdark for 1 week out of 4 drow items can retain their special properties indefinitely. Drow poison is rendered inert on exposure to sunlight or after 1 week of being exposed to air. Unopened packets remain useable for up to a year.


And of course the Drow equipment disintegrates in sun light or fades if removed from the underdark. Based on the 1st ed Drow with the dual wielding thing. In my games weapon focus is +1 to hit with proficient weapons and fighters resemble the 3.5 one with boosted saves and scaling weapon specialization and cleave abilities as well.

 

[Sunseeker]

I don't really see anything in there that gives me "Drow vibes" any more than it could be an elf or an orc. But to be fair, without their insane culture, there's really nothing special about Drow.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

You portrayed the drow as a fighter, but really it's a rogue, so I'd replace Cleave 1/round with Sneak Attack +xd6 1/round (or Backstab, if you prefer).

In any event, drow gain classes much like PCs, so you should never say just "drow" but "drow fighter", "drow scout", "drow assassin", etc. A drow entry into a Monster Manual really needs an entire ecosystem of classes and/or roles so you have encounters ready right away just by picking what roles suit the encounter.

This drow doesn't use poisoned weapons. That's fine... but a drow encounter doesn't feel like a drow encounter unless someone is using drow poison.

I think a drow priestess might be harder to write up, because the usual "2nd-tier fighter"-style cleric just doesn't suit a drow priestess. She's more like a wizard who gains her power from Lolth than a Van Helsing figure. (That's probably why 2e non-core material had so many drow-specific spells.) Also the larger array of spell-like abilities For that reason, I've never seen a well-designed drow priestess until 4e, and even then the one in the MM1 didn't work "right" either, although it was kind of close.

 

[Zardnaar]

Forgot the Drow sleep poison It is a Drow fighter level 2.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Unfortunately a "standard fighter" doesn't really suit a drow warrior well (much like standard priest doesn't suit a drow well either). Drow are never particularly strong or "tanky". Beyond drow poison, there needs to be something to make this drow's fighting style show the PCs that they're drow.

In 2e, high elves had a "shot on the run" ability (much like the feat in 3e, although PCs didn't get this) that made them a terror to fight in the woods. I tried looking at 4e "soldier" drow, but all they did was punish marks pretty well, not relevant to something OSR-influenced. The exception were spider-bound drow, whose shields actually turned into spider minions, but those are weak creatures whose primary purpose is to inflict poison and marks, one of which doesn't suit OSR.

I suppose a more "standard" drow fighter fits a drow squad, but there shouldn't be a lot of them, perhaps just forming a chainmail wall in front of the priestess... which means the entry isn't complete until you've got a few other roles filled.

 

[Morrus]

Dark grey text on a black background! You can clear the formatting by using the little AxA button in the post editor. Tutorial here!

 

[was]

Some of the saves look pretty high for a 2nd level fighter given the pc's stats and lack of save-buffing feats.

 

[Zardnaar]

The stats are from my homebrew and they have been buffed a lot from 3.5. I use fort/ref/will from 3rd ed but I want numbers similar to AD&D at least in terms of higher level types making their saves 80%+ of the time. I'm kind of making a fixed 3.5 using elements of AD&D to reign in the number bloat, spell DCs and various other things they broke in the 2nd-3rd ed switch. Saves got buffed and spell DCs are now 10+ level of spell capped at DC 20.

 

[Evilhalfling]

a strength bonus? is not what I was expecting. If there is ever a case for making a non-strength based fighter its drow.

Other than that they look fine I guess.
I like the 4e versions with quick action faefire spells - otherwise its a waste of a turn.
How bout a ranged weapon as backup? 10 drow warriors are more fearsome/intelligent seeming if they can do something other than stand in ranks waiting for their turns.

 

[Zardnaar]

Good ideas Evilhalfling I'll tweak the build soon.