Horwath
Legend
I hope that it is at least a half feat...
D&D 5E Drow Characters
- Thread starter Warpiglet-7
- Start date
I hope that it is at least a half feat...
Ruin Explorer
Legend
An entire Feat is too high a price to pay to eliminate the light penalty, for sure.
I think the best way to do it is simply to remove the penalty around level 5. That way you get to experience it, but it doesn't dog you forever and this fits with how it's portrayed in actual D&D fiction, where it fades when you're on the surface long enough (you might still feel pain in bright light, but it's an inconvenience, not a penalty).
Re: good Drow that's been well-covered by other posters. The FR has tons of good Drow (and in Eberron they aren't evil to start with).
I think the best way to do it is simply to remove the penalty around level 5. That way you get to experience it, but it doesn't dog you forever and this fits with how it's portrayed in actual D&D fiction, where it fades when you're on the surface long enough (you might still feel pain in bright light, but it's an inconvenience, not a penalty).
Re: good Drow that's been well-covered by other posters. The FR has tons of good Drow (and in Eberron they aren't evil to start with).
I've never played a drow personally, but if I did I'd just ask myself the same question of that character that I ask of all my characters...
"What do I want?"
That's it. What is motivating me to travel with this small band of people and doing stuff? I must be doing it for a reason. And so long as what I want can be accomplished while traveling with this band, then there's no reason not to do so and to work around whatever roadblocks get in my way. Once I figure that out why my character is doing what it is doing and if/how his traveling partners can facilitate it... everything else is gravy.
And as far as the "drow are evil" thing... that is such a minor sticking point. There are millions of personality quirks that can be designated as "evil" that never once impact your place in the group, nor cause much issue for them at all (presuming I select a quirk that is not directly in opposition to any other character.) Maybe my character finds animals to be as inconsequential as insects and thinks nothing of killing them like others do of swatting a mosquito. So long as I'm not in the same party as a Beastmaster Ranger, my "evilness" will rarely ever come up or cause issue. Or perhaps I just find my own personal happiness is more important than anyone else's, and thus have no problem taking what I want from those who won't even realize it's gone or I won't ever see again. And no, that doesn't mean I'm going to steal from my own party members, because part of my happiness is dependant on their happiness too. If traveling with them is important to me in getting what I want, I'm not going to deliberately do things to make them upset. But thinking nothing of grabbing an apple off a cart as I walk by? Absolutely I can do that.
I think way too often players just think that to play evil characters they have to behave like these massively huge, maniacal archvillians, where every action they take just screams "I'm evil! I'm evil! I'm evil!" to the entire world. And that isn't true at all. You can be "evil" simply by just not caring about the well-being of most other people. And it never needs to come up, it never needs to be "a thing" in the game, it never even needs to be known by the others at the table. So long as your character just strives to get what they want (and that want isn't in direct opposition to the wants and needs of the others in the group)... you can have the standard "drow are evil" trope but never once have it matter.
"What do I want?"
That's it. What is motivating me to travel with this small band of people and doing stuff? I must be doing it for a reason. And so long as what I want can be accomplished while traveling with this band, then there's no reason not to do so and to work around whatever roadblocks get in my way. Once I figure that out why my character is doing what it is doing and if/how his traveling partners can facilitate it... everything else is gravy.
And as far as the "drow are evil" thing... that is such a minor sticking point. There are millions of personality quirks that can be designated as "evil" that never once impact your place in the group, nor cause much issue for them at all (presuming I select a quirk that is not directly in opposition to any other character.) Maybe my character finds animals to be as inconsequential as insects and thinks nothing of killing them like others do of swatting a mosquito. So long as I'm not in the same party as a Beastmaster Ranger, my "evilness" will rarely ever come up or cause issue. Or perhaps I just find my own personal happiness is more important than anyone else's, and thus have no problem taking what I want from those who won't even realize it's gone or I won't ever see again. And no, that doesn't mean I'm going to steal from my own party members, because part of my happiness is dependant on their happiness too. If traveling with them is important to me in getting what I want, I'm not going to deliberately do things to make them upset. But thinking nothing of grabbing an apple off a cart as I walk by? Absolutely I can do that.
I think way too often players just think that to play evil characters they have to behave like these massively huge, maniacal archvillians, where every action they take just screams "I'm evil! I'm evil! I'm evil!" to the entire world. And that isn't true at all. You can be "evil" simply by just not caring about the well-being of most other people. And it never needs to come up, it never needs to be "a thing" in the game, it never even needs to be known by the others at the table. So long as your character just strives to get what they want (and that want isn't in direct opposition to the wants and needs of the others in the group)... you can have the standard "drow are evil" trope but never once have it matter.
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Yes. I have found that you can fit five, maybe six, on a good pole arm.
Kinda like a drow kebab, but with more XP.
SehanineMoonbow
Explorer
[QUOTE="Warpiglet-7, post: 8055609, member: 7025282"
my main concern is one of immersion. I no longer play evil characters and find it difficult to believe there would be many good drow.
neutral? Maybe with some creativity. Not a fan of super contrived Drizzt clones. Honestly, loved the books nearly 30! Years ago but not Drizzt so much.
[/QUOTE]
In Forgotten Realms, you have the Eilistraeens and the Vhaeraunites. Eilistraee in particular shows the drow a better path, and while Vhaeraun was technically an "evil" deity, he was still better to his followers than Lolth. And in 5e, the siblings are allied, so either works. It wouldn't have to be a "Drizzt clone", but there are options for surface dwelling, goodly drow.
my main concern is one of immersion. I no longer play evil characters and find it difficult to believe there would be many good drow.
neutral? Maybe with some creativity. Not a fan of super contrived Drizzt clones. Honestly, loved the books nearly 30! Years ago but not Drizzt so much.
[/QUOTE]
In Forgotten Realms, you have the Eilistraeens and the Vhaeraunites. Eilistraee in particular shows the drow a better path, and while Vhaeraun was technically an "evil" deity, he was still better to his followers than Lolth. And in 5e, the siblings are allied, so either works. It wouldn't have to be a "Drizzt clone", but there are options for surface dwelling, goodly drow.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Why does it require any contrivance to imagine a good drow?
Warpiglet-7
Lord of the depths
We hew pretty closely to 1e fiction about them. Their society breeds sociopaths.
I was thinking about reverse warlocking. Instead of say a dark blade from hell, maybe a lawful weapon could groom a lawful hexblade.
so influenced, maybe the drow interacts with nonevil denizens of the underdark and develops a conscience and leaves. Maybe he helps some slaves escape and a few make it to the surface including the pc.
humble minion
Legend
If you want to go with a warlock and weren't 100% wedded to the hexblade idea, an interesting combination could be a drow pacted with a celestial warlock patron.
Your standard drow lives in a dog-eat-dog society where you take power and advantage wherever you find it. Drow happens across an ancient tome that promises power, performs the pact ritual, and finds themselves ... bound to a celestial? Probably expected to sell his/her soul to an archfiend or otherworldly cthuloid monstrosity, I bet this came as a distinct, and rather uncomfortable, surprise. Gives you a reason to leave drow society (the clergy of Lloth etc DON'T get on well with celestials!), and if you've got a nagging archangel or something in your head, than it's a doorway to developing aforesaid conscience too.
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