D&D 5E Drow Characters

[jgsugden]

Drow do not need to be evil. There are a few dozen threads of 100 or so pages recently on the topic of why alignment should not be mandated, or even seen as a strong tendency, for different types of humanoids.

Drow are a fine class, and a warlock drow that goes all in on the spells does have a lot of spells to cast, but they're not necessarily power spells, and the drow can't select to learn different ones - the drow gets what they get. To that end, you either build a PC to make those spells useful to you, or they tend to be of lesser use than the spells that other PCs are selecting to learn that suit their character and abilities.

 

[DND_Reborn]

One other house rule I use - I allow a feat for daylight adaptation. A Drow can take this feat to eliminate penalties associated with sunlight or bright light. That is a steep price to pay though.

I think that is a good house-rule.

 

[R_J_K75]

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...anyone have a good time with 5e drow?

I've never played a drow as a player period let alone 5E. The closest I came was running a 5E campaign were the PCs were captured by drow raiding party. The drow that was tasked with guarding them until they were supposed to be sacrificed in gladiatorial match had red hair. As a result he was looked down by both his peers and superiors, and exiled by his house. He ended up helping the PCs escape as retribution for being reduced to such a menial station in the cities society.

Even though Drow are generally NE I dont see why you couldnt adventure with a party as either LE or LN as long as everyone was working toward a common goal. If your PC was lawful and gave his word to the party I dont see why that dynamic couldnt work as long as the players and DM agree before hand.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I see people ignoring or forgetting about this so much. Back in 2e, I remember one drow PC going around with "sunglasses," but I like that this edition has made sunlight aversion like an allergy with no real ways around, hard stop,

Yeah I am not a player that ignores weaknesses and accepts benefits.

Disadvantage in bright sunlight. Period.

One of my AL characters is Lirien, is a drow illusionist. I play him as a cheerful outsider. Also, I don't take spells that require attack rolls (see above)!

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Yeah I am not a player that ignores weaknesses and accepts benefits.

Disadvantage in bright sunlight. Period.

I think my hang up is the psychological toll of the culture.

unless there was a good influence...maybe a magic item...and opportunities to spend time with goodly captives or svirfneblin or hell, myconids...I Dunno I just have trouble getting into it and yet am intrigued by the race in a way.

maybe a N hexblade influenced by a patron and also befriended by the captives? It would take thought though.

back in the 80s, we played the occasional fugitive evil drow in renegade adventuring parties but keeping them hidden was...work. We were playing murderhobos unapologetically and intentionally.

I am not sure I could get into it without a pretty compelling idea these days.

Am I right in thinking that the setting you are thinking of playing in is Forgotten Realms-based rather than, for example, Eberron?

 

[Weiley31]

Solution: Gnomish spectacles of darkening.

This is the way.

 

[Azzy]

Has anyone played a drow in 5e?

Currently, I've got a drow rogue (assassin), but I also played a neutral drow cleric/magic-user (IIRC) in 1e (the DM actually suggested I play a drow, so I did).

I was recently amazed at how many racial spells are available for them. With the racial feat of drow high magic, by level 5 a drow could be very classically drow with six! Useful spells.

Indeed. I'm not sure if I'll take the Drow High Magic feat for my character yet—there's plenty of competition.

a drow warlock would be useful and effective potentially in all pillars of play.

Agreed.

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.

That really depends on the setting. In the Forgotten Realms, there are whole communities of goodly drow that worship Eilistraee (daughter of Correlon and Lolth) or otherwise reject Lolth. In a homebrew setting I created a while back, I had a semi-nomadic civilization of drow that had rejected the demon worship of their brethren (during the time that prompted the great war between the elves) that had migrated to the arctic regions (hooray polar night!) and were neutral to good.

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.

There many ways to go with a drow character that doesn't involved being a Drizzt clone. My current drow character is a refugee from Menzobarrazen (playing in the FR's Sword Coast) who was groomed to be an assassin, but left because of the constant abuse, infighting, backstabbing, and the stifling lack of freedom (the fact that she finds spiders utterly disgusting didn't help). She fled first to Mantol-Derith, and then to Neverwinter on the surface. While she was been mainly self-serving, she's developing an altruistic streak (much to her chagrin) which has led her to being "roped-in" to helping others and doing other selfless deeds.

anyone have a good time with 5e drow?

O, yes. The sunlight sensitivity sucks, but that's the price you pay for the other goodies.

 

[Jediking]

In one of my early 5e campaigns (Lost Mine of Phandelver) a player ran a Drow Tempest Cleric. Most of his spells were saving throws to get around the Sunlight Sensitivity issue, and he enjoyed the roleplay of a "distrusted until proven" race. But after they rescued a few people and ran a gang out of town he quickly became known around the town and the "Drow = bad" was pretty much ignored after that.


But, it sounds like you are running any Drow character according to DnD lore, where Drow = Evil and/or alignment is an issue. If you insist on following the lore, then maybe playing a Drow is not appropriate in your campaign at all. Just don't play/allow Drow PCs in your game.

If you want to play it, there are innumerable reasons why any Drow can be a Good character. But if the DM or player have different ideas on how much the distrust in Drow will be for NPCs, it won't work. If you want to face down prejudice and racism and have it as part of your character growth - excellent! If you and your DM aren't on the same page, expect a conflict at some future point.

Like literally any issue that people like to create and make in-game "solutions" for, it is better to talk to the group or don't play it. Don't wait until your edgy Drow comes to the Village of Hamlet and you get upset at the DM because the NPC Dwarf blacksmith throws a hammer at you.

 

[SehanineMoonbow]

No, but if I did, I would be a cleric of Eilistraee or Vhaeraun!

 

[Shiroiken]

I think my hang up is the psychological toll of the culture.

An important question is: what is the setting? In the Forgotten Realms there are drow living on the surface, many of whom are not evil at all. In Gygaxian Greyhawk they are barely seen at all, since they don't raid the surface like they do in the Realms and elsewhere, with only the occasional exile (whom a non-evil drow would likely be). If it's a homebrew setting, I'd talk with your DM about it.

As for idea of inspiration, I think an exile is probably an excellent idea. One option would be a lawful drow who got tired of being betrayed again and again, and so fled from his horrid kin. Another would be someone exiled (or fled) for refusing to perform a family duty that was against his ethos. An odd (but fun) idea would be an amnesiac who doesn't even know what a drow even is, but you have a powerful enchantment upon you (either the amnesia, or possibly you're a polymorphed creature instead).