There's a thread on the Wizards boards by someone who already has the book:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=838074
All quotes by Korro Zal:
I just got my copy this morning, and after reading through it once I'm rather impressed. It pretty much gave me everything I was looking for in this book, and the artwork was nicely done, too. I figured I'd share a few highlights here, to help out those of you who haven't decided whether or not you want to purchase it. I'll go chapter by chapter:
1) All about the drow--A primer on drow society and so forth. Pretty much what you'd expect here, plus some info about House affiliations and so forth. And interesting section concerns the drowish viewpoint on elven history--needless to say, it differs quite a bit from the surface elven version. There's also a nice section on drow language and on drowish relations with other underdark races. The fluff section, if you will.
2) Options--The crunchy bits. There's a lot of nice feats, many of which are based on the drows' innate magial abilities (similar to the feats in Complete Psion which expanded upon the innate psionic powers of Githyanki and so forth). One feat, for example, lets the drow expend a daily use of their darkness ability to make a hide check as a swift action, even if they're being observed. Another neat feat, Versatile Combatant, allows the drow to gain the use of the Two-Weapon fighting feat when armed with sword and hand crossbow, and also grants the ability to shoot said crossbow at adjacent targets without incurring an AoO. Alos included are new Ambush feats, Divine feats (one of which allows you to spend three turn/rebuke undead attempts to dimension door up to 30 feet away),Vile feats and Weapon Style feats (one for each House).
There's also some alternative class features for drow characters. Bards, for example, give up their bardic knowledge ability for poison use, clerics give up turn undead for rebuking or commanding vermin, etc. Finally, there's a section on drow spells (some of which are listed as drow-only), and two new warlock invocations, both spider-based.
3) Prestige classes--Seven new classes here. In brief:
Arachnomancer--makes a reappearance here.
Cave Stalker--As the name suggest, a class for sneaking around and ambushing hapless victims in the Underdark. Probably best for rangers, obviously, and it grants exotic combat styles with spiked chains or hand crossbows.
Demonbinder--Warlock-based class. Allows you to transform yourself into demonic hybrids for some nice additonal bonuses. (You power them with damnation points, of which you receive a number equal to your Cha bonus plus your class level, and each transformation lasts 10 rounds). For eight points, for example, you can take on marilith form, which gives you two extra arms, 40 bonus hp, and the ability to spend another point as a swift action to fire an eldritch blast at a -5 penalty.
Dead Fang of Lolth--Rogue-based class. Assassination abilities and sudden strike damage.
Eye of Lolth--Cleric/Rogue based class. Basically inquisitors/bounty hunters of Lolth's faithful (aura of truth, add class level to Spot checks, etc.), but they also have team bonuses they can grant their allies (attack/damage rolls and stealth skill checks).
Insidious Corruptor--An arcane caster-based class (you need the ability to cast dominate person to get in), it's somewhat similar to mindbender, but focused on subversion and trickery. Their role is basically to undermine and manipulate the societies they infilitrate for the benefit of the drow.
Kinslayer--Crazed surface elf slayers, with the ability to rage and smite elves.
4) Drow Equipment--Some interesting gear, and a whole bunch of nasty poisons (one ingested posion is infused with spider eggs--it does 2d6 Con damage as initial damage, and if the seocnd save is failed you take the same damage again and a spider swarm bursts forth from your mouth and nose, attacking everyone in the area). Also a bunch of magic items (the spider theme is prevalent, of course), and a couple of artifacts.
5) Monsters--Spiders galore. some demon/drow half-breeds, deep dragons, albino drow (used as surface assassins/spies), new goblinoids, undead spiders, the Kuo-Toa, Lizards, some nasty new trolls an abomination formed from drow who failed the spider queen and a nasty ooze.
6) Drow campaigns--More nice fluff on incorporating drow into existing campaigns, running drow-based campaigns, info on drow cities, some random NPC stat blocks, a few drow encounters to put into your campaign (including a neat one where the players are attemting to deal with a drow noble--her House comes under attack just after negotiations begin), 50 adventure ideas and some magical locations of note one might find in the Underdark.
7) A Guide to Erelhei-Cinlu--The city you love and remember from the Vault of the Drow module. The city has been updated somewhat--some noble Houses have disappeared and some new ones have shown up. Eclavdra is still Lolth's favored, even after a band of adventurers sacked the Fane of Lolth (which beget a two-decade long Priestess War and knocked House Eilservs from the top).
Finally, there's an appendix on drow as player characters. There's an option similar to what we saw in Complete Psion which allows you to play drow at 1st level and delays when additonal racial powers and bonuses are gained. There's also a nice feat for half-drow elves that grants them drow magical ablities (if Int is 13 or higher), hand crossbow proficiency, improved darkvision and +2 Will save bonus, which is partially offset by also imposing the drow's light sensitivity.
So, that's what you can expect to find in a nutshell. Like I said, all in all I rather like the book.
Albino Drow?
Actually, albino drow are the same as normal drow. They're mentioned in the monster section, but no stats are posted (other than to say their game statistics are the same).
Alternate class features?
Okay, I mentioned clerics and bards already. The remainder are:
Druids: Trade normal wild shape for the ability to shift into spiders (including monstrous and huge monstrous forms at higher levels). You keep the ability to shift into plant creatures and elementals at 12th and 16th levels.
Favored Soul: Trade energy resistance for tremorsense.
Fighter: Give up heavy armor/shields for +2 Initiative and adding Dex to wpn dmg vs. flat footed foes up to 30 ft away.
Rogue: Trade trapfinding for poison use.
Swashbuckler: Trade acrobatic charge for the ability to move 5 ft as a swift action if you hit with both wpns while two-wpn fighting.
Warlock: Trade fiendish resilience for poisonous blood (+5 save vs. poison and poison dmg to creatures which bite you). Can apply poison to wpns and eldritch blast 3/day as a move action.
Wizard: Can choose to be an "Abyssal" specialist--you give up a school of magic to specialize in spells with the chaotic, compulsion, darkness, evil and fear descriptors/subschools.
Equipment: Eye cusps that improve darkvision, spider kits to hang from walls or ceilings and keep your hands free, potion bladders to drink potions hands-free as a standard action without provoking AoO, climbing devices, and poisons galore.[/quote]
How much of the book is Forgotten Realms specific and not applicable to Greyhawk?
Very little. I think there was one mention of Drizzt as an example of a good drow, and they referred to the cloaks as piwafi once, but that was it.
There's some fluff overlap with Underdark, but not much. Overall, the book is pretty non-setting specific. The events of Vault of the Drow are mentioned in the section on Erelhei-Cinlu, so Greyhawk would be the strongest influence.[/quote]
How do they present attitude that Drow society has towards Lolth in the book?
Is it likes Dragon's "Meat of Lolth"? Where they believe Lolth is a hungry goddess who wants to consume them all, and they're genuinely scared of that. It was something I generally didn't like too much when Dragon wrote their early 3.0 articles on the drow.
Or is it a "Mommy loves me more" attitude? Where the drow are fighting for Lolth's love, where she's like a cruel mother they love who's approval and rewards are what drives them.
Defintely the latter more than the former.
Do Drow characters still suffer a -2 level adjustment? I thought that was a bit steep even though they have some nice abilities.
Yeah, but as I mentioned before, they have a variant racial class system (like with the Githyanki in Complete Psion) that allows you to play a drow at 1st level. Some of the drow's racial traits aren't received until after first level to balance this out.
no priestess of lloth Prc?
No, but there are a couple of divine feats that are drow-only, and there's a vile feat which entails the character giving themselves over to Lolth and doing her will. So a cleric of Lolth (or other drow deities) can have some unique perks through these feats.
Cheers!
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=838074
All quotes by Korro Zal:
I just got my copy this morning, and after reading through it once I'm rather impressed. It pretty much gave me everything I was looking for in this book, and the artwork was nicely done, too. I figured I'd share a few highlights here, to help out those of you who haven't decided whether or not you want to purchase it. I'll go chapter by chapter:
1) All about the drow--A primer on drow society and so forth. Pretty much what you'd expect here, plus some info about House affiliations and so forth. And interesting section concerns the drowish viewpoint on elven history--needless to say, it differs quite a bit from the surface elven version. There's also a nice section on drow language and on drowish relations with other underdark races. The fluff section, if you will.
2) Options--The crunchy bits. There's a lot of nice feats, many of which are based on the drows' innate magial abilities (similar to the feats in Complete Psion which expanded upon the innate psionic powers of Githyanki and so forth). One feat, for example, lets the drow expend a daily use of their darkness ability to make a hide check as a swift action, even if they're being observed. Another neat feat, Versatile Combatant, allows the drow to gain the use of the Two-Weapon fighting feat when armed with sword and hand crossbow, and also grants the ability to shoot said crossbow at adjacent targets without incurring an AoO. Alos included are new Ambush feats, Divine feats (one of which allows you to spend three turn/rebuke undead attempts to dimension door up to 30 feet away),Vile feats and Weapon Style feats (one for each House).
There's also some alternative class features for drow characters. Bards, for example, give up their bardic knowledge ability for poison use, clerics give up turn undead for rebuking or commanding vermin, etc. Finally, there's a section on drow spells (some of which are listed as drow-only), and two new warlock invocations, both spider-based.
3) Prestige classes--Seven new classes here. In brief:
Arachnomancer--makes a reappearance here.
Cave Stalker--As the name suggest, a class for sneaking around and ambushing hapless victims in the Underdark. Probably best for rangers, obviously, and it grants exotic combat styles with spiked chains or hand crossbows.
Demonbinder--Warlock-based class. Allows you to transform yourself into demonic hybrids for some nice additonal bonuses. (You power them with damnation points, of which you receive a number equal to your Cha bonus plus your class level, and each transformation lasts 10 rounds). For eight points, for example, you can take on marilith form, which gives you two extra arms, 40 bonus hp, and the ability to spend another point as a swift action to fire an eldritch blast at a -5 penalty.
Dead Fang of Lolth--Rogue-based class. Assassination abilities and sudden strike damage.
Eye of Lolth--Cleric/Rogue based class. Basically inquisitors/bounty hunters of Lolth's faithful (aura of truth, add class level to Spot checks, etc.), but they also have team bonuses they can grant their allies (attack/damage rolls and stealth skill checks).
Insidious Corruptor--An arcane caster-based class (you need the ability to cast dominate person to get in), it's somewhat similar to mindbender, but focused on subversion and trickery. Their role is basically to undermine and manipulate the societies they infilitrate for the benefit of the drow.
Kinslayer--Crazed surface elf slayers, with the ability to rage and smite elves.
4) Drow Equipment--Some interesting gear, and a whole bunch of nasty poisons (one ingested posion is infused with spider eggs--it does 2d6 Con damage as initial damage, and if the seocnd save is failed you take the same damage again and a spider swarm bursts forth from your mouth and nose, attacking everyone in the area). Also a bunch of magic items (the spider theme is prevalent, of course), and a couple of artifacts.
5) Monsters--Spiders galore. some demon/drow half-breeds, deep dragons, albino drow (used as surface assassins/spies), new goblinoids, undead spiders, the Kuo-Toa, Lizards, some nasty new trolls an abomination formed from drow who failed the spider queen and a nasty ooze.
6) Drow campaigns--More nice fluff on incorporating drow into existing campaigns, running drow-based campaigns, info on drow cities, some random NPC stat blocks, a few drow encounters to put into your campaign (including a neat one where the players are attemting to deal with a drow noble--her House comes under attack just after negotiations begin), 50 adventure ideas and some magical locations of note one might find in the Underdark.
7) A Guide to Erelhei-Cinlu--The city you love and remember from the Vault of the Drow module. The city has been updated somewhat--some noble Houses have disappeared and some new ones have shown up. Eclavdra is still Lolth's favored, even after a band of adventurers sacked the Fane of Lolth (which beget a two-decade long Priestess War and knocked House Eilservs from the top).
Finally, there's an appendix on drow as player characters. There's an option similar to what we saw in Complete Psion which allows you to play drow at 1st level and delays when additonal racial powers and bonuses are gained. There's also a nice feat for half-drow elves that grants them drow magical ablities (if Int is 13 or higher), hand crossbow proficiency, improved darkvision and +2 Will save bonus, which is partially offset by also imposing the drow's light sensitivity.
So, that's what you can expect to find in a nutshell. Like I said, all in all I rather like the book.
Albino Drow?
Actually, albino drow are the same as normal drow. They're mentioned in the monster section, but no stats are posted (other than to say their game statistics are the same).
Alternate class features?
Okay, I mentioned clerics and bards already. The remainder are:
Druids: Trade normal wild shape for the ability to shift into spiders (including monstrous and huge monstrous forms at higher levels). You keep the ability to shift into plant creatures and elementals at 12th and 16th levels.
Favored Soul: Trade energy resistance for tremorsense.
Fighter: Give up heavy armor/shields for +2 Initiative and adding Dex to wpn dmg vs. flat footed foes up to 30 ft away.
Rogue: Trade trapfinding for poison use.
Swashbuckler: Trade acrobatic charge for the ability to move 5 ft as a swift action if you hit with both wpns while two-wpn fighting.
Warlock: Trade fiendish resilience for poisonous blood (+5 save vs. poison and poison dmg to creatures which bite you). Can apply poison to wpns and eldritch blast 3/day as a move action.
Wizard: Can choose to be an "Abyssal" specialist--you give up a school of magic to specialize in spells with the chaotic, compulsion, darkness, evil and fear descriptors/subschools.
Equipment: Eye cusps that improve darkvision, spider kits to hang from walls or ceilings and keep your hands free, potion bladders to drink potions hands-free as a standard action without provoking AoO, climbing devices, and poisons galore.[/quote]
How much of the book is Forgotten Realms specific and not applicable to Greyhawk?
Very little. I think there was one mention of Drizzt as an example of a good drow, and they referred to the cloaks as piwafi once, but that was it.
There's some fluff overlap with Underdark, but not much. Overall, the book is pretty non-setting specific. The events of Vault of the Drow are mentioned in the section on Erelhei-Cinlu, so Greyhawk would be the strongest influence.[/quote]
How do they present attitude that Drow society has towards Lolth in the book?
Is it likes Dragon's "Meat of Lolth"? Where they believe Lolth is a hungry goddess who wants to consume them all, and they're genuinely scared of that. It was something I generally didn't like too much when Dragon wrote their early 3.0 articles on the drow.
Or is it a "Mommy loves me more" attitude? Where the drow are fighting for Lolth's love, where she's like a cruel mother they love who's approval and rewards are what drives them.
Defintely the latter more than the former.
Do Drow characters still suffer a -2 level adjustment? I thought that was a bit steep even though they have some nice abilities.
Yeah, but as I mentioned before, they have a variant racial class system (like with the Githyanki in Complete Psion) that allows you to play a drow at 1st level. Some of the drow's racial traits aren't received until after first level to balance this out.
no priestess of lloth Prc?
No, but there are a couple of divine feats that are drow-only, and there's a vile feat which entails the character giving themselves over to Lolth and doing her will. So a cleric of Lolth (or other drow deities) can have some unique perks through these feats.
Cheers!
