Drow of the Underdark

[Mouseferatu]

Who did?

I think I recall that being mostly Anthony Pryor's section, but I can't swear to it.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I'm quite pleased that my "Summon Rodent-of-the-Dark" spell worked so quickly!! Thanks for the quick answers.

Well, you got lucky. That spell has a widely varying casting time.

As I said, I haven't done a detailed read-through yet, but I did notice your Babes-of-Lolth explanation and found it quite believable. As I read through it, I'll likely have more comments and/or questions. Especially now that I know which section is yours.

I'm a big fan of trying to make fantasy cultures feel "real." That doesn't mean they necessarily have to follow the rules of real-world cultures, but it means there should be some sort of at least semi-believable reasons for even the most off-the-wall aspects. (Allowing, of course, for things like magic and deities who take a direct hand in their followers' lives. ) Weirdness that can be understood if you happen to have the right insight is, to me, far cooler than weirdness that's just undecipherable.

I'm happy to answer any further questions.

 

[Set]

I'm a big fan of trying to make fantasy cultures feel "real." That doesn't mean they necessarily have to follow the rules of real-world cultures, but it means there should be some sort of at least semi-believable reasons for even the most off-the-wall aspects. (Allowing, of course, for things like magic and deities who take a direct hand in their followers' lives. ) Weirdness that can be understood if you happen to have the right insight is, to me, far cooler than weirdness that's just undecipherable.

That's very cool to hear (read, whatever). I've always been a stickler for a certain amount of consistency in the middle of my fantasy. I'm totally good with suspending disbelief for multi-tonned flying frost-breathing sorcerous reptiles, but when I read something like Menzoberranzan that has 20,000 Drow living off of a herd of Rothe that live on an island a hundred feet across, my eye twitches.

Question;

That Alternative Class Feature for Clerics is potentially scary. By increase to 'effective turning level,' did you mean like the Improved Turning feat, which adds to your effective Cleric level for the HD that you can Command, or just +4 to the Turning Damage roll?

Note that a Cleric of Lolth with Improved Turning and the Spider Domain can already have a pair of Medium Monstrous Spiders or Spider Swarms (2 HD each) as commanded minions.

Under the scary interpretation, a 1st level Cleric of Lolth with this Alternate Class Feature (and Improved Turning) could Command spiders as a 6th level Cleric!

 

[Pants]

I've been slowly working my way through the book so far.

First impressions:
1) The Chapter on the Vault is goodsauce. Lots of flavor and plot hooks. Probably my favorite section so far.
2) The 'All About the Drow' section is very good too, though there is a lot of info to digest. I too would have liked some more info on other Drow deities, maybe as a sidebar listing other powers that the drow might worship (Graz'zt, Kiaransalee, etc.). Still quite good.
3) The Prestige Class section has been the weakest so far. Only the Arachnomancer really interests me and that's a reprint/redesign. The Demonbinder is pretty cool though I'm not a big fan of the Warlock.
4) The Feats, Spells, Magic Items, and Monsters seem pretty good from my occasional glances. Some really neat feats in there.

Overall, I'm impressed. I think I like it more than Magic Item Compendium, though I'm sure that book will see more use.

 

[Mouseferatu]

That Alternative Class Feature for Clerics is potentially scary. By increase to 'effective turning level,' did you mean like the Improved Turning feat, which adds to your effective Cleric level for the HD that you can Command, or just +4 to the Turning Damage roll?

*Goes back to look*

Ooh, poorly worded. Mea culpa.

I did not intend for the bonus to apply to the number of HD the cleric can command, just to the rolls that take effective turning level into account. While these clerics can command all sorts of vermin, it's easier to command spiders.

 

[rowport]

Its a great book and definitely worth buying. In fact, it inspired me to make a half-drow rogue for a game I'm in. There's a nifty half-drow feat (for half-elves) in the back of the book that gives them access to drow spell-like abilities, so I basically made a rogue that uses magic to fight in darkness.

Great job Ari!

I am not finished reading the book yet, but so far, I would echo Glaurung's opinion. The character bits are really fun-- I especially like the drow-themed feats that really reflect the traits most associated with drow (like pet vermin, using two-weapons, improving drow spell-like abilities, etc.). The text is very good, not as dry as some other reference works have read for me, and I liked that it explains some of the otherwise seemingly odd behaviors (like drow priestesses wearing next to nothing-- no, really, there is a reason!)

 

[Greg V]

Ari is correct. Anthony Pryor handled Erehei-Cinlu (Chapter 7) pretty much single-handedly if I recall correctly.

As to the lack of the mention of Greyhawk, at least in my portions the mention of anything non-Underdark was on a theoretical level (this is how a drow might set up a surface infiltration, etc.), so no Greyhawk proper names for surface locations really came up on. On the other hand, named Greyhawk Underdark locations are pretty much limited to the literature connectd to the Vault (D1-3) which is what the book focused on. So no disrespect was intended for the surface of the Flanaess, it just wasn't as relevant in a work focusing on the depths below the Flanaess.

 

[Set]

I did not intend for the bonus to apply to the number of HD the cleric can command, just to the rolls that take effective turning level into account. While these clerics can command all sorts of vermin, it's easier to command spiders.

Awesome. Thanks for the reply! A 1st level Drow Cleric with a pair of 6 HD spider minions was a bit much to hope for, I imagine.

 

[satori01]

The fluff is very good in this book. I like the presentation on the culture of the Drow, it does not disrupt what has been said before, but presents a very logical, very real feeling hook on how to present the essence of the Drow.

More Loth less Other DROW GODS is fine with me. Lolth is more Demon than god in my campaign, a race few in numbers but in close connection to their Demon/God has always had more appeal then the every race has it's own pantheon sticht.

Crunchwise, it was more DM oriented I felt. The book mainly had Feats that made sense and were logical to have for creatures that live entirely underground. My only complaint would be so many Drow feats are in other supplements like Underdark, if this was the "Definitive" Drow supplement, it should have reprinted the feats from Underdark, Races of Faerun etc.

 

[RichGreen]

Crunchwise, it was more DM oriented I felt. The book mainly had Feats that made sense and were logical to have for creatures that live entirely underground. My only complaint would be so many Drow feats are in other supplements like Underdark, if this was the "Definitive" Drow supplement, it should have reprinted the feats from Underdark, Races of Faerun etc.

I don't think they should be reprinted necessarily, but it's good to list them. Does it do that? I haven't go to the feats section yet. I did notice that there was a little sidebar for drow magic items in other books that I thought was cool.


Richard