Drow overpowered?

[The Human Target]

I feel like if they're run by the book, they are tough for their level. But not brokenly tough. They're a "good intro to paragon level play" tough.

I think you guys are having problems due to the DM not running them correctly (which is probably in part WotC's fault) and due to the fact that you have no dedicated leader.

 

[Felon]

Well as for PC drow, I'm glad they are in FR, a source I automatically do not allow. Dex/Cha is a strong caster combo of ability bonuses and the darkvision really puts them over the top. PCs should not have it.

An automatic ban on FR material is pretty kneejerk, since it's no more abusive than the material from any other book. As for the Drow themselves, they don't have a monopoly on Dex/Cha bonsues, and aside from their encounter power, darkvision is the only other perk they enjoy. If anything, their racial package is pretty modest.

Not sure what the big deal about keeping darkvision out of the hands of PC's is. If the rest of the party doesn't have it--heck, even if there's even one guy in the group without it--someone's cracking a sunrod. All darkvision really does is make a stealthy scout much more effective at his job, which is a good thing IMO. That avenue is all-too-often closed in favor of the ever-popular brute force approach.

 

[DarkLord Of DForce]

Well, it looks like our DMs are definitely doing it different with the Drow, going by the replies in this thread.

They activate that dark cloud, it lasts the entire encounter, and all the Drow can see in it just fine.

Ugh.

 

[Colmarr]

They activate that dark cloud, it lasts the entire encounter, and all the Drow can see in it just fine.

Um, yeah. That's wrong.

 

[the Jester]

Though that could be a cool power for like a Drow darkomancer or something.

 

[DragonXNIK]

You ought to point out to your DM that his job is not to kill the party. -5 to all attacks for an entire encounter is completely abusive on the Monster's side, and it invalidates the math in the game completely (That might put every PC at a 25% hit rate, which is not only boring and frustrating, but dangerous). Unless every member of your party is min/maxed with weapon expertise, you're going to get TPKed in this adventure if he continues this path. Though if he ignores your advice, be sure to use plenty of close and area attacks because they ignore concealment.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Yeah, and make sure your DM knows about Monster Manual errata. The Drow Warrior's Rapier attack power had a typo. It should look pretty much exactly like the Hand Crossbow power, if the Drow Warrior hits you with his weapon then he makes an ADDITIONAL attack at +13 vs FORT and if that hits THEN you get poisoned.

In other words its not that easy to get poisoned by them. First they have to hit +14 vs AC, then they have to hit +13 vs FORT. To fall unconscious you then need to fail 2 saves in a row. Its going to happen sooner or later to a PC if you fight Drow enough, but even without any kind of preparation you should only rarely end up unconscious. With a leader or some sort of item or power bonus to poison saves or a reroll ability etc the chance of failing 2 saves in a row gets to be fairly low.

Assume a Drow Warrior hits 50% of the time. 25% of the time he's managing to hit with his poison. 25% of those poison hits, or 1 round in 8 overall he's going to manage to knock someone unconscious. Most encounters last no more than 8 rounds max. The monster is a Lurker, so it probably shouldn't be the main bulk of what you meet either. Worst case 3-4 of these guys could make a fairly dicey encounter with a bit of bad luck. Notice though they are really overall a pretty weak monster and if you can get them to melee or pin them down they'll die pretty fast.

I don't really see any big problem with Cloud of Darkness either. The Arachnomancer has it, but she's a leader and thus probably the only one of her type in a group of Drow. Blademasters also have it, but again they're an Elite monster and so you rarely meet more than one at a time. CoD is really intended to be more of a "Get out of Dodge" kind of thing for the Drow anyway. Either they cast it around themselves right from the start like an Arachnomancer fighting from the back row, or a Blademaster might use it so he can effectively disengage for hit-n-run purposes.

 

[DarkLord Of DForce]

You ought to point out to your DM that his job is not to kill the party. -5 to all attacks for an entire encounter is completely abusive on the Monster's side, and it invalidates the math in the game completely (That might put every PC at a 25% hit rate, which is not only boring and frustrating, but dangerous). Unless every member of your party is min/maxed with weapon expertise, you're going to get TPKed in this adventure if he continues this path. Though if he ignores your advice, be sure to use plenty of close and area attacks because they ignore concealment.

We managed to get around it. I just happened to have a glowstone on me - its a consumable, so its one of the rare things our DMs will let us restock back up on, since they shutdown the AV on us earlier in the game.

I threw it into the middle of the room, dispelling part of the DarkCloud. My Avenger and the Swordmage in our party then kept pulling/pushing/sliding/teleporting our targets back into that zone of light.

Not pretty I guess, but it worked - the -5 to hit was causing real problems, even for my Avenger with OOE.

 

[Felon]

Almost goes without saying that area attacks from the wizard are a good option against the drow in their little clouds. There aren't many situations where a firebox is the best 5th-level daily spell a wizard can have, but this is one of them.

 

[DragonXNIK]

We managed to get around it. I just happened to have a glowstone on me - its a consumable, so its one of the rare things our DMs will let us restock back up on, since they shutdown the AV on us earlier in the game.

I threw it into the middle of the room, dispelling part of the DarkCloud. My Avenger and the Swordmage in our party then kept pulling/pushing/sliding/teleporting our targets back into that zone of light.

Not pretty I guess, but it worked - the -5 to hit was causing real problems, even for my Avenger with OOE.

Kudos to working around a difficult situation. Sounds like you guys are playing on hard mode, so to speak. If your group has a good time overcoming adversity, then enjoy, but don't be afraid to talk to your other party members, and your DM about their opinions on the way your game is being played.

Good Luck and have fun!