ladyofdragons
First Post
personally I find this whole argument about drow being by necessity evil silly as all get out. I mean, I guess those who bow to the gospel of 1E must have their drow as evil, but it's really not a necessity by any stretch of the imagination (my imagination, at least). To me an entire race can't be evil, just because in the UA it lists them as a monster as being evil. Monster Manual entries are by necessity brief and oversimplified. But making a PC from a monster gives you more latitude on things like class and alignment. It turns something from a carbon copy to a more or less (depending on the roleplayer) 3-dimensional character.
Societal alignment and personal alignment are two entirely different subjects. You can have a lawful good society with chaotic evil members. These CE members generally don't last very long, but they do exist. They either leave or are captured by the law. Neutral evil members might work better, attempting to corrupt the society from within. A Lawful Evil member might attempt to gain power by rising through the lawful channels of the society to become president or prime minister or whatever.
Now the Drow society of Menzoberranzan (by the description give by RAS) would be labeled as Lawful Evil, because it has a strict and rigid heirarchical system of houses, but follow the tenets of an evil goddess. The majority of its members (Matriarchal clerics, etc) seem to run to Chaotic Evil. Does this mean that there can exist no members within the society that are not chaotic evil? I doubt it. Free will does exist in other races besides humans. Jaraxle (from RAS again) would be best described as CN. Members of his group can range anywhere from evil through neutral. A good drow in the society of a city like Menzoberranzan doesn't last long, but that doesn't mean that they are not free to leave at any time they wish. It's just generally lethal if they try to do it alone. But Menzoberranzan is just one drow city, of many drow cities. Some that lie closer to the surface might have members who leave more frequently.
But this thread has really turned into a "my opinion/your opinion" from pro- good drow and anti- good drow, like anyone's going to change someone else's opinion. It all depends on how you as a DM want your world to work. I want mine not to rely on the old simplistic standards of "good race vs. evil race". Some like to cling to those ideals. Whatever floats your boat, I prefer something not so black and white. I no longer play FR, so the guidelines that are the history of Faerun aren't something that I feel I need to follow.
Societal alignment and personal alignment are two entirely different subjects. You can have a lawful good society with chaotic evil members. These CE members generally don't last very long, but they do exist. They either leave or are captured by the law. Neutral evil members might work better, attempting to corrupt the society from within. A Lawful Evil member might attempt to gain power by rising through the lawful channels of the society to become president or prime minister or whatever.
Now the Drow society of Menzoberranzan (by the description give by RAS) would be labeled as Lawful Evil, because it has a strict and rigid heirarchical system of houses, but follow the tenets of an evil goddess. The majority of its members (Matriarchal clerics, etc) seem to run to Chaotic Evil. Does this mean that there can exist no members within the society that are not chaotic evil? I doubt it. Free will does exist in other races besides humans. Jaraxle (from RAS again) would be best described as CN. Members of his group can range anywhere from evil through neutral. A good drow in the society of a city like Menzoberranzan doesn't last long, but that doesn't mean that they are not free to leave at any time they wish. It's just generally lethal if they try to do it alone. But Menzoberranzan is just one drow city, of many drow cities. Some that lie closer to the surface might have members who leave more frequently.
But this thread has really turned into a "my opinion/your opinion" from pro- good drow and anti- good drow, like anyone's going to change someone else's opinion. It all depends on how you as a DM want your world to work. I want mine not to rely on the old simplistic standards of "good race vs. evil race". Some like to cling to those ideals. Whatever floats your boat, I prefer something not so black and white. I no longer play FR, so the guidelines that are the history of Faerun aren't something that I feel I need to follow.
