Olaf the Stout
Hero
My gaming group have just started a 5E campaign (we were playing 3.5E previously) and are playing through a bit of LMoP before moving on to PotA. For our first session our group decided to use pre-gens from the WotC website, just so we could jump straight into playing.
We’ve now played 2 sessions and while a couple of players have changed their race, I have decided to stick with my original choice (albeit with some changes to stats, skills and background). I picked a Drow Rogue as my PC. Another player in the group (who has only been playing for about 4 years, and has never played in the Forgotten Realms) is playing a Wood Elf Ranger.
In the first session we had quite a bit of banter between the two of us, with both characters trying to show the other that they were the “best” elf in the party. From an out-of-character perspective it was all in good fun, although our PCs probably don’t see it in-game as a playful thing!
However, in between the first session and the second session, the player of the Wood Elf did a bit of reading about Drow and mentioned before we started the second session that he didn’t realise just how “evil” Drow were considered to be and that he wasn’t sure if the party could work as he wasn’t sure his PC would be ok with working with a Drow.
So, how can we make this work, whilst still allowing the Wood Elf player to be true to his race? Personally I like the roleplaying side of things but when it comes down to it, I’m happy to bend in-game realism a little to make things work from a game perspective. So if I was the Wood Elf player, I’d have my Wood Elf be at least willing to give the Dark Elf the benefit of the doubt, whilst letting him know that I’d be keeping my eye on him.
However, I know that the Wood Elf player would like to try and remain true to his PC’s character, even if that means that doesn’t completely fit with the group. He doesn’t do this in a problematic way though. For instance, last campaign he had his Rogue PC leave the group as the character had more than enough wealth to live comfortably for the rest of his life (which was the PC’s big motivation). He then rolled up a new Rogue PC to replace the character.
So, for those of you with good Forgotten Realms knowledge, would there be a way for a Wood Elf to work with a Drow? Or are these two sub-races such bitter enemies that there is no way for them to be in the same party?
What sort of information could I give to the player of the Wood Elf to help convince him that this will work from an in-game perspective? The in-character banter between us from the 2 sessions so far has been great (even as we help each other out during combat) and I’d really like to see it continue to develop.
Personally I’ve read about 15 Drizzt novels (up to the end of the Hunter Blades trilogy), so I have a little bit of an idea of Drow and how they are treated in the Forgotten Realms. That said, the Drizzt books are about just one particular Drow, and not Drow in general.
We’ve now played 2 sessions and while a couple of players have changed their race, I have decided to stick with my original choice (albeit with some changes to stats, skills and background). I picked a Drow Rogue as my PC. Another player in the group (who has only been playing for about 4 years, and has never played in the Forgotten Realms) is playing a Wood Elf Ranger.
In the first session we had quite a bit of banter between the two of us, with both characters trying to show the other that they were the “best” elf in the party. From an out-of-character perspective it was all in good fun, although our PCs probably don’t see it in-game as a playful thing!
However, in between the first session and the second session, the player of the Wood Elf did a bit of reading about Drow and mentioned before we started the second session that he didn’t realise just how “evil” Drow were considered to be and that he wasn’t sure if the party could work as he wasn’t sure his PC would be ok with working with a Drow.
So, how can we make this work, whilst still allowing the Wood Elf player to be true to his race? Personally I like the roleplaying side of things but when it comes down to it, I’m happy to bend in-game realism a little to make things work from a game perspective. So if I was the Wood Elf player, I’d have my Wood Elf be at least willing to give the Dark Elf the benefit of the doubt, whilst letting him know that I’d be keeping my eye on him.
However, I know that the Wood Elf player would like to try and remain true to his PC’s character, even if that means that doesn’t completely fit with the group. He doesn’t do this in a problematic way though. For instance, last campaign he had his Rogue PC leave the group as the character had more than enough wealth to live comfortably for the rest of his life (which was the PC’s big motivation). He then rolled up a new Rogue PC to replace the character.
So, for those of you with good Forgotten Realms knowledge, would there be a way for a Wood Elf to work with a Drow? Or are these two sub-races such bitter enemies that there is no way for them to be in the same party?
What sort of information could I give to the player of the Wood Elf to help convince him that this will work from an in-game perspective? The in-character banter between us from the 2 sessions so far has been great (even as we help each other out during combat) and I’d really like to see it continue to develop.
Personally I’ve read about 15 Drizzt novels (up to the end of the Hunter Blades trilogy), so I have a little bit of an idea of Drow and how they are treated in the Forgotten Realms. That said, the Drizzt books are about just one particular Drow, and not Drow in general.
