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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8123729" data-attributes="member: 82106">I have to pretty much go with you on this one Max. The vast majority of depictions of 'Drow' are portrayed as evil. In fact I'd almost say this is a defining characteristic of them, in D&amp;D. Races such as the Eberron 'Drow' seem to hardly even qualify as the same thing, being broken themselves into 3 'races' and sharing literally nothing with FR/GH/AD&amp;D Drow (which all seem to be roughly the same thing). This was a MUCH noted racially questionable depiction, given the skin color attributed to Drow! In fact, there's actually, IIRC in one of the later reprints including D3, of a very negro-looking Drow priestess (this is pretty atypical, but clearly artists were able to draw this linkage).If it were me, I would model 'Drow' as an underground race of elves, much like Eberron does with one of its branches of what they call Drow. Are they evil? Well, sure, sometimes perhaps. Are they shaped by their environment? Yeah, of course they are! However, there can still be diverse societies within that race/species and there need not be anything inherent to them which makes them evil.If you want a model for one possible version of this, the story arc of 'Drow Tales' works pretty well. The characters in this story include a range of different moral philosophies, although their society does predispose them to consider humans and other 'goblins' (as they call them) inferior. They are also not specifically of one coloration, etc. In fact their origins, lineage, and appearance are fairly complex topics in that milieu. I don't know if everyone would find the depictions there racially sensitive or not, I'm no expert, but they are definitely more nuanced than EGG's depiction in D3, which has pretty much set the type in most of D&amp;D since.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8123729, member: 82106"] I have to pretty much go with you on this one Max. The vast majority of depictions of 'Drow' are portrayed as evil. In fact I'd almost say this is a defining characteristic of them, in D&D. Races such as the Eberron 'Drow' seem to hardly even qualify as the same thing, being broken themselves into 3 'races' and sharing literally nothing with FR/GH/AD&D Drow (which all seem to be roughly the same thing). This was a MUCH noted racially questionable depiction, given the skin color attributed to Drow! In fact, there's actually, IIRC in one of the later reprints including D3, of a very negro-looking Drow priestess (this is pretty atypical, but clearly artists were able to draw this linkage). If it were me, I would model 'Drow' as an underground race of elves, much like Eberron does with one of its branches of what they call Drow. Are they evil? Well, sure, sometimes perhaps. Are they shaped by their environment? Yeah, of course they are! However, there can still be diverse societies within that race/species and there need not be anything inherent to them which makes them evil. If you want a model for one possible version of this, the story arc of 'Drow Tales' works pretty well. The characters in this story include a range of different moral philosophies, although their society does predispose them to consider humans and other 'goblins' (as they call them) inferior. They are also not specifically of one coloration, etc. In fact their origins, lineage, and appearance are fairly complex topics in that milieu. I don't know if everyone would find the depictions there racially sensitive or not, I'm no expert, but they are definitely more nuanced than EGG's depiction in D3, which has pretty much set the type in most of D&D since. [/QUOTE]

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