AntiStateQuixote
Enemy of the State
This is the section I'm probably most exited about.
Get out of here.
This is the section I'm probably most exited about.
Then it is not so much the concept of a Dritzzt template but a certain type of player we all run across from time to time - the "special snowflake" who always wants to shine and gets pissy if he or she doesn't? Then runs out of your campaign when the game is not a masturbatory power fantasy with your other PCs as minions, leaving you as DM with lose ends? We could say the same about someone wanting to play Legolas, Thrall, Elminster, Gandalf, or anything else as their inspiration. Separate the concept from the bad behavior.
Back in the 2e days (jr. high and high school for me), we had one player that played a straight knock off. Like... changed the first name and that was it. Was still a Do'Urden, even though we weren't in the Realms.Do people REALLY have those or is it like the stories where the infected spider bite starts spilling baby spiders? The only Drizzt clone I ever ran into was in 1987, actually BEFORE The Crystal Shard was published, and I don't think I've ever seen a dual wielding scimitar-equipped dark elf in my D&D games in 25 years. Not to say it's NEVER happened, but I just haven't seen it as a common occurrence. I've seen far more Housewives on the Bravo Channel than I have seen drow wielding scimitars.
This. Players who don't want the GM to curate a world that interests them within reason really need to go the way of typewriters and VHS tapes.That there is the kicker though, isn't it? You may think it's perfectly reasonable to play a minotaur, but in my world, they aren't allowable PC races. What's reasonable is highly subjective
My group has almost always based PCs off of some kind of template and most didn't even think about it like that. All the dwarves ever played were essentially Gimli, etc. Even the guys that wanted to play a Dragonborn were basically Conan the Dragonbreath or Aragorn the Returning Draconian King.