D&D 5E Out of the Abyss - No Drizzt afterall?

[Evandis]

I would make them battle to the death.

 

[Irennan]

A drow (or any rare race) PC can be a good addition to a group and make for some interesting RP, but it heavily depends on the setting and story. In a world where the drow are supposed to be a rather nuanced race, like the Realms (they have different deities and factions there, even if the majority--but more like 70-80% majority than 99%--still falls into stupid evil category), if the group agreed on a campaign that will somehow involve dark elves (therefore making the PC's role in the group meaningful), I would have little problem allowing a drow PC.

 

[Henry]

Looks like I stand corrected about the Drizzt clones, though it does seem the majority of stories are from 20 years ago. For those facing an abnormal number of Drizzt clones, I want to thank you for taking away all of mine in order to keep the average higher. The only drow dual-wielder was, I kid you not, a player who played a female drow cleric/ranger, with a male name, before any of our group had ever heard of Drizzt. The player did it because Unearthed Arcana had just come out a couple of years before, and he chose it strictly for the power gaming inherent in the gender and race choice in that book. We used to like to joke that TSR stole the idea from us.

I've seen the occasional dual wielder, but never the full angsty Drizzt package.

 

[aramis erak]

Looks like I stand corrected about the Drizzt clones, though it does seem the majority of stories are from 20 years ago. For those facing an abnormal number of Drizzt clones, I want to thank you for taking away all of mine in order to keep the average higher. The only drow dual-wielder was, I kid you not, a player who played a female drow cleric/ranger, with a male name, before any of our group had ever heard of Drizzt. The player did it because Unearthed Arcana had just come out a couple of years before, and he chose it strictly for the power gaming inherent in the gender and race choice in that book. We used to like to joke that TSR stole the idea from us.

I've seen the occasional dual wielder, but never the full angsty Drizzt package.

I've got one in my CURRENT game.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I love the fact that many who don't like Driz'zt don't like him because he is the prime example of the drow becoming a player racial option rather then kept as a villain.

It's like they're upset that the players want to have Mary Sue types instead of just the DMs.

Drow...super powerful sleep poison and weapons that are magical by default and perfectly stealthy and all other kinds of contrived nonsense. All Drow were Mary Sues....it's just that now players get to use them too.

 

[pukunui]

I don't think I've ever had a drow PC in any of the games I've played in or DMed for, let alone a Drizzt clone.

 

[Green1]

I love the fact that many who don't like Driz'zt don't like him because he is the prime example of the drow becoming a player racial option rather then kept as a villain.

It's like they're upset that the players want to have Mary Sue types instead of just the DMs.

Drow...super powerful sleep poison and weapons that are magical by default and perfectly stealthy and all other kinds of contrived nonsense. All Drow were Mary Sues....it's just that now players get to use them too.

Well, if it is any consequence, I think the Drow has been massively dailed down from 2E and 3E. The Drow was just the right OP combo for some or the best they could come up with. And, you are right. I think it was a 90s to late 00s thing. It was like unlocking a hidden character gen choice you had to read splats to know about and you used a RA Salvatore shaped trojan horse to sneak in your madness and troll poor DMs I gather from stories here. I never experienced it. Nor did I ever really do an underdark heavy campaign, either.

Oddly, I heard a few, outside those with Planescape experience, hinting the same with Tiefling Warlocks since Tiefling at one time was not an "accepted" choice back in the days right before 4e. But, tiefling did not really have the press of Drizzt clones and the legions of would be "misunderstood devil" types never materialized in my neck of the woods.

That said, Drizzt could not have been the worst thing to become a stigma. Think if you had folks begging to be a werewolf or vampire due to Twilight and such. But, I think we were spared because DnD never had the social system of something like White Wolf stuff that was going into decline by then and Twilight teenie bobbers were more into writing bad erotic fan fiction than rolling dice and drinking soda with the crew.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I was mostly kidding. I personally don't mind Driz'zt. I've read my fair share of the books, and they can be fun entertainment. I don't really consider him a Mary Sue so much as just the main character of the series.

I've never had anyone try to mimic him with a PC, though, so I can see how that would be annoying. But I'd blame the player for that, not the fictional character. I've had two drow PCs in my game over the years, both by the same player, one was a wizard and the other was a fighter. Only resemblance between either of them and Driz'zt was that the fighter fled the underdark to live on the surface.

Drow overall can still be perfectly fun as villains because the main society that has been depicted for them is just so twisted and cruel. My PCs just had a visit to the Vaukt of the Drow and it was a fun part of the adventure.

You're right that they've scaled it back a bit with how overpowered they are, and I think that's good. There was just no need for some of that stuff.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

I was mostly kidding. I personally don't mind Driz'zt. I've read my fair share of the books, and they can be fun entertainment. I don't really consider him a Mary Sue so much as just the main character of the series.

The Drow, in general, have been kind of Mary Sue. Salvatore likes to write them as way more powerful than everyone else. It's not just the things they accomplish but the opinions written into the thoughts of every character he writes. I posted this in another thread, but basically there is a bunch of narration that points out how much better Drow and especially Drizzt is than everyone else. Things like "He moved quietly, but the Drow could hear him because although he was a heavily trained assassin, he was no Drow." or "He fought fiercely, with great skill, but his opponent was a Drow and he had no chance." or "The wizard was powerful. But the Drow had trained at the great Sorcere in Menzoberranzan where he learned secrets that surface wizards could only dream of."

Some of that came from the game stats. Drow were resistant to magic, but naturally powerful as spellcasters, while being great fighters. Plus the have the ability to create darkness, high dex, black skin and live in the dark. Which makes them naturally suited to stealth. All of them had magic items, and so on.

And Salvatore makes sure we understand that although ALL Drow are super awesome and better than everyone else, they are also all in awe of the stealth, skill, and cunning of Drizzt who is by far the best of their race. Which is why the entire race except for the absolutely most insane among them is willing to fight him or even go near him.

Let's just say he is written as a wish fulfillment character. He is awesome and you get to see the world through his eyes. I love the books, but this is fairly clear to me. I love wish fulfillment though and think Drizzt is pretty cool. But I have to moderate that with the understanding that the books, from beginning to end, basically repeat "Drizzt is cool. Drizzt is awesome. Look how awesome he is!". I believe this is why a lot of people don't like Drizzt. It can get a bit tiring to be told how awesome someone is repeatedly.

I've never had anyone try to mimic him with a PC, though, so I can see how that would be annoying. But I'd blame the player for that, not the fictional character. I've had two drow PCs in my game over the years, both by the same player, one was a wizard and the other was a fighter. Only resemblance between either of them and Driz'zt was that the fighter fled the underdark to live on the surface.

I don't think I've had anyone emulate him...DIRECTLY. But there have been dual sword wielding Drow in my games. Everyone insists it's because dual swords is something Drow have been known to use and the books claim it's a fairly common Drow fighting style. But it certainly could just be that people really liked Drizzt enough that they just wanted to BE Drizzt. Not that I cared that much.

I think the real problem is that, as a race, the Drow are described as being horribly Evil. They are trained from birth to be the ultimate fighting machines who hate everyone and everything. Anyone who shows a bit of compassion or weakness is killed off by fellow Drow or turned into Driders. Except there is a story about the ONE Drow who was awesome enough that even though they TRIED to kill him, he escaped.

So, when anyone plays a Drow at all, people think "Let me guess, you are a good Drow, but torn by the Evil inside of you. You escaped from Menzoberranzan and now are cursed to live on the surface, hated by those around you. But only because they don't understand that you are Good, unlike the rest of the Drow. You are to be eternally misunderstood. But you are a complete badass since you are a Drow and you were powerful enough to escape."

And that's enough for most people to think "Drizzt clone"! Even if the character is a Wizard.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I love the fact that many who don't like Driz'zt don't like him because he is the prime example of the drow becoming a player racial option rather then kept as a villain.
.

No, I don't think that's the reason most people don't like him. Drizzt is like Kanye West. At first, kinda cool. But now he's shoved down your throat every time you turn around with "look at how uber awesome I am!", interrupting a lot of other good storylines with his unwanted cameos. "I'm gonna let you finish PCs, but first let me tell you how I fought demons like this before..." Kanye just announced his bid for 2020 presidential race. I'm waiting for the book where Drizzt becomes leader of the Menzo and a demigod above all men.