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Out of the Abyss - No Drizzt afterall?
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<blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 6694450" data-attributes="member: 5143"><p>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."</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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."</p><p></p><p>And that's enough for most people to think "Drizzt clone"! Even if the character is a Wizard.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Majoru Oakheart, post: 6694450, member: 5143"] 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 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. [/QUOTE]
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