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lowkey13
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D&D 5E Playing a Drow
- Thread starter GainVanquish
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pkt77242
Explorer
LOL.
That is very true. On the positive side we all know what role his character is going to fill in the party. Also he names every character Legolas, but adds a different lastname.
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lowkey13
Guest
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pkt77242
Explorer
A drow shadow sorcerer. That could be a cool concept.
Talk to your DM first and see how he's going to handle it. Sometimes a great concept just doesn't fit the world/campaign. In my world, for example, drow are pretty much killed on sight.
The biggest issue is going to be sunlight sensitivity, which may or may not be a big deal depending on the campaign.
The biggest issue is going to be sunlight sensitivity, which may or may not be a big deal depending on the campaign.
One of my players is playing a Drow Tempest Cleric. He sticks to the dim light/shadows when he can and almost acts like a Rogue (ambush/snipe attacks), but when in sunlight he uses abilities/spells that call for a saving throw like Sacred Flame.
And him and the Ranger have found a good combo for Faerie Fire + Fog Cloud, so the party can help out.
And him and the Ranger have found a good combo for Faerie Fire + Fog Cloud, so the party can help out.
I played my first Drow character a few years before Drizzt was unleashed upon the world...
Two of the most important things you need to know before going forward:
1) as others suggested, ask your DM how Drow fit in the campaign world. If your DM is cool with it, you're going to be able to work with him or her to address any roleplaying or mechanical issues that may crop up. If not, you could wind up playing the game on "hardcore" setting...or having to choose another character concept entirely.
2) ask yourself what is it about playing this character that makes it essential to be a Drow. You need to know how "drowness" interacts with the other aspects of the concept, especially if the DM isn't cool with you playing a Drow. If Drow is disallowed, you'll then be more able to find a race that is close enough, but permitted.
Two of the most important things you need to know before going forward:
1) as others suggested, ask your DM how Drow fit in the campaign world. If your DM is cool with it, you're going to be able to work with him or her to address any roleplaying or mechanical issues that may crop up. If not, you could wind up playing the game on "hardcore" setting...or having to choose another character concept entirely.
2) ask yourself what is it about playing this character that makes it essential to be a Drow. You need to know how "drowness" interacts with the other aspects of the concept, especially if the DM isn't cool with you playing a Drow. If Drow is disallowed, you'll then be more able to find a race that is close enough, but permitted.
GreenTengu
Adventurer
If you say you are playing a Drow, and you are legitimately asking about this, I think there are some important considerations.
I mean, don't get me wrong, 98% of the people who make Drow characters either just literally ignore the race part aside from its mechanics (and find cheap ways to get around the penalties) or act "emo"-- but which I mean that they try to act aloof or "mysterious" or "brooding", while really saying little but whining a lot about being "misunderstood"-- yet are generally treated the same as everyone else aside from a question out of curiosity which they never seem prepared to satisfactorily answer... because they made a Drow character because it is "cool" or "bad ass" just... you know... because they are supposed to be mid-level scary bad guys and they are purdy...
The worst offenders will just say that their character was raised outside of the society or happens to be from an all good-aligned Drow society or there is some dumb reason Drows are just no longer generally bad guys. In fact, thanks to Drizzt Drow characters became such a ridiculously popular thing that the whole Forgotten Realms setting has been altered in some face-palming ways just to accommodate such people.
Okay, putting that aside though. You need to critically examine a few things.If your character is Drow then they were born Drow into presumably a Drow society. Which already presents you with numerous problems.
A) Your character has been magically/evolutionarily adapted to living in subterranean areas. Being out in the open during the day for you is a lot like a normal person deciding to stare directly into the sun. You aren't as bad off as a vampire would be, but it's also more trouble than it is worth. Unless your entire campaign takes place underground, you really need a pretty good reason as to why your character would ever willingly and knowingly come up to the surface and expose yourself to such a hostile environment.
B) There aren't really many Drow and they are pretty universally rallied under Lloth. If they weren't a child of Lloth, they wouldn't be a Drow but just an Elf. And since Lloth is pretty much at war with most of the surface dwellers seeing them as pawns of the High Elfs, it is unlikely a loyal servant of Lloth would willingly associate with her enemies. And that is before we get to the bloody sacrifice of humanoids and other rituals that would cool any human's blood that she has her worshippers engage in. So, if your character is working with others, it is important that your character's relationship to this goddess be accounted for. It is likely the relationship needs to have been forcefully severed by one side or the other... but, in such a case, it seems like the Drow's dark gifts should start fading... if you still have access to the Drow magicks but are no longer under Lloth's protection... maybe some sort of explanation is due.
C) Drow society has several aspects that aren't going to sit well with most. Even if the individual has been removed from the society, even if the individual's alignment says "good", these things are likely deeply ingrained in them. They likely seem normal, completely acceptable and they probably have a dozen rationalizations for it ready should it ever be challenged. Sure, maybe one of the practices they rail against because it has something to do with why they severed ties from their society, but these things are still going to seem like the natural order.
It is highly sexist with females holding all the power, property and status and males simply being property and resources to be expended in defense of the females. Male authority is likely viewed as invalid.
Also, the Drow society is based on faith, built entirely around the church and the worship of their goddess. Their rulers gain their right to rule through the "church" for lack of better word. Other sorts of authority, civil authority or military authority, are going to seem properly subservient and less important than religious authority even when among peoples who do not value their religious authorities quite so much.
Most Drow are both masochistic and sadistic. Pain is fun, whether receiving or causing it. A Drow is likely to needlessly cause enemies pain and even prolong a battle just to play mind games with enemies that are certain to be defeated and cause their end to be drawn-out suffering. They are likely to inflict painful death upon others even when it isn't necessary, so long as they are in a position to do so and there are no serious consequences for such action. They are quick to engage in torture, even if they aren't looking for information. And, again, they will expect to be treated in the same way by others. It is likely better for one to fall on their own sword than try to surrender to a Drow, even if one is not a direct enemy of the Drow.
Also, Drow society is full of political backstabbing and people constantly trying to eliminate competition and maneuver themselves into a position to rule. It is also in no way democratic, so the leaders need not appeal to the people in order to rule. In such a society, the majority of the population needs to simply accept that the current ruler is the current ruler no matter how they were deposed and just follow the orders, all the while knowing the current one might be removed at any time. So it is likely it is the position/office that i respected rather than the individual who holds it. It would also seem perfectly natural to this individual to betray others for personal gain and that others will betray them for the same reason and take precautions against being damaged in such eventualities. In either case, it is unlikely that the Drow can really afford to hold personal grudges over such situations and view such behavior as perfectly acceptable and just-- if they are damaged through a betrayal, it is their fault for having not properly anticipated it and prepared... which also means they will be anticipating and preparing or it even when it isn't coming and even when it make things more complicated and difficult in the short term.
Finally, slavery is heavily utilized by Drow. It is how they keep themselves so refined and beautiful in rather inhospitable conditions. They get others to do the heavy and hard work for them. While this might very well mean those of their own people who have been too dull, unprepared, weak or unlucky to maintain status in their society, it usually means other peoples. They have elven arrogance dialed up to 11. They look on other peoples the way humans look on chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas.... Yes, they are generally perfectly willing to drive other humanoids to extinction to get a bit more coconut oil or cacao or whatever. This really isn't a view that one can just be broken of-- not after a century of being indoctrinated to think this way. Even if, for some really odd reason, a drow is working with other races-- it is likely for them to be looked upon as beasts of burden rather than proper fellows.
Seriously, if any standard good guy characters in the party are not on the edge of punching you in your smug face for your comments, attitudes and the horrid behavior you either accept or engage in, you aren't playing a Drow correctly at all.
D) Everyone has all the reason in the world to hate and fear them. Drow regularly make raids to the surface in the dead of the night to raid villages built too close to caverns and often carry away innocent civilians, often children as they are the easiest to carry, either to be sacrificed to their goddess or to toil for the rest of their short existence in utter blackness being whipped and abused until they finally succumb. Drow, unlike Goblins or Kobolds, are not easily dealt with, defeated and scattered simply by having some standard, common soldiers chase them back to their lair and scatter them. Unlike Orcs, they will not loudly announce their attacks nor can they be so easily driven back to the edges of civilization or scattered and "tamed". Unlike Hobgoblins, they have no honor and cannot be bargained and dealt with on relatively equal footing... even if Drow parley and make a pact, they cannot be expected to keep it. Not a deal made with animals.
DMs tend to ignore this because it is too disruptive to have every NPC, particularly those who are supposed to be allies, refuse to help the party or assault the Drow character or try to keep the Drow character uninvolved in such things. In fact, they will reason that the "good" and "neutral" NPCs will be above such things like holding one's race against one.... while hiring the party to go slaughter every last member of that Orc tribe in the hills for the crime of being orcs. Despite the fact, again, that Drow are far nastier people to deal with than Orcs. It is just too much work a lot of the time to properly handle this situation.
It is equally important that you, as a player, be well aware of how things should be going... while not having your character act butt-hurt over every minor perceived slight over the character's heritage... especially given those slights are coming from lesser peoples who are barely above most animals. You are free to use the fear you should be inspiring as a weapon, but only as fair as it is being used as a bludgeon against you and making the party's tasks harder.
But, as noted above, even if your alignment is "good", the shadows of your generally "evil" and alien society should be so readily apparent at all times that the DM needn't have any reminder that your character is a "monster" and should be treated as so.
As I said initially though, it is likely 1 out of 50 "Drow" characters that actually bother to take any of this into account. People just take the race because it is a race that is sexually attractive while at the same time being "bad" and maybe for the nifty powerset. So if you just disregard everything, maybe giving a weak excuse for it, you are going to be in the majority. Almost no one actually wants to play a Drow-- they just want to play a purple skinned elf who can act like the worst written Batman and gets superior stats to boot. I have seen "drow" listed as a character race more times than I can count, but never have I ever seen someone besides the DM legitimately play a Drow.
Which is why every other post you have gotten here until now and since has either been
"here is how you can abuse the mechanics in order to make yourself more badass"
and
"people won'ts like you... cause evil somehow"
but not a single other person is actually going to tell you what you need to know about portraying a Drow. Because it is extraordinarily rare for anyone who uses the race to actually want to play one.
I mean, don't get me wrong, 98% of the people who make Drow characters either just literally ignore the race part aside from its mechanics (and find cheap ways to get around the penalties) or act "emo"-- but which I mean that they try to act aloof or "mysterious" or "brooding", while really saying little but whining a lot about being "misunderstood"-- yet are generally treated the same as everyone else aside from a question out of curiosity which they never seem prepared to satisfactorily answer... because they made a Drow character because it is "cool" or "bad ass" just... you know... because they are supposed to be mid-level scary bad guys and they are purdy...
The worst offenders will just say that their character was raised outside of the society or happens to be from an all good-aligned Drow society or there is some dumb reason Drows are just no longer generally bad guys. In fact, thanks to Drizzt Drow characters became such a ridiculously popular thing that the whole Forgotten Realms setting has been altered in some face-palming ways just to accommodate such people.
Okay, putting that aside though. You need to critically examine a few things.If your character is Drow then they were born Drow into presumably a Drow society. Which already presents you with numerous problems.
A) Your character has been magically/evolutionarily adapted to living in subterranean areas. Being out in the open during the day for you is a lot like a normal person deciding to stare directly into the sun. You aren't as bad off as a vampire would be, but it's also more trouble than it is worth. Unless your entire campaign takes place underground, you really need a pretty good reason as to why your character would ever willingly and knowingly come up to the surface and expose yourself to such a hostile environment.
B) There aren't really many Drow and they are pretty universally rallied under Lloth. If they weren't a child of Lloth, they wouldn't be a Drow but just an Elf. And since Lloth is pretty much at war with most of the surface dwellers seeing them as pawns of the High Elfs, it is unlikely a loyal servant of Lloth would willingly associate with her enemies. And that is before we get to the bloody sacrifice of humanoids and other rituals that would cool any human's blood that she has her worshippers engage in. So, if your character is working with others, it is important that your character's relationship to this goddess be accounted for. It is likely the relationship needs to have been forcefully severed by one side or the other... but, in such a case, it seems like the Drow's dark gifts should start fading... if you still have access to the Drow magicks but are no longer under Lloth's protection... maybe some sort of explanation is due.
C) Drow society has several aspects that aren't going to sit well with most. Even if the individual has been removed from the society, even if the individual's alignment says "good", these things are likely deeply ingrained in them. They likely seem normal, completely acceptable and they probably have a dozen rationalizations for it ready should it ever be challenged. Sure, maybe one of the practices they rail against because it has something to do with why they severed ties from their society, but these things are still going to seem like the natural order.
It is highly sexist with females holding all the power, property and status and males simply being property and resources to be expended in defense of the females. Male authority is likely viewed as invalid.
Also, the Drow society is based on faith, built entirely around the church and the worship of their goddess. Their rulers gain their right to rule through the "church" for lack of better word. Other sorts of authority, civil authority or military authority, are going to seem properly subservient and less important than religious authority even when among peoples who do not value their religious authorities quite so much.
Most Drow are both masochistic and sadistic. Pain is fun, whether receiving or causing it. A Drow is likely to needlessly cause enemies pain and even prolong a battle just to play mind games with enemies that are certain to be defeated and cause their end to be drawn-out suffering. They are likely to inflict painful death upon others even when it isn't necessary, so long as they are in a position to do so and there are no serious consequences for such action. They are quick to engage in torture, even if they aren't looking for information. And, again, they will expect to be treated in the same way by others. It is likely better for one to fall on their own sword than try to surrender to a Drow, even if one is not a direct enemy of the Drow.
Also, Drow society is full of political backstabbing and people constantly trying to eliminate competition and maneuver themselves into a position to rule. It is also in no way democratic, so the leaders need not appeal to the people in order to rule. In such a society, the majority of the population needs to simply accept that the current ruler is the current ruler no matter how they were deposed and just follow the orders, all the while knowing the current one might be removed at any time. So it is likely it is the position/office that i respected rather than the individual who holds it. It would also seem perfectly natural to this individual to betray others for personal gain and that others will betray them for the same reason and take precautions against being damaged in such eventualities. In either case, it is unlikely that the Drow can really afford to hold personal grudges over such situations and view such behavior as perfectly acceptable and just-- if they are damaged through a betrayal, it is their fault for having not properly anticipated it and prepared... which also means they will be anticipating and preparing or it even when it isn't coming and even when it make things more complicated and difficult in the short term.
Finally, slavery is heavily utilized by Drow. It is how they keep themselves so refined and beautiful in rather inhospitable conditions. They get others to do the heavy and hard work for them. While this might very well mean those of their own people who have been too dull, unprepared, weak or unlucky to maintain status in their society, it usually means other peoples. They have elven arrogance dialed up to 11. They look on other peoples the way humans look on chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas.... Yes, they are generally perfectly willing to drive other humanoids to extinction to get a bit more coconut oil or cacao or whatever. This really isn't a view that one can just be broken of-- not after a century of being indoctrinated to think this way. Even if, for some really odd reason, a drow is working with other races-- it is likely for them to be looked upon as beasts of burden rather than proper fellows.
Seriously, if any standard good guy characters in the party are not on the edge of punching you in your smug face for your comments, attitudes and the horrid behavior you either accept or engage in, you aren't playing a Drow correctly at all.
D) Everyone has all the reason in the world to hate and fear them. Drow regularly make raids to the surface in the dead of the night to raid villages built too close to caverns and often carry away innocent civilians, often children as they are the easiest to carry, either to be sacrificed to their goddess or to toil for the rest of their short existence in utter blackness being whipped and abused until they finally succumb. Drow, unlike Goblins or Kobolds, are not easily dealt with, defeated and scattered simply by having some standard, common soldiers chase them back to their lair and scatter them. Unlike Orcs, they will not loudly announce their attacks nor can they be so easily driven back to the edges of civilization or scattered and "tamed". Unlike Hobgoblins, they have no honor and cannot be bargained and dealt with on relatively equal footing... even if Drow parley and make a pact, they cannot be expected to keep it. Not a deal made with animals.
DMs tend to ignore this because it is too disruptive to have every NPC, particularly those who are supposed to be allies, refuse to help the party or assault the Drow character or try to keep the Drow character uninvolved in such things. In fact, they will reason that the "good" and "neutral" NPCs will be above such things like holding one's race against one.... while hiring the party to go slaughter every last member of that Orc tribe in the hills for the crime of being orcs. Despite the fact, again, that Drow are far nastier people to deal with than Orcs. It is just too much work a lot of the time to properly handle this situation.
It is equally important that you, as a player, be well aware of how things should be going... while not having your character act butt-hurt over every minor perceived slight over the character's heritage... especially given those slights are coming from lesser peoples who are barely above most animals. You are free to use the fear you should be inspiring as a weapon, but only as fair as it is being used as a bludgeon against you and making the party's tasks harder.
But, as noted above, even if your alignment is "good", the shadows of your generally "evil" and alien society should be so readily apparent at all times that the DM needn't have any reminder that your character is a "monster" and should be treated as so.
As I said initially though, it is likely 1 out of 50 "Drow" characters that actually bother to take any of this into account. People just take the race because it is a race that is sexually attractive while at the same time being "bad" and maybe for the nifty powerset. So if you just disregard everything, maybe giving a weak excuse for it, you are going to be in the majority. Almost no one actually wants to play a Drow-- they just want to play a purple skinned elf who can act like the worst written Batman and gets superior stats to boot. I have seen "drow" listed as a character race more times than I can count, but never have I ever seen someone besides the DM legitimately play a Drow.
Which is why every other post you have gotten here until now and since has either been
"here is how you can abuse the mechanics in order to make yourself more badass"
and
"people won'ts like you... cause evil somehow"
but not a single other person is actually going to tell you what you need to know about portraying a Drow. Because it is extraordinarily rare for anyone who uses the race to actually want to play one.
Last edited:
ClockworkNinja
Explorer
On an image board whose name I will not mention here, I read a very funny suggestion of how to roleplay a drow who grew up in the underdark and has only recently come to the surface: Imagine them as recent immigrants from a soviet bloc country. They are amazed by simple things such as mirrors or authority figures who don't torture/kill for fun, and if asked about their homeland they will casually tell stories of the mind-bending horrors they grew up with.
(to be read in a thick Slavic accent)
"In deep contry, Tuesday is "Spider bath" day. Matron come to barracks, pick one male for put into barrel fill with spider. Must smile and say is great honor, otherwise... many torture.
Tuesday on surface world much better. Is ladies night at tavern! After few weeks I even learn 'invitation for dancing' is not euphemism for whipping. Is nice. "
(to be read in a thick Slavic accent)
"In deep contry, Tuesday is "Spider bath" day. Matron come to barracks, pick one male for put into barrel fill with spider. Must smile and say is great honor, otherwise... many torture.
Tuesday on surface world much better. Is ladies night at tavern! After few weeks I even learn 'invitation for dancing' is not euphemism for whipping. Is nice. "
Ancalagon
Dusty Dragon
I know it's new to you, but it's old news a lot of other players/GM. A "drizzt wannabe" will make a lot of people shudder.
Which book did you read btw? There are some other cool character concept in those books
excellent point. If you can understand what it is that you want from this character - it may not be strictly necessary to be a drow.
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