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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 261172" data-attributes="member: 2020">A commentI admit, I am surprised by the responses to my posts, so far.  I'm not complaining, but I AM surprised.  Please understand ... in my gaming career, I have seen adventuring party after adventuring party slaughtered by the drow.  My characters have sometime had the misfortune to be caught in these slaughters.  As a DM, I have yet to slaughter a party with the drow, but I have witnessed the fate of other parties under other DMs.  Sometimes, the drow won because the party was unprepared for battle in the Underdark.  Sometimes, I would daresay, the drow won because the party simply wasn't prepared properly at all.  Sometimes the drow won because the party was overconfident.  However, the drow DID win, time and again.  The players I knew, came to fear the drow very greatly, and expeditions into the Underdark were undertaken only by the strongest parties, brimming with magical items, paranoid about every nook and cranny they came upon, creeping down the tunnels one foot at a time.  And still the drow inflicted fatalities.  As for Mithril Hall versus Menzoberranzan, I could well understand many people disagreeing with me.  But I am surprised everyone seems to disagree - it is so clearly obvious, at least to me, just how overwhelmingly superior the drow were, in terms of fighting prowess.  Now yes, you can point to the nature of the drow as they are portrayed by Salvatore, and you have a legitimate point - Salvatore's interpretation makes the drow so disunited, so disorganized, that their military capability is compromised.  However, I am not referring to Salvatore's interpretation - I am referring to what would have happened in our campaign.  In our campaign, the drow would have behaved as religion fanatics, would have stood and fought (to the death), would have worked closely as a team, and would have followed the orders of Matron Baenre as if ... she ... were a Goddess, and her commanders her Proxies.  Such is the nature of drow in our campaign.  Only AFTER the fall of Mithril Hall would the drow have fallen apart again, fallen into fighting amongst themselves for the spoils, fallen back into their chaotic ways.  Furthermore, in our campaign the drow would have summoned large Outsider forces to aid them.  In particular, they would have summoned several dozen yochlols (and their front line fighters would have gotten well out of the way when these monsters came charging up against the dwarves.)  The Academy would have summoned the lower-planar Outsiders (as they did when a Noble House was to be destroyed) and these would have descended upon the dwarves en mass.  Also, the drow would have created a LARGE army of undead, including a sizeable force of high Hit Dice undead, which would have been sent into Mithril Hall to do what damage it could before being annihilated.  In our campaign, Mithril Hall would have been swept away in a sea of drow magic, bolts, and blades.    But ...  In our campaign, Alustriel would have brought the full might of Silverymoon and probably several other cities to bear against the drow.  The threat of the drow would have united Citadel Fellbar, Citadel Adbar, Sundabar, Everlund, Deadsnows, and Nesme.  All of these would have sent major forces.    It is likely a large force from Waterdeep, and a supplementary force from the Lord's Alliance, would also have arrived.  With them would have come the Seven Sisters, Elminster, and Khelben.  It is even possible Cormyr might have sent a contingent to give aid, because of the threat the drow represented to trade, and to gain trading privileges (through goodwill) in these northern lands.  Blindenstone would have sent most, if not all, of it's force to the battle.  In any case, in our campaign the Host of Menzoberranzan would have faced a colossal foe, one capable of giving them a real fight - with a 50/50 chance of holding Mithril Hall against the invaders.  This is what would have happened in our campaign.  EVERYONE in our campaign (all the players) would have very quickly realized the unaided dwarves of Clan Battlehammer could not withstand the might of Menzoberranzan.  This would not even have been debated - not even a short debate.  Everyone would have very quickly said:  the dwarves will be annihilated, and then god knows what the drow will do next.  Let's stop them.  So yeah, I am very surprised at the responses here.  They run counter to all my experiences, and my observations of players dealing with a drow threat.  Of course, each to their own, and everyone is entitled to their opinion.  And I'm sure that things might have changed in 3rd edition, also.  But, at least in our campaign, and in my gaming history, the drow were a terror, both to my characters and to the characters of every player I knew.  So, I am very surprised at the comments here.  Edena_of_Neith</blockquote>

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