D&D 5E Thoughts on playing Elf in Out of the Abyss [SPOILERS]

[FormerlyHemlock]

Maybe the fact that the elf character or characters aren't immediately killed becomes a (minor?) plot point that's initially a mystery to the party. As in, what extraordinary circumstances would warrant keeping a surface elf alive; what's going on here? Could build up some dread with it too.

Maybe give the elf some mysterious glowing azure tattoos while you're at it.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

Kill an elf and what happens by Forgotten realms canon? Its soul goes on to the afterlife and serves the elven gods, which the drow and Lolth both vehemently hate. If the drow are going off on a surface raid I could easily understand simple execution for the sake of expediency. Given a bit more time, seems better from the drow perspective to properly sacrifice or otherwise prevent elven souls from moving on to their normal afterlife.

If you are somehow finding it difficult to portray drow cruelty to surface elves and still think yourself worthy of being a DM, it's easy enough to add some (minor) extra penalty. New scars, minor madness, levels of exhaustion, temporary hit point penalties or the like to suggest particularly heinous treatment of the elven PCs.

 

[cmad1977]

Yeah you guys are thinking too hard about this. Drow would rather kill you as a spectacle than do it at first sight. Also there could be a reason why they are gathering prisoners... like for Sacrifice Saturday.

Wait... These guys are completely overthinking a non issue?? I don't think I've ever seen that on these boards

 

[Tanaka Chris]

I understand it's possible to rationalize the "keep elves alive" behavior - that's not my issue.

My issue is that I don't want to downplay the "rabid hatred against elves" schtick drow are always described having.

Experiencing drow for the first time as a player and them NOT killing off any elves weakens this impression considerably.

Perhaps you're not thinking dark enough... killing someone is the possible end of a cycle, unless said person has relatives/friends who want revenge.
In fact, among the Drow, there are prisoners who would rather be killed than be kept alive for the Drow's amusement.
These prisoner's would attempt to piss off the Drow, spit in their face in defiance or insult them, in the hopes that a flash of anger would cause the Drow to take their life.

Maybe portray this through the abuse of a NPC, where the attempt fails and the Drow promises more pain later. The NPC's false bravado cracks and he/she starts pleading for mercy.
In fact, when your PC later escapes, this NPC will ask for a "Mercy killing" rather than be saved (too damaged, even magical healing won't help).

 

[jrowland]

one other point:

Tentacle Rods: Not really designed to killed, but rather to inflict pain. Drow are Sadists. Play according

 

[cmad1977]

'Killing on sight' because the Drow are evil is DM easy mode.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Part of the confusion, of course, is simply that so many people interpret "rare/rarely" differently. It can mean "almost never" or it can mean "slightly less often than the other options" or anywhere in between. That the intent of the text was one thing doesn't make any of the others less valid readings/table rules.

 

[Celtavian]

Just as a thought, what races (from either the PH or EE) WOULDN'T the drow slaughter on sight?

If it is a slave raiding party as the module seems to indicate, they wouldn't slaughter any of them until they figured out which ones they could use as slaves. That's not something they figure out immediately.

Except the elves. You'll have to assume the surface elves are going to be used as sacrifices to Lolth or a torture slave for some particularly sadistic drow. That's the only reason they would keep them alive.

Humans are valued slaves. Halflings and gnomes can be sold to places specializing in entertainment. Dwarves they will attempt to break and kill them if it doesn't seem possible. The EE races are all possible slaves.

 

[Celtavian]

That the Drow outpost is somehow unusual would be a valid reason.

Being saved for Lolth is a rather weak reason, since there's no real explanation why this particular elf is saved but others are killed on sight, except "is a player character"...

Wouldn't a lone elf be easier to take for sacrifice? If they are at home, maybe they slaughtered most of the tribe and the PC elf was one of the few the fickle drow decided to keep alive for sacrifice? Either way, I think the justification is pretty easy. Small groups of elves alone and easily captured are rare for the drow to find. Even though lone elves wandering with PC groups is common in D&D, I don't figure that it is common in the world. Elves usually hang with elves, not with other races. So the drow usually have to take an elf captive when raiding an elf settlement. An elf or small number of elves with a small group of non-elves would be a chance for some real painful revenge for the drow. Why wouldn't the drow consider an elf easily taken a rare treat for the priests of Lolth?

Surface elves are every bit as powerful as the drow. I imagine they are very hard to take in battle and risky. Here an elf or a small group walked into their capture web unawares. That's a luxury for the drow. Why waste such an opportunity with a quick death?

 

[Celtavian]

I'm running with the following perspective:



To me, this means that, sure, Drow take surface elves prisoner.

But not anonymous level 1 ones.

I could see the OotA start featuring enslaved surface elves if it were a mid-level adventure. A level 7 or 11 elf would be quite a catch, and definitely something Drow slavers would resist their natural hatred for, something they would rather transport to Menzoberranzan, something too valuable for petty murder.

So while that might work for you, it won't for me. Enslaving level 1 PCs would devalue the Drow's reputation too much: if the first Drow you meet doesn't kill you, then there's not much to that so-called hatred, is there?

Anyway, that's the reason for this thread. Good luck in your game!

If you were a real bastard and your player's background allowed it, you could have some of the PC elf's relatives captured along with him. They basically kept the family alive to torture them and make the members of the family watch. It's something I would do if the PC gave me the rope. I'd have to make sure not to press it too far or get too vivid because role-playing situations of that nature require a very mature player that doesn't mind role-playing that type of scenario. It's a hard scenario to get into because imagining that situation and the relationships is enough to cause real anger and unhappiness. If the player can handle that type of role-playing, they in essence become the fantasy equivalent of The Punisher. Though after that I wouldn't expect them to ever spare drow. You could justify an elf being kept for this particularly cruel form of torture.

Or you could say the slavers know a drow mage that is doing experiments on surface dwelling elves. The drow mage is developing bioweapons for use against surface elves to wipe them out. He is paying well for surface dwelling elves to use in the experiment.

Or you could sell to a military school or house that likes to use surface dwelling elves for training their troops. Perhaps they like to have surface dwelling elves fight their soldiers so the soldiers learn the fighting techniques of surface dwelling elves including how to deal with their archery skills.

Or the classic Most Dangerous Game scenario where a drow underdark hunter/merchant buys surface elves for professional hunts paid for by rich and bored drow looking for an extraordinary hunt. Nothing pleases them more than hunting down one of their surface dwelling cousins to torture and kill. Then perhaps mounting the dead elf head on their wall. He prefers to buy relatively weak elves, so that is clients don't have real problems during the hunt.

Or if you want a truly sick, twisted reason (well, more so than the previous two), you could have the slavers know a drow artist that enjoys using elves as part of a live performance art show where he uses them as the centerpiece. Painting with their blood. Using their skin as a canvas for drawing on while they are alive as he audience watches him draw on their skin until they die. Perhaps he flays them alive and then makes items with surface elf skin. Or just a general show on torture.

There are so many possibilities while the drow might keep a few surface elves alive to do things with, things only drow might find entertaining or useful.