What are the most important features of the Drow?
- Thread starter Yaarel
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Li Shenron
Legend
More or less these:
I like Drow as former Elves (as a group, not individually) who shifted to evil and therefore were put under a curse which made them hate the daylight.
I like Drow as former Elves (as a group, not individually) who shifted to evil and therefore were put under a curse which made them hate the daylight.
Hussar
Legend
I'm curious now. In D&D, what is a dark elf?
Yora
Legend
In Forgotten Realms and I think also in Greyhawk, the drow where not always living underground and worshipping spiders, but started doing so after being cursed by their gods. In FR, the name drow is explicitly linked to that curse and didn't exist before that.
When the term drow gets used, it's virtually always about Vault of the Drow/Menzoberanzan style people, while dark elf seems to be more generic and often used outside of D&D. (Eberron being kind of an exception, but that's the whole concept behind the whole setting.)
When the term drow gets used, it's virtually always about Vault of the Drow/Menzoberanzan style people, while dark elf seems to be more generic and often used outside of D&D. (Eberron being kind of an exception, but that's the whole concept behind the whole setting.)
Savage Wombat
Hero
Interesting that the word "drow" was derived (by Gygax himself I'd heard) from the same root words that led to "troll".
(Although I pronounce it 'how now brown drow' myself.)
(Although I pronounce it 'how now brown drow' myself.)
Yaarel
🇮🇱 🇺🇦 He-Mage
I updated Post #10, with a description of the Drow that accommodates the results of the poll.
The essence of the Drow archetype seems to look something like this:
Drow - Elf, Evil, Matriarchy, Spiders, Darkvision.
Notable for setting options but less essential to the Drow themselves seems something like the following:
Subterranean, Slavery, Nocturnal.
In sum, Drow are an Evil Elf with a matriarchal culture that venerates spiders. They can see in total darkness.
An optional setting might want to have the Drow live deep in earth, with a slave-based economy, from where they only come above ground at night because of sensitivity to daylight.
The poll results appear to be stabilizing, albeit options on the cusp of a cluster might shift to an other cluster depending on future voters.
Suprisingly, the abilities of the Drow (Dex, Cha, Wis, Int) seem nonessential, albeit the prominance of Dex and Cha are clear enough.
Im curious where the Drow magic resistance fits in. I suspect it would be nonessential, since the Drow racial spells didnt make the cut.
In the original 1e Monster Manual, the essence of the Drow is to be ‘weak’ at fighting but ‘powerful’ at using magic. But the way the concept evolved across editions, they became powerful at fighting by means of Dexterity, despite having weak Strength. Their martial prowess seems to have become more important than their magical prowess, but not by much, and both seem nonessential. With regard to the Drow, it is their culture that defines their archetype, not any particular capability that they have. In this case, it is the ‘fluff’ that matters, not the ‘crunch’.
The essence of the Drow archetype seems to look something like this:
Drow - Elf, Evil, Matriarchy, Spiders, Darkvision.
Notable for setting options but less essential to the Drow themselves seems something like the following:
Subterranean, Slavery, Nocturnal.
In sum, Drow are an Evil Elf with a matriarchal culture that venerates spiders. They can see in total darkness.
An optional setting might want to have the Drow live deep in earth, with a slave-based economy, from where they only come above ground at night because of sensitivity to daylight.
The poll results appear to be stabilizing, albeit options on the cusp of a cluster might shift to an other cluster depending on future voters.
Suprisingly, the abilities of the Drow (Dex, Cha, Wis, Int) seem nonessential, albeit the prominance of Dex and Cha are clear enough.
Im curious where the Drow magic resistance fits in. I suspect it would be nonessential, since the Drow racial spells didnt make the cut.
In the original 1e Monster Manual, the essence of the Drow is to be ‘weak’ at fighting but ‘powerful’ at using magic. But the way the concept evolved across editions, they became powerful at fighting by means of Dexterity, despite having weak Strength. Their martial prowess seems to have become more important than their magical prowess, but not by much, and both seem nonessential. With regard to the Drow, it is their culture that defines their archetype, not any particular capability that they have. In this case, it is the ‘fluff’ that matters, not the ‘crunch’.
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