What to do with a drow

[Falex]

Drow Ranger1, dual wielding Scimitars.

Feats: Twin Sword Style, Two-Weapon Fighting, Ambidexterity, Track
Trying to look a little "too" much like drizzt eh? All you need to do is add the purple eyes and the miniture tiger, and your set =x. Don't forget the mithril chain mail, and you have to give the scimitars names! And the other serveral feats drizzt has, not to mention the fact he's part warrior/barbarian/ranger and something else (rogue maybe?).

 

[Voadam]

twin swords

Twin swords, I believe, is in the forgotten realms campaign setting 3e core book.

 

[kreynolds]

Re: twin swords

Twin swords, I believe, is in the forgotten realms campaign setting 3e core book.

Yep. Also, the feat isn't as restrictive about what weapons you can use as it leads on. Any medium-size or smaller, slashing weapon/sword type will do. His response was pretty vague if I recall. I can hunt it up if anyone would like to see it.

 

[Gaiden]

I am in Greyhawk - so no forgotten realms feats or abilities that are unique to Faerun.

Currently the PC will join a group that has a cleric, paladin, bladesinger, and psion.

I was thinking that the group either desperately needs a wizard or a rogue.

I decided to go the wizard route. He is 3rd level with ~150XP away from fourth. He has a something like 40 scrolls and 15 1st level spells and 3 2nd level spells. He has taken spell focus and greater spell focus - enchantment. (Our cleric can take out almost any undead that is thrown at us with his 19 chr, karmic twin feat, and sun domain).

Do you guys think this is worth it?

Should I instead go rogue?

Feedback appreciated

 

[RogueJK]

I would advise against playing a Drow Wizard. The +2 ECL will severly hurt your caster level. Characters with ECLs are best as Fighter-types or Rogues. Any caster will be behind the overall party in terms of power.

I'd say to go with Rogue. The +2 to Dex, Cha, and Int will help you a lot. The Cleric, Paladin, Bladesinger, and Psion are all spellcasters, so your party would benefit from a different type of character. Plus, as it stands now, the party seems like it has no way to get past traps or locked doors. You also have the Cleric, Paladin, and possibly the Bladesinger for melee, so you might consider going with a ranged archer, either with a bow or throwing weapons. If you do decide to stick with a melee Rogue, you'll want a high Dex and Weapon Finesse.

What are your ability scores? If you tell us a little more info about your character (ability scores, starting gold, character concept, etc.) we can probably give you more specific advice.

In case you didn't notice, my first post was a joke. I was trying to get a rise from the Drizzt haters. I, myself, am strongly against anyone playing a dual-scimitar-wielding Drow ranger.

 

[RogueJK]

Another thing to consider is whether the Drow racial abilities are worth giving up 2 levels. IMHO, they aren't. If you've got a burning desire to play a Drow, that's one thing; otherwise, I'd suggest that you choose a different race.

Yes, the +2 to Dex, Int, and Cha are nice, and the SR is somewhat useful, but you will be giving up 2 levels in your chosen class (which hurts even more if you decide to stick with Wizard).

You will also need to spend a feat on Daylight Adaptation. Otherwise, you are blinded for 1 round every time you are exposed to bright light, and you suffer a -1 penalty to attacks, checks, and save while operating in bright light.

Drow can be played effectively at higher levels, when the 2 lost levels don't affect you that much. But at lower levels, which you are at right now, being only a 1st level character while your buddies are all 3rd will greatly decrease your usefulness and survivability. Your HPs will be dangerously low, with only a d6+Con while your friends all have 3HD worth. 3d8+Conx3, 3d10+conx3, and 3d4+Conx3 for the Cleric, Paladin, and Psion, respectively. The -2 to Con will make this even worse.

Let's take a look at a common CR 3 creature, such as a Gelatinous Cube. You and your buddies come across one while in a dungeon. You close to melee. On its turn, it slams you and hits. 1d6+4+1d6 damage. If you are extremely lucky and have a decent Con, you might have 1 or 2 HP left. If you are unlucky, you are dead. *Poof* One hit.

Just something to think about...

 

[shilsen]

In case you didn't notice, my first post was a joke. I was trying to get a rise from the Drizzt haters. I, myself, am strongly against anyone playing a dual-scimitar-wielding Drow ranger.

Besides the fact that it would upset the Drizzt-haters, why would you have a problem with this? If you are actually allowing drow in a campaign, this is hardly a combat-optimized character. Two scimitars would give a -4 to attack with each weapon (since the off-hand weapon is not light), and the drow wouldn't be able to apply a presumably high Dex with Weapon Finesse.

 

[RogueJK]

Besides the fact that it would upset the Drizzt-haters, why would you have a problem with this?

Because 99% of the people are doing it just so they can be like Drizzt. There's practically no other reason to play a dual-Scimitar-wielding Drow Ranger (dSwDR). As you pointed out, it's not even that great from a powergaming perspective. If, someday, someone comes up with a viable roleplaying reason to want to play a Drizzt clone, or any other clone, I'd love to hear it.

Until then, no dSwDR in my campaigns.

I have nothing against Drizzt. In fact, I enjoyed most of Salvatore's novels. I just don't like seeing characters that are nothing but clones of something that they recently read or saw in a movie. (This includes Elf Archers with long, blonde hair and a house-ruled feat which allows them to use arrows as a melee weapon. )

Gaining inspiration from an outside source is fine... directly duplicating it is not.

 

[Gaiden]

Dude, Linflas was the bomb. Props to anyone who can take out orcs with an arrow as a melee weapon .

First off, about the daylight adaption - I am playing in RttToEE. We won't be going outside - we already found the temple and are pretty deep in. The reason why this character is being brought in is because my previous character - a ranger/druid - who was the kick ass melee warrior just got toasted by the four dire apes and the silver back. (He took out three before they took him down and reduced the silverback to half hitpoints). Anyway - this silverback reduced him to -15 with its rend ability so needless to say he is toast. A shame as it is, our party will surely die without some compensation. The paladin is beginning to be able to hold his own in combat. Problem is, he really can't dish out too much damage. Our party level right now is 6.

So my DM said that I could bring in another character, but because of whatever his master plan is for the story he wants me to bring in a drow. I have been given 4000 XP, 4300 gp and free reign to design him/her how I like. The story behind the character is that he has been sent by Lloth with a raiding party to assassinate some renegade drow who defected to Tharizdun. Lloth being the bitch she is wants those drow dead. So this guy along with his underlings were sent. Unfortunately, some random battle took the lives of the whole raiding party but this guy. So now he has to go at it alone. His introduction to the party will be that he can help them with his skills and in turn would like to travel with them in hopes of encountering the renegade drow.

So I can choose whatever classes/alignment/abilities I want given the above parameters. The penalty of failure is to be turned into a drider - a fate this guy would deem as worse than death.

 

[RogueJK]

Dude, Linflas was the bomb. Props to anyone who can take out orcs with an arrow as a melee weapon .

His name was Legolas...

Anyway, based on this new information, I'd still say to stick with Rogue. You'll be more help to your group as a 1st level Rogue than as a 1st level Wizard.

The problem still remains of your low HPs. It's even worse considering that you will be a 1st level character in a 6th level party! That's just asking for it. You might want to point this out to your DM. I don't see how you could hope to survive for any length of time, especially in RttToEE. He's gotta be smoking something.

A creature that is hardly a challenge for a 6th level character will mangle you in a heartbeat, so try and make your character a ranged attacker. As a Drow, you get the elven proficiency with bows, so use that to your advantage. Get your Dex as high as you can, and take Point Blank Shot. Try to catch your opponents flat-footed or convince the melee attackers to flank often in order to get your Sneak Attack. Max out your Hide and Move Silently skills, so hopefully you can keep some of the bad guys from noticing you.

My advice: Unless your DM decides to be extremely nice to you, don't get too attached to this character. He won't last long.

*Mumbles*(I still wanna know what that DM was thinking... Geez, a 1st level character in a group of 6th level guys... in RttToEE no less! What a freaking sadist!)*Mumbles*