White-skinned Drow

[LoneWolf23]

Am I the only one who thinks Drow would be perfect if, instead of having Black (or Blackish) skin, they instead had normal skin like every other Elf?

They can stay in the Underdark, wear black leather bondage gear, worship Lolth, love spiders and have a matriarchy, yadda yadda.. But to me, the Black skin is just silly. If anything, Warhammer's shown us you can have Dark Elves that still look a little like Normal Elves, yet are still Evil. In fact, It makes them even creepier when you realize you can't really tell an Elf from a Dark Elf until he pulls out a dagger and sticks it in your heart after he's approached you with a disarming smile.

So, in my future campaign, the Drow will look like normal Elves, yet will maintain every other aspect of their Drow statistics and culture...

Any thoughts?

 

[Klaus]

IMNSHO, drow were made to look the direct opposite of the surface (high) elves.

Black hair became white.
White (very pale) skin became black.
Green eyes became red.

You can still have an Evil high elf, and no one would know it before he slit your throat with a dagger. Alignments aren't set in stone.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Judge not your elves by the color of their skin, but rather by the content of their character ... preferable as evil as possible!

For some great evil "normal" elves, check out the FR's Eldreth Veluuthra ... racist Nazi elves!

 

[ivocaliban]

I can understand the reasoning behind this kind of thinking. Many species that live underground have adapted to the environment and have little in the way of skin pigmentation. Of course, they're usually blind as well or lack eyes altogether.

However, I've always thought that the black/dark grey skin was a part of the punishment of the Drow race...to specifically mark them as different or tainted from other elves...because of their support of Araushnee during the Crown Wars (Forgotten Realms). To me, their inky skin is an inherent part of their mythos.

Still, if you have a different concept of Drow and their origins, there's absolutely no reason why you couldn't make their skin day-glo orange if it makes you happy.

 

[WayneLigon]

Actually, you'd think being cave-dwellers that they'd have fishbelly-white skin, maybe even with some parasitic fungus marbleing making them glow very faintly.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Actually, you'd think being cave-dwellers that they'd have fishbelly-white skin, maybe even with some parasitic fungus marbleing making them glow very faintly.

Like the shadow elves of Mystara!

 

[LoneWolf23]

Judge not your elves by the color of their skin, but rather by the content of their character ... preferable as evil as possible!

For some great evil "normal" elves, check out the FR's Eldreth Veluuthra ... racist Nazi elves!

Sounds like they're similar to the Dark Elves of GURPS Banestorm; a cult of otherwise normal elves who believe in Elven dominance..

 

[William Ronald]

The drow are in part inspired by the Norse svartalfar, dark elves, whose complexion was as dark as the complexion of the elves was light. So, E. Gary Gygax was referring back to the source material in making drow dark skinned. (In the realms, the drow were dark-skinned before going to the underdark, dominating the southern part of the Realms. Another possible explanation for why drow might be dark-skinned in a campaign setting might be microscopic trace amounts of various substances in their bodies that effect pigmentation. I doubt adamantite.)

 

[Endur]

pale evil elves works fine.

 

[Sejs]

Sounds like they're similar to the Dark Elves of GURPS Banestorm; a cult of otherwise normal elves who believe in Elven dominance..

Very much so, yes.

In the realms, the drow were dark-skinned before going to the underdark, dominating the southern part of the Realms.

Yep. Memory serving, the ilythiiri were from down near Chult originally. They were dusky before they were banished, and before Araushnee became Lolth. It would make perfect sense for the whole affair to have been relegated to myth, though, given that it all took place a looooong time ago.