Why do you love/hate Drizzt?

[awayfarer]

I've never read the books and am only vaguely familiar with the character.

 

[Sound of Azure]

I'm indifferent to Drizzt, really. I enjoyed the books that I read, but they're nothing incredible, IMO.

I react to the fanboys the same way I react to all fanboys...

 

[Lorgrom]

He was an ok character when first introduced. But since then he has been used to death. Way to many book IMO for a second rate character.

 

[Wild Gazebo]

Having read Clarissa at a fairly young age I thought I could choke any book back...I was wrong. I could never finish a Salvatore novel. The character seems fine though.

 

[Thyrkill]

Love Drizzt. Always have and always will. The novels were fun and brought the D&D flavor into mainstream fantasy IMHO. They are by no means great literature but highly entertaining, and Drizzt is damn cool.

As for the clones, well I've had a few players try to play them and they fall woefully short of anything "Drizzit-like." The rules just don't match his abilities in the books. Very similar to anyone trying to be a Conan clone.

Matt

 

[Darth Shoju]

Like many others, The Crystal Shard got me into D&D and fantasy in general. For that the Icewind Dale trilogy will always be special to me. However, also like many others, I've gotten entirely worn-out on Drizzt and all the others. IMO, the characters/story should have been wrapped up with the Legacy. It was the perfect ending to the Icewind Dale trilogy and the Dark Elf trilogy as far as I was concerned. For me, the low point was when Wulfgar came back, Bruenor's eye grew back and I think Regis's fingers grew back. Can't remember which book that was but it was the second-last one I read (Passage to Dawn?).

 

[Evilhalfling]

I liked the character in Crystal Shard, and loved the first dark elf trilogy, I also love Gord the Rogue, well half of it at least. Neither series is great fantasy.
by the drizzts daughter book I had gotten sick of the whole thing, although I have reread the originals several times.

I have heard over and over about Drizzt fanboys, but not met one.The closest to a clone I've seen was a (wild) elf beastmaster, 2 long swords and a tiger, but with a 4 int he was too dumb to be angsty and was eventually (2 sessions) found to be to dumb to live, and kicked out of the party (by his own player) He went down in the groups lore as the only person dumb enough to have been eaten by antelopes.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

That's the point when I threw in the towel. They started to read like: "He did what now? He jumped up on the ogre's knee, hit him twice in the head with scimitars, jumped off the ogre, towards a cliff face, jumped off that towards another ogre, somersaulting off the ogre's shoulder onto his back, driving both scimitars into the ogre's neck but OH NOES!!! the ogre has more hit points left, so Drizzt rolls under the ogre, drives Icytwinkletoes in the ogre's nuts, somersaults between the ogre's legs, backflips off of Gwyhwyvwywhwyhwywvvvyhwvywvwywyvyyvwwwar's head onto the top of the last ogre (one hp left!) and then drives both swords in his ears? Did I read that right? WTF?"

This cracked me up.

Still easier to visualize than some of Salvatore's later fight scenes, too. (The whole kicking between the downward curving scimitars move he used on Zaknafein still boggles my mind frankly. Seems completely unworkable- or at least ineffective.)

 

[ivocaliban]

True Neutral.

Drizzt doesn't sway me one way or the other. I read the Dark Elf Trilogy and that was more than enough for me. Those novels weren't bad (in fact, compared to some of the other D&D novels of that era, they were better than average), but the character doesn't instill in me any strong feelings one way or the other.

There's probably little doubt that Drizzt is the most famous D&D character in existence. I know many lovers of Drizzt who have never touched a twenty-sided die, thanks to the plethora of mediocre novels featuring him. While I like the fact that he is an outcast hero, I dislike the fact that he's inspired so many players to want to play characters of exotic races who are nothing like the race from which they originate. Drizzt seems like a human trapped in a drow body. While I have no problem with him in particular, I do have a problem with his those who emulate him.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

For me, the low point was when Wulfgar came back, Bruenor's eye grew back and I think Regis's fingers grew back. Can't remember which book that was but it was the second-last one I read (Passage to Dawn?).

Didn't he de-age several of the characters, as well?

(FTR, I reluctantly admit to being guilty of Drizzt-cloning. It's all behind me now, I promise.)