Why do you love/hate Drizzt?

[Prince of Happiness]

Isn't everyone always complaining that D&D combat is so unimaginative? I can remember several people pining for "swing from the chandelier" type of action, not the dumb standing around hitting each other with pointy bits of metal.

But if someone comes along and writes about what high rolls in tumble, balance, jump and so on could look like, people complain.

Some people just like to be negative

I've never made that complaint. My complaint is that the combat he describes is non-sensical crap.

 

[Tetsubo]

When I first read the novels I had no problems with the character. I still don't have any problems with the character. It's the billion and one munchkin clones of the character that I have an issue with... they're just boring...

 

[EyeontheMountain]

Drizzit in the books was fine. I always thought him a bit uninspired, and I would have expected a bit more of his previous nature surfacing in his current life, but there was not much of that. Then again, it was a D&D novel, which tend to the simplistic anyway.

Seond, he is an elf and I really really dislike elves, and drow are the worst, though that will probablty soon be replaced by half-drow, all the reputation and attitude, less LA.

But he is mroe a representative of unimaginative players who have to pull their character, personality or anything straight from a book. (Dark Sit-in-the-corner Loners, I am looking at you) Drizzit is a poster boy of the kind of character that works in a book or movie, but is terrible at a gaming table.

 

[billd91]

It's the same reason I hated REO Speedwagon's Hi Infidelity album back in middle school. Overexposure.

I admit to liking the first 2 trilogies. But by the time I was done with those, the Driz'zt mania was too much and it really started to get annoying. The first couple follow-up books, which I read, were just more of the same and got to be really ho-hum. And that annoying assassin, Enteri or whatever his name is, kept coming back from pointless escape to pointless escape. It ultimately reached the point at which it was too repetitive, too boring, and too ubiquitous.

 

[Nightfall]

It's like enjoy Lord of the Rings and then later on reading George RR Martin.

It's just something you like first then hate, then don't care about any more.

At least for me.

 

[Waldorf]

Drizzt can suck it.

 

[Bayushi Seikuro]

Drizzt Clones

I've missed out on most of the novels, sadly. To me, the adventuring party is where the interest would be for me - Drizzt, Bruenar, Wulfgar, Catti.

I've found, in my years, quite a bit of fanboys who want to be dualwield drow rangers. And I agree with whoever said that the mechanics don't add up to what he can do in-novel. Maybe the combat descriptions are to blame? Some percieved mechanical advantage.

I admit to playing a drow fighter who was good when the first Unearthed Arcana came out. No dual wield, wearing full plate. He was good aligned. No angst - this was still the kick in the door, loot the bodies era of being 12 years old.

For me, when it comes to drow, I prefer the non-good ones; a friend of mine finished the Spider Queen stuff, with the party of evil/nongood drow, and he said 'I knew they were bad, but I never had any idea as a race how Evil they were.' Yep. I like those.

But, to each their own.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I think the "Drizzt problem" is more than just a problem with people cloning characters. Drizzt is hardly the only one. How many human barbarians are just like conan? How many wizards copy Gandalf or Elric or Merlin? How many elven archers would we see if Tolkien never wrote about Legolas? I'm sure I forgot a number of originals.

I don't hear an outry acout all those damn Logolas-Clones. Or about Conan #1 - #20582347.

Maybe it is true that the Drizzt clones are so much worse than the others (though I never saw a single Drizzt clone in my life), but I think it's really a very simple thing: People love to hate Drizzt.

For me, when it comes to drow, I prefer the non-good ones; a friend of mine finished the Spider Queen stuff, with the party of evil/nongood drow, and he said 'I knew they were bad, but I never had any idea as a race how Evil they were.' Yep. I like those.

Well, that may start to change in the Realms, what with the slaughter that's going on in the Drow pantheon.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I think the "Drizzt problem" is more than just a problem with people cloning characters. Drizzt is hardly the only one. How many human barbarians are just like conan? How many wizards copy Gandalf or Elric or Merlin? How many elven archers would we see if Tolkien never wrote about Legolas? I'm sure I forgot a number of originals.

I don't hear an outry acout all those damn Logolas-Clones. Or about Conan #1 - #20582347.

I don't know how many gamers have read Conan books nowadays compared to gamers who have read Drizzt books. Drizzt's character, which is fairly well developed, IMO, is well known. If someone who hasn't read any Conan books try to copy Conan, pretty soon they're going to end up developing their own character anyway. Now if they have read a Conan book, and so has the GM, it'll be obvious if they're copying and not just "playing a dumb barbarian". (Not that Conan was dumb, and if you statted him up he'd be a barbarian/rogue/something else).

Legolas, if you ask me, doesn't have much personality. He's also not that different from any other elven archer, so again copying him wouldn't work for long (unless you're planning on being really boring).

Some of the wizards you mentioned are extremely difficult to "copy" in RP. It's pretty bad if someone simply copies Merlin, but the sort of people who would try it probably couldn't pull it off. Plus I don't think many gamers actually know much about Merlin.

Drizzt is developed and unique (unlike, say, Legolas). He uses a race that normally isn't available for play (unlike those other guys, most of whom are human). He has many traits that define him, and you only need to copy a few to be accused of being a Drizzt clone. Plus he makes ranger fans angry; it's too easy to suspect he's the reason for the 2e/3.0 ranger being so messed up.

Well, that may start to change in the Realms, what with the slaughter that's going on in the Drow pantheon.

Until Lolth and Eilistraee die, nothing will really change.

Plus, let's always remember that novel authors are, as a rule, not required to print out their characters' sheets and roll the battles they're about to write about, or even cleave to closely to the stats.

I don't care about stats (although Obould is only 9th-level, heh heh) but I do care about challenge, and that woudln't change if Obould was officially statted as CR 9 or CR 20. Obould couldn't really challenge Drizzt. No one but Dantrag or Artemis really could (those are the only ones I recall who fought Drizzt by themselves and didn't instantly die).

By the way, I don't think it's unrealistic that an orc can match a drow. I hate elf- and drow-uberness.

 

[WarlockLord]

Like the book's kinda swahbuckling mood. Hate the clones.

Really, Drizzt is kind of "Oh, look at me, I'm a whiny little drow outcast. Nobody understands me. Boo hoo hoo." Goth freak.

Razravkar, my NE drow wizard/nightcloak/abjurant champion, will purge the scourge of double-wielding purple-eyed freaks from the land. It's magic time!