Your opinion, a Drow or Duergar

[Shellman]

I am getting ready to play in Underdark campaign starting at 5th Level.

I chose to play the Rogue in the party. My problem is, can't decide to play a Drow or Duergar. From what the DM told us players, anyone who is not a Drow will basically be the peon. But I am having a hard time sucking up the +2 level adjustment for the Drow.

On the otherhand, The Duergar has some pretty good abilities too and I think would make a better Rogue in the long run. Its only got a +1 level adjustment which I could handle easier than the +2 for the Drow. But if I go with the Duergar, I am probably not going to see much of the spoils of war!

This is an Evil party and there only seems to be one player who is going to be a Drow, so the rest of the party will have him outnumbered if his nose gets too high in the air.

What do you think? Drow or Duergar! Suggestions or opinions for either would be appreciated!

 

[shilsen]

I agree that a duergar would mechanically make a better rogue than a drow. The drow's one big advantage is the SR, but if you're letting people cast spells at you as a rogue, you're already doing something wrong I suggest you play the duergar and if the drow gets too uppity - well, he does have to sleep sometime

 

[Quinnman]

What do you want to play?

If the party consists of several races and only >one< of them is a drow, then the others ain´t all gonna be "peons"... - so don´t let that put you off playing duergar!

 

[Andre]

What do you think? Drow or Duergar! Suggestions or opinions for either would be appreciated!

Are these your only two choices? Otherwise, consider a dwarf. LA +0, 60' darkvision, some very useful skills. Low movement, but that may not be critical in the Underdark, travelling in confined passages, caverns, and so forth. And you'll have 5 class levels, instead of just 3 or 4, meaning more skill points, hit points, BAB, etc.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

From what the DM told us players, anyone who is not a Drow will basically be the peon.

This statement sets off an alarm for me, as a player. You're playing in an Evil game, which means that the Drow aren't going to be your enemies, they're quite possibly going to be a major NPC faction in the campaign. A faction that will treat you like dirt if you're anything but Drow. I'd strongly consider playing a Drow, if only because the statement gives me a feeling the DM is going to screw with players who aren't.

 

[Bloodstone Press]

I've always like duergar. One of my favorite characters was a half-duergar psychic warrior.

Since only one player is going to be drow, you're probably rgiht that the PC won't get out of line. But like Lord Pendragon says, the DM may still have evil plans for non-drow.

 

[Darkness]

I suggest you play the duergar and if the drow gets too uppity - well, he does have to sleep sometime

Right, meditate, anyway.

 

[RandomPrecision]

Are these your only two choices? Otherwise, consider a dwarf. LA +0, 60' darkvision, some very useful skills. Low movement, but that may not be critical in the Underdark, travelling in confined passages, caverns, and so forth. And you'll have 5 class levels, instead of just 3 or 4, meaning more skill points, hit points, BAB, etc.

But you'd have to explain why a normal dwarf would be with drow and duergar. A duergar dwarf wouldn't have much difficulty, even if he'd be abused by drow.

Starting at 5th level, eh? Have you considered playing a half-fiend?

Otherwise, level adjustments usually don't bother me that much - you might consider playing a drow with the tiefling template - you'll get bonuses to dexterity and intelligence, as well as favored class (rogue), if that overrides the drow favored class (which I believe it would).

 

[Sejs]

Tiefling template? Come again?

 

[RandomPrecision]

Tiefling template? Come again?

It's always been my impression that you can add the tiefling properties to a humanoid creature. There's a 'Tieflings as characters' section in the Monster Manual that allows it as a playable race with an ECL of +1. Perhaps I'm more liberal toward the definition of Tiefling as it should be, but I believe that a humanoid with some fiend back in their family tree can be created by adding the tiefling characteristics to them. You'd have to check with your DM, of course, but I don't recall any way to play a slightly fiendish drow without combining these races (perhaps there's something in FR). Perhaps you'd want to balance it some other way, like a two-level savage progression. Anyway, I think adding tiefling adjustments (including the +1 ECL) is an effective way to make a fiendish drow.

Edit: Judging from your signature, you play with another rule variant - critical failures on skill rolls to find traps.