
JohntheVast |
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Here's my thoughts on the matter:
The Drow are Chaotic Evil, but they are at once an entirely separate race from a lot of the more traditional "Evil" races. They lack great physical stats (+2 Dex, -2 Con), and wouldn't typically hold the advantage in a upfront confrontation.
Everything about them seems to suggest they deal best in secrecy, misdirection, and manipulation. They can see farther underground than even the Dueregar, giving them the drop on most of their enemies. They specialize in poisons, and have a Charisma bonus that makes them naturally good in social interactions, even at Bluffing and Intimidation amongst themselves.
I propose that Drow society is less about taking what you want by brute force (though if you can pull it off without getting yourself killed, by all means) and more about convincing others to play into your hands for your own benefit.
Thus, Drow would likely view as naturally occurring opportunities, creatures whom they get a great deal of time to manipulate and shape as tools that might even grow up to become useful allies.
Thus, Fairytales would be used as a way of indoctrinating their children in what lessons will make them the most useful.
- Play nice with those who are stronger than you. Make yourself useful. Doing these things is the fastest route to power, security, and wealth.
- If a foreigner approaches as an ally, play along. At best, you can make a powerful servant, beholden to your manipulation. At worst, you've got time to pool your resources to kill a dangerous enemy. But in either case, your guard should always be up.
- Romance is a powerful tool to get what you want.
- The Macbeths had the right idea, they just slipped up at a few key moments because they moved to quickly.
- Don't play with giant spiders, undead, giant undead spiders, or anything that has more than 2 eyes. Play carefully with those that have 2 or less. Seriously, it will kill you if it gets the chance, and then I have to have another kid. Another kid that might take 100 years to reach adulthood.
- The Woods Caverns are a dangerous place. Don't go in there without a plan, a backup plan, and a at least 3 daggers on you at all times.
- If it's definitely weak, definitely not useful, and definitely using up valuable resources, don't tolerate it's continued life, and feel free to have fun getting rid of it.
- The best way to defeat your enemies is have three layers of proxies, the last layer being responsible for nuking the other two proxies and your enemy from space.
But ultimately, a "Smart" Drow would likely view their kids as a resource to valuable to waste unwarranted cruelty on, and well worth the investment of attention. After all, in a few hundred years, you can acquire a LOT of enemies, and if you want to survive to a Venerable age category, you have to play things smart.