Player classes--Must add the Drow!


Races & Classes

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In the recent past, looking upon the changes that 4E will implement, of most concern for me is that they are adding a load of strange and unfamiliar races to the game core, without any real reason to do so other than to mix-it-up a little and take a break from the norm.

Well, frankly, Im a creature of habit and "if it's not broken, dont fix it" is generally my mentality. 3.5E was/is somewhat broken, and what Paizo as a company at large has added to the gaming experience (item cards, maps, great campaign modules, combat pad, etc) has been a breath of fresh air to a long time DM and a sytem that needed a jump start.

THAT BEING SAID, this may be a personal issue from my experience, but going through the ages, a recurring want, need, dream of players is to to play the drow! So, currently and in the past, I have added drow into the game as a PC class. I see and hear about so many others having done the same. I cant ever remember having had anyone Ive ever played with or myself for that matter wish they could play a dragonborn or tiefling character.

The big initial pull for 4E for me was that they were adding the Drow as a core class.......jee, that just made sense, it just seems to fit, drow have been there from the beginning and in essence are a dark version of the ever popular elf we all know and love. The other more drastic changes that wizards has made to 4E really turned me off, like everyone just getting healing bursts or action points to spend during gameplay to re-roll and such.

My hat (if I wore one) goes off to Paizo for the job that wizards should have done, and they are doing it very well, however, I dont think that I would be speaking for a minority who would say, bring in the Drow! We all know em, we all love em, most of us either have or wished we could play em. Bring em on, its a natural response to gamer need and long time dreaming, and a competetive edge with what 4E folks are doing. GO Paizo!

Grand Lodge

In my opinion, when it comes to core, the iconic races should all be ECL zero. Drow are most definitely not. Not bringing the fact that I'm not a big fan of them, I would still have no objection to them being playable, which under 3.5 standards they are, just with a +2 level adjustment.

So Drow as a playable race - Ok. Drow as a core race - pass.

Just my two cents.


Andrew Betts wrote:

In my opinion, when it comes to core, the iconic races should all be ECL zero. Drow are most definitely not. Not bringing the fact that I'm not a big fan of them, I would still have no objection to them being playable, which under 3.5 standards they are, just with a +2 level adjustment.

So Drow as a playable race - Ok. Drow as a core race - pass.

Just my two cents.

While I am a big fan of the drow as a race, i have to agree. They are not a core race and no core race should have an ECL. Mind you with the boost to current core races if Drow dont get additional abilities and attribute boosts i would consider them closer to ECL +1 than +2.

-Weylin Stormcrowe

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16

I second that, playable sure, but core? Nah, no thanks. If a new race is to be added I would rather something original and creative, not a rehash race that's been far overdone.


Weylin Stormcrowe 798 wrote:

While I am a big fan of the drow as a race, i have to agree. They are not a core race and no core race should have an ECL. Mind you with the boost to current core races if Drow dont get additional abilities and attribute boosts i would consider them closer to ECL +1 than +2.

-Weylin Stormcrowe

Drop the SR, and I think the Drow would fit in quite nicely with the other races.

I do agree with others though, don't put em in the 3.P book. Maybe later on in a supplement or something.


Yep, have to say that PC Drow should be without the massive SR(spell resistance), but this could build over time as a racial bonus, or racial feat. Also, starting at level one with no ECL is clearly a must.

Cheers!!


I agree with the OP. In fact, the elf racial split is one of the few things I feel 4e gets right. The three elf races [High, Wood, and Dark] both simplify the profusion of subraces and fill the three main elf archetypes nicely. I suspect Paizo cannot duplicate that, but I may adapt that for my own world.


Sincerely, I'm a bit tired of the tides of drizzt clones and good-hearted rebel drow outcasts who must find a way to fit in the surface...

It's fun once, maybe twice, but it grows old quickly enough... Good-aligned drow should be almost as rare as good-aligned demons, and as such I have problems seeing them as a player character race (much less core: core races should have ECL 0, as has been said before).

I'm not against the ocasional drow PC (or kobold, or lizardfolk) but IMHO they should be treated as exceptions, as truly unique individuals.

Liberty's Edge

Drizzt clones gloriously lampooned here: OOTS comic #65

My criteria for a core race*:
1. Easy to characterize and easy to role-play
2. Not too advantaged in standard adventuring situations
3. Not too disadvantaged in standard adventuring environments
4. Civilised, sociable and not essentially evil

Drow as a race fail the 4th criterion, being evil to the bone. We can of course play with the technical aspects of nerfing them down to +0 level adjustement and letting them "regrow" their SR and other abilities, but drow as a race are not nice people.

*Developped in The Inclusion Of A New Core Race... What would it be? thread.


I would like things to shift focus more towards the Underdark as a part of the civilized world and away from the old AD&D idea that we're supposed to be shocked and surprised by every culture down there. Most of them have flush toilets for goodness sake, it's really hard to take the place seriously as a barbaric hinterland.

That being said, I would like to see more neutral-oriented factions of the major Underdark races. Rebel good Drow is way overdone, but there's ample room for non-rebellious neutral Drow who come from the Drow cities which trade with the surface dwellers.

The Dwarves and the Deep Halflings are fully playable character races, there is no real need for the Goblins, the Kobolds, the Hobgoblins, and the Drow to be treated as weird otherlanders that speak strange tongues and constantly war with the PCs. There are genuine PC races which have complex relationships with those tribes and have overlapping territories.

Hobgoblins, Orcs, Kobolds, and Goblins definitely need to come in as playable ECL +0 races. Those guys would need some slight bonuses to keep up with the Pathfinder races so far elucidated. The Drow could easily come in as ECL +0 people as well, probably by splitting off some of their powers to a 1 level Prestige class.

-Frank


I'd much rather the drow were set on fire, impaled on stakes and set out as a warning to writers not to take a fairly bland concept and make it even more boring with special abilities like Writer Fiat and Whine, whine, whine.

One of the biggest problems D&D suffers under is the '31 Flavors' problem. There are literally a dozen elf-like things. And essentially 99 varieties of 'evil humanoid'. They add nothing to the game, and since they share the same design space, they actively make each other boring. I honestly can't remember any more if xvarts are impinging on the hobgoblins' 'organized empire', the kobolds' pathetic cunning evil, or orcish/gnollish 'savage evil' or the lizardman 'not actually evil, but go ahead and stab them in the face anyway, because no one has moral qualms about what you do to lizards'.


Keldarth's post above fits my feeling perfectly.

Drow are evil. Really evil. That what made Drizzt special. He was a freak of nature. He is a drow that isnt evil to the core.

Making them a PC race IMHO does a huge disservice to what drow are.


Jason Grubiak wrote:

Keldarth's post above fits my feeling perfectly.

Drow are evil. Really evil. That what made Drizzt special. He was a freak of nature. He is a drow that isnt evil to the core.

Making them a PC race IMHO does a huge disservice to what drow are.

No, what made drow special is his writer decided that during his childhood, in a society that would kill him outright for being weak, they just didn't.

Good vs evil debates make my head hurt, especially with the fuzzy D&D alignment system, but drow aren't inherently evil. They just happen to live in a society where selfish acts are rewarded to the point that being good really is dumb, and might is the only right that ever matters. What made drizzt special beyond writer fiat was he was too slow to pick up this basic lesson.

Dark Archive

I'm in favor of most popular player races being trimmed down to LA +0 anyway. If a race has some special toys, stretch them out over a few levels, like the Raptoran flight thing, and the completely out of line stuff can be tweaked. There's no need for a Drow to have spell resistance, for instance, when a simple plus to saves vs. magic could work as well to represent an advantage against magic.

Keep the theme, ditch any specifically LA+0 inappropriate abilities, and the Drow could be a playable core race.

On the other hand, Drow serving Lolth, and being a bunch of spider-worshipping matriarchal leather-clad S&M freaks, might not fit the setting. The 'local flavor' might turn them into desert-dwelling nocturnal raiders who come in the night to burn and pillage or something, or have them as lawful evil devotees of Asmodeus.

I'm not even sure if Golarian has an underdark...


It seems that most people do not like the drow. Why is that? Is it because the drow may have done unmentionable things to other characters, or are we just jealous of their awsome power. Who cares if they are usually bad to the bone. Aren't elves inherently good? Who hasn't played or seen an evil elf. Why not make the drow start at the same level as everyone else. There should be some more variety to the original core of D&D player classes. I mean, if you can start at level 1 and play a half-orc (I would be one upset and evil humandoid if I had that gene pool), i should have the option for a drow (just another form of elf). Give the drow a break, let them play.


I really miss the evil, depraved, R-rated Gygax "S&M" drow. I'm sick of the hordes of double-scimitar-wielding, whiny, emo, rated PG "good" drow.

Spoiler:
I always use drow as villains in my campaigns, so that I can have evil underground S&M empires -- no other monster has effectively captured any part of that market segment -- bugbear S&M empires just don't work! If a player wanted a drow character, I'd probably make him play a submissive male drow with a dog collar and ball gag. The gag would keep him from whining.

Sovereign Court

Paizo will need to come out swinging with a very strong alternate treatment of drow first. Otherwise people will see 'drow' and immediately Forgotten Realms the entire affair, spider silk pants and all.

Sovereign Court

billy bob wrote:
It seems that most people do not like the drow. Why is that? Is it because the drow may have done unmentionable things to other characters, or are we just jealous of their awsome power. Who cares if they are usually bad to the bone. Aren't elves inherently good? Who hasn't played or seen an evil elf. Why not make the drow start at the same level as everyone else. There should be some more variety to the original core of D&D player classes. I mean, if you can start at level 1 and play a half-orc (I would be one upset and evil humandoid if I had that gene pool), i should have the option for a drow (just another form of elf). Give the drow a break, let them play.

Hmm. The problem most of my players have with drow PCs is that the character is always, without a doubt, Batman. Dark brooding loner, emotional turmoil, insufferable badass...yada yada. With the other races you're still required to come up with a personality and character concept. With drow, all you have to say is 'I'm a drow', and it somehow is supposed to sum up the entire character. The race attracts lazy roleplayers.

That's what I've seen, anyway.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

*nods*

I'm with the drow are the evilest of evil native humanoid races. I'm also in the drow that believe drow should be MORE powerful then the standard races.

However, I hate ECL. Even if you want to play an evil drow, the ECL makes it difficult. I wish someone would take the Savage Species approach to monsters for drow.

Give them a default setup that makes them equal to all the other races. They get their + stats (or some) and then they get some other stuff. When they reach level 2, they can either advance their class or they can advance their race. Advancing their race gets them more of their powers, maybe the ability to cast darkness it if's not a starting power. Then at level two, give them levitation. At level 3, give them SR.

Basically, leave it to the PC (or DM if it's an NPC) how DROW a Drow character is going to be.


billy bob wrote:
It seems that most people do not like the drow. Why is that? Is it because the drow may have done unmentionable things to other characters, or are we just jealous of their awsome power.

Mostly it's that anyone who remembers the original AD&D material on them recalls how incredibly lame they were. Seriously they had black skin because of exposure to ultraviolet radiation from living underground. Also they had an elaborate backstory about how their equipment self destructed when player characters tried to use it, and they had completely arbitrary abilities which served no purpose save to negate common PC tactics from the day.

They were an incredibly game mechanical and annoying race that existed specifically to frustrate players of the game and whose backstory for having these powers was nonsensical and contradictory.

They didn't even really have a culture until Salvatore wrote one in, so if you weren't a fan of those books they've actually never done anything worthwhile in the game ever.

-Frank


Frank Trollman wrote:
They were an incredibly game mechanical and annoying race that existed specifically to frustrate players of the game and whose backstory for having these powers was nonsensical and contradictory.

That's it exactly; they were the Tomb of Horrors of monsters ("Saving throw? You want a saving throw?!"), but instead of instant-kill, it was too tough a fight with no treasure at the end ("You now have +5 elven chainmail, a +5 buckler, a +5 short sowrd, a +5 dagger, a cloak and boots of elvenkind, and a repeating hand crossbow with sleep poison bolts... oops, you stepped outside. Never mind, you're naked.") The DM was evidently expected to be a lot more adversarial in those days.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Nikodemus wrote:
The big initial pull for 4E for me was that they were adding the Drow as a core class.......jee, that just made sense, it just seems to fit, drow have been there from the beginning and in essence are a dark version of the ever popular elf we all know and love.

Do you have a source for this? The playable races I know of (in the PHB at least) are Dragonborn, Dwarf, Eladrin, Elf, Half-Elf, Halfling, Human, and Tiefling. Where'd you hear they were including Drow?


Kirth Gersen wrote:
I really miss the evil, depraved, R-rated Gygax "S&M" drow. I'm sick of the hordes of double-scimitar-wielding, whiny, emo, rated PG "good" drow. ** spoiler omitted **

It kind of depends on how tight you have the ball gag on...they are REALLY whiny. Honestly, I think this is the largest part of the drow's appeal as monsters. They're a race of dominatrix led confused emo/goth boys with a fetish for something that is arguably one of the creepiest critters in the animal kingdom (a creature which is also analogous in dream interpretation psychology with a mother figure...Freud was a freak). What about that would you not want to beat down with a bastard sword?


yoda8myhead wrote:
Nikodemus wrote:
The big initial pull for 4E for me was that they were adding the Drow as a core class.......jee, that just made sense, it just seems to fit, drow have been there from the beginning and in essence are a dark version of the ever popular elf we all know and love.
Do you have a source for this? The playable races I know of (in the PHB at least) are Dragonborn, Dwarf, Eladrin, Elf, Half-Elf, Halfling, Human, and Tiefling. Where'd you hear they were including Drow?

The new FRCG will have drow in it as a PC race, if I recall correctly, and the FRCG is branded as a "D&D" book, or rather "D&D with some FR flavor," rather than as a separate part of the brand.

As far as FR negative drow stereotypes, I loved the complaint about the drow and them loosing their emphasis in the old D&D podcast that came out when Drow of the Underdark came out, and then WOTC releases another drow trilogy for the Realms . . . ::sigh::

"This is a really horrible problem, and once we are done making it worse, we'll be fixing it."


Very early on it was vaguely suggested that Drow would be added to the PHB, along with Teiflings. I think this came about because of that very early article that talked about splitting up Elves into Elves, Eladrin, and Drow.

Like Goblinoids, I don't see Drow having an easily excusable place in an adventuring party along side Elves and other current races.


Dorje Sylas wrote:
Very early on it was vaguely suggested that Drow would be added to the PHB, along with Teiflings. I think this came about because of that very early article that talked about splitting up Elves into Elves, Eladrin, and Drow.

Suggested by pure speculation on the part of their fans. They aren't in, thankfully.

Also, regarding the original post:
they're adding 1 new race in the first PH. Just one. Everybody else has been around since at least 2nd edition, and thats just the tiefling. Everybody else is right out of 1st edition, eladrin being, well, high elf for 'High Elf' (and yeah, they yanked the name from the elf-like outsiders). Elves are wood elves. Humans, halflings, dwarves and half-elves should all be familiar at this point.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

KnightErrantJR wrote:
The new FRCG will have drow in it as a PC race, if I recall correctly, and the FRCG is branded as a "D&D" book, or rather "D&D with some FR flavor," rather than as a separate part of the brand.

This isn't a new development then, if it's going to be in FR only. They already had a playable, non LR version of the drow in Races of Faerun. I don't have a problem with people playing drow characters if they can make them unique (which is rare, since they're all new versions of Drizzt) and really justify why they fit with the party, why they are doing what they're doing, and why the character has to be drow. Nine times out of ten this is not the case. To put the race out there for everyone to play under any circumstances is to further ruin the FR setting beyond what they've already done.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Every DM can say no to Drow as a PC race.


SirUrza wrote:
Every DM can say no to Drow as a PC race.

I know I have . . . although I did allow one that was NE in my Skullport campaign, but that's because he was a hexblade that was looking for work as a hired killer . . . only drow PC I've allowed, and its also the only "evil" party I've DMed for too (though not the only PC I've seen turn evil).

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
KnightErrantJR wrote:
SirUrza wrote:
Every DM can say no to Drow as a PC race.
I know I have . . . although I did allow one that was NE in my Skullport campaign, but that's because he was a hexblade that was looking for work as a hired killer . . . only drow PC I've allowed, and its also the only "evil" party I've DMed for too (though not the only PC I've seen turn evil).

And Evil drow in Skullport.. what a surprise. Oozing with sarcasm there. :)


SirUrza wrote:

And Evil drow in Skullport.. what a surprise. Oozing with sarcasm there. :)

Ironically, it was almost playing against type to have a drow act like a drow as a PC . . . ;)


Have had several players play drow over the years and i various campaigns. As a group, we have yet to play a drizzt clone. Most of the drow PCs from past campaigns could best be described at best as neutral with a serious mean streak. Though I have seen more than enough drizzt clones from other groups.

The problem with the drizzt clones is not allowing drow as a PC race. Instead it is because some groups have players with no originality or imagination. Saw this from some diehard Thieves World fans who made Shadowspawn or Tempus clones. Pretty much every major character from fiction has been cloned to beyond death. WHich reaffirms my statement starting this paragraph.

There is playing against type or altering a character's past so they are playable with other characters and then there is making a weak parody of a character you love from literature or a movie.

-Weylin Stormcrowe


Weylin Stormcrowe 798 wrote:


There is playing against type or altering a character's past so they are playable with other characters and then there is making a weak parody of a character you love from literature or a movie.

There is, but none of that addresses the worthiness of the drow mechanics. And they're bad. Leaving the mechanical failure that is level adjustment aside (though its worth noting that having it at all means that drow aren't powerful, it means that they rank behind crippled, blind kobolds in sheer power), their abilities are nonsensical, random and full of fail.

A pack of random spell-like abilities that aren't particularly useful, themed or appropriate, spell resistance, which is a failure and a kludge under the best of circumstances, and irrelevant the rest of the time. And a couple other things that are iffy or irrelevant. Yay.


I was not really even seeking to address the mechanics involved in the Drow. More, I was addressing how they are roleplayed in concept and actual play.

I and the rest of my group would love to see a rework of the Drow from Paizo, Preferably a powered down version actually. I would not mind if the only difference between them and the elves they originated from was appearance, weapon choices and dark vision instead of low-light vision. If there are going to be spell-like abilities, I agree they should be thematic...either from culture or environment. As for SR, never much cared for that and I found it to not be actually all that useful so i wouldnt miss it.

Of course, I am overall against the seperate write-ups of ability modifiers and abilites for races in general. I much prefer the changes to be cosmetic and cultural. To me the only difference between Gray Elf, High Elf, Wood Elf and Wild Elf should be cultural weaponry and appearance. Only the Drow and Aquatic Elves make sense to deviate in the area of racial abilities and possibly (though i dislike it) ability scores.

-Weylin Stormcrowe


I really dont see the role "let me play a drow" as a smart or even good thing.
Drows are a lot of fun, as the uber-evil, demon allied, mysterious and uber-equipped villans.
A bunch of sissy C&G drows rangers are just toooooooo lame. And they very much limit any group (no elves or dwarves on the group. no adventuring on their land also, or on any civilized land that has heard about the drow. - "what? that psico, slaver, demon-lover elf wanna in on the city? right, feet first and on pieces..."). I even think that the role-playing problems are usually enough to remove the EL.

So, please leave the drow to the MM!


I dont think any races needed to be added to the core book. The core races are fine as is. However, any sapient race should have options for playing them as characters. Allowing them in an actual campaign should be the call of the game master though. Personally, I love the Githyanki as a race and would like to be able to play them if i chose in a campaign.

Something to keep in mind regardig races such as the Githyanki and Drow is that in many settings the average person has no clue what one is. There are many races that are common knowledge to adventurers that the average citizen has never seen or even heard of usually. A commoner could see a Kyton and have no clue that the thing was actually a devil, let alone know it was an outsider at all.

-Weylin Stormcrowe


I think there are already so many races that non of them is anything special anymore.
The more you add the less interesting get all the others.

And BTW: I think making Drow playable was one of the most idiotic ideas ever! (Except(!) for an evil-alignend underdark campaign) My POV.
And I still don't know why all underdark races really NEED all those special abilities?
Drow are evil Elves crazy about magic? Ok. Make a cool fluff background about their society and give them some small(!) bonuses about magic (including favored class: Wizard), and done.

They should be "cool" because of their background not there tons of powerful special abilities!

As I said, my POV.

Liberty's Edge

Keldarth wrote:

Sincerely, I'm a bit tired of the tides of drizzt clones and good-hearted rebel drow outcasts who must find a way to fit in the surface...

It's fun once, maybe twice, but it grows old quickly enough... Good-aligned drow should be almost as rare as good-aligned demons, and as such I have problems seeing them as a player character race (much less core: core races should have ECL 0, as has been said before).

I'm not against the ocasional drow PC (or kobold, or lizardfolk) but IMHO they should be treated as exceptions, as truly unique individuals.

I don't even have drow as evil creatures by default in my homebrew world. They're just different-looking, powerful elves that live in the deep jungle. The old evil denizens of the underdark trope has been battered so much it's leaking like a sieve.

But then again I don't usually have any humanoids be more or less predisposed to certain alignments by genetics than humans. You can have an evil society, but not an evil race. new players in my world often get a priceless look on their face when a hobgoblin stops them on the street to ask for directions or when they see a full-blooded orc wizard, complete with robes and spellbook, for the first time. I find it actually makes villains more loathesome, as players realize that they decided to be that way rather than being born bad. Outsiders, aberrations, and dragons are the only reliable exceptions to the above rule.


To play anything outside the races in the player's handbook you have to give my gamemaster a hard sell for it and she is not easy to convince. You need a solid backstory about where you are, why you are there and what you think the character being the race you want will add to the game. "Oh, i was just born different than the rest of my race." doesnt cut it with her. For that reason our drow and other rare races have been both rare and far from common gaming tropes usually. My githyanki tended to gross out his travelling companions since he still prefered his food like back home in the Astral...alive at the time of consumption. He just made accomodations for his travelling companions strange squeemishness about eating other sapient beings. So he chose not to eat them. It wasnt that he had a problem with it.

This is part of why I dont mind the more exotic races as playable options. The concept that there are some groups out there that allow players to choose any race just because they qualify within level restrictions is a bit mind-boggling to me everytime i talk to someone from one.

Scarab Sages

Add everything and let the DM's sort them out. I love Drow in very mild doses, as with dragons. I like options. If i dont like something, i remove it or alter it, understanding that just because i dont care for something, that doesnt mean the DM down the block doesnt care for it as well.

I am involved with 3 campaigns now, with 3 DM's. We are all different and add and remove what we wish from our respective campaigns. It's fun all the same as well as adding some flavor.

In short, i've played DnD for 30+ years and have never played the same game twice. So i say... allow.

Thoth-Amon leaves his mental signature.

Scarab Sages

Weylin Stormcrowe 798 wrote:

To play anything outside the races in the player's handbook you have to give my gamemaster a hard sell for it and she is not easy to convince. You need a solid backstory about where you are, why you are there and what you think the character being the race you want will add to the game. "Oh, i was just born different than the rest of my race." doesnt cut it with her. For that reason our drow and other rare races have been both rare and far from common gaming tropes usually. My githyanki tended to gross out his travelling companions since he still prefered his food like back home in the Astral...alive at the time of consumption. He just made accomodations for his travelling companions strange squeemishness about eating other sapient beings. So he chose not to eat them. It wasnt that he had a problem with it.

This is part of why I dont mind the more exotic races as playable options. The concept that there are some groups out there that allow players to choose any race just because they qualify within level restrictions is a bit mind-boggling to me everytime i talk to someone from one.

Githyanki? Yikes! I love those guys. Although our party was TPK'd by them. That will teach us(if resurrected) not to take one of those special shiny swords of theirs.

In game time, it was 3 weeks after aquiring the sword. We were hit out of nowhere and in the middle of nowhere by one of there attack party's. There were too many and they were too powerful. A few rounds later. We were all dead. No one to witness... no Bard songs written. Sad. Thus ends the saga of Dirk, the Daring, and his brave party.

Thoth-Amon


Weylin Stormcrowe 798 wrote:
To play anything outside the races in the player's handbook you have to give my gamemaster a hard sell for it and she is not easy to convince. You need a solid backstory about where you are, why you are there and what you think the character being the race you want will add to the game. "Oh, i was just born different than the rest of my race." doesnt cut it with her.

And I see no reason why she should, if the excuse is that flimsy.

Weylin Stormcrowe 798 wrote:

For that reason our drow and other rare races have been both rare and far from common gaming tropes usually. My githyanki tended to gross out his travelling companions since he still prefered his food like back home in the Astral...alive at the time of consumption. He just made accomodations for his travelling companions strange squeemishness about eating other sapient beings. So he chose not to eat them. It wasnt that he had a problem with it.

This is part of why I dont mind the more exotic races as playable options. The concept that there are some groups out there that allow players to choose any race just because they qualify within level restrictions is a bit mind-boggling to me everytime i talk to someone from one.

I say quit letting folks play Drizzt clones, period. There's no reason why Drow characters *should* be angsty "rebels against their people" types. I played a Drow Psychic Warrior in a Greyhawk campaign one of my friends was running (he was framed by another member of his House for treason and got out of his homeland with moments to spare), and it amused the other players to see this sardonic, nasty-tempered character having to visibly restrain himself from giving in to his darker urges (like fighting the urge to repeatedly kick the Dwarven Cleric awake when it was his turn for watch, or trying to avoid skewering surface-elves whenever their backs were turned, etc.) RP'ing a character turning his (or her) own evil tendencies towards helping the side of good can be a blast if done right.


Drow_Battlemind wrote:
I say quit letting folks play Drizzt clones, period. There's no reason why Drow characters *should* be angsty "rebels against their people" types. I played a Drow Psychic Warrior in a Greyhawk campaign one of my friends was running (he was framed by another member of his House for treason and got out of his homeland with moments to spare), and it amused the other players to see this sardonic, nasty-tempered character having to visibly restrain himself from giving in to his darker urges (like fighting the urge to repeatedly kick the Dwarven Cleric awake when it was his turn for watch, or trying to avoid skewering surface-elves whenever their backs were turned, etc.) RP'ing a character turning his (or her) own evil tendencies towards helping the side of good can be a blast if...

Sounds like your drow and my gith Zhakul "i'm too sexy for a last name" (as his air genasi girlfriend refered to him) would get along fine. The party also found his casual practice of body modification distrurbing (since it was mentioned the serration on githyanki ears is notching). I took it a step further and came up with a system of scarrification, tattooing, piercing (some involving Royo-esque plates) and ear notching to denote deeds accomplished, enemies vanquished, gods worshipped, etc. After several levels he was more than a bit on terrifying side with his scars, tattoos, piercings, ear notches and trophies from enemies braided into his hair. "This is one of the heroes here to save us?! I almost fear for the orcs."

-Weylin Stormcrowe


Drow should most definetly be no core player race!

Keep them playable, just as they are in the 3e core rules (they're in the SRD, complete with racial traits for player characters), so if you want to play an evil character, or a non-evil exotic type, they'll be there. But they should not be in the RPG as a standard race.

Just like goblins, or orcs, they're not suited as a standard race. I will go as far as half-orc (who, due to their human influence, aren't as warlike and genocidal as orcs), but no millimeter further.

Kirth Gersen wrote:
I really miss the evil, depraved, R-rated Gygax "S&M" drow. I'm sick of the hordes of double-scimitar-wielding, whiny, emo, rated PG "good" drow. ** spoiler omitted **

Let's wait for Golarion drow, then. They'll be coming in Second Darkness. I don't know whether they'll be into bondage and all that, but from what I remember, they will be demon-worshipping underworld-dwellers who are nasty.

KnightErrantJR wrote:


The new FRCG will have drow in it as a PC race, if I recall correctly, and the FRCG is branded as a "D&D" book, or rather "D&D with some FR flavor," rather than as a separate part of the brand.

Of coruse it's a D&D book. They killed off all the flavour that made it unique.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Hmm I've read Homelands twice.. and nothing about it makes me think Drow stopped being R rated S&M crazies... and that's the book about the emo dual wielder.


KaeYoss wrote:


Let's wait for Golarion drow, then. They'll be coming in Second Darkness. I don't know whether they'll be into bondage and all that, but from what I remember, they will be demon-worshipping underworld-dwellers who are nasty.

Considering that Lamashtu is more on the level of Loth^3, Drow could easily be very nasty in Golarion. Eating infants would be the least .... déjà vu, I've posted this before?.... of what they do. Driders would have a home in a Lamashtu worshiping Drow civilization.


Remember folks, 1E's Unearthed Arcana did make drow a playable core race for a while. :)

I wouldn't mind a (non-evil) drow character or two in a campaign, if they can make the characters unique and not copies - for example, the first "Downer"-like drow character in a campaign I wouldn't mind.

As for making them a core race, I don't think that's necessary. They're a non-standard LA +1 evil race meant to be enemies, so initially, they're better off not in a PHB, with the extra rule bits for those who do want them as PCs. Even if they were LA +0, there's still the fact that the majority are evil - and I'm sure I'm not the only DM whose banned evil characters because of abusive players. While you could revise them to be non-evil, they aren't the standard drow anymore and you might as well just make them a custom race - which then goes back to them being a non-standard race that wouldn't fit the core game assumptions, so why include them?


I don't see any great need to have Drow be a core PC race, though we've been playing them since a few years before Driz'zt inspired legions of fanboys to make copycat PCs.

But I love to use Drow in the manner I feel they were appropriately designed... as adventure-driving enemies to the PCs. An evil, resentful race of elves that contrasts with surface haughty nature boys? Love it.


Bill Dunn wrote:

I don't see any great need to have Drow be a core PC race, though we've been playing them since a few years before Driz'zt inspired legions of fanboys to make copycat PCs.

But I love to use Drow in the manner I feel they were appropriately designed... as adventure-driving enemies to the PCs. An evil, resentful race of elves that contrasts with surface haughty nature boys? Love it.

Unfortunately, the "legions of fanboys" gave those of us who were around during 1st ed's UA period (and RP'ed drow) a bad name later on...

or, as a motivator I have says "DRIZZT DO'URDEN: ANGST! ANGST NOW FOR XP!"

Excuse me, now I feel the need to cheerfully whistle Voltaire's "When You're Evil" as I saunter away...


Drow_Battlemind wrote:
Bill Dunn wrote:

I don't see any great need to have Drow be a core PC race, though we've been playing them since a few years before Driz'zt inspired legions of fanboys to make copycat PCs.

But I love to use Drow in the manner I feel they were appropriately designed... as adventure-driving enemies to the PCs. An evil, resentful race of elves that contrasts with surface haughty nature boys? Love it.

Unfortunately, the "legions of fanboys" gave those of us who were around during 1st ed's UA period (and RP'ed drow) a bad name later on...

or, as a motivator I have says "DRIZZT DO'URDEN: ANGST! ANGST NOW FOR XP!"

Excuse me, now I feel the need to cheerfully whistle Voltaire's "When You're Evil" as I saunter away...

Fantastic song. I love Voltaire. Cant wait to see him again at Dragon*Con.

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