RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Ok given the info we have on the drow in
I'd like to see the creative minds come up with character concepts for non-evil drow. Levels are up to you, the key is 'why aren't they evil?'
Let's exclude the following
*They're sparkly vegetarian drow
*Helm of alignment change
*Really hot sex with a surface elf causing them to reject their entire race and work with the elves.
*They found two scimitars and a magic cat.
I'll post mine in a bit.
- The drow is a new addition to an existing group of characters in a campaign, and the group is composed of a paladin, a good cleric, a humanoid slayer ranger and a light specialized wizard.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Ok, here's mine.
Nela, Drow Ranger 1, Chaotic Neutral
Fate intervened. Nela’s wails were heard by Nofhilan, a retired half-elven follower of Ketephys who had been blinded in his final adventuring days. Nofhilan took the babe back to the caves he and his bear lived in, raising the ‘elf’ child as his own. He named her Nela, after a former adventuring companion.
Nela grew up comfortable exploring the small set of caves her adopted father lived in, as well as venturing out during the night with him. While the forest cover did not burn her eyes too bad, she much preferred the darkness. This didn’t bother Nofhilan, he just assumed his daughter’s eyes were sensitive to light.
Nela became aware of her heritage her 50th year. Nofhilian sent the young drow out on her own more and more as the years began to catch up to him. It was in one such outing that she encountered her first surface elves. She barely escaped with her life.
The experience traumatized Nela. She could not understand why her fellow elves attacked her. She tried to explain to her father, and for the first time, Nofhilan realized just what his ‘daughter’ was. He told her the color of her skin didn’t matter, but she noticed he was more distant, remote.
Nofhilan died two summers later. In going through her father’s possessions she found his journal. There he read the account of the battle with the ‘night skinned elves’ that decimated his party, destroyed his sight, and killed her namesake. Also she found a leather bound book that had elf-like writing. She realized this was a book written not by elves, but by drow.
Taking the books, her bow and her blades, she burned the rest with her father’s funeral pyre. She never looked back.
Edit: I like the way this character is shaping up. I might use her as a PC of my own.
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The only way I could see someone being a non-evil Golarion Drow is via a wish...
Second Darkness Spoiler:
Drow become what they are from being evil...Evil elves can spontaneously become Drow...So in my campaign there will be no good drow,
except via...Helm of Opposite Alignment. (sorry, that's one of the few ways I see it really working...they are evil mind/body and soul)
Then you could make a LG or NG Drow Ranger favored enemy (drow), Favored terrain (underdark).
Your character would probably have ended up hating her father and murdering him later in life, as her heritage would have reared it's hateful ugly head. The helm actually changes the inherent soul of the drow.
(and the blind ranger thing? that's in Drizz't's background)
Funny thing is, you do that to a Golarion Goblin, you get a Goblin Jester that loves Dogs and Horses...
One of the players in my game wanted to play a Drow rogue, so I asked him to come up with an interesting concept before I would allow it. I'm pasting his response in spoilers as it is quite lengthy and detailed.
I had intended to explain the presence of a Drow where there would normally be no Drow by not explaining it at all. I imagined the character being an orphan who grew up on the streets of a large city some distance away. He would have no knowledge of his parents or the Drow in general - he would not know what the underdark was if it was mentioned to him and would have no knowledge of the Drow people, their history, culture, god etc.
I imagined him having been left with a human caregiver who took care of him till he was 10-ish but died at that point (violently) leaving him with nothing and having told him nothing of his heratige, parents, etc. From that point forwards he was a street urchin and he was 'taken in' by one of the various thief guilds/gangs of that city who called him 'waif' for want of any other name.
Life on the streets was hard, particularly for a 'different' child who is physically quite weak (high dex & char, low str). While some of the whores were kind to the attractive, violet eyed child he had a great deal of trouble with older, bigger children stealing what little food he was able to find and picking on him for being different. This along with being an orphan has left him a bit of a loner and a bit bitter, though he generally hides it well. He never made a good pickpocket as being different attracted too much attention, but at 14 he started to learn the burgler's trade at which he excelled. Once he was bringing in some income for the thief group he was afforded a little more respect and he gradually managed to get his name changed from 'waif' to Raif, which is what he now goes by. If he has a real name he does not know it.
However the abuse did not stop, particularly from a few individuals who had known 'the freak' for the past 4 years and considered him an easy mark. One of his fellow orphans named Frank, who found pleasure in causing the weaker Raif pain, was showing off for a few of the other urchins. A tired Raif was on his way to his cot to get some sleep after a successful robbery when Frank decided to sieze the smaller child, carry him into the street and throw him face first into a pile of fresh horse manure. Not content with this Frank then grabbed Raif by the back of his head and mashed his face into the manure, and then walked away laughing. Raif got up and went back into the thieves den and clened himself up as best he could. He then walked over to Frank and offered him a deal - Raif would give Frank a cut of his earnings if Frank would leave him alone. Raif showed Frank the money in his left hand, and Frank agreed and moved forward to take the money. At this point Raif rammed the knife in his right hand as far into Franks stomach has he could. He showed no emotion at all as he twisted that knife and tore it free, and when Frank fell to his knees Raif stepped behind him and cut his throat.
This got Raif into no small ammount of trouble with his gang but the old thief who had been teaching the youngster the burgler's art was well respected and highly placed within the gang and told the leader that young Raif had much earning potential as a burgler - far more so than arrogant Frank had. The leader himself had seen the act, and the calm nature of it lead him to believe that Raif had considerable potential. Raif was still thrashed by the enforcers, and had to pay a hefty fine to the gang for the mess he made in the hideout, but he noticed that the enforcers were careful not to leave any lasting damage or marks. The word game down from the gang leader that Raif was to be left alone and the abuse stopped, much to young Raif's delight. Since then he has become a successful burgler and from time to time has demonstrated a very fast knife hand and a willingness to use it when the need arrises. Over 5 years he built up a reasonable reputation and a small stash.
Reciently though things have taken a major for the worse. For quite some time he had been sizing up the town house of a rich minor noble. Thieves generally left this place alone, too much risk, but Raif's natural abilities as a thief and the confidence of a 19 year old made him sure that he could pull it off. At around 3am he got into the house without an issue and was poking around the mans bedroom when he happened to accidently nudge a small crystal vial off a shelf. It smashed on the polished wood floor and woke the noble and his wife. The man woke quickly and before the startled Raif could react was out of bed and had Raif up against a wall by the neck. He pulled the mask Raif was wearing from his head and, with a look of some surprise on his face, snarled 'who the hell are you?'
Raif reacted the only way he knew how, slamming his dagger between the man's ribs. His knife training did him no favours at this moment as he instinctively went for the heart, missing narrowly but leaving a deep dagger wound. Not knowing if the man was dead or not Raif ran for it with the wife's screams in his ears and while he was able to escape he knew the noble's wife got a good look at him. Knowing he would be easy to identify Raif fled the town he'd grown up in his entire life. He has travelled a long way to reach Fallcrest and at this point he believes he has evaded those he is sure were following, though he does not know for sure if the man he knifed survived or not. He has as spent almost all of his stash from the past 5 years travelling and is now running low on gold. He will need a job of some kind soon, but he does not know what.
Raif is at a crossroads in his life. While he has killed before it has never touched him before, but he heard the pain in that woman's voice as a man she clearly cared for lay bleeding on the ground and he knew he'd caused that pain. For the first time Raif thought of someone other than himself, and he hopes the noble survived. Where he goes from here remains to be seen. He will revert to theft if he must, but now he can't help but think of those he steals from. He would like to find some other line of work but theft is all he knows.
Where Raif goes from here will largely depend on those who's company he keeps. Young and impressionable, if they are good folk they may well be able to lead him away from the path he has followed much of his life. If not they may be able to convince him that there was nothing wrong with his actions. Time will tell.
Character Traits:
Raif will not trust easily. He is very reserved and will not tell people he does not know well about his past. Thus far he has never known anyone that well.
Raif is accustomed to looking out for number one. It might well take him a while to break that habit and it will definitely take motivation.
Raif has no friends and pretty much never has done. Making some might come as a shock if he can manage it.
Raif is a coward. If he is attacked he will usually run away, try to hide, etc. He will not go toe to toe with foes unless he is very sure he will win. He does not see this as cowardice, mearly common sense.
Raif has a wide vicious streak, particularly in combat. He will show a foe no mercy and will do whatever it takes to win.
It will take Raif some time to get used to the idea of team work and relying on others.
Raif is 19 and if he can be persuaded to talk to anyone at all he will be angsty! Woe! Presumably he will grow out of that.
Raif can be quite immature
Raif will definitely hold a grudge if he thinks he has reason.
Unresolved questions that may or may not be covered off in this or future campaigns
Raif's background and how he came to be in that city to start with, who his parents were, etc.
Weather or not that noble survived and the fact that Raif is possibly wanted for murder
Who that noble thought he might have been.
Admittedly the concept didn't try to answer the big questions about his origin but that just gives me more freedom to develop character hooks around him discovering his the true nature of his heritage.
So looking at the information in Second Darkness:
It is described that the elves are engaged in a "secret war" with the Drow and keep their existence hidden, so at this stage nobody knows that he is anything other than some strange type of elf. As the campaign continues, the Lantern Bearers will hear tales about him and will start investigating these rumours with a view towards "eliminating" the threat that he poses.
Given that evil elves can spontaneously transform into Drow, I'm toying with the idea of allowing the reverse to occur if the character becomes sufficiently "redeemed" throughout the course of the campaign. Even if I do allow it, I not sure that it's likely to happen for this specific character as the focus for him is more likely to be on trying to overcome the worst of his drow heritage.
I haven't made any firm decisions about how he got to the city (I decided he was raised in Korvosa) in the first place, but my current thinking is that his parents fled the dark realms as their house was destroyed by political enemies but were then discovered and killed by the Lantern Bearers after they reached the surface.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I like that story a lot, better than my off the cuff five minutes thing.
The blind adventurer (specifically NOT a ranger) in mine is to allow an 'elven child' to be raised w/o him noticing the color of her skin.
I picture Nela as a very paranoid chaotic neutral. She tries to follow Ketephys' teachings as she was taught, but knows that her body and soul are tainted with the evil in her. I picture her speaking really weird elven (having learned it from a half elf) and 'Johnny Weismuler style' drow. So she doesn't talk much. She tries to do good, but believes that there must be an evil inclination in her.
Fortunately it has been said that "If a character like that were to rise in Golarion, I'd expect it to be an equally unique/rare situation. Something that would be the focus of an entire adventure path or novel. or even better... a PC. In fact, that would be my preference; for the first good drow to appear in Golarion to be PCs."
So drow aren't as set in stone in 'core' Gorlarion, as they are in yours. :-)
So come on, more concepts people!
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Hey, don't sweat the Driz'zt thing. Blind mentors for outcasts are a trope older than him. Remember Bride of Frankenstein?
Okay, remember Young Frankenstein? The thing is, it works, so run with it!
Thinking one up. I think the most important thing really is to get the character away from drow society at an early age. Otherwise they're not going to have much of a chance.
Actually, there is (at least one) non-evil drow in Zirnakaynin. Check out p. 54 in Endless Night (#16). Jhondron Hois is Chaotic Neutral and is in charge of the Sire, the only official gentlemen's club in the city.
If a non-evil exists in the drow capital, then it wouldn't be all that hard to have them exist elsewhere.
Good drow on the other hand... Maybe not.
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There is an extremely rare chance of a good aligned drow if a PC spellcaster decided to use one of the weirdest spells in 3.5. The Book of Exalted Deeds 'Sanctify the Wicked'. Of course this requires 10,000 gold, and burning a character level but it is a surefire way to make a good drow.
I could see a character using the spell on a drow that did something particularily repugnant to make them suffer the evil they commited due to the fact the spell traps the soul in a gem and then makes it 'reflect' on it's evil, after a year of this they become good. It always struck me as a somewhat cruel spell despite it being one of the 'sanctified' spells.
Outside of incredibly powerful magic, a really weird helmet, or a drow being raised far outside of it's own culture I doubt one could run across a drow that is good, but as we've already seen a neutral aligned drow it certainly possible and that could be as good as you can get normally.