After reading the Drizzt books I've been thinking about a campaign where the PCs are drow and must live their lives in Menzoberranzan, goto either the fighter school or the wizard's acadamy. They would go through training and rankings as they would but I'm wondering what else I can do?
-Have the PCs make up a house w/ background (more I like it the higher rank they'll be and better starting equipment)
-Let them design bonuses for their piwafwi
-Training sessions
-Ranking Tournaments
-A plot happening at school for someone to rise in rank?
-Make the PCs come up with a plot like they're the villains?
Any suggestions, thoughts, comments, etc. would be appreciated.
Spend their time trying to kill each other/other Drow or not be killed by each other/other Drow.
A side trip to Ched Nasad would be great (the nearest drow city). If you read about Ched Nasad you'll find out that this city as an interesting design. In fact, this design is so interesting that it makes improved bullrush a deadly feat. :)
find the book called "Drow of the Underdark"
it's a manual about drow that tells you Everything!
Also Underdark would be useful. I would make them all part of the same house personally. Also, surface raids against the elves or to get slaves.
Also Underdark would be useful. I would make them all part of the same house personally. Also, surface raids against the elves or to get slaves.
+1
You could also pick up Pathfinders Second Darkness Adventure Path and slightly modify the entries of the Drow Houses to fit in Menzo. Its a great source for Drow houses and stat blocks of Drow.
Alright I'll check out those books and other suggested material.
I suppose to make them not want to kill each other maybe they'd have to be from one of the higher houses and perhaps that house took in the nobles of some house which was mostly destroyed. This way they could each have a piwafwi unique to them or something.
Check out War of the Spider Queen novel series. It's a six book tour of the underdark and will give you a lot of insight into the Drow.
Check out War of the Spider Queen novel series. It's a six book tour of the underdark and will give you a lot of insight into the Drow.
again +1
i should have thoght of that...
how far into the drizzt saga have you read?
If you want to learn about life in Menzoberranzan, read Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn in the Drizzt saga. Legacy and Seige of Darkness are good too. Also, I'll second War of the Spider Queen, and then the Forgotten Realms series Starlight and Shadows by Elaine Cunningham about Gromph Baenre's daughter (Daughter of the Drow, Tangled Webs, and Windwalker - primarily the first 2, the 3rd happens on the surface). Also, if you can find the 2E Menzoberranzan box set, its very informative, has a city map, lists major houses, house members, etc. Great resource, just need to adapt the NPCs to Pathfinder.
Creating fear, obtaining power at the expense of everyone else (except your house), intrigue, lies within lies within lies, and gaining the favor of the Spider Queen are all that matters in Menzoberranzan.
how far into the drizzt saga have you read?
I have read the dark elf trilogy three times and the crystal shard series and legacy twice. Then I've read starless night, siege of darness, and passage to dawn once. So I guess I should have said after reading the dark elf trilogy a third time I got this idea... lol
If you want to learn about life in Menzoberranzan, read Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn in the Drizzt saga. Legacy and Seige of Darkness are good too. Also, I'll second War of the Spider Queen, and then the Forgotten Realms series Starlight and Shadows by Elaine Cunningham about Gromph Baenre's daughter (Daughter of the Drow, Tangled Webs, and Windwalker - primarily the first 2, the 3rd happens on the surface). Also, if you can find the 2E Menzoberranzan box set, its very informative, has a city map, lists major houses, house members, etc. Great resource, just need to adapt the NPCs to Pathfinder.
I think I'll have to look into the War of the Spider Queen and other suggested novels.
It just so happens that my friend has the 2E Menzoberranzan box set which his Dad obtained years ago.For piwafwi creation should I write up a list of abilities and give them a point value and say go to town you have 10 points or something? Or say make a magic cloak which doesn't exceed X price? Perhaps the first so they'll have more little abilities instead of one big one.
Don't forget to give them a drow house insigna. :)
Alright so which is supposed to be more powerful and which is supposed to do which?
Piwafwi would be like bonus to stealth, a little protection, and/or some other abilities.
The insignia I am guessing I was getting mixed up with the piwafwi and it is that which gave Drizzt the ability to levitate and use other powers more often?
I've read the books a few times but those details were not the main focus of the book and so I guess I just don't remember.
The piwafwi is a cloak of elven kind, but some have special enchantments.
Underdark has rules for drow house insignia.
The piwafwi is a cloak of elven kind, but some have special enchantments.
Underdark has rules for drow house insignia.
I think that insigna rules are found in Drow of the Underdark, not Underdark (or maybe both).
Oops, I was thinking of Races of Faerun, sorry.
One thing to keep in mind when you're running an all-drow campaing is spell resistance. Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration are must-have for any spellcaster, and I know that if I were a drow wizard, I would be a conjurer...
There is also the FR boxed set Menzoberranzan box set that came out with 2nd edition. Good adventure series and plenty of info on the houses and various factions inside their.
You may want to allow a players be priestesses too. I've had players (guys) in the past play them while the rest were fighters, rouges, and wizards (males). Don't forget too, if you have them be fighters and wizards, let them multiclass, or PrC, to add some diversity. All depending on how you want to go, you can either have it that goind to the two schools (or 3) simply enable "warrior" classes gain their martial and armor proficiencies, and wizards their basic spellcasting. That would allow the characters to also choose other classes other than Fighter and Wizard - such as ranger, barbarian, cavalier, sorcerer, summoner, witch, etc. But that's up to you what you'll allow.
At first I was thinking "Cavalier?!? They have no horses..." but then a second later I remembered about the lizard mounts and think that'd be cooler than a horse.
I think if I have a great diversity I'll be able to do less while their in school, but could pair then up when they visit the other schools. Also I think I'll send them to a school based on what they choose as a class, letting them know they'll have to focus on certain aspects of fighting if they want to have a chance in the grand melee or what ever ranking.
I have looked at some of the book's piwafwis and insignias and will probably do something like the following:
Piwafwi = cloak of elven kind + choose one(5 [energy] resist or +(1 or 2) AC or +3 [save] throws or +1 SR or other protective bonuses[talk to me]).
Insignia = Choose a Few(Four or Five?) - use of spell-like ability extra per(unlimited, but only one in effect at a time?) day or new spell-like ability (0th At-Will, 1st 3/day, or 2nd 1/day) or enhance a spell-like ability (i.e. Metamagic enhanced or talk to me) or other magical effects (also talk to me).
Any suggestions for the bonuses and how to dish them out while still letting them choose what they get or how to balance the bonuses effectively or additional bonuses?
1) have them come from minor houses, instead of any major ones.
2) If you are having them come up with their house, include what their typical tactics, house magical and combat focuses are
3) have the piwafwis have the same number of bonuses and powers, same with the house insignias
4) With the same number of bonuses/powers on these items, use their descriptions of their houses to provide spell-like powers in those items tied to their houses' tactical and magical foci. Then generate a list of powers for those items each house can choose from. This way the characters are power balanced, but unique in that they can select from a House power list that can be added to their cloaks of insignia. Both balance, and diverity at the same time. Of course, each house will probably have a few powers that are the same across the board, like levitate, deeper darkness, etc.
Cloak bonuses should be according to their start (eg. +1 for lvl 1-4, +2 for lvl 5-10, etc.), and the insignias shlevelould have scaled powers, ones that are basic at-will ones, that ones usable 2/day, 1/day, and ones accessible according to level as well, so that the insignias are seen as powerful and special house related items. Eg. at 5th level, character can access the fly 1/day and suggestion 1/day powers. At 9th level they can access the true seeing 1/day power. Something like that. Takes time, but such things can greatly add to the flavor and enjoyment of an adventure, especially in Menzoberranzan, where every minute your life could end.
Takes time, but such things can greatly add to the flavor and enjoyment of an adventure, especially in Menzoberranzan, where every minute your life could end.
Yeah, I'd like to re-emphasize this. Because for a good plot hook, one of the laws in Menzoberranzan is that anyone impersonating a noble is punishable by death as is other races impersonating any drow. Throw in some rumors and intrigue and bam you got some instant plot.
Its awesome to see this much interest in drow life. I actually run a RP based game where the players are drow within the city of menzoberranzan if any of you would like to join in and play. We have been down for several months but are kicking back up again and plan to play a couple times a week again.
http://menzoberranzan.50.forumer.com
You can check out our forums and see what you think. We honestly have just about all info for drow and the city of menzoberranzan available for you if you have any questions, etc. We pretty much do all the above stuff you guys are mentioning that would be cool to do in a game. We used to play this on NWN and had actually created about 85% of the city with it's toolset. But now due to bugs in the game with the newer versions of windows, etc we are just RPing through chat channels. Which has actually turned out to be a pretty good move since we are alot less limited this way.
You can also add me on msn messenger at: raistlin0031@yahoo.com if you have any questions about joining or anything else. We would love to see you guys join up and play with us though. I will say this in parting though. We are VERY MUCH focused on the RP side of the game. We ARE NOT powergaming drow and if you come in as a powergamer you will be asked to not play anymore lol.
I second gettign Drow of the Underdark. That and the Menzoberranzan Boxed set are the main 2e resources.
There's are lots of great resources online too:
Zanan's Guide to Drow NPCs lists lots of Names with short notes while
Warlocko's Guide to Drow NPCs has full 3.5 statblock conversions.
Zanan's Drow with class is also a great article, as were the Drow fighting style articles by SKR which were originally on WotC .(SKR has more Drow related stuff on his site)
http://drowcampaign.roleplaynexus.com/ is a great resource for a Drow campaign. For example you'll find details on piwawfi (drow word for cloak of elvenkind), greater piwafwi (cloak of elvenkind plus minor bonus) and house insignia in the drow magic section
There are also a lot of d20 products about drow.
Most should be listed here, though they missed Green Ronin's Plot & Poison
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Being utterly insane about such things, I filled the cavern with fungus fields in all directions (and filling that chasm), vermin that fed off of the fungus, and bats that fed off of the vermin, as a source of protein for the Drow. The 'mysterious underdark radiations' served as an energy source (replacing sunlight) for some lichen-like vegetation that covered pretty much everything, and that was the 'bottom' of the Menzoberranzan food chain.
The notion in the boxed set that the hundreds of thousands of Drow ate meat from a herd of rothe kept on an island that was about 80 ft. across? (Which, if it was teeming with vegetation, would support about a lone scrawny goat or sixteen chickens.) Point and laugh, and move on.
Centipede-on-a-stick and bat wing crunchies. That's haut cuisine. Mushroom soup, seasoned with bat tripe, for everyone else.
Even if the island is WAY bigger than shown, and there's like, a *dozen* rothe on it, nobody but the Matron Mothers ever get to eat steak, and even then, maybe once a year.
When I did run a Drow game, I toned them way down. The Gygaxian assumptions that every Drow was at least a 2nd level Fighter, and they all had adamantine armor, and they all had a half-dozen spell-like abilities, and they all had magic resistance, seemed over the top. The nobles have that stuff, because they've been breeding with demons over the last couple centuries, but the hoi-polloi? Pretty much dark skinned elves, with darkvision, and a +2 bonus to saves vs. spells (about as 'magic resistant' as the average dwarf).
For a game in which everyone is nobleborn, cool for them, they get the 'good stuff,' but also get to lord it over the lesser drow, without having to worry about *everybody* having adamantine gear, cloaks & boots of ghetto elvenkind (that melt in sunlight), and the same level of spell-like abilities and / or magic resistance.
Encounters with other drow would get pretty dull if the insolent peasant sweeping bat-dung out of your path had the same super-powers you do!
If the group is rank-and-file Drow, eking out a living in the city without the benefit of noble blood or patronage, perhaps scraping to get into a mercenary troop that occasionally gets jobs from the nobility (less Baenrae, more Jarlaxle), that's a different sort of story entirely. My group is not at all suited for politicking or high intrigue, so we played lowborn Drow, which gave them the assorted fights and 'adventures' that they craved, without having to spend the entire game attending fancy un-dress parties drinking blood out of spider-shaped goblets and trying to figure out if *everybody* in the room was out to get them, or just *almost* everybody...
Green Ronin's Plot & Poison
Friggin' awesome book. Many really well-designed feats and spells and interesting little notions that bring the Drow to life.
Also wanted to point out that Paizo has an old campaign setting book called Into the Darklands. I don't own it, but a friend of mine does, so I've only skimmed through it. It seemed like a pretty useful book for creating "Underdark" adventures. Of course YMMV.
At first I was thinking "Cavalier?!? They have no horses..." but then a second later I remembered about the lizard mounts and think that'd be cooler than a horse.
That's the spirit.
This is one thing I liked about the War of the Spider Queen novels: Adapting new/other/strange D&D mechanical options to world flavour. There was a shadowdancer scout mercenary character, a bard/cleric of Lloth, a monk/assassin, ...etc.
It's also evident in the drow fighting styles articles, where different feats are given flavour.
What I never saw adapted (except in one d20 book) was the magically/mechnical replacement arms that got mentioned in Drow of the Underdark. I always wanted to play a drow commoner character based on that.
Also wanted to point out that Paizo has an old campaign setting book called Into the Darklands. I don't own it, but a friend of mine does, so I've only skimmed through it. It seemed like a pretty useful book for creating "Underdark" adventures. Of course YMMV.
That is actually my favorite Pathfinder source book. I've read it cover to cover twice, which is not something I do almost ever.
As for a list of Drow novels:Check out this thread and cross reference with the novel section on candlekeep.
I recommend the anthology Realms of the Underdark, for an eclectic mix of underdark weirdness.
Check out War of the Spider Queen novel series. It's a six book tour of the underdark and will give you a lot of insight into the Drow.
Greatly insightful series. I cant remember his name but the male wizard character was my favorite.
If you decide to do a PBP I would LOVE to get in on that action. Ive never played a drow before, but I've always wanted to.
There is some cool stuff here. Thanks.
A side trip to Ched Nasad would be great (the nearest drow city). If you read about Ched Nasad you'll find out that this city as an interesting design. In fact, this design is so interesting that it makes improved bullrush a deadly feat. :)
Chad Nasad was Destroyed last time I looked, of course that is dependent on the GM
A side trip to Ched Nasad would be great (the nearest drow city). If you read about Ched Nasad you'll find out that this city as an interesting design. In fact, this design is so interesting that it makes improved bullrush a deadly feat. :)Chad Nasad was Destroyed last time I looked, of course that is dependent on the GM
they can rebuild. better faster stronger
they can rebuild. better faster strongerA side trip to Ched Nasad would be great (the nearest drow city). If you read about Ched Nasad you'll find out that this city as an interesting design. In fact, this design is so interesting that it makes improved bullrush a deadly feat. :)Chad Nasad was Destroyed last time I looked, of course that is dependent on the GM
Or the campaing can take place before its destruction, like I did for mine.
Even if Chad Nasad is destroyed, there is too much of value there for it to be abandoned. And perhaps underneath all the rubble there is more than just trinkets - catacombs, hidden stronghold, libraries... Heh, imagine playing a Resident Evil-esque mission where your team of explorers chance upon a dungeon with experimental beasts that were supposed to serve as secret weapons before the fall, and unwittingly set them loose...
Even if Chad Nasad is destroyed, there is too much of value there for it to be abandoned. And perhaps underneath all the rubble there is more than just trinkets - catacombs, hidden stronghold, libraries... Heh, imagine playing a Resident Evil-esque mission where your team of explorers chance upon a dungeon with experimental beasts that were supposed to serve as secret weapons before the fall, and unwittingly set them loose...
This is a really cool idea. If I ever run a darklands game, I'm stealing this!
Even if Chad Nasad is destroyed, there is too much of value there for it to be abandoned. And perhaps underneath all the rubble there is more than just trinkets - catacombs, hidden stronghold, libraries... Heh, imagine playing a Resident Evil-esque mission where your team of explorers chance upon a dungeon with experimental beasts that were supposed to serve as secret weapons before the fall, and unwittingly set them loose...This is a really cool idea. If I ever run a darklands game, I'm stealing this!
According to the most recent Novel's taking place after the War of the Spider Queen series the The Lady Penitent trilogy displays Chad Nesad as a location over run by scavengers from the previous houses that existed within the city. They are formed in a very loose setting of the previous self being controlled by males with no clerics of the Spider Queen within the city.