amnesia, he doesn't know where he's from, or where he's been, and no one else knows what to make of him either. Talk the DM into letting you take mysterious stranger even if you're not a gunslinger.
Edit: I was thinking there was a grit feat/deed for this but maybe that was the beat, it seems it's only the archetype now..
You could play him as a sleeper agent of some kind... Did you have a class in mind or some kind of character concept to work with?
He could be an exile of some sort. The lone survivor of a clan war. Some one who realized her path was block because she was from the wrong family or class. Or if a Witch or Oracle, he was picked by a good force like healing. Or perhaps some one captured in battle with some enemy and escaped and now is too ashamed to go home.
Or hell, maybe he was too stubborn to live within the social confines of being a male Drow in Drow society (which is Matriarchal, and highly limits what men do). So he got the heck out. As for why he is so far on the surface, well you just walk away, its probably best to put as much distance as you can between you and your past!
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Depends upon your outlook and character; A male Drow cleric could be on the run from persecution from his race as this tends to a more female related role. As to where he is from it could be anywhere.
The sleeper agent is a nice idea. I have played an Albino Drow previously dropping darkvision for low light and keeping the light blindness. Also being dependant on drugs also added another angle to the character. … Yes he was styled upon Elric and I make no excuses for that. He was brought up by surface elves as they found him as a baby by some dead surface elves one of which had recently given birth. They placed him with his supposedly closest elven relatives. Made for an interesting and fun character to play. He could not understand how he felt so different from his elven friends and then weird stuff started to happen as he got older. You know hair in funny places, strange voices in his head and weird powers of levitation.
Exiles are good and is a tried and tested path to take.
If you want to or are allowed to play evil (Not always a good idea) you could be sent by the Drow matriarchs to disrupt the rising power of the party which has been foreseen by your elders. It’s not your fault that the party becomes more important to you over time and you turn against your race (or not).
You’re a cad and enjoy traveling; life with the Drow is too restricting and confined. You want to see the world and smell the sunshine. Experience the world in all of its glory.
The love of your life has been sacrificed to greater powers or she spurned your advances seeing you as weak. You’re out to prove that you are a fighter and able to survive against all odds so struck out on your own.
Yyou heard about the swallowtale festival from listening to others and thought it would be amusing to attend. You only thought to observe from the sidelines but events conspired against you and you don’t want the blame to fall on you for the events so you just had to join the noble adventurers.
All good Fun.
Sic
Remember though, Drow in Golarion are always evil, and usually chaotic evil. You might be able to stretch it to chaotic neutral, but that's about it.
It's been implied, though I don't know if it's been outright stated, that if a Drow were to become good somehow then he wouldn't be a Drow anymore.
Be careful with your wording, Son, some might not be happy with your reminder! :)
I believe it is in the Underlands or Underdark softcover.
I remember reading it somewhere in the Second Darkness AP.
I interpret it as no good drow. Period.
It never made sense to me that such an evil society would allow someone like DD to live.
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I'm running Second Darkness at the moment, and was recently reading this bit - it's actually a sidebar in the Armageddon Echo writeup on Drow. It's entitled 'Are there Good Drow?', and the first sentence in it is "No." Read the rest for more detail, but in Golarion, there is no such thing as a good drow.
In theory, it would be possible for something else to be polymorphed or reincarnated as a drow, and be good that way, but an actual Drow can't be good.
Sidebar or not, it doesnt make much sense to me. I guess you can justify anything. Maybe they lack the empathy gene, even when raised by nice paladins in the surface world.
But "evil only" feels kinda off to me. I would certainly house rule it.
Why doesnt it make sense to you?
Because it makes them less like thinking creatures and more like dogs who just wee on the carpet because thats what dogs do. But thats just an emotional reaction. I understand logically that they may just entirely lack empathy, or only use their empathy to analyze and hurt others. It just doesnt work for me. I could swallow it better for a race like Mind Flayers, who have to consume intelligent brains in order to not die. So their survival requires actions that brand them as evil. And culturally that could make sense that any group could have an evil outlook due to society.
But Drow for some inexplicable reason, must be evil. Even if raised by angels or paladins I guess. This sidebar just seems like a writer or one of the Pathfinder folks who just didnt want non-evil Drow about, and werent willing to let other GMs officially be able to decide otherwise, so they added something in a sidebar and now its "official".
Kinda like how you cant be a paladin that answers to Asmodeous, except that one reference where you can.
/canOfWorms
It actually does say that they're not born evil, but they usually need to be to survive within their jerk culture. That was just about Drow in general though, I guess it could be different in a specific campaign setting that I havn't read up on.
Makes enough sense to me, since people like Drow, but they don't like being told how to play their characters.
To the OP:
Read up on Celwynvian, in Varisia.
I guarantee you once you do, that you'll be able to come up with a hook for getting a Drow PC involved, whether they are evil OR good.
I would think, after reading lots of stuff on Drow from 1st-Pathfinder, that some drow might be born good but there is no way that they should live to adulthood due to the culture that they happen to live in. They would be offed as weak.
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Kinda makes no sense saying regardless of your upbringing you’re going to be evil. Having checked the Advanced Race Guide while it does not explicitly say it there is a hint that they can be of an alignment other than evil. Also it does say a surface elf if sufficiently evil could turn into a Drow
From ARG: While they are not born evil, malignancy is deep-rooted in their culture and society, and nonconformists rarely survive for long. Some stories tell that given the right circumstances, a particularly hateful elf might turn into a drow, though such a transformation would require a truly heinous individual.
So pretty much take it how you wish. From this I would read that if a Drow was truly noble and self sacrificing they could indeed become a surface elf. I think it would take years though and not be an instant thing.
Also from the ARG: Drow retain the elven traits of strong emotion and passion, but channel it through negative outlets, such as hatred, vengeance, lust for power, and raw carnal sensation. Consequently, most drow are chaotic evil.
This is fair enough, I have no issues with a race which is mostly evil, there are always exceptions that shall not be named.
Sic
i like the amnesia idea. the thought of a drow that thinks its a human would be really funny.
Amnesia could work, but keep in mind that if commoners know nothing about the drows and would have no special angst against him, an elven NPC know them.
So even if a drow suffering from amnesia wouldn't be a threat, he would rapidely become the target of some attacks from the Winter Council.
As far as all Drow being evil and non evil types not being able to survive. I think there could be a number of evil and even good drow but they would be regulated to the commoner and specialist class, not Player character class.
A powerful Evil Drow finding out a Drow was good might say great I got some one to work in my kitchen I can abuse and not worry about being poisoned every meal.
Good and neutral Drow would be found scrubbing toilets, working as Butlers and Maids , herding animals and growing mushrooms, but not as cleric and and Wizards.