Like I know they existed in Forgotten Realms but I Wondered if Paizo or any third party company has acknowledged their existence in the Pathfinder setting, and what was the communities opinion on them.
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As far as I know they haven't ever been mentioned in any Paizo products.
My opinion is that any Drow parent would happily sacrifice an albino child to whatever demon they happen to be worshiping.
And drow are described as having white or red eyes anyway.
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To answer your question title...
Your GM's massive disapproval.
Especially if your GM is less than comfortable about the cryto-racial issues involving Drow themselves.
First thing you would need to do is come up with a mechanic for an albino drow's Disguise bonus or lack of need for a Disguise check to pass for an albino elf, since the main differences in appearance are in terms of coloration.
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Like I know they existed in Forgotten Realms but I Wondered if Paizo or any third party company has acknowledged their existence in the Pathfinder setting, and what was the communities opinion on them.
There was a thread regarding skin tone and drow in the past, and we concluded that the skin tone did not define Drow as Drow. Drow, in pathfinder, are a Race of thier own, not a seperate set of rules for black skinned elves. So you can give there whatever skin tone makes sense for your setting/background.
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Is there anything in the way of preventing Albino Drow from existing?
Besides drow culture likely not tolerating such abominations to exist? Likely not much of anything.
Since the topic is rather silly to start with:
How about Bleached Drow instead.
---) They just can no longer summon the will to torture prisoners, backstab rivals ...
Then the Sun-Bleached Drow.
---) We don't talk about this where the Monitors might hear us.
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Purely a GM call as to whether Drow even HAVE melanin, let alone a tyrosinase enzyme deficiency which prevents melanin production.
That said, combining Drow light blindness with albino vision defects would not be pretty. Might as well just go all the way and make the character blind.
Drow are dark gray or dark blue(depending on the source), not brown. Their skin color isn't based on melanin.
seems overly silly. What, exactly, do you gain from adding albino-ism to drow? How does that improve you experience? ARe you aiming for drow that can pass for 'normal' or something? Couldn't a spell do that (I am fairly sure there is one that does)?
Also, it is silly since you are just combining random junk. I guess you want to play a giant with dwarfism next? Or a dwarf with gigantism that causes him to be 6'1 and lets him ride all the rides at the amusement park?
I am not sure why it was in forgotten realms... but the fact that it wasn't later picked up in some form by other companies should tell you that you aren't getting something overly flavorful and full of character promise...
I am not sure why it was in forgotten realms... but the fact that it wasn't later picked up in some form by other companies should tell you that you aren't getting something overly flavorful and full of character promise...
It was a major plot point in the Maztica novels- an "albino elf" among the invaders turned out to actually be an albino drow.
As a one-off, it had... some teeth. When I was 14.
Assuming you're the GM and not doing organized play ...
Your game, your rules, your creations. You want Albino Drow in your game, then they're there. Simple as that.
I imagine an albino drow would not pass as an elf in the same way as an albin black person wouldn't pass as white.
I imagine an albino drow would not pass as an elf in the same way as an albin black person wouldn't pass as white.
The one-off in the Maztica trilogy wasn't passing as a surface elf- she was passing as an albino surface elf.
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I imagine an albino drow would not pass as an elf in the same way as an albin black person wouldn't pass as white.
A knowledge check would still identify Drow as Drow, regardless of the color of their skin. So for players, the difference would be very obvious.
Again, in pathfinder, Drow are their own species, not just dark skinned elves. Drow aren't a subtype of Elf, Elf is a subtype of Drow...
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Since the topic is rather silly to start with:
How about Bleached Drow instead.
Sadly, without Monkey Grip it's much harder to use giant swords in combat.
Scythia :)
If there is some way that an albino drow can be readily distinguished from an albino elf by any observer, then you have eliminated the only problematic mechanical aspect of such a character.
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Again, in pathfinder, Drow are their own species, not just dark skinned elves. Drow aren't a subtype of Elf, Elf is a subtype of Drow...
Actually, in Pathfinder, drow are elves:
Drow Racial Traits
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Elf: Drow are humanoids with the elf subtype.
I am not sure why it was in forgotten realms... but the fact that it wasn't later picked up in some form by other companies should tell you that you aren't getting something overly flavorful and full of character promise...It was a major plot point in the Maztica novels- an "albino elf" among the invaders turned out to actually be an albino drow.
As a one-off, it had... some teeth. When I was 14.
That was it. It was pretty much a one-off plot device, not a standard element of Drow society.
The Same way you had a dwarven druid (impossible in 1st and 2nd editiom) in the Cleric Quintet. one-off Plot device.
Oh, well that has more of a place. A visually distinct characteristic to note a particular enemy as important, and thus memorable. I can hardly fault that.
But yes, less teeth if you have to make them a whole subrace thing, with a line of individuals and subculture. Mostly because races need some kind of nice, defining themes (like being an outcast for half orcs, agelessness and refinement for elves, gruffness and dedication for dwarves, etc.).
It is easy to make a one off person have a compelling element with their physical body- victim of a bleach accident, blessed by the god Mr. Clean... harder for a race to be distinct as something other than 'a palette swap of the old race'.
Yo dawg,
I heard you like special snowflakes, so,
here's the Albino Drow
Now you can be a special snowflake while you play a special snowflake,
and be snow-white in the process
Jokes aside, David Knott gave you a very good answer. An Albino Drow won't look like an average elf.
Albino black people :
Still look like black people, only albino
I guess it might fool an average human commoner, but not real elves or anyone trained in Knowledge: Local
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Then the Sun-Bleached Drow.
---) We don't talk about this where the Monitors might hear us.
The first rule of Sun-Bleached Drow is that we don't talk about Sun-Bleached Drow.
Yo dawg,
I heard you like special snowflakes, so,
here's the Albino Drow
Now you can be a special snowflake while you play a special snowflake,
and be snow-white in the processJokes aside, David Knott gave you a very good answer. An Albino Drow won't look like an average elf.
Albino black people :Still look like black people, only albino
I guess it might fool an average human commoner, but not real elves or anyone trained in Knowledge: Local
As far as I can tell from the art, there really are not any distinctive facial features or other associated morphology that distinguish Drow, except for maybe the all white eyes (which could also be effected by albinism)
This is in contrast to albinism amongst different human races in many cases, as your example shows.
On top of that only a very small minority of elves have really encountered Drow. I honestly think, short of maybe some behavioral cues, it would be very difficult to distinguish an albino Drow from a normal albino elf.