#drow of the underdark

[whisperingwebs]

A drow priestess makes a sacrifice on the altar of Lolth, by Beth Trott, (2007) 3e D&D supplement Drow of the Underdark

[dykestelmane]

Drow are also very alert and inquisitive, simply as survival traits in their twisted society. This mental readiness gives them an intellectual advantage over most creatures. When creating drow characters, DMs may elect to add +1 to Intelligence score rolls, and +1 or +2 to Dexterity scores, to a maximum of 18. Note that while drow Intelligence is augmented, drow Wisdom is not. The all-pervasive teachings of Lolth, and the limited exposure to other societies, beings, and surroundings, are not conducive to a wide and reasoned experience of the world

2e Drow of The Underdark

[vintagerpg]

Drow of the Underdark (1991) follows the Draconomicon in the Forgotten Realms sourcebook series. Shockingly, considering my general ambivalence to FR, I mostly like this series, probably because they are mostly by Ed Greenwood. I like FR best when Greenwood is writing about it.

This book is about drow, in case you hadn’t noticed. It appeared in the fourth year of the drow-mania ushered in by Drizzt’s appearance in The Crystal Shard and subsequent books by R. A. Salvatore. Drow had, since the first hints of their existence in Monster Manual, captured a certain sort of player’s imagination, but Drizzt pushed that interest to a fever pitch. Good, bad, it didn’t matter: as long as it involved drow, people would buy it. At the same time, drow were no longer playable and D&D was firmly in the “don’t make moms angry” phase of its existence. That makes this book…odd.

Greenwood is pretty emphatic that drow are bad. Very bad. They have bad super powers and bad magic items and are the products of a society that is unforgivably bad. Setting aside the 21st century re-evaluation of drow and absolute alignments (which I tackle in my book, which you should go buy!), there seems to be some confusion here between bad and cool. Because for as unredeemable as this book wants drow to be, it really doesn’t impact their cool factor. Not even a little bit. I was never under the ‘90s spell of the drow and reading through this, they still come off as pretty cool. Except that portrait of Drizzt on the cover. I never thought that guy looked cool, with his poofy hair and the metal plate in his head. Isn’t he a good guy, anyway?

This is maybe the pinnacle of self-contradictory early-‘90s D&D products, a real head scratcher that remains rather compelling in spite of itself.

[dykestelmane]

Drow of the Underdark (3.5 ver)

Drow and Illithid overview

[dykestelmane]

They soon learn to bite down on their internal poison sacs, and spit their venom onto all the weapons they use (each application dries into a sticky covering, and is effective for 3 strikes of the weapon). Drider venom forces a saving throw vs. poison at -2; those who fail are paralyzed for 1-2 turns. It is normally delivered by the drider's 1d4-damage bite. In their transformation driders become immune to all poisons, but lose most of their magic resistance (down to 15%) from over 60%). Drow can use two weapons in battle (two strikes per round, normal hit probability), as long as one weapon is the size of a long sword or smaller. There is a 50% chance that a drider will gain the ability to spin webs in its transformation. These webs can be spun 10 times per day. Each one covers a 10 square area, and acts as a rope of entanglement (detailed in the Dungeon Master ’s Guide). Only the drider that created such a web can use it; it is a danger to all other creatures

2e Drow of The Underdark

[thysia]

Profane Agony Drow of the Underdark (2007)