Drow Equipment

Heindrich

As I wander in the Underdark for the first time, I've come across a number of Drow war parties. None of them were particularly powerful, but they were all armed to the teeth, including +5 (!?) Full Plates with -4 AC basic and Chainmail + 3 that's perfect for my Fighter/Mage Charname. Of course I've read the description and I guess these items will probably be destroyed the moment I leave the Underdark, and thus they are also not worth much for sale.

Outta curiosity, does this reflect D&D lore, where the Drow somehow craft incredibly powerful weapons and armour in great quantities, but cannot figure out a way to prevent it disintegrating in sunlight. In which case I imagine it'd be pretty difficult for Drow to invade the surface, and vice versa for 'surfacers' to invade their Underdark realm, since their standard warriors seemed to be equipped as well as the greatest heroes on the surface.

Or is this just the result of game design and balance? I've had a think about it... I guess the devs might've wanted to make it viable for players to rush off to save Imoen asap, or delay doing so until they've done all the surface sidequests. Drow equipment gives those who rushed Chapter 2 a fighting chance in the Underdark by giving them a temporary equipment boost whilst they are trapped in the Underdark?

Either way, I'm not complaing, Minsc/Anomen are much better protected (for) now, and Charname can finally wear great armour that doesn't prevent spellcasting

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atcDave

If memory serves, the Drow equipment in BG2 is a little more powerful than is common in the source books. Also, Drow equipment degrades over time (a couple of weeks).

Tresset

Yes, full plate +5 is absurdly ridiculously good. Also there is a cloak that gives something like +75% to both stealth skills. They all disintegrate once you reach the surface. The drow cheat you see.

LadyRhian

Drow Equipment is made in the Faerzress and made to work with and in it. Denied the right atmosphere, it disintegrates in sunlight. It's far more than just "goes powerless". It decays and disappears when sunlight hits it. If it is protected from sunlight, the power slowly goes out of it, but otherwise, poof and its gone. I recall Drizzt protected his piwafwi from sunlight, and it just eventually became an ordinary cloak. That's why Drow raiding parties only strike at night. The metal of choice for Drow equipment is Adamantite, and other races/societies use the same metal, so the fault comes down to that of the Faerzress, which is extremely strong in certain pockets of the Underdark. Other players and writers have posited it to be something like a special kind of radiation, while the metal is exposed to it in the Underdark, it empowers the metal, giving it much more powerful magical powers than it would have otherwise. But when deprived of that radiation, it weakens the metal to the point of collapse and disintegration in very short order. Or perhaps there is a different kind of radiation/magical power in sunlight that somehow speeds up the collapse if the Faerzress is still residing in the metal. Given enough time to let the Faerzress bleed out, and it's just that the magic drains away and sunlight no longer affects it so badly.

And yes, Drow Equipment is very powerful in the Underdark. On the surface... not so much. Not *all* of their equipment has this weakness, though. It's mostly just armor and weapons. Staves, Rods, Wands, Potions and such are generally not affected. Cloth is sometimes (Maybe they weave metal into the cloth- it's not said). Drow items can be enchanted up to +5 and/or +6. They also have specialized magic items like Tentacle Rods (both Greater and Lesser), Wands of Viscid Globs (essentially it's like a Wand of Web or a Glue Gun), and their house badge/insignia can also be enchanted to have various powers.

God

Them drows have surnames like X'larraz'et'soj, ittle wonder they make strange items.

zur312

i am more curious about dragon names
nizzdramayian anyone? ;d

ZanathKariashi

Sunlight rapidly decays drow armors (within literally minutes), but it also degrades slowly when removed from the Underdark, even if it's protected.

Also there are several special oils produced by the priestesses of Lolth that can be used to give limited protection to sunlight for raiders (only lasts about an hour though), but none available in game. Drow who live on the surface, make due with other gear.

USNavyJHarris

Okay, I have a question regarding 5e (especially if there are any fellow DMs) Does the sunlight effect only work on Drow items or is the same weakness present in items created by Svirfneblin, Duergar, Illithid, etc?