Drow are the great Mary Sue race of D&D. They are beautiful, strong, cunning, live for ages, and live in an area of constant danger, but they are the most dangerous things themselfs. Oh and lets not forget they are EVIL, but not just regular evil, they are the EVILEST OF EVILZ. Except, you know when they are good. Then they are the most kind hearted souls ever existed, and actively fight for those who would shun them because of their heritage.
I always found it amusing, how obviously unreal drow society was. In the books/descriptions there are drows dying every day, and living in constant fear/mortal danger. A lot of children are sacrificed when they are born. Meanwhile this is a species with an extremely long livespan, and a very slow rate of reproduction...
I read most of the Drizzt novels, and I enjoyed the first two trilogies. After that it got really bad really fast, the characters turning unbeatable badasses while still constantly angsting about their problems. The war of the spider queen stuff was much better. I also read something with a wizard drow girl who falls in love with some Minsc-like barbarian (don't remember the title) it was VERY Mary Sue-is but kind of enjoyable.
Too much attention to Drow in my opinion, I used to like them when i was 14 but even then I preferred my dwarven wizardslayer. No problem with it if you would mod it into BG:EE, though. Btw. the classes are somewhat overpowered or even broken.
@Amardarial I am just tired of the "Hot Guys can't be evil" thing. Turning every hot guy (YMMV on whether a particular guy is hot or not) into someone who isn't really evil because OMG, people were MEAN to him... ::Vomits in the corner.:: I am very tired of that.
As Roald Dahl very clearly instructs all children, kind-hearted people can never be ugly and if you have evil thoughts, it will show in your face.
I also read something with a wizard drow girl who falls in love with some Minsc-like barbarian (don't remember the title) it was VERY Mary Sue-is but kind of enjoyable.
It's called Starlight and Shadows. Story of Liriel Baenre daughter of Gromph Baenre. After War of the spider queen there is also Lady Penitent which I enjoyed the premise and way of writing of Lisa Smedman... not the end result though, kinda ruined drow pantheon.
If I recall from memory correctly the drow rules in 2nd edition where...
Male Drow +2 Dex +1 Int -1 Con -2 Cha Female Drow +2 Dex +1 Int -1 Con +2 Cha
50% Magic resistance at level 1 and +2% additional MR per level
+2 bonus to save vs magic
I believe they got a +1 bonus with swords like elves, and with crossbows instead of bows, but I am unsure on this one.
May use the following spells once per day as a caster level equal to their level, or highest level if multi-class
Globe of Darkness Faerie Fire Levitate
Priests may also use
Detect Magic Know Alignment
-1 penalty to hit and saves, +1 penalty to ac in direct sunlight or bright light
They use the same classes as everyone else does, there are no drow specific classes, there are no class limitations, they may be any class just as an elf or human can, they use the same multi class table as an elf.
Most female drow are not clerics, this is something that the community jumped on after Salvatore's books which portrayed most drow females as clerics, despite the fact that the characters in his book where exclusively noble born drow from one city, a city he cited in his own works as being extreme even by drow standards.
I would have to look that up to be sure, I was going by memory and haven't played 2nd edition table top since 3.5 came out.
It was a clearly superior game, and while I have a lot of fond memories of 1st and 2nd edition anyone who thinks its better is rare, and most likely seeing things with rose colored glasses.
Of course D&D has never been a good gaming system, it gained popularity because it was the first, there are far superior games, for rules mind you, setting is something entirely different, that are available to play now. 4th edition was the first step backwards for D&D, it was the first edition they released that didn't improve on its predecessor and marked when our group finalized the decision to move onto other games and if we want to play in our fantasy setting again we'll find a different set of rules to apply the setting to.
personally not supportive. as others have mentioned i'm not sure how it fits with BG roleplaying, for IWD it makes sense somewhat, because Gorion's Ward would have no interaction or knowledge of Drow culture etc, everyone would want to kill you...
but then again i'm not very supportive of the idea of having kits in the game either. wild mages, monks and sorcerers i can live with, but how is charname a barbarian when he's raised from birth in a civilised town, can read & write etc etc?
also i always felt that the kits introduced in BG2 were because you became lvl 7 ish and became specialised rather than a simple fighter.
rant over, i guess i just like my rut the way it is. NO CHANGE, EVER!
Comments
I always found it amusing, how obviously unreal drow society was. In the books/descriptions there are drows dying every day, and living in constant fear/mortal danger. A lot of children are sacrificed when they are born. Meanwhile this is a species with an extremely long livespan, and a very slow rate of reproduction...
I read most of the Drizzt novels, and I enjoyed the first two trilogies. After that it got really bad really fast, the characters turning unbeatable badasses while still constantly angsting about their problems.
The war of the spider queen stuff was much better. I also read something with a wizard drow girl who falls in love with some Minsc-like barbarian (don't remember the title) it was VERY Mary Sue-is but kind of enjoyable.
TRUEFACT
After War of the spider queen there is also Lady Penitent which I enjoyed the premise and way of writing of Lisa Smedman... not the end result though, kinda ruined drow pantheon.
Male Drow +2 Dex +1 Int -1 Con -2 Cha
Female Drow +2 Dex +1 Int -1 Con +2 Cha
50% Magic resistance at level 1 and +2% additional MR per level
+2 bonus to save vs magic
I believe they got a +1 bonus with swords like elves, and with crossbows instead of bows, but I am unsure on this one.
May use the following spells once per day as a caster level equal to their level, or highest level if multi-class
Globe of Darkness
Faerie Fire
Levitate
Priests may also use
Detect Magic
Know Alignment
-1 penalty to hit and saves, +1 penalty to ac in direct sunlight or bright light
They use the same classes as everyone else does, there are no drow specific classes, there are no class limitations, they may be any class just as an elf or human can, they use the same multi class table as an elf.
Most female drow are not clerics, this is something that the community jumped on after Salvatore's books which portrayed most drow females as clerics, despite the fact that the characters in his book where exclusively noble born drow from one city, a city he cited in his own works as being extreme even by drow standards.
Don't the drow have a wider specialist mage choice than regular elves however?
I would have to look that up to be sure, I was going by memory and haven't played 2nd edition table top since 3.5 came out.
It was a clearly superior game, and while I have a lot of fond memories of 1st and 2nd edition anyone who thinks its better is rare, and most likely seeing things with rose colored glasses.
Of course D&D has never been a good gaming system, it gained popularity because it was the first, there are far superior games, for rules mind you, setting is something entirely different, that are available to play now. 4th edition was the first step backwards for D&D, it was the first edition they released that didn't improve on its predecessor and marked when our group finalized the decision to move onto other games and if we want to play in our fantasy setting again we'll find a different set of rules to apply the setting to.
but then again i'm not very supportive of the idea of having kits in the game either. wild mages, monks and sorcerers i can live with, but how is charname a barbarian when he's raised from birth in a civilised town, can read & write etc etc?
also i always felt that the kits introduced in BG2 were because you became lvl 7 ish and became specialised rather than a simple fighter.
rant over, i guess i just like my rut the way it is. NO CHANGE, EVER!