Drow NPC Advice and Question [Archive] - Wizards Community

Drow NPC Advice and Question [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
KayaSilveraSunstar
08-17-04, 07:57 PM Im creating an adventure hook around a young drow, who has fled the underdark to the surface. She was to be trained as a priestess, but fled. Now here is where I need some advice and help. First of all at what age would a young female be sent to be trained as a priestess? I have decided that part of why she fled was that she was a psyonist(sp), and I was wondering what type should I make her? I want her to be as young as possible for this, so any advice on this would be very appreciated. Basically Im looking at having a fairly powerful child, remotely like some of Stephen King's characters. All help will be appreciated.

K.
TheGreenGriffon
08-17-04, 08:04 PM if you have the age tables for the drow simply look at the drow base age before rolling dice, thats how I would do it. The roll usually signifies how long it takes that particular person of that race to get through training, thus the variable as everyone learns at a different rate. Its not the official reason but thats the way I see it or at the very least its a good place to start.

For example.

an elf has a base age of 110 before modifiers. An Elven Cleric must roll 10d6 to determine a random age thus he must be at least 120 years old at the very minimum to become a cleric signifying ten years of training for the elven race minimum requirement.

Hope this helps.
Autosponge
08-17-04, 08:06 PM Don't make that the only hook for your adventure. Most adventurers would slay a drow any chance they got--and they wouldn't be wrong for doing it.
TheGreenGriffon
08-17-04, 08:13 PM Don't make that the only hook for your adventure. Most adventurers would slay a drow any chance they got--and they wouldn't be wrong for doing it.

Depends on the party and their alignments and the kind of people they are. A party that had many bad dealings with the drow may attack without question where a more Lawful party may stop to question before they raise their swords to attack.

It really depends on their situation, characters who attack everything on sight are loosing touch with the aspect of roleplaying.

I mean if your a tough adventurer and you attack every drow before knowing the situation then how can you seperate yourself from the witnless townspeople with torches ready for a puvlic flogging?
KaeYoss
08-17-04, 09:05 PM As for the age: If you have the Dark Elf Trilogy, they state the training times of young drow, and Daughter of the Drow mentions it, too. Drow start their training quite early (though IIRC the priestesses get into the academy latest, and have the longest training time). I seem to remember the age 40. (20 for fighters, 30 for wizards)

She could be every sort of psion, telepath is good for annoying, maybe wilder (which would work well with the "finding out about her psionic powers"). Telepathy for a not-yet-trained psionicist character would mean that she inadvertantly uses the powers, not realizing it until it's too late.
TheGreenGriffon
08-17-04, 09:12 PM As for the age: If you have the Dark Elf Trilogy, they state the training times of young drow, and Daughter of the Drow mentions it, too. Drow start their training quite early (though IIRC the priestesses get into the academy latest, and have the longest training time). I seem to remember the age 40. (20 for fighters, 30 for wizards)

Remember as well, something to bare in kind for others that FR Novels while source material friendly as to when and what events happen, the game mechanics are often thrown out the window, things dont usually work the same such as spells and race abilities are often contradictory from one book to the next.

In otherwords rules and literature often dont mesh up.
Kuje31
08-17-04, 09:21 PM Menzo box set says 25 yr old drow go to Tier Breche and they are not allowed to pass back into the city until they have graduated by a Master or Mistress of the Academy.
KayaSilveraSunstar
08-17-04, 10:25 PM First I want to thank you all for the advice. I want this Drow to be as young as possible. I have a very long term plan for her and wanted to make sure I get things right. Im just getting used to the mechanics and lore of the game after being away from it for a long time. I need to dig out my Menzo box set, if I can find it. Anyway, the purpose of this character is to be found along the way in one adventure. She wont appear to be Drow at first(Cloak, gloves, etc.) I really want to try to get the party to pity this character, not knowing about the psyon abilities. Also, since we have mentioned the Telepath and Wilder, which would be better for this, what do you all think would be best. I have in mind that this character was being tinkered with in her dreams by Eilistraee, setting some doubts about her world view, and then just before she was to be sent off to train as a priestess she manifests her powers and flees in turn. Does this sound alright?

K.
Kuje31
08-17-04, 10:47 PM Originally posted by KayaSilveraSunstar
First I want to thank you all for the advice. I want this Drow to be as young as possible. I have a very long term plan for her and wanted to make sure I get things right. Im just getting used to the mechanics and lore of the game after being away from it for a long time. I need to dig out my Menzo box set, if I can find it. Anyway, the purpose of this character is to be found along the way in one adventure. She wont appear to be Drow at first(Cloak, gloves, etc.) I really want to try to get the party to pity this character, not knowing about the psyon abilities. Also, since we have mentioned the Telepath and Wilder, which would be better for this, what do you all think would be best. I have in mind that this character was being tinkered with in her dreams by Eilistraee, setting some doubts about her world view, and then just before she was to be sent off to train as a priestess she manifests her powers and flees in turn. Does this sound alright?

K.

Seems plausable to me. :) I don't know the 3.5 Psi rules to well, so I am not much help on that end.
BrianCritchley
08-18-04, 12:09 AM ok first off most pcs SHOULD shoot first if they see a drow. drow are worse then orcs in a LOT of people's minds.

now then, you need to work out this NPCs motivations,

frankly if you want a childlike NPC DON'T GO WITH A DROW.

even a 25 year old drow is gonna be.... experianced in the ways of killing etc.
KayaSilveraSunstar
08-18-04, 12:19 AM first off most pcs SHOULD shoot first if they see a drow. drow are worse then orcs in a LOT of people's minds.

Thats why she is going to be cloaked and gloved.

now then, you need to work out this NPCs motivations,

frankly if you want a childlike NPC DON'T GO WITH A DROW.

I dont really want a extremely childlike innocent, I want more of a weak and immature character. She is also going to be a bit insane, due to the dreams and the manifestation of the psys.

K.
KaeYoss
08-18-04, 04:36 AM Originally posted by BrianCritchley
ok first off most pcs SHOULD shoot first if they see a drow. drow are worse then orcs in a LOT of people's minds.

That doesn't mean that they are really worse, and a lot of people's minds aren't handy to determine the party's cause of action when they encounter one out in the wild.

I might remind you that there are a substantial number of good drow, with their own goddess and all. Good orcs are unheard-of, and they have not deity to back them up, should they exist. Orcs are usually fairly stupid, not so far away from animals, while drow are smart as a rule, so the chance that they question their ways is higher than with orcs.
Zanan
08-18-04, 07:23 AM Vendui!

Kaya ... while there is nothin gwrong with her being young, do remember that PCs do not age as slowly during adventures as "normal people". For example, during my first Night Below campaign, my human paladin started at the age of 18. When we finished the campaign 9 month later, he was about 19 1/2 and had reached level 9 (AD&D). Any character of that group managed 8 to 11 levels during those 18 month in time play, whether he was an elf, a dwarf, human or halfling. Thus, if you set her at a very low age, you may end up with as powerful a character as Triel Baenre (Clr 20) over the course of two years of RPG, while the character in-time only aged about 4 years or so and would still be regarded a very young drow. Just as food for thought.
Thus, If you place her around the 100 year mark, she will be just before adulthood.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
KayaSilveraSunstar 08-17-04, 07:57 PM	Im creating an adventure hook around a young drow, who has fled the underdark to the surface. She was to be trained as a priestess, but fled. Now here is where I need some advice and help. First of all at what age would a young female be sent to be trained as a priestess? I have decided that part of why she fled was that she was a psyonist(sp), and I was wondering what type should I make her? I want her to be as young as possible for this, so any advice on this would be very appreciated. Basically Im looking at having a fairly powerful child, remotely like some of Stephen King's characters. All help will be appreciated. K.
TheGreenGriffon 08-17-04, 08:04 PM	if you have the age tables for the drow simply look at the drow base age before rolling dice, thats how I would do it. The roll usually signifies how long it takes that particular person of that race to get through training, thus the variable as everyone learns at a different rate. Its not the official reason but thats the way I see it or at the very least its a good place to start. For example. an elf has a base age of 110 before modifiers. An Elven Cleric must roll 10d6 to determine a random age thus he must be at least 120 years old at the very minimum to become a cleric signifying ten years of training for the elven race minimum requirement. Hope this helps.
Autosponge 08-17-04, 08:06 PM	Don't make that the only hook for your adventure. Most adventurers would slay a drow any chance they got--and they wouldn't be wrong for doing it.
TheGreenGriffon 08-17-04, 08:13 PM	Don't make that the only hook for your adventure. Most adventurers would slay a drow any chance they got--and they wouldn't be wrong for doing it. Depends on the party and their alignments and the kind of people they are. A party that had many bad dealings with the drow may attack without question where a more Lawful party may stop to question before they raise their swords to attack. It really depends on their situation, characters who attack everything on sight are loosing touch with the aspect of roleplaying. I mean if your a tough adventurer and you attack every drow before knowing the situation then how can you seperate yourself from the witnless townspeople with torches ready for a puvlic flogging?
KaeYoss 08-17-04, 09:05 PM	As for the age: If you have the Dark Elf Trilogy, they state the training times of young drow, and Daughter of the Drow mentions it, too. Drow start their training quite early (though IIRC the priestesses get into the academy latest, and have the longest training time). I seem to remember the age 40. (20 for fighters, 30 for wizards) She could be every sort of psion, telepath is good for annoying, maybe wilder (which would work well with the "finding out about her psionic powers"). Telepathy for a not-yet-trained psionicist character would mean that she inadvertantly uses the powers, not realizing it until it's too late.
TheGreenGriffon 08-17-04, 09:12 PM	As for the age: If you have the Dark Elf Trilogy, they state the training times of young drow, and Daughter of the Drow mentions it, too. Drow start their training quite early (though IIRC the priestesses get into the academy latest, and have the longest training time). I seem to remember the age 40. (20 for fighters, 30 for wizards) Remember as well, something to bare in kind for others that FR Novels while source material friendly as to when and what events happen, the game mechanics are often thrown out the window, things dont usually work the same such as spells and race abilities are often contradictory from one book to the next. In otherwords rules and literature often dont mesh up.
Kuje31 08-17-04, 09:21 PM	Menzo box set says 25 yr old drow go to Tier Breche and they are not allowed to pass back into the city until they have graduated by a Master or Mistress of the Academy.
KayaSilveraSunstar 08-17-04, 10:25 PM	First I want to thank you all for the advice. I want this Drow to be as young as possible. I have a very long term plan for her and wanted to make sure I get things right. Im just getting used to the mechanics and lore of the game after being away from it for a long time. I need to dig out my Menzo box set, if I can find it. Anyway, the purpose of this character is to be found along the way in one adventure. She wont appear to be Drow at first(Cloak, gloves, etc.) I really want to try to get the party to pity this character, not knowing about the psyon abilities. Also, since we have mentioned the Telepath and Wilder, which would be better for this, what do you all think would be best. I have in mind that this character was being tinkered with in her dreams by Eilistraee, setting some doubts about her world view, and then just before she was to be sent off to train as a priestess she manifests her powers and flees in turn. Does this sound alright? K.
Kuje31 08-17-04, 10:47 PM	Originally posted by KayaSilveraSunstar First I want to thank you all for the advice. I want this Drow to be as young as possible. I have a very long term plan for her and wanted to make sure I get things right. Im just getting used to the mechanics and lore of the game after being away from it for a long time. I need to dig out my Menzo box set, if I can find it. Anyway, the purpose of this character is to be found along the way in one adventure. She wont appear to be Drow at first(Cloak, gloves, etc.) I really want to try to get the party to pity this character, not knowing about the psyon abilities. Also, since we have mentioned the Telepath and Wilder, which would be better for this, what do you all think would be best. I have in mind that this character was being tinkered with in her dreams by Eilistraee, setting some doubts about her world view, and then just before she was to be sent off to train as a priestess she manifests her powers and flees in turn. Does this sound alright? K. Seems plausable to me. :) I don't know the 3.5 Psi rules to well, so I am not much help on that end.
BrianCritchley 08-18-04, 12:09 AM	ok first off most pcs SHOULD shoot first if they see a drow. drow are worse then orcs in a LOT of people's minds. now then, you need to work out this NPCs motivations, frankly if you want a childlike NPC DON'T GO WITH A DROW. even a 25 year old drow is gonna be.... experianced in the ways of killing etc.
KayaSilveraSunstar 08-18-04, 12:19 AM	first off most pcs SHOULD shoot first if they see a drow. drow are worse then orcs in a LOT of people's minds. Thats why she is going to be cloaked and gloved. now then, you need to work out this NPCs motivations, frankly if you want a childlike NPC DON'T GO WITH A DROW. I dont really want a extremely childlike innocent, I want more of a weak and immature character. She is also going to be a bit insane, due to the dreams and the manifestation of the psys. K.
KaeYoss 08-18-04, 04:36 AM	Originally posted by BrianCritchley ok first off most pcs SHOULD shoot first if they see a drow. drow are worse then orcs in a LOT of people's minds. That doesn't mean that they are really worse, and a lot of people's minds aren't handy to determine the party's cause of action when they encounter one out in the wild. I might remind you that there are a substantial number of good drow, with their own goddess and all. Good orcs are unheard-of, and they have not deity to back them up, should they exist. Orcs are usually fairly stupid, not so far away from animals, while drow are smart as a rule, so the chance that they question their ways is higher than with orcs.
Zanan 08-18-04, 07:23 AM	Vendui! Kaya ... while there is nothin gwrong with her being young, do remember that PCs do not age as slowly during adventures as "normal people". For example, during my first Night Below campaign, my human paladin started at the age of 18. When we finished the campaign 9 month later, he was about 19 1/2 and had reached level 9 (AD&D). Any character of that group managed 8 to 11 levels during those 18 month in time play, whether he was an elf, a dwarf, human or halfling. Thus, if you set her at a very low age, you may end up with as powerful a character as Triel Baenre (Clr 20) over the course of two years of RPG, while the character in-time only aged about 4 years or so and would still be regarded a very young drow. Just as food for thought. Thus, If you place her around the 100 year mark, she will be just before adulthood.