Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Nat_20 03-07-07, 02:41 PM	I saw a build for one of these a while back but am making a new race for a game and was wondering what every one though, keep in mind its just the stats. medium size +2 DEX, -2 CON, +2 INT. They are naturally intelligent like there dark elf ancestry, as well as frail and quick like the elven race. Base land speed 30' Dark-vision 60' being born and raised on the surface they are accustomed to the light but have the natural dark-vision. If in Drow society, 120 ft dark-vision and light blindness. proficient with Rapier, Longsword, Shortsword and Short/Long Bow. Trained in swordplay and archery like there elven kin. If raise in Drow society (VERY unlikely) Rapier, Shortsword and Hand Crossbow. +2 to listen, search, and spot, and ability to detect secret doors like other elves. 1/day Spell like ability (Darkness) as cast by a Sorcerer of 1/2 class lvl. the natural spells born to Drow are limited in these elves. LVL ADJ: +1 Favored multiclass Ranger, prefer the solitude given when alone in the wilds. What do ya think?? Any tips?
Silversheen197 03-07-07, 04:20 PM	Looks pretty good. I know there's a half-drow in some campaign setting, but I believe that it is like a half-elf: half-human and half-drow, meaning that for a full elf that happens to be half-drow, this would work pretty darn well. One thing you might want to include is the elves' immunity to sleep, and their bonus against enchantments (I think you probably mean to add it, but forgot about it), and I might consider adding a "+2 bonus on all saves against spells and spell-like abilities," as a throwback to their drow ancestor's spell resistance. I'm pretty sure that they would still be LA +1 after that (of course, as I mention often, balancing races isn't really my forte).
Nat_20 03-07-07, 04:43 PM	Yeah i was gonna add that but forgot, but adding that will be a better way of adding the spell-resistance theme. so i will add an add +2 to all saving throws vs magic. thank you.
AMGriffin 03-07-07, 09:25 PM	Half-Drow Homebrew *+2 INT *Medium size 30 feet base landspeed *+2 on saves against sleep spells and mind effecting spells * SR 5+character levels * +1 on listen, search, and spot checks * Darkness 1/day *Darkvision out to 60 feet. * 1 extra feat at first level. * Drow and Human blood * LA+1 Everything else the same as half elf.
Silversheen197 03-07-07, 09:30 PM	He was going for half-elf/half-drow, not half-human half-drow. A.k.a. a full elf that happens to be half-drow. Beat you to it!
Nat_20 03-07-07, 09:30 PM	Keep in mind, im doing 1/2 High Elf and 1/2 Drow, now a simple human/elf half elf. Edit: He got to it first...
Rogue Shadows 03-08-07, 09:42 AM	My own build... As high elf, except as follows: - +2 Dex, -2 Con, +2 Intelligence. - Darkvision 60 feet. This replaces elven low-light vision. - +2 Will saves VS all spells. This replaces elven resistance to specifically enchantments. - Drow: For all effects related to race, a high elf/drow elf is considered to be a drow (and not any other type of elf). - Spell-like abilities: 1/day - faerie fire as a Sorcerer equal to the elf's character level The reason why they're considered to be drow, as opposed to some other race, is because I remember reading somewhere that a hybrid between some other elf race, and a drow, has a tendency to favor the drow side.
JarionSilverblades 03-08-07, 02:50 PM	I wonder if "Drow of the Underdark" will have anything like what your looking for? I have seen what your looking for in a Non-WOTC d20 book on the drow, I just can't remember what the book is called. Well, I'll try and find out.
Ebonyte 03-08-07, 03:11 PM	I don't have it, but I think Green Ronin had a book... Plot and Poison, maybe, that was about Drow. Might be there. Anyone know for sure?
Nat_20 03-08-07, 03:24 PM	Well i had a campaign use them and i let my players use this race and they were pretty fun, they lived on the surface and there three(two brothers and a sister) and a gnome... weird party, but anyway they lived in a village of Darklines(what they were called by high elves) and they helped save an elven village from an adult red dragon and the elves began a trading post in the Darkline village and formed an alliance. It was a good campaign in my opinion. If your looking for a cool loner race, these work well. or if you wanna be drow without the lvl 2 adj, bu i posted to see if there was anything bogus about them... thanks for the posts
JarionSilverblades 03-08-07, 07:13 PM	The book Iwas talking about is called, The Complete Guide to Drow, their called Drothir, it's put out by Goodman Games. I'd go with your take on half-elf/half-drow.
AMGriffin 03-08-07, 09:06 PM	I knew he was shooting for elf/drow crossbreed. But figured I'd post my human/drow crossbreed. My regular elf drow is basically the subrace of the non drow parent with +2 Intelligence (say for gray elves, who lose their strength penalty, and sun elves who gain a dexterity bonus) SR 5+character levels, and darkness 1/day, Darkvision out to 60 feet, +1 on all will saves against spells (which I forgot to add to my half-human drow) and LA+1.
JarionSilverblades 03-09-07, 06:04 PM	Here is what I've come up with and why. Half-Elf/Half-Drow HALF-ELF/HALF-DROW RACIAL TRAITS ● +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution. ● Medium. ● Base land speed is 30 feet. ● Darkvision 60ft. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight. ● Weapon proficiency: Automatically proficient with rapier, Short sword, longbow (including composite), and Shortbow (including composite). ● Immunity to sleep spells and similar magical effects, +2 racial bonus on saving throws against Enchantment spells and effects. ● +2 racial bonus on Search, Spot, and Listen checks. ● Spell-like abilities: 1/day, Dancing lights, and Darkness. Caster level equal to half class level (min 1). ● Spell-resistance equal to 5+class level. ● Light sensitivity. ● Elven Blood. ● Automatic Languages: Common, Elven, and Undercommon. Bonus Languages Abyssal, Draconic, Drow sign language, Gnome, and Goblin. ● Favored Class: Wizard. ● LA +1 Half-Elf/Half-Drow HALF-ELF/HALF-DROW RACIAL TRAITS ● +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution. ● Medium. ● Base land speed is 30 feet. Ability Adjustments: Both parent races have these in common. ● Darkvision 60ft. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight. Darkvision would replace Low-light vision, but is weaker then the Drow's Darkvision. ● Weapon proficiency: Automatically proficient with rapier, Short sword, longbow (including composite), and Shortbow (including composite). Just picked from both races. ● Immunity to sleep spells and similar magical effects, +2 racial bonus on saving throws against Enchantment spells and effects. ● +2 racial bonus on Search, Spot, and Listen checks. Again both parent races have these traits. ● Spell-like abilities: 1/day, Dancing lights, and Darkness. Caster level equal to half class level (min 1). ● Spell-resistance equal to 5+class level. From the drow parent, but weakened by the high elf blood. ● Light sensitivity. Weakened from Light Blindness.
Wolf72 03-09-07, 10:34 PM	He was going for half-elf/half-drow, not half-human half-drow. A.k.a. a full elf that happens to be half-drow. Beat you to it! here's my take on that: Drow CrossBreeds: • Drow-Elf crossbreeds [Drow dominant] use Drow ability modifiers and gain Drow special abilities. They do not gain SR or spell-like abilities [female +1 ECL]. • Elf-Drow crossbreeds [Elf dominant] use the Elfs special abilities but have darkvision instead of low-light vision.
Andyr 03-10-07, 11:01 AM	IIRC (at least in the Realms), elves born to elf parents of different subraces are always full-blooded members of one subrace, as opposed to having mixed characteristics. But I guess you could rule otherwise in your game. :)
Treymordin 03-13-07, 10:01 AM	Why would this race even be allowed to exist in either society?:rolleyes:
JarionSilverblades 03-13-07, 12:55 PM	Why would this race even be allowed to exist in either society?:rolleyes: Why wouldn't it be allowed? It really comes down to the Campaign world. I've played in a Home-brewed World where Grey Dwarves and Hill Dwarves lived in peaceful coexistence. My own Home-brewed World has a PC race called, Orc-elves,care to guest what they are. Their the offspring of a Orc and an Elf, it all comes down to what the story is, maybe in the world these "High Drow" exist in, the Drow and High elves aren't enemies, but not the greatest of allies either.
Segan 03-13-07, 12:56 PM	Why would this race even be allowed to exist in either society?:rolleyes: Why would Half-orcs be allowed to exist in an orc-society?
Treymordin 03-13-07, 01:21 PM	From the Complete Book of Elves p. 12 Although we continue to war with the Drow, the cause of that war is far more than the color ofd the skin or their beliefs. It is the fact that their very existence is an affront to ours, that they were created by perversions within our own race. Our war is nothing less that sublime effort to undo an error made hundred of centuries ago. That is why.
JarionSilverblades 03-13-07, 04:28 PM	From the Complete Book of Elves p. 12 Although we continue to war with the Drow, the cause of that war is far more than the color ofd the skin or their beliefs. It is the fact that their very existence is an affront to ours, that they were created by perversions within our own race. Our war is nothing less that sublime effort to undo an error made hundred of centuries ago. That is why. So you quote an entry from a single book, designed with the standard Drow/Elf history in mind. What I'd like to know is, where does it say in any book ever, "NO DM MAY EVER HAVE A WORLD, HOME-BREWED OR OTHER WISE, WERE DROW AND HIGH ELVES ARE NOT HATED ENIMIES, AND NEVER WILL A HALF-BREED CHILD BE BORN FROM THEIR UNION!".
AMGriffin 03-13-07, 04:47 PM	Even in the traditional campaign like forgotten realms it's still not unplausible that a half-drow elf raised among elves would be spared and raised by their elven relatives, albeit despised and hated his/her entire life. Among drow that kid may not have the best of odds however.
Treymordin 03-13-07, 06:37 PM	So you quote an entry from a single book, designed with the standard Drow/Elf history in mind. What I'd like to know is, where does it say in any book ever, "NO DM MAY EVER HAVE A WORLD, HOME-BREWED OR OTHER WISE, WERE DROW AND HIGH ELVES ARE NOT HATED ENIMIES, AND NEVER WILL A HALF-BREED CHILD BE BORN FROM THEIR UNION!". There is no need to get angry. If you don't like it just ignore it rather than throwing a tantrum.
Treymordin 03-13-07, 06:38 PM	Even in the traditional campaign like forgotten realms it's still not unplausible that a half-drow elf raised among elves would be spared and raised by their elven relatives, albeit despised and hated his/her entire life. Among drow that kid may not have the best of odds however. Well the Realms are not known for their status quo. I mean, look at a "good" drow that survives into adulthood and then takes down the Matron of the 1st House.:rolleyes:
Nat_20 03-13-07, 07:00 PM	In a campaign my friend ran, i played one of these guys and a made a good back story, There was an elven village, one night it was attacked by drow, many were slaughtered, but the drow raiding party was a group of house-less males, an kept some of the high elf female as slaves. the leader name Kerikas had some female servants and would have his way with them (taking out his hatred for the females of his race that exiled his group) Well one of the females escaped and made her way to an elven village, some 20 miles away from the cave hideout of the drow. once there she told the villagers of the drow and of there horrible actions. Soon they formed a squad and fought the group of drow. Some time later the elven maiden gave birth to a half born child. At first many wanted it dead, but the maiden convinced the elders of the village to let her raise the child. Though he was looked down upon growing up, Cevik Iz'Dale became a skilled warrior and became a respected member of the community. To this day he was one of my favorite characters to play. It really comes down to the DM. If a player role plays it well and has fun, i allow most stuff.
Treymordin 03-13-07, 07:15 PM	He would have made a great ranger/ancestral avenger!
Nat_20 03-13-07, 07:25 PM	He acually was a 4th lvl Sorcerer/ 4th lvl fighter/ 2nd lvl Arcane Archer pretty fun role play though, a drow was an arcane archer...
Hammerclaw 03-13-07, 07:56 PM	In the 1st edition module, D3 Vault of the Drow, the city of Erelhei-Cinlu, inside the vault, was said to have half-drow of both varieties in the slums of the city (i.e. half-human/half-drow and half-elf/half-drow) At the time of the modules first introduction, playing drow as player characters was unknown until Unearthed Arcana came along. In the module, these half-drow were described so DMs could use them as NPC. They had all the abilities of a standard Half-Elf or standard surface elf plus light sensativity. No benefits were gained from their drow blood. Correction: The module actually doesn't mention these half-breeds abilities, only to specify their spell resistance as if that was their only drow quality. In the later Unearthed Arcana, half-human/half-drow are described as the same as half-elves, but having light sensitivity added on. During 2nd edition, dragon magazine introduced a race of half-wood elf/half-drow that piloted blimp like air ships maintained by trained spiders. These half-breeds were specially breed to withstand sunlight, at the cost of their spell-like abilities. They eventually broke away from the drow allies to forge their own evil agenda. Some enchanters of this half-breed race could re-awaken their drow spell-like abilities at the cost of access to some schools of magic by adopting a 'kit'. Kits were special professional or cultural modification to a character's class. More like a template for classes then specialty classes of 3rd edition. With these as precedents, I would describe half-elf/half-drow, skipping half-human/half-drow since Forgotten Realms already covered them, as having the same racial characteristics of the surface elf parent, but replacing low-light vision with Dark Vision 60ft and adding Light Blindness. Most likely, these half-breeds would be like the those drow encountered in the slums of Erelhei-Cinlu. The result of low class drow availing themselves of elven slaves in drow bordelloes. In which case I would give them the Drow Weapon Profiency racial trait over the the standard elf weapon proficiency trait. Further for automatic languages I would give them Common, Elven, and Undercommon, with Drow Sign Language, Gnome, and Goblin as bonus languages. Favored Class would be Rogue. This sets them up at a disadvantage, but wait there is more. For the unlikely coupling of a good drow having a child with a surface elf, as drow that raid the surface with probably kill any elf they left on the surface if they didn't drag them to the underdark as slaves, I would make the elves the same as above, but give them the surface elf parent's racial weapon proficiencies, bonus languages, and favored class. Darkvision and Light Blindness still in effect. I would then create two racial feats: Child of the Light and Child of the Drow. Each can be taken any time, but taking one precludes taking the other. Child of the Light would eliminate the Light Blindness penalty and grant Spell-like abilities once per day of dancing lights, continual flame, and Faerie Fire. This balances out their having to take a feat to eliminate their penalty with a flavorful adaptation of their innate magical ability from their drow blood. Child of the Drow boosts Darkvision to 120ft and grants the standard drow spell-like abilities. If I were to introduce those specially breed half-wood elf/half-drow, I would give them standard wood elf racial traits, but trade normal elf weapon proficiencies for drow racial weapon proficiencies eliminate undercommon from their automatic language list and trade Auran for Aquan in the bonus languages. (Aquan? Do Drow really know aquan or is that a typo in the SRD?) I would create a Drow Heritage feat that granted the standard drow spell-like ability that they could take with a prerequisite of will save of +3. Finally same favored class as drow. Enough babbling. Just some ideas to throw around.
Treymordin 03-13-07, 10:36 PM	Something to ponder.
TheShadowsRedemption 08-09-07, 02:54 PM	I will say myself that I am fairly liberal on my views in regards to subraces, though as emphasised by some purists, it is something I believe should be given care, as well. Some things I would do when addressing this subrace, though, depending on setting, is giving attention to detail in regards to the circumstances. I am not saying drow are above any vile actions that would cause this subrace to be made, but there are a few things to ask yourself. There are some things that I would have to side with Treymordin on, just to be fair...in regards to questioning the possibility of this being done. (DISCLAIMER: I do not promote the actions implied or noted, but simply make implications to tame the discussion and to note the vile nature of drow.) 1) According to traditional elves in most settings (mostly Forgotten Realms), elves have far more sensitive minds than humans. If anything, any tragedy that would cause the creation of this half-drow race would likely make the elf either: one, become bleak and bitter, an instrument of vengeance well worthy of following Sheverash against drow and/or anyone who would simply insult a woman; die from grief because they live a life that is against their will, against the personal freedom that elves tend to enjoy. This would mean any pregnancy on the female surface elven victim would be aborted, regardless of whether or not she believes her child to have redeemable qualities. Elves strong enough to endure this memory for ages are likely few in numbers. 2) While I do not doubt that drow are not above inherently cruel actions toward elves for long periods of time (or the rest of that elf's life) as opposed to sacrificng them on sight, would the drow society in this particular setting want half-breeds made? Ed Greenwood specifies in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2.0 Book, Drow of the Underdark, that as a general rule drow want to kill (or eventually exterminate) surface elves, but I do understand that the drow culture is so Chaotic-Evil that each province works in different ways and that generalities are but guidelines or common conceptions/ideals, and a step or two from those generalities are permissable, even in Lolthian drow provinces... To give an example, it is common that defeated drow houses are enslaved by the ones who win the house-warring, but a few drow provinces will not enslave defeated drow houses as a custom, but sacrifice them on the spot, something that Lolth enjoys as much as surface elven sacrifices (and some days, even more since she is a twisted deity who wants strong worshipers). So I can see some drow promoting surface elven slavery, though as a rule you would have to figure out "what uses" surface elves are - they are a longlived race, but they also are less able to produce compared to short-lived humanoids like goblins and orcs, which make a massive part of the slave populace...rarely do drow treat slaves special, as quoted in various source material: "Slaves are just another pair of hands to the drow", roughly quoted. I heard that..."hedonistic" uses are promoted in certain drow cities somewhere, but do not hold me to it. You also need to figure out how the drow can keep the elves from committing suicide or dying from grief while keeping in mind the quasi-realism of how rare or non-rare those methods are able to be exhibited, if that makes any sense..like in the case of hold type spells or mind control spells. Also, you have to consider where this particular subrace is most common. If you are using the Forgotten Realms, I would say this is the most common in Vhaerun philosophy-based drow provinces, since most Vhaerunites do anything to irk the female Lolthian drow populace...not excluding the idea of seducing surface elves or working closely with evil surface elves. Another place would likely be where the followers of Eilistraee meet, for some of her followers are surface elves...but these should be considerably rare, since roughly only 15% of drow are good and the majority of elves still consider drow inherently evil. 3) Finally, are drow and elves different, physiologically and culturally in your setting? I am not saying that any of these ideas are impossible in the more traditional and canon societies, just giving some things to ponder on; otherwise, I would only have the template for your particular roleplay group, since players are always going to be the exceptions and their characters are only .1% of the world populace. There are many people out there who are averse to this idea (though some are just plain uncomfortable with the cruelty drow are capable of exhibiting toward their enemies) and will probably call you on it. I introduced the drothir template to an elf-purist, as I call them, and they went on a long rant about how drow and elves are now turned into carnal objects in the Dungeons & Dragons world. I am not saying you are one of these people who "contribute" to that, but there are some people out there who would be opinionated enough to tell you that. Here is where I show my more liberal side... In my setting, I am guilty of having the drothir, below is my explanation... The drow in my setting adhere loosely to 2nd edition rules in regards to weaknesses, on top of the already established light-sensitivity weakness: their equipment crumbles to dust in daylight, encouraging the pillaging of villages of surface races for equipment that do not have that effect; it makes drow less wanting to go out in the surface since I make surface-adaptation cost some magic resistance. I did not want to torture any drow players or non-player characters, but have a quasi-realistic reason as to why they would want a hybrid caste (that is barely better than a slave, lower than a male in general in my version of drow society) and that is to raid the surface during the day and as to why you do not see too many drow dwelling on the surface in the setting. This hybrid caste more or less takes on the drothir template, and they lack the light-sensitivity...so they are useful (and disposable) to the drow in the setting. Also, the ones who are behind these experiments making the hybrids are mostly male drow mages and a very few female drow priestesses who have the magics to keep slaves from doing something drastic like dying from grief or trying to commit suicide, since I want to keep some of the integrity of the elven mindset in my setting. But even these drow, despite their practices, are not stupid - I have adopted the idea of sacrificing excessive drow and weaklings or practising cannibalism on them in my drow society; the drow in my setting do not want the numbers of the half-breeds or even their own to exceed to where it is out of control as they are more or less, crudely put, control-freaks and want to keep people under a tight grip and not where they have power in numbers - this makes the rarity of the male drow dominated patriarch provinces and the small communities of the half-breeds in my setting (I will not bother to detail them in my descriptors, I will keep those a mystery and left to the players to work on due to their rarity). Drow are not fools and are not bound by ethos as a general rule. The deity in my setting commonly worshiped by drow has a customised domain I call the Malice domain, which includes some spells found in the Vile Darkness' Pain domain. So, the few higher leveled priestesses can keep their slaves in line to make the experiments functional and while drow are not as common as humans, they still, even the pure-bloods, outnumber the elves in my setting by far. The hybrid race is also made from a race I made descended from the race that elves descended from, which are a Lawful-Good counterpart that are like the irda from Dragonlance in mindset (and are sometimes sold as slaves in some places). I ruled that this race, the drow, and the elves naturally only produce one or the other, and no mix-breed - but the drow mages and drow priestesses behind the hybrid experiments found magical means to break this rule. Do not feel discouraged by this long post. I am just, despite the ranting and longwinded post, trying to give details to consider. >.<
Imreallyagreatredwyrm 08-11-07, 01:56 PM	Well the Realms are not known for their status quo. I mean, look at a "good" drow that survives into adulthood and then takes down the Matron of the 1st House.:rolleyes:Actually, Drizzt didn't kill Baenre, Bruenor did.