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I was thinking of making a Drow as my alternative characters. However, playing a male is going to be hard - because I hate being treated like a dog OOC or IC. I can't even play female, because I don't like being dominant above others. In some RP I do, but with Drow - especially Lolthite - the RP tends to be a bit.. degrading. I'm sure aside of that the RP of Drow can and will be great.

I just want to know some canon lore about them and research my way into playing Drow properly. Not a surface drow, but an actual UD Drow. I'm sure the Drow community would love to have an additional Drow down there to keep them company.

I want to know, what are the class possibilties, ranks, titels, alignments and deities that Drow worship next to Lolth? A few resources would be gladly appreciated. I can do a quick Google search on Drow Wiki or Faerûn/DnD Wiki on Drow - but it can be quite limited.

If everything is available ingame, then disregard most of what I said and hopefully the folk in the Underdark wouldn't give me a hard time playing my frist serious Drow. I have to be honest.. I tried once, but failed.. just because of what I said in the first paragraph.

There's a bunch of OOC lorebooks about how to play a UD drow correctly in the Ultrinnan Library, I believe.

Gers wrote:

There's a bunch of OOC lorebooks about how to play a UD drow correctly in the Ultrinnan Library, I believe.

Correctomundo! There's a book that gives drow to english translations of the most commonly used drow terms (even though you don't have to use them, it's still a nice little bit of dramatic flair, IMO) and another that gives a translation of what all the titles mean in drow society... and if I'm not mistaken there are a few that give a pretty decent summation of how drow act, why they act that way, etc.

Also, we drowsies are actually pretty nice and we won't be too hard on you when you're trying to get the hang of everything. We'll also be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

Gers: not quite true, there isn't a bunch, just a few. and I personally also would like to have the drow books in the library, the ones on vhearaun and Eilistraee also in the temple. So much fun reading those books

anyways, it would be good to give you some help. But you have to select a catagory that your charachter would belong in, ie warrior, bard, mage, spy. That makes it alot easier to figure things out. I recommend you looking at the drow link thread, and perticularly this site. It can help you out alot.

It is not hard playing a male, and even though I shall hear from others, perticularly Soundofastream, I recomend against playing a heretic, for your first drow charachter. Why? because hersey is punishable by death in ultrinnnan, and thus can be hard to deal with.

As for gods, there are three deities one can worship openly. Lolth who is above all else. Selvetarm, her chosen male, the god of warriors and slaughter. Kiransalee, the drow goddess of undead. You can worship each of them, but Lolth is above all else.

ranking is a bit tricky, diffrent sources say diffrent things. All a male needs to do is bow to other females in the city. The key to playing a male is to get in the graces of a powerful female, make it so that she can use you to further her plots, thus keeping you alive. Houses often do this too. Some drow yath, are more willing to say value the word of a useful and loyal male then another female, often because the female is her competor. So basicly the key is to make yourself useful. It really is not that hard.

Anymore questions? I do not mind answering them, I in fact enjoy doing so.

rolto wrote:

If everything is available ingame, then disregard most of what I said and hopefully the folk in the Underdark wouldn't give me a hard time playing my frist serious Drow. I have to be honest.. I tried once, but failed.. just because of what I said in the first paragraph.

Nah, the folks down here are pretty nice to newbies and will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have during play. Just be sure to tell people you're new when you're playing

*jumps with joy and confettis the newbie* Come one, come all!

My first and only rule: No cuddling allowed.
Other than that, there's not much to it, really. The stickies in the Ultrinnan forum is worth a peek. If you make a male drow who doesn't really stand out much, I doubt that you'll have much trouble with degrading rp, but if he were to slip up, my only advise is to roll with the punches. Have fun!

We're the greatest and most welcoming community *firm nod*

Ic'ly it may appear degrading; But playing males in a society were females should have the power is quite amusing, actually. Gaining your power through RP.

And on an ooc'ly level, we embrace all.

Gers wrote:

There's a bunch of OOC lorebooks about how to play a UD drow correctly in the Ultrinnan Library, I believe.

I completely forgot about that actually. *facepalms* Thanks. That'll help a great deal.

herkles wrote:

As for gods, there are three deities one can worship openly. Lolth who is above all else. Selvetarm, her chosen male, the god of warriors and slaughter. Kiransalee, the drow goddess of undead. You can worship each of them, but Lolth is above all else.

I have a question for you about that, especially about Kiransalee, the drow godess of undead. Does that mean I can play a male/female wizard that is specialized in Necromancy (and/ or Palemaster)?

Thanks for the response, I'll check the site out as well.

Dark Faith wrote:

Nah, the folks down here are pretty nice to newbies and will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have during play. Just be sure to tell people you're new when you're playing

That's good to know. I'll be sure to send the person I meet at first, that this is my first atempt to a serious Drow.

A question to no one in particular:

By the way, what are Driders precisely? Is it some mutation/ritual or are they born that way? Just curious about their 'purpose'.

Driders are the remains of drow who failed the test for loyalty Lloth demands of any drow who passes like 6th level. The failing drow is divinely mutated, and kicked out of drow society, not outright killed. That's most likely because it's a more cruel torment for the now outcast and forsaken drider. Regular drow sometimes hunt them for sport.

Signe Johanne wrote:

*jumps with joy and confettis the newbie* Come one, come all!

My first and only rule: No cuddling allowed.
Other than that, there's not much to it, really. The stickies in the Ultrinnan forum is worth a peek. If you make a male drow who doesn't really stand out much, I doubt that you'll have much trouble with degrading rp, but if he were to slip up, my only advise is to roll with the punches. Have fun!

That made me chuckle.. hehe.. I'll try to see what kind of feel I want my character to have before I roll him/her. Most likely it'll be him.. *scratches head*

It's not necessarily degrading - It's hard for me as a human being to set aside certain emotions like acting all submissive or even commanding with a spice of fiesty PMS attitude the Drow female have. No offense to the ladies of course.

:lol:

Gers wrote:

Driders are the remains of drow who failed the test for loyalty Lloth demands of any drow who passes like 6th level. The failing drow is divinely mutated, and kicked out of drow society, not outright killed. That's most likely because it's a more cruel torment for the now outcast and forsaken drider. Regular drow sometimes hunt them for sport.

And I thought it was an upgrade..

rolto wrote:

It's not necessarily degrading - It's hard for me as a human being to set aside certain emotions like acting all submissive or even commanding with a spice of fiesty PMS attitude the Drow female have. No offense to the ladies of course.

:lol:

You'd be suprised.
Drow are actually; And it's the most kept secret...
...Good natured black elves packed in box that's painted black.

My turn. Pay no attention to them, Llothites are the heretics! haha! Unfortunately/fortunately, depending on how you see it, they're also the most numerous as people are familiar with Menzoberranzan in the Drizzt books and novels and even NWN solo game.

Yups, the llothites are a friendly bunch ooc but as a male you will be constantly told to suck spider eggs. Such is the life of the lowly male. If you want, after a while, you can probably get fed up with it IC (once you've got the hang of things) and come to the darker side of life (Ghaunadaur, Vhaeraun, etc) where males don't -have- to suck eggs, except to their superiors (whoever is higher in rank).

Basically, doesn't matter which Underdark Drow you choose, Lloth or the others, you're going to have to suck up to somebody. That's just the way things are...and even if you make it to the top of the pile, you then have a constant fight on your hands to stay there...

I'd now say "Bullsh*t"

Last edited by Acrid on Wed, Apr 15 2009, 17:30 PM, edited 1 time in total.

Gondor wrote:

I'd now say "Bullsh*t"

totaly agree, because of that
-->

Gondor wrote:

We're the greatest and most welcoming community *firm nod*

Ic'ly it may appear degrading; But playing males in a society were females should have the power is quite amusing, actually. Gaining your power through RP.

And on an ooc'ly level, we embrace all.

Now for exemple, make a pure mage and see how bad the other treat you >8-)

rolto wrote:

Gers wrote:

Driders are the remains of drow who failed the test for loyalty Lloth demands of any drow who passes like 6th level. The failing drow is divinely mutated, and kicked out of drow society, not outright killed. That's most likely because it's a more cruel torment for the now outcast and forsaken drider. Regular drow sometimes hunt them for sport.

And I thought it was an upgrade..

The Chwidridera (chwee-dri-DERA), or
the Test of the Drider, is the most infamous
of the Punishments of Lolth. It is
known outside of drow society, mainly
because those who fail the test are
transformed into the foul creatures
known as driders. At this point, the drow
has shown a high amount of aspiration,
backstabbing, and conniving as she
advances up the social ladder, but she
walks a fine line between the “healthy”
arrogance of a normal drow and megalomania,
thinking that she is immune to
her dark goddess’s wrath.

When this aspect of the Lolthtanchwi
begins, the drow has disturbing visions
of her body being consumed from the
inside by a mass of spiders. In a manner
uncharacteristic for a drow, the zwy’il
begins to avoid and fear spiders.
Considering the amount of spiders and
spider imagery that abounds in the cities
of the drow, the zwy’il must confront
this fear almost every waking second.

Her paranoia increases, and she
becomes convinced that every spider is
waiting to sink its venomous fangs into
her flesh. If the zwy’il can manage to
overcome this irrational behavior, the
fear abates, and her usual respect and
admiration for spiders returns.

Those who fail this test do so by
fleeing their community. Once this has
happened, the zwy’il knows her fate is
sealed. She is filled with an overwhelming
sense of dread and foreboding, as the visions of the spiders eating her
alive fill her mind in their horrible
vividness.

Nothing happens until the next time
she rests. The visions return with a
terrible intensity, and a single miniscule
red spider appears and crawls
into the zwy’il’s mouth. Once the spider
is inside, the drow goes through a
grotesque and traumatic transformation
during which she turns into a
drider (see the Monster Manual).

If horrified onlookers do not kill the
drider, it flees into the Underdark, knowing
that it can never return. Drow
despise driders, recognizing that they
are failures in the eyes of Lolth, and will
do anything to see them destroyed. The
drider’s mind is twisted by the transformation,
filled with an incredible hatred
for the race to which it once belonged.
Drow clerics tell that Lolth revels in this
animosity and the chaos that is sown
from the creation of one of these aberrations.

The Chwidridera occurs when a
drow has gained enough experience to
advance to 6th level.

necromancy is allowed yup, nothing wrong with necromancy or palemastery. After all if it is a power that can assist them, the drow take it. they are evil normally after all, and power like this is something that can help them. the bone arm thing is a bit more tricky, most drow would hide it, Not because they would be killed for it, but because it alerts their foes to thier own skills

as for driders, gers summed it up the best. they are outcasts of drow society, hated and often hunted for sport.

It's a drow n00b!?

...

Welcome!

We have poisoned dagger shaped cookies. I see that Signe has already sprinkled you with our customary razor sharp confetti, that's good.

Unless of course you can pull of the masterful ...exiled and most definetly ex noble and slowly sleep your way to the top over time.

The first rule with being a male is put your pride to one side, service is the key to success. You need to put your own wants and needs on hold and just think what the jalil want.

Dont assume ... dont make to much noise, make friends and tread softly, speak to other males who know a thing or two. Oh and find a nole house who players fit your time frame nicely as well and be sure to make friends with them very quickly.

I just summerized some triats of Drow from that linky.. my, what an portfolio. Everyone, be happy this is not one of your neighbours.

Drow personality:
Sadistic, arrogant, cruel, destructive, hedonistic, treacherous, scheming, backstabbing, trust no one, no compassion, no kindness, no love, little friendship, secretly value family, suspect overly, paranoid, murderous, no personal loyalty, proud, stylish, curteous, urbane, deadly, physical beauty, slay deformed offspring.

The only thing I'd warm you to keep an eye out for is the people who go overboard. I haven't played a drow in years, so I don't know who it would be, anymore, but I remember quite a few incidents when I did play that were just ridiculous. Try to stay above those, I guess, and tell Signe about them, so she can ban people, or hug you, or I don't know. Do whatever Norwegians do. Tranny works, too.

herkles wrote:

necromancy is allowed yup, nothing wrong with necromancy or palemastery. After all if it is a power that can assist them, the drow take it. they are evil normally after all, and power like this is something that can help them. the bone arm thing is a bit more tricky, most drow would hide it, Not because they would be killed for it, but because it alerts their foes to thier own skills

as for driders, gers summed it up the best. they are outcasts of drow society, hated and often hunted for sport.

That doesn't sound like a bright future for that then.. or at least Palemaster. Necromancy alone would be stupid, espcially on Amia where you can just have all the spells you can get your hands on.

So I'll still have to think about the class at least. I'm going to at least try the male drow aspect of the RP - maybe it's not so bad after all

Reply to Carter: I'm sure it'll be alright. I'll make sure to express my opinion whenever I feel uncomfortable with anything.

if you really put some effort into it, its possible to play a male who isnt treated like a dog at all, and in all actuality looks down on many females and gets away with it. Its all in how you play the cards dealt to you. What you really need is allies in high places.

Be curteous, bow and be sueful and you will live a long prosperous jaluken life, you can even get into the spiderguard.

Also, I got a Drow sorceress specializing in Necromancy. No one frowns upon it. at least I never saw anyone doing so, and yep, we are a bunch of friebndlies, most friendly and welcoming you will most probably find anywhere on Amia. Well, safe for the banites, but they rank only second after us!

Zanthair wrote:

if you really put some effort into it, its possible to play a male who isnt treated like a dog at all, and in all actuality looks down on many females and gets away with it. Its all in how you play the cards dealt to you. What you really need is allies in high places.

That's the spirit.

You'll do just fine with it. I'm naturally dominant OOC, but quite content playing a male Drow, albeit it does take a little getting used to when following female orders.

Be respectful to the women when they're around.. And when it's simply males around (that you can trust and know they won't rat you out) then you can say whatever you feel like about any of them.

Lascivar wrote:

Be respectful to the women when they're around.. And when it's simply males around (that you can trust and know they won't rat you out) then you can say whatever you feel like about any of them.

Until you realise it was a hight ranking one and get a contract over your head.

Acrid wrote:

Until you realise it was a hight ranking one and get a contract over your head.

As I said.. Ones that you trust. Lascivar had -a lot- of males who were considered close allies and people he could say anything to, knowing anything he said would stay quiet.

Oh, didnt red that () sentence sorry (between writting an essay and reading forum >.<).

I guess you found some pretty awsome dudes. My 2 drows never ever think of trusting, as it make them weak in a sort of way.

Signe Johanne wrote:

*jumps with joy and confettis the newbie* Come one, come all!

My first and only rule: No cuddling allowed.

*cuddles the Signe*

I GET TO BREAK ALL THE RULES.
That aside, welcome. I'll try and stab you in the back sometime if I see you round.

Say what you want about Drow being evil, but dont ever worry about OOC cruelty. In my experiences, I've met some of the nicest players among the UD Drow. When you're spotted down there, its "Party Invite -> "Hey, how you doin? Great!".

You'd be surprised. Anyway, just go for it mate. Hah, I just made a new UD drow, trying some things out. SO you'd have a newb companion.

OOC evil drow are some of the nicest players i've met on amia. I play a few of them as well both male & female it's unique and fun and you don't have to be overly submissive or overly bishy in either form it all depends on your style for your character as well. I mean I even played a rogue drow that was a bumbling fool of a trap master. Everyone thought him a complete idiot but he didn't suffer and in truth that was his disguise. It's easier to slip a dagger in someone's ribs when they don't think you capable of such a feat.

regardless, if you wanna set something up send me a PM.

Isen has taken lowbies out on patrols before, to watch how they've progressed. Of course, sometimes this means they get no gold or xp, but occasionally a DC will drop in and a special random event from a DM will bring occur, and xp will be granted depending on what happens.

As far as males go, isen is pretty arrogant, but will consider talent when he sees it. Unless you are a rogue. then he will have nothing to do with you. misguided sense of honor, and IC hatred of dancers, rogues, and thieves.

And noone ever said you can't hate and plot against the females, you know... Just don't be the one who whacks them yourself, and you're fine. My male char hated his mother to pieces.. until she died. Mwhahahahahahhahahahaa (Err, not his doing, though)

godspeed to you. its a pretty diverse group, just lay low and youll do just fine.

You can always make a masochist male too. Afterall, if males don't get what they like, they learn to like what they get? >.>

This advice doesn't really apply to Drow but it applies to all Underdark races.

* The underdark is a cut-throat world where survival comes first. It's kill or be killed so make sure your character is mindful of that.

* Be ambitious to your heart's desire! Lolth loves it (as well as most other underdark deities) and it makes good role play.

* The Drow have a singleminded sense of superiority over other races, particularly the females, and they are the unquestioned power of the Underdark on Amia based on numbers of active PCs alone. If you're not a Drow, be prepared to be looked down upon. (Well... they try. Unfortunately a Drow will never be able to look down upon an Orog

)

* Don't feed the Orogs.

Galenson wrote:

(Well... they try. Unfortunately a Drow will never be able to look down upon an Orog

)

I believe you have never heard of a step-ladder before.
Those should be readily available to allow females to get above monstrous races.

rolto wrote:

I was thinking of making a Drow as my alternative characters. However, playing a male is going to be hard - because I hate being treated like a dog OOC or IC. I can't even play female, because I don't like being dominant above others. In some RP I do, but with Drow - especially Lolthite - the RP tends to be a bit.. degrading. I'm sure aside of that the RP of Drow can and will be great.

Hmm, you can try other religions to Llothite.
Apart from that, you should never be treated like a dog OOCly - we are usually a rather friendly group on an OOC level to guide new people.

Yurell wrote:

Hmm, you can try other religions to Llothite.
Apart from that, you should never be treated like a dog OOCly - we are usually a rather friendly group on an OOC level to guide new people.

Very true.. I recall when I was back playing my Drow that there was always a considerably large amount of us in a group, even if it wasn't IC, we'd just ramble on to eachother (and bug the DMs because they could see every word of it) which was always fun.

And an important thing - if you are unsure, and think you character should know, ask in a tell. If you shouldn't already know, the worst that will happen is you will be told to find out ICly.
If you should know, you have just saved yourself a lot of heartache - chances are you'll be invited into the drow party immediately, ad so will have plenty of reference sources with varying playing styles, all willing to help.

My best drow advice and don't feel like you lose if you are beaten up on. And don't expect to be on the surface and always be accepted. Lots of drow I meet got confused when people were negative towards them, you are a a bad guy.

Drow

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