I once read this blog post about drow characters. One of the things it said was basically, "It's kinda hard to explain why your drow character is not evil, especially if you're playing a girl, so maybe you'd want to go with a half-drow for more plausibility." The thing is. . . assuming I want my character's backstory to be PG-13, I can't find a way to explain why in the world my half drow character would be in any way not a total scumbag. I mean, the only kind of human/whatever other race who would be willing to put up with a drow to the point where she'd have/he'd father the drow's child is if the person in question was a horrible person collaborating with the drow. (Or in the case of a nondrow father, not at all planning to stick around. And also probably outside my stated ratings restrictions.) So why that would make it possible for a half drow to be  a more likely good character than a pureblood drow? If anything, wouldn't it make them less likely to be not evil, because if they have their human parent standing around being just as awful as the drow parent, they probably will get the impression that the whole world is this way really hammered in. So far, my one drow character has her "unaligned" alignment explained by her one day overhearing some eladrin talking about her people, realizing they were saying the same things about her that she said about them, and realizing that she could prove none of the slurs against the eladrin but that she knew firsthand that the ones against the drow were true. A half drow wouldn't even have that .

Drow aren't born evil, at least in modern lore. Most are evil due to the conditions in which they are raised- to hate surfacers, torture and enslave. But a full-blood drow has just as much capacity for good as a human, they just need to learn it. 

Everybody can be a special Drow snowflake nowadays.

Make whatever character you want, race, class, whatever. As long as the GM says ok, you're good to go.

who's to say half hte half elves aren't half drow?

[REDACTED]

So, in that spirit, I just have to say that the point of a half-drow character is the same as the point for every other character.

If you want to play it, go for it.  It's your fantasy, and you can do what you want with it, as long as your DM approves.

;)

It's a thing in a game (an imaginary one at that) that some folk find appealing. Asking what's the point is like asking what's the point of having blue d20s. Some people just like it.

Now, if you hash through mechanical bits, you might have a more concrete answer. Half-elf - in my opinion - are mechanically more preferable than elves. If you took the old school drow (3.0-3.5?) and said that half-drow have all the benefits but don't have the level adjustment (because their only 1/2) then you see the point. Otherwise, as said, the point is - some folk don't want to be all of a thing.

They are official content:

Drow Half-Elf

Some half-elves in Faerûn have a racial trait in place of the Skill Versatility trait. If your DM allows it, your half-elf character can forgo Skill Versatility and instead take the elf trait Keen Senses or a trait based on your elf parentage.

Drow Magic

A half-elf of drow descent can forgo Skill Versatility and instead choose the drow’s Drow Magic:

You know the dancing lights cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the faerie fire spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the darkness spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

[REDACTED] More PG-13 would be abandonment. More palatable altogether is the drow parent being outcast, either voluntary or through banishment. Not having had a typical drow upbringing makes not being evil as plausible for half-drow as for anyone else. Half-drow being a respected member of drow society is next to impossible so I suppose that such an unfortunate being, should they be able to escape the Underdark, might not want to have anything to do with the normal ways of the drow.

Why couldn’t it have been “wuv, twue wuv, was what bwought them... togeva” instead?

Drow society in your game is how you make it. Look at the Kryn Dynasty from Explorer's Guide to Wildemount for an alternate take on drow society.

Quote from IamSposta >>

Why couldn’t it have been “wuv, twue wuv, was what bwought them... togeva” instead?

 I agree. Who's to say that either one of those parents could have gotten fed up with Drow Culture after hearing stories from one of their captives. Or maybe the drow parent decided to visit the overworld one day and met the other, forgoing all racial prejudice? I'm in favor of the "play what you want, how you want it. Just check with the DM" side of this discussion.  

The Dragonlance chronicles are I'd say PG-13 and not a Drow, but Tanis Half-Elven I think gives the stock archetype of half-elf not conceived out of love.  

Or "magic".  Maybe some permutation of Drow and Human wizards (maybe one subjecting the other) tried to master life and death by fusing the essences of humanity and Drow producing your half Drow character.  Basically Anakin Skywalker but with Drow and Humans instead of Sith Lords.  Might be terrain to actually explore in the campaign or may be just a "shrug" and move on from that backstory.

Between those two positions on beyond both are plenty more possibilities.  The cool thing about fantasy and fiction in general is that it's not that hard to take something that "doesn't make sense" and not only make it make sense, but also give it deeper meaning.  It's part of why the game's fun.

Quote from MidnightPlat >>

Or "magic".  Maybe some permutation of Drow and Human wizards (maybe one subjecting the other) tried to master life and death by fusing the essences of humanity and Drow producing your half Drow character.  Basically Anakin Skywalker but with Drow and Humans instead of Sith Lords.  Might be terrain to actually explore in the campaign or may be just a "shrug" and move on from that backstory.

Drow wizard was making a clone of himself, but someone polluted his flesh sample wit human blood and the spell went awry creating a new creature that immediately get assigned its own soul instead of waiting for the wizard to die and take his. Not the one to waste anything, wizard raised you as his pet/lab assistant/emergency organ donor.

There's also a Chaotic Good Drow goddess in Eilistraee with tens of thousands of followers on the surface, so plenty of potential for non-evil Half-Drow there.

You could always go for the simple foundling. A group of adventures found you in the dark caves at a cave in your parents presumed under the rubble. Taken up to the surface to grow up.  

Quote from Mezmerro >>

Quote from MidnightPlat >>

Or "magic".  Maybe some permutation of Drow and Human wizards (maybe one subjecting the other) tried to master life and death by fusing the essences of humanity and Drow producing your half Drow character.  Basically Anakin Skywalker but with Drow and Humans instead of Sith Lords.  Might be terrain to actually explore in the campaign or may be just a "shrug" and move on from that backstory.

Drow wizard was making a clone of himself, but someone polluted his flesh sample wit human blood and the spell went awry creating a new creature that immediately get assigned its own soul instead of waiting for the wizard to die and take his. Not the one to waste anything, wizard raised you as his pet/lab assistant/emergency organ donor.

 I actually LOVE that idea!!!

Most Drow are bad, but not all. The outcasts of Drow society are good. At least, that's how it was in any campaign I played in.

This sounds like a lack of imagination rather than an indication of a pointless subrace. I realize this post is a little old, but Half-Drow are interesting challenges. Here's a free idea:

• Your Half-Drow has a Female Drow parent and a Male Human parent. She was the younger sister in a lesser household, tasked with keeping an eye on the slave pit. He was a captured slave and an impressive warrior. There was conflict and tension from the start,. After he escaped, she was sent to capture and bring him back, or to not return at all. Shortly after finding him, both were attacked by illithids, and after working together to survive and escape, found that they could no longer keep their attraction hidden. She had to make the difficult decision to leave the Underdark, and they went on adventures until they settled down a few years later. He tried his best to teach her why being good was important, while she continued to insist that females should rule over males but they loved each other, as evidenced by how quickly he would punch anyone in the face who insulted her for being a Drow. Their children were well-loved, and taught right from wrong, although which was better depended on which parent you asked.

I mean, the only kind of human/whatever other race who would be willing to put up with a drow to the point where she'd have/he'd father the drow's child is if the person in question was a horrible person collaborating with the drow. 

Or maybe both parents were terrible and you ran away? Not as heartwarming as "love conquers all" but "I am not my parents" is another powerful trope.

you get to be a drow without sunlight sensitivity