I have a play who is playing drow but backstory wise has lived above ground their entire life. Im just looking for a way to be able to change the perception disadvantage.
I have a play who is playing drow but backstory wise has lived above ground their entire life. Im just looking for a way to be able to change the perception disadvantage.
Knaves Eye Patch.
just homebrew one where it doesn’t give the perception stuff.
or leave it as is. But warn them that any other drow/kobold/sunlight sensitive creature will know what it is. And potentially try and take it off them.
I have a play who is playing drow but backstory wise has lived above ground their entire life. Im just looking for a way to be able to change the perception disadvantage.
Knaves Eye Patch.
just homebrew one where it doesn’t give the perception stuff.
or leave it as is. But warn them that any other drow/kobold/sunlight sensitive creature will know what it is. And potentially try and take it off them.
Honestly could just say he doesnt have it, will make him just a smidge better than the other players since he has darkvision. Could do the popular thing of reducing his darkvision to 60 feet as well, or getting him some sunglasses /shrug
Honestly could just say he doesnt have it, will make him just a smidge better than the other players since he has darkvision. Could do the popular thing of reducing his darkvision to 60 feet as well, or getting him some sunglasses /shrug
Well, if they have lived on the surface for their entire life, then there is no reason for them to have darkvision at all (assuming it is learnt, just like sunlight sensitivity is earned).
Honestly could just say he doesnt have it, will make him just a smidge better than the other players since he has darkvision. Could do the popular thing of reducing his darkvision to 60 feet as well, or getting him some sunglasses /shrug
Well, if they have lived on the surface for their entire life, then there is no reason for them to have darkvision at all (assuming it is learnt, just like sunlight sensitivity is earned).
If living "on the surface" disqualifies a race from having Darkvision, how do you explain the other Elf subraces?
Honestly could just say he doesnt have it, will make him just a smidge better than the other players since he has darkvision. Could do the popular thing of reducing his darkvision to 60 feet as well, or getting him some sunglasses /shrug
Well, if they have lived on the surface for their entire life, then there is no reason for them to have darkvision at all (assuming it is learnt, just like sunlight sensitivity is earned).
If living "on the surface" disqualifies a race from having Darkvision, how do you explain the other Elf subraces?
And half-elves, half-orcs, tieflings, aasimar, tabaxi...
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I have a play who is playing drow but backstory wise has lived above ground their entire life. Im just looking for a way to be able to change the perception disadvantage.
I more or less just use something sort of like custom lineages. I go down the list. Sunlight Sensitivity goes away, what else goes with it? They end up with normal darkvision, and lose the Drow High Magic. I prefer my Drow player characters to stay as Drow, because Sunlight Sensitivity really isn't that huge a disadvantage in the first place, but if someone doesn't want it, why not? Hello funny looking Elf.
Maybe i can help. I made a homebrew item back before I knew d&d beyond called the clock of midnight it basically negated all light sensitive debuffs making it easier for my friends character a kobold to fit into the story and role playing easier (without the need for it to hiss at the bloody sun half the time). I made it so it wasn't over powered just helpful for specific creatures.
I will leave the mechanics to others. My question is WHY are you letting a player simply hand wave away one of the drawbacks to playing a Drow, while I assume keeping all the good stuff. Please don't say "because it is not fun to have sunlight sensitivity."
Honestly, it is all about having fun and they certainly do not need to seek permission to have fun from a stranger online, and they certainly do not need to come up with any further justification either. This thread is about them and their fun. This thread is not about you or how you run your games.
Well, as the DM, it's simply up to you to decide how things are. You want to get rid of that sunlight sensitivity? Boom. Get rid of it. If you want something more concrete, then do as Davyd suggested and create a homebrew version without it.
Not that you asked, but if it were me, I would offer a trade. No sunlight sensitivity, but you don't get the free casting of darkness either. Seems like something a surface dwelling Drow wouldn't learn.
Fun is what you make of it. Disadvantage on attack rolls is indeed a disadvantage, but massive? No. Medium. Even if you have to make two checks it doesn't mean you fail all of the time.
Sunlight sensitivity if a feature of the Drow race. It follows that there should be something on the level of a Feat to get rid of it. A Rare item, or Devil's Sight. Grab Eldritch Adept, and there you go. No matter what level of light, you get to see clearly out to 120 feet. It's almost too good really.
I have a play who is playing drow but backstory wise has lived above ground their entire life. Im just looking for a way to be able to change the perception disadvantage.
if you want to go real complex you could make a new sub-race of drow also. Say ones that didn't like the spider queen and seeked refuge in dimly lit cave areas than slowly got acclimated losing a little of their darkvision but still having a good 60 ft of it. Eventually even coming out of dimly lit caves into dense forests to help cause even though they aren't sensitive to sunlight it's just in their nature to be more in the shadows because of there drow rots. These drow are simply called forest drow and only have a mear 30 ft of darkvision but unlike their full drow counter parts they're able to see color with it and find it quite fascinating.
Sorry if this is over complicated or to different I thought it may help. No matter what you pick good luck to you and your player.
Personally, I'm in the camp of just playing as a different kind of elf and calling yourself drow. If sunlight sensitivity is purely environmental rather than genetic, maybe the rest of the stuff is too. You're just a surface elf that looks different.
A couple of questions for you to think about and then some ideas. 1) what is this surface Drew’s alignment and back story since it’s grown up on the surface? What is its family’s backstory as well - why did they leave the under dark? 3) what deity does it worship? 4) what (if any) world is your homebrew based on? Why the questions? Because it might lead to an way out that satisfies everyone. My homebrew is an alternate forgotten realms so I don’t have to do all the lore writing I don’t have time to do.in the realms some of the Drow have been converted bacity into the original dark elves by elven high magic. These dark elves may or may not have the light sensitivity. If you go the Drow clone race path maybe you make them not have the sensitivity because they are now dark elves not drow. These dark elves have not yet been stated by WOtC so you can homebrew them as you want and need and still have them fit into some sort of accepted lore.
Folks, the OP said, "Im just looking for a way to be able to change the perception disadvantage." If they ask for guidance on RP or mechanical balance later on, that's one thing, but until then any advice on anything other than how to change sunlight sensitivity is unsolicited.
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I have a play who is playing drow but backstory wise has lived above ground their entire life. Im just looking for a way to be able to change the perception disadvantage.
Your best bet is to make a homebrew copy of the subrace and remove the trait
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Knaves Eye Patch.
just homebrew one where it doesn’t give the perception stuff.
or leave it as is. But warn them that any other drow/kobold/sunlight sensitive creature will know what it is. And potentially try and take it off them.
Blank
Beat me to it.
Honestly could just say he doesnt have it, will make him just a smidge better than the other players since he has darkvision. Could do the popular thing of reducing his darkvision to 60 feet as well, or getting him some sunglasses /shrug
Well, if they have lived on the surface for their entire life, then there is no reason for them to have darkvision at all (assuming it is learnt, just like sunlight sensitivity is earned).
If living "on the surface" disqualifies a race from having Darkvision, how do you explain the other Elf subraces?
And half-elves, half-orcs, tieflings, aasimar, tabaxi...
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Just get them to use the stats of a high elf.
If you are using DndBeyond to make your dice rolls, you can right click (instead of left click) on the skill to roll normally (without disadvantage).
I more or less just use something sort of like custom lineages. I go down the list. Sunlight Sensitivity goes away, what else goes with it? They end up with normal darkvision, and lose the Drow High Magic. I prefer my Drow player characters to stay as Drow, because Sunlight Sensitivity really isn't that huge a disadvantage in the first place, but if someone doesn't want it, why not? Hello funny looking Elf.
<Insert clever signature here>
The good stuff really isn't that powerful after about 6th level, while getting disadvantage on attack rolls is a massive debuff at every level.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Maybe i can help. I made a homebrew item back before I knew d&d beyond called the clock of midnight it basically negated all light sensitive debuffs making it easier for my friends character a kobold to fit into the story and role playing easier (without the need for it to hiss at the bloody sun half the time). I made it so it wasn't over powered just helpful for specific creatures.
Honestly, it is all about having fun and they certainly do not need to seek permission to have fun from a stranger online, and they certainly do not need to come up with any further justification either. This thread is about them and their fun. This thread is not about you or how you run your games.
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Well, as the DM, it's simply up to you to decide how things are. You want to get rid of that sunlight sensitivity? Boom. Get rid of it. If you want something more concrete, then do as Davyd suggested and create a homebrew version without it.
Not that you asked, but if it were me, I would offer a trade. No sunlight sensitivity, but you don't get the free casting of darkness either. Seems like something a surface dwelling Drow wouldn't learn.
Fun is what you make of it. Disadvantage on attack rolls is indeed a disadvantage, but massive? No. Medium. Even if you have to make two checks it doesn't mean you fail all of the time.
Sunlight sensitivity if a feature of the Drow race. It follows that there should be something on the level of a Feat to get rid of it. A Rare item, or Devil's Sight. Grab Eldritch Adept, and there you go. No matter what level of light, you get to see clearly out to 120 feet. It's almost too good really.
<Insert clever signature here>
if you want to go real complex you could make a new sub-race of drow also. Say ones that didn't like the spider queen and seeked refuge in dimly lit cave areas than slowly got acclimated losing a little of their darkvision but still having a good 60 ft of it. Eventually even coming out of dimly lit caves into dense forests to help cause even though they aren't sensitive to sunlight it's just in their nature to be more in the shadows because of there drow rots. These drow are simply called forest drow and only have a mear 30 ft of darkvision but unlike their full drow counter parts they're able to see color with it and find it quite fascinating.
Sorry if this is over complicated or to different I thought it may help. No matter what you pick good luck to you and your player.
Personally, I'm in the camp of just playing as a different kind of elf and calling yourself drow. If sunlight sensitivity is purely environmental rather than genetic, maybe the rest of the stuff is too. You're just a surface elf that looks different.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
A couple of questions for you to think about and then some ideas. 1) what is this surface Drew’s alignment and back story since it’s grown up on the surface? What is its family’s backstory as well - why did they leave the under dark? 3) what deity does it worship? 4) what (if any) world is your homebrew based on? Why the questions? Because it might lead to an way out that satisfies everyone. My homebrew is an alternate forgotten realms so I don’t have to do all the lore writing I don’t have time to do.in the realms some of the Drow have been converted bacity into the original dark elves by elven high magic. These dark elves may or may not have the light sensitivity. If you go the Drow clone race path maybe you make them not have the sensitivity because they are now dark elves not drow. These dark elves have not yet been stated by WOtC so you can homebrew them as you want and need and still have them fit into some sort of accepted lore.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Folks, the OP said, "Im just looking for a way to be able to change the perception disadvantage." If they ask for guidance on RP or mechanical balance later on, that's one thing, but until then any advice on anything other than how to change sunlight sensitivity is unsolicited.