Hello, me and a friend of mine are just starting to play DnD and we are thinking of playing Drows who have escaped from theyr clan as our first charcters. But we have read that people tend not to play drows. Can someone give me some tips if we should or shouldn't play a drow and why?
The standard adventuring party comprises heroic adventurers - this is arguably the way the game was intended to be played and the majority of adventure modules assume that the party is mostly comprised of good-aligned characters who wish to combat evil.
Drow are mostly evil-aligned and typically are used as adversaries for player characters.
Depending upon the setting that the DM uses, a Drow character will typically encounter distrust and outright hostilities from npcs they encounter, who will make the assumption that the Drow character is evil and intending to perform evil acts (even if the Drow character is actually good-aligned).
As you're just starting to play D&D I encourage you to play a more conventional choice of race before playing something so far outside of the normal, BUT it very much depends on what your DM has planned.
Talk to your DM - ask them about the campaign and the adventuring group and mention your interest in playing Drow - it might be something that works for them.
Thank you for your help , i just thought that a drow would make an interesting role playing experience. I will talk to my DM and provbably change to another race.
In the game I run with some fairly new players I just turned down the global distrust for my drow player to more of a passive racism instead of out right hostility.
Also when you do get into combat you'll have sunlight sensitivity which could get your character killed pretty quickly if you're not extremely careful. If you do it I wish you luck and have fun! :)
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Breeze, the Air Genasi Rogue in G.M.O.A.T.S sunless citadel Guldrum, the Dwarf Barbarian in Ye ol' Yarn Spun Legend Baku, the Tortle Bloodhunter in Coliseum of Conquest
I have been reading trough the races and i found tieflings interesting, but it says that they are treated with mistrust and hatred, will it also bea problem to play a tiefling or is it a more passive racism? And is thiefling fighter a good character?
I have been reading trough the races and i found tieflings interesting, but it says that they are treated with mistrust and hatred, will it also bea problem to play a tiefling or is it a more passive racism? And is thiefling fighter a good character?
In most realms, Drow are actively hunted down with pitchforks and torches. Tieflings are "just" given wary looks and sometimes refused service. If you want to play either, that's fine - you just have to understand you'll be having a very different experience most of the time compared to humans, elves, dwarves, or halflings.
Don't worry too much about making a "good" character. Any race can be a good Fighter - mountain dwarves or half-orcs have better stats for it, but the tiefling's spells and resistance can come in handy too. It's more important to play what you want (within DM suggestions) and to have a good backstory than to just be mechanically powerful.
My first, current and most prominent character is a drow, so you can definitely make your first PC a drow as well if you're really excited about it. I've ran him across multiple groups before they ended prematurely (as is the nature of especially online groups). I've met a lot of bad rep applying to different groups with my drow character because, I theorize, the players who gravitate towards the race are fans of playing edgier characters and perhaps even the stoic, brooding loner. I'll freely admit, the edginess was a partial draw for me, but it's worth noting that I wouldn't want to play in a party filled with brooding loners, so I avoided that trope in my own character. It's also worth noting that drow are notoriously hated and need a way to deal with that hostility (realistically, a brooding loner drow would have no friends and thus easily killed by the hateful). They get a +1 to charisma and I definitely expanded upon that. My drow survives on the surface by acting very eager to please potential allies with his charms and cooperation, albeit not sincerely so. In fact, a significant part of why he's an adventurer is because he knows he just won't survive on his own and will be much safer in the company of adventurers, even if that means trying to survive a dragon fight every once in a while. You obviously need to talk with your DM about how drow refugees in his/her setting are treated. Then think about how you plan to deal with that potential hostility based on its severity. Do you try to rely on your natural or magical charms? Are you avoiding attention through disguises? Do your deeds and actions display that you're an ally of good and exiled yourself from the underdark because you seek a different path than your people? Whatever it is, your character will most likely have to think about it and thus so will you. While it's a way you're dealing with a shortcoming, it can provide some depth for your character or at least a starting point how you flesh it out so don't be afraid to see it as a possibility for some great RP. I'm thoroughly enjoying the drow I'm playing.
Basically, think about what makes you wanna be a drow and then make sure this doesn't conflict with what your group are hoping to gain from the campaign. Some DMs have settings where no drow stands a chance at surviving on the surface. Some parties don't want to constantly defend themselves for being allied with a drow and other groups might just dislike having to plan around your sunlight sensitivity for an entire campaign.
In case it's not already evident, my advice are focused on playing with an RP minded group. I could go into more of the specifics of why I enjoy playing a rogue, but I would much rather hear your own first thoughts and build upon those.
The whole reason why I wanted to play a drow are rp reasons. My friend and I wanted to play two drow brothers who escaped the underdark because they did not agree with e drow society. I would play a fighter and my friend a wizard, we was frail fisicaly but very good in the arcane and one of the reasons we escaped would be the fact that the drow would want to kill my brother for not being "strong".In the surface we would try to live a good life fighting for good but showing no mercy towards evil beings. I really don't know if this is a good backstory, it was discussed between me and him a little bit and we were both exited about it. Any opinions? Also what are the effects sunlight have on drows gameplay wise?
Drow take disadvantage on attack rolls and perception checks when either they or the target is in direct sunlight. So even when you're inside, if your target is in the sunlight you still take disadvantage.
First of all, what are your Drow's motives for leaving their people and joining this party? What do they hope to accomplish? Depending on how new your group is and on the disposition of the group, playing evil aligned characters wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I'm playing Tomb of Annihilation right now, and one of our party members is openly working with one of the lesser villains for money (he doesn't know this villain had their minions steal from us and we plan to foil their plan in return). Does your character take kindly to being reminded that their people are in a perpetual cold war with pretty much everyone else?
The whole reason why I wanted to play a drow are rp reasons. My friend and I wanted to play two drow brothers who escaped the underdark because they did not agree with e drow society. I would play a fighter and my friend a wizard, we was frail fisicaly but very good in the arcane and one of the reasons we escaped would be the fact that the drow would want to kill my brother for not being "strong".In the surface we would try to live a good life fighting for good but showing no mercy towards evil beings. I really don't know if this is a good backstory, it was discussed between me and him a little bit and we were both exited about it. Any opinions? Also what are the effects sunlight have on drows gameplay wise?
It's worth keeping in mind that, for the most part, Drow value strength but not necessarily in the brutish sense of the the word. If you both have a strength of 8, that's not necessarily a huge problem for the drow since even their warriors tend to rely on agility, speed and precision most of all not to mention pure cunning. I'll quickly throw in that you could consider being half-orcs escaping a tribe of pureblooded orcs for the same reasons, but I imagine you aren't into that. Instead, perhaps you had additional things you lacked to make the two of you a valuable asset for the drow? The fighter brother might be very capable of physically taking down an enemy, but perhaps he lacks the required ruthlessness to kill and torture the defenseless? Same could be true for the wizard or you could homebrew along with your DM that all higher magic is the exclusive privilege of drow matrons (in default settings, drow males are allowed arcane magic, but since it's very much a matriarchal society that often restricts divine magic to their priestesses, a ban on arcane magic isn't too far fetched).
By adding a few additional reasons for why you wanted/needed to leave, you might also get some additional starting points for RP'ing your characters. The fighter might have an unbreakable ideal when it comes to his opposition towards slaying the defenseless (even a surrendering goblin) or using torture to interrogate the bad guys. The wizard might have lived in fear of Drow matrons for so long that he instinctively turns submissive in the presence of a woman's voice. When a friendly barmaid asks for what you wish to order, your highest priority becomes not to offend as you vividly recall your friend who was fed alive while paralyzed to the spiders for doing exactly that.
These are just suggestions on how to get started, but it definitely seems like you don't have any limiting reasons for wanting to play a drow so I say go for it.
The whole reason why I wanted to play a drow are rp reasons. My friend and I wanted to play two drow brothers who escaped the underdark because they did not agree with e drow society. I would play a fighter and my friend a wizard, we was frail fisicaly but very good in the arcane and one of the reasons we escaped would be the fact that the drow would want to kill my brother for not being "strong".In the surface we would try to live a good life fighting for good but showing no mercy towards evil beings. I really don't know if this is a good backstory, it was discussed between me and him a little bit and we were both exited about it. Any opinions? Also what are the effects sunlight have on drows gameplay wise?
It's worth keeping in mind that, for the most part, Drow value strength but not necessarily in the brutish sense of the the word. If you both have a strength of 8, that's not necessarily a huge problem for the drow since even their warriors tend to rely on agility, speed and precision most of all not to mention pure cunning. I'll quickly throw in that you could consider being half-orcs escaping a tribe of pureblooded orcs for the same reasons, but I imagine you aren't into that. Instead, perhaps you had additional things you lacked to make the two of you a valuable asset for the drow? The fighter brother might be very capable of physically taking down an enemy, but perhaps he lacks the required ruthlessness to kill and torture the defenseless? Same could be true for the wizard or you could homebrew along with your DM that all higher magic is the exclusive privilege of drow matrons (in default settings, drow males are allowed arcane magic, but since it's very much a matriarchal society that often restricts divine magic to their priestesses, a ban on arcane magic isn't too far fetched).
By adding a few additional reasons for why you wanted/needed to leave, you might also get some additional starting points for RP'ing your characters. The fighter might have an unbreakable ideal when it comes to his opposition towards slaying the defenseless (even a surrendering goblin) or using torture to interrogate the bad guys. The wizard might have lived in fear of Drow matrons for so long that he instinctively turns submissive in the presence of a woman's voice. When a friendly barmaid asks for what you wish to order, your highest priority becomes not to offend as you vividly recall your friend who was fed alive while paralyzed to the spiders for doing exactly that.
These are just suggestions on how to get started, but it definitely seems like you don't have any limiting reasons for wanting to play a drow so I say go for it.
The whole reason why I wanted to play a drow are rp reasons. My friend and I wanted to play two drow brothers who escaped the underdark because they did not agree with e drow society. I would play a fighter and my friend a wizard, we was frail fisicaly but very good in the arcane and one of the reasons we escaped would be the fact that the drow would want to kill my brother for not being "strong".In the surface we would try to live a good life fighting for good but showing no mercy towards evil beings. I really don't know if this is a good backstory, it was discussed between me and him a little bit and we were both exited about it. Any opinions? Also what are the effects sunlight have on drows gameplay wise?
It's worth keeping in mind that, for the most part, Drow value strength but not necessarily in the brutish sense of the the word. If you both have a strength of 8, that's not necessarily a huge problem for the drow since even their warriors tend to rely on agility, speed and precision most of all not to mention pure cunning. I'll quickly throw in that you could consider being half-orcs escaping a tribe of pureblooded orcs for the same reasons, but I imagine you aren't into that. Instead, perhaps you had additional things you lacked to make the two of you a valuable asset for the drow? The fighter brother might be very capable of physically taking down an enemy, but perhaps he lacks the required ruthlessness to kill and torture the defenseless? Same could be true for the wizard or you could homebrew along with your DM that all higher magic is the exclusive privilege of drow matrons (in default settings, drow males are allowed arcane magic, but since it's very much a matriarchal society that often restricts divine magic to their priestesses, a ban on arcane magic isn't too far fetched).
By adding a few additional reasons for why you wanted/needed to leave, you might also get some additional starting points for RP'ing your characters. The fighter might have an unbreakable ideal when it comes to his opposition towards slaying the defenseless (even a surrendering goblin) or using torture to interrogate the bad guys. The wizard might have lived in fear of Drow matrons for so long that he instinctively turns submissive in the presence of a woman's voice. When a friendly barmaid asks for what you wish to order, your highest priority becomes not to offend as you vividly recall your friend who was fed alive while paralyzed to the spiders for doing exactly that.
These are just suggestions on how to get started, but it definitely seems like you don't have any limiting reasons for wanting to play a drow so I say go for it.
I really liked your ideas, I will take that and try and make a really cool character along with my friend and present it to the DM, I may also post it here for more tips
First of all, what are your Drow's motives for leaving their people and joining this party? What do they hope to accomplish? Depending on how new your group is and on the disposition of the group, playing evil aligned characters wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I'm playing Tomb of Annihilation right now, and one of our party members is openly working with one of the lesser villains for money (he doesn't know this villain had their minions steal from us and we plan to foil their plan in return). Does your character take kindly to being reminded that their people are in a perpetual cold war with pretty much everyone else?
My drow's motives are that he isn't accepted anywhere else and cannot settle down so adventuring and travel are is only option, also we wouldn't be necessarily evil because he doesn't agree with many aspects of drow society. And he kinda hates is own people for what they have done to is brother so.. .
The whole reason why I wanted to play a drow are rp reasons. My friend and I wanted to play two drow brothers who escaped the underdark because they did not agree with e drow society. I would play a fighter and my friend a wizard, we was frail fisicaly but very good in the arcane and one of the reasons we escaped would be the fact that the drow would want to kill my brother for not being "strong".In the surface we would try to live a good life fighting for good but showing no mercy towards evil beings. I really don't know if this is a good backstory, it was discussed between me and him a little bit and we were both exited about it. Any opinions? Also what are the effects sunlight have on drows gameplay wise?
As others have stated, direct sunlight (including the sunlight spell, if it comes up) kinda screws over your drow when making attacks. This includes cantrips like Firebolt as well, but not save DC things like fireball or vicious mockery.
Personally, my experience is that, while its very difficult to play as a wizard or a fighter with a drow in a standard campaign, its actually much easier to play as rogues or bards. Thanks to cunning action and the tendacy to hide, this keeps your PC out of sunlight and actually lets you avoid the penalty most of the time. You're usually not needing to make perception checks in direct sunlight a lot either (usually there's a lack of good cover in sunlit spaces). And bards? Well, while the valor and sword bards are potentially suffering from the sunlight penalty when they fight, pure spellcaster bards rely on Vicious Mockery and other spells that don't call for an attack roll.
I also highly recommend bard and rogue because then, its easy to take Expertise in Deception or Persuasion. You don't need to worry about being attacked when you can easily convince others to not bother you or look under the hood of the cloak. Or whatever other disguise you grab.
Lastly, rogues and bards tend to be favored by Eilistraee, the goddess of good drow, and her brother Vhaeraun, god of drow rogues; both directly oppose Lolth and the way she runs things, have organizations on the surface, and often shuttle the dissatisfied from the Underdark to the surface.
Warlock is workable, but tricky. Devil's Sight plus globes of darkness is actually a rather powerful combination, letting you avoid the weakness while getting advantage on your attacks and inflicting disadvantage on others. Cast the spell on yourself before combat, and move away from your fellows, then blast away. The catch is that you have to be careful, since a lot of warlock's power comes from Eldritch Blast, and those rely on attack rolls. But just some planning and the DM not trying to screw you over should be enough to work. Warlock also comes with at-will disguise powers, which if your DM plays up the prejudice, are handy.
Wizard I actually recommend against. Drow spells rely on Charisma, and they're pretty good ones. You're shooting yourself in the foot if you don't at least go sorcerer. Then, there's also the case where there's no real way to avoid the sunlight sensitivity if it comes up - most wizard cantrips rely on attack rolls, and you won't have the luxury of relying on spell entirely slots til near level 8 or so. I think that there's only two wizard cantrips here that rely on DCs, and the're rather lackluster compared to the others.
And then, wizards rely heavily on expanding their spellbooks by visiting libraries and trading with other wizards. Harder to avoid prejudice here, when wizards are the ones most likely to notice an illusion, and you really don't want to waste spell slots on disguises in the first place.
Now, while the level of distrust you'll experience is going to depend on your DM, its always good to plan with it in mind, because you never know when it might crop up. Shouldn't be a problem in the party, but with NPCs, you never know.
Hello, me and a friend of mine are just starting to play DnD and we are thinking of playing Drows who have escaped from theyr clan as our first charcters. But we have read that people tend not to play drows. Can someone give me some tips if we should or shouldn't play a drow and why?
The standard adventuring party comprises heroic adventurers - this is arguably the way the game was intended to be played and the majority of adventure modules assume that the party is mostly comprised of good-aligned characters who wish to combat evil.
Drow are mostly evil-aligned and typically are used as adversaries for player characters.
Depending upon the setting that the DM uses, a Drow character will typically encounter distrust and outright hostilities from npcs they encounter, who will make the assumption that the Drow character is evil and intending to perform evil acts (even if the Drow character is actually good-aligned).
As you're just starting to play D&D I encourage you to play a more conventional choice of race before playing something so far outside of the normal, BUT it very much depends on what your DM has planned.
Talk to your DM - ask them about the campaign and the adventuring group and mention your interest in playing Drow - it might be something that works for them.
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Thank you for your help , i just thought that a drow would make an interesting role playing experience. I will talk to my DM and provbably change to another race.
In the game I run with some fairly new players I just turned down the global distrust for my drow player to more of a passive racism instead of out right hostility.
Other NPC drow I still handle like normal.
Also when you do get into combat you'll have sunlight sensitivity which could get your character killed pretty quickly if you're not extremely careful. If you do it I wish you luck and have fun! :)
Breeze, the Air Genasi Rogue in G.M.O.A.T.S sunless citadel
Guldrum, the Dwarf Barbarian in Ye ol' Yarn Spun Legend
Baku, the Tortle Bloodhunter in Coliseum of Conquest
I have been reading trough the races and i found tieflings interesting, but it says that they are treated with mistrust and hatred, will it also bea problem to play a tiefling or is it a more passive racism? And is thiefling fighter a good character?
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
Thanks for all the help!
My first, current and most prominent character is a drow, so you can definitely make your first PC a drow as well if you're really excited about it. I've ran him across multiple groups before they ended prematurely (as is the nature of especially online groups). I've met a lot of bad rep applying to different groups with my drow character because, I theorize, the players who gravitate towards the race are fans of playing edgier characters and perhaps even the stoic, brooding loner. I'll freely admit, the edginess was a partial draw for me, but it's worth noting that I wouldn't want to play in a party filled with brooding loners, so I avoided that trope in my own character. It's also worth noting that drow are notoriously hated and need a way to deal with that hostility (realistically, a brooding loner drow would have no friends and thus easily killed by the hateful). They get a +1 to charisma and I definitely expanded upon that. My drow survives on the surface by acting very eager to please potential allies with his charms and cooperation, albeit not sincerely so. In fact, a significant part of why he's an adventurer is because he knows he just won't survive on his own and will be much safer in the company of adventurers, even if that means trying to survive a dragon fight every once in a while. You obviously need to talk with your DM about how drow refugees in his/her setting are treated. Then think about how you plan to deal with that potential hostility based on its severity. Do you try to rely on your natural or magical charms? Are you avoiding attention through disguises? Do your deeds and actions display that you're an ally of good and exiled yourself from the underdark because you seek a different path than your people? Whatever it is, your character will most likely have to think about it and thus so will you. While it's a way you're dealing with a shortcoming, it can provide some depth for your character or at least a starting point how you flesh it out so don't be afraid to see it as a possibility for some great RP. I'm thoroughly enjoying the drow I'm playing.
Basically, think about what makes you wanna be a drow and then make sure this doesn't conflict with what your group are hoping to gain from the campaign. Some DMs have settings where no drow stands a chance at surviving on the surface. Some parties don't want to constantly defend themselves for being allied with a drow and other groups might just dislike having to plan around your sunlight sensitivity for an entire campaign.
In case it's not already evident, my advice are focused on playing with an RP minded group. I could go into more of the specifics of why I enjoy playing a rogue, but I would much rather hear your own first thoughts and build upon those.
The whole reason why I wanted to play a drow are rp reasons. My friend and I wanted to play two drow brothers who escaped the underdark because they did not agree with e drow society. I would play a fighter and my friend a wizard, we was frail fisicaly but very good in the arcane and one of the reasons we escaped would be the fact that the drow would want to kill my brother for not being "strong".In the surface we would try to live a good life fighting for good but showing no mercy towards evil beings. I really don't know if this is a good backstory, it was discussed between me and him a little bit and we were both exited about it. Any opinions? Also what are the effects sunlight have on drows gameplay wise?
Drow take disadvantage on attack rolls and perception checks when either they or the target is in direct sunlight. So even when you're inside, if your target is in the sunlight you still take disadvantage.
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In Critical Roles second campaign, that started e few weeks ago, Sam Riegel is playing a gobling. Since goblings are also considered evil by most, maybe you can get some ideas from watching some episodes of Critical Role: https://geekandsundry.com/critical-role-curious-beginnings-campaign-2-premiere/
First of all, what are your Drow's motives for leaving their people and joining this party? What do they hope to accomplish? Depending on how new your group is and on the disposition of the group, playing evil aligned characters wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I'm playing Tomb of Annihilation right now, and one of our party members is openly working with one of the lesser villains for money (he doesn't know this villain had their minions steal from us and we plan to foil their plan in return). Does your character take kindly to being reminded that their people are in a perpetual cold war with pretty much everyone else?
It's worth keeping in mind that, for the most part, Drow value strength but not necessarily in the brutish sense of the the word. If you both have a strength of 8, that's not necessarily a huge problem for the drow since even their warriors tend to rely on agility, speed and precision most of all not to mention pure cunning. I'll quickly throw in that you could consider being half-orcs escaping a tribe of pureblooded orcs for the same reasons, but I imagine you aren't into that. Instead, perhaps you had additional things you lacked to make the two of you a valuable asset for the drow? The fighter brother might be very capable of physically taking down an enemy, but perhaps he lacks the required ruthlessness to kill and torture the defenseless? Same could be true for the wizard or you could homebrew along with your DM that all higher magic is the exclusive privilege of drow matrons (in default settings, drow males are allowed arcane magic, but since it's very much a matriarchal society that often restricts divine magic to their priestesses, a ban on arcane magic isn't too far fetched).
By adding a few additional reasons for why you wanted/needed to leave, you might also get some additional starting points for RP'ing your characters. The fighter might have an unbreakable ideal when it comes to his opposition towards slaying the defenseless (even a surrendering goblin) or using torture to interrogate the bad guys. The wizard might have lived in fear of Drow matrons for so long that he instinctively turns submissive in the presence of a woman's voice. When a friendly barmaid asks for what you wish to order, your highest priority becomes not to offend as you vividly recall your friend who was fed alive while paralyzed to the spiders for doing exactly that.
These are just suggestions on how to get started, but it definitely seems like you don't have any limiting reasons for wanting to play a drow so I say go for it.
What about a wizard or warlock rogue? Thats what my friend wanted to play.
Warlock is workable, but tricky. Devil's Sight plus globes of darkness is actually a rather powerful combination, letting you avoid the weakness while getting advantage on your attacks and inflicting disadvantage on others. Cast the spell on yourself before combat, and move away from your fellows, then blast away. The catch is that you have to be careful, since a lot of warlock's power comes from Eldritch Blast, and those rely on attack rolls. But just some planning and the DM not trying to screw you over should be enough to work. Warlock also comes with at-will disguise powers, which if your DM plays up the prejudice, are handy.
Wizard I actually recommend against. Drow spells rely on Charisma, and they're pretty good ones. You're shooting yourself in the foot if you don't at least go sorcerer. Then, there's also the case where there's no real way to avoid the sunlight sensitivity if it comes up - most wizard cantrips rely on attack rolls, and you won't have the luxury of relying on spell entirely slots til near level 8 or so. I think that there's only two wizard cantrips here that rely on DCs, and the're rather lackluster compared to the others.
And then, wizards rely heavily on expanding their spellbooks by visiting libraries and trading with other wizards. Harder to avoid prejudice here, when wizards are the ones most likely to notice an illusion, and you really don't want to waste spell slots on disguises in the first place.
Now, while the level of distrust you'll experience is going to depend on your DM, its always good to plan with it in mind, because you never know when it might crop up. Shouldn't be a problem in the party, but with NPCs, you never know.
What is globes of darkness cant seem to find it here. And is sorcerer Drow also a good combination?