Homebrew Surface-born Drow Species Details

Whether as followers of the goddess Eilistraee, as exiles shunned by drow society, or as individuals fleeing persecution, your drow ancestors left their place in the Underdark to start a new life on the surface. But even with the best of intentions, your ancestors found it difficult to make that life. Still reviled by other races and cultures and seen as an evil race whose members cause dsicord and strife wherever they go, the first drow to return to the surface faced immense hardship attempting to build lives and communities for themselves free from the machinations of Lolth and the Dark Seldarine as well as free from the prejudice of other races.

There are many reasons your ancestors might have decided to return to the surface, and the table below provides a jumping off point for exploring those reasons. Roll a d8 to determine a random reason or create your own as it suits your character. 

d8	Reason
1	You ancestor(s) fled to save their own life
2	Your ancestor(s) were followers of Eilistraee and followed her teachings back to the surface
3	Your ancestor(s) knew that if they did not leave the Underdark they would never satisfy their ambitions
4	Your ancestor(s) angered Lolth/failed one of Lolth's tests and didn't wait to see the outcome of that
5	Your ancestor(s) was exiled and told never to return
6	Your ancestor(s) just wanted to piss drow society off so bad that they did the wildest thing imaginable
7	Your ancestor(s) denounced Lolth
8	Your ancestor(s) saw the cruelties and evils of the drow and could not stand idly by

 

Citizens of Nowhere 

Because they were raised away from the Underdark, often being more than a generation removed from it, surface-born drow are completely shunned by drow society. Considered lesser because of their ancestors' choice to leave and denounce Lolth, surfacers that attempt to return to the Underdark find a closed society entirely hostile to them. Some surfacer drow have even been killed or sold into slavery in the Underdark for attempting to return to the home of their ancestors.

Unfortunately, surface-born drow hardly find any more acceptance among surface-dwelling races. Even centuries on, there are still no large or stable communities of drow on the surface and very few people look kindly upon obviously drow individuals, especially in numbers larger than one. Dogged by stereotypes and stories that paint drow as an entirely evil race, surfacer drow exist largely in small, secretive communities - such as enclaves of the Church of Eilistraee - or in small family units within cities or towns. 

As a result of their persecution, most surfacer drow have grown accustomed to hiding in plain sight and passing off their drow heritage as something much more mundane or harmless -- some even attempt to pass themselves off as Eladrin elves or halfbreed genasi, banking on people's unfamiliarity with races even rarer than the drow to fly under the radar and escape suspicion and hostility. Others have embraced their sundered heritage and do little to hide who they are in order to make others more comfortable or make their own lives easier.

An Elven Lifespan 

While surfacer drow have the same lifespans as other elven races, their view of young adult verses settled adult varies wildly across the subrace. Often instead of settling after young adulthood, many surfacer drow spend their lives chasing something. Some turn to adventuring or questing, either as a way to make money, as a way to pass the long years of their lives, or as a way to prove that they can do good, while others travel the world in search of a place to belong and people that will accept them regardless of their ancestry.

Others turn to the same kinds of things that their Underdark cousins do - smuggling, assassination, and dark magic - falling, either willingly or not, back into the lives that their ancestors tried to hard to save them from. As a result, sufacer drow settle down far later in life than other elves, if they settle down at all - sometimes as late as into their 550th year.

Diverse Lineage 

Because of generations of living on the surface and making their home among non-drow kind, and in attempts to be more accepted by people who are often prejudiced against drow, it is much more likely for surface-born drow to be of some percentage non-elven. As such, surface-born drow can differ wildly in appearance, temperament, and alignment from their Underdark-dwelling ancestors.

Attractive Looks 

Retaining a preoccupation with physical attractiveness that stemmed from drow society's selective breeding programs, surfacer drow often mate with aesthetics in mind. As a result, surfacer drow are often strikingly attractive, even when compared to other elves. Some use this attractiveness to fool people into looking the other way or ignoring their drow heritage, while others use it to manipulate. Some, like the members of the Church of Eiliastraee, use their attractiveness to serve their goddess and to sway Underdark-dwelling drow away from Lolth.

While surfacer drow have retained the dark grey and obsidian coloration of their Underdark-dwelling ancestors, they can also have skin colors ranging from dark blue to pale lavender and even to white, similarly to the Szarkai - the albino drow. Similarly, it is not uncommon to see a surface drow with brown, purple, or even blue eyes alongside more the common colors of red, pale blue, and silver.

Nothing is Inherent 

Much like other elves, surface-born drow prize free will and freedom of self-expression. Having been raised away from the drow society often directly because of the corrupting influences of it, surfacer drow understand more than anyone that no drow is inherently evil and that it is the environment a person is raised in that decides their morals. As a result of this understanding, surfacer drow prize their ability to forge their own paths and make their own decisions. As a result, they lean more towards chaos and neutrality but are not swayed more towards evil or good. 

Surface-born Drow Traits

As a result of your elven ancestry, you have much in common with most other elves but with notable exceptions. Surface drow are notably more versatile than their Underdark cousins, but they also suffer some drawbacks due to their lives spent on their surface.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity score increases by 1 and your Charisma score increases by 2. 

Age

Although elves reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, the elven understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. An elf typically claims adulthood and an adult name around the age of 100 and can live to be 750 years old.

Alignment

Surface drow, much like other elves, tend towards chaos but do not feel pulled toward either good or evil. 

Superior Darkvision

Despite generations spent away from the Underdark, surface drow have retained the superior darkvision their ancestors developed. Instead, you can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Fey Ancestry

You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

Keen Senses

Often living a life of deception and hyper-vigilance in order to hide your origins from an unaccepting surface world, you have learned how to protect yourself from unwanted attention any way you can. You have proficiency in the Perception skill, and proficiency in either Deception or Performance. 

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice. You can also understand Undercommon to a certain degree, whether that is speaking but not reading or understanding but not speaking or any combination thereof, up to and including full fluency. 

Size

Drow are shorter than other elven races, ranging on average from 4'7 to 5'5 feet tall and have slender, athletic builds. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Sunlight Sensitivity

Despite having been on the surface all your life, your racial sensitivity to light still plagues you. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Perception checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.

Trance

Elves don’t need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is “trance.”) While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

Lesser 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. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.