Playing a good drow

[strobhen]

Hey all, thinking about giving the server a shot. I tend to enjoy playing a female drow eilistraeen, checking to see if I'm kidding myself before I do.

A lot of people have these very strong opinions on good drow being more or less completely unrealistic, despite the patches of acceptance they have managed to gain. Promenade under Waterdeep being an example. Anyway, I don't mean to press the issue, nor argue my point. I'm a new player, my word isn't going to have much weight. I'm writing this to listen.

I'm more curious if the players/dms are going to give any chance for change. For example, a paladin really has no business attacking a good drow if the drow can manage to get them to check for an evil aura before slicing & dicing. But if DM's are going to dock paladins levels/abilities for sparing or associating with a drow that has proven itself good, it is a moot point.

Similarly, is a good drow going to have any inkling of a chance to befriend enough people to become somewhat accepted in at least one surface city. Or will she always be hiding in the underdark among the lolthians. Or is there some kind of neutral ground she can hang around?

I'm also looking for people that think good drow are just an OOC horrible idea and will give me an earful over it.

Obviously, I expect plenty of IC grief for the character, that's not a problem.

Thanks!

[DM Sir Carnifex]

I think there are PCs out there that would befriend (or tolerate) a drow for various purposes. There are also those who wouldn't accept them no matter what. Here are some reasons a person might associate with them that I can think of off the top of my head:

1. Sees the drow as a tool to be used. (Opportunist)

2. Sees association as a better alternative than death. (Coward)

3. Sees the drow as a person to be given a chance. (Possibly Naive Person)

4. Does not have enough hold of his senses to notice .(Drunkard or a Maniac)

5. Is overly-confident and wants to face danger and laugh at it. (Boaster)

6. Has a REALLY low intelligence. (Idiot)

So, I say that a good drow can be done and there will be acquaintances who accept the drow, but these will be in the minority. Most will probably regard your drow as evil on sight and act accordingly.

[DM Cephas]

I think good drow are possible and as a player, I wouldn't mind them. As a PC though, I try to keep it realistic. If I saw some random drow, I'd probably think I'm about to get attacked. My opinion is that you will have to RP it really well to get accepted. (Esp since drow are known for their deception as well.) Perhaps stay disguised for a really long time and befriend some key people that may protect you from others later on.

I currently stand to this because it's RP-realistic and I'd be bummed to see a bunch of drow walking around in town with impunity as if there was no bias against them. It would kind of detract from the game world IMO.

[darksoul]

So, heres my 2 copper. I hate good drow, i do find it very silly, and quite unrealistic, but than again, i'm an old bastid about it. Being as there is a good aligned drow Diety, and shes a greater Deity as that! SO! She must have a good amount of followers. I've always seen good aligned drow players as a Drizzt wanna be, and being as i dispise R.A Salvatores books for such reasons, and his unfounded love for drow, you can see my rational. YET! Playing a good aligned drow is up to the player, and how they see fit to play such things. Atleast its not a Paly being friends with a known tiefling (Seen it done *shudder*) My character wouldn't be opposed to the idea of befriending a drow. Being as on the surface, they're outcasts just like him. People don't like him, even though hes decently nice. Either way! How you play it is up to you, yet expect resistance. I say, good luck to you, and fun is the name of the game.

[strobhen]

Never actually read Salvatore's books. The character I usually play, however, is a female eilistraeen cleric/sorc and has little in common with drizzt, a male mielikkien fighter/ranger.

[Iceshard]

Like Sir C stated, a good drow can have its place among the underbellies of the cities by the less than savory characters. However even they are a rough bunch to get along with and being a drow automatically puts their blades to your throat.

On the surface out in the open your just a walking dead man. ANYONE and EVERYTHING will try to kill you... PC's, NPC's, Atari... Just not good joo joo. Though with that being said you already have like three or four drow chillin on the surface, that are always masked. In some areas or during some events though, wearing a helm isnt an option.

If you want to TRY and pull off a good drow, be my guest, but expect it to be much like grandpa's stories... " I had to walk 5 miles uphill in the snow with no coat and no shoes just to get to school. And on the way home it was STILL uphill but had 8 feet of snow and my pants got ripped!"

-Ice

[atlas]

From what i know of Forgotten Realms lore and discounting RA Salvatore's gross egotistical portrayal of Drow as perfect killing machines that can only be beaten by other Drow, the Flaming Fist would not sweat over one anymore than a Hobgoblin or an Orc. The Baldur's Gate area is not known for Drow activity, there is virtually none in fact and there would be only a handful of people in the whole area portrayed by the server that have ever seen a Drow.

Other than that business that went on in Shadowdale way back when, and what happened in Nwn1 Hordes Of The Underdark (Which has been officially stated it doesnt count lore-wise) Drow attacks on any surface civilisation other than small Elven communities and Mithral Hall are virtualy non existant. There are a few more instances of large Drow conquests but i cant remember the names of where they happened. There is a country that was taken over and is now ruled by Drow but that happened before RA Salvadores time and i dont think they even worship Lolth.

This isnt including things that have actualy happened on the server in the past however, which has been all but a full scale Drow invasion or so i have heard. If i was running the events though i would stick as close to the lore as possible. It is far more likely for Baldur's Gate to be attacked by Hobgoblins than by Drow.

Eilistraee is a lesser diety, at least until she gets murdered in the future, and is a part of the Elven pantheon. I dont know the exact numbers but you need at least several thousand followers to be a lesser diety. Her church is legitimate, it does exist and she even has a knighthood called Moonknights.. Not a good name. So there is at least several thousand good Drow, though i was wondering why a 'good' Drow had a Gnome slave in Hordes Of The Underdark.

Theres Forgotten Realms lore, RA Salvadore lore and Ed Greenwood lore. And though Ed made all of this up originally, the latter two are heavily biased towards their main characters and go to great lengths to make eveything look like a cakewalk for them and in describing how perfect they are.

Detect Evil was never put into Nwn1 or 2, the good old days of the Baldur's Gate saga are dead. And despite being just as much a core ability as magic missle, ive been told you're not allowed to roleplay it. I can see the possibility of it causing grief if used by someone who doesnt know what he is doing but i think there is a much greater chance of people abusing the chaotic neutral alignment and being just plain evil then justifying it by saying they are CN, they can do whatever they like. I know ive seen that a hundred times. The thing with alignments is they dont work unless they are constantly being revised by the descisions your character makes. If you're neutral and you knowingly aid Al Capone because you just dont care that he's evil you're going to have your alignment changed towards evil in an amount depending on what exactly you did. Or at least that is how its supposed to work. I dont think the risk outweighs the reward, especially since i play a Paladin. Regardless right now no one is going to be detecting anyone.

[strobhen]

I appreciate the replies. Doesn't sound like it is going to be a fun concept on this server (for me at least), will try something else perhaps.

[DM Sir Carnifex]

Not fun? I guess that depends on how much of a challenge you like it to be to survive. I think a good drow would require a lot more observation of other characters than is necessary with most. Picking and choosing who would be likely to help (or at least not hurt) would be a chore, to say the least, but it could be fun trying.

I'm sure that someone will choose to do this some time or another though.

[davidb]

My guess is, good drows only when underdark is live. Good level 1 drows on the surface is an impossibility.

[needcoffee]

just curious to know what will happen to any drow good or evil when the underdark is introduced?...will the existing characters be placed in the underdark or will all new characters have to be made?.... and i would say a good drow could be a interesting rp .. first encounters with anything on the surface would never be boring:)... even more interesting would be encounters with evil drow ... do you strike at them or try to pull the wool over there eyes in the name of self preservation... the amount of rp could be endless... just my opinion

[Jiszo]

I actually play on of the few drow on the server, well at least that I know of. I've only seeing one other but have heard talk about people making them. My advice is if you want to make one then do it but it's going to be a hard uphill battle. My character has two complete different sets of clothing, one is just in case I need to change right away and the other he wears but changes the look daily so as not to be recognized. Since my drow is evil he never gives out his name and is actually quite friendly at the moment since he is low level and out matched. only a couple of people have actually seeing his face and I had to rp my way out of being killed. I told them I'll just leave. I get a good distance away and then pull out my back up outift. walk right back past them and they don't even know its me. by the way I wear a helmet and I change that with the costume. also at time I disguise my voice so that others who I have adventured with before do not recognize me. I figure if I stay unknown until I'm like level 20 I can then show my evil colors. I mean how many people can with stand 3 meteor swarms in a role. also it is a pain getting leveled up. But if you RP well then you can get people to join you so you can go to another area and take out bigger opponents. Also as a side not never talk in drow. with a high enough lore check which is automatic you can decipher what language it is but if you talk in elven people will usually think your just some elf.

[borton]

my thought on good drow is go to the forgotten realms server if you want to play good drow they run ramped there