Drow

Game Statistics

  • Ability Scores:+2 Int, +2 Cha, +2 Dex, –2 Con
  • A Drow's base land speed is 30 feet.
  • Darkvision out to 120 feet.
  • Spell resistance equal to 11 + class levels.
  • +2 racial bonus on Will saves against spells and spell-like abilities.
  • Immunity to sleep spells and effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells or effects.
  • Spell-Like Abilities: Drow can use the following spell-like abilities once per day: dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire. Caster level equals the drow’s class levels.
  • Weapon Proficiency: A drow is automatically proficient with the hand crossbow, the rapier, and the short sword.
  • +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. A Drow who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it.
  • Automatic Languages: Common, Elven, Undercommon.
  • Bonus Languages: Abyssal, Aquan, Draconic, Drow Sign Language, Gnome, Goblin, Kuo-toan.
  • Light Blindness: Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or a daylight spell) blinds drow for 1 round. On subsequent rounds, they are dazzled as long as they remain in the affected area.
  • Favored Class: Wizard (male) or cleric (female).
  • Level adjustment +2.

Drow Feats - A list of feats with Drow prerequisites.

Drow in Eberron

“Every secret you have discovered about my homeland hides a thousand more.”
—Parik Xiv’inn, drow scorpion wraith

The drow carve a deadly existence out of the ruined continent of Xen’drik. The dark-skinned elves believe it is they, not the rebels who fled to Aerenal, who truly preserve the dignity and valor of the elf race. Allied with monstrous scorpions, the drow battle the fallen race of giants over the ruins of the mysterious continent. As the most civilized inhabitants of ruined Xen’drik, the drow are the heirs to both the lingering might of giant nations and the ancient elven spellcraft once learned at the feet of dragons. The homeland of the drow is a contradiction of sorts—an ancient ruin that nonetheless holds magical treasures of almost unimaginable might. As Siberys shards fall on the broken landscapes and jungles, explorers from other continents brave sahuagin-filled waters to crowd the port city of Stormreach.
Lands: The jungles of Xen’drik are a harsh and unforgiving land; the drow dwell in the underground realm of Khyber as often as they haunt the ruins of aboveground Xen’drik. Covered by thick jungle and the ruined cities of the ancient giant kingdoms, the continent houses too many dangers for the drow to be able to establish large and stable cities such as those on Khorvaire. The largest drow settlements are underground.
Settlements: Drow settlements are small, temporary affairs. Occasionally a relatively large and powerful tribe might stay for some time in the ruins of a giant city, but such occupations are shortlived. The drow stay only long enough to plunder what artifacts they can.
Power Groups: Drow have few of the political struggles and rivalries that other races have. Family groups are simply too small and scattered to have anything other than sporadic contact. This intermittent contact is fraught with peril, though, as larger and more powerful family groups seek to absorb smaller groups of drow.
Beliefs: The drow in Eberron differ from those in other D&D campaigns in that they worship a scorpion-god named Vulkoor instead of the spider-goddess Lolth. Vulkoor is often envisioned as a giant scorpion or as a hybrid with the head, arms, and upper torso of a strong male drow and the lower body of a scorpion. Many drow believe that Vulkoor and the Mockery (one of the group of evil deities known as the Dark Six) are one in the same.
The drow also revere scorpions, considering other arachnids to be lesser servitors of Vulkoor. Xen’drik drow ritually scar themselves using scorpion venom, leaving white tattoos on their black skin.
Language: Drow speech is related to Elven in many ways, but the two races have been separate for such a long period that even their languages have grown apart.
Relations: Most drow have little interaction with members of other races; they fight the giants and monsters that roam their savage continent, and even avoid other drow family groups when possible. Drow are very suspicious of outsiders, and the few who interact with other races do so through the port of Stormreach.
When dealing with outsiders, drow reveal nothing of themselves or their family groups whenever possible, always attempting to use the outsiders for their own ends without exposing the secrets of Xen’drik. For this reason, members of other races often fi nd the drow to be a suspicious and sinister group.

DROW CHARACTERS

Powerful, deadly, and shrouded in mystery, drow make exotic and interesting characters. Although they have seldom left the desolate continent that they call home, they sometimes join groups of adventurers setting out from Stormreach—mostly to use the outsiders to further some ends of their own.
Adventuring Drow: Most drow adventure out of necessity—the dangers of their homeland constantly push them toward that life. Exploring the ruins of giant cities is one of few ways for most drow to improve their lives; finding the treasures of the ancients can ensure the welfare of an entire family group, not just a single drow.
Drow greatly desire personal power, and many take up the mantle of adventurer seeking to satisfy this urge. Whether this is simple greed or a reaction to the brutal continent on which the drow make their home is a question best left to the drow themselves. Although the drow are relatively few in number, the dangers of Xen’drik encourage a higher than normal percentage of the population to learn the skills of the adventurer. They fight for their existence daily amid dangerous jungles and ruined cities; adventurers powerful enough to face down giants and other foes are thus essential to a drow family’s survival.
Character Development: Drow characters have many powerful innate abilities, but they pay a price in the form of a costly level adjustment. Because they will have fewer Hit Dice and fewer hit points than other characters of their level, drow are often better off when they can deal with their foes from a distance. With their longer darkvision range, the drow are at their best when fighting underground, and they can sometimes remain out of their foes’ vision entirely when fighting.
Even considering their level adjustment, drow make powerful and dangerous spellcasters, especially when they choose classes that rely on Intelligence or Charisma for spellcasting.
Character Names: Drow typically have only two names, a personal name and a family name. Drow are very careful about sharing their family names, and it is considered an insult in drow society to ask about a family name. Among drow, sharing a family name is sometimes a sign of trust and friendship, but more often it is a sign of submission to a more powerful individual. Drow guard their family names so carefully not because of any personal danger or need, but because family is the ultimate source of loyalty for any drow; a drow never wants to give away any information that might weaken the family. Drow proper and family names feature multiple syllables, glottal stops (represented by apostrophes), and hard consonants.
Male Names: Ek’ann, Kaxxar, Xen’kar.
Female Names: Curra, Kas’asar, Kirris, Xen’va.
Family Names: Gen’thac, Torkak, Xar’cha.

ROLEPLAYING A DROW

Here are some tips and ideas to use when playing a drow. Feel free to incorporate any or all of these ideas into your character’s personality and mannerisms.
Drow are very loyal to their families and usually refuse even to give the family’s name to an outsider. Play accordingly, granting all inquiries about your family with suspicion or even violence. Adopt a callous attitude about the welfare of those not from your immediate family.
Products of a brutal environment, drow have little room in their personality for mercy. They prefer to strike first in any confrontation. Do your best to attack your foes from hiding, and don’t be shy about using poison to bring down foes with a minimal number of strikes.

DRIDERS

In the context of the drow worship of the Mockery, driders do exist, but not as outcasts punished by the Spider Queen. Rather, the drow of Xen’drik believe that driders are specially chosen servants of the Mockery. They do not seem to be individually created but are a distinct race that breeds true. There is said to be a different race of driders with the bodies of scorpions, possessing great innate ability as fighters, rangers, and monks.

DROW ENCOUNTERS

The drow of Xen’drik distrust outsiders; adventurers traveling through the lost continent are likely to face guerrilla attacks by poison-wielding drow scouts. These small teams of drow hunters prefer to strike from hiding and then fade into the jungle, seldom lingering even to gauge the effectiveness of their first volley of attacks. These scouts employ the venom of the sacred scorpions to make their hit-and-run tactics lethal.
EL 5: Pairs of scouts roam the jungles, relying on stealth and their knowledge of the terrain to stay away from giants and other dangerous creatures of the forest. These hunters do not stand and fight, instead fading into the jungle after one attack. The drow hunters often try to lead interlopers into dangerous areas inhabited by other creatures, especially if an opportunity arises to pit the intruders against a group of giants.
Drow Scout

DROW ADVENTURES

Drow make their home in Xen’drik, the vast continent of mystery and ruins, and adventures through the mysterious jungles of that continent are likely to feature confrontations with drow, giants, and other mysterious threats. Since Xen’drik is the sole known source of Siberys dragonshards, these treasures are likely to be the focus of many adventures in the homeland of the drow. At the very least, anyone venturing into the forbidding continent should take any opportunity to obtain the valuable shards or relics of the giants’ lost power.
• A gnome wizard approaches the characters seeking escorts for a trip to Xen’drik. A noted crafter of bound elemental items, the gnome possesses uncannily accurate information about the mystery continent and hints that the characters might learn a great deal about the gnome’s mastery of elemental items if they survive the trip.
• A new tribe of drow has moved into the vicinity of Stormreach, bearing Siberys shards of unusual size. It is clear this new tribe has recently endured the hardships of great conflict. Although the tribe prefers to keep outsiders at a distance, its members have nonetheless hinted at a ruined city of great size filled with a strange army of lifelike constructs and a large number of valuable dragonshards.

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