Editing Half-Elf (section)

==Half-Drow==
You may be curious; given that the [[drow]] are still elves, even if they are evil slave-taking bastards, can they interbreed with humans too? Well, ironically, D&D never really gave that angle much attention - even though [[Gygax]] probably would have agreed if you'd pointed it out that half-drow would make far more believable PC options than pure-blooded drow, being neither as overpowered as old-school drow were nor able to advance in the drow's twisted society and thus less likely to drink the kool-aid & be evil themselves. So, for the most part, half-drow have been ignored throughout D&D's history.

The very first mention of the idea was in [[Unearthed Arcana]] for AD&D 1e. Here, half-drow were described as literally nothing more than standard half-elves, but with the drow's sunlight vulnerability trait slapped on top (in short, whilst exposed to sunlight, you suffer -2 dexterity and a -2 penalty on your to-hit rolls, and your foes get a +2 bonus to their saving throws against your attacks - this decreases to a -1 to hit penalty and a +1 save bonus if you're in shadow but your victim is in direct sunlight). Not exactly the kind of thing to make people interested.

Half-drow appeared in 3e in the [[Forgotten Realms]] splatbook, [[Races of Faerun]]. Here, they are treated as half-elves who have Darkvision 60 feet and the trait "Drow Blood", which causes their race to be treated as Drow for the sake of any special effects or abilities that specifically target or otherwise key off of race. It's unclear if this supplements the normal Elf Blood racial trait (meaning half-drow can thusly use human, elf, ''and'' drow items & classes), or replaces it entirely; most DMs will probably come down on the latter side, though. The setting neutral 3e version of Drow of the Underdark would clarify that, yes, Drow Blood is basically Elf Blood with the added addendum of also counting as a drow for drow-specific effects. It also added a new feat to allow half-elves to function the way half-Drow originally ''should'' have been written:

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::'''''DROW LEGACY'''''
::The drow blood in your veins runs true and grants you some abilities from that heritage.
::'''Prerequisite:''' Half-elf "with drow ancestry" (whatever the fuck that means).
::'''Benefit:''' You have a +2 racial bonus on Will saves against spells and spell-like abilities. You have darkvision out to 60 feet. You receive Exotic Weapon Proficiency (hand crossbow), as well as Undercommon and the drow dialect of Elven as automatic languages.
::If you have an Intelligence score of 13 or higher, you also gain the following spell-like abilities, each usable once per day: dancing lights, darkness, and faerie fire. Your caster level equals your class level.
::'''Normal:''' A half-elf with drow ancestry normally just receives the half-elf racial traits as described in the Player’s Handbook.
::'''Special:''' Taking this feat also causes you to have light sensitivity: You are dazzled (–1 circumstance penalty on attack rolls, saves, and checks) in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.
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Alternatively, page 191 of the ''Player's Guide to Faerun'' details an optional rule called "Lesser Drow", which allows players to play as a severely nerfed version of a Drow with no level adjustment. It's actually a lot like a half-elf with the Drow Legacy feat, except that you don't have to waste a feat slot. Since this is basically what players are looking for in a half-Drow anyway, you can just ask a DM to let you play a Lesser Drow reskinned as a half-Drow.

Perhaps the best the poor half-drow have ever had it has been in 5th edition, where a half-elf can trade their two free skill proficiencies for the drow's racial spell-like abilities; it's not much, but at least it's something to represent drow ancestry, and it's decently beefy. The same can't be said for the half-drow option for [[World of Farland]] 5e, which trades the two free skill proficiencies for Darkvision 90 feet and a watered-down version of the drow's racial spell-like abilities (Dancing Lights cantrip, Faerie Fire 1/day at 3rd level).