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Drow

2019-02-24T14:52:40Z

2601:601:1500:DA8:49:4DF5:6025:AD04: /* See also */ sandwichs = sandwiches inadvertantly = inadvertently

{{Promotions}}
[[File:45308.jpg|400px|thumb|right|I think Drow is a pretty cool guy, eh evil and isn't afraid of anything]]

'''Drow''' are black-skinned and white-haired subterranean [[elves]] who are allergic to sunlight. The strange thing is they live underground, but have black skin due to their curse by [[Corellon]] when [[Lolth]] turned them away from the other elven gods. They produce adamantine equipment (which falls apart in sunlight, yet is bad-ass underground), take slaves, are ruled by a matriarchy that likes S&M, have magic resistance and hate normal elves. In short, they'd be fucking cool, were it not for the fact that 90% of all player character Drow will be Chaotic Good and be Rebelling Against The Evils Of Their Race, thanks to the raging hard-on underages have on [[Drizzt]]. As a result, even though dark elf pr0n is 1; common, 2; totally acceptable given their interests, and 3; totally relevant when somebody asks for dark elf pictures (see 2) people still get whiny on /tg/ at anything moderately crude. Sure, we're trying to hold back the tide of cancer, but where dark elves are concerned, it's totally good.

[[Eberron]]'s Drow are somewhat different, in that they have gender equality (more or less), hang out in jungles with the Yuan-Ti, and worship Vulkoor, a dickish scorpion god who looks like a cool guy to hang out with compared to [[Lolth]]. Their mamas also actually love them rather than whip them everyday then sacrifice them later. They're still a bunch of racist dicks, though. Still, Eberron Drows are the more tolerable Drows, have a nice childhood, and at least they can be reasoned with easier. This means you can play as a Drow there without issues you'll have in any another setting.

[[Drider]]s are what happens when drow take their obsession with spiders a bit too far. The specifics vary.

[[Shadow Elf|Shadow Elves]] are the [[Mystara]]n equivalent to Drow, and are frankly way less fucked up.

==Character templates==
===AD&D and 2nd Edition===
During this era, Drow were recommended as being restricted to the role of monsters, due to their in-game lore; both [[Drizzt Do'Urden]] and [[Viconia de'Vir]] stand out as "playable" drow, with backstories to explain why they're on the surface instead of down in the Underdark. That said, The Complete Book of Elves splatbook did give rules for playable Drow and holy ''fuck'' were they powerful... IF you were playing in the Underdark.

+2 Dex, +1 Int, -1 Constitution, -2 Charisma for initial ability score modifiers, and with racial maximums of 18, 20, 17, 19, 18 and 16 for Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma respectively. They have a bunch of spell-like abilities, all usable once per day; Dancing Lights, Faerie Fire, and Darkness by default, with Levitate, Know Alignment and Detect Magic gained at level 4. Drow [[Cleric]]s get even more, in the form of Clairvoyance, Detect Lie, Suggestion and Dispel Magic. Also, they ''start'' with Magic Resistance 50% and increase it by +2% per level, to a max of 80%, and get a +2 bonus on all saves involving magic.

So, what's the drawback? Aside from the sensitivity to light (-2 penalty to Dexterity and Attack Rolls, enemies are +2 bonus to saves vs. drow spells), they also lose their powers if they spend more than two weeks outside of the Underdark, losing 10% Magic Resistance and one spell-like ability each day. If they go back to the Underdark, they get their powers back if they spend 1 day for each week they spent on the surface. Also, they get a -4 penalty to Reaction rolls against other elves, and increase their experience costs by +20%.

===3rd edition===
3E had rules in the core set for monsters as races. For Elf (Drow) the effective Character level (ECL) was 3, so a 1st level Drow elf is equivalent to a 3rd level regular elf character. The usual elf bonuses and flaws, plus: +2 Int, +2 Cha, Darkvision 120' instead of elf-normal lowlight vision, Spell resistance of 11+level, +2 to will saves for spells, can cast these spell-like abilities 1/day: dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire, weapon proficiencies are hand-crossbow rapier and shortsword instead of elf-normal, sudden bright sunlight will blind a drow for 1 round, and the drow will be dazzled until they leave the bright light. Boy drow have [[wizard]] as their favored class, girl drow have [[cleric]] (of [[Lolth]]) as favored class.

The larger array of spell-like abilities they had in AD&D, such as Levitation, are retconned in this edition as being exclusive to drow nobility only. That's not to say mechanics to let a PC have access to these powers were completely unavailable.

They had an article on their culture in [[Dragon Magazine]] #298 that really emphasized the darker side of drow culture. Want a sample? According to this lore, drow don't die out because, despite their tendency to murder and torture each other, they're as fertile as [[orc]]s, with females normally conceiving twins and triplets. They normally only birth a single baby, though, because the strongest usually kills and absorbs the others in the womb; these prenatal struggles actually produce orgasms more intense than anything a drow female might feel elsewhere. This sensation, ''chad-zak'', is explicitly called out as the main reason why drow women are willing to get pregnant at all, considering the selfish power-hungry bitches they generally are.

[[Eberron]] has a drow sub-race called the Umbragen, who possess strange, mystical powers connecting to the darkness. Mechanically, this is represented by replacing their spell saving throw bonus with a + 2 racial bonus to Hide & Move Silently checks, swapping their weapon proficiencies for longbow, shortbow, longsword & rapier, and making their [[Favored Class]] into [[warlock]], plus a racial-restricted set of variant abilities for [[soulknife]] and a bevy of racial feats. All of this appears in [[Dragon Magazine]] #330.

===4th edition===
The 4E Monster Manual had some explicit monsters-as-races in the back, and the Drow were one of them, although they got an identical repost in the 4e [[Forgotten Realms]] Player's Guide alongside the [[Genasi]] -- fittingly, since FR basically created the idea of Drow PCs.

For Drow, +2 Dex and +2 Cha or +2 Wis, Darkvision, +2 Intimidate, +2 Stealth, Fey Origin, Trance, and one racial encounter power (Llothtouched) that could be used as a minor action for one of two effects that last until the drow's next turn: a close-burst-1 darkness spell the drow can see through, or a faerie-fire spell that gives combat advantage against the target.

Drow had a couple of [[Dragon Magazine]] articles available to them. Issue #367 featured the article "Children of Darkness", a setting-neutral (in that it was equally applicable to both the [[Nentir Vale]] and the [[Forgotten Realms]]) guide to drow with new racial feats, a racial [[Paragon Path]] (the Curseborn) and a racial [[Epic Destiny]] (the Redeemed Drow). Ironically, it brought back the idea of drow having greater racial magic without touching upon the old mechanics; a paragon level racial feat called Highborn Drow gave the drow a third effect to their Lolthtouched racial power; Webs of Darkness creates blinding webbing of solidified shadow that ensnare all enemies in a close blast 3. This was then followed by issue #413, which abounded in new racial themes for drow; the Bregan D'Aerthe Mercenary, the Elderboy, the Melee-Magthere Champion, the Sorcere Adept, the House Priestess, the Widow of Arach-Tinilith, the Ooze Master, the Secret Apostate, and the Skulker of Vhaerun.

===5th edition===
Drow are '''finally''' mentioned in the Player's Handbook as an equal option for elf subtypes. The usual elf advantages, along with +1 Cha, 120' darkvision, automatic knowing some spells: the 'dancing lights' cantrip at 1st, the 'faerie fire' 1/day at 3rd level, and 'darkness' 1/day at 5th level. Automatic weapon proficiencies are hand-crossbows, rapiers and shortswords. They are also the ''only'' race to receive an explicit ''penalty'' in the core book: if the drow or the drow's target are in direct sunlight, the drow has disadvantage on attack rolls and perception rolls. Better hope you fight indoors a lot.

That said, they haven't remained the only penalized race in 5e. Both the [[duergar]] and the [[kobold]] also have the same Sunlight Sensitivity weakness, whilst kobolds and [[orc]]s are the only races in the game to have ability score penalties - something that caused an immediate outburst of [[skub]], since that mechanic had seemingly been dumped since 4th edition.

Xanathar's Guide gave them a boost with a new racial feat; Drow High Magic. Reflecting the "noble drow" spell-like abilities of AD&D, this feat grants a drow the ability to cast Detect Magic at will and both Levitate and Dispel Magic once per long rest without a spell slot.

==Pathfinder==
Pathfinder ditches the [[Lolth]] aspect and instead makes Drow aligned to assorted [[Demon Prince]]s instead. They got playable templates for the first time in their Bestiary entry, and updated versions thereof in the Advanced Races Guide. Pathfinder goes back to really, really freaking old Drow lore by stating that there's two kinds of Drow; normal Drow, and Noble Drow, who're even tougher and nastier, with a lot more magical powers. These were handled as separate races in the Bestiary, but ARG instead changed it to a Drow race with a bunch of racial feats to simulate Noble Drow abilities, which is arguably more balanced.

Fluff-wise, they're tied into the weird sf-bent of the [[Golarion]] setting, being the descendants of elves who refused to flee the planet in the face of a catastrophe, and turned to demon worship to survive. First-generation drow are actually the result of elves who've broken really bad physically and psychologically transforming into dark elves. Natural-born drow aren't actually innately evil, but their culture, which engages in the traditional practices of slavery, human sacrifice, etc., with the lovely addition of "[[Tzimisce| fleshcrafting]]," is so hideously corrupt that almost all of them end up bad anyway. They aren't matriarchal like classic drow either. Just assholes. Their [[drider]]s are... well, see that page.

===Drow===
* Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Con
* Size: Medium
* Speed: 30 feet
* Darkvision 120 feet
* Drow Immunities: Drow are immune to Magic Sleep Effects and get a +2 racial bonus to saves vs. Enchantments.
* Keen Senses: +2 Racial Bonus on Perception checks.
* Spell Resistance: 6 + class level
* Spell-Like Abilities: Dancing Lights, Darkness and Faerie Fire, each 1/day.
* Light Blindness: Abrupt exposure to bright light blinds a drow for 1 minute and leaves them dazzled on all subsequent rounds until they get out of the light.
* Poison Use: Drow don't risk poisoning themselves when they apply poison to weapons, etc.
* Weapon Familiarity: Free proficiency in Hand Crossbow, Rapier and Shortsword.

===Noble Drow===
* Ability Score Modifiers: +4 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Wis, +2 Cha, -2 Con
* Size: Medium
* Speed: 30 feet
* Darkvision 120 feet
* Drow Immunities: Drow are immune to Magic Sleep Effects and get a +2 racial bonus to saves vs. Enchantments.
* Keen Senses: +2 Racial Bonus on Perception checks.
* Spell Resistance: 11 + character level
* Spell-Like Abilities:
** Constant: Detect Magic
** At-Will: Dancing Lights, Deeper Darkness, Faerie Fire, Feather Fall, Levitate
** 1/Day: Divine Favor, Dispel Magic, Suggestion
* Light Blindness: Abrupt exposure to bright light blinds a drow for 1 minute and leaves them dazzled on all subsequent rounds until they get out of the light.
* Poison Use: Drow don't risk poisoning themselves when they apply poison to weapons, etc.
* Weapon Familiarity: Free proficiency in Hand Crossbow, Rapier and Shortsword.

{{Pathfinder-Races}}
{{D&D4e-Races}}
{{D&D5e-Races}}

==See also==
* [[Unified Setting/Drow]] - Arctic merchant vikings who ride giant lobsters. But still with black skin and white hair.

* [[Drizzt| Drizzt Do'Urden]] - A... [[skub|polarizing character]], but still the most famous and iconic drow hero in ''D&D''.

* [[Viconia de'Vir]] - A [[cleric]] of Shar in the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' games, and a good example of a "PC-friendly" drow who ''isn't'' a chaotic good Drizzt clone. Also [[Bioware]]'s first "sexy, mildly-evil-but-mostly-misunderstood lady love interest" character, setting the template for all those that followed. Had an incredibly complex, tragic and deep story in the sequel involving brotherly love and sacrifice. May have inadvertently spawned [[Drowtales|a horribly Mary Sue webcomic funded by clinical psychopaths with too much money to spare and an axe against humanity to grind.]]

*[[Sandwich Stoutaxe]]: 1d4chan's take on the heroic Drow, she was abandoned by her family and raised by a Dwarf. So named because said dwarf found her in a basket that he thought was full of sandwiches.

* [[Drowtales]]: When an admittedly skilled bunch of [[drawfag|artists]] with the mental maturity of a blighted potato makes a webcomic series financed by sponsor avatar insertion, porn requests, and the worst, ''plot dictation'' and slather copious amounts of [[Skub]] onto it.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:drow_blackface.jpg|not racist; or at least not THAT kind of racist
File:Drows_in_SPEEES.jpg|in the skin darkness of the future, there is only Mary Sues. A.k.A [[Drowtales]]: How to be a mangaka-faggot with cognitive dissonance.
File:Drizzt by Todd Lockwood.jpg|did I mention the [[Drizzt|Mary Sues]] yet?
File:Yafgc drow matriarchy advantages.png|drow men have [[Rule 34|a place]] in their matriarchy
File:Drow scouts by jonhodgson.jpg|[[Meme|Welcome to the jungle]], where you can play a Drow however you want
File:Xendrik Drow.jpg|Xen'drik's drows like to tattoo themselves with scorpion venom.
</gallery>

==Monstergirls==
{{Monstergirls}}
[[Image:MGE Dark Elf.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The Dark Elf maiden is an alluring creature, if in a different way to her light-skinned cousin.]]

Given that female elves are practically canon [[monstergirls]] in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] to begin with (where do you think [[Half-Elves]] come from? Human women pouncing on cute elven men? Pah!), and that the drow are both female led ''and'' have a long tradition of cheesecake/pin-up tier femdom-heavy artwork for their females - there's a reason drow are often mocked on nu-/tg/ as a culture made up of cheesy BDSM pin-up art - it should be no surprise that drow feature in works of erotica just as frequently as their surface cousins. Indeed, the talk of D&D sessions everywhere must have had since the late 90's, inevitably, sexualized Drow raids owing to Greenwood's [[Magical Realm]]. Often called "Dark Elves", their skin tone ranges from the actual drow onyx/blue/purple to more dusky brown colors, which leads to the nickname "chocolate elves" being used for erotic female drow characters.

Given the heavy BDSM themes in actual drow society, it should be no surprise that drow monstergirls are usually portrayed as dominatrixes in the same way. Asian hentai artists, however, like to subvert the idea by portraying them as submissives instead of dominatrixes; chocolate elf slaves and maids are as old as [[Elf slave, wat do?]] threads. Might have something to do with dark skin being inferior in Asian cultures.

In the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]], the Dark Elves have willingly embraced [[succubus]]ization, unlike their Light Elf kindred. This has turned them into a perverse culture of dominatrixes, who take human men as their sexual slaves. They were some of the setting's earliest [[skub]] when it was confirmed that they actually do practice incest, with young dark elves being taught the arts of sexual dominance, bondage and sado-masochism by using their fathers as their subs - that was quickly blown out of the water by other controversial aspects of the setting, like the revelation that ''most'' monstergirl daughters will generally lose their virginities to their fathers and then decide whether they do or don't want to go and find their own boyfriend later.

Drow

2019-02-24T14:47:24Z

2601:601:1500:DA8:49:4DF5:6025:AD04: eh evil and doesn't afraid of anything] = isn't

{{Promotions}}
[[File:45308.jpg|400px|thumb|right|I think Drow is a pretty cool guy, eh evil and isn't afraid of anything]]

'''Drow''' are black-skinned and white-haired subterranean [[elves]] who are allergic to sunlight. The strange thing is they live underground, but have black skin due to their curse by [[Corellon]] when [[Lolth]] turned them away from the other elven gods. They produce adamantine equipment (which falls apart in sunlight, yet is bad-ass underground), take slaves, are ruled by a matriarchy that likes S&M, have magic resistance and hate normal elves. In short, they'd be fucking cool, were it not for the fact that 90% of all player character Drow will be Chaotic Good and be Rebelling Against The Evils Of Their Race, thanks to the raging hard-on underages have on [[Drizzt]]. As a result, even though dark elf pr0n is 1; common, 2; totally acceptable given their interests, and 3; totally relevant when somebody asks for dark elf pictures (see 2) people still get whiny on /tg/ at anything moderately crude. Sure, we're trying to hold back the tide of cancer, but where dark elves are concerned, it's totally good.

[[Eberron]]'s Drow are somewhat different, in that they have gender equality (more or less), hang out in jungles with the Yuan-Ti, and worship Vulkoor, a dickish scorpion god who looks like a cool guy to hang out with compared to [[Lolth]]. Their mamas also actually love them rather than whip them everyday then sacrifice them later. They're still a bunch of racist dicks, though. Still, Eberron Drows are the more tolerable Drows, have a nice childhood, and at least they can be reasoned with easier. This means you can play as a Drow there without issues you'll have in any another setting.

[[Drider]]s are what happens when drow take their obsession with spiders a bit too far. The specifics vary.

[[Shadow Elf|Shadow Elves]] are the [[Mystara]]n equivalent to Drow, and are frankly way less fucked up.

==Character templates==
===AD&D and 2nd Edition===
During this era, Drow were recommended as being restricted to the role of monsters, due to their in-game lore; both [[Drizzt Do'Urden]] and [[Viconia de'Vir]] stand out as "playable" drow, with backstories to explain why they're on the surface instead of down in the Underdark. That said, The Complete Book of Elves splatbook did give rules for playable Drow and holy ''fuck'' were they powerful... IF you were playing in the Underdark.

+2 Dex, +1 Int, -1 Constitution, -2 Charisma for initial ability score modifiers, and with racial maximums of 18, 20, 17, 19, 18 and 16 for Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma respectively. They have a bunch of spell-like abilities, all usable once per day; Dancing Lights, Faerie Fire, and Darkness by default, with Levitate, Know Alignment and Detect Magic gained at level 4. Drow [[Cleric]]s get even more, in the form of Clairvoyance, Detect Lie, Suggestion and Dispel Magic. Also, they ''start'' with Magic Resistance 50% and increase it by +2% per level, to a max of 80%, and get a +2 bonus on all saves involving magic.

So, what's the drawback? Aside from the sensitivity to light (-2 penalty to Dexterity and Attack Rolls, enemies are +2 bonus to saves vs. drow spells), they also lose their powers if they spend more than two weeks outside of the Underdark, losing 10% Magic Resistance and one spell-like ability each day. If they go back to the Underdark, they get their powers back if they spend 1 day for each week they spent on the surface. Also, they get a -4 penalty to Reaction rolls against other elves, and increase their experience costs by +20%.

===3rd edition===
3E had rules in the core set for monsters as races. For Elf (Drow) the effective Character level (ECL) was 3, so a 1st level Drow elf is equivalent to a 3rd level regular elf character. The usual elf bonuses and flaws, plus: +2 Int, +2 Cha, Darkvision 120' instead of elf-normal lowlight vision, Spell resistance of 11+level, +2 to will saves for spells, can cast these spell-like abilities 1/day: dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire, weapon proficiencies are hand-crossbow rapier and shortsword instead of elf-normal, sudden bright sunlight will blind a drow for 1 round, and the drow will be dazzled until they leave the bright light. Boy drow have [[wizard]] as their favored class, girl drow have [[cleric]] (of [[Lolth]]) as favored class.

The larger array of spell-like abilities they had in AD&D, such as Levitation, are retconned in this edition as being exclusive to drow nobility only. That's not to say mechanics to let a PC have access to these powers were completely unavailable.

They had an article on their culture in [[Dragon Magazine]] #298 that really emphasized the darker side of drow culture. Want a sample? According to this lore, drow don't die out because, despite their tendency to murder and torture each other, they're as fertile as [[orc]]s, with females normally conceiving twins and triplets. They normally only birth a single baby, though, because the strongest usually kills and absorbs the others in the womb; these prenatal struggles actually produce orgasms more intense than anything a drow female might feel elsewhere. This sensation, ''chad-zak'', is explicitly called out as the main reason why drow women are willing to get pregnant at all, considering the selfish power-hungry bitches they generally are.

[[Eberron]] has a drow sub-race called the Umbragen, who possess strange, mystical powers connecting to the darkness. Mechanically, this is represented by replacing their spell saving throw bonus with a + 2 racial bonus to Hide & Move Silently checks, swapping their weapon proficiencies for longbow, shortbow, longsword & rapier, and making their [[Favored Class]] into [[warlock]], plus a racial-restricted set of variant abilities for [[soulknife]] and a bevy of racial feats. All of this appears in [[Dragon Magazine]] #330.

===4th edition===
The 4E Monster Manual had some explicit monsters-as-races in the back, and the Drow were one of them, although they got an identical repost in the 4e [[Forgotten Realms]] Player's Guide alongside the [[Genasi]] -- fittingly, since FR basically created the idea of Drow PCs.

For Drow, +2 Dex and +2 Cha or +2 Wis, Darkvision, +2 Intimidate, +2 Stealth, Fey Origin, Trance, and one racial encounter power (Llothtouched) that could be used as a minor action for one of two effects that last until the drow's next turn: a close-burst-1 darkness spell the drow can see through, or a faerie-fire spell that gives combat advantage against the target.

Drow had a couple of [[Dragon Magazine]] articles available to them. Issue #367 featured the article "Children of Darkness", a setting-neutral (in that it was equally applicable to both the [[Nentir Vale]] and the [[Forgotten Realms]]) guide to drow with new racial feats, a racial [[Paragon Path]] (the Curseborn) and a racial [[Epic Destiny]] (the Redeemed Drow). Ironically, it brought back the idea of drow having greater racial magic without touching upon the old mechanics; a paragon level racial feat called Highborn Drow gave the drow a third effect to their Lolthtouched racial power; Webs of Darkness creates blinding webbing of solidified shadow that ensnare all enemies in a close blast 3. This was then followed by issue #413, which abounded in new racial themes for drow; the Bregan D'Aerthe Mercenary, the Elderboy, the Melee-Magthere Champion, the Sorcere Adept, the House Priestess, the Widow of Arach-Tinilith, the Ooze Master, the Secret Apostate, and the Skulker of Vhaerun.

===5th edition===
Drow are '''finally''' mentioned in the Player's Handbook as an equal option for elf subtypes. The usual elf advantages, along with +1 Cha, 120' darkvision, automatic knowing some spells: the 'dancing lights' cantrip at 1st, the 'faerie fire' 1/day at 3rd level, and 'darkness' 1/day at 5th level. Automatic weapon proficiencies are hand-crossbows, rapiers and shortswords. They are also the ''only'' race to receive an explicit ''penalty'' in the core book: if the drow or the drow's target are in direct sunlight, the drow has disadvantage on attack rolls and perception rolls. Better hope you fight indoors a lot.

That said, they haven't remained the only penalized race in 5e. Both the [[duergar]] and the [[kobold]] also have the same Sunlight Sensitivity weakness, whilst kobolds and [[orc]]s are the only races in the game to have ability score penalties - something that caused an immediate outburst of [[skub]], since that mechanic had seemingly been dumped since 4th edition.

Xanathar's Guide gave them a boost with a new racial feat; Drow High Magic. Reflecting the "noble drow" spell-like abilities of AD&D, this feat grants a drow the ability to cast Detect Magic at will and both Levitate and Dispel Magic once per long rest without a spell slot.

==Pathfinder==
Pathfinder ditches the [[Lolth]] aspect and instead makes Drow aligned to assorted [[Demon Prince]]s instead. They got playable templates for the first time in their Bestiary entry, and updated versions thereof in the Advanced Races Guide. Pathfinder goes back to really, really freaking old Drow lore by stating that there's two kinds of Drow; normal Drow, and Noble Drow, who're even tougher and nastier, with a lot more magical powers. These were handled as separate races in the Bestiary, but ARG instead changed it to a Drow race with a bunch of racial feats to simulate Noble Drow abilities, which is arguably more balanced.

Fluff-wise, they're tied into the weird sf-bent of the [[Golarion]] setting, being the descendants of elves who refused to flee the planet in the face of a catastrophe, and turned to demon worship to survive. First-generation drow are actually the result of elves who've broken really bad physically and psychologically transforming into dark elves. Natural-born drow aren't actually innately evil, but their culture, which engages in the traditional practices of slavery, human sacrifice, etc., with the lovely addition of "[[Tzimisce| fleshcrafting]]," is so hideously corrupt that almost all of them end up bad anyway. They aren't matriarchal like classic drow either. Just assholes. Their [[drider]]s are... well, see that page.

===Drow===
* Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Con
* Size: Medium
* Speed: 30 feet
* Darkvision 120 feet
* Drow Immunities: Drow are immune to Magic Sleep Effects and get a +2 racial bonus to saves vs. Enchantments.
* Keen Senses: +2 Racial Bonus on Perception checks.
* Spell Resistance: 6 + class level
* Spell-Like Abilities: Dancing Lights, Darkness and Faerie Fire, each 1/day.
* Light Blindness: Abrupt exposure to bright light blinds a drow for 1 minute and leaves them dazzled on all subsequent rounds until they get out of the light.
* Poison Use: Drow don't risk poisoning themselves when they apply poison to weapons, etc.
* Weapon Familiarity: Free proficiency in Hand Crossbow, Rapier and Shortsword.

===Noble Drow===
* Ability Score Modifiers: +4 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Wis, +2 Cha, -2 Con
* Size: Medium
* Speed: 30 feet
* Darkvision 120 feet
* Drow Immunities: Drow are immune to Magic Sleep Effects and get a +2 racial bonus to saves vs. Enchantments.
* Keen Senses: +2 Racial Bonus on Perception checks.
* Spell Resistance: 11 + character level
* Spell-Like Abilities:
** Constant: Detect Magic
** At-Will: Dancing Lights, Deeper Darkness, Faerie Fire, Feather Fall, Levitate
** 1/Day: Divine Favor, Dispel Magic, Suggestion
* Light Blindness: Abrupt exposure to bright light blinds a drow for 1 minute and leaves them dazzled on all subsequent rounds until they get out of the light.
* Poison Use: Drow don't risk poisoning themselves when they apply poison to weapons, etc.
* Weapon Familiarity: Free proficiency in Hand Crossbow, Rapier and Shortsword.

{{Pathfinder-Races}}
{{D&D4e-Races}}
{{D&D5e-Races}}

==See also==
* [[Unified Setting/Drow]] - Arctic merchant vikings who ride giant lobsters. But still with black skin and white hair.

* [[Drizzt| Drizzt Do'Urden]] - A... [[skub|polarizing character]], but still the most famous and iconic drow hero in ''D&D''.

* [[Viconia de'Vir]] - A [[cleric]] of Shar in the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' games, and a good example of a "PC-friendly" drow who ''isn't'' a chaotic good Drizzt clone. Also [[Bioware]]'s first "sexy, mildly-evil-but-mostly-misunderstood lady love interest" character, setting the template for all those that followed. Had an incredibly complex, tragic and deep story in the sequel involving brotherly love and sacrifice. May have inadvertantly spawned [[Drowtales|a horribly Mary Sue webcomic funded by clinical psychopaths with too much money to spare and an axe against humanity to grind.]]

*[[Sandwich Stoutaxe]]: 1d4chan's take on the heroic Drow, she was abandoned by her family and raised by a Dwarf. So named because said dwarf found her in a basket that he thought was full of sandwichs.

* [[Drowtales]]: When an admittedly skilled bunch of [[drawfag|artists]] with the mental maturity of a blighted potato makes a webcomic series financed by sponsor avatar insertion, porn requests, and the worst, ''plot dictation'' and slather copious amounts of [[Skub]] onto it.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:drow_blackface.jpg|not racist; or at least not THAT kind of racist
File:Drows_in_SPEEES.jpg|in the skin darkness of the future, there is only Mary Sues. A.k.A [[Drowtales]]: How to be a mangaka-faggot with cognitive dissonance.
File:Drizzt by Todd Lockwood.jpg|did I mention the [[Drizzt|Mary Sues]] yet?
File:Yafgc drow matriarchy advantages.png|drow men have [[Rule 34|a place]] in their matriarchy
File:Drow scouts by jonhodgson.jpg|[[Meme|Welcome to the jungle]], where you can play a Drow however you want
File:Xendrik Drow.jpg|Xen'drik's drows like to tattoo themselves with scorpion venom.
</gallery>

==Monstergirls==
{{Monstergirls}}
[[Image:MGE Dark Elf.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The Dark Elf maiden is an alluring creature, if in a different way to her light-skinned cousin.]]

Given that female elves are practically canon [[monstergirls]] in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] to begin with (where do you think [[Half-Elves]] come from? Human women pouncing on cute elven men? Pah!), and that the drow are both female led ''and'' have a long tradition of cheesecake/pin-up tier femdom-heavy artwork for their females - there's a reason drow are often mocked on nu-/tg/ as a culture made up of cheesy BDSM pin-up art - it should be no surprise that drow feature in works of erotica just as frequently as their surface cousins. Indeed, the talk of D&D sessions everywhere must have had since the late 90's, inevitably, sexualized Drow raids owing to Greenwood's [[Magical Realm]]. Often called "Dark Elves", their skin tone ranges from the actual drow onyx/blue/purple to more dusky brown colors, which leads to the nickname "chocolate elves" being used for erotic female drow characters.

Given the heavy BDSM themes in actual drow society, it should be no surprise that drow monstergirls are usually portrayed as dominatrixes in the same way. Asian hentai artists, however, like to subvert the idea by portraying them as submissives instead of dominatrixes; chocolate elf slaves and maids are as old as [[Elf slave, wat do?]] threads. Might have something to do with dark skin being inferior in Asian cultures.

In the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]], the Dark Elves have willingly embraced [[succubus]]ization, unlike their Light Elf kindred. This has turned them into a perverse culture of dominatrixes, who take human men as their sexual slaves. They were some of the setting's earliest [[skub]] when it was confirmed that they actually do practice incest, with young dark elves being taught the arts of sexual dominance, bondage and sado-masochism by using their fathers as their subs - that was quickly blown out of the water by other controversial aspects of the setting, like the revelation that ''most'' monstergirl daughters will generally lose their virginities to their fathers and then decide whether they do or don't want to go and find their own boyfriend later.

Svirfneblin

2019-02-24T14:38:59Z

2601:601:1500:DA8:49:4DF5:6025:AD04: all lother saving throws. = all other saving throws.

[[File:Deep_Gnome.jpg|400px|right]]
If you're a newcomer to the realms of [[Dungeons & Dragons]], you may be wondering: "wow, there's an [[elf]] subspecies for almost every frigging region, and the [[dwarf]]s are almost as bad. There's even versions down in the [[Underdark]]. But what about [[gnomes]]? Do they have kin down there?"

Well, the answer, my young rookie, is a resounding yes. There are Underdark gnomes. They're called the Svirfneblin. And they've been down there [[Old School Roleplaying|a long, LONG time...]]

The Svirfneblin are a species of gnomes related to the common "Rock" Gnomes, but with an incredibly pronounced fixation on gemstones. Maybe they've got dwarf in them somewhere. So, as a result, the entire race lives in well-hidden mining compounds and cities in the depths of the [[Underdark]], where they can get at veins of precious gems far better than any surface-based miner could hope to have. Unlike their elfish and dwarven counterparts, despite being the "grey-skinned tunnel dwelling subrace", svirfneblin ''aren't'' "Usually Evil" - in fact, they're predominantly neutral in alignment, being quiet and reclusive types who just want to be left to their work and prefer to avoid any non-gnomes they might encounter. Of course, as a short list of their neighbors includes [[drow|psycho demon-worshipping elves]], [[derro|demented dwarves]] [[duergar|who want to exterminate/enslave all other life]], [[aboleth|giant psychic catfish who want to enslave everybody]], [[illithid|brain-sucking, body-jacking squid-men]], [[grimlock|blind cannibalistic cavemen]] and [[troglodyte|foul-smelling ultra-carnivorous lizard-people]], this is a rather sensible attitude to take. Needless to say, in addition to being expert miners and gemsmiths, svirfneblin are well-known for their innate affinity for illusion magics that better hide them. They're not bad with earth [[elementalism]], either.

However, despite being the only non-evil Underdark demihumans, or perhaps because of it, the svirfneblin have never really caught on. Ironically, they survive to this day perhaps only because of the prominence of the [[Forgotten Realms]] and their association with one particular drow, despite the general hatred that the drow have for the Deep Gnomes. That drow is, of course, [[Drizzt]] Do'Urden, whose second book talks about how he ultimately survived in the Underdark before making his way to the surface thanks to his befriending the inhabitants of a svirfneblin city - ironically echoing their role when introduced in the AD&D 1e modules D2 - [[Shrine of the Kuo-Toa]] and D3 - [[Vault of the Drow]].

Thusly, although never allowed to truly hold the spotlight, svirfneblin have been present in every single edition, and playable whenever they appeared.

==PC Stats==
===AD&D===
Playable Svirfneblin first appeared in the 1e supplement ''Unearthed Arcana'', before reappearing for 2e in both ''The Complete Book of Gnomes & Halflings'' and ''Players Option: Skills & Powers''.

''1e Version:''
::Standard Gnome traits in all ways bar notified here.
::60% chance to camouflage themselves against natural stone in the [[Underdark]], which functions as invisibility and is broken as such.
::Must be male; female svirfneblin do not become adventurers.
::+2 bonus on saving throws versus poison.
::+3 bonus on all other saving throws.
::Immune to phantasms and illusions.
::Svirfneblins who have not taken the Illusionist class can, upon reaching level 6, cast Conjure Elemental to summon an Earth Elemental once per day. The result of this summons is determined by rolling a D20; a 24HD earth elemental is summoned on a 1, a 16HD one on a 2-6, a 12HD one on a 7-10, an 8HD elemental is summoned on a result of 11-15, a xorn appears instead on a 16-18, and on a 19-20, the summoning fails.
::Can cast Blindness, Blur and Change Self 1/day each as if an Illusionist of equivalent highest class level.
::Permanent Non-Detection effect (self only).
::Infravision 12', ultravision 3'.
::Light Blindness: All vision ranges reduced to 3' when in bright light and they suffer a -1 penalty on "to hit" rolls.
::Only surprised on a roll of 1 on a d12.
::Can surprise others on a 1-9 roll on a D10 if attempting to do so alone or with other svirfneblin whilst not wearing bulky armor.
::Cannot have psionic abilities.
::+1 bonus on "to hit" rolls and damage rolls against [[drow]] and [[kuo-toa]].

''2e Version:''
::Ability Score Minimums: Str 6, Dex 6, Con 6, Int 3, Wis 4, Cha 3
::Ability Score Maximums: Str 18, Dex 19, Con 18, Int 17, Wis 18, Cha 16
::Ability Score Adjustments: +1 Wis, +1 Dex, -1 Int, -2 Cha
::Infravision 120 feet
::Detect Underground Features: When underground, can detect slopes (1-5), depth (1-4) and direction (1-3) by rolling a D6, and unsafe stonework by scoring a 1-7 on a roll of a D10.
::Magic Resistance: 20%, +5% per level beyond the 3rd.
::Saving Throw Bonus: +2 to saving throws vs. Poison, +3 to all other saving throws.
::Inherent Illusionist Powers: Permanent Non-Detection, can cast Blindness, Blur and Change Self 1/day each.
::Freeze In Place: 60% to go undetected by an observer, even if that observer has infravision.
::Surprise Bonuses: Can only be surprised on a roll of a 1 on a d10, 90% chance to surprise appopnents.
::Defense Bonus: Svirfneblin Warriors have a natural AC of 2, and their AC increases by one point for ever level beyond 3rd, maxing out at AC -6.

===3e===
The 3e svirfneblin appeared in no fewer than three [[Forgotten Realms]] sourcebooks; the ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting'', ''Races of Faerun'' and ''Underdark''. It also got a downgraded "lesser" version, which lacked the level adjustment penalties of the true svirfneblin, in a web-expansion for ''Player's Guide to Faerun''.

''3e Svirfneblin:''
::-2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -4 Charisma
::Small
::Base Speed 20 feet
::Darkvision 120 feet
::Racial Bonuses: A svirfneblin has a +2 racial bonus on all saving throws, a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against illusions, a +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against kobolds and goblinoids, a +2 racial bonus on Craft (Alchemy) and Listen checks, and a +2 racial bonus on Hide checks that doubles to +4 in underground environments.
::+4 Dodge bonus against all creatures.
::Spell Resistance: 11 + Class Level
::Stonecunning: +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, can automatically make a Search check for this purpose when they come within 10 feet of unusual stone, and can intuit depth underground.
::Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day - Blindness/Deafness, Blur, Disguise Self. Caster level equals class level. Save DC is Charisma-based with a +4 racial modifier.
::Nondetection (Su): A svirfneblin is under a permanent Nondetection effect (caster level equals class level).
::Increase the saving throw DC of all Illusion spells cast by +1.
::Weapon Familiarity: Gnome Hooked Hammers.
::Favored Class: [[Rogue]]
::[[Level Adjustment]]: +3

''Lesser Svirfneblin:''
In addition to the standard gnome abilities, except where noted, a Leser Svirfneblin has the following traits:
::-2 Strength, +2 Dexterity (replaces default gnome ability adjustments)
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Stonecunning: +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, can automatically make a Search check for this purpose when they come within 10 feet of unusual stone, and can intuit depth underground.
::+2 racial bonus on saving throws vs. spells and spell-like effects (relaces gnome bonus to saves vs. illusions).
::+1 dodge bonus to AC against all creatures (replaces the gnome's +4 dodge AC vs. giants).
::Weapon Familiarity: Gnome Hooked Hammers
::Increase the saving throw DC of all Illusion spells cast by +1.
::Spell-like Abilities: 1/day - Resistance, Daze, Lullaby, caster level equals 1/2 character level, DC 10 + spell level + Cha modifier.
::+2 racial bonus on Hide checks, which doubles to +4 when underground.
::Favored Class: [[Rogue]]

====Pathfinder====
Ironically, despite their long association with D&D, svirfneblin are - or at least were - legal enough for [[Pathfinder]] to use them in the ''Advanced Race Guide'' and its follow-up ''Inner Sea Races''. However, perhaps due to the tenuous nature of that claim, those were the only books they received any attention in, and Pathfinder mostly prefers to focus on the Pech instead.

::+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength, -4 Charisma
::Gnome
::Small
::Slow Speed: 20 feet
::Defensive Training: +2 dodge bonus to AC
::Senses: Darkvision 120 feet and Lowlight Vision
::Fortunate: +2 racial bonus on all saving throws
::Skilled: +2 racial bonus on Stealth checks (+4 when underground), Craft (Alchemy) checks and Perception checks.
::Hatred: +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against humanoids with the Reptilian and Dwarven subtypes.
::Stonecunning: As per Dwarf.
::Spell Resistance: 11 + Character Level.
::Svirfneblin Magic: +1 to the DCs of all Illusion spells cast, constant Nondetection effect on self, cast Blindness/Deafness, Blur and Disguise Self 1/day, caster level equals character level.

===4e===
Although easily missed due to only appearing in the obscure supplement ''Into The Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook'', the svirfneblin do appear in this edition and even retain most of the key elements of their original lore.

::Ability Scores: +2 Wisdom, +2 Strength or +2 Constitution
::Small
::Speed: 5 squares
::Vision: Darkvision
::Skill Bonuses: +2 Dungeoneering, +2 Perception
::Earth Walk: You ignore difficult terrain based on earthen material, such as rubble or uneven stone.
::Fey Origin: You are considered a Fey creature for all effects relating to a creature's origin.
::Under-Dweller: Dungeoneering is always a class skill for you.
::Racial Power: Stone Camouflage

* Stone Camouflage
''Your body becomes stony and magically blends with the terrain around you, making you harder to pinpoint.''
::Encounter
::Illusion
::Minor Action
::Personal
::Effect: You gain Partial Concealment until the end of your next turn and gain +5 temporary hit points, increasing to +10 at 11th level and +15 at 21st level.

Given that this was a late 4e production, it goes without saying that they came with multiple racial feats and racial utility powers to further strengthen the flavor and impact of the race upon your PC, a design decision that had been planned from the beginning, but which 4e initially chose to back off on for whatever reason.

For '''feats''', you have:
* ''Crew Savvy:'' Requires training in Athletics, grants you a +3 to Athletics checks made to climb. Additionally, when making Dungeoneering or Athletics checks to climb, an ally adjacent to you gains a +2 feat bonus if they attempt to make the same sort of check before the end of your next turn.
* ''Deep Durability:'' Only available to Svirfneblin [[Warden]]s, this grants you a further +3/5/7 temporary hitpoints (depending on tier) when you use your Stone Camouflage power per enemy marked by you before using it.
* ''Deepstone Blessing:'' Only available to Svirfneblin [[Cleric]]s, this causes your Healing Word to also grant bonus temporary HP equal to your Constitution modifier.
* ''Fade to Gray:'' When you are hit by an attack whilst partially concealed thanks to Stone Camouflage, you become invisible until the end of your next turn or until you attack. Essentially, you get the benefits of both your own racial power and that of the [[Feywild]] [[Gnome]], and this feat's fluff states that it reflects a svirfneblin whose ancestry remains strongly tied to their cousins.

For '''racial utilities''', you have:
* ''Ring of Rubble:'' Level 2 Daily, as a Minor action you can cause the outermost squares of a close burst 2 to become difficult terrain to all creatures without Earth Walk for the rest of the encounter.
* ''Words from the Deep:'' Level 2 Encounter, as a Free action you can use a Dungeoneering check instead of a Diplomacy or Streetwise check.
* ''Deep Senses:'' Level 6 Daily, as a Minor action you can grant yourself Tremorsense 5 until the end of the encounter. Once per round, as a minor action, increase the range of your tremorsense by 1, to a maximum of Tremorsense 10.
* ''Stony Disappearance:'' Level 6 Encounter, as a minor action you can become Invisible until the end of your next turn or until you attack.
* ''Stony Durability:'' Level 6 Daily, as a minor action you can grant yourself Resist 5 to all damage until the end of the encounter.
* ''Crystal Shield:'' Level 10 daily, as a minor action you can conjure a crystalline shield around yourself. It has hit points equal to your healing surge value and lasts until encounter's end or it drops to 0 HP. Whilst it remains, you gain a +2 bonus to AC and Reflex, and when hit by an attack that targets either defense, you can use a free action to make the shield absorb as much of the damage as you wish, depleting its HP accordingly. You still take all other effects of the attack, including damage that either was not absorbed or which exceeded the shield's hit points.
* ''Summon Earth-Friend:'' Level 10 Daily, as a minor action, you can summon a Tiny earth elemental that can't fight, but which can scout for you.
* ''Walk Through Stone:'' Level 10 Encounter, when standing on a stone surface or adjacent to terrain made of stone, as a Move action, you can teleport up to 10 squares to any other spot that will bring you to a stop either on a stone surface or adjacent to stone terrain.

===5e===
With their long history, it goes without saying that svirfneblin as a gnomish subrace were a shoe-in for the ''Elemental Evil Player's Guide'', and subsequently were reprinted in the Forgotten Realms' ''Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide''. They are unique amongst the playable races of 5e so far in that they compensate for their traditional abundance of magical powers by delegating most of their spell-like abilities to a racial feat. This is a trait 5e has yet to reuse for other, similarly "extra strong" races.

::Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Intelligence (from Gnome), +1 Dexterity (from Svirfneblin)
::Size: Small (from Gnome)
::Speed: 25 feet (from Gnome)
::Vision: Superior Darkvision - 120 feet (from Svirfneblin)
::Gnome Cunning: Advantage on all Int, Wis and Cha saving throws against magic (from gnome).
::Stone Camouflagee: Advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks in rocky terrain (from Svirfneblin).

* Feat: Svirfneblin Magic
Requires: Gnome race and Svirfneblin subrace
Effect: You can cast Nondetection on yourself at-will. You can also cast each of the following spells once with this trait and must then complete a long rest before you can cast them again: Blindness/Deafness, Blur, and Disguise Self. All spells cast with this feat key off of your Intelligence.

{{D&D2e-Races}}
{{D&D5e-Races}}
{{Pathfinder-Races}}

==Monstergirls?==
{{monstergirls}}
Given the fact that [[gnome]]s struggle to find a niche for themselves in the [[monstergirls]] market, and that svirneblin are obscure even amongst D&D fans, and you'll probably be disappointed if you go out looking explicitly for MG versions of the race.

Which is a shame, because they're actually quite compatible with it. Beyond the natural appropriateness for the [[shortstack]] style, given they ''are'' a gnomish subrace, there's also the fact that, culturally, svirfneblin females are encouraged to take great pride in their domestic skills. Female deep gnomes are the masters of the domicile, hard workers who take pride in their ability to manage the household, keep their spouses healthy and happy, and look after the children. And speaking of kids, did we mention that because of where they live, svirfneblin understandably place a lot of importance on reproducing? Not only do they cherish their children, but svirfneblin society actually encourages large families, offering rewards and benefits social, financial and otherwise to those who prove dedicated to pushing the svirfneblin race back from the brink of extinction. If you like gnomes, but also like the pregnancy fetishism typically associated with monstergirl [[goblin]]s, then svirfneblin can give you the best of both worlds.