d20 Goodman Games The Complete Guide to Drow.pdf

Credits

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Chapter One: Origins and Physiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Chapter Two: Social Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Houses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Name table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Deities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Chapter Three: Drow Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Drow as a Character Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Drow Mutations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Drider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Drothir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Half-Drow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Shatúrug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Shur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Urbam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Classes and Prestige Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Adamantine Soldier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Blood Druid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Dark Blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Keeper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Soulless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Weaver of Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

New Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Chapter Four: Drow Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Normal Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Poisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Artificial Limbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Drow Masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Chapter Five: Drow Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Cleric Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

New Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

Chapter Six: Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Designing Drow Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Appendix: New Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Animated Conveyance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Golems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Spider Ballista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Spider, Soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Venom Zombie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Writer: Jeffrey Quinn

Cover Artist: Thomas Denmark

Interior Artist: Brad McDevitt

Proofreader: Ken Hart

Developer & Editor: Joseph Goodman

Graphic Designer: Joseph Goodman

Playtesters: Melissa Brophy, Arthur

Gardiner, Darry Husky, Darcy “Frosty”

Martin, Brian “Little B” Mellem, Susie

Quinn, Cassandra Roma, Alexandra

“Sparky” Sloan, Teresa Stanton.

Dedicated to T. Jane McDevitt, mom to me

and entirely too many other people around

here! April 1, 1934- September 9, 2003

Questions or comments? Send them to us at

goodmangames@mindspring.com, or visit

our web site at www.goodman-games.com

Introduction

The fierce drow have haunted the history of the elves since time immemorial. Those surface-dwellers brave enough to venture into the

dark realms underground always find an unfriendly reception from the hated dark elves. Few return to the lands of the sun and sky to share

their terrible tales of the perverted drow world. In the underworld, the drow are known as among the cruelest creatures in an already cruel

land. They compete with the vile derro and corrupt duergar in an eternal struggle for dominance in a place where ferocity is the only option

for survival. Their use of slaves and fondness of the fighting pits make them feared by all whom they would war against, and most defenders

would rather kill themselves than be taken alive by the drow. Even the great powers of the underworld respect the drow, and sometimes fear

them outright, for their sorcerous talents go unmatched by most other races.

This book offers a complete guide to including the feared drow in your campaign, whether as characters or monsters. Everything you

need to role-play drow in your campaign is included, from social structure and cultural habits to combat strategies and new character options.

Players will find a wealth of new ways to field drow, and GMs will discover several new opportunities for encounters. The Complete Guide

to Drow is world-neutral and stand-alone, so the information found within can be integrated easily in any campaign.

Chapter One

Origins and Physiology

There are many conflicting stories as to the origins of the drow.

The elves of the surface tell one story, and the drow tell another.

There are regional variations, and clerics of some deities proclaim

one truth while other clerics speak differently. Regardless of the

details, one thing is certain: all elves, including the drow, were once

one people. The wars that drove them apart were the beginning of an

eons-old hatred.

The wars that ripped the elven nations asunder were known as

the Kindred Wars. During the years before these conflicts, a select

group of alpine elves grew in power. They began to sing their battle

hymns to the darkest gods then known to the elves. They called them-

selves the ben’docian, and they were tall, fierce, and proud. They

clung to the cliffs and crags of their mountainside citadels, raining

terror and death down on the grey and high elves that assaulted them.

The other elves called the ben’docians the drouin, or “dark elves.”

As the Kindred Wars progressed, and the drouin began to call

even darker powers from the depths of the chaotic Abyss, humans and

dwarves allied with the other elves to exterminate this hated foe. The

drouin fortresses were shattered by the combined strength of the

mighty human, dwarven, and elven armies that chased the merciless

drow, as the humans called them, from the mountains.

As the years stretched into decades, the drow searched for a

place to call home. They split into three nations. One of these nations

settled in the tropical jungles, and another in the arid deserts. They

soon fell back to the nomadic ways of their ancestors. They still had

the six-foot height, purple eyes, and platinum blonde hair of the ben’-

docian, but they exhibited changes as they conformed to their new

environments.

The ben’docian of the jungle began to develop green skin. Their

ears elongated, almost becoming double their original size. They dis-

covered that their attunement to arcane magic was beginning to shift

to a more nature-based aspect. They still called to the dark gods for

guidance and support, but of these dark powers few answered them.

Their strength increased, even as their numbers began to dwindle

from constant attacks by dinosaurs, aranea, and other elves. Soon the

last of the true ben’docian elves died off, leaving a legacy of forgot-

ten and deadly shrines to very fierce and evil gods in the most inhos-

pitable jungles of the world.

The ben’docian that moved to the desert took the name of the

drouin, as remembrance of what their cousins had done to them. As

they roamed the deserts, they darkened in coloration to deep caramel

and rich brown hues. They moved faster than they had before; gener-

ations of running across the sandy dunes strengthened their legs and

hardened their hearts. They became nomadic bandits, feared by all

who crossed their path. But their line did not end in bloodshed.

Instead, they were bred out of existence by mixing too often with the

humans that called the desert home. This became the root of the

Bedouin tribes that inhabit the desert to this day.

It was the third group, which had retreated to the deep halls and

caverns under the surface of the earth, that came to be what we now

call drow. This group was led by a few strong warrior-priestesses who

had escaped the genocide of their mountain fortresses. Under their

iron leadership and careful plotting, the drow came to settle the deep-

est corridors of the underworld, where even the dwarves feared to

mine.

After a few generations of hard work, and by the dark blessings

of the evil gods above, the drow forged a society based around their

collective hatred of their surface cousins. With this hatred and new-

found devotion to their gods came physical changes. The first was

darkened skin. As a drow grows older, her skin takes on an ashen

sheen. This makes her appear to be a very dark grey when young, and almost solid black by adulthood.

Glowing red eyes and a thick mane of stark white hair replaced the formerly platinum hair and blue to purple eyes. Their ben’docian

height was diminished to an average of 4 to 5 feet, with females being slightly taller. Their muscled bodies grew and corded from their cramped

cavern homes. Their fingers grew long and evolved an additional joint to accommodate their silent hand language.

After the dust of eons settled, a new race walked the earth. From the ashes of war, chaos, and death came a race of horror and resilience.

Welcome to the race known as the drow.

Chapter Two

Social Structure

Drow society is organized into the basic unit of the house. Each

house is an extended family living alongside its slaves, hirelings, and

mercenary soldiers. The houses are usually located in proximity to

each other, forming cities that can grow to great sizes when prosper-

ous. The houses themselves are organized on matriarchal principles,

and the ranking of the houses depends on religious and military sta-

tus. Several layers of social status pervade each house, with the slaves

and common drow warriors on the bottom; merchants and craftsman

in the middle; and the house nobility and clergy at the top.

The relative status of each house within the city is of paramount

important to each and every drow, just as their own status within their

house is a constant obsession. Drow society is ultimately lawless and

immoral. As such, the opportunities available to each drow are con-

tingent on the power they (and their house) can wield, and nothing

more. Conversely, the protection afforded to an individual is in direct

proportion to his power. A weak or dwindling house will see its

resources snapped up by competing houses – even stolen outright, if

they are brazen enough. At that point the weaker house will survive

only by growing in strength, or by forming alliances (at a disadvan-

tageous negotiating position) with houses that can protect it.

Despite this general lawlessness, drow society is far less prone to

anarchy than one would expect. The webs of power relationships that

connect the houses ensure that no affront goes unavenged. It is

“legal” for a drow to murder another drow, and the unstated law is

that the victor of such a struggle assumes the possessions and status

of the loser. But if the loser was in debt, the victor inherits that debt,

too, simply by virtue of the fact that his debtors will demand payment

from he who robbed them of their payment source. And if the

deceased had powerful allies, the victor may be in danger. Drow rela-

tionships are often furtive and unannounced, so no drow commits a

violent act without carefully investigating which behind-the-scenes

players may be affected by his actions.

A similar lack of morals pervades the houses. The drow within

each house are related by blood or marriage, but such relationships

count for little beyond keeping the violence in the family. Drow do

not switch houses, ever. Doing so is a form of treason. Other houses

will take drow defectors only as slaves, and nothing better. As a

result, the drow within each family scheme endlessly to raise their

status. There is no “out” – there is nowhere to go, short of leaving

drow society entirely – so the only step toward improvement is to

raise one’s status relative to others in the house. Doing so can involve

a combination of ingratiating oneself to the ruling house mother,

earning favor from a deity, weakening or even eliminating rivals out-

right, or dirty tricks, such as secretly arranging for rivals to “disap-

pear” when on mundane hunts.

Houses

Family is as important to the drow as it is to the dwarves and to

their surface elf cousins. The families of the drow are organized by

houses, each of which is ruled by the house matriarch. This house-

mother is the center of the family’s religious and tactical life style.

Following the housemother in family power is the eldest daugh-

ter-priestess. This eldest daughter will assume control over the fami-

ly when the current matriarch dies (whether from old age or intrigue).

Most often this intrigue is instigated by the eldest daughter seeking to

secure her place as the family’s new matriarch.

A house’s power is gauged not only by how many members it

can deploy in battle, but also by how many of its number are faithful

followers of the drow gods. If a house defeats another in the field of

battle, the losing family normally surrenders its priestesses and

priests to the victor. Depending on their reputation, the deities they

worship, and the skill with which they fought, these clerics will be

enslaved or offered low-level positions in the house. Enlarging its

ranks of worshippers brings the winning family closer to the drow

gods and further into their favor.

Of the other members of a drow family, wizards and fighters are

also highly prized. A favored wizard that performs well will often be

allowed greater personal freedom to pursue his own dark goals.

Fighters that exhibit a natural aptitude for defeating a family’s ene-

mies and keeping the internal security of the family intact can even-

tually earn the respect and favor of the females of the house.

Male drow are not expendable, but they are viewed as little bet-

ter than slaves if they are of common stock. All families try to keep

the number of males to a minimum and view multiple male births to

be a sign of ill favor in the eyes of the drow gods.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: