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Mystral
2010-01-31, 07:54 AM
Hi there.

I have a question for the community of the board.

Is it possible, or likely, for a drow wizard to have an imp familiar, or associate with devils in any other way? I am trying to faciliate something like that in a game, but the DM is telling me that drow will not barter or associate with devils, much less use them in such a way, because the goddess of the drow is Lloth, a demon.

I am now searching, out of curiosity and the faint hope to convince her otherwise, for examples of drow using devils as familiars or such. If any of you could point me to source material of that sorts, I would be very gratefull.

Cicciograna
2010-01-31, 07:59 AM
Lolth is not the only Drow deity: drows worshipping Vhaeraun, for example, would go out of their league to piss off the Queen of Spiders, so an Imp familiar for a worshipper of Vhaeraun would be ok.

BTW, Quasits are the demonic version of Imps...

Mystral
2010-01-31, 08:23 AM
Well.. the thing is, I'm playing the Imp ^^. (Don't ask, it's a silly game)

Grumman
2010-01-31, 08:27 AM
A devil is actually a better choice for a familiar than a demon. Only priestesses are permitted to summon one of Lolth's minions, meaning a wizard trying to do so is likely to get himself sacrificed.

Hallavast
2010-01-31, 09:17 AM
Lolth is not the only Drow deity: drows worshipping Vhaeraun, for example, would go out of their league to piss off the Queen of Spiders, so an Imp familiar for a worshipper of Vhaeraun would be ok.



+1

Further on that line of reasoning, not every drow need be a pious follower of any god, social norm, or so forth. The DM's ruling seems to be one based on the politics concerning mainstream drow society. So long as the drow character is willing to flout the rules, one would think he/she could certainly have such a companion. The concept shouldn't be so foreign to the group. If your DM has heard of drow, then he has likely heard of renegade drow...

storybookknight
2010-01-31, 09:40 AM
I believe R.A. Salvatore has a book where an ally of Jarlaxle's does in fact bind an imp that was a long-time nemesis of Cadderly as his familiar. So there's a fictional precedent, if you care about that sort of thing at all.

icastflare!
2010-01-31, 11:19 AM
I think its a great idea. an drow who defied lolth would have an imp in rebellion. Though who knows , maybe you could work in some drow or something to sacrifice the imp and you

Tanuki Tales
2010-01-31, 11:26 AM
Well, while we're on the subject, the second Faceless One did have a penchant of summoning Devils to try and discern which house was responsible for the downfall of his own and there were no real repercussions for him trying to ally with Devils. (Other then nearly getting frozen solid by an annoyed Ice Devil).

I dunno if Lolth really cares about the Blood War.

Hallavast
2010-01-31, 11:49 AM
Well, while we're on the subject, the second Faceless One did have a penchant of summoning Devils to try and discern which house was responsible for the downfall of his own and there were no real repercussions for him trying to ally with Devils. (Other then nearly getting frozen solid by an annoyed Ice Devil).

I dunno if Lolth really cares about the Blood War.

Lloth is one of those deities ( like corellon and gruumsh and moradin) that spans multiple campaign worlds. So maybe Fae-run Lloth doesn't care about Blood War politics. I thought I vaguely remembered some reference to the greyhawk version of Lolth getting involved in it from one of the Demonweb Pits modules... I could be wrong, though.

mostlyharmful
2010-01-31, 02:22 PM
if the mage himself is LE, non-religious or comes from an area of drow civilization that isn't nutty for Lolth and her stupidity veiled in divinity nonsense then there's not really much of a problem.

If he will get flayed alive just for the temerity of summoning up a friend that thinks like him there's always the Imps shapechanging to disguise it as an innocuous pet, a bat or a weasel or whatever.

Mordokai
2010-01-31, 02:34 PM
Lloth is one of those deities ( like corellon and gruumsh and moradin) that spans multiple campaign worlds. So maybe Fae-run Lloth doesn't care about Blood War politics. I thought I vaguely remembered some reference to the greyhawk version of Lolth getting involved in it from one of the Demonweb Pits modules... I could be wrong, though.

You thinking about Expedition to Demonweb pits? This is where(spoilers in white text) Lolth and Graazt form some sort of alliance to make a pact that will unite demonlords under one banner and enable them to attack the upper planes? That's the only module I can remember now that has any resemblance to Lolth getting involved in Blood war, even if only tangential(I think I just made that word up).

hamishspence
2010-01-31, 04:21 PM
I believe R.A. Salvatore has a book where an ally of Jarlaxle's does in fact bind an imp that was a long-time nemesis of Cadderly as his familiar. So there's a fictional precedent, if you care about that sort of thing at all.

That imp (Druzil) is strongly implied to be from the Abyss in all the Cleric Quintet novels though. And Servant of the Shard, as well.

Maybe, pre-3rd ed, you could have CE imps as well as LE ones?

mostlyharmful
2010-01-31, 04:23 PM
That imp (Druzil) is strongly implied to be from the Abyss in all the Cleric Quintet novels though. And Servant of the Shard, as well.

Maybe, pre-3rd ed, you could have CE imps as well as LE ones?

or maybe Salvatore doesn't understand dnd 3.5? He has high level wizards attacking with magic missle the whole damn time and a multiclass fighter/ranger/barbarian LA2 race DMPC taking on demon lords and great wyrms afterall... with like four items....:smalltongue::smallyuk:

Darcand
2010-01-31, 08:36 PM
I'm pretty sure no drow cares what type of poor creature you conjure up and enslave.

KillianHawkeye
2010-02-01, 12:50 AM
It shouldn't matter unless the wizard in question is living in a mainstream drow city in which he spends all day walking about flaunting his willingness to associate with infernal creatures. Even so, as long as it's only an Imp, he'd probably slide by with looks of disgust or a casual assassination attempt. That's pretty much par for the course with any drow living in Lolth-influenced drow society, though.