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panaikhan
2010-07-28, 07:10 AM
So, my 5th level Druid and his companion bit the dust, big style, while in the underdark.

The party are struggling for resources as it is, so bringing him back not the ideal option, so.....

I was looking at rolling up a Drow Cleric of Vhaerun as his replacement.
I've already OK'd the alignment (LE) and the 'drow transition class' rules, to allow me to start with a LA+0 Drow (albeit with very few racial abilities) 5th level cleric - my idea is to fill in the Drow levels once the party stop getting their asses handed to them.

Now, to my request for help.
The character will join the party as an agent of someone they are already working for, so no problems there. My problem is to come up with a 'back story' to explain why my character is initially missing the inate powers Drow normally have, and still have a means of gaining them as he advances.

Any suggestions are welcome (as well as optimisation ideas and any open-source material on Clerics of Vhaerun)

Delusion
2010-07-28, 07:14 AM
PErhaps she has spent too much time in sunlight?

Ingus
2010-07-28, 07:16 AM
Cleric of Vaerhaun in a Lolth dominated undercity. Discovered, outcast after a ritual which banished his innate powers. Run away, find shelter to the power he's agent of. Later, Vaerhaun faith let him manage to win the curse

panaikhan
2010-07-28, 07:21 AM
Vhaerun is supposed to be the Drow God most interested in the surface...

On a related note, I have a quandry.
Vhaerun is a God of thievery, and the party IS missing a thief - is there any way I can kind of help in that direction?
Dipping into thief is not good - a male Drow's preferred class is mage, not cleric or thief :smallfurious:

Frog Dragon
2010-07-28, 08:21 AM
Vhaerun is supposed to be the Drow God most interested in the surface...

On a related note, I have a quandry.
Vhaerun is a God of thievery, and the party IS missing a thief - is there any way I can kind of help in that direction?
Dipping into thief is not good - a male Drow's preferred class is mage, not cleric or thief :smallfurious:
Look into the domains you would get from Vhaerun. There may be something that helps. Being a god of thievery.. trickery domain?
Your dm actually uses favored class? Ouch.
But yeah, dipping rogue is not good anyway, because Thou Shalt Not Lose Caster Levels (Not without a really good reason anyway). In the same vein, do you think you could get Lesser Drow from Player's Guide to Faerun (Page 191)? They're basically drow that have been nerfed to LA 0.

panaikhan
2010-07-29, 07:07 AM
Your dm actually uses favored class? Ouch.

My DM uses encumbrance for coins...

But yeah. Being a Male Drow Cleric kinda sucks, unless I'm planning Mystic Theurge or something...


In the same vein, do you think you could get Lesser Drow from Player's Guide to Faerun (Page 191)? They're basically drow that have been nerfed to LA 0.

Don't have that book to hand, but I would like the Drow powers later on - or I'd have gone for a 'straight' elf.

hamishspence
2010-07-29, 07:34 AM
Rai-guy in The Silent Blade and Servant of the Shard is a male drow cleric of Lolth (with wizard levels) so, there is precedent for breaking the general "Lolth doesn't accept male clerics" principle.

Frog Dragon
2010-07-29, 07:43 AM
They have +2 Dex, -2 Con, Light Blindness, +2 to Will vs spells and SLA:s, 1/day SLA:s: Dancing Lights, Daze, Touch of Fatigue. Darkvision and free proficiency with rapier, hand crossbow and shortsword. No LA.

Vhaerun grants the domains of Chaos, Evil, Drow, Trickery and Travel. From these, I recommend Trickery and Travel. The Travel domain has a very good domain spell list, and if you have CChamp, the mediocre domain power can be turned into an awesome Devotion Feat. The trickery domain is pretty good too.

Your options for playing rogue are very limited here, since multiclassing is a character power suicide with the 20% xp penalty. (Incidentally, this is why very few people use the rule. It just locks you out of good character concepts.) The domains allow for limited rogue playing of rogue, but you can't, say, disarm a trap. Your spells, allow you to shore up your deficiencies somewhat. (Invisibility instead of hide, Detect Traps instead of search) and so on. Instead of sucking up 2 LA later on, I recommend taking the Drow Paragon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm#drowParagon) class and trying to get the GM ignore the stupid "cleric for females, wizard for males" rule. It would help your character power along, though it'd nerf you slightly. Much better than LA though.

If you do find a way to gain the crucial rogue skills on your list, you face on more problem. Skill points. Clerics barely have enough skill points to tie their own shoes. For this you need the Cloistered Cleric (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#clericVariantCloistere dCleric) who has less HD, less BAB, but an extra domain and more skill points.

But, yeah. You can't really emulate rogue without murdering your xp gain in this situation.

Edit: For the racial powers. You could explain that having betrayed his people with the worship of Vhaerun, the big spider above decided to retract her blessings so now you're a drow-minus. Your new deity could get them back.

Starshade
2010-07-29, 08:11 AM
The Drow could have some surface elven anscestry, and while still being almost full drow, simply didn't inherit them.

panaikhan
2010-08-02, 07:41 AM
OK. Played this character the weekend. Had to change the alignment to NE (pretty much the Drow alignment anyway).
I've swapped the 'spontaneous Inflict' ability for 'spontaneous Trickery' (PHB2), and got Track (more of a concept / fluff thing, but no-one else in the party can do it) and Weapon Finess so far as feats.

Backstory goes something like:
Character survived the rout of the city as a child (most of the controlling Drow were wiped out by disease and inter-house conflicts), but ended up at a surface settlement as manual labour. Without adult Drow to instruct him (and perform whatever rituals), his normal racial powers never fully manifested.
Later, as a cleric of Vhaerun, he gained 'employment' as an information gatherer and infiltrator within a guild that had dealings with his old city. He returned there for several reasons - vengeance, morbid curiosity, and an attempt to reclaim the powers that are his birthright as a Drow.
While in the city, he is instructed by his guildmaster to assist a group of adventurers (the PC's) doing odd-jobs for the guild. He sees this as an opportunity to escape the guild, and leave when the adventurers do.

I've seen some useful 'drow-only' feats - are these worth it, or should I stick to the standard ones?