Dark Elves/Drow

[SynissterSyster]

Greets fellow playgrounders. I am wishing to pick your brains on the subject of Drow. My question is but a simple one, probably been covered before. What, if anything, would you change about the Drow? I am cultivating ideas as I am trying to make a rpg and I am trying to not be the same as everyone else which will be near impossible. Thanks in advance.

[Yora]

First thing is to take away all the magic abilities or tone them down a lot.

Seeing in the dark and a bonus to saving throws against magic is already quite a nice upgrade compared to the basic elf.

If you want to follow the spider-priestesses-track, then I'd also put some effort into establishing that they are the top 5% of the most powerful people with the most money, and that the majority of the people are not nearly as fanatic, cruel, and bloodthirsty.

And as for all elves, limit the maximum life span to around 300 years, above that things become just too hard to imagine in a way that would still appear somewhat realistic.

[Johnny.JJ]

I am cultivating ideas as I am trying to make a rpg and I am trying to not be the same as everyone else which will be near impossible.

It's not impossible. But you can't expect to come up with something different, if you produce just another mellow Tolkien-ish clone crossed with some D&D-ish averageness.

Why is that so? It is so, because these games are just waaaay too non-specific, general, flat, etc. They have no rough edges, no personality, as they are designed to appeal to everyone (and offend no one).

The other way is to go original, i.e. your own way. Such a way can be a lot more enjoyable. But rest assured, this approach offends people.
Let me show you on an example: dark elves SUCK!!! Pointy ears, poor design, unsustainable culture.

A little analysis here: is there a good reason to hate these Tolkien-ish pointy ears, big beards, pig faces, etc.? Yes indeed! Why? Simply because they have been so overused that almost every earthly mortal has a certain conception of them in their own private minds. Everyone retains a fixated idea of what these elves are supposed to be all about - and that sets you, as a creator, into chains, as changing an established idea is a struggle against the current. You know, with the established elven core idea being rather bad (as Tolkien-ish style projects cultural differences (flexible, ubiquitous, mysteious, evolving in time) into physical bodies, "races" (very un-flexible, static, boring)), all the struggle against this nonsense ends up just as wasted energy.

Me, i got myself involved with two RPG worlds. The first one has only one race availabe: humans (as humans killed off all the old races). The other one is an alien planet inhabited by aliens. As simple as that.

Therefore, going bold and nonconformist is certainly a way.

[SynissterSyster]

Good points Johnny. I am hoping my idea is all original. My setting is exactly totally fantasy so I can move from the norm as much as possible. Still any ideas you all think up will help me see how far to go with the dark elves. Heck I may even just keep elves as one group instead of different sub races. Thanks to the Dark Eldar of 40K I got some nice ideas pumping already.

[Grimsage Matt]

as some said, Tolkien. The Noldor, or smith elves. Make the Drow the worlds version of dwarves:smalltongue: Ancient craftsmen who make the best weapons and armor you can find above or bleow ground.

[SynissterSyster]

The making them the best at building stuff is a great starting point. With seeing the Dark Eldar and a book from a studio I forgot I think that flesh sculpting would be something a tad unique. Still torn on if to have just one race called elves or split them up. I am leaning to one race.

[Grimsage Matt]

Flesh shaping? I know some graft feats, maybe they could have a racial that lets them ingrone race requirements? And theres the Xenoalchemist:smallbiggrin: I'll find 'em and link 'em.

[Zale]

You could always invert them.

Drow now are Chaotic Evil, sensual, xenophobic, backstabbing psychopaths that live far underground.

If you flip that, you get a Lawful Good race of ascetics that welcome others, are incredibly trustworthy and stable and live in a blazing desert beneath the sun.

...

I kind of want to make a world that has every thing inverted like that.

Drow are now trustworthy and virtuous desert dwellers, while their cousins are heavily hierarchical tyrants that want to butcher the natural world.

Goblins are very brave and charismatic, experts at strategy and direct warfare. Dwarves, however, are wild forest-dwelling barbarians banging sticks together and practicing fell sorcery.

Orcs are pacifistic scholars and magic-users, totally devoted to the preservation of knowledge.

Humans are so rare as to almost be a myth, the few that remain are secluded in remote locations away from others.

I think I'm going to homebrew now..

[TheWombatOfDoom]

You could always invert them.

Drow now are Chaotic Evil, sensual, xenophobic, backstabbing psychopaths that live far underground.

If you flip that, you get a Lawful Good race of ascetics that welcome others, are incredibly trustworthy and stable and live in a blazing desert beneath the sun.

...

I kind of want to make a world that has every thing inverted like that.

Drow are now trustworthy and virtuous desert dwellers, while their cousins are heavily hierarchical tyrants that want to butcher the natural world.

Goblins are very brave and charismatic, experts at strategy and direct warfare. Dwarves, however, are wild forest-dwelling barbarians banging sticks together and practicing fell sorcery.

Orcs are pacifistic scholars and magic-users, totally devoted to the preservation of knowledge.

Humans are so rare as to almost be a myth, the few that remain are secluded in remote locations away from others.

I think I'm going to homebrew now..

Very nice! I like that.

I don't know why, but that vaugely sounds like elements of the shannara series in some ways. Humans being the druids instead of humans.

[Zale]

Sounds vaugely like elements of the shannara series. Humans being the druids instead of humans.

That sounds vaguely familiar.

Is it the one with the magic rocks?

Or was that something else..

[TheWombatOfDoom]

That sounds vaguely familiar.

Is it the one with the magic rocks?

Or was that something else..

Elfstones? They would do things you wished for kinda? 3 of them and glowed blue?

[Zale]

It clicks now.

Elfstones, Druids, Wishsong.

I don't really see the similarities though.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

It clicks now.

Elfstones, Druids, Wishsong.

I don't really see the similarities though.

Just the fact that the races are mainly not human, but the more I think about it the less I see it so. Either way, I like your idea. I'm always looking for new ways to spin fantasy races. For the book I'm writing I lure the reader into a race with the first impression being similar to other stories. However, when they learn ANYTHING about them, I try to throw them off. Such as how dwarves work and things.

[SynissterSyster]

Dwarves I got a pretty solid idea for. Same with gnomes and halflings though the names will probably change for all of the above including the drow. Best way to really sum up everything is the world is kind of like Ravenloft. Parts of the world Savage, parts Dark Ages, parts Medieval, parts Steam Punk, parts Urban Fantasy/Modern, parts Cyberpunkish. My hardest part for fluff is how not to have space exploration up especially in the cyberpunkish areas.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Dwarves I got a pretty solid idea for. Same with gnomes and halflings though the names will probably change for all of the above including the drow. Best way to really sum up everything is the world is kind of like Ravenloft. Parts of the world Savage, parts Dark Ages, parts Medieval, parts Steam Punk, parts Urban Fantasy/Modern, parts Cyberpunkish. My hardest part for fluff is how not to have space exploration up especially in the cyberpunkish areas.

...with that much technology differences, there could be some major issues or different objects that achieve similar things. Races that are behind technologically might try to do things other technologies have different ways because they know it CAN be done. Part of what limits technology is the limitation of ingenuity. I never thought of automated transportation, so I don't try and invent it. If those ideas are already in place, things get a little mottled. Especially with customs. Or say war. Looters would be worrying less about gold, and more on all the technological crap. Maybe with space travel, there isn't enough of a resource to push away from the gravitational pull of the planet? There's some sort of folklore about once the sky is pierced, the gods will rain fire? I dunno, that's a tricky one.

[SynissterSyster]

Someone on another forums gave me a wonderful idea that fixes my problem. The realm outside of the planet's atmosphere is considered sacred amongst many peoples of the world. Through legends as well as actually experience going outside the boarders, so to speak, is more dangerous and not worth it as of now. Mixing tech isn't going to be too hard as magic is around and can help even up some things. To use an idea akin in Changling: The Dreaming is technology can mess up magic due to its nature. Not always but a good majority of the time.

The legends are passed by way of Duex Ex Machina/over arching power that keeps a lot of the world in line else things would just fall apart. Dragons help keep legends alive in ways I haven't thought of yet but they will!

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Someone on another forums gave me a wonderful idea that fixes my problem. The realm outside of the planet's atmosphere is considered sacred amongst many peoples of the world. Through legends as well as actually experience going outside the boarders, so to speak, is more dangerous and not worth it as of now. Mixing tech isn't going to be too hard as magic is around and can help even up some things. To use an idea akin in Changling: The Dreaming is technology can mess up magic due to its nature. Not always but a good majority of the time.

The legends are passed by way of Duex Ex Machina/over arching power that keeps a lot of the world in line else things would just fall apart. Dragons help keep legends alive in ways I haven't thought of yet but they will!

What is keeping some areas from being lower tech than others? How did tech develop if there is magic? Is there Magitech?

That was one of my thoughts to space travel, but I forgot to mention it! That works well. I like it. The atheists die in space and the believers think they've been smited.

The dragons comment made me lol.

[SynissterSyster]

Sorry for late reply. Had things come up. There is magitech in the world and the reason it is not so wide spread is because there is a group that keeps a lot of things in check. If it were not for this group there would be a lot more chaos in this world.

[JetThomasBoat]

An idea I might suggest is saying why the drow became different than normal elves. Instead of having it be that they developed black skin (and ridiculous racial bonuses) from going under ground when Corellon kicked that spider b!#^% to the curb, maybe in the dawn of time while Corellon was busy fighting Gruumsh and all that, a bunch of weird aboleths kidnapped some of the outlying elven populations when they were expanding. The aboleths made the drow have dark skin for some weird, alien reason or something. Maybe something to do with them being in the aboleth's underwater cities. And make the drow have the amphibious subtype. Maybe they can caste dancing lights or faerie fire or whatever because they use it to hunt underwater, like those fish with the red lights on their heads. They cast it in a color other underwater creatures can't see, but it allows them to.

This is just some brainstorming, but you know, there are lots of ways you can go with it, really.

[Amidus Drexel]

Why don't you give the magitech to the humans? That gives it a reason for it's rarity (seeing as there aren't many humans around) and perhaps tells you why the humans are so hard to find. Maybe humans all fell victim to a supernatural curse, and only the ones with magitech are still alive (the scientists/inventors/godwizards).

[SynissterSyster]

Hold on a sec. Humans are around and pretty plentiful. I am sorry if I gave off that vibe but humans are not gone. I am really tempted on just having the drow and saying the normal elves are either extinct or never exsisted. These dark elves, with a new name being thought up, ca have any skin color due to thier high fleshcrafting. Heck it is just as easy to remove everyones favorite spider queen for something like the persuit of perfection in all forms.

[Amidus Drexel]

Oops. Dunno where I got that idea. It might have been in someone else's post as a suggestion.

Back on topic...
Yeah, get rid of Lolth. She causes so many problems that she even puts Tharizdun and Vecna to shame.

[SynissterSyster]

No problem. A spider motif is okay to have but I am not going to have Lolth running around. Heck all of my deities will be as original as possible.

[Grimsage Matt]

For the Magi-Tech thing.... http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114229 The Engineer. It's a good 'un.

For the Flesh Crafting thing.... http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=11304680#post11304680 the Xenoalchemist.

[Pokonic]

A explination for the unsustanible culture:


Most drow are spider-born. As in, the children of Driders, who give birth to around a hundred drow at one time. The drow can afford to do horrible things to each other because down the line a new batch could be made.

[SynissterSyster]

Just to say. This is probably going ot be my own system. Thanks for all the links to D20 style classes and things but the system probably will be more of a percentage system then using a 20, that or using a D12 just to be kooky.

Anypony it will all be pretty cool so more updtes coming.

EDIT:

Hey all I wanted to post a small update. I have come to an idea. Drow are fae-kin that are a bit more vicious then other fae-kin. They have some long lived but are mortal that there are not any that are past one thousand years old. Most are dead by way of bloodshed way before that. They are all sensation addicts, craving a new experience or feeling, hence the fleshgrafting.

Now don't think they are all pierced up or tattooed. They have a wide variety of looks. To really put it into view they are a healthy mix of classical drow, dark eldar from warhammer 40k, and the cenobites from Hellraiser. ^_^ A nice happy bunch.