Drow story hooks

[Silentone98]

So got this new player looking to join my campaign,... the character design lacks orginality, but I am okay with it.
We got a female drow ranger, stolen while a babe by deep dwarfs. Apparently during one of the raids, one of the dwarfs couldnt bring down his axe on a baby and smuggled it thru the ranks. Later selling the baby to surface gnomes.
So the baby gets raised among the surface.

Now, I want to do something with this, but I come here looking for ideas, because I am not 100% familiar with the drow, and I can't get access to the books regarding them.
We established that she would belong to House S'sril, a now extinct house. But beyond that, idk what to do with it.

Maybe her house was eliminated by a rival, and to prevent the house from regaining power, it'll hunt her down, just to be sure? Kinda far fetched when she would have been marked as a casualty when the dwarfs raided.
So yea, I need help.

[Ravens_cry]

Maybe her house wasn't eliminated, but her family wants to rid the world of this 'abomination', a surface raised drow. After all, rumour of such a creature would spread pretty quickly, been incredibly uncommon.

[Surfnerd]

As far as back story goes. You decided she was taken in a raid by a compassionate deep dwarf. Maybe the drow entourage that was attacked by the dwarves wasn't completely annihilated. Just have one drow remain. Perhaps she let the dwarf take the baby knowing that the baby would have stood in her way to gain power in the house. So while severely wounded this drow just feigned death while the dwarf carted off the child. But as you said when the house the babe belonged to was turned on they came for that drow as well.

She as she lay dying by the hands of the rival drow house announced that one yet remained ferried off to the surface lands. If she returns she will regain her house. The Rival house seeks out the dwarves, the gnomes and then on to wherever they say this drow went.

[Silentone98]

Maybe her house wasn't eliminated, but her family wants to rid the world of this 'abomination', a surface raised drow. After all, rumour of such a creature would spread pretty quickly, been incredibly uncommon.

the house is extinct... thats already been established,.. just not the means of which it was. Everything else from this point I have creative freedom.

So, I suppose it would be more like: The remaining members of the house were enslaved by another. Somehow the secret of her existance was weaseled out of one of the members in a trade for a higher standing among those enslaved(would have been in conjunction with other secrets I am sure). Now that house that has her real family enslaved, wants her dead or enslaved as it's considered a slight that they didn't finish their assimulation of the other house? something like that?

[FujinAkari]

Well it isn't at all uncommon for Lloth to reveal unfortunate details. Perhaps the house that DID destroy House S'sril abruptly loses favor and begins to crumble some years later, and divination spells reveal that they did not, in fact, destroy their rivals all those years before.

[Silentone98]

Well it isn't at all uncommon for Lloth to reveal unfortunate details. Perhaps the house that DID destroy House S'sril abruptly loses favor and begins to crumble some years later, and divination spells reveal that they did not, in fact, destroy their rivals all those years before.

This could work...

Now what about other ideas, outside of getting murderous drow all over my party? as fun as that will be :)

Do we have any options here involving drow, without getting into combat?

[Ravens_cry]

Well, Drow is apparently part of her portfolio, so it makes sense she would be able to pick that out.

[Phelix-Mu]

So got this new player looking to join my campaign,... the character design lacks orginality, but I am okay with it.
We got a female drow ranger, stolen while a babe by deep dwarfs. Apparently during one of the raids, one of the dwarfs couldnt bring down his axe on a baby and smuggled it thru the ranks. Later selling the baby to surface gnomes.
So the baby gets raised among the surface.

Now, I want to do something with this, but I come here looking for ideas, because I am not 100% familiar with the drow, and I can't get access to the books regarding them.
We established that she would belong to House S'sril, a now extinct house. But beyond that, idk what to do with it.

Maybe her house was eliminated by a rival, and to prevent the house from regaining power, it'll hunt her down, just to be sure? Kinda far fetched when she would have been marked as a casualty when the dwarfs raided.
So yea, I need help.

I would point out a slight inconsistency in the behavior of the deep dwarf, but maybe he just realized that raising a drow in the underdark, outside of drow society would be difficult and dangerous, for himself and the drow in question.

The main things about the upbringing that would be weird are: how much do the parents/community know about drow? If drow are known on the surface, this is going to translate into racism, which among gnomes will probably amount to polite avoidance of the person.

So, the character is divorced from the normal drama that envelopes an adult/near adult drow that tries to leave home. You can either rope the PC back into this drama via the normal route of surface raid by drow. This is extremely typical, though, and since the drow don't even know of her survival and the gnomes aren't typical drow targets, this might not be entirely plausible. Not that drow have a problem with some random murdering in the name of their goddess (who is a fan of random murder).

I would, however, suggest a slightly different route. A female drow ranger...hmm. A character of infamous race x that grows up away from race x but is routinely subjected to the racism against race x (expect cold stares from dwarves, drawn bows from all but the most good-natured elves, and worried glances from humans) is likely to wonder about her heritage.

So, assuming that the player is aware of this mysterious heritage and accepts it as part of the character (pretty standard fare for orphans to wonder about heritage and explore it), then engineer a seemingly chance encounter with some drow. Perhaps the party at some point becomes aware of another drow renegade in the area. On the run from drow raiding parties, this renegade lives from battle to battle, surviving on wits and skill (esp. as most traditional drow equip is dramatically less effective on the surface), and the party may/may not be interested in helping. Regardless, have it mentioned in downtime or town visits that "there's more news about that dark-skinned elf that has been wandering around" and similar rumor mills.

So, you generate interest in a kindred spirit. Or not. The party eventually runs into the midst of it when another group of adventurers, on alert for drow raiding parties, kills the renegade, thinking him/her nothing more than another drow raider.

Again, if the player doesn't take the bait here, I wouldn't force it. Having one PCs backstory eat the plot of the campaign isn't particularly desirable, especially depending on party dynamic.

Otherwise, allow the PC to be there when the renegade is killed or otherwise play up the emotional angle, keeping in mind that this may be the first time that the PC has ever seen anyone that looks like herself (outside of books or w/e). While the adventurers that killed the renegade can't really be blamed, the PC (and sympathetic party members) may now be inclined to deal with the drow raiders.

Allow for a quest with payment by locals that want the drow dealt with, and maybe the PCs have to team up with other NPC adventurers (cause a drow raiding party is a force to be reckoned with, even without the oft-present spellcaster support). More racism and suspicion directed at the PC by other adventurers that doubt if she is trustworthy.

In short, a quest for knowledge about her heritage reveals a brutal truth, that the drow are a society of cruel beings that are anathema to most everything that makes most "civilized" surface races function. Again, after realizing this, maybe introduce some Elistraee/good-aligned drow character options, but don't force the whole party into the underdark to fight the drow if they aren't interested in doing so on their own. A city full of drow (how they are normally encountered beyond a simple raiding party) is no small plot device, and the drow have the muscle and inclination to throw the proverbial book at any non-traditional drow that happens to attract the attention of Lolth's priestesses.

[Silentone98]

Well, Drow is apparently part of her portfolio, so it makes sense she would be able to pick that out.

I imagine a drow worshiping any other diety would be quite the insult as well....
having an entire race worshipping one god exclusively is something I imagine would be jealously fought over to maintain.

@Phelix-Mu
very fine writeup there... thank you for all that, much of it will get used.
Just to clarify, I didn't find selling of the drow babe to be very contradictive. It stands to reason that the deep dwarfs would be aware that their tunnels arnt quite made to the size nessessary for day to day living for a taller race. And why not profit off the exhange if it is possible? If I could profit off sparing someones life, I would. I may just a bit skewed in my thinking there but it's not like it's a big detail. I am more than open to differing thoughts however.

umm,.. for gnomes raising them, I figured it would be the most likely race to be okay with that. I couldnt imagine regular elfs doing it like the player suggested. The racism was already planned to be very present, just toned down in the characters hometown as a very tolerant gnomish settlement.

[Phelix-Mu]

I imagine a drow worshiping any other diety would be quite the insult as well....
having an entire race worshipping one god exclusively is something I imagine would be jealously fought over to maintain.

The extent to which all drow worship Lolth exclusively is entirely setting-based. Even in the settings where she is clearly dominant, rival gods eventually set up small-time priesthoods (Vhaerun, from what I remember, and ofc, Elistraee). If Lolth is the only real player, then expect other gods to take minor interest in refugees, since mortals suffering from unique moral dilemmas are often noted by the powers that be. As the DM, the position of drow and the drow pantheon are entirely up to you.

That said, Lolth is entirely egotistical and wants to be the sole thought and prayer of her "children," even when she often treats them as little more than amusing monkeys that are capable of learning a few useful tricks. Not to mention, she is entirely sadistic towards anyone that falls short of her standards (which are not reasonable) or is made to look inadequate by more conniving peers. "Rewarded by Lolth" is one of those loaded phrases, even among her priesthood.

[Toy Killer]

For some reason I expect the drow house to play the role of 'Planet Vegeta' in her story line. It was the end of the Drow from her homestead, except all the ones that survived...

Dragon Ball z loved to throw out that all the Saiyans were killed with the explosions of Planet Vegeta, and yet, whenever a new Saiyan hit the show, they had a nifty story about how they escaped the planet exploding...

I would expect just shy of every Drow she meets in her time line to have an interesting story about how they evaded their doom from her house.

[Silentone98]

For some reason I expect the drow house to play the role of 'Planet Vegeta' in her story line. It was the end of the Drow from her homestead, except all the ones that survived...

Dragon Ball z loved to throw out that all the Saiyans were killed with the explosions of Planet Vegeta...


what... are you saying the entire city should be destroyed with random stragglers all over, coping with the loss in their own way?

[Surfnerd]

You could always have the dwarves hunt her down to use her as leverage against the drow. That eliminates the drow coming after her, unless they catch wind of it and it becomes a race to get her.

The dwarves want to back her claim to power so they can lord over the remaining drow houses.

[Phelix-Mu]

For some reason I expect the drow house to play the role of 'Planet Vegeta' in her story line. It was the end of the Drow from her homestead, except all the ones that survived...

Dragon Ball z loved to throw out that all the Saiyans were killed with the explosions of Planet Vegeta, and yet, whenever a new Saiyan hit the show, they had a nifty story about how they escaped the planet exploding...

I would expect just shy of every Drow she meets in her time line to have an interesting story about how they evaded their doom from her house.

That was why I suggested staying away from the genre-classic plotline "your house/rival house is out to get you." Which literally makes a great deal of the campaign about Lolth and her half-crazed priesthood and co.; certainly ample fodder for a campaign, and great role play for the drow PC. But expect this one PC's backstory to seem much cooler and relevant than would otherwise be the case.

If the whole group is fine with this, no problem, but avoid forcing everyone into a "the drow PCs family is hunting us all down...so why are we hanging out with her?" type of conflict. Cooperative parties might be fine with this kind of premise, but I know this would result in some disorderly behavior from the characters of certain of my players.

[Toy Killer]

I'm aware, but in DMing, it's easy to fall into the crutches. Time constraints, broken plans, abandoned plot hooks. It typically turns out that trying to make a story with 5 different leading roles tends to go awry when the leading roles aren't privy to your personal knowledge and when things fall unexpectedly, we tend to turn to the classic staples.

Just as movies needed to learn that making every villain in the pre-Christian Bale Batman movies the man responsible for killing Bruce's Parents, The DM should be cognitive to over using the staple of every Drow being a struggling survivor of the destroyed house.

I'm just pointing out a grinded cliche that could lead to eye-rolls across the table.