Drizzt Do'Urden,why all the hate?

[Gorbad the Limb Rippa]

Being new to this forum,I browsed around a bit and found that quite a few people have showing quite a bit of dislike towards a certain duel scimitar weilding drow.
So i decided to make a thread for the Drizzt dislikers/likers to rant on so this issue can be illuminated.
enjoy

[Krursk]

It's not that most people hate Drizzt himself, it's just that most people resent the hordes of DnD characters who spurned their Drow ancestry and made enemies with the Drow

[Amiria]

I love Drizzt Do'Urden. I love playing my character Rakhsicz Ka'Ryssol who is a chaotic good, dual-wielding (longswords), Ranger/Fighter/Dervish/Tempest drow renegade.

What should be wrong with that ?

[Ali]

Yeah... Krursk is right. There are so many drow that are trying to rebel against their evil kin or something... it would be interesting if someone played a drow how they are supposed to be - evil. Then paladins woulden't have to worry about acidentally smiting a good creature that looked like a member of an evil society.

[Ali]

"What should be wrong with that ?"

Of course nothing is wrong with playing a character like that... but it would be more interesting to see an evil drow turn good after having agreed with the drow way for most of their life.

[Were-Sandwich]

I believe she was being sarcastic

[Ali]

Whoops.

Still, like I said, if you did want to play a character like that, you should develop into it rather then just begin like that.

Seriously, how would a level 1 or 2 drow survive if they tried to rebel?

[Yuki Akuma]

I find it annoying when someone feels the need to make a prestige class based entirely around a single character's fighting style to explain why he can make so many attacks per round as well as move during the same round.

I'm looking at you Dervish.

[Amiria]

No, I wasn't sarcastic.

Although there are some personality traits of Drizzt that I dislike, like his pseudo-philosophical moping and his reluctant behaviour with Cattie-Brie, he is still a great character.

Well, and my Rakhsicz was born in a neutral/good renegade drow city so he was non-evil from the start (I started playing him as chaotic neutral).

But I also played a character (human half-vampire ranger with Undead as favoured enemy) who started as neutral, shifted to good, fell from grace to evil, repented and became good again, and then failed again. A very interesting character indeed. But for some reason nobody trusts him anymore ...

[Beleriphon]

Being new to this forum,I browsed around a bit and found that quite a few people have showing quite a bit of dislike towards a certain duel scimitar weilding drow.
So i decided to make a thread for the Drizzt dislikers/likers to rant on so this issue can be illuminated.
enjoy

A large part is, as mentioned, the horde of copy cats after Drizzt first appeared. Now it has more to do with his mopiness. When I read the novels I tend to skip Drizzt's little bits of introspection at the start of each section, or chapter, or whatever.

[AtomicKitKat]

Drizzt, Raistlin, Aragorn, Legolas, Gandalf. These are the names that you see in practically any fantasy-setting-ed MUD/MMORPG/whatever, and even some that aren't. It's always some fanboy/girl who has their own idea of what the character should be like. It's so bad that some servers actually ban people who make these names, or force namechanges on those who use them.

[Gorbad the Limb Rippa]

"What should be wrong with that ?"

Of course nothing is wrong with playing a character like that... but it would be more interesting to see an evil drow turn good after having agreed with the drow way for most of their life.

I have played an evil drow,infact i played a evil drow assaaain in a relativly good party,the only reson ididnt die was a ring of mind shielding.
oh,and killing the entire party after a rather hard encounter(during said encounter i hid away so i could kill them after)

[Ali]

Oooohh... Gorbad, that sounds like exactly what I would expect a drow to do if they joined my party. Very drow-like behaviour.

[Krursk]

On evil parties: ((slightly off topic but hey, what the hell))
Me and my friend adventure with my friend's cousins. We play a party that is allied with the Drow against a common enemy: Dragons. Of the party three of us are Evil and the other is a paladin. So I think I trump every poster here for stuffed up parties

[Gorbad the Limb Rippa]

Ali-->

well technically they died of natural causes,
because a dagger in the back would naturally cause death:)

[Ali]

Heh heh... never trust a drow.

'Tis why it's good to have natural weapons. Can't be stolen from you in your sleep.

[Athenodorus]

With all these good Drow running around, maybe Lady Silverhair is finally breaking through? Many of my favorite characters are those that started out evil or neutral and redeemed themselves.

Though on topic, I don't really see why so many people go crazy with Drow-love, except maybe for the domineering females thing, but that's a discussion for another day. ;)

[blackout]

I personally have no problems with the Drizzt thing, but it does get annoying after awhile, all the copycats. The one reason my friend wouldn't make a drow at all(despite that's what he wanted)was because he was afraid of that drow turning into a Drizzt-clone. So he went kobold instead, and now is the teams primary offensive spellcaster.

[Neo]

Characters inspired by that choice are fine, as would any drow who goes 'oh look he did it so why can't I?' Its the clones that ruin it, with such examples as Bzzt Baenre and his pet cat Gwenwhyhere?

[Reinforcements]

I think R.A. Salvatore's books are terrible more than I hate Drizzt particularly.

[blackout]

Point, Reinforcements.

[Pegasos989]

I still think that Drizzt Do'Uegar was the best NPC that I have ever had my party face... CG Duegar ranger

[Lilivati]

I have a t-shirt that reads "Hating Drizz't since 1999" on the back. My friend made it for me. True story. (The year is random; she had no idea when my well-known dislike was founded.)

Actually, though, it's not Drizz't himself that I despise. It's what his creation did for the concept of the drow. It made them trendy and sanitized, in addition to the aforementioned "everyone wants to be a good drow rebel" syndrome. I see that a lot more than I see people playing the kind of drow that (theoretically) represent most of the race. Even most drow NPCs I've seen in campaigns are of the rebel variety. For someone who finds the whole race rather fascinating, it's a maddening phenomenon.

Also, I stopped reading Salvatore's books when I realized I could only read every 30th page and still follow the plot. I read a whole book that way, and decided it was time to quit, though there were years when I got a good amount of entertainment out of them, so more power to him and his readers.

[Jades]

I hate Drizzt for other reasons. The assumption that Veldrain was baised off of him. I hadn't even heard of Drizzt when I made my half-drow half-High Elf ranger. (High Elf father was raped my Drow Mother, and then killed... she got pregnant and got a slave!)

I duel-wielded a Longsword and a mace, for killing undead. It was a valid choice at the time! He was meant to be an NPC in a campaign I was going to run and I wanted to see if it was a reasonable build.

[KIDS]

Drizzt Do'Urden, as a character (in books) is a great idea, and was implemented very good, with not much patheticness or false sentimentality that trails behind many similar concepts. That is why I loved him, and I think that Drizzt is a great concept.

Now for the people who play good aligned drow who wish to part ways with their evil kin, dual wielding scimitars etc.... I do not favor it, but I do not dislike it either. Most people do not copy Drizzt, they are just inspired by him. And they are inspired by him for a fine reason of him being a believable and well thought out character. As long as they are actually playing their own, inspired character, I do not mind.

For Drizzt as character, after the Dark Elf triology his own developing and the quality of books, sadly, dropped into oblivion. It isn't very worth reading now.

You should know that it is better to have a player playing a Drizzt-inspired good drow, than the usual "omg-I-wanna-be-evil-drow" player who generally ruins the campaign for his own clumsiness.

[Jimp]

Actually, though, it's not Drizz't himself that I despise. It's what his creation did for the concept of the drow. It made them trendy and sanitized, in addition to the aforementioned "everyone wants to be a good drow rebel" syndrome. I see that a lot more than I see people playing the kind of drow that (theoretically) represent most of the race. Even most drow NPCs I've seen in campaigns are of the rebel variety. For someone who finds the whole race rather fascinating, it's a maddening phenomenon.

Quoted for truth. That's exactly how I feel about Drizzt and his many clones.

[Shadow of the Sun]

Note: Elric of Melnibone series spoilers ahead!

Spoiler

Show

I dislike Drizzt as a source of clones and as a character. Mainly because, although R.A. Salvatore will not admit it, but he has more than a passing resemblance to Elric of Melnibone (See my avatar). Elric is much much cooler than Drizzt will ever be- Drizzt never summoned an army of demon swords to kill the gods, did he?

[Gorbad the Limb Rippa]

I have a t-shirt that reads "Hating Drizz't since 1999" on the back. My friend made it for me. True story. (The year is random; she had no idea when my well-known dislike was founded.)

Actually, though, it's not Drizz't himself that I despise. It's what his creation did for the concept of the drow. It made them trendy and sanitized, in addition to the aforementioned "everyone wants to be a good drow rebel" syndrome. I see that a lot more than I see people playing the kind of drow that (theoretically) represent most of the race. Even most drow NPCs I've seen in campaigns are of the rebel variety. For someone who finds the whole race rather fascinating, it's a maddening phenomenon.

Also, I stopped reading Salvatore's books when I realized I could only read every 30th page and still follow the plot. I read a whole book that way, and decided it was time to quit, though there were years when I got a good amount of entertainment out of them, so more power to him and his readers.

I really like drow,infact their most likely my most favourite race,
but all the clones out their ruin the reason why i like drow.
Their society.
And clones completly out number normal drow characters,infact its rare to find some who wants to play the CE drow assassin/wizard/cleric.
I once had a campaign based in the underark and made sure that there weretypical drow characters(though a pc landed up playing pixie oddly enough)

[bosssmiley]

Note: Elric of Melnibone series spoilers ahead!

Spoiler

Show

I dislike Drizzt as a source of clones and as a character. Mainly because, although R.A. Salvatore will not admit it, but he has more than a passing resemblance to Elric of Melnibone (See my avatar). Elric is much much cooler than Drizzt will ever be- Drizzt never summoned an army of demon swords to kill the gods, did he?

Shadow of the Sun has a good great point: Drizzt = low budget, lowbrow Elric knock-off.
Angsty white-haired quasi-elf rebel against his corrupt, decadent society is a pretty accurate description of both of them, ain't it? Just a shame Salvatore has a more limited imagination that Moorcock.

[clarkvalentine]

He's become a cliche - people associate that with a lack of creativity. Sometimes that's true, sometimes not, but people assume that it is and come down on players indulging in the cliche.