Half-Drow

Since the Chosen of Eilistraee is a religious oriented player group, naturally there is a place to have theological discussions. That is in-game religions; please leave real-world religion out of it. Debate the fine points of a certain dogma, how a church can enforce worship while staying true to its tenets or simply why one deity is better than another one is. All are free to talk about it here.

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Madoc
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Half-Drow

Post by Madoc »

When a drow mates with a human, or an elf, what of the offspring of such a union? I keep hearing differing reports as to what the offspring are like, some say 'Drow breed true", and I have heard conflicting information.
Bhaern Quel
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Re: Half-Drow

Post by Bhaern Quel »

Well SKR came up with transition rules if one wanted to become moew Drow, transition levels I believe they were called for 3.5. In part it does depend on what edition you use.
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Re: Half-Drow

Post by Madoc »

Thanks for your response! I'm not sure I entirely understand it, as I do not have access to all the source material from various editions.

I'm hoping for something more in the way of opinion, or how it is handled in others 'realms', if this is possible.
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Re: Half-Drow

Post by Bhaern Quel »

[quote="Madoc":27fnoqae]Thanks for your response! I'm not sure I entirely understand it, as I do not have access to all the source material from various editions.

I'm hoping for something more in the way of opinion, or how it is handled in others 'realms', if this is possible.[/quote:27fnoqae]

Well it gets more complicated then just an Edition. TSR did try to trademark Drow, however failed. There are Drow in other games systems as well. Different sizes and so on. However as best I can boil it down, in general Drow/Elf blood is dominate. Never full ability of a full blood, but protections resistances to magic, so on tend to make a half Drow somewhat more Drow in ability, then human.
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Irennan
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Re: Half-Drow

Post by Irennan »

Drow definitely don't breed true in the FR. Half Drow are not unheard of, on the contrary they even have a whole nation in Southern Faerun: Dambrath (which is where most of half drow in the Realms come from). It's ruled by the Crinti, who are part human, part drow and part half-elf (lol...) grey skinned, white haired people. More info about them (including the history of how such an exotic race came to be) is [url=http://www.candlekeep.com/library/artic ... m:1vz5qnkt]here[/url:1vz5qnkt].

Besides, according to ''Races of Faerun'' half drow have the same traits as half elves, except that they inherit darkvision from their elven blood instead of low light vision. They have in most part the same mental attitude of the noble drow (and the reason for this are in their story, which I linked), except for the religion. They're not as zealots as drow, and are not brainwashed by dogma. For this reason Lolth isn't as prominent among them as she is among dark elves (actually, Loviatar is their main deity because her followers had a prominent role in allowing their nation to form), and the good hearted half drow (more common then good drow) almost unanimously choose Eilistraee as patron goddess.

Although every Half Drow in Dambrath is of noble origin, they are usually forced to face discrimination and distrust outside of that region: among humans and elves, and among drow as well (by whom they are considered second class citizens, even in Dambrath). Their will to leave this discrimination behind is the main reason that leads them to leave their region and travel as adventurers.
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Madoc
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Re: Half-Drow

Post by Madoc »

Thanks very much for the responses! That was a very interesting read.
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Re: Half-Drow

Post by Aylstra Illianniis »

Well, according to Daughter of the DRow, they do tend to breed true, with the children usually taking after the drow parent- however, the key words here may be "tend to". When breeding with other elves, they seem to look and take on the traits of drow, but with humans, there appears to be some dilution of the drow abilities and appearance. Of course, different campaigns may treat them differently, so it's up to the DM, all said and done. In my own world, I treat them as true half-bloods, eve nwith other elves, having an appearance and abilities that are somewhere between the drow and surface elf norms- greyish skin, usually white hair (though they can have otehr colors), eyes of either parent's race, and a reduction of the drow racial abilities. (No levitation, only darkness or fairie-fire, half darkvision and magic resistance, etc.)
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Shir'le E. Illios
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Re: Half-Drow

Post by Shir'le E. Illios »

The way that I understood it, and I honestly don't recall the source for this and may have misunderstood so take it for what it's worth, it works something like this.

Then a human mates with an elf (and that includes drow) the result is a half-elf (or half-drow in the case that the elf parent is a drow). If that half-elf then mates with a human the result is still mostly half-elf and if the half-elf mates with an elf the result is mostly a full elf (with maybe some human characteristics; as I understood that's actually where Drizzt's lavender eyes came from, an 'impurity' somewhere in his heritage). The elf blood tends to be dominant (though not dominant enough to rule out the existence of half-elves). Note that I'm not entirely sure on the human/half-elf pairing and the result there could be increasingly watered down elf blood, though there's no recognized 'quarter-elf' or such as I think that they're generally considered half-elf.

If two elves of different sub-race mate then the result will be an elf fully of either one sub-race or the other. So if a drow mates with a moon elf the result will be full moon elves and/or full drow (again I can imagine some 'impurities' there). I think that's generally what's meant when it's said that elves 'breed pure': no mixed elf sub-races.

Half-elves and (thus) half-drow definitely do exist though.

I hope that was useful and didn't just confuse things more. :)


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Madoc
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Re: Half-Drow

Post by Madoc »

That was actually very helpful, and I appreciate the input!
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Re: Half-Drow

Post by Aylstra Illianniis »

I will add to what Shir'le said, by mentioning that Khelban Blackstaff is 1/4 elf, and that by extension, his nephew Danilo Thann is 1/8 (and thus, still eligible for the Bladesinger class, per 3.5 ed.). So although the elf blood is diluted when a half-elf is mixed back with a human, some still remains. (It is noted that the Thann family is VERY long-lived for humans... And we all know that Khelban is several centuries old- though that is partially due to being Mystra's Chosen.)
By the Dark Maiden''s grace do we meet. May she guide and protect us.

"Where Science ends, Magic begins." -Spiral, Uncanny X-Men #491

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Half Drow

Post by Georgerek »

Drow of the Underdark offers some alternative class features that are suggested to be Drow specific, you would qualify for these as a half drow.
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Re: Half-Drow

Post by Zaknafriend »

I'm currently playing a critani half-off (drow) from Dambrath. It's covered in 3.5 book shining south. Additionally there are a couple of feats in the races of Faerun. Both have significant write ups on the sub-race.
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