Sample file Written By Greg Lynch
Editor Studio Manager Christopher Allen Ian Barstow
Cover Artwork Production Manager Vincent Hie Alexander Fennell
Interior Artwork Proofreading Martin Hanford, Vincent Hie, Sergio Villa Mark Quennell, Sarah Quinnell, Ashley Tarmin Isaza, Vitor Ishimura, Celso Mathias, Phil Renne, Stephen Shepherd, Ron Smith Sample file Playtesters Tanya Bergen, Stephen C. Cole, Mark Gedak, Tammy Gedak, Malcolm Greenberg, Jeff Greiner, Kent Little, Leslie Lock, Joseph P. Singleton, Rob Usdin, Brian D. Weibeler, Pat Werda, Nathaniel G. Williams
Open Game Content & Copyright Information The Tome of Drow Lore ©2005 Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. Reproduction of non-Open Game Content of this work by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. The Tome of Drow Lore is presented under the Open Game and d20 Licences. See page 256 for the text of the Open Game Licence. All text paragraphs and tables containing game mechanics and statistics derivative of Open Game Content and the System Reference Document are considered to be Open Game Content. All other significant characters, names, places, items, art and text herein are copyrighted by Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. If you have questions about the Open Game Content status of any material herein, please contact Mongoose Publishing for clarification. ‘d20 System’ and the ‘d20 System’ logo are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and are used according to the terms of the d20 System Licence version 5.0. A copy of this Licence can be found at www.wizards.com/d20. The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned. Dungeons & Dragons® and Wizards of the Coast® are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. in the United States and other countries and are used with permission. Printed in China. Mongoose Publishing Mongoose Publishing, PO Box 1018, Swindon, SN3 1DG, United Kingdom [email protected]
Chapter 1: Introduction 4
Chapter 2: History of the Drow 6
Chapter 3: Overview of the Drow 14
Chapter 4: The Noble Houses 50
Chapter 5: The Lost Tribes 100
Chapter 6: The Drow in the Campaign 135
Chapter 7: Drow Magic and Equipment 186
Chapter 8: Creatures of theSample Underdeep file 217
Chapter 9: Encounters in the Underdeep 237
Appendix: Character Sheet 250
Index 254
License 256
2 rem na’Koth leaned on his cleft shield, gasping for breath in the close stillness of the cave. His jet-black skin gleamed with sweat and his white hair was matted to his scalp like a web spun by a Dthousand insane spiders as he dragged stale air into his tortured lungs. All about him, wide-eyed and frightened, beaten and bloodied, drow from a dozen different clans clutched each other in terror, trembling at the slightest sound.
Drem knew the drow were beaten, there was no denying that, no way to reassure himself with thoughts and plans for another push, another counterattack. It was done.
The elves of the surface had learned more of war during their own struggles against the goblins than the drow had given credit for, that much was clear. They had certainly provided the drow with ample evidence of their martial prowess during the many years of war between the cousins, the many years that had now apparently ended with the drow broken and splintered in the unknown depths of the world.
Knowledge had been the key to the defeat of the drow, Drem knew. Lack of knowledge of the surface cousins’ lore of battle, coupled with the drow’s eagreness to share the knowledge they themselves had gained fighting the goblins had conspired together to leave the drow ill-prepared when the other elves struck, when they betrayed the drow.
Ignorance of the Underdeep too had been responsible. When the drow first retreated here, Drem had favoured the decision, believing the surface elves could not hope to fight them in the caves and caverns the dark elves had inhabited so many years as they held the ground against the unending goblin hordes. He had been proven wrong and it gave him no satisfaction that the presumed wiser heads of his race had been equally mistaken. None of them were prepared for what lurked in the depths, the abomination of scaled skin and sharp teeth that laid low the mightiest of the drow with a glance and a thought. Caught between this new terror and the relentless assault of the betrayers from above, the drow had been doomed, shattered and sundered into groups like the one sprawled on the floor of the cave allSample around him. file
Drem nodded grimly to himself with the clarity of hard-won wisdom. It was knowledge that had brought the proud drow low, whether it be willingness to freely share knowledge with the betrayers, or lack of knowledge, ignorance of what the surface elves already knew and ignorance of what terrible things laid in wait in the depths of the Underdeep.
The drow could survive here in the Underdeep, Drem was sure of it, but not without knowledge. Knowledge was a weapon mightier than any made of steel, stouter than the thickest wall. Knowledge was the one blade, hidden from the eye though it may be, that none could withstand. Knowledge was the weapon the drow must have.
First, he would start with the one thing he did know. He cast away his cleft and useless shield, forcing himself to stand up straight.
‘Come,’ he ordered the other drow. ‘If we remain, we will be found.’