Tome of Drow Lore2.Indd

Sample file The Tome of Drow Lore 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] 1 Contents 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.’ 3 Introduction row; the dark elves. Banished to the Within The Tome of Drow Lore, Games Masters Underdeep millennia ago by their surface will find information on a variety of drow cultures, Dcousins, they plot, scheme and struggle religions, societies, Houses and even sub-races. for survival. Beautiful yet wicked, brilliant and In addition, there are new drow spells, feats and deadly, the drow are the knife in the dark, the drow equipment, of magical, alchemical and threat in the deeps. mundane natures. Since the drow were introduced to the roleplaying For those interested primarily in the archetypal world some 25 years ago, they have become both spider-worshipping drow, they are certainly favourites of many Games Masters and terrible covered, as no book on drow would be complete foes to uncounted parties of Player Characters. without them. They are not the sum total of Sadly, over time they have also become overused the drow, however. Scattered throughout the and oversimpliﬁed. There is no mystery to Underdeep, the dark elves have adapted to them any more. Players know exactly what and been altered by their strange and hostile to expect from an encounter with drow and environment. Centuries spent in isolation from exactly how to cope with it. Games Masters ﬁnd one another gave rise to a variety of cultures themselves saddled with innumerable clichés and and beliefs. While one drow city may be totally presumptions about the drow, making one raiding devoted to the Dark Mother, presenting the party just like any other, one drow city just like traditional perception of the drow, another may be all the others. dominated by worship of Mu’Ushket, or perhaps with power concentrated in the hands of a single Which is where this book comes in. noble House it has become a much more secular Sample filesociety. Games Masters interested in putting an The philosophy behind The Tome of Drow Lore entirely new spin on the drow may forsake the is that as a race, the drow are as complex and usual culture altogether. Instead, the intense vibrant as any inhabitants of the surface of the pressures of the violent and barren Underdeep world. This book is dedicated to the drow and might have caused all drow to regress to a savage, to exploring all their varied, wicked splendour. brutal race like the Kanahraun, or perhaps a large In the millennia since the drow were forced underground sea is home to tens of thousands of underground in the Great Betrayal and dispersed Sulzthul after all other drow having been slowly throughout the Underdeep in the Sundering, the exterminated by their many powerful enemies in intense pressures of life beneath the surface have the world beneath the surface. caused them to change dramatically. For years, they have been thought of as a sophisticated and The Tome of Drow Lore may be used as a stand- cruel race, governed by an even crueler spider- alone product, or it may be used in conjunction worshipping matriarchy with absolute power with The Quintessential Drow and Encyclopaedia over every drow. The truth is not so simple and Arcane: Drow Magic. As with any good arrogant adventurers who set out beneath the roleplaying book, The Tome of Drow Lore is here surface of the world, certain they know the full to assist, not instruct. Games Masters should feel measure of the drow, will find themselves quite free to take what they like from these pages and unpleasantly surprised. ignore the rest. 4 Sample file 5.

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