Customer Reviews

Drow of the Underdark (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Drow of the Underdark had lots of potential. Sadly, it fails to live up to that potential. The book follows the now-standard book format, with an intro, options for Drow characters, new prestige classes, new magic, monsters, etc. Nothing too out of the ordinary here.

The feats include a fair amount of drow-specific feats. Some of these are pretty nice - Knight of Lolth gives a drow advantages while fighting from the back of a giant spider, for instance. The weapon style feats include the typical range of schools (one for each noble house in the Vault). A few more vile feats, and other goodies round the list out. Skills also are expanded to address some drow-specific traits (like the drow sign language).

Prestige classes include some interesting options, and the monsters include creatures both familiar and new. New magical goodies give the drow a lot of fascinating options.

However, the book fails to really live up to expectations. With 200+ pages devoted to a single race, the book contains a lot of filler. There are lots of pages giving GMs ideas of how to handle or run drow. While there are some interesting tidbits here, but a gamer has to do some delving.

The prestige classes include several that are drow-specific that shouldn't be. If the Arachnomancer isn't drow-specific, why should a Demonbinder or Insidious Corrupter be?

The monster section is a disappointment. Aside from using the new monster format, complete with sample encounters, many of the monsters are either reprints, or worse yet, simply adding class levels to drow or other humanoids. I would much rather see more fascinating monsters than a "Goblin Flesh-Herder" (goblin Cleric 3).

Sadly missing is any discussion of the other deities of the drow (outside of Lolth). Eilistraee, Vhaerun, and Kiaransalee should have been included somewhere, even if they were originally deities in the Forgotten Realms. The prospects of secret clerical politics and cults could have added a lot.

Also missing is much about some of the underground flora and fauna. How about alternative familiars for drow mages (pet Spider: +3 climb)? Properties of some of the weird fungi? Drow are attracted to magical enamations underground - it would have been nice to explore some of the other effects of such places.

If you want to run a drow campaign, this can be useful. The 2nd edition Drow of the Underdark contains a lot of useful material too - probably more meaty material in a small book. But this book devoted 200+ pages to a single race - compare that to the coverage the remaining elven races received in Races of the Wild. This book should have been condensed as a large chapter in a Races of the Underdark book.

...which is actually exactly how it should be. For hard-core role-players, it's really more about the story, and this book does add some really poignant perspectives and insightful ideas about Drow society and methods of using them within a campaign. Unfortunately, there is a tendency in RPG's (and D&D is the prime example of this) to feel obligated to include new character mechanics, new equipment, and new rules in every supplement. Ultimately, all this does is weigh down an RPG whose core books might be well-balanced and graceful, but with the addition of each supplement becomes unbalanced and clunky. Most of the new classes and feats offered in this book are frankly not worth reading, let alone including in a campaign. Sadly, this content takes up space which could have been used to expand upon the truly solid foundation of story content and flavor that the book does deliver.

Drow are certainly the coolest villains in the DND universe, and this book adds more detail and features to flesh them out. New feats, skills, spells, equipment, and lots about their culture. Perfect for running an Underdark campaign, but still useful if you just throw drow in every once in awhile as enemies in your normal campaign.

....until you read this book. I once thought of the Drow as nothing more than a stereotypical evil race hell-bent on the destruction of everything and everyone. Man, was I wrong. Upon reading through this book I was completely astounded to discover there was so much more complexity behind the sinister veil of Lolth's children.

So forget the older versions or the d20 releases this is without a doubt THE compendium on the Drow. Anything you could possibly want to know about the dark elves can be found within these pages. Drow of the Underdark covers everything from religion, culture, so-called politics, social quo, daily life, behavior, history, plots, and overall mentality of the Drow. Also provided are gracious options for playing Drow as characters, offering new spells, feats, magical items, and prestige classes for all you evil little elves out there. (The poisons are just plain cool!) The examples of specific notable Drow figures (sadly no Drizzit) are a nice touch if you're planning on creating your own temple of Lolth or Matron Mother. Not slowing down there are also options for designing specific quests and locations, provided of course you're planning to delve into the world of the Underdark's most nefarious race.

One reviewer mentioned this is a substitute for Greyhawk. I don't see where that came from, if anything Drow of the Underdark succeeds in remaining neutral toward all D&D based games. True those playing Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk based campaigns will see the most use for this book it can be easily adjusted for any campaign.

Bottom line; if you're planning on having Drow in your campaign or even if you are just curious about what dark things do in dark places, YOU NEED THIS BOOK!!

This book is absolutely excellent. I'm glad to have a complete description of Drow life and society for v3.5, and am now more than ever excited about incorporating the Drow into my games. From how they live in the day-to-day, to how their "government" works, to how their people interact with other races, it's all here. Feats to boost a Drow's innate abilities, prestige classes to support their ways of life (including one particularly interesting prestige class centered entirely around the idea of hunting and killing Elves). This book is an absolutely must for anyone who already is or will be incorporating the Drow into their games, and particularly for anyone who is considering playing a Drow (from what I've read in this book, it'll be a lot harder than you think, if you actually try to think like a Drow).

Book in great condition, took a little longer to get to me then I would have liked but overall excellent!!

I bought this book expecting it to have the Forgotten Realms: Drow of Underdark from 2nd Ed feel and content. It really wasn't that kind of book.

It's informative and a decent read. But as others have said it doesn't have any real new material or expand upon interesting locales or NPC's from the novels that are out there.

So it's ok, not bad but it could have been way better. It's got a nice cover though.

-Joe

By and large it is a good comprehensive look at Drow society. That having been said, I think that the Drow are a fascinating villain in any campaign and one book really isn't enough to do justice to them. To really get a good idea of their mindset, I recommend more reading... Anything by R.A. Salvatore or the War of the Spider Queen series.

First off, this is for Greyhawk. If it said that anywhere in the promotional literature I missed it, so for you Forgotten Realms fans, this is very much not for you.

Secondly, it's poorly written and badly edited. Even by D&D standards, this is pedestrian. Would it be too much to ask WoTC to buy their writers and editors a copy of Strunk & White? It's a lovely little writing guide and it's very reasonable used.

Third, there's really no reason to buy this. All you need to know is that Drow are totally wicked and live in a totally wicked matriarchal society underground. They are never even ambivalent about being evil. They hate everyone and everything. And now you know what's in the book.

I pre-ordered this. I read it through on the day it arrived, and the good Lord willing, I will never have to read it again. I begrudge the time I wasted reading it and the money I spent buying it. And if you read this review and skip purchasing this book, then some small portion of that will have not been in vain.

When you finish the chapter that's all about Drow life and society and their "government" that's exactly what you think, how can they be so cruel yet so awesome. Every Forgotten Realms book, every game book to feature them, it's all been as nothing, how they describe drow and the evil that they do. Their methods of battle, their matriarchal society, everything is laid bare, and by the time you're done, you're like "Well, dang. And I play these critters in my campaign." I'm not even going to get into any of it, it's horrible and fascinating, and there's not enough room on this web page for to even scratch the surface. The only real complaints I have with this book is that some of the new equipment seems kinda rediculous at first glance, til you actually read about it, and the almost overabundance of images of spiders, being an arachnophobe of the highest caliber, I can't even bring myself to touch a picture of a spider, let alone crush a real one with my bare hand, but then again, this is a book about DROW, who revere spiders, so I'm just going to have to deal with it. At any rate, despite what one person says, this isn't solely for Greyhawk, it can be used in a Forgotten Realms campaign, too. I, myself, am going to, and I already have major plans to milk this baby for all it's worth. Now, what the person who said this is solely for Greyhawk failed to see was the notes on how to work certain aspects of this book into a Forgotten Realms campaign or a Greyhawk campaign, I think namely the monsters, but the rest can definitely go into a Forgotten Realms camp flawlessly if the DM is smart enough, and I should think anyone acting as the DM would be smart enough.