I always assumed that it is the influence of the tadpole that negates sunlight sensitivity. If Astarion, who is a Vampire spawn can walk in the sunlight without becoming Ash, then the Drow should also benefit from this feature from our uninvited guest.
@@spellandshield Yep in my homebrew world the decent of the Drow was due to them standing up to the Gold/Sun elves after the latter killed the remaining true dragons despite the peace treaty between them. This is what kicked off the elven civil war ending with the Drow having their lands taken and being forced to live underground.
All Drow are dark elves, but not all dark elves are Drow. Moon elves and sun elves are part of what makes it confusing. The elves are grey, high, dark and wood.
Superb work in detailing the history and culture that gets us to the current state of drow in BG3. I generally play lolth sworn drow in bg3 of various alignments so this is great information to use to deepen the role playing experience. I'm a huge fan of them and have become enchanted by your work as well. Keep it up!
The Drow are quietly a metaphor not just for the vanity of elvenkind, but also how unforgiving their religious systems can be. Not excusing their actions, but ancient elf drama is on that Greek level of wild. Great videos as always ❤️😅
In a campaign I wrote I allowed the adventurers to separate Aurenshee from lolth, creating a trinity that includes mother daughter and son while giving a larger redemption arc for the race thru civil strife in the underdark, I truly despise wotc simply saying most drow actually aren't evil, and I'm hoping they learn from their mistakes in the future. As for their powers on the surface we know that Lierel Baenre carved a magic rune using the windwalker amulet that allowed drow magic to persist on the surface. In my own musing the conflict of the elves was always pre-ordained because mortal elves are too OP in most settings. In the adventure the PCs got a taste of pre-dawning history that see Correllon heedless defy reducing the elve's long life and magical nature, risking the eternal suffering his defiance would cause. This would be the corruption of his wife by his own hands, a realization that would come until the very end of the act, when she is fully subsumed by lolth. This knowledge is the cause of his melancholic nature.
I never knew how much of a$$holes most of the sun elves of Aryvandaar were way back after the First Sundering until I read the novel "Evermeet: Island of Elves" by Elaine Cunningham.
@@spellandshield Yeah, and some elves have the arrogance to think they are different and better than humans, because of the human reputation of destroying nature to build towns or cities, that sort of thing.
I always listen to these lore stories and consider how To fix them and make them better and not as annoying. The implications are not super clear until you think about it (not including the OBVIOUS correlations- just the implications.)
@@spellandshield Absolutely. I'm old enough now that that font size is brutal, but reading it in bits and pieces it's striking all over again how incredibly information dense it is. Really kicking up the nostalgia for some of those 90s FR campaigns too, even though it was published in 98! I could have sworn it was years earlier.
In the "Starlight and Shadows" trilogy, a High Magic ritual was performed that transformed all Drow not containing Wendonai's infernal bloodline back into the brown-skinned Dhaerow.
idk...I've had a huge amount of fun playing drow...but I don't really see a difference between lolth sworn and seldarine in the game. The default reactions are the same. It's really only my game choices that seem to make the difference in which of the two I chose. I would appreciate some kind of penalty for the lolthsworn and a boon of some other type (like the enhanced dark vision). And then a different set for the seldarine
Think about, to play a drow. I like there appearance. But: each time I look at the created drow or half drow do I think: „I only see the human, I normally create, only, with a other color set. And, that look less alive.“ And, I want to have a chara, who practically had no tragic past (aside of being bullied) and isn’t special. And I can not image such a background with a Drow. Not even, with a Eilistraea drow (where I don’t even know, where and how they life at the surface).
@@spellandshield Thank you! I will look it up. Also, I will watch your video again in case you mentioned it and I forgot. I've watched so many videos on dnd. It is a lot of fun. 😀 I didn't mean to call her son an animal. She just looked like she was scratching the chin of an unusual horse. I will know that in the future.
Ah, so it turned out that the drow were at least not entirely to blame for their predicament; interesting. Great video.
I always assumed that it is the influence of the tadpole that negates sunlight sensitivity. If Astarion, who is a Vampire spawn can walk in the sunlight without becoming Ash, then the Drow should also benefit from this feature from our uninvited guest.
That is an excellent point.
Agree! :)
It depends on if they are a lolth sworn drow or seldarine drow because in bg3 nere had sun sensitivity seldarine drow live on the surface
Fucking golden elves. I've never cared for them.
They have always looked down at all the others, unfortunately.
@@spellandshield Yep in my homebrew world the decent of the Drow was due to them standing up to the Gold/Sun elves after the latter killed the remaining true dragons despite the peace treaty between them. This is what kicked off the elven civil war ending with the Drow having their lands taken and being forced to live underground.
I grew up on reading the Drizzt Do'Urden novels of Salvatore, and I used to love drow lore back then :)
Good times.
Great overview! I respect you for being able to pronounce all of these Elvish names, I struggle to even read them.
All Drow are dark elves, but not all dark elves are Drow. Moon elves and sun elves are part of what makes it confusing.
The elves are grey, high, dark and wood.
Awesome video! I love this topic and the lore. It would be great if you made more of these.
Superb work in detailing the history and culture that gets us to the current state of drow in BG3. I generally play lolth sworn drow in bg3 of various alignments so this is great information to use to deepen the role playing experience. I'm a huge fan of them and have become enchanted by your work as well. Keep it up!
To add to the confusion, when Tolkien said "Dark Elf" he meant nocturnal elf. And they are just as good as all the other elves. heh
The Drow are quietly a metaphor not just for the vanity of elvenkind, but also how unforgiving their religious systems can be.
Not excusing their actions, but ancient elf drama is on that Greek level of wild.
Great videos as always ❤️😅
Did you noticed too that Lolth is technically wife/daughter of Corelon?🤣
Yep, I choose to read the whole elf/drow schism as a really messy divorce. Like Zeus and Hera wish their hypothetical divorce could be this crazy.
I know this isn't relevant, but I always enjoy hearing the Mechanicus soundtrack.
Love these videos. Baldur gate 3 made me get into dnd, and these videos help me learn more on lore
In a campaign I wrote I allowed the adventurers to separate Aurenshee from lolth, creating a trinity that includes mother daughter and son while giving a larger redemption arc for the race thru civil strife in the underdark, I truly despise wotc simply saying most drow actually aren't evil, and I'm hoping they learn from their mistakes in the future.
As for their powers on the surface we know that Lierel Baenre carved a magic rune using the windwalker amulet that allowed drow magic to persist on the surface. In my own musing the conflict of the elves was always pre-ordained because mortal elves are too OP in most settings.
In the adventure the PCs got a taste of pre-dawning history that see Correllon heedless defy reducing the elve's long life and magical nature, risking the eternal suffering his defiance would cause. This would be the corruption of his wife by his own hands, a realization that would come until the very end of the act, when she is fully subsumed by lolth. This knowledge is the cause of his melancholic nature.
I never knew how much of a$$holes most of the sun elves of Aryvandaar were way back after the First Sundering until I read the novel "Evermeet: Island of Elves" by Elaine Cunningham.
It is a good novel and it really reveals the flaws of the elves at times.
@@spellandshield Yeah, and some elves have the arrogance to think they are different and better than humans, because of the human reputation of destroying nature to build towns or cities, that sort of thing.
This was something I had never considered. Good video.
Great video! I love lore, especially from fantasy worlds. The elves of Dragonlance have deep lore as well.
I always listen to these lore stories and consider how To fix them and make them better and not as annoying. The implications are not super clear until you think about it (not including the OBVIOUS correlations- just the implications.)
Elves literally get away with genocide 🤬
Your videos inspired me to dig out the old books. What is with that font size in Demihuman Deities? So tiny!
Nice summary of the lore, as always. :)
That was a great book, very simple but great information.
@@spellandshield Absolutely. I'm old enough now that that font size is brutal, but reading it in bits and pieces it's striking all over again how incredibly information dense it is.
Really kicking up the nostalgia for some of those 90s FR campaigns too, even though it was published in 98! I could have sworn it was years earlier.
@@iDEATH I really don't like all the retconning they have done in recent years and so I miss those days a lot.
@@spellandshield From what I've been learning recently I'm glad I never followed up on the lore post-3e.
2e had the best Lore. 3e had some gems... I ignore everything post3e
@Spell&Shield Love your videos. Was curious, do you do just DnD lore or would you be interested in maybe Pathfinder lore in the future?
I would enjoy doing Pathfinder Lore but the interest does not seem to be there in terms of the audience, sadly.
Getting lore and machine spirit blessings at the same time :D
is this warhammer 40k soundtrack in the background? but thanks for the lore vids. :)
It does get complicated doesn't it? Thank you for the info! :)
In the "Starlight and Shadows" trilogy, a High Magic ritual was performed that transformed all Drow not containing Wendonai's infernal bloodline back into the brown-skinned Dhaerow.
idk...I've had a huge amount of fun playing drow...but I don't really see a difference between lolth sworn and seldarine in the game. The default reactions are the same. It's really only my game choices that seem to make the difference in which of the two I chose. I would appreciate some kind of penalty for the lolthsworn and a boon of some other type (like the enhanced dark vision). And then a different set for the seldarine
It's an interesting thing how the story of the drow mirrors the story of lolth.
Actually, the whole of elven society and the seldarine.
Think about, to play a drow. I like there appearance.
But: each time I look at the created drow or half drow do I think: „I only see the human, I normally create, only, with a other color set. And, that look less alive.“
And, I want to have a chara, who practically had no tragic past (aside of being bullied) and isn’t special. And I can not image such a background with a Drow.
Not even, with a Eilistraea drow (where I don’t even know, where and how they life at the surface).
Good video! It's too bad that in the end the sun elves decided to be buttheads. But now that's all past history.
Is this the same world that the animated series: The Legend of Vox Machina takes place in?
No. They made that world up separately.
The thumbnail shows a female drow scratching the chin of an animal but I can't recognize the animal. Do you know what the animal is?
It is not an animal. It is her son, a draegloth, a half-demon, half-drow that is a "gift" from Lolth.
@@spellandshield Thank you! I will look it up. Also, I will watch your video again in case you mentioned it and I forgot. I've watched so many videos on dnd. It is a lot of fun. 😀
I didn't mean to call her son an animal. She just looked like she was scratching the chin of an unusual horse. I will know that in the future.
In short Drow and Dark Elf are the same race, just like Humans are sometimes called Men or Mankind.