New Half Drow Rule

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Aeb Ankor
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New Half Drow Rule

Unread post by Aeb Ankor »

Subject: DM Rulings: A Record of DM Decisions
DM Dialectic wrote:Updated 1/18/2017:

Half-Drow Appearance
For in character purposes, Half-Drow will be viewed as and treated as legally and socially indistinct from full Drow by in character polities and NPCs of the surface. Further, all characters that are Half-Drow must have their standard in character appearance depicted at character creation and thereafter with dusky skin and silver or white hair, with a broad range of eye colors allowed, per DM Team interpretation of Forgotten Realms lore on the topic. Characters that date before this ruling and that do not comply with the appearance ruling herein may request a one-time 100% RCR, but otherwise normal RCR rules will apply.
Why, bother?

The number of half drow on the entire server is tiny and hardly worth the efforts to enforce standardized rules of appearance...

If this is about a single Half-Drow then deal with that character, if somehow this is a terrible epidemic then change the character generation appearance chooser to match the criteria... please give them replacement shades of acceptable colors for skin and hair since they've totally sucked anyway

If not, this just amounts to interference of character creation and rp, for little value since numbers of half-drow are very very low.

Half Drow is just that... Half, Humans that can spawn these individuals are of varied colored skin and hair, the Imaskari in the depths can only choose pale white skin with a limited selection of mostly blue hair to choose from. These crossing with Drow lends to varied degrees of coloration. Unless the drow traits are to be considered the dominate traits only there should be variations. Heck, half-drow can only currently choose to be about 2 feet taller than a drow parent, not even similar in height, girth, or base current skin colors, hardly dominate traited.

Edit: What about wigs? Is it outlawed for Half-Drow to wear a dark haired wig?!? How does this effect the move toward actual Disguise skill and spell use?

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metaquad4
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Re: New Half Drow Rule

Unread post by metaquad4 »

The way I see it, the rule is basically removing much of the RP power advantages half-drow have. Half-drow are disadvantaged in the underdark but have the potential to gain an advantage in the surface.

So now half-drow are inferior in terms of RP power now, as well as mechanical power. Why not remove them entierly, at that point?

Also, can half-orcs be treated as full-blooded orcs for the purpose of surface NPC laws/politics? That way, we can have some semblance of consistancy in our rules.
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Glowfire
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Re: New Half Drow Rule

Unread post by Glowfire »

I suspect it is to have half-drow look like half-drow and not half-elves.

With United Colours, one can have any colour upon character creation. It doesn't mean one should 'abuse' it!
Aeb Ankor wrote:These crossing with Drow lends to varied degrees of coloration. Unless the drow traits are to be considered the dominate traits only there should be variations.
Races of Faerun, p62:
Half-drow have dusky skin, silver or white hair, and a broad range of eye colors. They are often just as dark-hearted as their elven parents, but with a bitter resentment that comes from knowing that they are considered second-class members of drow society. In human society, half-drow are distrusted nearly as much as their full-blooded cousins.
Some drow traits appear to be dominant, such as the darker skin and hair. Eye colour is not.

I imagine wigs are fine to use.
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Atlas
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Unread post by Atlas »

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Last edited by Atlas on Tue Jul 17, 2018 7:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
Character Profile and The Battles of Sir Amalric of Germont aka Sir Arkaine Halforken Link:
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Storm Munin
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Re: New Half Drow Rule

Unread post by Storm Munin »

Well, Atlas.

- Why should a surface race by lore be denied being on the surface without active DM consent?
- Why is it treated less fairly then genasi or grey orc, both races being on the server with no sword coast lore support whatsoever?
- Why should the halfdrow socially be treated as full drow [EVIL by curse/demonblood], when halforcs are not treated as orcs [designed EVIL by creator]?

- What technical changes were done to character creation screen for halfdrow selection of colouring in order to create ease of choice, rather then possible forced RCR at any time by any DM who so fancies thinking your chosen colouring isnt his/her kind of dusky enough?
For reference, do consider that my toon currently use the second line fourth slot brown coloring for her apparently too creamy complexion.

No, by the wording of the rule halfdrow may not wear a wig with any coloring but silver to white. I suppose they will spontaneously implode if they do use a wig of other colouring.

- Seriously, what does this new ruling really change beyond giving DMs a tool to harass halfdrow players?
Consider that tieflings has horns and were recently given tails (if so wanted) and still they are treated as cuddly, sweet persons.

I dont know, but until I do know more of what colouring are permitted I will not RCR or play my halfdrow character.
I go into the server to RP, not to have OOC discussions with any random DM acting out racial bias with a zeal.


Yay, with this ruling the only win I can see is that OOC racial hatred wins again.

/M
"Drojal zhah obdoluth dorb'd streeak, Lueth dro zhah zhaunau dorb'd ogglin."
"Existence is empty without chaos, Life is boring without enemies." So sayeth Lady Lolth, Queen of Chaos.

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aaron22
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Re: New Half Drow Rule

Unread post by aaron22 »

what is sad is that the DM's have to create rules to make people play in a manner that is closer to the setting's ideals. the modern 21st century ideals that so many players RP is depressing. segregation and fear are very setting compliant. and for good reason. genocide and oppression by all races and alignments are also setting compliant. lore confirms this by making acts that betray these outstanding moments that go against what peers would deem acceptable. FR's history is filled with wars based an intolerance and fear. making it a rule is not a wag of the finger to the staff, but to our player base. we dont need to be the polar opposite, just somewhere in between.
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Storm Munin
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Re: New Half Drow Rule

Unread post by Storm Munin »

Agreed with you on there should be more racial tension within the setting and our roleplay, what I find distasteful is when we go hypocritically off tangent to favor or punish out of fancy rather then lore.

I believe currently there are like 2 active halfdrow toons on the server, those now got a special ruling to restrict them. Including disallowing wigs of all but two colours.
Meanwhile we are in comparison swamped in orc and tiefling toons, largely never treated according to lore either granted.

I guess it would be really bad if everyone could not metagame the race of halfdrow outright. The same kind of rules does not apply for imaskari, svirfnebli, duergar or all these moon elves and other humanoids in dusky to jet black skin with white hair. of course.
Honestly ive seen more drizzt clones on the surface then in the UD and being actual drow over the years.

In a way I guess I should be flattered my toon's brown complexion attributed to a DM ruling forcing me, and currently only me, to RCR a toon.
To an undefined colouring known as dusky, to my knowledge the darkest halfdrow colouring available at character creation does look more of a pale greyish moon elf btw.

/M

EDIT: In hilarity the halfelf palet currently allows darker skin tones then the half drow palet actually do. :D
Wait, does that mean the DMs will force us to leave the normal skin template and "cheat" with unicolor to be properly dusky? :shock: :lol:
"Drojal zhah obdoluth dorb'd streeak, Lueth dro zhah zhaunau dorb'd ogglin."
"Existence is empty without chaos, Life is boring without enemies." So sayeth Lady Lolth, Queen of Chaos.

PC: Natalya, wandering enchantress.
Aeb Ankor
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Re: New Half Drow Rule

Unread post by Aeb Ankor »

I don't have the books but this is from FR Wiki
A half-drow was the offspring of one human parent and one drow parent. A half-drow generally had dusky skin, silver or white hair, and human eye colors. They could see around 60 feet (18 m) with darkvision but otherwise had no other drow traits or abilities.[4]

[4] 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Reynolds, Forbeck, Jacobs, Boyd (March 2003). Races of Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 62. ISBN 0-7869-2875-1.
This says 'generally' dusky, silver/white, and human eye colors...

What is dusky any way?!? A poor word choice giving no actual defined color to base our Half-Drow skin tones on. If you want the rule to mean, Black or Grey than, say that and fix the skin chooser defaults. I choose not to use United Colors at all.
dusk·y (dŭs′kē)
adj. dusk·i·er, dusk·i·est
1. Having low diffused light; dim or shadowy.
2. Rather dark in color: dusky blue. See Synonyms at dark.

dusk•y (ˈdʌs ki)

adj. dusk•i•er, dusk•i•est.
1. somewhat dark; dimly lit; shadowy.
2. having dark skin.
3. of a dark color.
4. gloomy; sad.
Allowing United Colors is one of the many populist choices lately, that I consider a very poor direction the server has been heading recently. Using United Color for exaggerated skin or hair color should already be against the rules, and not an issue directly related to Half-Drow.

Glowfire wrote:I suspect it is to have half-drow look like half-drow and not half-elves.

With United Colours, one can have any colour upon character creation. It doesn't mean one should 'abuse' it!
Aeb Ankor wrote:These crossing with Drow lends to varied degrees of coloration. Unless the drow traits are to be considered the dominate traits only there should be variations.
Races of Faerun, p62:
Half-drow have dusky skin, silver or white hair, and a broad range of eye colors. They are often just as dark-hearted as their elven parents, but with a bitter resentment that comes from knowing that they are considered second-class members of drow society. In human society, half-drow are distrusted nearly as much as their full-blooded cousins.
Some drow traits appear to be dominant, such as the darker skin and hair. Eye colour is not.

I imagine wigs are fine to use.
Last edited by Aeb Ankor on Fri Jan 20, 2017 3:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Storm Munin
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Re: New Half Drow Rule

Unread post by Storm Munin »

Further, all characters that are Half-Drow must have their standard in character appearance depicted at character creation and thereafter with dusky skin and silver or white hair
No, halfdrow are not allowed to use wigs of other colouring as I interpret it.

None of the halfdrow I know of use the unicolor chart, all use the skins allowed at character creation. Have some people been making assumptions prior to a ruling and posting I wonder.

/M
Last edited by Storm Munin on Fri Jan 20, 2017 3:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Drojal zhah obdoluth dorb'd streeak, Lueth dro zhah zhaunau dorb'd ogglin."
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metaquad4
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Re: New Half Drow Rule

Unread post by metaquad4 »

If the intent is to promote the racial tensions that by all rights -should- exist, we should also subject Tieflings, Aasimar, Gensai (who are all looked upon as strange creatures at best, and dangerous at worst) as well as Half-Orcs. Obviously, PCs will be able to work past this but it should be a difficult and trying process.

Amn NPCs already react to Tieflings (A lot of NPCs respond to a tiefling with disgust). Similar reactions could be done for other planetouched, as well as half-orcs/other half-monster races. Skills, such as diplomacy, bluff, intimidate, and hide could be used as factors in how severe the reaction is.

And yeah. Elves with black skin/white hair on the surface (who didn't nessecarily choose drow as a race) should probably be treated as drow. And, they probably are! If anything, they'd be breaking the ediquette around the colour pattete (the same set of rules that stop people from making pink-skinned and neon-green haired humans).

If we are going to go full-lore, lets go full-lore on monsterous/outsider blooded creatures. Else-wise, leave it be. Targetting one particular race and leaving the others doesn't look like fair game at all.
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Unread post by Atlas »

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Last edited by Atlas on Tue Jul 17, 2018 7:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
Character Profile and The Battles of Sir Amalric of Germont aka Sir Arkaine Halforken Link:
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Storm Munin
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Re: New Half Drow Rule

Unread post by Storm Munin »

Indeed, and now that stage has had yet another alteration more or less just because someone felt like it.

I dont know about you Atlas but to me it seems the Orcs are now our onstage heroes, meanwhile the halfdrow race is treated worse then the drow race are.
If anyone now rolled a halfdrow paladin and made it a shining beacon of hope, think it would get all the OOC/IC love Arkaine has gotten over the years?

I think not.

/M
"Drojal zhah obdoluth dorb'd streeak, Lueth dro zhah zhaunau dorb'd ogglin."
"Existence is empty without chaos, Life is boring without enemies." So sayeth Lady Lolth, Queen of Chaos.

PC: Natalya, wandering enchantress.
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aaron22
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Re: New Half Drow Rule

Unread post by aaron22 »

ok.. sounds like you want your lore to be spot on unless it has to do with primary ideals of culture. or, better said. unless it makes your RP less fun. not everyone is a lawful good paladin. you speak of heroes.. not everyone is a hero. not everyone wants to be a hero. i have zero characters that are or every will be a hero. to play racism or sexism or any of these unsavory characteristics in this time of lore is setting compliant. FACT! it works in both directions and in many forms. most of this is directed in a single direction to most people. if an orc is to start lounging at the FAI, he should be chased away with pitchforks. guess what happens if a human starts hanging out in Uruk Lurra? pitchfork? yep.

equality amungst intelligent races is a standard that has not been accomplished yet in the FR setting. that kind of perception is centuries away. should we be abusive? no. we should be cordial to each other and respect the other player as a player. but this is a RP game. and segregation and fear are paramount ideals in this RP setting.
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Atlas
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Unread post by Atlas »

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Last edited by Atlas on Tue Jul 17, 2018 7:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
Character Profile and The Battles of Sir Amalric of Germont aka Sir Arkaine Halforken Link:
viewtopic.php?f=153&t=18827&p=836119#p836119
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Re: New Half Drow Rule

Unread post by Flasmix »

Wirg can speak the native Amn language. *Throws a bag of money at them*
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