Ask Arkanis

[PaulImposteur]

Hey Arkanis, I've been digging all over the net trying to find some information on the dreaded Half-Drow.

I can't seem to come up with anything other than 'my parents hate me' schtick. So I've come here, to ask you if there's any great knowledge you can impart upon me!

[DM Arkanis]

Hey Arkanis, I've been digging all over the net trying to find some information on the dreaded Half-Drow.

I can't seem to come up with anything other than 'my parents hate me' schtick. So I've come here, to ask you if there's any great knowledge you can impart upon me!

Great question. There is not much lore around half-Drow:

"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]

Half-drows were often conceived when a male drow mated with one of his human female slaves or when outcast drow mated with surface-dwelling species.
Xandra Shobalar encountered a merchant in Mantol-Derith, ostensibly human, who was in fact half-drow. Perhaps indicative of the drow view of such things, she found his suspected nature to be appalling.[5]."

[4] Reynolds, Forbeck, Jacobs, Boyd (March 2003). Races of Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 62. ISBN 0-7869-2875-1.
[5] Elaine Cunningham (April 1996). Rite of Blood (Realms of the Underdark). (TSR, Inc), pp. 148–210. ISBN 978-0786904877.

From apocryphal sources:

"Not inherently evil by nature, Half-Drow are subjected, by their Drow masters, to cruel savagery every bit as vile as the torments visited upon the subject people from which they where forcibly conceived. Their lot is perhaps worse than that of those the Drow initially conquer, for they are not only are subject to such torments by the Drow, but also deeply reviled by subjugates from which they sprang. Half-Drow often find themselves believing that subjugated races have it easy: should they escape their masters, they are welcomed into the surrounding free-lands. Half-Drow, however, resembling the Drow as much as they do, receive no such welcome: instead they seem destined to be slaves, or wandering sojourners: strangers in a strange land, no matter how far from their Drow slavers they flee.

Half-Drow consider the ingestion of wine mingled with Drow poison to be something of a sacrament. It is to them a sign of defiance, and is often followed by prayers and supplications to the divine for deliverance. As a result of generations of half-drow ingesting the poison, they have grown largely resistant to its effects."

"Homebrew" v3.5 echoes these sentiments:
"Half-Drow are a particular rare breed. Occasionally a male drow to take advantage of a female slave or even rare a drow priestess may have affair with a human slave. Despite this half-drow are considered unworthy and untrustworthy from both sides. Drow see them as an abomination and distrusting. Humans see them as the very same creatures that enslave and imprison them. As such they are shunned by both sides and rarely accepted by either. It's rare for one to reach adulthood, let alone be born.
Half-Drow are shunned by pure-blood races and usually regarded as untrustworthy. Because of the world's disposition towards them, half-drow are very secretive and private, but they will welcome any that offer aid. A half-drow will usually try to occupy themselves with any kind of busywork they can get.
Half-Drow are usually slightly taller than pure drow because of their mixed heritage.
Half-Drow tend to have unstable relations with all races because of the general disposition that they receive, but any scholarly types find half-drow to be a wealth of information regarding the Undercommon language and will be the most likely to be friendly to half-drow. Those with strong religious convictions tend to be hostile towards half-drow, while rogues and the like are distrustful of them."

Arkanis

[Lockonnow]

hello Arkanis what now do you have for me?

[DM Arkanis]

hello Arkanis what now do you have for me?

I cannot find any reference to a sword that drinks blood (vampiric) in the Moonshae lore. I'm going to have to re-read the books to see if I can find it.

Ark

[sweetlikesplenda]

Ark

My friend, how do I get Aaron the +5 EB, 1d10 Divine, On-Hit Dispel, Vorpal, Longsword, that we all know he deserves? Who do I talk to about it, because I feel like this is 5 years in the making.

[DM Arkanis]

Ark

My friend, how do I get Aaron the +5 EB, 1d10 Divine, On-Hit Dispel, Vorpal, Longsword, that we all know he deserves? Who do I talk to about it, because I feel like this is 5 years in the making.

Ah, the elusive, all powerful, and much to be desired, "Sword of Kill Everything."

Here would be a few ways to get such a sword:

1. Beg the HDM team here to grant an exception to our rule. Note, many have asked, and many have been denied.
2. Find all of the rare/nearly impossible items required to craft a +5 weapon, and have someone with at least 40 ranks in Craft Weapon make the initial sword for you. Note, this would only be even remotely possible if the server had the ability for characters to craft such items, and even then, you would require the cap on the number of properties it could have to be removed, and still require DM intervention for some properties to be added.
3. Pray to your patron deity in game to send you on a solo quest worthy of such a weapon. My guess would be that you would have to pry the sword from the cold, dead hand of a minor demipower god of some sort, like Torm. The odds against this are so astronomical that when you find Torm, on his native plane of Celestia (the Seventh Heavens), after having beaten back hundreds of CR 60 lawful good creatures, he will use the sword to lop your head off with one blow, sending you to the Wailing Wall for all eternity...
4. By far and away the best way to get this over-clocked, god-like-epic-weapon would be to create your own server that does not have the +4 EB cap and make the sword in the toolset and wield it there; and kill everything with one blow, and be bored after hours and hours of defeating everything and not having a willing or challenging foe, and missing your friends at BGTSCC, and realizing that wishing for the sword was actually a curse...

Well, in my opinion, of course.

Arkanis

[CleverUsername123]

4. By far and away the best way to get this over-clocked, god-like-epic-weapon would be to create your own server that does not have the +4 EB cap and make the sword in the toolset and wield it there; and kill everything with one blow, and be bored after hours and hours of defeating everything and not having a willing or challenging foe, and missing your friends at BGTSCC, and realizing that wishing for the sword was actually a curse...
Arkanis

How does one start a server then?

[DM Arkanis]

4. By far and away the best way to get this over-clocked, god-like-epic-weapon would be to create your own server that does not have the +4 EB cap and make the sword in the toolset and wield it there; and kill everything with one blow, and be bored after hours and hours of defeating everything and not having a willing or challenging foe, and missing your friends at BGTSCC, and realizing that wishing for the sword was actually a curse...
Arkanis

How does one start a server then?

First, you go to the Toolset and build your world. It doesn't have to be massive. It doesn't have to be based on actual lore. It can be very low to very high fantasy. I played on a server once that characters had to eat and sleep regularly, and the highest magical item was +2. I played on another server where, at creation your character got enough experience to get you to 3rd level, there was an XP drip that gave you a small number of experience points every minute, and where there was no cap on magic items in terms of power. Your server can be high-RP and little fighting, to low-RP and lots of PvP. You will need to decide if it is PG-13 like we are, or if you want more adult content. Finally, you need some kind of administration - someone who oversees the game operation, like admins and DMs.

Second, you need somewhere to host your server. This can be on your own computer or on rented space on a server, or on your own server. If you are planning on throwing things open to the world to let them play, you'll need to have lots of areas on your map, and your computer won't be able to handle the traffic. People will join to play by typing in the IP address of your server, and joining.

Third, if you want people to know you have a server, you need to advertise a little; have a forum/web page.

I toyed with the idea of creating a world just for me and a few friends. The work that can go into area creation is phenomenal, and if you want to add things like quests, or interactive NPC's it adds to the time. You also need to devote time to dealing in game and out of game with player issues, bugs, etc.

I know that I am over-simplifying it, but that's basically how you make your own server.

Arkanis

[Lockonnow]

why do player use well knowings names from tv and books

[DM Arkanis]

why do player use well knowings names from tv and books

Here's what it says under Server Rules and Content:

"– Naming Rules
– Please do not use famous names (like "Robin Hood" or "Drizzt Do'Urden") for your character. Do not put any titles in your name or biography that you did not earn. You are not a king, noble, general, baron, etc. unless the DMs grant your PC that title. And finally, please use a name rather than a description (no "Big Man" or "Larry the Wizard") for your character. This will always be decided at DM discretion and a character in violation of this rule may log in to find the character with a new name."

If you see a character with a questionable name, please take a screenshot and PM the DM team.

Arkanis

[Cenerae]

Hello, Arkanis. I have a lore question that relates to my current surfacer's backstory.

Is there any detailed information at all about the Zhentarim occupation of Daggerdale? The wiki states it begins in 1336, ends in 1369, and that their puppet ruler Malyk was slain in 1353 - which happens to be the current year of the server.

That's all fine and good, but it is pertinent for my backstory reasons to know specifically which date Malyk died, if such a thing has been written down anywhere.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[DM Arkanis]

I cannot find anything that references a specific date in 1353DR when he is killed.

Randal Morn rounds up about 200 townsfolk and they kill him and frees much of Daggerdale from the Zhents but not Dagger Falls.

(The Grand History of the Realms. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 140. )

You might want to reach-out to the Zhent players/guild and see if there has been any RP around this as far as our server is concerned - they may be able to give you some more details.

Ark

Hello, Arkanis. I have a lore question that relates to my current surfacer's backstory.

Is there any detailed information at all about the Zhentarim occupation of Daggerdale? The wiki states it begins in 1336, ends in 1369, and that their puppet ruler Malyk was slain in 1353 - which happens to be the current year of the server.

That's all fine and good, but it is pertinent for my backstory reasons to know specifically which date Malyk died, if such a thing has been written down anywhere.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[DM Arkanis]

Having a most-excellent chat with my peers on the DM team about paladins.

Prickly subject sometimes because of firm-beliefs, and long-held opinions, but today the subject was, "Should paladins drink alcohol?"

Love to hear from players who have pally's in their character roster as well as those who don't. As always, this is a fun thread meant to talk about things rather than to make server-wide decisions on issues, so this is just conversation.

I'm pouring myself a Johnny Walker and awaiting your replies.

Cheers; pogue mahone.

Ark

[Asmodea]

Having a most-excellent chat with my peers on the DM team about paladins.

Prickly subject sometimes because of firm-beliefs, and long-held opinions, but today the subject was, "Should paladins drink alcohol?"

Love to hear from players who have pally's in their character roster as well as those who don't. As always, this is a fun thread meant to talk about things rather than to make server-wide decisions on issues, so this is just conversation.

I'm pouring myself a Johnny Walker and awaiting your replies.

Cheers; pogue mahone.

Ark

I have always gone by the response that it is fine to drink alchohol but only in social celebration and merriment and never to excess.

Aka: No drinking to drown sorrow or retreat from the world. No drinking alone. No drinking so much that you lose control of yourself.

I tend to go with a kind of: What Would King Arthur Do? Drinking in moderation in celebration and relaxation with friends and good company seems perfectly defensible and allows Paladins to not be 100% sticks in the mud, but not fall to vice.

That's just always been how I have dealt with the question.

[NeonAvenger]

... "Should paladins drink alcohol?" ...

Really it should depend on the god[1]. Helm and Torm would probably be against drinking since it is difficult to be "Eternally Vigilant" or to "Faithfully Serve" when you can't even stand up straight.
On the other hand a paladin of Lliira (assuming they exist?) probably has an obligation for a drink with their prayers each evening, Sunites and Chaunteans would also have plenty of festival days where there would most likely be a religious obligation to get well cut and dance the night away.
In general I would agree with Asmodea: Any paladin would be allowed to drink, getting drunk is a different matter however.

It's worth noting that the majority of the paladins of mythology were high-medieval landed nobles which meant they were socially obligated to hunt and drink on a regular basis.
Alchoholic drinks were also considered a medical treatment for a wide variety of ailments ranging from stomach upsets to baldness. Forbidding their most devout followers full access to healthcare would seem a little odd to me.

[1] Although I feel the vast majority of gods shouldn't have paladins but that's a whole different rant.