Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

So I been wanting to make a bard for a while.. and have been considering what would be for me a very diffacult challenge to RP: Drow.. i dont think my wanting to play a bard helps, but alas i want to kill two birds with one stone.

To make things worst.. i kind of want to the play that stormsong clas.. which is hardly inappropiate for uderdark? (or is it). To my understanding, the server does not smile upon drow surface, but i was wondering the plausibility of a drow pirate?.. or somehow a drow that loves caves but stilll loves storms.. or i guess i could just use the class and RP its not really a storm loving bard but something else that creates it?

there is an exception for drow bards in drow of the underdark, they simply dont get bardic knowledge but gain deadly knowledge which is basically poison use as an assassin

bardic vs deadly is an option tho, you dont have to take deadly

storms... cant say there are probably that many storms in the underdark... unless its raining spiders

yeah its not the knowledge thats a concern.. its the whole singing.. and potential shouting of thunder strikes lol

well for the underdark there is "the norm" which is males are wizards and females are priestess of lolth

anything outside the norm that is still normal is political, usually related to family houses trying to claim power and such

anything outside all that is considered odd but isnt particularly frowned on, you could be a bard easy, other drow would just think you a bit weird depending on your skills, if you are a bard assassin tho then you are back to normal

that storm part would be the hardest of the concept, there are underground lakes and such tho so its not like its not possible, any storms though would definitely be magical in nature since that type of weather simply doesnt fit the normal atmosphere of the underdark

but thats not to say a group of druid like drow wouldnt have figured out how to use the large bodies of water to their advantage, even from an arcane or divine standpoint, all you are doing is controlling elements

The Zau'afins could use a bard-type character.(Bae'queshel)

So I'd be correct that now male drow to escape their society have gone to surface in terms of keeping server continuity (but followers of non lolth may very well do so.. And join some of ball group away from normal surface civilisation like pirates. The blade singers in said drow faction are all female. I'm not sure I could handle RPing that lol

Hmm... No. Please read the lore on Sshamath. It is a wizard city ruled by male drow. It is not a Lolthite city, ruled by females (which most drow cities are).

I do not think you will have many issues playing a bard of any gender. There have been and are some drow bards in the UD and maybe I am out of the loop of UD rumours and news but I have not heard anything bad of them.

If you are wanting to play a drow STORMLORD I think you should reconsider. Stormsinger does not sound very appropriate as well seeing as Underdark = underground. Bards do pretty well with just Bard and some splashes of another class.

bono_bob wrote:So I'd be correct that now male drow to escape their society have gone to surface in terms of keeping server continuity (but followers of non lolth may very well do so.. And join some of ball group away from normal surface civilisation like pirates. The blade singers in said drow faction are all female. I'm not sure I could handle RPing that lol

I meant to say NO not NOW

[qu

ote="Nomster"]Hmm... No. Please read the lore on Sshamath. It is a wizard city ruled by male drow. It is not a Lolthite city, ruled by females (which most drow cities are).

I do not think you will have many issues playing a bard of any gender. There have been and are some drow bards in the UD and maybe I am out of the loop of UD rumours and news but I have not heard anything bad of them.

If you are wanting to play a drow STORMLORD I think you should reconsider. Stormsinger does not sound very appropriate as well seeing as Underdark = underground. Bards do pretty well with just Bard and some splashes of another class.[/quote]

Yeah I want to be a storm singer though lol. Apparently some blade singers included levels of that class, maybe they just rped that their songs and blades were lightning attuned with the whole controlling elements. But the blade singers of that particular house are all female.... So yeah... I'd be such an awkward duck which often do not survive Or in UD to my understanding lol.

That makes a bit of difference, yes

Actually, drow who wish to escape their society retreat to tunnels, often deeper into the Underdark. One of the UD sourcebooks mention something of it. Especially drow who are out of favour - no one is going to expand resources to seek a lone drow in dangerous tunnels with gods know what lurking in them. Their first thought certainly is not "Oh I am going to live on the surface or near the surface". Daylight is after all painful for them.


For anyone who has overlooked it, Gloura's Wings (the UD subforum) was recently updated with more UD and Sshamath lore.

So my question remains: is there really a good solution?

that is not far fetched or stretching it? probably not

even for druids, there are drow druids but they dont center around nature they center around the spider, the thing about controlling elements still remains true, someone is gonna do it, but most common is gonna be controlling of earth to make quick tunnels or close them

Drow Bards are fairly common in lore. You won't find them using any powers that do not revovle around the Underdark, however. That means Stormsinger is out of the question. Unless you're playing a surface Drow worshipping Eilistraee or Vhaeraun, although getting permission to play a Drow on the surface full time is more difficult than trying to empty a bucket of water with a sieve.

Dread Pirate would be a stretch, but the Underdark does have a fair number of natural cave lakes where goods are shipped back and forth on. Where there are goods shipped back and forth, pirates are often not far away. It will only work if it's a RCR though, as there is no way for your character to ICly get into pirating with the Underdark areas currently available.

Pure bard is a solid choice, though you might be better off splashing it with a PrC that grants you Arcane spell levels. I doubt Shar is worshipped in the Underdark at all, so that leaves out Shadow Adept, although the DC boosts would be good. Blood Magus is also another option for DC boosts, and it does give you a few nice things. Sadly, if not going for a Stormsinger, DC really doesn't matter too much.

That leaves three options, Eldritch Knight, Frost Mage, and Palemaster. Eldritch Knight is good for the AB, but doesn't really do much for you otherwise. Frost Mage could work, but you'd be hit pretty hard by the -100% Fire Resistance.

Palemaster seems the only viable choice left. You will get a nice boost to you AC, a summon you can buff up (your songs and inspirations will affect it too), and give you some nice immunities.


If you want to go a more combat oriented route, but still with a lot of Bard levels, then you are left with Dervish, Daggerspell Mage, or Arcane Trickster. Dervish require a fair number of feats to unlock, but it synergizes well with your bard due to reliance on Perform.

Both Arcane Trickster and Daggerspell Mage will require at least 3 levels of Rogue or Bodyguard, so this takes away from your inspirations and songs. The tradeoff is a decent Sneak Attack. Of the two, Arcane Trickster is like the better choice since you can get it much earlier and it doesn't require any special feats. In both cases you'll want Feint to land those Sneak Attacks.

The last option to consider is 8 levels of Fighter for a slinger bard. You'll get Mastery and EWF, and inspire courage should add to the damage of both bullets with Manyshot.

Personally I'd go with either Palemaster or Arcane Trickster, although the slinger is also quite good, if a bit unorthodox for a Drow.

mireigi wrote: Personally I'd go with either Palemaster or Arcane Trickster, although the slinger is also quite good, if a bit unorthodox for a Drow.

Palemaster might be perfect.. gives my male drow more of a wizard feel + the whole song of requiem whatever being like a song of doom/death. Catch is palemaster wont increase my bardic singing so i cant invest too many lvls in palemaster if I still want those epic bard feats which I do. Also im guessing necromancy isnt as outlawed in the underdark as well. Time to do some research on the lore and playing with some builds.

*EDIT*
getting blackgaurd lvls in there will also be a whole lot more difficult lol. ALthough palemaster can make me immune to a bunch of things already.

necromancy has open practice in the UD, regulated by the school of necromancy, no one is -required- to join if they are doing necromancy, but the school doesnt allow rogue necromancers running about

all you really need to do is at least pretend you stop by the school here and there and they know about you, its ones that hide that will get it

also as a side note, pretty sure none of the PM immunities are under PM 5, and i think you need like 24 or 26 bard for SoR, so you would be looking at 24/6 or 25/5 or 24/3/3 with BG levels