Making life more fun for Drow

[Duranamir]

I know this may bore some people, but I only raise the point about once a year. So consider it an early Christmas present.

I am naming this post differently on purpose, the idea of Drow and the surface always raises temperatures so lets take it back to a less contentious viewpoint, making it fun to play a Drow. I am also moving it to the racial forum rather than the rules one.

First point I want to make clear that the reason I raise this is not for personal RP reasons. I have one of the few characters who can even get to Skullport and therefore already RP with Surface siders I am actually in a rather privedged position.

The life of a standard Drow character goes like this, start character, goggle in amazement at the city of Menzo in all its glory, start playing, meet a few other Drow characters ( if you are lucky) get educated in the proper way to greet a priestess and your place in the scheme of things. Find out exactly how deadly the area around Menzo is preferably by being warned not just walking into your first Thaalud. Explore, level and get guilded ( oddly not that hard in Menzo).

Now mid level start exploring and RP’ing in earnest, realise fairly quickly the limits of the standard Underdark. Buy a full set of adamantine armour. Die several times trying to explore the hard areas around the edges of the underdark. Hopefully one of the other Drow will be on before your body decays.

As a spellcaster soon realise that there is no way of getting components for most of your spells, or even the possibility for new spells. A situation I personally try and help with as much as I can as I do have access to surface side goods through my links in Skull port.

If you stick it out and manage to get to a reasonable level and have explored the area gained every item you can and done every quest, grouping with others to do some of them you might, and I mean might be able to travel to Skullport or the other Drow city of Ched Nasad. Both of which to be honest require groups of level 40 + characters to get to as they require passage through some of the tougher bits of Undermountain..

The area I think most needs addressing is the mid levels, it is then that players tend to lose interest, it is no fun just grinding away to get the XP you need to get to high level and then explore the dangerous areas around Menzo before you can get to Skullport or Ched Nasad..

Possible solutions

After the recent additions Skullport is now quite a good place for mid level characters. Skull caverns and the Harloth Magthere open up interesting possibilities for characters as low as level 10. Ched Nasad the second Drow city is hardly ever visited as you have to get past some of the worst traps in the whole game to get there. Which is sad as it is a lovely area with many interesting things to do and buy.

What I am proposing is that the link from Menzoberranzan to Ched Nasad be made more directly, possibly as a portal from somewhere in the dark dominion, so not without risk but doable by a couple of level 20 ish characters. There is already safe links from Ched Nasad back to Menzo or even onto Skull port.

What would this do for the Drow ?

This would double the effective area that Drow have to play in and increase the number of effective guilds 3 fold. It would also allow access to a more varied adventuring area. And mean the large number of interesting shops in the city might see some use so that all Drow don’t end up looking exactly the same.

The existing link to Skull port from Ched Nasad would then mean that mid level, Drow could get to a place where it is possible to interact with those surface siders who wished.

This would not allow surface siders to travel to Menzo or Ched Nasad any more easily than currently, and would not allow Drow any more access than they currently have to the undermountain.

This would also only be a minimal change to the game though for Drow a huge leap forward.

As second small addition I would love is a Drow only message post in Menzo, currently there is no IC way of contacting other Drow to inform them of anything other than in person. It might be nice if there were house specific ones as well, but that is just icing on the cake.

Thirdly Ressurect the Bregan D’arthe, This may well ling into a post i have just seen from Kelemvor, so i wont say much more about it now. I have actually met Jarlaxle once recently so this may well be possible, but it like a number of other auction character run organizations does not seem to function without the relevant character, I am sure this could be changed.

Ok, end of my Christmas wish list, and note not a single mention of getting to the surface !

Duranamir the Drow

[Nysan]

I strongly support far easier travel between the two Drow cities for any drow. Though I agree with the surface rulings, this has always stuck in my side. Drow should be able to travel between their two cities, at least, without large group movements (vastly difficult with current active drow population). I realize the underdark is supposed to be a dangerous, scary place... but we have made some RP and player favoring changes in 'danger' of places in the past, why not again?

Keeping drow off the surface, outside of imm RPs is fine. Now lets see a bit of love underground.

[Duranamir]

Thankyou Dalvyn for the early Christmas present !!!

For the information of other Drow part of one of the suggestions has been implemented. It is now possible to get to Ched Nasad from Menzoberranzan without having to go through Undermountain.

So i think the shops of Ched Nasad had better brace themsleves for a pre-christmas rush

If you want information on the route you can always contact me IC to find out.

Duranamir (the exceedingly happy Drow)