So there certainly seems to be an update for everyone's favorite City and the chances of other Greyhawk content is looking good. Hopefully the Drow will be based more on EGG's original and less on the FR variant.
Let the speculation begin :D
To be honest I was already expecting Erelhei-Cinlu to get some coverage in "Expedition to the Demonweb Pits." If it gets even more exposure in "Drow of the Underdark" it'll be great!
(yep, I've got that GDQ nostalgia thing going.)
Hopefully, the Drow of the Underdark stuff will be based on Fred Weining's material in Dragon Magazine, which I thought was really well done.
I just finished pre-ordering it from Amazon, two months to wait!
I suspect that what people dislike about him is what the weak-minded fans have made of him. Suddenly, it was uberkewl to play a two-weapons-wielding drow of G alignment who spent his days crying over his fate. You couldn't play in a MMORPG without tripping over score of Drizzit, Drist, and so forth.
Then again, Luke Skywalker and various other "heroes" have experienced the same problem. It's the fans who are to blame because they have so little imagination that they have to play copycat (and bad copycat at that).
I mean, I love dwarves but I don't go around playing one named Grimli, Gumli, or something similar...
The second is the greater evil, I think. Drizzt was created under the AD&D ruleset. In that, Drow could two weapons without penalty. This ability replaced the normal elven +1 to hit with longswords, short bows and the various non-crossbows. So Drizzt's use of two weapons was fully supported by the rules, no funky exceptions were needed to support this (he had others, this just wasn't one of them.) Then AD&D2E came, along with a backlash against Drow AFAIK. It could just be a pre-LA attempt at balance. Regardless, ALL elves had exactly the same abilities, even if they made no sense. Drow and aquatic elves have bonuses with longswords and bows, even though they aren't traditional weapons, etc. So our hero, the savior of the brand, could not use his signature technique, at least not without a -2 to hit on his off-hand. Well that just won't do. Let's make his signature technique a function of his class, not race. So now rangers can fight with two weapons. Nevermind that THE iconic ranger, the one who gives the class it's name but his own cannot be spoken, as well as the iconics mentioned in the class description, are never mentioned fighting with two weapons. Okay, THE iconic did, once, with two TORCHES to ward away the nasty evil things rather than damage them. Because they feared fire and stuff.
So i don't like Drizzt because I hold the character as the reason changes were made to the ranger, changes I didn't like. What, I don't do +12 damage to giant class monsters anymore? But I can hit one specific monster on that list at +4 to hit and I can use two weapons if I give up my magic banded mail. And i lose my surprise benefits if I don't lose my armor, too? WTF![/rant]
The original Greyhawk material said that the drow worshipped various demonlords, of whom Lolth was far and away the most influential. Graz'zt features in some material as having drow followers. No doubt there are others.
The original Greyhawk material said that the drow worshipped various demonlords, of whom Lolth was far and away the most influential. Graz'zt features in some material as having drow followers. No doubt there are others.
No, it says Lolth was just the best known, specifically because of the events of the GDQ series. It didn't assign any supremacy to Lolth outside of the Vault.
[...]So i don't like Drizzt because I hold the character as the reason changes were made to the ranger, changes I didn't like. What, I don't do +12 damage to giant class monsters anymore? But I can hit one specific monster on that list at +4 to hit and I can use two weapons if I give up my magic banded mail. And i lose my surprise benefits if I don't lose my armor, too? WTF![/rant]
According to Monte Cook at the ENWorld message boards, when Salvatore created the ranger, he consulted with Zeb Cook at TSR who was writing the 2nd edition AD&D at the time. Zeb Cook decided to give the ranger the two-weapon fighting ability by himself. Salvatore just liked and incorporated it to his character.
I used to blame Drizzt for this one too but don't worry, the fact that the books are poorly written is a far more compelling reason.
According to Monte Cook at the ENWorld message boards, when Salvatore created the ranger, he consulted with Zeb Cook at TSR who was writing the 2nd edition AD&D at the time. Zeb Cook decided to give the ranger the two-weapon fighting ability by himself. Salvatore just liked and incorporated it to his character.
I used to blame Drizzt for this one too but don't worry, the fact that the books are poorly written is a far more compelling reason.
Drizzt was a AD&D character. Acording to Hall of Heroes (a pre AD&D2E product) he is a 10th level Drow ranger. Drow, in AD&D, may fight with two weapons without penalty but have no to hit bonuses with swords or bows. Thus, with AD&D2E's attempt to equalize all elves, the ability had to move from a racial to a class ability to maintain Drizzt's legality. I blame Drizzt. EDIT: and his alter-ego:D
Then again, Luke Skywalker and various other "heroes" have experienced the same problem. It's the fans who are to blame because they have so little imagination that they have to play copycat (and bad copycat at that).
You want to see REALLY bad copycats, just go to any Trek convention and look at all of the outta shape pot-bellied klingons running around. lol
However, I think the quality of the books has diminished significantly since the Dark Elf trilogy, although Starless Night was excellent.
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I'll certainly be getting this as soon as it appears.
Thanks!
The promo cover I have seen for Drow of the Underdark has an "Erelhei-Cinlu revisited" caption next to it.
So there certainly seems to be an update for everyone's favorite City and the chances of other Greyhawk content is looking good. Hopefully the Drow will be based more on EGG's original and less on the FR variant.
Let the speculation begin :D
If I may ask, I haven't noticed yet, but how are the two different?
Let's make his signature technique a function of his class, not race. So now rangers can fight with two weapons.
So i don't like Drizzt because I hold the character as the reason changes were made to the ranger, changes I didn't like. [/rant]
Sooooooooooooooo not true. When Dave Cook was designing 2e he was debating on the change in rangers to make them more interesting to play and Salvatore liked it and had Driz'zt use that feature in the books. Driz'zt was never a PC and wasn't written with the game rules in mind but with the interest of telling a story. I believe that story was told in Dragon magazine but it may have been the FR list but it was an article or post dealing with the changes to ranger in 2e and that Driz'zt was the reason. No, he wasn't. But a lot of the rules changes later were designed so that players could pull off things like Driz'zt would do and other characters as well like Cadderly, the chic from Azure Bonds etc. So it isn't like he is the only one that they made changes to allow for and it actually HELPED to open up AD&D to allow for many more concepts and ideas and not make the game so rigid or punish you for wanting to pull off interesting things.
If I may ask, I haven't noticed yet, but how are the two different?
Originally, drow were said to worship demon lords. Lolth was one of them, but not by any means the only one they worshipped. So instead of pantheon of gods, they were originally supposed to worship the Lords of the Abyss. Some of them also worshipped the Elder Elemental God.
Lolth as the primary goddess of the drow is pretty well established now, in the Monster Manual and elsewhere, so I don't see that changing. I'd like to see some drow worshippers of Orcus, Baphomet, Graz'zt, Malcanthet and others, though, just for variety.
Originally, drow were said to worship demon lords. Lolth was one of them, but not by any means the only one they worshipped. So instead of pantheon of gods, they were originally supposed to worship the Lords of the Abyss. Some of them also worshipped the Elder Elemental God.
Lolth as the primary goddess of the drow is pretty well established now, in the Monster Manual and elsewhere, so I don't see that changing. I'd like to see some drow worshippers of Orcus, Baphomet, Graz'zt, Malcanthet and others, though, just for variety.
Ah, thanks for the information. I have a large 1e collection but the drow stuff has always alluded me. This makes them much cooler and more interesting if you ask me. I hope the new book covers that stuff as well!