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BEAST
Master of Realmslore
USA
1714 Posts |
 Posted - 17 Nov 2014 : 05:00:45
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quote:
Originally posted by Sylrae
Plus, drow magic items, as a general rule in 3.x, stick around just fine in daylight. And that leads me to the notion that magic items created by drow after 1369 are also affected by the events of the Starlight and Shadows series.
Do you have a source for 3.5 drow items being all right? Not a challenge--just a request.
I found 2003's Underdark which references drowcraft items as still being photosensitive and prone to utterly dissolving, as well as needing to be close to faerzress deposits in order to display their magical traits.
I also found 2007's core Drow of the Underdark which says that drow have felt inconvenienced by time limits placed on their surface raids.
Both sources agree that drowcraft items had become unpopular at that point in the timeline. |
"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)
<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works"> |
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The Arcanamach
Master of Realmslore
1842 Posts |
Posted - 17 Nov 2014 : 05:35:49
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| In the 2e Drow of the Underdark sourcebook is specifically states that drow gain increased uses of their SLAs as they age...to the extent that truly old drow effectively have unlimited use of them. But that was 2e. |
I have a dream that one day, all game worlds will exist as one. |
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Sylrae
Learned Scribe
Canada
313 Posts |
Posted - 17 Nov 2014 : 08:53:20
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quote:
Originally posted by BEAST
Did 3E eliminate the recharging rules too? Or just the solar damage rules? This is a pretty important distinction.
In 3e, Drow SLAs "recharge" any time they rest.
quote:
Are these 3E rules actually rules of solar damage, or only rules of faerzress depletion over time?
Sort of both?
quote:
From the FR Sourcebook Underdark
Drowcraft: Drowcraft weapons were once quite common, but they have fallen out of favor in some drow cities. A drowcraft weapon is energized by local earth nodes and the surrounding aura of faerzress. As long as it remains within an earth node or a zone of faerzress, it grants its wielder a +2 luck bonus on attack and damage rolls, in addition to its normal enhancement bonus. Outside a faerzress zone (for example, aboveground), the weapon does not grant the luck bonuses, but it otherwise works normally.
A drowcraft weapon exposed to sunlight must make a DC 8 Fort save or dissolve utterly. A new save at the same DC is required for each day of exposure. Sheathed weapons or weapons exposed to indirect light (such as indoors) are still vulnerable to this effect, but a drowcraft weapon can be kept safe indefinitely inside a lead-lined case. A drowcraft weapon treated with darkoil
(see Special Items, above) is immune to the effects of sunlight.
It grants a luck bonus so long as you're in range of Faerzress. If you leave that range, the luck bonus is gone immediately.
And disintegrating in sunlight is presented as a feature, rather than a drawback of it's creation. As in "if surface dwellers steal them,they will disintegrate! Ha!" |
Sylrae's Forgotten Realms Fan-Lore Index, with public commenting access to make for easier improvement (WIP) |
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Sylrae
Learned Scribe
Canada
313 Posts |
Posted - 17 Nov 2014 : 08:58:58
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quote:
Originally posted by BEAST
quote:
Originally posted by Sylrae
Plus, drow magic items, as a general rule in 3.x, stick around just fine in daylight. And that leads me to the notion that magic items created by drow after 1369 are also affected by the events of the Starlight and Shadows series.
Do you have a source for 3.5 drow items being all right? Not a challenge--just a request.
Nah, I'm using the same sources you are. They say that "drowcraft" items aren't really made much anymore, as opposed to 2e when that was all drow magic items. It's a pretty sudden change to happen within the 3 year gap from Liriel's story and 3e, and I am inferring cause as an explanation.
3e doesn't ever explicitly mention that drow SLAs used to go away in the sun.
Interesting that Drizzt retains his darkness and faerie fire. If he didn't learn replacement SLAs or actual magic to replace them, I'm curious why they didn't go away. My understanding of 2e drow was that they lose all their SLAs in sunlight; and that the surface drow of Cormanthor no longer had any of those abilities. |
Sylrae's Forgotten Realms Fan-Lore Index, with public commenting access to make for easier improvement (WIP) |
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Magor
Acolyte
15 Posts |
Posted - 17 Nov 2014 : 13:55:10
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| Beast, this may seem odd, but can you frame a proper question concerning drow SLA which best captures what you want us to find an answer to? Although I've read both pages here, I have difficulties to grasp exactly what we are trying to accomplish. |
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BEAST
Master of Realmslore
USA
1714 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2014 : 17:15:43
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quote:
Originally posted by Magor
Beast, this may seem odd, but can you frame a proper question concerning drow SLA which best captures what you want us to find an answer to? Although I've read both pages here, I have difficulties to grasp exactly what we are trying to accomplish.
I thought I made it clear in my OP.
Q: Did drow nobles lose levitate as a racial SLA in 4E?
There is no mention of it in 4E resource materials.
But there was also no mention of it in early 3E resource materials, either. RAS continued to write his novels with those racial abilities, and so, later 3E and 3.5E resource materials confirmed that drow nobles still possessed levitate as a racial and status SLA.
So the fact that 4E resource materials did not mention it doesn't necessarily rule it out. It could've just been an oversight, rather than an intentional slight.
Other scribes have said that 5E has reinstated the levitate SLA for higher-level drow.
So this makes 4E the odd man out, so to speak. |
"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)
<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works"> |
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Sylrae
Learned Scribe
Canada
313 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2014 : 18:39:30
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quote:
Originally posted by BEAST
Q: Did drow nobles lose levitate as a racial SLA in 4E?
There is no mention of it in 4E resource materials.
quote:
There was also no mention of it in early 3E resource materials, either. RAS continued to write his novels with those racial abilities, and so, later 3E and 3.5E resource materials confirmed that drow nobles still possessed levitate as a racial and status SLA.
Interestingly, I distinctly remember in WotSQ (1372DR/3e), several high level drow nobles had to use their house-broaches in order to levitate. I think I saw the same in Starlight and Shadows (1369/2e) and in Lady Penitent (1378) though I am less confident about the latter two.
It is interesting to note that in 3e Drow lost deeper darkness and had regular darkness instead (which does nothing against people with darkvision). |
Sylrae's Forgotten Realms Fan-Lore Index, with public commenting access to make for easier improvement (WIP) |
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BEAST
Master of Realmslore
USA
1714 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2014 : 19:10:20
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quote:
Originally posted by Sylrae
Interestingly, I distinctly remember in WotSQ (1372DR/3e), several high level drow nobles had to use their house-broaches in order to levitate. I think I saw the same in Starlight and Shadows (1369/2e) and in Lady Penitent (1378) though I am less confident about the latter two.
Aye, the emblems have always been in play. Can't nobody mess with drow bling!  |
"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)
<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works"> |
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Sylrae
Learned Scribe
Canada
313 Posts |
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BEAST
Master of Realmslore
USA
1714 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2014 : 23:02:37
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quote:
Originally posted by Sylrae
I meant that they're nobles, but they relied on magic items for levitation, and didn't have it innately.
Yeah, there is certainly lots of talk about emblems whenever they levitate.
However, that is not all that there is talk of:
quote:
Only drow would make homes out of fragile stone spears a thousand feet above the cavern floor. Highborn dark elves frequently possessed innate magic or enchanted trinkets that freed them of concern over heights, and gave little thought to dizzying overlooks that would terrify bats. Their slaves and servants were not so fortunate, and must have found life in a ceiling spire something peculiarly nerve-racking. (bold added; Condemnation, C3)
That says innate "or" emblem. It doesn't say "and".
So there is always that. True, it ain't much, but it's something.
And then of course there is always still the "Highborn Drow" feat from Races of Faerūn, mentioned earlier.
I made up this little chart tracking the drow levitate ability across the editions:
D&D / AD&D core: Drow of level 4+ can levitate 1/day.
FR 1E: Drow nobles can levitate 1/day; plus some emblems allow unlimited levitate.
FR 2E: Drow nobles can levitate 1/day, plus one more instance per day for every decade of life (so a 500-year-old drow can levitate 50 times/day); plus some emblems allow unlimited levitate.
Early FR 3E: There is no mention of levitate as a racial SLA; but some emblems allow unlimited levitate.
Late FR 3E: Drow nobles can levitate 1/day; plus some emblems allow unlimited levitate.
FR 4E: There is no mention of levitate as a racial SLA; but some emblems allow unlimited levitate.
D&D 5E: Advanced drow can levitate 1/day. |
"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)
<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works"> |
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TBeholder
Great Reader
2390 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2014 : 23:51:56
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Indeed. If a human noble rides in a couch (or on a horse, or on a train), this doesn't mean human nobles cannot walk.  |
People never wonder How the world goes round -Helloween
And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. -Ed Whitchurch |
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Did Drow Nobles Lose Levitate as an Innate Power?
