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Actual Drow Roleplay Guide

1. Drow are difficult to roleplay as they should explore mental disorders from the psychological torments of their race which breeds cruelty, ambition, and betrayal. Traits like these should be core to a Drow's personality. 2. The first commandment is to not be a trope or let appearance or abilities solely define the character. A Drow must scheme against others and have goals driven by their society's emphasis on vice and achieving power over rivals. 3. Research is needed to understand Drow society and pay lip service to the goddess Lolth while embracing traits like ambition and scheming against others to achieve goals through any means, as a Drow is fundamentally a villainous character in service

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179 views2 pages

Actual Drow Roleplay Guide

1. Drow are difficult to roleplay as they should explore mental disorders from the psychological torments of their race which breeds cruelty, ambition, and betrayal. Traits like these should be core to a Drow's personality. 2. The first commandment is to not be a trope or let appearance or abilities solely define the character. A Drow must scheme against others and have goals driven by their society's emphasis on vice and achieving power over rivals. 3. Research is needed to understand Drow society and pay lip service to the goddess Lolth while embracing traits like ambition and scheming against others to achieve goals through any means, as a Drow is fundamentally a villainous character in service

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Drop Martinez
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The Ten Commandments of Drow Roleplay (some of them are redundant, but I wanted them to

sum to ten because it's aesthetically pleasing)

Preface:
Drow are an exceptionally difficult race to roleplay, because a properly roleplayed Drow
should be an exploration of (at least one, but potentially more) horrendous mental disorder.
Anyone who is playing a Drow that would sound out of place in a therapist's office is playing the
race wrong. Drow are subject to immeasurable psychological torments pretty much from birth
because their race is genetically predisposed toward cruelty, ambition, and betrayal, and their
method of survival is rooted in hedonism -- they breed like rabbits, and live until they kill each
other.
It's important to remember that you need to understand rules before you can break them,
so your first big-boy Drow should not be an exception to any of the above. Those traits (along
with the mental disorders that you're inflicting upon your character) should indeed be the
bedrock upon which your Drow's personality is based. Your character can either choose to
minimize, mitigate, or embrace these traits, but they must all be present and apparent over
extended interaction. They are therefore alignment locked to Neutral or Chaotic Evil.
I'm confident in stating that every person you've ever interacted with who has played a
believable Drow who ​didn't​ represent those traits has played a Drow just like the one I'm
describing. Most (but not all) garbage Drow roleplay comes from people trying to ape what they
see successful Drow doing. The mark of a well-done Drow is that they're believable, interesting,
and compelling in spite of the fact that they're a really terrible person from a moral perspective.
The other main source of garbage Drow roleplay, therefore, is when people play all
those traits very well, but they're the entirety of the character. You'll know them when you see
them, because they're tropes. The first commandment, therefore…

1. Thou shalt not be a trope.


2. Thou shalt not be defined by thy build.
3. Thou shalt never use "Xas", "Nau", or "Bwael". Ever.
4. Honor thy mother, Lolth, with lip-service, even if you don't worship her.
5. If "X" is sure to result in victory, then you must "X".
6. Thou shalt skim the FR Wiki prior to character creation.
7. Thou shalt scheme, and thou shalt be schemed against.
8. Thou shalt have goals.
9. Thou shalt embody as many of the seven deadly sins as thou reasonably can at one
time.
10. Thou shalt understand the role of the villain.
Explanations:
1. Garbage Drow stumbling block #1.
2: This is poor form as a rule, but because of the difficulty of playing Drow as a whole it tends to
be exemplified with them. Garbage Drow stumbling block #2.
3: If I were less snide, this commandment would actually read "thou shalt not let thy race define
thy character" -- essentially a restatement of the first commandment. Garbage Drow stumbling
block #3.
4: Every Drow is Lolth's favorite. Even the ones that don't worship Lolth. Every Drow must
believe this with all their hearts.
5. There is no depth to which a Drow would not plunge to triumph over an enemy if they think
they won't be held accountable. None.
6. What, you expected to be able to ad-lib your way through playing one of the most intricately
lored races in FR without doing any research? You can get a good primer on the race with 4
hours, a notebook, and several tabs of the wiki open.
7&8. Ambitionless, schemeless Drow are the equivalent of a boat with no propulsion: adrift in a
sea of mediocrity. Your character's eyes should be on the back of the person ahead of them,
waiting for an opportunity to pounce with a knife.
9. "Discipline" only exists in Drow society to avoid knockdown. Vice, envy, and hedonism are
baked into your character from the word go. You hate everyone above you because you are
Lolth's favorite, and they stand in your way of achieving Her (your) will. You also have to do this
without making it seem intentional (and therefore making your character seem like a spastic
edgy retard).
10. The true tragedy of playing a Drow is that for all its complexity, nuance, and difficulty, it's
one really thankless role. Your character is fundamentally a heartless sadistic monster that any
sane person would get the hell away from posthaste. You must accept, therefore, that the story
of your Drow will not have a storybook ending. Your character is not going to live happily ever
after, and the main goal of their existence is to drag everyone else down for the ride.

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