Drow

The scarred, virus-wracked survivors of The World Below who came to the surface for a second chance

Base Racial Traits

Ability Score Modifiers: (+4 Dexterity, –2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, +4 Charisma): Though nimble of body and quick of wit, Drow brains and bodies have long been ravaged by the Genetic Annihilation Virus and are thus frail and mentally degraded.
Size: Drow are medium-sized creatures and thus gain no benefits or penalties due to their size.
Type: Drow are humanoid creatures with the Elf Subtype.
Base Speed: Drow have a base land speed of 30ft and a swim speed of 30ft.
Vision: Drow possess no special senses aside from those afforded to them via the 'Dualsight' racial trait.
Languages: Drow begin play speaking Brinnick(The Regional Language of the Brineskimmer Dominion), and Palespeak. Drow with High Intelligence can choose from any non-secret language as a bonus language to represent their adventurous natures.
Dualsight: Though they have largely shed their ancestral powers, Drow eyes are the last surviving window into what they once were - a Drow's right eye thrums with the power of the past, and when uncovered grants them 120ft Darkvision as well as Light Blindness. Their left eye, when uncovered, grants them a constant Detect Magic effect. Drow are staggered so long as both of their eyes are open and one is not closed or covered. Changing what eye is covered/uncovered is a swift action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Annihilation Clutch: By channeling the Genetic Annihilation Virus that even now lurks within their bodies and shunting it through their open eye, a Drow can as an immediate action replicate one of the below effects depending on which eye they have uncovered.

• Right Eye: Automatically succeed a save against a Poison, Disease, Sleep, or Enchantment Effect.


• Left Eye: Automatically succeed a Dispel Check, Check to overcome Spell Resistance, or a save vs an Illusion Effect.

Fake it 'till you make it: Drow, charming and dashing, have an uncanny knack for crafting lies and bluffs that turn out to be scarily talented, accurate, or close the truth - Drow use Charisma in place of Intelligence for all Knowledge skills, and can make them untrained. They also add their Charisma Modifier to all Untrained Skill Rolls they make.
Ravaged Biology: With bodies utterly ravaged by the Genetic Annihilation Virus, Drow bodies react oddly to transmutation effects - whenever they are the target of a Transmutation Spell that provides an ability score boost, they increase that boost on themselves by 2. When targeted by any other hostile transmutation spell, an effect is triggered on the Wild Magic Table(Or any other random effect table, GM Discretion).
Nimble Buccaneer: Drow, though weak of body, hone their agility into a deadly weapon - they select a single One-handed melee weapon at character creation, and can thereafter add their Dexterity modifier to attack and damage in place of strength and gain proficiency with it. Whenever a Drow threatens a critical with a melee weapon, they can make a free thrown weapon attack or one-handed ranged attack that does not provoke Attacks of Opportunity with a weapon on their person even if no hands are free, though the weapon is sheathed afterwards if it is not a throwing weapon.
Dread Pirate's Compact: Drow, blessed by the invincible god of the seas, are capable of wielding a fraction of the Dread Pirate's power to further their own ends - Drow can, at any time, call upon the power of The Dread Pirate to make a pact(Similar to a Geas/Quest spell) or another 'sacrifice' or 'offering'(Such as offering up the use of their Eyes for a week, Vowing to not speak for a month, etc) to empower their efforts on a certain task, to help resist a certain effect, or to accomplish any number of other things(GM Discretion). The benefit provided is proportional to the severity of the Geas/Quest put upon themselves. Generally, the Drow will specify a duration when making a pact or offering(With higher durations granting more benefit), but if no duration is specified the GM chooses the duration of the effect.
Dramatic Exit: Whenever a Drow would provoke an attack of opportunity for movement, they can make a contested Charisma check with their attacker - on a success, they give a dramatic one-liner and a flourish and negate the attack of opportunity. They may use this ability multiple times a turn, but each time after the first adds 2 to the DC(Resets at the start of their turn).
Freedom's Call: Drow, having come to the surface to escape slavery at the hands of the Duergar, have found themselves becoming increasingly talented at breaking bonds and bindings. By spending time attempting to jimmy, fidget with, or otherwise break a binding or restraint(Mundane or Magical), Drow can, given enough time, 'slip' those trapped by them out and free them. The time required to activate this ability varies depending on the complexity of the binding, number of distractions, and more at GM Discretion, but works in supernatural ways and does not always obey the laws of reality. Drow may also use this ability to free other creatures 'trapped' or 'stuck' in a rigid way of thinking or especially binding ideology or belief - the more dogmatic and rigid the belief or way of thinking, the more effective this ability is; though this ability only frees them in this way in the short term(GM Discretion on how this manifests) and does not prevent them from falling back into it - more akin to a temporary moment of insight or clarity - unless the effect was by its nature temporary(Such as a charm monster effect). Using this ability on mundane or magical bindings or restraints scales in effectiveness based on their Dexterity score, while the mental usage's efficacy scales off their Charisma score. This ability lessens in effectiveness when it is used while being directly observed by others.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Though they were once proud and pure Elves, Drow had odd biology at the best of times - and eons spent suffering under the devastation of the Genetic Annihilation Virus wrought in ages past by the High Humans of The Aurelian Hegemony of Man has only further ruined their anatomy and biological composition.
Though they remain humanoid creatures with all the same internal bodily systems and limbs as others of their ilk, Drow bodies have been utterly ravaged by eons of poisoning and genetic destruction - their constitutions and immune systems are altogether weak, and their ancestral capabilities have largely been destroyed by the virus that took their fertility, leaving entire bodily systems barely functioning or requiring frequent maintenance to function at peak efficacy.
As such, their muscle mass and constitution are largely in tatters alongside many unique anatomical systems once treasured by their people - including the organs that once filtered poisons and protected them against disease and unique anatomical systems that helped ward off excessive amounts of magic(Effectively granting them resistance to spellcasting). Even the quite notorious Highborn Gene that once gave rise to a matriarchal caste of Nobility that possessed all manner of powers far beyond the norm has largely gone extinct - sacrificed for the sake of giving the species a second chance at life on the surface.

Biological Traits

Though at one time male and female drow were fairly easy to distinguish from one another thanks to a rather infamous biological quick known as The Highborn Gene, which manifested spontaneously within Drow populations(And almost exclusively among Drow females, at that) and resulted in a taller, stronger, more magically resistant and powerful Drow, Drow of the modern day have largely shed the sexually distinct biological traits of their past in favor of a more muted, homogenous biology. While exact details are not known, it is believed that The Highborn Gene proved essential in allowing the Drow populations who escaped to the surface(And are thus notated in this racial statblock and page) to, over generations, "breed out" the Genetic Annihilation Virus that long wracked their people - though doing so is believed to have largely eradicated that same gene from their population as it effectively spread out the powers of the mutation to all surface Drow.
Now, all that remains of the Drow's old biology is the fact that, on average, Drow Females still tend to be several inches to a foot taller than their male counterparts, heavier overall, and oftentimes more mentally and physically resilient as well. However, these margins have decreased dramatically since ancient times.

Genetics and Reproduction

Unfortunately, Genetics and Reproduction are the areas which Drow were impacted most by the horrors of the Genetic Annihilation Virus - even two thousand years removed from its deployment into their homelands, the Virus still ravages their bodies in ways that cause them constant pain. Only now, nearly two thousand years after it first entered their populations, are Drow beginning to recover from it - surface Drow have largely sacrificed their species' ancestral power and, most famously, the Highborn Gene, to do so.
As a result, Surface Drow reproduce once more through sexual means - impregnating females who carry their young to term and give live birth after carrying their young inside of them for extended periods of time. However, thanks to the horrors of the Annihilation Virus, Drow reproduction more closely mirrors that of Humans in speed and time to birth - carrying their children for around a year's time before they give birth.
Despite everything, however, many Drow remain sterile - and just as many Drow children die in the womb, are stillbirthed, or are born with such hideous mutations they scarcely live past a year of age.

Growth Rate & Stages

Once born, a Drow child(Assuming they survive birth and one year of age) reaches full adulthood around the age of 25 - after which they are considered biological adults by their own kind. They become middle-aged at 90 years of age, become old at 120 years of age, and reach venerable at 150 years of age after which they perish some years or decades afterwards.
Thankfully, in the modern age, assuming a Drow survives into adulthood, they have to worry a great deal less than their forefathers about rampant mutations as they age - and even for those that do possess such ailments, regular visits to their species' fleshcrafters ensures that most Drow can live healthy, ageless lives well into their twilight years. As a result, overall, surface Drow are largely returning to their old Elven biologies - timeless and serene - with lifespans increasing more and more with each generation.

Ecology and Habitats

Though they were originally adapted for life underground, Drow have forged a new life for themselves on the surface world - working tirelessly to adapt to life on the sea and on a surface in full view of the sun. Now, their bodies are almost rejuvenated by the salty sea air - and they, in stark contrast to their underground brethren, have become a staunchly freedom focused people who often prefer to keep to themselves but who do not hesitate to engage with neighbors. Unfortunately, many also have a habit of turning to banditry or piracy in their surrounding areas.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Drow are omnivores - the one aspect of their biology that time and the Annihilation Virus has not robbed from them.

Behaviour

Drow, having fled to the surface to escape persecution, are a people defined by their past - and how they constantly seek to leave it behind. Though the horrid echoes of their past still in many ways haunt their psychology, as many Drow males still find themselves instinctively submissive or even terrified of Drow Females(Who themselves often grapple with almost Sociopathic Split-Personality Disorder as they adapt to normal lives) or even Females as a whole in extreme cases, Drow nonetheless have become a species obsessed with their personal freedoms - meaning that they have largely become Egalitarian, Freedom-loving, Adventurous people who have an almost Human obsession with exploration; as if driven by a desperate desire to make up for all the surface life they missed out on while underground.
Often eager to try new things and experiences, surface Drow of the modern day are intensely liberty-driven and protective of their personal freedoms to an almost anarchic degree. Curious and good-natured, many Drow grapple quite intensely with inner demons that still haunt them and their species as a whole - and are largely driven by a ravenous desire to make up for lost time now that they are truly free as a species. Fast talking, Quick Thinking, and Suave as a general rule, Drow often make good lovers - for their past of suffering often makes them quite sensitive to the feelings of others and respectful of others and the struggles they go through. However, as many Drow tend to be polyamorous(Though not all), they have developed quite the lascivious reputation.
Perhaps most critically, Drow of the surface have largely done away with their matriarchal roots - though scars of it remain embedded in their psyches, societies, and behavior.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

Drow faces resemble those of Elves - perhaps Forest Elves most keenly - albeit more sharp and angular - with the long and pointed ears that have become signature amongst Elvenkind.
Drow, unlike most Elves, often have faces marred with imperfections as a result of the Genetic Annihilation Virus that still ravages their populations - making scars, boils, welts, or other imperfections common.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Drow are found almost exclusively within the lands of the far-off Brineskimmer Dominion, on a continent far to the north of Corexus - the land from which they emerged from The World Below centuries ago. Though countless Drow have set off on adventures all across the Planet of Ea, this remains their one homeland as of the modern day.

Average Intelligence

Drow, though they were once highly intelligent beings, have had to grapple with mental degredation as a result of the Genetic Annihilation Virus - which has made their intelligence sub-par at best, and has made many of them unfortunately prone to mental illnesses.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Despite everything, Drow senses remain as sharp as ever - and in many ways, are one of the few ways that they have remained steady since their arrival on the surface. Possessing one eye that retains their ancestral senses and grants them incredible darkvision(At the cost their ability to see in light) while the other eye possesses a hypersensitivity to magic itself, Drow possess unique ocular systems that unfortunately do not function in tandem - meaning many of their species is forced to wear eyepatches or other eye-coverings to prevent their senses from overloading their brains if they open both of their eyes.

Alternate Racial Trait List:
NOT YET BUILT.

Racial Feat List:
NOT YET BUILT.

Lifespan

150 Years on average. Varies wildly.

Conservation Status

Though their own species was once quite endangered thanks to the Genetic Annihilation Virus that rendered most of their species sterile, the Drow of the surface have largely overcame their sterility and flourished in the far-off lands of the Brineskimmer Dominion far to the north of Corexus. Though their population numbers are still not entirely level, they have long since stopped being endangered.

Average Height

5.6ft - 6.8ft (1.70m - 2.07m)
(Drow Females tend to be taller and heavier than males)

Average Weight

100lbs - 190lbs (45.35kg - 86.18kg)
(Drow Females tend to be taller and heavier than males)

Average Physique

Drow, though their bodies have largely decayed and their constitutions have largely atrophied, remain highly nimble and lithe - almost supernaturally so.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Drow skin often ranges from coal black to a dusky purple, while their eyes often lack pupils and are usually solid colors, most predominantly blue, white, and red. Their hair is typically white or silver, though some variation is not unheard of.
However, variations do exist - especially among eye coloration, as Drow are almost universally heterochromatic, and can often vary from solid-colored eyes lacking pupils(Seen as a sign of an abnormally 'undamaged' bloodline) to more normal eyes(Though often with odd-colored sclera). Oftentimes, Drow eyes can vary wildly in coloration and appearance - possessing odd or veiny looking eyes, oddly colored pupils or sclera, or even glowing eyes.