Review of Drow of the Underdark (D&D)

[Imperial Overlord]

So its not really that surprising that I would get around to getting this book. So here it is:

Cover: Okay, nothing special. Drow female with a crossbow in front of an Underdark castle.

Interior Art: Hit and miss, with more hit than miss.

Layout: Fairly straightforward and well indexed.

Content: Okay the good stuff. Good chapters on drow society and behavior, with only a trace of D&D prudishness. A few new spells and magic items, all appropriate. There is a small section on drow varients on basic classes, such as the abyssal specialized wizard and the poison using rogue. An excellent section of drow feats, especially those that deal with fighting styles and techniques and drow intrinsic powers. The power feats in particular are excellent.

There's a prestige class section with a slightly reworked arachnomancer and several priesthood related prestige classes. They're all appropriate and well done. Worthy of special note for fluffiness and mechanics are the cave stalker (Underdark ranger type), demonbinder (demon binding warlock), and kinslayer (elf killing fanatic).

The mundane gear and alchemical section is also quite good (small, but good) instead of the usual mostly filler section. I quite liked the new poisons. There's a modest section on new creatures and precreated npcs of typical drow servants and slaves. There is also a huge list of typical drow npcs with one for every major role in drow society. Need an assassin, a priestess, or a favored consort? Got it.

This section feeds into the last, which is a detailed exploration of the Vault of the Drow and the infamous city of Erelhei-Cinlu along with important NPCs. Not only is it a nice sample drow city, its a nice blast from the past for those of us who remember the old Against the Giants and Descent into the Depths series.

Low Point: Editing errors. The stat block for the Vril, a type of specially bred goblin warrior, is missing entirely. There's a few other ones around as well.

Overall: A qualified endorsement. I liked it and if you like using the Underdark or the drow you will probably will as well. The material is specific enough that if your campaigns don't include either of these elements it won't be much use to you as well.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Whoa, they made a new one? How does it stack up with the 2nd Ed AD&D sourcebook of the same name? I always thought the old one blew most 3.5 stuff out of the water in terms of fluff (if not so much in mechanics and stat blocks). So much so that I still use it for my campaigns and reference, eschewing most 3 and 3.5 drow-related material where I can.

[Starglider]

Does it have an interesting and/or detailed treatment of driders? Beyond just a template and sample stats?

[Imperial Overlord]

Whoa, they made a new one? How does it stack up with the 2nd Ed AD&D sourcebook of the same name? I always thought the old one blew most 3.5 stuff out of the water in terms of fluff (if not so much in mechanics and stat blocks). So much so that I still use it for my campaigns and reference, eschewing most 3 and 3.5 drow-related material where I can.

It compares favorably fluff wise. They share many of the same elements, but the old 2nd edition was very much a "Menzoberranzen is the typical drow settlement" view and the new one is much broader, dealing with the drow in general. The book deals with all the accumulated previous work on drow and does a very good job of rationalizing it into a sensible whole. Of course, I think the inhabitants of Menzoberranzen are poor examples of drow and Drizz't is a third rate Elric imitation so I have my own biases.

[Imperial Overlord]

Does it have an interesting and/or detailed treatment of driders? Beyond just a template and sample stats?

No. There is detail on the Tests of Lolth and other disgusting transformations that await those that fail, but only a small section on driders (which interestingly enough mentions young, ambitious drow forming alliances of convenience with them).

[Edward Yee]

... isn't there also a PrC that uses spiked chains as one-handed weapons?

[Imperial Overlord]

... isn't there also a PrC that uses spiked chains as one-handed weapons?

That's related to one of the fighting styles a cavestalker can adopt.