The elf is a humanoid race in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game , one of the primary races available for player characters , and play a central role in the narratives of many setting worlds of the game. Elves are described as renowned for their grace and mastery of magic and weapons such as the bow and sword . Becoming physically mature by the age of 25 and emotionally mature at around 125, they are also famously long-lived, capable of living more than half a millennium and remaining physically youthful. Possessed of innate beauty and easy gracefulness, they are viewed as both wondrous and haughty by other races in-universe; however, their natural detachment is seen by some as introversion or xenophobia . They were usually portrayed as antagonistic towards dwarves .
176-503: There are numerous different subraces and subcultures of elves, including aquatic elves, dark elves ( drow ), deep elves (rockseer), grey elves, high elves, moon elves, snow elves, sun elves, valley elves, wild elves ( grugach ), wood elves and winged elves ( avariel ). The offspring of humans and elves are known as " half-elves " among humans and in sourcebooks, and as "half-humans" among elves. Gary Gygax claimed Dungeons & Dragons elves draw very little from Tolkien 's version of
352-495: A referee or Dungeon Master . The Players Handbook contained the information that players needed for playing the standard character classes : cleric , druid , fighter , ranger , paladin , magic-user , illusionist, thief , assassin , and monk . The book also included information on non-human races, such as dwarves , elves , and halflings , as well as character abilities, equipment such as armor and weapons, descriptions of spells , and optional rules to add psionics to
528-587: A "middle ground" where "drow are not intrinsically evil" by allowing players to decide if they want to play as an evil drow who adheres to Lolth or play as a "good drow" who deals with "overcoming the racism of the world based on the violence of Lolth-sworn drow. This allows Wizards of the Coast to retain the brand identity of the drow that drove sales of drow-related products for thirty years, while shifting emphasis away from an implied endorsement of naturalized racism". The drow made their first statistical appearance in
704-561: A 'revision.' That said, most of the changes it presents are good. The bad changes, thankfully, won't have a huge impact on your game". Cook claimed that this new edition "was motivated by financial need rather than by design need". May 2006 saw the release of the Player's Handbook II , designed to follow up the standard Player's Handbook . This book was designed by David Noonan . It contains four new classes, along with new spells, feats, and new role-playing options. Its cover pays homage to
880-523: A balancing attribute created for earlier editions". Tresca opined that the introduction of eladrin "restored elves in Dungeons & Dragons to the mysterious, sometimes dangerous, and altogether powerful status they enjoyed in Middle-earth ". The elf was included as a player race in the 5th edition Player's Handbook (2014). Three subraces were introduced with it: the high elf, the wood elf, and
1056-571: A cataclysm and adapted to live in caves in Mystara. The shadow elves are even paler than normal elves, with white hair and very clear eyes, usually a sparkling blue or gray color. The shadow elves are somewhat smaller and thinner than their surface cousins, standing about five feet tall and weighing about 100 pounds. Their ears are larger than those of wood elves, giving the shadow elves a sort of "walking radar" underground. Shadow elves have high-pitched voices—almost squeaky to human ears. High elves are
1232-403: A clear attempt to "champion diversity" and convey that Dungeons & Dragons "is for everyone". Meehan commented that the 2024 alternate cover "gives off a very different vibe" with the party in cave "sharing a pot of tea" and "included within this serene tea party is a golden dragon – somewhat linking things back to the standard cover – who grasps a normal-sized tea cup in one massive paw, with
1408-511: A clear improvement. He noted that its "interior is laid out very well and is graphically attractive" with a helpful color scheme. The third edition, published August 10, 2000, (with the Player's Handbook debuting at that year's Gen Con , in August 2000 ) represented a major overhaul of the game, including the adoption of the d20 system . The third edition also dropped the word Advanced from
1584-506: A contrast to last edition's PHB cover. Whatever anyone thinks of the overall format and design of these books, that's a huge win". Andrew Zimmerman Jones of Black Gate commented on the 5th edition Player's Handbook : "Their rules light approach make it a natural system for old fans to bring new players into the hobby, but even with this initial offering there are enough customization options to keep old school gamers happy playing with it." Chuck Francisco of Mania.com commented: "While it
1760-867: A distinction is not made for the elves. However, the elven realms have different attitudes towards their neighbours and other Cerilian inhabitants. Those ruled by Rhuobhe Manslayer, also called the Elf, are encouraged to hate humans, sometimes participating in the Gheallie Sidhe, the Hunt of the Elves, which set out to slaughter humans. Other realms set up magical barriers on their borders to prevent unwanted visitors. The 2nd edition setting allows player characters to be elves or half-elves as adventurers but also as regents , giving them control of provinces, law holdings, guilds and magical sources. While humans have to be infused with
1936-523: A divine bloodline in order to cast true magic, the elves already have a connection to the land and can utilise the magical power of the land's mebhaighl without being blooded. However, the elven societies do not trust any deities, especially not those followed by humans, so there are no elven priests or temples. The world of Aebyrnis (of which Cerilia is a continent) was once joined with the Shadow World. On this plane of shadows and illusions, now exists
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#17328008389092112-434: A drow is being a drow." Drow characters are extraordinarily dexterous and intelligent, but have the typically low elf constitution; also, their personalities are described as grating at best, and all other elves hate the drow which affects their reactions to a drow character. In the 5th Edition Basic Rules, drow are described as a subrace of elves with a connection to Underdark magic. Additionally, it states, "the cult of
2288-591: A drow if you enjoy making others uncomfortable. In most D&D settings, the drow civilization is evil. [...] This makes them excellent campaign villains but also gives them great potential as antiheroes who lack traditional heroic attributes [...]. Playing a drow can also present an opportunity to play against traditional gender norms. [...] The drow are outsiders, even in settings that do not include Lolth and her corruptive influence. These campaigns might not have evil societies of dark elves, but they still tend to make them into foreigners with strange customs [...]. Playing
2464-530: A family of elven races — the sylvans, the drows, and the eladrins — in the fourth edition Player's Handbook (2008). This version of the elf returns in the Essentials rulebook Heroes of the Fallen Lands (2010). The elf appears in the fourth edition Monster Manual (2008). Tresca explained that this edition allowed elves and humans to be equal in height and "deemphasized their low constitution,
2640-454: A foil for narrative protagonists" and this narrative process "warps" and "strips" stereotypes "of their context in order to use them like ingredients in a recipe for a compelling villain". Holmes also highlighted the inconsistent artistic portrayal over time as "the black skin of the drow is not" consistently used across all products – this meant that when "some saw the drow as a fantastical race of spider-themed elves, others saw them as one of
2816-572: A majority preference among D&D customers to have all three core rulebooks released in the same month. The Fourth Edition Player's Handbook was designed by Rob Heinsoo , Andy Collins , and James Wyatt . The front cover illustration was by Wayne Reynolds and the back cover illustration was by Dan Scott. The first Player's Handbook includes eight classes: cleric, fighter, paladin, ranger, rogue, warlock, warlord, and wizard, and eight races: dragonborn, dwarf, eladrin, elf, human, half-elf, halfling, and tiefling. The warlock and warlord classes, and
2992-487: A misunderstood, feared yet potentially heroic character can be great fun. In contrast, in his review of Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue for DieHard GameFan , Alex Lucard wrote, "I'll be honest: I've never understood the appeal of the Drow at all. They just seemed overly angsty and dark for the sake of being dark. I've been bored by the novels where they are the featured race and I've generally avoided them unless someone
3168-637: A narrator, explaining how he came across the information in the book: a discussion with Elminster , and chance encounter with a former apprentice of Elminster—the drow lady, Susprina Arkhenneld—as the two explain the drow of the world to the narrator. The drow are presented as a player character race for 2nd edition in The Complete Book of Elves (1992). Drow deities Lolth, Kiaransalee , Vhaeraun, and Zinzerena are described in Monster Mythology (1992). The drow are later presented as
3344-424: A new version of the 2nd edition Player's Handbook was released as part of TSR's 25th anniversary. The book was revised, becoming sixty-four pages larger, mainly due to layout changes and new artwork. A new foreword in this edition specifically stated that the book was not Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition. The 2nd edition Player's Handbook was reproduced as a premium reprint on May 21, 2013. In
3520-619: A non-Lolth based society of drow which was introduced in the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020). Per Wizards of the Coast, the drow of these settings are presented as more "morally and culturally complex". On June 26, 2020, Netflix and Hulu removed the " Advanced Dungeons & Dragons " episode of the TV series Community from their platforms due to scenes with Chang playing a dark elf by wearing elf ears and makeup resembling blackface . A statement from Sony Pictures Television said that
3696-504: A once-civilized people gone feral under the debased rule of women". In response to this criticism in 2020, Wizards of the Coast stated: "we present orcs and drow in a new light in two of our most recent books, Eberron: Rising from the Last War and Explorer's Guide to Wildemount . In those books, orcs and drow are just as morally and culturally complex as other peoples. We will continue that approach in future books, portraying all
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#17328008389093872-581: A people wholly dedicated to Lolth and her scheming and for many, many centuries were viewed in the multi-verse as a people of evil". However, since all elves are descended from Corellon, the drow have the ability to "break free of Lolth's influence" and turn to "the light within themselves". With the ability to resist magic and powerful darkvision, drow are more powerful than many of Dungeons & Dragons ' races. Drow possess natural magical abilities which enables them to summon globes of darkness, outline targets in faerie fire which causes no harm but makes
4048-600: A playable character race again in Player's Option: Skills & Powers (1995). The drow appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2000). The drow of the Forgotten Realms setting appear in the hardcover Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (2001), and in Races of Faerûn (2003). The drow also appears in the revised Monster Manual for the 3.5 edition (2003). The Underdark hardcover for
4224-405: A response to the first review. A third reviewer felt that the design team "smoothed out the rough edges from Advanced Dungeons & Dragon 2nd Edition and added tons of new goodies to make D&D 3rd Edition the best combat-oriented RPG you can buy". In July 2003, the rules were revised again to version 3.5 based on two years of player feedback. Revisions to the Player's Handbook included
4400-569: A scroll which promises "powerful help from the Drow", signed by Eclavdra . Actual drow can be encountered starting on level #2 of the king's hall, beginning with a group of drow priests, and then other drow later. Having discovered that the drow instigated the alliance between the races of giants and its warfare against mankind, in D1 Descent into the Depths of the Earth (1978) the party follows
4576-410: A sensitivity to sunlight. Drow have several kinds of innate spell powers and spell resistance. This is balanced by their weakness in daylight. Half-drow are the result of crossbreeding between another race and a drow, and share characteristics of both. Player%27s Handbook The Player's Handbook (spelled Players Handbook in first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ( AD&D ))
4752-816: A soul and a spirit is that souls live one life on the Material Plane and then spend eternity in whatever plane their chosen deity resides, while spirits are eventually reincarnated back into the Material Plane". In several campaign settings , elves have their own pantheon often known as the Seldarine; this pantheon usually consists of the leader Corellon Larethian , as well as Aerdrie Faenya, Deep Sashelas, Erevan Ilesere, Fenmarel Mestarine, Hanali Celanil, Labelas Enoreth, Rillifane Rallathil, Sehanine Moonbow, and Solonor Thelandira. Other elven gods may be present in different campaign settings. Half-elves are
4928-418: A whole page this time), each subclass also gets an evocative illustration", every character background has "a landscape or scene that begs you to imagine your character there", and there is "artwork displaying how a spell works every page or two – and it's actually quite compelling, showing off how magic works". Beside the art, Abbott thought "in direct contrast to previous editions where sections bled together",
5104-413: Is an obvious power fantasy: look how powerful you can become and the cool things you can fight" while the new cover has a different focus: "look at the variety of DnD races and classes you can play, and the cool people you'll be hanging out with". Bassil thought it was "interesting that Wizards" chose to highlight the group dynamic on the 2024 cover, which "wasn't such a priority in 2014". He also saw it as
5280-542: Is by Jeff Easley , and the book featured eight full-page illustrations in color. Gary Gygax originally started development of the next edition of AD&D and planned on incorporating rules revisions from the Unearthed Arcana (1985) and Oriental Adventures (1985) in a new Player's Handbook . However, Gygax was forced out of TSR by the end of 1985 "and his plans for second edition were abandoned". In 1986, Editor Steve Winter convinced management at TSR that
5456-453: Is extraordinarily fine, always worn long, with the appearance and texture of exquisitely fine silk. The hair is silver, and eye color is a pale, almost ice-blue. They are androgynous in appearance, making it difficult for outsiders to tell males and females apart. "Rockseers have been separated from the rest of elvenkind since mythic times. Their own history tells that they were cowards at the great battle of Corellon Larethian and Lolth, fleeing
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5632-399: Is far more accessible than its predecessor. He highlighted the thoughtful layout and that while "rules are explained when necessary", more complicated aspects "are relegated to a glossary in the appendices". Rivera commented that this updated sourcebook is "better suited to how the game is played in 2024" and "feels well-planned in a way previous books haven't, offering an organic path through
5808-422: Is how it explores drow society, which up to that point was best summarized as 'very evil.' Prior to Drizzt, in the vein of orcs, trolls, and primary-colored dragons, the Drow were essentially categorized as more monsters for players to battle and defeat. Their skin was obsidian black, earning them the alternate name of dark elves, and marking them as the evil counterpart to the good and heroic lighter-skinned elves of
5984-409: Is making fun of them". Some critics have highlighted that the drow are "dark skinned and inherently evil" and are connected to the "racist idea that non-white people are inherently bad". In the academic journal Mythlore , Holmes argued that the depiction of drow was an example of various creators using "negative estrangement" within the narrative "to create a 'more evil' antagonist to serve as
6160-430: Is so extreme in order to convey a desperate battle again such a giant foe. I wanted to put the female hero in a pose that seemed very 'last ditch effort' to cast a spell and possibly take him out [...]. But mainly I just wanted a composition that was very action-packed". He also highlighted the blue magic "about to be cast" by the heroine as the focal point with the bright color contrasting "the hot colors everywhere else in
6336-531: Is the name given to one of the core rulebooks in every edition of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons ( D&D ). It does not contain the complete set of rules for the game, and only includes rules for use by players of the game. Additional rules, for use by Dungeon Masters (DMs), who referee the game, can be found in the Dungeon Master's Guide . Many optional rules, such as those governing extremely high-level players, and some of
6512-557: The Baldur's Gate video game series, "issues of contemporary race relations are brought to the fore in the player-Character's interactions with the dark-skinned Drow Elves." In the book Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy (2012), author James Rocha states that the difference between drow and dark elves in the Forgotten Realms setting is rooted in racist stereotypes: "an acceptable lighter skinned dark race side by side with only
6688-465: The Greyhawk adventure module series explored the drow in depth, including statblocks for drow and an introduction to their Underdark society. The first hardcover D&D rulebook featuring statistical information on the drow was the original Fiend Folio (1981). Gygax wrote this entry, listed under "Elf, Drow", according to the book's credits section. The text is a slightly abridged version of
6864-484: The Monster Manual that it was TSR's most impressive publication to date; that is no longer true—this accolade must belong to the Handbook which is nothing short of a triumph." Scott Taylor for Black Gate in 2014 listed the 1st edition AD&D Player's Handbook cover by artist David Trampier as #1 in "The Top 10 TSR Cover Paintings of All Time". Then in 2016, Taylor listed the Player's Handbook as #5 on
7040-514: The Night Below boxed set campaign published in 1995. In a subplot of Night Below , the player characters can reintroduce the exiled Rockseers to the rest of elvenkind and reconcile them with their god, Corellon Larethian. The elves of Greyhawk include the standard aquatic, dark (Drow), grey, high, and wood (sylvan) elves described in the core rule books of various editions of the game. Additional elven types created for this setting include
7216-654: The War of the Spider Queen series (2002–2005, various authors), and Lisa Smedman 's The Lady Penitent series (2007–2008). Keith Baker 's The Dreaming Dark trilogy (2005–2006) featured the story of the drow in Baker's world of Eberron . The drow appear first for this edition in the Monstrous Compendium Volume Two (1989), which expands the information on drow society. Also included in
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7392-521: The 1st Edition 1977 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual under the "Elf" entry, where it is stated that "The 'Black Elves,' or drow, are only legend." No statistics are given for the drow in this book, apart from the statistics for normal elves. The drow are described as purportedly dwelling deep beneath the surface world, in strange subterranean realms. They are said to be evil, "as dark as faeries are bright", and pictured in tales as poor fighters but strong magic-users . From 1978 to 1980,
7568-527: The Dungeon Master's Guide and the Player's Handbook give advice, tips, and suggestions for various styles of play. For most editions of D&D , The Player's Handbook , Dungeon Master's Guide , and Monster Manual make up the core rulebooks. The first Players Handbook was released in June 1978 as a 128-page hardcover. It was written by Gary Gygax and edited by Mike Carr , who also wrote
7744-615: The Forgotten Realms setting (2003) features the drow yet again as a player character race, as does the Player's Guide to Faerûn (2004). Lost Empires of Faerûn describes the drow werebat (2005). The drow paragon 3-level prestige class appears in Unearthed Arcana (2004). In 2004, the new Eberron campaign setting introduced drow in a world where Lolth doesn't exist; various drow societies were then explored in more detail in Secrets of Xen'drik (2006). Additionally,
7920-599: The Forgotten Realms setting, the Drow followers of Eilistraee were originally the largest group of good Drow, as Eilistraee is the patron goddess of all Drow that have a good alignment. The 4th Edition Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms (2010) does not suggest any typical alignment for drow player characters; however, it highlights the drow that break away from the evil Lolth based societies. The 5th Edition Player's Handbook (2014) described drow as "more often evil than not". In 2021, official errata removed
8096-486: The Games Workshop stand at Dragonmeet", a British role-playing game convention; after the convention, he studied the book and concluded that "whereas the original rules are ambiguous and muddled, the Handbook is a detailed and coherent game-system, and very sophisticated." Turnbull felt a bit of apprehension at the amount of time it would require to digest all the new material, but concluded by saying "I said of
8272-618: The Open Game License and the System Reference Document 's inclusion of the drow race also led to a number of books related to drow being published by companies not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast , such as The Quintessential Drow , The Complete Guide to Drow , and Encyclopaedia Arcane: Drow Magic . The drow appear in the Monster Manual for this edition (2008), including the drow warrior,
8448-506: The Orcadian and Shetland dialects of Scots , an alternative form of " trow ", which is a cognate with " troll ". The Oxford English Dictionary gives no entry for "drow", but two of the citations under "trow" name it as an alternative form of the word. Trow/drow was used to refer to a wide variety of evil sprites. Everything about the Dungeons & Dragons drow was invented by Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax except for
8624-438: The Player's Handbook features "the 'welcoming' face of King Snurre, iron helmet and all looking at you like you don't belong here and why shouldn't he put you down? I love the design of his helmet cast in a slightly deeper red with orange eyes and bear shining underneath". In Publishers Weekly 's "Best-selling Books Week Ending September 1, 2014", Player's Handbook was #1 in "Hardcover Nonfiction" and sold 22,090 units; it
8800-429: The Player's Handbook is finally as lavish as you'd expect" and that in the 2014 edition, "too much was left to your imagination. Class pages, some of the most used in the game, were frequently limited to one or two illustrations and decorative elements apiece, while the spell section was an unrelenting wall of text". Abbott highlighted that "alongside a much grander piece of hero art for each class (which proudly takes up
8976-556: The Sword Coast , the sun elves established Aryvandaar and Shantel Othreier, and the green elves established Illefarn, Miyeritar (along with the dark elves), and Keltormir. To the south, in present-day Vilhon Reach , the green elves also created the nations of Thearnytaar, Eiellûr, and Syòpiir. In the forests that once covered the Shaar , the moon elves established Orishaar, and the dark elves established Ilythiir and Miyeritar (along with
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#17328008389099152-573: The Wizards Play Network were allowed to release the Player's Handbook for early access on September 3, 2024. The digital edition on D&D Beyond also came with early access for subscribers who pre-ordered. Wizards of the Coast also released an alternate cover edition which will be available only in local game stores; shipping delays pushed the release of the alternate cover outside of North America to October 2024. The standard edition features cover art by Tyler Jacobson and
9328-662: The drow (dark elf). The Player's Handbook connects the high elves to the gray elves and valley elves of the Greyhawk setting, the Silvanesti and Qualinesti of the Dragonlance setting, and the sun elves and moon elves of the Forgotten Realms setting. They also connect the wood elves to the wild elves ( grugach ) of Greyhawk and the Kagonesti of Dragonlance. The 5th edition Dungeon Master's Guide (2014) also presented
9504-603: The eladrin (which appeared in 4th edition as a separate but related race) as an elf subrace, using them as an example for creating a new character subrace. The eladrin later appeared as playtest content in " Unearthed Arcana : Eladrin and Gith" (2017); this version was revised and eventually published the following year in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (2018). In early editions of Dungeons & Dragons , elves had spirits instead of souls which impacted some game mechanics such as various resurrection spells. This distinction
9680-565: The elf . However, academic Philip J. Clements sees certain aspects as directly traceable to Tolkien's portrayal. Similarly, academic Philippe Bornet in "Religions in play: games, rituals, and virtual worlds" said that elves in the game are based on Tolkien's version of the elf. Michael J. Tresca, in the book The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games (2014), stated the elven sub-types in Dungeons & Dragons can be traced to divided lines of Tolkien's elves – Noldor become high elves, Tawarwaith become wood elves and Sindar become grey elves in
9856-489: The subterranean Underdark in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game . The drow have traditionally been portrayed as generally evil and connected to the evil spider goddess Lolth . However, later editions of Dungeons & Dragons have moved away from this portrayal and preassigned alignment . More recent publications have explored drow societies unconnected to Lolth. The word "drow" originates from
10032-619: The "simplicity of the actions" which makes "combat more fast-paced" and praised the bounded accuracy of the game. Farrell thought that the "game is fun, simply put, and guaranteed to pull new players into the fold". Glasheen commented that while the game is less complex than previous editions, 5th Edition "is easily my favorite, ranking even higher than D&D 3.5, my first love in D&;D". However, those looking for "a hardcore RPG to test your skills at optimizing characters and crunching numbers" are probably not going to enjoy 5th Edition as much since
10208-462: The 1990–1991 followup The Dark Elf Trilogy focused on Drizzt and the drow of the Forgotten Realms setting. Salvatore continued the story of Drizzt and the drow in his subsequent series Legacy of the Drow (1992–1996), Paths of Darkness (1998–2001), and The Hunter's Blades Trilogy (2002–2004). Other works continuing the story of the drow in the Forgotten Realms include Elaine Cunningham 's Starlight and Shadows series (1995–1996, 2003),
10384-500: The 1st edition Player's Handbook . The 3.5 edition Player's Handbook was reproduced as a premium reprint on September 18, 2012. On June 6, 2008, the Fourth Edition Player's Handbook , subtitled Arcane, Divine and Martial Heroes , was released. It was originally announced that the 4th edition's three core rulebooks would be released over a three-month period, but the date changed after customer feedback revealed
10560-510: The 2024 Player's Handbook as "an improvement from its 2014 predecessor in almost every single way" since the sourcebook "is more accessible, has better art, a better layout, and has clearer rules". Hoffer highlighted that the update "played it safe" and that the sourcebook features many changes which "were either already implemented via different expansions or exist in the same design space as third-party material". Hoffer opined that "the designers should be acknowledged" for their work on improving
10736-432: The 2024 edition has a more sensible layout design and emphasizes reader accessibility. Joshua Rivera, in a pre-release review for Polygon , thought that the 2014 Player's Handbook was "clearly built with the assumption that the reader arrives with some level of buy-in or, preferably, someone to guide them" while the 2024 Player's Handbook is a "modern and clean reworking of the first book every D&D player reads" and
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#173280083890910912-669: The 3.5 edition in Expedition to the Demonweb Pits (2007) and Drow of the Underdark (2007). Drow of the Underdark also features the arcane guard, the drow assassin, the house captain, the house wizard, the drow inquisitor, the favored consort, the drow priestess, the drow slaver, the spider sentinel, the albino drow (szarkai), the szarkai fighters, the szarkai druids, and the drow warrior, along with numerous prestige classes and other monsters related to drow. The release of
11088-426: The Coast released a new printing of the original book, billed as the "1st Edition Premium Player's Handbook", as part of a set of limited-edition reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks: the Monster Manual , Player's Handbook , and Dungeon Master's Guide . These premium versions of the original AD&D rulebooks were reprinted with the original art and content, but feature a new cover design. Purchase of
11264-466: The D&D game itself. Designer James Jacobs considers the drow to be a rare example of a D&D-invented monster becoming mainstream, with even non-gamers recognizing them. Rob Bricken, for Io9 , named the drow as the eighth most memorable D&D monster. In the 1990s, products which featured drow produced higher sales. While Paizo Publishing was printing Dragon and Dungeon , covers featuring drow often sold better than other issues in
11440-501: The Drow, who are of standard D&D elven height. In Faerûn, surface elves call themselves Tel-Quessir which means "The People" in the elven language. In 4th edition, most of the elven subraces were classified into three broad families: drow, eladrin, or elves. In the 5th edition, these families were re-classified into four, with three being detailed in the primary campaign books: drow, high elves, and wood elves, with eladrin as their own lineage of elves whose ancestors never emigrated from
11616-458: The Elves , Elves of Evermeet and Elves of Athas . The elf appeared as a character race in the third edition Player's Handbook (2000), and in the 3.5 revised Player's Handbook . Elves were detailed for the Forgotten Realms setting in Races of Faerûn (2003). Elves were one of the races detailed in Races of the Wild (2005). The elf appeared as a character race and as one of three in
11792-508: The Faerie world to the Material world of Toril. The history of the elven race as portrayed in this setting is marked by great empires and a gradual decline and retreat from the mainland Faerûn. The elves first came to Abeir-Toril from the plane of Faerie more than twenty-five millennia ago. The first wave of elves to arrive were the green elves, lythari, and avariel. The second wave included
11968-524: The Fire Giant King in the back of this module, along with statistics for Lolth herself. The story concludes in module Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits (1980). The astral gate from D3 leads to the Abyssal realm of Lolth, goddess of the drow elves and Demon Queen of Spiders; Lolth is the architect of the sinister plot described in the two previous series of modules. At the very end of the module,
12144-493: The Frost Giant Jarl (1978) mentions this guiding force again in its introduction. The third module in the series, G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King (1978) again mentions the party's need to find out whatever is behind the giants' alliance, and this time mentions the drow specifically by name. In the adventure, the player characters can discover the first hint of drow involvement in the fire giant king's council room, on
12320-423: The Greyhawk adventure module Hall of the Fire Giant King (1978) at the end of the module, and received a lengthy writeup. The history of the drow within the game is revealed; in ages past, the elves were torn by discord and warfare, driving out from their surface lands their selfish and cruel members, who sought safety in the underworld . These creatures, later known as the "dark elvenfolk" or drow, grew strong in
12496-629: The Kagonesti or Wild Elves; and two races of sea elves: the Dimernesti or Shoal Elves, which inhabit the coastal areas and the Dargonesti or Deep Elves. The various elven subraces are more prominent in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, and Faerûn boasts several major subraces. They differ physically from typical Dungeons & Dragons elves in that they are as tall as humans (5′9″ on average), or even taller. The exception are
12672-528: The Lorendrow and Aevendrow seem to suggest that Dungeons & Dragons is officially moving past some long-held canon about the drow". Tika Viteri, for Book Riot , highlighted that Salvatore's Starlight Enclave (2021) "contains a singular shift in the narrative of the story of the drow; Salvatore reveals that drow are not, in fact, the only dark-skinned elves in the Forgotten Realms". Made famous by R. A. Salvatore 's Drizzt novels, these dark elves from
12848-478: The May 1989 edition of Games International , James Wallis called the 2nd edition "an improvement over the original", but concluded that it was "a step forward for the game, but a very small step." Wallis felt that the many improvements called for by the "archaic mechanics" and "hugely overly-complex" rules had not been addressed, and that the game still provided "a terrible introduction to role-playing." He concluded that
13024-575: The Seelie who are more faerie-like than the sidhelien. The Cerilian lore hints that since the two worlds split, for every Cerilian sidhe, there is a corresponding member of the Seelie or Unseelie Courts. The elves are the largest political and military presence in space; at the time of the original Spelljammer: AD&D Adventures in Space boxed set, the elves had just completed a remarkably successful extermination of interstellar orcs and goblins throughout
13200-543: The U.S. from most chain retailers and over 800 independent booksellers" and covers "about 85% of the market", reported "a total of 3,773 copies sold". Thorne viewed BookScan as an accurate accounting of bookstore sales, however, not an accurate accounting of every sale as very few hobby game stores report their sales to BookScan and BookScan's figures do not appear to include the 3,000 copies sold at GenCon. Benjamin Abbott of GamesRadar+ commented that "with this 2024 update,
13376-452: The Year", and one silver award for "Best Writing" by Jeremy Crawford , James Wyatt , Robert J. Schwalb , and Bruce R. Cordell . Jeff LaSala of Tor.com commented that "there's no denying" the "visual appeal" of the covers for the 5th Edition sourcebooks and that he was "extremely satisfied to see the Player's Handbook 's cover at last give us an action heroine in sensible clothing—quite
13552-438: The alternate cover features art by Wylie Beckert. Alex Meehan, for Dicebreaker , highlighted that the standard edition features a party of adventurers with "a friendly golden dragon standing behind them" and the "artwork strongly implies that the group is in the midst of a battle". In comparing the cover of the 2024 Player's Handbook to the 2014 Player's Handbook , Matt Bassil of Wargamer commented that "the old cover
13728-539: The arcane arts over the centuries and content with their gloomy fairyland beneath the earth, though they still bear enmity towards and seek revenge against their distant kin, the elves and faeries who drove them down. They are described as chaotic evil in alignment , and highly intelligent. They are described as black-skinned and pale haired in appearance, around 5-feet tall and slight of build with somewhat sharp features, with large eyes and large pointed ears. Drow are difficult to surprise as they are able to see very well in
13904-508: The avenger, barbarian , bard, druid, invoker, shaman , sorcerer , and warden, and five races: the deva, gnome , goliath, half-orc, and shifter . The book reached No. 28 on USA Today ' s bestseller list the week of March 26, 2009 and No. 14 on the Wall Street Journal ' s non-fiction bestseller list a week later. A third book in the series, Player's Handbook 3 , subtitled Psionic, Divine and Primal Heroes ,
14080-598: The basic concept of "dark elves". However, in the Prose Edda , Snorri Sturluson wrote about the black elves : "... the dark elves however live down below the ground. ... [and] are blacker than pitch." Gygax stated that "Drow are mentioned in Keightley 's The Fairy Mythology , as I recall (it might have been The Secret Commonwealth —neither book is before me, and it is not all that important anyway), and as Dark Elves of evil nature, they served as an ideal basis for
14256-412: The book "a vast improvement" over the 1st edition book; he noted that the monk character class had been "banished to Oriental Adventures where it belongs", but commented that the spell descriptions "have positively bloated to over 100 pages". Stephan Wieck reviewed the Player's Handbook within a broader review of the 2nd Edition rules in a 1989 issue of White Wolf . He saw the revised rules as
14432-442: The changes 'radical.' Even though some characters will undergo some significant changes, the aim is for the character to still feel like the same character, only with more interesting and balanced options." Monte Cook , one of the lead designers of the 3rd Edition who left Wizards of the Coast in 2001, was critical of v3.5 in his review of the new core rulebooks – "this revision is too much, too soon. In fact, it's much more than just
14608-600: The character creation process including the new Background system and thought making the Feats system optional "de-clutters the game and removes the incentive to try and break system mechanics". Similarly, Farrell commented that "character creation is fast and easy, without an overload of options at the outset" and with a simpler ruleset, this edition "has found substantial yet unobtrusive ways to bring your thoughts to roleplay without enforcing rigid methods of keeping in line with an archetype". In terms of gameplay, Farrell highlighted
14784-492: The character creation rules", "all the other core rules" and "first time ever it included magic items". He explained that one of the 4th Edition goals was "moving the game away from being a simulation and toward being a more cinematic gaming experience – something that would allow players to simply reskin their character fluff without it changing the game itself" and so player character classes saw "the biggest revamp". He highlighted that fewer roleplaying aspects were codified while
14960-484: The city of Sylvandretta. To maintain a pure bloodline, they have inbred for millennia, resulting in their lighter appearance and halving their lifespan compared to other Athasian elves. The elves of Cerilia are known as the sidhelien and control various realms on the continent. While the Birthright Campaign Setting makes a clear difference in the rules between five Cerilian human cultures, such
15136-426: The classes becoming more balanced against each other. Andy Collins explained that he was originally put in charge of "evaluating the 3.0 Dungeon Master's Guide to see if there were places where the rules could stand any improvement or upgrades" as a "thought experiment for R&D"; however, by winter 2001, there was a shift to developing Dungeons & Dragons v3.5 to reflect the game's rapid evolution. Collins
15312-504: The combat and taking refuge far below ground. They have no knowledge of surface elves. They know of the Drow and hate them, avoiding them whenever possible. They are extremely seclusive and shun the company of all other races, including the Svirfneblin . The only exception to this are pech , with whom Rockseers sometimes form friendships." The deep elves are found in 1996's Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three , but originated in
15488-521: The creation of a unique new mythos designed especially for the AD&;D game." Gygax later stated that he took the term from a listing in the Funk & Wagnall's Unexpurgated Dictionary , and no other source at all. "I wanted a most unusual race as the main power in the Underdark, so used the reference to 'dark elves' from the dictionary to create the Drow." There seems to be no work with this title. However,
15664-660: The dark elves, who arrived in the jungles of southern Faerûn, and the sun and moon elves, who arrived in the north. Not long after, the aquatic elves arrived in the Great Sea. After the second wave of elven immigrants arrived, the Time of Dragons ended and the period known as the First Flowering of the Fair Folk began. The elves settled into five major civilizations along the west and south of Faerûn during this period. Along
15840-439: The dark, have an intuitive sense about their underground world similar to that of dwarves , and can detect hidden or secret doors as easily as other elves do. Drow are highly resistant to magic , while all drow have the ability to use some inherent magical abilities even if they are not strictly spellcasters. The module also reveals that there are rumors of vast caverns housing whole cities of drow which exist somewhere deep beneath
16016-505: The designer "lacked the vision to see what could have been done with the material", and gave the book a below-average rating of 2 out of 5, saying, " AD&D may be the biggest selling rolegame of all time, but like the IBM PC, that doesn't mean that it isn't thoroughly obsolete and to be avoided." The 2nd edition Player's Handbook was an Origins and Gamer's Choice award winner. Lawrence Schick , in his 1991 book Heroic Worlds , called
16192-416: The dragonborn and tiefling races, represented new additions to the core rules, while the book left out previous core elements such as the monk and bard classes and the gnome and half-orc races. Wizards of the Coast emphasized that those elements would be coming in subsequent Player's Handbooks and would be considered to be as central to the game as those in the first book. Shannon Appelcline highlighted that
16368-475: The drow arachnomancer, the drow blademaster, and the drow priest. The drow appear as a playable race in the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide (2008) and the Essentials rulebook Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms (2010). The drow feature in a pre-written playable module called Demon Queen's Enclave (2008) which takes adventurers from levels 14 through 17 into the Underdark to battle
16544-483: The drow were originally simply elves who held more with the tenets of might than those of justice, and as they quested for power they became corrupted and turned against their fairer brethren. Any elf character of good or neutral alignment, even drow, is allowed into the realm of Arvanaith where elves go upon reaching old age. The book notes that drow player characters have a large number of benefits while suffering few disadvantages, but that "the major disadvantage to being
16720-495: The drow. The Elfwar is presented, an elven myth in which the elves were one people until the Spider Queen Lolth used the dissent among the elves to gain a foothold; the elves of Lolth took the name Drow to signify their new allegiance, but as they massed to conquer the other elves, Corellon Larethian and his followers drove Lolth and her people deep into the earth, where they chose to remain. The dark elves who became
16896-465: The drow. The main issue is that the drow (like other 'evil' races) are presented as a large monolithic society dedicated to evil instead of a group with multiple competing interests and beliefs. It's not that some drow, or even a city or country of drow, are seen as evil—it's that Dungeons & Dragons lore has traditionally considered evil drow to be the default. [...] By bringing in two entirely new cultures of drow that have rejected Lolth, it seems that
17072-475: The druid as an example), and rogues (thieves and bards ); while most character classes remained similar to their versions in the 1st edition rules, the bard was regularized to function more like the other classes, and the assassin and monk were removed. TSR, Inc. also removed some races from the game, such as half-orcs, although some of these were added back into the game in supplements, such as The Complete Book of Humanoids . Appelcline noted that following
17248-502: The earth, and now that the drow have dwelled in these dark labyrinthe places they dislike daylight and other forms of bright light as it hampers their abilities. They are able to communicate using a silent language composed of hand movements, and when coupled with facial and body expression, movement, and posture, this form of communication is the equal of any spoken language. The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game's second edition product Monstrous Compendium Volume Two (1989) describes
17424-863: The elf) were presented as distinct classes. The elf class is often seen as a blend of the fighter and magic-user classes. The Shadow elf appears as a character race in GAZ13 The Shadow Elves published by TSR in 1990 as a 64-page booklet and a 32-page booklet. The high elf appeared as a character race in the second edition Player's Handbook (1989). The high elf also appeared in the Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989). Several elven races were detailed as player character races in The Complete Book of Elves (1992). Supplements focused on elves in specific campaign settings include Comanthor: Empire of
17600-531: The elves. The elven subraces of Faerûn include the following: Once the slaves of the giants of Xen'drik , the elves of Eberron are said to have immigrated over time to the continents of Aerenal and Khorvaire , establishing nations and distinct cultures on both. Most notable are the elves of Aerenal, whose culture revolves around the veneration of the Undying Court . In the post-apocalyptic setting of Athas, elves are nomadic desert runners rather than
17776-525: The entry for drow is a description and statistics for the drider . This entry is reprinted with some minor modifications in the Monstrous Manual (1993). Drow society, religion, history, magic, craftwork, and language for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting is detailed significantly in The Drow of the Underdark (1991), by Ed Greenwood . Greenwood appears in the book's introduction as
17952-587: The few roleplaying games to maintain a split between core books for players and game masters throughout most of its history" and this split started with the release of the Players Handbook (1978), followed by the release of the Dungeon Masters Guide (1979). The AD&D core game rules were divided between these books, and the open-ended nature of the new rules mandated that for game campaigns to be run successfully they would now need
18128-546: The fleeing drow into the tunnels leading northwest and deep into the earth, to eliminate the threat they pose. Examining a golden spider pin found on one of the drow priestesses, the party can discover runes in the drow language reading " Lolth , Death Queen Mother". The party continues to pursue the drow in D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa (1978). In D3 Vault of the Drow (1978), the adventurers eventually make it to Erelhei-Cinlu,
18304-444: The focus "is heavy on story and keeps the mechanics fast and loose". The backward compatible Player's Handbook (2024), as part of the 2024 revision to the 5th Edition ruleset, updates preexisting player options while introducing new content to the game. The sourcebook was released globally on September 17, 2024. Wizards of the Coast released a limited number of copies for sale six weeks early at Gen Con ; local game stores in
18480-471: The following entry can be found in abridged editions of Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of the English Language , such as The Desk Standard Dictionary of the English Language : "[Scot.] In folk-lore, one of a race of underground elves represented as skillful workers in metal. Compare TROLL. [Variant of TROLL.] trow " The drow were first mentioned in the Dungeons & Dragons game in
18656-457: The forces of Orcus and possibly ally with members of the treacherous dark elves and/or their minions. The drow of Xen'drik are also outlined in the 4E Eberron Campaign Guide (2009). The drow appear as a playable elf subrace in the Player's Handbook (2014) for this edition. They also appear in the Monster Manual (2014) for this edition. In the adventure module Out of the Abyss (2015),
18832-491: The foreword. The original cover art was by D.A. Trampier , who also provided interior illustrations along with David C. Sutherland III . Numerous foreign editions of the Players Handbook were published, including versions for the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and Germany. Games Workshop (U.K.) published a softcover version also in 1978. In 1983, TSR changed the cover art of the Players Handbook , although
19008-418: The game influenced subsequent works of fantasy. Drow have a gender-based caste system that one author claims says "a great deal about attitudes towards gender roles in the real world". The drow originally created by Gary Gygax are now "essentially the drow of fantasy fiction today", according to Ed Greenwood , who believes them to be "arguably Gary Gygax's greatest, most influential fantasy creation" after
19184-572: The game needed more than a "reorganization" and instead that the game "should be redeveloped"; Winter and Cook then spent several years developing AD&D 2nd Edition. In August 1987, Director of Games Development Michael Dobson outlined that "the two core books were to be done by December 1987, then turned over to the RPGA for playtesting in early 1988, then returned to TSR for redevelopment in late 1988" aiming to release in "March or April 1989". Shannon Appelcline highlighted that "Dobson's scheduling
19360-423: The game's concepts and ideas". Following the release, Charlie Hall of Polygon also emphasized the "user-friendly" aspects of the sourcebook which he thought "seamlessly" onboards players – "lead graphic designer Matt Cole and art director Emi Tanji should be given medals, because the very shape of the brand feels suddenly glossy, modern, and new". However, Hall criticized the digital edition on D&D Beyond as
19536-463: The game, "however, nothing about the new Player's Handbook excites me as a veteran DM or makes me want to play Dungeons & Dragons more than I already did". Mollie Russell of Wargamer rated the 2024 Player's Handbook a 9 out 10 and commented that a close reading of the sourcebook shows a "complex web of small changes" but at a distance, while playing, "things still feel like fifth edition. The broader experience hasn't been innovated much, but on
19712-489: The game. The elf first appeared as a player character race in the original 1974 edition of Dungeons & Dragons . The aquatic elf was introduced in the 1975 Blackmoor supplement. Elves in Dungeons & Dragons are immune to paralysis as a holdover from a game balance adjustment in Chainmail . Players with elf characters could chose either the "fighting-man" or "magic-user" class to start with; multiclassing
19888-407: The game. Appelcline noted that TSR mostly published books aimed at Dungeon Masters after the release of the core rulebooks until "the release of Unearthed Arcana (1985), which could easily have been called 'Player's Handbook 2', and Oriental Adventures (1985), an 'alternate players handbook' for the east". In 1999, a paperback reprint of the first edition was released. In 2012, Wizards of
20064-450: The gameplay mechanics were "more focused on combat than in previous editions" making battle maps very important; the healing surge mechanic reflected the importance of combat while "spells and other abilities that weren't combat-oriented either disappeared or were revamped". The 4th edition Player's Handbook 2 , subtitled Arcane, Divine and Primal Heroes , was released on March 17, 2009. The Player's Handbook 2 includes eight classes:
20240-465: The god Lolth, Queen of Spiders, has corrupted some of the oldest drow cities, especially in the worlds of Oerth and Toril. Eberron, Krynn, and other realms have escaped the cult's influence—for now. Wherever the cult lurks, drow heroes stand on the front lines in the war against it, seeking to sunder Lolth's web". Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (2018) retells the story of Corellon and Lolth; the elves who supported Lolth were cast "into darkness. They became
20416-463: The great war amongst the elves, a vast system of caverns and tunnels spanning much of the continent. The drow live in city-states in the Underdark, becoming one of the most powerful races therein. The drow are well adapted to seeing in the dark, and they loathe, are terrified of, and are easily blinded by the light of the surface. Some magic weapons, armor, and various other items of the drow disintegrate or lose their magical properties if exposed to
20592-462: The green elves). All of these realms were gradually destroyed as a result of the Crown Wars, which made way for other elven realms. Their once expansive realms have shrunk back in territory and prestige due to the influence and expansion of the younger races, particularly humans. They remain influential, however; much of the shape of Faerûn is influenced by conflict between the various subraces of
20768-521: The healing surge ability the sourcebook introduced as it allows player characters (PCs) "to be more adventurous and daring". However, he "didn't like" how various classes and races (such as bard, barbarian, druid, monk, gnome, and half-orc) were left out of the Player's Handbook (2008). Baichtal opined that 4th Edition "certainly isn't a token update to sell more books" with "thoughtful" changes and an "easy start that makes newbie PCs tough enough to take care of business". The 5th Edition Player's Handbook
20944-464: The history of D&D, and that's Drizzt Do'Urden, who is one of the Mary Sue -iest characters in all of fiction—and he's been the star of countless novels and is the only reason any D&D player has even been interested in the Drow, of which now there is a terrifying amount of material". Matthew Beilman, for CBR , highlighted multiple reasons to play as a drow character: You will love playing
21120-537: The image". Wizards of the Coast rereleased the three core rulebooks as part of a bundled boxset, titled Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebooks Gift Set , in November 2018; the rulebooks contain the errata for the edition. An alternative edition of the set, with new cover art by Hydro74, was only available through local game stores. Gavin Sheehan for Bleeding Cool highlighted that the alternative cover art of
21296-537: The interior contents remained the same. This printing featured cover art by Jeff Easley . Printings with this cover also bear an orange spine that fits in with other Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books. Dealers continued to place orders for the 1st edition Players Handbook even after 2nd edition was released, causing the final printing to be in July 1990, a year after the release of 2nd edition. Shannon Appelcline highlighted that Dungeons & Dragons "is one of
21472-495: The known universe. 5th Edition introduced Astral Elves who are now native to the Astral Sea. Classics scholar C. W. Marshall positively remarked on the "wide diversity of genetically unique groups" of elves found in the game, "which can energize fans". Drow (Dungeons %26 Dragons) The drow ( / d r aʊ / or / d r oʊ / ) or dark elves are a dark-skinned and white-haired subrace of elves connected to
21648-431: The larger "core rulebook of the game" and included most of "the character creation rules and everything else that players should know". The book contained the information on how to play the standard character classes organized in categories consisting of warriors (fighters, paladins, and rangers), wizards (mages and specialist wizards such as illusionists), priests (clerics, with guidelines for variance by mythos, including
21824-496: The list of "Top 10 'Orange Spine' AD&D Hardcovers By Jeff Easley, saying "you aren't going to top Trampier's version, but nonetheless, for many players who didn't start D&D in the 1980s, THIS is their Players Handbook , and many of us have imagined this fantastic fight as we sat around a gaming table." The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Player's Handbook was a 256-page hardcover book written by David "Zeb" Cook and released in 1989. The original cover art
22000-417: The lore will show that drow are just as complex and multi-faceted as the many other elven subraces in the game. Holmes commented that "to some extent, the current revisions being applied to race, half races, and the drow specifically reflect longstanding tensions in gaming spaces" and how audience views around "narrative subjects change over time". Holmes thought Wizards of the Coast appears to be aiming for
22176-406: The more common image of forest-dwellers. Athasian elves are portrayed as hostile nomads, marked by savage dispositions and a deep distrust of outsiders. An Athasian elf stands 6½–7½ feet tall. They are slender, lean, and generally in terrific physical condition. Their features are deeply etched into their weather-toughened faces, and their skin is made rough by the windblown sands and baking sun of
22352-416: The more obscure spells, are found in other sources. Since the first edition, the Player's Handbook has contained tables and rules for creating characters, lists of the abilities of the different character classes , the properties and costs of equipment, descriptions of spells that magic -using character classes (such as wizards or clerics ) can cast, and numerous other rules governing gameplay. Both
22528-566: The most divergent sub-race, and dark elf player characters are considered outcasts from their homeland, either by choice, differing from the standard chaotic evil alignment of the race, or having lost in some family-wide power struggle. It is hinted in G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (1978) that there is a "secret force, some motivational power behind this unusual banding of different races of giants." G2 The Glacial Rift of
22704-525: The most rare exceptions in the darker race, which is thought to be inherently evil, mirrors American history in a very uncomfortable fashion". In a retrospective on the legacy of Dungeons & Dragons , academic Daniel Heath Justice also commented that the " Forgotten Realms was explicitly based on the civilized-versus-savage binary and leaned in hard on racial essentialism in its sadistic black-skinned drow led by vicious matriarchs and their terrible spider goddess, firmly melding anti-Blackness with misogyny,
22880-441: The new sourcebook, he also emphasized that he "can't recommend anyone purchase D&D 2024's Player's Handbook ". He criticized Wizards of the Coast for releasing the Player's Handbook months before the other two core rulebooks in a move "that's simply prioritized towards the largest population of wallets" and opined that you can't truly review the 2024 update with only one core rulebook. Christian Hoffer of ComicBook.com viewed
23056-421: The newest installment of this venerated table top series." In comparing the 2014 Player's Handbook to the 1978 Player's Handbook , James Floyd Kelly of GeekDad viewed the AD&D sourcebook as both "outstandingly fun" and "a product of its time" while "this new 5th edition feels streamlined... and much more accessible". Kelly commented that "the writing is much more polished. The artwork more inspiring. And
23232-421: The offspring of humans and elves. They look like elves to humans and like humans to elves. Half-Elves have curiosity and ambitions like humans but they have sense for magic and love for nature like their elven parents. Their skin is paler than human skin and they are taller and bigger than elves. Half-Elves have long ears like elves. They live about 180 years. The half-elf appeared as a player character race in
23408-468: The omission of some classic character classes and races was considered controversial – "the designers later said that they regretted not saying that the first Player's Handbook was just a starting place for D&D 4e" as "more races and classes would appear in the years to come". Appelcline opined that the Player's Handbook (2008) was notable for being "the most complete player's rulebook ever produced for" Dungeons & Dragons since it contained "all
23584-622: The original Player's Handbook (1978). Subraces of elves include Dark Elves and Deep elves. These elves are the most noble of elves, yet also the most arrogant. They are of higher intellectual capabilities than other elves, but, despite the fact that they are taller than high elves, they are physically weaker. They live in isolated mountain strongholds, and rarely allow access to outsiders. They have silver hair and amber eyes, or gold hair and violet eyes, and wear clothes of white, silver, yellow and gold, and usually wear regally colored cloaks. These elves are an isolated race of elves that survived
23760-633: The original eladrin and the original elves that came Abeir-Toril from the Feywild (dark, sun, moon, green, lythari and star elves), and most commonly encountered by other races, and the most open and friendly of their kind. They travel to other lands more than other elves. They are generally dark-haired and green-eyed, with very pale complexions the color of new cream. They simply do not tan, no matter how much time they spend under Oerth's sun. High elves prefer to wear light pastels, blues and greens and violets, and often dwell in homes built into living wood, high in
23936-420: The overall look and feel (with the layout of the graphical elements and charts and the organization of material) is appealing both visually and for comprehension. New gamers are going to find this new material fun to read – at no time did I feel bogged down as I was reading". Henry Glasheen of SLUG Magazine highlighted getting "lost in the artwork" of the 2014 Player's Handbook as the new edition's "art has
24112-416: The party has between adventures. Wizards of the Coast announced that the Player's Handbook (2024) was "the fastest-selling Dungeons & Dragons product ever" and surpassed Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything (2020) to become "the biggest product launch in the game's 50-year history". Scott Thorne of ICv2 noted that data service BookScan , which publishes "weekly sales figures of trade book sales in
24288-409: The party's rogue balancing on part of the dragon's body above". Josh Herman, head of art at Wizards of the Coast, commented that they liked making a "not so aggressive" cover which is "a sweeter, calmer version of" the standard cover. Herman explained that combat is a "huge pillar of D&D, but sometimes a lot of what D&D is, is just storytelling" and the alternate cover reflects the camp downtime
24464-416: The patient beauty of old-school high adventure, amped up with a distinctly modern aesthetic" and "everything has this magnificent watercolor texture that, while obviously digital in most cases, gives each piece a familiar, knowable feel". John Farrell at Gaming Trend called the 2014 Player's Handbook artwork "both iconic and evocative" although "of questionable quality in very few places". Glasheen enjoyed
24640-480: The peoples of D&D in relatable ways and making it clear that they are as free as humans to decide who they are and what they do". Christian Hoffer, for ComicBook.com , highlighted a 2021 Forgotten Realms lore update on the Wizards of the Coast website: While Drizzt himself is proof that all drow aren't inherently evil, many fans still think that Dungeons & Dragons lore needs major updates when it comes to
24816-435: The platform is "cluttered and complex, so filled with speed bumps and interruptions"; while he recommended purchasing the physical sourcebook, Hall also recommended avoiding D&D Beyond "unless you know exactly what you're doing". Chase Carter of Rascal commented that while he "ultimately" echoed Hall's "plea to buy a physical copy of the 2024 Player's Handbook ", and to do so from the local community if you're purchasing
24992-593: The players are captured by the drow at the beginning of the adventure. The drow are also discussed in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (2015) and in the Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (2018) supplements, including write-ups for their pantheon updated to the 5E Forgotten Realms status-quo. The drow of Xen'drik are again outlined in Eberron: Rising From The Last War (2019). The new Exandria campaign setting added
25168-596: The players face a final confrontation with Lolth, an exceptionally difficult challenge. The G1-G3 modules were later published together in 1981 as a single combined module as G1-2-3 Against the Giants , and the entire series of modules in which the drow originally appeared were later published together in Queen of the Spiders (1986). Gary Gygax 's 1986 novel for TSR 's "Greyhawk Adventures" series, Artifact of Evil ,
25344-501: The release of the Player's Handbook (1989), TSR published a "player-focused series of splatbooks, the "PHBR" Complete series (1989-1995)"; in the TSR code system, "PHBR" stood for Player's Handbook reference series. It was in the Player's Option: Spells & Magic sourcebook for the second edition that the artificer was first introduced, as a specialist choice for magic users specifically. A set of optional rules for proficiencies
25520-563: The reprinted Player's Handbook helped support the Gygax Memorial Fund—established to immortalize Gary Gygax with a memorial statue in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The original Players Handbook was reviewed by Don Turnbull in issue No. 10 of White Dwarf , who gave the book a rating of 10 out of 10. Turnbull noted, "I don't think I have ever seen a product sell so quickly as did the Handbook when it first appeared on
25696-441: The return of half-orcs and monks to the core rules set, along with some all-new classes. The reviewer from Pyramid commented on the release of third edition, stating: "There's a lot to like about Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition as seen in the Player's Handbook . The new artwork is gorgeous and evocative, and in the 286 pages of the main rulebook there's a lot of well-written and tightly packed rules." Another reviewer wrote
25872-598: The same year. Academic Steven Holmes noted that drow "remain highly visible in successful media projects". Holmes highlighted that Gygax created drow as "perfect villains—endpoints on a divide of good and evil". However, Holmes thought R. A. Salvatore 's depiction was more complicated than Gygax's and Salvatore's work "in many ways" ended up as the definitive portrayal of the drow. In the Io9 series revisiting older Dungeons & Dragons novels, in his review of Homeland by Salvatore, Bricken says that "its greatest strength
26048-555: The snow elves, valley elves, and wild ( grugach ) elves. The depiction of the elves in Dragonlance fiction is strongly influenced by Tolkien 's elves . One of the major character types in the setting, they are presented as aloof and isolationist as a group, but also as caretakers of the natural world. Like in other settings, they are split into several peoples, again echoing the splits among Tolkien's elves: Silvanesti and Qualinesti, two races of high elves estranged from each other;
26224-476: The studio supported the decision to remove the episode. Christian Hoffer, for ComicBook.com , highlighted a 2021 update on Drizzt Do'Urden by Wizards of the Coast and wrote, "it also notes one major change to D&D canon that relates to the drow culture that Drizzt ultimately abandoned. The website points out that while Drizzt grew up in a 'cult of Lolth' [...], there are two other entire cultures of drow who have no ties to Lolth whatsoever. [...] The reveal of
26400-469: The suggested alignments for playable races, including drow, in all 5th Edition sourcebooks. As of Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (2022), creature stat blocks that also have playable races "now state that they can be any alignment". Within the context of many Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings, the drow were forced underground in what is now known as the Underdark after
26576-499: The sun. Drow characters are extremely intelligent, charismatic and dexterous, but share surface elves' comparative frailty and slight frames. Females tend to be bigger and stronger than males. Drow are characterized by white or silver hair and obsidian black skin. Their eyes are red (or rarely gray, violet, or yellow) in darkness and can be many different colors in normal light. In 5th Edition, drow typically have "white hair and grayish skin of many hues" along with better darkvision and
26752-506: The surface." The drow, especially when used as player characters , are surrounded by much controversy, especially after the release of Salvatore's novel, The Crystal Shard . Game designer James Jacobs has said that the drow player characters often spark arguments, with some players refusing to play in a campaign that allows drow PCs. Jacobs says that "even the name" is controversial, having at least two pronunciations. Rob Bricken, for Kotaku , wrote that there "has been one good Drow in
26928-424: The target brightly visible to everyone who sees them, and create magical balls of light. They can also levitate for short periods of time. They live to extraordinarily long ages if not killed by violence first, over a thousand years in some cases. Their hearing and vision are better than that of a human being and they are difficult to sneak up on because of this. They naturally excel at moving silently. Drow also employ
27104-476: The text originally found in modules G3 and D3. Likewise, Lolth's description from module D3 is reprinted in the Fiend Folio under the "Demon" heading. The drow were first presented as a player character race in Unearthed Arcana (1985), also written by Gygax. Several elven sub-races are described in the book, including gray elves, wood elves, wild elves, and valley elves; the dark elves are described as
27280-669: The third edition of Dungeons & Dragons ". The elf appeared as a player character race in the original Player's Handbook (1978). The elf also appeared in the original Monster Manual (1977), with subraces including High Elf, Gray Elf (some of whom are also called Faerie), Dark Elf (also called Drow), Wood Elf (also called Sylvan), and Aquatic Elf. The grugach , valley elf , and cooshee (an elven dog) first appeared in Dragon issue #67 (November 1982) in "Featured Creatures", an ongoing series of articles where Gary Gygax released information on official creatures before their release in
27456-445: The title, as the publisher decided to publish only one version of the game instead of both basic and advanced versions. Monte Cook , Jonathan Tweet , and Skip Williams all contributed to the 3rd edition Players Handbook , Dungeon Master's Guide , and Monster Manual , and then each designer wrote one of the books based on those contributions. Tweet is credited with the book's design. The 3rd edition Player's Handbook also saw
27632-576: The trees. In 4th edition the Eladrin are the High elves. This subrace resides in painted deserts and petrified forests, preferring a druidic lifestyle. "Rockseer elves are the rarest of all elvenkind. They are far taller than most of their kin, with a few reaching almost to eight feet in height. An average weight for a Rockseer is between 120 and 140 pounds, with little gender difference. Rockseers are very pale skinned, and they have no body hair. Head hair
27808-639: The umbragen for the setting appeared as a player character race in Dragon #330 (April 2005). The arcane guard drow, the dark sniper drow, the drow priestess, the Lolth's sting, and the Lolth-touched drow ranger appear in Monster Manual IV (2006). The deepwyrm drow is presented as a player character race in Dragon Magic (2006). The drow are presented as a player character race for
27984-636: The unusual hand crossbow , firing small, though very lethal, darts. In Lolth based societies, noble drow males are commonly wizards or fighters . Female nobles are almost always clerics and almost never wizards. As a race, drow were traditionally portrayed evil . There were unusual exceptions, the most notable being Drizzt Do'Urden , Jarlaxle Baenre , and Liriel Baenre . Originally, drow were chaotic evil in alignment. Beginning with 3rd edition D&D , drow were usually neutral evil. There have been encounters with non-evil drow, but these are distrusted as much as their brethren, due to their reputation. In
28160-412: The upcoming Monster Manual II . The grugach, valley elf, and cooshee then appeared in the original Monster Manual II (1983). A number of elven subraces were presented as character races in the original Unearthed Arcana (1985). The elf appeared as a character race in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977). In subsequent revisions, in order to streamline the game, the non-humans (including
28336-429: The various character changes included in the Player's Handbook (2008) – "a lot of people have been talking about how MMPORGs have influenced D&D, particularly toward making advancement more fun. There are cool new powers at nearly every level, and all the classes are equally balanced". He commented that the shift between 3.5 and 4th Edition is "as profound as between, say, 1st Edition AD&D and 3.5". He also liked
28512-488: The vast subterranean city of the drow, which is thoroughly described in the module. An extensive overview of the drow power structure is given for the purpose of creating any number of mini-campaigns or adventures taking place inside the drow capital. The characters travel on to the Egg of Lolth, where they must enter the dungeon level and fight the demoness herself. The statistics and information for drow are reprinted from Hall of
28688-438: The very few depictions of black-skinned people in Dungeons & Dragons " and the inconsistent "visual representation" then "further compounds the complexity of discussing the relationship of the drow to real world race, given that some players may see the drow as obviously modeled on real world black bodies, and others seeing them as a fantasy race with no realworld analogue". In 2010, scholar Cory Lowell Grewell found that in
28864-583: The wilderness. The dunes and steppes of Athas are home to thousands of tribes of nomadic elves. While each tribe is very different culturally, the elves within them remain a race of long-limbed sprinters given to theft, raiding, and warfare. The 2nd edition product Mind Lords of the Last Sea introduced a new offshoot of Dark Sun elf. The people of Saragar call them "ghost elves" for their fair complexions, light blonde hair and pale blue eyes. Ghost elves are elitist and xenophobic, and live almost exclusively in
29040-404: The world of the drow, where violent conflict is part of everyday life, so much so that most drow encountered are ready for a fight. Their inherent magic use comes from training in magic, which all drow receive. Not long after the creation of the elves, they were torn into rival factions, one evil and one good; after a great civil war, those who followed the path of evil and chaos were driven far from
29216-833: The world's forests and into the bleak, lightless caverns and tunnels of the underworld. Drow society is fragmented into opposing noble houses and merchant families, and they base their rigid class system on the belief that the strongest should rule. Female drow tend to fill many positions of great importance, with priests of the dark goddess Lolth holding a very high place in society. Drow fighters are required to go through rigorous training in their youth, and those who fail are put to death. Drow constantly war with other underground neighbors such as dwarves and deep gnomes (svirfneblin), and keep slaves of all types - including allies who fail to live up to drow expectations. The Complete Book of Elves (1993) by Colin McComb focuses some of its attention on
29392-400: Was #7 on the overall bestseller list. It remained in the "Hardcover Nonfiction" top 25 for four weeks. The Player's Handbook was the top selling book at Amazon on its release day. The 5th edition Player's Handbook won the 2015 Origins Award for Best Role Playing Game and Fan Favorite Role Playing Game. The book won three 2015 gold ENnie Awards , "Best Game", "Best Rules", "Product of
29568-417: Was added, to represent skills, and sections detailing role-playing, combat, magic, time and movement, equipment, and spell descriptions were all expanded from the original book. The book included major changes regarding character classes, races, and magic, and incorporated many new rules that had been published in supplements such as Unearthed Arcana (1985) and Dragonlance Adventures (1987). In 1995,
29744-497: Was allowed, however, elf characters could only take a max of four levels in fighter and eight levels in magic-user. Tresca described the Tolkien style of elf as "a burden for game designers" as they were seemingly "more capable than humans". Tresca commented that "Gygax worked hard to curb their power, by giving the race a weak constitution and putting limitations on how high they could level. These limitations would not be removed until
29920-404: Was an easily accessible system, 4e left a lukewarm feeling with my gaming group. There was something too generic and uninteresting about player characters which pervaded the system, especially in the wake of 3.5e (which some felt provided too many options so as to be confusing). In the process, 4e characters lost an indescribable crunchy feeling, but I'm pleased to say that it's been brought back for
30096-524: Was dropped in the 3rd Edition. Christian Hoffer of ComicBook.com commented that "while there are lots of theories about the technical reasons (many believe that D&D co-creator Gary Gygax was not a fan of non-human characters, and thus placed the restriction on them when writing up Advanced Dungeons & Dragons,) the only 'official' explanation appears in Deities & Demigods , a D&D supplement released in 1980. [...] The major difference between
30272-437: Was put in charge of the Player's Handbook (2003) development with Rich Redman on the Dungeon Master's Guide (2003) and Skip Williams on the Monster Manual (2003). When asked about the changes from the prior Player's Handbook (2000) release, Williams said "I think they range from the almost invisible (unless it affects your character directly) to the pretty radical," while Collins replied "Well, I don't think I'd call any of
30448-467: Was quite accurate, as the 2e Player's Handbook (1989) appeared in February 1989, then the 2e Dungeon Master's Guide (1989) in May". The Player's Handbook (1989) for 2nd edition was designed to be compatible with 1st edition rules, but the information in the book was streamlined and clarified. Appelcline commented that unlike the previous Players Handbook (1978), Player's Handbook (1989) became
30624-402: Was released on August 19, 2014 by Wizards of the Coast . The Player's Handbook contains the basic rules of the 5e system, the base classes and races, and character customization options. The cover art by Tyler Jacobson features King Snurre , from The Hall of the Fire Giant King (1978) adventure module, looming over two heroes engaged in battle with him. Jacobson explained that "the angle
30800-453: Was released on March 16, 2010. The book was designed by Mike Mearls , Bruce R. Cordell , and Robert J. Schwalb , and featured cover art by Michael Komarck . It includes six classes: ardent, battlemind, monk, psion , runepriest, and seeker, along with four races: wilden, the minotaur , githzerai , and shardminds. The PHB3 also includes new multi-classing rules for hybrid characters. John Baichtal of Wired highlighted that he liked
30976-471: Was the first novel to feature the drow prominently. Gygax's subsequent Gord the Rogue novels, published by New Infinities, Inc., continued the story and the drow's involvement, in the novels Sea of Death (1987), Come Endless Darkness (1988), and Dance of Demons (1988). R. A. Salvatore 's 1988–1990 The Icewind Dale Trilogy featured the unlikely hero Drizzt Do'Urden as one of the protagonists, and
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