Enter into the giveaway contest right here: gleam.io/T1RyM/deck-of-many-giveaway-contest Check out what decks we're giving away right here: bit.ly/DeckOfMany Learn more about the drow with this book (trust me): Homeland - amzn.to/2NMkeLu

My drow character was part of a hunting group that failed their mission. She survived and doesn’t want to return to the underdark because she will be killed. But she also wants to find a magical healing artifact that can bring her group back and finish the job. She is almost always hooded and uses illusions and trickery to lead others to think she’s just a normal elf. She convinced her party that she’s good by pretending that she has a relationship with the other elf in the party. She’s basically using someone’s affection for her to her advantage. Over time she started to get attached to the party and by the end of the campaign she realized her love for the wood elf and they got married after the campaign was over.

violent crime is super rare in drow society.... cuz it isn't a crime, getting caught is

Well, you can't spell drow without "ow"

I've loved the drow lore ever since I read Salvatore's The Dark Elf trilogy in middle school. Drizz't is easily one of my top 5 favorite fantasy characters.

In the old 1st edition AD&D, Drow were introduced in a campaign module called "Against the Giants." The party had to go up against three separate tribes of giants who suddenly became far too organized, equipped, and aggressive. Eventually, they find out that these giants were puppets of Drow. So in terms of challenge it went from giants, to giants with class levels, to Drow. Yes, Drow are deadlier than elite Fire Giants with class levels. Mind you, every Drow had many class levels. That said, I prefer the image of Drow as high level enemy PCs who are puppet masters first and foremost. You don't see the Drow... you almost _never_ see the Drow... no, you see those manipulated by the Drow. Raiders, armies, bandits, monsters. Maybe if you look behind the curtain, you might meet the puppet masters... and good luck to you. My GM ran Drow as elite tactical geniuses. They made heavy use of levitate, darkness + faerie fire, and knockout poison. Mages were armed with wands of some evocation (mm, fb, lb) so they can spam between their personal spells. Mostly they used disposable slaves to handle melee (Orcs, Ogres, etc.) and hid, waiting for opportunities to surprise-kill with overwhelming force and fall back. They were shrewd, cruel, deadly and cowardly. Extremely frustrating to fight and they often got away, only to return weeks later, but smarter and better armed.

I would play the hell out of a witcher-3-like-game with Drizzt as the main character. Surviving and escaping Menzoberranzan and the underdark.

Heh. Did a game once where the Drow engineered sinkholes under major elven settlements. They brought the fight straight down into their home turf. The players were taken so aback that they took a half an hour for their own council of war. Maybe you had to be there, but it was cool. Great vid, man! Good times!

drow can also communicate via sign language.

Additionally the Drow Goddess, Elistraee is a great option to make Drow Freedom Fighters. Elistraee is the goddess daughter of Lloth. Look her up. She's awesome.

I changed the black spider in Lost Mines of Phandelver into a Drider warlock of Orcus who wanted revenge on Lolth for turning him into a drider, so he constructed a huge cult of orcus, getting basically any bandit camp, orc hoard or goblin hideout under his command through promises of gold and glory, and was going to use the forge of spells to create a magical item that could summon an undead army that would wipeout any one that wasn't under his command. Needless to say he was much more intimidating then the 4th level wizard with 27 hp in the book

Please give us more KYPW. It is by far my favorite series.

I love your take on how drow are played, i seldom see anyone ever capture their cruelty or efficiency. Please do more KYPW, i was worried you weren't making any more.

I still remember how I felt years ago, when at the end of G3 Against the Giants, we stumbled upon a small group of evil, black-skinned elves. It was surreal. It was enigmatic. And it was absolutely incredible.

I love your kill your party videos they give me such great ideas. Also looking forward to Legendary Dragons that you talked about in your last video I have already pledged and I'm ready to get this book.

The group I DM'd made it to the base of a world tree after a vision granted the barbarian the sight of his tribes murderers being here. Looking up into the tree one couldn't see through the dense limbs, but even with no light shining through you could still see the strange giant fruit was hanging from the lower limbs of the tree and on the other side of the base was a camp of goliaths. Upon seeing the Shaman leader in the distance that killed the players wife and child he proceeded to rage and bolt into battle without thought or plan, to which the party decided to follow and give back up. A few rounds into battle things were going well for the group. The goliaths were disorganized and not expecting to be found as Loria'drasil the world tree for this continent was hidden in a valley behind a tall mountain range. Things change however when a poisoned bolts rained down from above. The goliaths were conspiring with a group of drow. It wasn't that the branches were to thick going up this ungodly massive tree, the drow there hiding further up in globes of darkness. the battle now even and the players growing weary quickly gave way to despair as one more trick was up the sleeve of their enemies. The fruit burst. and falling with a thud was a large, spiderlike being with a goliaths upper body. The drow priestess had been using the slain tribes to create a goliath styled drider and this would be the first test. To kill the once "Chief to be" and his party. Things only got worse emotionally as Auken the Barbarian was forced to put back to rest the mutated body of his wife, child, and father. The group survived the battle, but only just. With enemies slain, Auken still beating a lifeless shamans body to a pulp, the rest of the group noticed a dark beauty watching with a smile from above. A dark elf woman in a sheer gown of spider silk. She slips off of the lowest branch (Still a good 40 feet up from the ground mind you) but vanishes as she falls, only to fade back into existence a few inches from the ground. The avatar of Lloth greets and congratulates the party for cleaning up the mess of a fallen priestess. Explaining the priestess decided to try and dethrone the goddess, much to Lloths amusement, she used the goliaths and the shamans greed to collect bodies for her experiments and to attempt to steal the life energies and empower herself. When that didn't work quite how she wanted she discovered the world tree and it's potential for limitless power, if only the poor lady had the time to try and put it to use. However the party has caught her attention, doubly so with the fact that chaos seems to follow them wherever they go. And to that end she offers a gift. The road ahead being long and deadly there is still much entertainment to be had, so to provide her with some giggles, she offers information on a blade that can harm their enemy and protect them for the shadows to come. Auken however is neither amused nor listening. Seeing a dark elf still alive he rushes to attack still covered in the red pudding that was once a goliath shaman. As he scores a hit that would cleave the elven goddess from shoulder to hip, she instead bursts into small spiders with every inch of the blade passing through. Reforming behind the barbarian she places a hand on his shoulder and he freezes in place, numb but very much conscious. Lloth floats up to his face, "I like you little creature. You're ability to act and never think, changing what's around you for better or for worse and all tied to your glorious rage. I special gift for you I have." And with a kiss on his left check a black spider web tattoo grows, decorating and marking Auken with a blessing from Lloth and no idea what that means. Fast for a year IRL, no sign or mention of drow or Lloth the time finally comes. I had been asked a few times over the year what the blessing would do. As the group was forced into the Tomb of Horrors and die there. The moment their souls enter the mists of the afterlife the barbarians face burns and they all awake in a forest somewhere, 3 months after their deaths. The blessing reconstituted their bodies and the webs of her blessing reeled their souls back to the material plane. But the tattoo was gone. Realizing this was a once in a lifetime second chance they began to try and find out where they were.... but only then did they notice that that bard wasn't talking, in fact he was missing. Frantically they started to search.... until they heard a light chuckle coming from behind them. They turned to see the Spider Queen reclined lazily on a stump oddly shaped like a large chair, watching them with that same amused expression she had the last time they met. This started as a birthday gift so one of my players to include his backstory and I only had about 12 hours to figure out how i could do something that would leave that mark a story can leave on a person. I was just glad he unexpectedly attacked a goddess RP'ing his characters rage and it gave me a chance to add more creepy suspense later on hahaha

For the next epsode can you stay in the Underdark and talk about the Duergar?

Spoilers Storm King’s Thunder featured drow as an accomplice to one of the giant lords, I found that vaguely underwhelming as I didn’t think they would lower themselves to taking orders from a fumbling fire giant. I took the opportunity to elaborate on their Gauntlgrym heist as the early phase of a larger incursion, I hope to make this subplot into a continuation of the campaign at level 10+.

Noble Drow campaign, inspired by the intrigue of GOT. Amazing campaign. I loved my Noble Drow rogue... the entire party feared me... yes, the party feared a rogue (the weakest class), because my skill at disguise, lying and stealth was unmatched. That goes very, very far in a political arena. No "detect magic" can thwart it, no "dispel magic" can defeat it... and in the high-magic society of Drow that's truly an edge. Having the skill to impersonate your rivals, bypassing magical countermeasures, is ... delicious. Shout out to my GM, who was brilliant in designing the backstory to prevent party infighting. By the time the game went on permanent hiatus, we had assassinated a senior priestess (who was a barrier to our priestess' ascension into the ranks), infiltrated a trading company, established relations within the old capital, Ust Natha, usurped control of Ust Natha through deception and murder, crushed an uprising of the Ust Natha local houses, and declared independence from our old Menzo houses. There was plenty of combat, (assassinations, duels in the streets, trade caravan encounters, all-out war, etc.) but also a whole lot of diplomacy, political maneuvering, deception and betrayal. Very social-skill focused. The one question left unanswered was: Why was the stage set so well for our conquest of Ust Natha? Substantial groundwork was already done, taking years and careful planning, all from Matron Mother Baenre's manservant... supposedly without MMB's knowledge (which I doubt). Guess I'll never know.

"I'm sure Auntie Cutthroat's gang is behind it all!" "uh... the Hag is dead!"

This is honestly my favorite series to watch of yours. It astounds me every time you make another how tpk video

I wanna say here just how much I enjoy your channel because of the energy you show. Lots and lots and lots xD. I *really* enjoy your videos and you get me so pumped to DM. Your positive energy is contagious and I love listening to the passion you have for what you do. Thank you!

You could say you'd kill your party with... *drow*ning

I was completely enthralled with your vigor in sharing this wondrous race. I honestly was hoping for more information or experiences. Definitely going to have to check out more of this series. You have me contemplating creating one... maybe a biracial. lol

I love this channel!! Every week I look forward to your videos!!

Cody!!! I love the fact that this came out while im listining to Homeland!!!! Great job :)

Thank you so much for this. My party have spent the first arc of my campaign fighting a Drow army, attacking a Dwarf city. The next few sessions will be my final battles with them, and now I know how to use them and flesh them out, before the final battle!

A new KYPW? I am so happy.

We really need more of these right now!

Great video! I'm running Out of the Abyss for two groups at the moment. Making the drow as ruthless and merciless as can be has worked greatly as a motivator to get out of the Underdark as fast as possible.

Best drow video I’ve seen so far good job

Sweet! I've been waiting for this video for weeks!

Soooo.... I'm starting to look forward to "Sponsor Time". You make it fun and funny.

If I was not a 14 year old boy with 0 money I wouod donate so much money to this guy, he helps so much with EVERYTHING

Awesome. Keep up the great videos man!

My 1st game as a DM now is Out of the Abyss and it's awesome. I love that dark elves and the Underdark itself

For any adventure in the underdark: Visiting a real-world cave system helps immensely by understanding environment.

Loved the video! Keep up the good work!

Wow! You are REALLY good at this!

I love the KYPW series so much! Could you do Giants next?

I greatly appreciate this. My players have just started "Second Darkness," which is very drow-centtic. I've been trying to find ways to beef up and RP the Drow more. Great advice. Again, thank you

i have a character who is wood elf but 1/4th drow and hes basically the most hated being in our worlds underdark

I've avoided featuring Drow in my campaigns because there was always a Drizzt wannabe. But my two current parties are not only Drow-free but also incredibly RP-driven so I am aiming to have one of them face off against Drow eventually. I have had one group face off against driders and one priestess of Lolth. That took them by surprise as they had no clue what kind of creatures they were. But they all recognised the Drow from legend and they RPed mixed reactions of fear and hatred. It was great.

Been building my own Drow City State in the Underdark for my own evil campaign, and this video is a great resource

I like your videos. I basically had the players sold into Drow slavery by the goblins that defeated them. After they broke out of the prison, they escaped to the surface, but this was seen as an opportunity for a lower house to raise in ranking. They eradicated the house bar one. One Drow noble escaped, going to the surface tracking the party. Now an Oathbreaker Paladin/Shadow Sorcerer, she relentlessly tracks the party.

awesome outlook on the Drow!

Great video and ideas! Thank you.

I Love the Drow. They’re by far my favorite race to play.

How to kill your party with goblins Like c’mon how come you haven’t done this yet

Drow suck to play against. Your party is constantly shot with poisoned bolts and their spellcasters have insane abilities. Compounded with the fact that they all can cast darkness, and it makes combat with them really sucky. But that doesn't stop Cody from terrorizing his patreon campaign... Big oof.

In good old 2nd edition, before they decided to remove Eilistraee with some setting changes she was one of my favorite FR deity, so I used her followers in some campaigns. Of course she both drow and non-drow priestesses. In such campaigns the party knew this religion, they were allies. But still they knew: if they see a drow priestess that is very bad news. Mostly because the drow often dealt with bigger problems and it meant harder adventures for the characters. A friend of mine who is a fan of 5e wanted me to play more 5e game, so ran a looong campaign focused on Eilistraee and her followers as well. And half of the party has regular "near death experiences" because they tried to impress some priestess. Well in faith of Eilistraee marriages are temporary, but can be extended... And there is strong reason in lore for it. Some rituals involve dancing and singing naked, and if you check she is the "goddess of song, dance, swordwork, hunting, moonlight, goodness, and beauty" so most male characters decided, their most important duty is to impress some of these priestesses. And it never ends well.

My entire party is Drow, 3 of them made good Drow, one made a chaotic neutral tipping-to-evil Drow and the 5th guy had a tragic "Drow murdered my village i will kill them all" backstory, he got killed when attacking the Drow players, made a Drow character, they converted the chaotic neutral to chaotic good and now they're all Drowing and Drizzting every corner of Faerun. Tried killing them with Drow, didn't work, tried Kobolds, Goblins, Undead, Dragons, Necromancers, nope, nothing, in fact, the chaotic Drow managed to take control of almost half the undeads i threw at them.

I'm playing a drow rogue at the moment. Absolute beast of a character. Super dexterous, dark vision, darkness as a free cantrip and as an assassin get bonuses for attacking a surprised creatures or advange on a creature that hasnt acted.

Love your videos, but KYPW list is by far your best! From A dungeon master stand point anyway. You come up with very solid but still winnable combat situation and other little flavors and hints on the side that are easy to branch off! Great work, Your one on Sauhagin (spelling? lol..the shark people.) Was so eye opening , I made our next campaign an island exploration start.

Once I was in an Out of the Abyss campaign. My character was an artificer who lived in a town built atop the haunted ruins of an elven kingdom (that was destroyed by the Drow). He had a robot companion containing the soul of an elven warrior. What's funny is that my character got recaptured a couple times and during one of these times he entered into a conversation with the junior priestess, Asha Vandree, trying to learn more about the Drow. The DM had me roll a persuasion check and I nat 20'd it. So my character became pseudo-friends with a Drow priestess...which in turn led to a big subplot revolving around my character's loyalties being in question.

Yes!!!!!!! I need this. I have not even watched it but I need it!!

This was perfect, my campaign is heavily focused on the drow at the moment and my players are on their way to facethe big baddie so thanks for the video :)

I am actually running a campaign where drow are the main bad guys. Now that I have watched this video I have a slightly better idea how to utilize them. They already had a strong motive to come to the surface, but I have now thought of more ways to strengthen that, thanks! The idea with the different visions is also cool. I hope my players will use it to their advantage haha

I recently started my homebrew game, in my world there are these massive teleportation gates called Runegates that are set up in the capitals cities of all the major surface countries. My premise is that the drow of the underdark have been plotting to hijack the power of the runegates to summon hundreds of demons and funnel them through the gates to lay waste to the surface so the drow can take it over and bring an age of darkness on the surface

Drow in my homebrew world divided into two groups basically. The ones who live in the underdark and then the refugees who escaped centuries ago and inhabit a large desert continent and have built a relatively stable society, also interbreeding with some of the “wood” elves who assisted their escape.

Hi Cody, I love this and your other content and I know you've done it elsewhere, but I'm disappointed that you haven't made an acknowledgement to R.A.Salvatore who was the mind behind Menzoberranzan and the ideas behind what has shaped the understanding of what makes up the Drow in the FG. A point in the direction of his books would also be essential in any guide to the Drow in my opinion.

My group was playing the 1st edition decent into the demon web pits where we 'snuck' into an underdark city and were used by one house to attack another house since we were un connected and then that house parleyed with us (to stall so they could gate in some demons) but our rouge/bardish character negotiated us leaving with some info and some gold and gems and giving them info on who sent us. Was a very stressful and good time

I created an interesting magic item called "Obsul Stones" they're strange purple rocks with arcane marking on them. You throw the stone on the ground and it opens up a dimension door. The Drow raiding parties all had a pouch with three of them in. I liked the idea of giving them, and then eventually the players, the option to cast a neat spell with no spellcasting ability required.

I also wanna mention that one single sentence in the Drizzt series where they mention an outpost city that allows men to become priests of lolth, it was mentioned by one of the matrons in the mid range books (like 7-12 I think?) and was literally like a sentence or two. I also believe it called him the high priest of the city which is interesting

So happy that I read the Drizzt books, I know all the names you are saying.

I'm actually building a Drow rogue PC who's inspiration came from "What's this?" from Nightmare Before Christmas. She's fascinated by the surface and more believes in the Dark Maiden due to her backstory.

As a former DM myself, the drow were my favorite NPCs to run in any campaign! Well spoken sir!

I did a campaign where my players all played drow who followed Eilistraee and fought to redeem the drow. It was very interesting to see them deal with the strong hatred other underdark and surface races had for them despite their good intentions.

NICE! my DM just asked if we wanted to start an out of the abyss campaign and I wanted some help with character creation when I role up my Drow!

"Congrats you're blind and hunted." lmfao

Had a whole campaign around Sschyndylryn with my GF, we had nearly a dozen houses fully made on what used to be a crudely described Ziggurat city, we even made it more elongated with interesting views.

I watched once how the DM created encounter with the drow, who were forced to go up on surface, by the styrges. So it was drow with the darkness hiding inside from the styrges, adventurers came to the warning signal, and styrges.

My recommendation for immersion into drow lore is the War of the Spider Queen series. Pharaun Mizzrym is one of my favorite wizards, and is a great example of creative wizardry. Dude figured out how to cast spells with his *feet*. HIS FEET.

Another thing as well, even tweaking things up with the race as a whole can be pretty cool. In the campaign I'm in the drow are changed up a good bit to give a different feel than in the "by the book" version. Honestly it's the only reason I play as a drow character. Plus the disadvantage with light makes for funny bits

I love the Drizzt books but has anyone else noticed that Drizzt is often sneaking in the shadows among creatures that have infravision. He and they would all glow with warmth.

When you described the ranked house system, it reminded me of my first DM ever. He told me that if the Drow weren't so busy backstabbing each other, they'd rule the world.

got one name for you that us a great example that not all drow need Loth .... Drizzt Do'Urden he is the best example hands down. But to the rest of the video man you are spot on your knowing of the drow is vast it's gppd to see someone is still doing the homework for good play.

I'm now playing as a drow horizon walker, who is basically an alien from a dying planet (imagine something in between 6" dwarfs, a space station survives, and a modern Far-East), and who is legitimately freaked out by high-elven underground (basically cyberpunk/biopunk, not even manapunk in traditional meaning). It's what happens when you have found complete synergy with your DM in the intention to subvert every trope.

Haven't used it yet, but I'm working on a lolth centric campaign. Basically, lolth has decided to wage all out war on the surface elves, and the players have been asked to assist in amassing an army to fight her back. They need to acquire a core ground force, anti air troops, assassins for high profile targets, and a strike force (that one being the players themselves). Also, this video gave me an idea for a drow pc back story.

YES I NEEDED THIS The main foe in my campaign are drows controlling gnolls and orcs

One of the PC’s in my campaign screwed up bad, and as a result ended up being pursued by a Drow he had killed, brought back with Zin-Carla. He hid it from the rest of the party as long as he could, but realized he’d never survive without their help. That one undead dark elf took out half the group......good thing they were near a temple run by a high level cleric at the end of the fight!

I am so glad that you talking about making the Drow more intelligent rather than just stronger. They are devious and use every trick in the book. A common drow casting elemental spells? I'm not so sure, but I would have Drow aware of party balance, so even a small party might have a wizard, warlock of minor cleric in there, perhaps some rogue/fighter multiclasses so that they can sneak attack, uncanny dodge and evasion, especially if you have a rogue who uses that to their own advantage (a piece of their own medicine).

In 3.5 AD&D I have a half-drow, which is a master class. Instead of making a rouge, I made a master locksmith, Not a thief per se but really proficient in disarming traps and unlocking all types of locks. And she follows Elistraee.

I'm currently running a campaign where my party is in the middle of a war with a Vampire lord who has control over a great many races, including the Drow. Thanks to this video, I now have the idea to make his Drow soldiers a result of ransacking and enslaving a few Drow houses generations ago and forcing them to the surface to fight for him. I think I could make it lead to a plot where a group of elite Drow Assassins come into contact with the party, both trying to slaughter the Vampire lord and justifying the lower CR for the Drow soldiers they've previously encountered.

an Idea I have for the Drow is to have a house fail Lolith to such a degree that they flee Drow society all together and fall into the service of a Demon Lord (what one IDK) and the head of the house would essentially become something akin to a Daemon Prince [or in this case Princess? it doesn't sound quite as cool though :( ] then have that house go around slaughtering any Drow they find, then have the party put into a sort of "greater of two evils" moment while the situation is slightly morally grey, just enough so that the party is left unsure of which side to choose. Just I'm not a very good DM/GM having never DM/GM-ed a group before.

I had an idea for a traitorous drow that works as a mercenary/assassin disguised as a normal elf or half elf as a PC in an otherwise regular campaign and was looking for ideas on how to pull this off. looks like it's going to be harder than I thought.

My favorite was playing around as a drow in a monster as hero styled campaign.

I love your Video, they really help me as a first time DnD GM. Do you plan to do a Video on Liches?

War of the Spider Queen is a pretty great story if you want to see just regular evil Drow, and how they function, six novels. Also while Out of the Abyss is a option, another option is also Rise of the Drow. It's a mega campaign focused on the Drow for 5E, it was a kickstarter. I enjoy the Drow, I think they have fascinating stories, and I think the Underdark is a interesting location, the bigger problem I think is unless the players want to play as Drow, people get bored stuck in one location to long. Caves, Forest, Mountains, Desert, whatever, people like variety.

i never thought much Drows except from....'oh poor misunderstood elfs of the deep' but after this explanation i came to realise how much of a bunch of assholes they are like...as a whole, quite the perfect punching bag really...the kind you can make nice challenging fights and not having any regrets from murdering the crap out of :3 My group and i, we have a LOT of fun with the mechanics of combat, it is exciting and exilirating to make action scenes coming through, do cool stuff and let the dices roll, but we also try to keep a moral upstanding group that is NOT filled with murder hobos, and more of people 'who try to do the right thing', every fight averted is both a win and a defeat because we feel accomplished for managing to resolve situations without wanton violence and having rp rich segments feels really good and fullfilling, but we also can't deny how much fun the combat aspect of the game is and sometimes we just want to punch a jerk in the face so losing the opportunity to do so is a bit of a pity...seems like the whole society of these douchebags is the perfect target! they're powerful and they're very much scumbags with very little redeeming qualities making the perfect fodder to kill the shit out of and have no second thoughts later, specially because they fight dirty and there are no depths they won't sink to *ba dum tsh!*

Oh, Hecc. One of the campaigns I am in has a Drow player character. Also in the party are a High Elf and a Wood Elf. Well, then.

Yeah, Drow are no joke. Half of our party nearly got killed in a fight against 9 Drow. To make it worse, one of our party members is a Drow with amnesia...Who may or may not be the last of his household.

My players interrupted a draegloth conception ritual resulting in the death of the current matron mother and the fall of her entire house. The Glabrezu involved is part of our tiefling rogue's backstory so they're going back into the Drow city to find the information demon's true name and alter their summoning circle into a planar teleportation circle. The new high matron mother of the first house hasn't yet reached her full potential so I nerfed the cr 20 boss creature to something more akin to cr 13-15

In the campaign I play, Drow roam the surface freely as an event called the Cataclysm has left the sky dark, covered with clouds of ash and sulfur. Midday is about as bright as sunset

Y'know I still prefer the interpretation that becoming a drider is a form of blessing, as you've been remade in the image Lolth prefers for you.

There are many dark Elf cities and other gods too

my one Drow character in 5E is a male Divine Soul Sorcerer. his power comes from Eilistraee and he managed to keep up the lie for about 100 years that he was favored by Lolth. eventually his older sister figured it out and called him out before their mother. not wanting this heresy to be public knowledge she had him put into the dungeons and claimed that a hunting party of Duergar killed him and a few of their lesser branch members of their house. in the dungeons of the house and at the "tender mercies" of one of his sisters. he met a friend in a slave who was being broken, they were kept in the same cell and in an act of desperate kindness he healed them instead of himself after a long day on the hooks. they escaped together after a failed assault on his home and got the hell out while his mother was seeking justice. and that's how he met the one who became the party Paladin and ran to the surface. in a game I'm running I have a sect of drow that after a meteor impact exposed their city began to explore a jungle. the local gods and loa whispering to them and a few small houses saw the opportunity for power, with these gods help they cast off Lolth's touch and killed the loyalists. opening their city further and making it one massive temple city to their new trio of gods. the goddess of the new moon, the god of the river, and the god of the hunt. aesthetically they're fantasy Aztecs, hunting for sacrifices for their new gods. since that for every Drow saved from Lolth, they owe three souls.

The drow in my world aligned with the duerger to overthrow the dwarf clans. Now the drow have a trade route through the duerger to the surface world. Currently it's a hanging story thread, but maybe 1 day will be resolved.

So in my world the drow are split between patriarchal surface desert nomads and a subterranean empire more akin to traditional drow. Super stoked to build up the racism betwixt the two :)

There is one thing that you forgot that I don't see already mentioned below in the comments. The nobel Drow have a clock that is blessed by a priestess of Lady Lolth which can camouflage a Drow to look like a rock and also blocks thermal sight as well. It is a common tactic of a Drow hunting party when they are setting up an ambush. Nobel armor is also blessed to be as strong as plate mail armor (I could be miss remembering this one though)