D&D 5E Xen'Drik Drow

[JeffB]

So I am running a small adventure series set in Xen'Drik (Eberron) for The Kids. Very classic/stereotypical Indiana Jones/The Mummy type thing. Accompany the Scholar to Xen'drik, find the 3 whatsits that will lead them to the City of Gold (mish-mashing a couple of the adventure outlines in Secrets of Xen'Drik). They have completed the first part and will be travelling into Drow Territory now, where they will come to realize they have been betrayed by the Scholar's superior-who is working with the Emerald Claw, and they have paid off/gained an alliance the Drow who have the second whatsit.. Think Belloche (?) from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Anyhoo- my question- I am pulling the statblocks wholesale out of the 5E DMG for the Drow Priestess and Mage- Being that these are Xen'Drik Drow, what can I replace the summon demon actions with for both? I am already running some Giant Scorpions in the encounter (Vulkoor, of course). the characters are 10th level, so they can dish it out and take it. Should I have them summon some sort of other creature?......or maybe another ability to replace the demon summoning?

Thoughts? It's late and I am burnt out prepping tonite (the game is tomorrow).

 

[GameOgre]

Another ability in tune with the Eberron lore. I'm lite on my Eberron lore or I would throw ideas at you but something over the top but fitting with the lore.

Doing that is about the only way I ever get my players to give a rats arse about Lore. Doing it that way slowly over time the lore of a game builds up and it can be pretty cool.

 

[bganon]

Vulkoor basically worship the Mockery, so I think demon-summoning is right in line with that. You could probably keep the priestess's yochlol summoning unchanged, just refluff the yochlol's spider form as a scorpion. It only has a 30% chance of working anyway, I think it's meant to be a dying gasp sort of thing.

The mage can't summon anything all that powerful, so he's probably better off sticking to spells anyway. Maybe just give the mage a minor companion (giant scorpion?) if he had a few seconds to prepare for combat.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Anyhoo- my question- I am pulling the statblocks wholesale out of the 5E DMG for the Drow Priestess and Mage- Being that these are Xen'Drik Drow, what can I replace the summon demon actions with for both? I am already running some Giant Scorpions in the encounter (Vulkoor, of course). the characters are 10th level, so they can dish it out and take it. Should I have them summon some sort of other creature?......or maybe another ability to replace the demon summoning?

Thoughts? It's late and I am burnt out prepping tonite (the game is tomorrow).

The summoning action is problematic because it's too binary: half the time or more the drow burns an action doing nothing for no apparent reason, which is no fun for the players. The best use of the ability is to summon something outside of combat, which the players usually aren't privvy to. In short, you can safely ignore the ability for your game, but if you want to use it, just add a yochlol (under that name or another) to the group under the drow's command and you're done. If yochlols don't fit into eberron lore, use it anyway and don't worry about the lore for tomorrow, you can make up a plausible reason after the session when you've more time to think.

 

[Staffan]

Drow in Eberron don't have a particularly distinct magical "identity" the way classic drow have their demon connection. One thing they do have, at least in some tribes, is elemental binding (the same secrets gnomes "discovered" in order to help in building airships and the like). The easy way to do it would be to let them automatically summon a mephit, or have a chance of summoning an elemental (mephits are a bit weaker than quasits, and elementals a bit stronger than shadow demons).

 

[JeffB]

Thanks folks. Some good advice here. With a fresh outlook this morning, I thought maybe I will have them try to summon one of those drow/scorpion men things. Like a drider but with a scorpion body. The name escapes me. I will just make it a bit more demonic than the existing version or re-skin another creature.

 

[Klaus]

Drow in Eberron don't have a particularly distinct magical "identity" the way classic drow have their demon connection. One thing they do have, at least in some tribes, is elemental binding (the same secrets gnomes "discovered" in order to help in building airships and the like). The easy way to do it would be to let them automatically summon a mephit, or have a chance of summoning an elemental (mephits are a bit weaker than quasits, and elementals a bit stronger than shadow demons).

This. There is a tribe of Xen'drik drow that are all about fire binding, so summoning fire-based creatures (magmin, mephits, fire elementals) would fit right in.

Xen'drik drow were also created by the giants by infusing them with shadow, so you could also use shadows (as the monster) and other darkness-based creatures.

 

[Herobizkit]

I believe it's called a Manscorpion, but might also be a Salamander you're looking for.

 

[JeffB]

Thanks folks.

IIRC , it was called the Scarrow? Scorrow? Something like that. I just used "very large demonic scorpion drow"

 

[Klaus]

Thanks folks.

IIRC , it was called the Scarrow? Scorrow? Something like that. I just used "very large demonic scorpion drow"

Yep, Scorrow: http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/Scorrow