Drow: The “Black Elves,” or drow, are only legend. They purportedly dwell deep beneath the surface in a strange subterranean realm. The drow are said to be as dark as faeries are bright and as evil as the latter are good. Tales picture them as weak fighters but strong magic-users.
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Dark elves, also known as drow, are the most divergent of the elven sub-races. Their form similar to that of other elves, but their skin color is the inky black of a moonless night and their hair is normally pure white or silver. Classes open to dark elf player characters are cleric, fighter (including ranger), cavalier, magic-user, and thief (including thief-acrobat and assassin). Males and females of this sub-race differ in the maximum level attainable in the cleric, fighter, and magic-user classes. Drow are generally evil and chaotic in nature, though player characters are not required to be so.
A dark elf player character is considered an outcast from his or her homeland deep within the earth, whether by matter of choice, alignment, or merely being on the losing side of some family-wide power struggle. As such, drow characters do not have immediate access to the weaponry, armor, cloaks, and poisons that are normally found in the possession of non-player characters of this sub-race. The 50% magic resistance possessed by NPC dark elves is likewise not a property of player characters, who have abandoned their homeland; it is likely that this power is the result of extended dabbling in the dark arts as well as the effects of their environment. Once having made the decision to embark upon an adventuring career, a drow player character can never regain this magic resistance short of the use of wish spells or similar magics, but can still rise in power and dominate fellow dark elves. Outcast dark elves do retain the customary elven resistance tc 3 charm and sleep, and they receive a bonus of + 2 to all saving throw: 3 versus magical effects.
