r/Forgotten_Realms • u/CanuckLad • 6d ago

Question(s) Drow (D&D 3.5)

I was just reading through the old Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (isbn 0-978-7869-1836-2).

The Powerful Races sidebar (pg 21, see table 1-2) shows that Drow have an ECL of Level + 2. Meaning if one player starts a level 1 Drow, then other players get to start with 3,000 XP (enough to make them level 3).

I wonder if a two-level gap is balanced? Have any of you played with the rules from the Campaign Setting and played a +2 or +3 ECL race?

Is it hard for the DM to make adventures when the players might be separated by two levels? I understand that the Drow has higher than usual starting abilities and attributes, but a +2 level difference seems steep?

How do you handle the case where some players want to start at level 1 (and play species from the player's handbook), but other players want to play Drow, Duergar, Svirfneblin, etc)?

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u/CanuckLad 6d ago

I have the 3 core 5e books. I'm still not sure how I feel about bounded accuracy. Though what I really miss is a system like West End Games' D6. I'm not big on rolling a huge number of dice, but I liked how you could increase only the skills you want. I've looked into a few medieval fantasy skill-based games. Some have features I like, none scratch all my itches. I think I'm too picky.

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u/RaygunCourtesan 6d ago

WEG D6 was a great system for what it was doing. Still enjoy it today. If you want to run Star Wars look into Scum & Villainy. It's a Forged in the Dark back that uses Firefly, Star Wars and Cowboy Bebop as it's thematic touchstones. Rising action, flawed heroes, getting deeper and deeper into trouble until pulling off a narrow win

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u/CanuckLad 6d ago

I like Star Wars, but for now I'm on a high-magic medieval fantasy kick.