Queni Character Discussions

The flashy performance of faerie fire and dancing lights might be fun. A half-drow struggling against the stigma of his race's evil nature, shunning the needlessly cruel actions of the drows culture and choosing instead to trust in the natural goodness of people even if it makes him vulnerable.

A simple concept there, but just being a half-elf is good with me. Just want to see what my options are.

Going to say no to Drow Magic -- but you can still be Half-Dark Elf and could swap Skill Versatility for Drow Cantrip

Drow Cantrip
The character knows one Cantrip of their choice from the Sorcerer spell list. Charisma is their spell casting ability for this Cantrip

That's fair. If I went Half-Dark Elf then I'm getting the Prestidigitation cantrip. I think that's more fun than skill proficiencies.

Being a racial trait, that would be in addition to the Skald's cantrips? Also, cantrips can be cast as many times as I want unlike spells using spell slots?

To expand on Dark Elves in your setting, is it similar to what's described here?

For cantrips and spells, does this seem reasonable?

Cantrips: Vicious Mockery, Thaumaturgy, Prestidigitation

1st-Level (Known: 7)(Slots: 4): [Command], Cure Wounds, Comprehend Languages, [Bless], [Healing Word], [Heroism], Protection from Evil/Good

2nd-Level (Known: 7)(Slots: 2): Aid, Augury, Enhance Ability, Enthrall, Lesser Restoration, [Prayer of Healing], [Spiritual Weapon]

P.S anyone else reading this - feel free to chime in!

Here is a much better resource : Drow of the Underdark

Now your character being Half-Duaral ("hunters of the Crescent") would not know much about this. Further as a Half-Duaral the character is more than despised by the Duaral, they are actively sought out, hunted and killed if their existence is learned about in anyway. Note this applies to the majority of the Duaral not the minority nor mostly by your father/mother Duaral something you should decide by the way. If going this route.

Now Drow is actually a derogatory term, as loosely translated it means "traitors of the people". It is the name the Light Elves gave to their brethren and while this information is not commonly heard it is locatable. Granted the original term Drow came from the Scottish word used to refer to a wide variety of evil sprites. It has since been altered within DnD over the years and even more so within the Forgotten Realms. Now I adhere to the specific mythos that has the Light Elves giving the name of Drow (traitors of the people) to their brethren and Lolth, a Seldarine (another name for an Arche Fae), altered the color of the skin of her followers to help them hide from their cousins and to mark them as hers.

So the Seldarine are not deities they are Arche Fae which puts them almost on par with a rather weak deity and this is why some of them are worshiped as such. Further within the Arche Fae you have the Seelie Court (Light Fae) and the Unseelie Court (Dark Fae) and the rules that govern these entities is almost always in flux and very hard to comprehend unless you are one. Not the deities when presenting themselves to the Elves do take on an Avatar of one of these Seldarine but the actual Seldarine is not the deity. Yeah a bit confusing but the Elves do tend to be whimsical in nature even though High Elves have been evolving into a more logically based culture. So if you want a more contemporary concept of them think Vulcan and Romulan.

So I hope that helps you some on that venue.

Oh and sorry you will have a handful of spells that you know that are part of your class but I had not gotten to that yet try to get it down fairly soon.

Domain Spells
The character gains certain spells automatically upon obtaining the level necessary to cast them. These spells once gained are always considered known and do not count against the number of spells that they can know.

Domain Spells
.... 1st-Level : Comprehend Languages, Cure Wounds
.... 2nd-Level : Lesser Restoration, Spiritual Weapon
.... 3rd-Level : Revivify, Tongues
.... 4th-Level : Death Ward, Secret Chest
.... 5th-Level : Mass Cure Wounds, Scrying

That's a nice resource, thanks!

So, quick notes on being Half-DuaralPossible portraits - One, two and three

EDIT: I like this one the most - Four

Languages: Common, Elvish, Undercommon

Valid to take undercommon?

Okay looking at the picks I would say 1 or 2 -- keep in mind that fFolk can pass for human if they keep their ears covered (aka spock like ears versus Elven ears) further fFolk can and sometimes due grow beards as it makes them seem even more human since Elves do not have facial hair. Also because the character is half-Duaral the are going to have a blacker complexion which is different than having a browner complexion as Duaral have skin akin to obsidian.

If your Draural parent taught it to you then yes again though is your Draural parent your mom or your dad? Due to their society the dad would be more common but either is possible. Also you have various human sub-race you could belong to for the human side so it be nice to know what that is as well.

Beside the Domain Spells which do not count against your total Known you can only Know 6 spells collectively at 3rd-level. So you started with 4 Spells at first all 1st-level, then gained an additional 1 at 2nd level also 1st-level, then upon attaining 3rd-level you gain an additional spell which could be 2nd-level and combine that (currently) with the ability to swap out a single spell upon changing levels that means at most you can have 2 2nd-level spells the other 4 spells would be 1st-level

I think I'll go with something like - Duaral father and Human mother. Both still alive in an illegitimate and secretive relationship, but love each other which leads to a possibility of exposure which could cause problems down the line. So, that would explain how he learned Undercommon.

Also, these are the human subraces? Link

Skin colour might be an issue. I honestly don't know how that won't give him away as being Draural/Duaral? (still not sure which is the definitive name of the race) From that, possibly Turami or Calishite.

EDIT: Disguise kit might solve that?

Good thinking on the beard. I'll add that too.

As for spells, I see where I went wrong. I made the mistake of assuming it was for each level instead of collectively. Please see the revised list. Hopefully, it's ok.Let me know if the Duaral thing is a bit too much of a headache. I don't mind reverting back to fFolk.

Yes those are the human sub-races.

The original name for that race after the shism was Draural prior to that they were just the Quendi. Then when the schism happened within the Seldarine that is when the various sub-races of Elves came into being. Basically each sub-race of the Quendi became touched by their chosen Seldarine and that is when they became High Elf, Wood Elf, Dark Elf, etc... Now technically each of these has a name for their sub-race but most just use the colloquial terms these days. For to the never changing Elves, traditionally they are still just Elves and their differences have more to do with philosophical concerns than actual racial differences.

Now there is a lot more to this story than what is here but getting to the truth of the matter is perhaps beyond mortal capabilities.

As for your mother if she were Calishite or Rashemi or Turami it would be less noticed although he would still be much darker than than the more common of these two sub-races.By the way this greatly changes what picture you should use.

Since you asked, Bless and Bane are my personal 2 favorite cleric spells.

I've got Bless slotted in. Can't wait to support the party with it.

I hope you take the offer of a custom class - I'm interested to see what DeJoker cooks up for you!

Figuring out the skills I want to use - came up with a potential background. Advice wanted, please.

For 1st Level spells you might be better served with either Create/Destroy Water and/or Guiding Bolt instead of Command. As the first is going to prove very useful sooner or later and the second one does Radiant damage and adds a Buff which is a nice combo. Further since you do not have Turn Undead doing Radiant damage (does double damage to most undead) can be very handy. I mean the Marsh of Chelimber is locally called Dead Marsh as its known to be full of undead. That being said if it were me I would probably drop Command and Heroism for these two as you have Bless and Healing Word.

As for Bless and Heroism I am definitely going to tweak these two spells and at least make them just durational no concentration needed. And I am going to overhaul Aid -- ghads a 2nd-Level spell and what does it do oooooo gives someone +5 Temp HP and last 8 hours huh? -- why did they nerf this spell so heavily and then give it an 8 hour duration. Heck the 5 Temp HP will not even cover the damage of most hits at this level. I mean at least Bless and Heroism are respectable for first level but Aid who'd ever take it. This is part of the reason I have tweaked other things, "No one will take it, except for aesthetic reason, as it is simply not viable compared to its alternates."

As for your 2nd Level Spell Choices those seem reasonable although let me work on Aid and make it a respectable 2nd-Level spell and make a decision on that then.

Guiding Bolt does sound good under those circumstances! Perhaps dismissing Create/Destroy Water is a bit hasty as I can see how it might be useful in terms of survival but is it worth a spell slot?

I'll give it some thought and wait to see what you do with Heroism and Aid.

Well all I am going to do I think with those two is just make them durational as that covers the major weakness that I see in them and thus renders them as two respectable 1st-Level buff spells. The biggest limitation is going to be mostly how many spells you can cast.

If that's the case, I might just keep Heroism unless any of my fellow players are willing to persuade me otherwise.

By the way, did you check out the custom background I posted? First time making one so not sure if it even fits.