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I'm building my Dark Eldar to be Drow (grey skinned, white hair, spider motifs...odd since my arachnophobic...). SO wanting the input I'm planning on a metallic blue sapphire (folk art) for armor color with red and black trim details. Also I don't know much about the Drow language in D&D (Faerun), or character names as well as what to call my Kabal. So names for the Ravagers and Raiders, I know one I'm going to call one Raider the Chariot of Lolth. I've read a few R.A. Salvatore novels as well, and yes my Archon is wielding two scimatars.

KingmanHighborn wrote:I'm building my Dark Eldar to be Drow (grey skinned, white hair, spider motifs...

Grey skinned...?

Despite the number of artists who have used grey or dark brown for artistic flexibility, Drow skin is supposed to be obsidian black.

meh every artwork I've ever seen has them as some shade of grey. Same with the Duergar...anyways...

KingmanHighborn wrote:meh every artwork I've ever seen has them as some shade of grey. Same with the Duergar...anyways...

That is because even glossy black makes the image look like a silhouette, just a featureless black shape of humanoid. Anyway.... try this list for names...
http://www.kismetrose.com/dnd/DrowNameList.html the "related links" includes a name generator page with some intersting meanings.

R.A. Salvatore might be your best way to find information, even he depicts the Drow as black as onyx or obsidian. Although it'd be hard to show this on a model and still retain detail, I'd go with dark grey ;P

Drow are known for being very agile, sneaky, cunning, and brutal. Very similar to the Dark Eldar (unless I'm mistaken). Women are considered the superior gender and usually fill the role of priestess. Most of the priestess also have a multi-headed snake whip, more snakes, higher status. Men are generally regarded as fighters, however, they're far more suited to be mages then women are.

I'd recommend, for fluff purposes, taking up the name of a house as well. Also, Drizzt isn't the best example of how Drow behave or look. Every other Drow has red eyes to reflect their infravision, also it makes them more sinister looking. Also, not all drow fight with duel scimitars, the fighting style may vary depending on the city or training received. All Drow can summon a globe of darkness and can levitate to a degree, a house pendant/brooch might increase these innate powers.

Pretty much you can army your DE out as you wish and paint them like Drow and get by. How you word your fluff determines how interesting it will be.

The War of the Spider Queen novels are best to portray the evil society of Drow. And yes, the skin is always described as obsidian. While Reaper has a triad of Dark Elf Skin colours going a bit in the greyish purple direction, I prefer the common dark purple tones.

Here is my first test model (still not quite right) of Drow themed Dark Eldar (see my blog), using Tamiya Metallic Blue darkened with Badab Black for armour and Hormagant Purple for skin:

ZombyJezuz wrote: Also, Drizzt isn't the best example of how Drow behave or look. Every other Drow has red eyes to reflect their infravision, also it makes them more sinister looking. Also, not all drow fight with duel scimitars, the fighting style may vary depending on the city or training received.

Oh I know, I'm just outfitting my Archon with the duel scimitar look in homage, not actions, he will be as evil as any other Archon, and also because I like the idea of duel wielding scimitars. BTW any ideas on painting spider webs and spider motifs? Cause I'm thinking about just useing my decal making kit and make some transfers.

BTW Kroothawk that is an awesome looking Raider.

Don't forget the Spiders!!!

And Yes, every instance of the True Drow color is Obsidian skin with white hair.

To do them in grey would be just Blah IMHO.

Tbh, back before Eilistraee was killed, Drow came in a couple different shades of skin colours, afaik. Only when she died was some kind of curse made and all the "good" drow (and believe me, there were many Drizzts in the fluff i.e good Drow) were transformed into "Drow Afro-Americans" with skin ranging from light brown to dark brown and "Evil Drow" with obsidian skin, basically returning them to what they were before the Crown wars, which was just a tribe of dark-skinned Elves.

The change took place in 4th edition Faeurun, and it's only Faerun I'm talking about.

Yup.

The Drow of the Underdark sourcebook goes into a bit of detail there, mentioning the slight differences in skin tone ("a shade lighter on one, or faintly violet-tinged on another"). Also, non-red eyes aren't that uncommon. Red, white, purple, green and gold are given as the common range, all with roughly equal frequency, red slightly moreso. I think Danifae in the WotSQ books had violet eyes, though I may remember wrong on this one. Needless to say, red eyes have become some sort of cliché, so I guess it'd not be that wrong to use them on any miniature.

As for drow names, maybe take a look at these lists: http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/vortexshadow/drownames.html
Afaik, they're from an article in the Dragon Magazine written by Owen K.C. Stephens.

hmm, my only source is the Legend of Drizzt books. I know when he was born they thought he was blind because his eyes were not red. But if it says so in a more reliable source, by all means go for it!

I have all six War of the Spider Queen novels and I've yet to read one >.<

Drow use Faerie Fire as a light source. Put UV reactive or glow in the dark paint on the underside of your vehicles. The priestesses also use snake headed whips (more snakes equals more devotion to Lolth). Doomthumbs's tutorial on using hot glue and pipe cleaners should give you a good start for converting some.

KingmanHighborn wrote:I'm building my Dark Eldar to be Drow (grey skinned, white hair, spider motifs...odd since my arachnophobic...). SO wanting the input I'm planning on a metallic blue sapphire (folk art) ...

If you are talking about Folkart BRAND paint, like you get from hobby lobby, you are going to be disappionted. That stuff is gak for painint minis... they will be a complete mess. Plus it doesn't strip very well either.

Stick with P3, Vallejo, or citadel. You will be so much better off.

Sorry to jump offtopic.

For the skin, I'd suggest chaos black as the base, codex gray as a highlight, maybe even a mix of 50/50 black and gray for a darker tone.

ZombyJezuz wrote:I have all six War of the Spider Queen novels and I've yet to read one >.<

Do eeeeht! I was totally hooked after the first one. Cool characters are cool, and a thoroughly immoral "hero party" felt refreshingly new.

Jimsolo wrote:The priestesses also use snake headed whips (more snakes equals more devotion to Lolth). Doomthumbs's tutorial on using hot glue and pipe cleaners should give you a good start for converting some.

I think maces are okay, too - the snake whips, whilst in battle useful against unarmoured foes (like rebelling slaves), seem to serve more in ceremonial duties and as a status symbol. Likely depends on the individual, of course. But dark elf / drow miniatures with maces should also be easier to find, if one eshews converting. Reaper produces some beauties, though I think I've also seen minis with whips somewhere else ...

There are a few (very few) Drow warrior skilled in duel maces, they're often considered too cumbersome for most Drow though.

Duel maces?

Not sure what warriors think about them, but they seem to be popular for priestesses - after taking another look in the DotU sourcebook, it actually gives mace as their standard melee weapon.

I suppose cumbersomeness is a subjective term - their maces may simply be a bit smaller, and adamantite is a lighter metal in general. If I recall correctly, Halisstra Melarn in the WotSQ series fought with mace and shield, too. Quenthel only had her snake whip, but she did not even wear any armour and as such was serving more in official capacity rather than as a fighter actually bashing heads in.

Alkasyn wrote:Tbh, back before Eilistraee was killed, Drow came in a couple different shades of skin colours, afaik. Only when she died was some kind of curse made and all the "good" drow (and believe me, there were many Drizzts in the fluff i.e good Drow) were transformed into "Drow Afro-Americans" with skin ranging from light brown to dark brown and "Evil Drow" with obsidian skin, basically returning them to what they were before the Crown wars, which was just a tribe of dark-skinned Elves.

The change took place in 4th edition Faeurun, and it's only Faerun I'm talking about.

Ummm...where did this come from. I've been playing D&D for 34 years and the Forgotten Realms since it came out, but have never heard of this. Would love to get some kind of a reference point to read up on this...

Skriker

Skriker wrote:Ummm...where did this come from. I've been playing D&D for 34 years and the Forgotten Realms since it came out, but have never heard of this. Would love to get some kind of a reference point to read up on this...

The Lady Penitent, a successor trilogy to the War of the Spider Queen. It also serves as a storytelling device to explain the shift in deities from 3rd to 4th edition where certain gods are missing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Forgotten_Realms_deities#Drow_deities

Must-have for drow fans, imo, though the books themselves are not quite as awesome as the original WotSQ series.

Short story: Lolth > everyone else. There were actually some major changes as the timeline moved forward.

If you have Warp Beasts in your Dark Eldar army, you should totally replace them with Panthers :B

Id go with subterranean lizards, again Drizzt is the only one who has a magical panther.

Lynata wrote:The Lady Penitent, a successor trilogy to the War of the Spider Queen. It also serves as a storytelling device to explain the shift in deities from 3rd to 4th edition where certain gods are missing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Forgotten_Realms_deities#Drow_deities

Must-have for drow fans, imo, though the books themselves are not quite as awesome as the original WotSQ series.

Short story: Lolth > everyone else. There were actually some major changes as the timeline moved forward.

ACtually have the Lady Peneitent books, just haven't had the time to read them. Really enjoyed The War of the Spider Queen series. Nice to see a different take on the Faerun dark elves that did not involve a good dark elf with twin scimitars...

Skriker

Still, a curse that changes your skin colour according to your alignment sounds dumb. Next we have a SciFi novel, where Democrats get blue skin and Republicans red skin

Drow aren't grey skinned, they are full on ebon. Blackest black. They are as dark as Salamanders.

Kroothawk wrote:Still, a curse that changes your skin colour according to your alignment sounds dumb. Next we have a SciFi novel, where Democrats get blue skin and Republicans red skin

Well, the curse itself wasn't really alignment-based - it simply targeted the entire population of the Ilythiiri Empire, including prisoners and subjugated or annexed tribes. Ironically, the lifting of the curse applied to anyone but the descendants of the original Dark Elf ruling tribe. It depended entirely on how "pure" one's bloodline was if the curse was lifted or not. So now you have the situation that there will even be some evil "brown Drow" right next to good "black Drow" (but not as much as the other way around as pure Ilythiiri Drow were always said to swing a little more towards evil than the others). It remains to be seen how their society will deal with this - I do expect a mass-exodus of all brown-skinned elves towards the surface, whereas the Ilythiiri Drow will try to consolidate the hold on what is left of their society whilst similarly attempting to purge any impurity from their ranks.

That sci-fi novel sounds like an interesting idea, though.

As far as skin colour is concerned, perhaps I wouldn't say that "blackest black" is the only possibility, for then there would be no room for the shades and variations mentioned in the sourcebook. That said, true grey still isn't really fitting in there, though... I'd recommend looking at the official artworks and just go from there - the range accepted for the images is probably acceptable for miniatures as well. Also consider that ambient lighting will have some influence on their skin as well.