Re: Spelljammer 3E Thoughts

> >Actually that was 2e.  FR didn't alter drow powers on the surface,
> in
> >fact, it added drow to the surface where GH never had them.  When 2e
> >came out that change was implemented.  There are suggestions in
> >Unearthed Arcana for using this explanation to deny PCs MR, however.
>
> Just went and double-checked the books, and i don't see the
> distinction you do--i read both UA and Drow of the Underdark as
> saying that drow lose their powers when they leave the underdark.

Apparently you didn't read very hard.  UA only took away MR (which is a
game breaker for any PC, period).  It says nothing about them losing
their powers when they leave the underdark (other than this--but it
takes it away even for underdark PCs).  Drow of the Underdark is a 2nd
Edition resource.  To find out if FR took them away in 1st Edition
you'd have to look at 1st Edition FR resources.

> As for the origin of the changes--while i can't immediately lay a
> source to hand, i remember at the time considering the "drow can
> leave the underdark but lose many of their powers" a Forgotten Realms
> thing.  The original stuff, in the GDQ series and Fiend Folio
> certainly didn't say anything about them losing their powers on teh
> surface--though, as you note, it didn't say anything about them
> coming to the surface at all.

Sure it does.  It talks about how their equipment is affected.  Hence,
consideration of what happens when they come to the surface was mae and
the only effects were noted.  No powers are lost.  That's 1st Edition.

  Anyway, by the time UA came out, FR
> was a firmly-entrenched part of the D&D universe, and the writing was
> already on the wall for a campaign boxed set, so it certainly could
> have influenced the race rules in UA.

?  Where do you get any of this hogwash?  FR wasn't "entrenched" when
UA came out.  UA preceeded the FR boxed set.

  Don't know for certain, of
> course, barring me stumbling on an article in Dragon that makes the
> connection explicit--but the changeover *did* happen at roughly the
> same time that the official game world switched from GH to FR.

In other words, 2nd Edition.  2e made that change.  All 1st Edition
resources are quite clear, drow don't lose their powers on coming to
the surface.

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