The Council of Spiders, Part 6

One of the weird issues I have with Dungeons & Dragons in later editions (3.0+) was that although there were no mechanical limits on race-class combinations, there still existed mechanical features that dis-incentivized certain combinations. In Fourth Edition, it became even more prevalent as races had fixed attribute bonuses. Since a Dwarf could never get an Intelligence bonus, a Dwarf wizard would never be as good as a Human wizard or a Tiefling wizard. Similarly, a Drow would normally never make as good a fighter as a Dwarf or a Goliath. Because of the design that went into it, maximizing hit rates became exceedingly important so having a higher primary ability score was exceedingly important.

This became extremely obvious in the current season of Dungeons & Dragons: Encounters, where every pre-made character had its race changed to Drow. Now, the slayer fighter is less effective than he had been when he was a Dwarf. The wizard is less effective than when he was a Human. As a person who has been bending the Character Builder to his will for as long as I have, this really bothered me. Unfortunately, House Xorlarrin, one of the three houses involved with the adventure, is supposed to focus on arcane spell-casting. I tried to find ways I could get arcane spell-casters to match up well with a Drow without simply breaking the build requirements. Pelloth is my attempt at doing just that.

Pelloth, graduate of Sorcere.

He does have a wizard-like feel to him.

The powers exhibited by the Gloom Pact Binder seemed to fit in with the arcane Drow ideal. Pelloth manipulates the shadows, darkness, and gloom as taught to him at Sorcere. The cold hand of darkness envelops all who stand before him in his quest to construct the Demon Weave. Furthermore, as the primary ability scores for the Gloom Pact Binder are Dexterity and Charisma, it fit perfectly well with the Drow ability scores.

With Pelloth, players at Dungeons & Dragons: Encounters don't have to feel like being a part of House Xorlarrin means you have to be slightly less effective than the rest of the party. Hopefully, I can figure out other clever ways to match up arcane power with the Drow attribute set.