Drow Creation:Arms/Armour

All Drow cloaks, armor and weapons are unique items made of special materials that are only found in the sunless world of the UnderDark. While made of fine craftsmanship they are also exposed to an unknown radiation that is present only in the UnderDark. If any Drow item is exposed to direct sunlight it will actually begin a slow decaying process that no amount of surface magic or craft ability can reverse. Within a period of two weeks the items that have been exposed will have completely decayed. Even items removed from the underworld and not exposed to direct sunlight will begin the decay process within a month. Without exposure to the strange radiation and environment beneath the surface all Drow items eventually lose their value and literally rot. Drow items that have been exposed to sunlight for short periods of time but then returned to the UnderDark will retain their special properties and not decay.

This is probably the biggest sticking point of any role playing situation as some players will feel that they cannot "win" without using certain types of equipment. Other players may feel that they are at a disadvantage, other players will insist that due to the UO engine or basic game mechanics that no Drow would use "Drow" items as they don't represent the best speed factor/damage ratio weapons in the game. The reality is that when the Drow where thought up there where plenty of weapons that were "superior" to the ones the Drow used in the AD&D model. I think that you will find in looking at the armour and weapons sections below that the Drow did use "competitive" equipment that translates over into the UO model as well.

Clothing
The normal Drow attire is a pair of black boots and a hooded black cloak. All Drow should wear cloaks (dyed charcoal black or black) and black thigh boots whenever possible. The use of other articles of clothing and accessories should be left up to the preference of the individual. However robes are not considered normal Drow attire.

Armour
Drow wear fine black chainmail that provides exceptional protection beyond what is typically found on the surface. A special alloy blend of adamantite and steel forged by Drow armourers and exposed to the strange radiation of the Underworld. The choice of shield was the buckler which was also made in a similar manner and it provided exceptional protection due to its craftmanship.

Weapons
Drow arm themselves with a variety of weapons including long daggers, short swords, hand crossbows, maces, javelins, military forks, and death lances. While some of these weapons have direct counterparts in the UO game most don't. As noted above this is one of the areas of Drow role playing that creates the most controversy. A list of suitable Drow weapons for use by the Drow Role Playing group is listed below. A corresponding explanation of each weapon and its equivalent(s) are also listed after the chart.

Drow Weapon	UO Weapon	#
Long dagger	Kryss, Dagger	1
Short Sword	katana, Scimitar, Broadsword	2
hand Crossbow	Crossbow	3
Mace	Mace, War Mace, Maul	4
Javelin	Short Spear	5
Military Fork	War Fork	6
Death Lance	Long Spear	7

(1) While UO has no actual "long dagger" the Kyrss would be the equivalent of that. If a Drow role player wishes to use a normal dagger as well that would also fall into this category.
(2) While UO has a number of different swords there is surprisingly no short sword in the game. Three swords are used as substitutes and are the katana (a smaller blade), scimitar (while longer than a short sword it is still shorter than a long sword and is a reasonable weapon), broadsword (this substitute is more for play balance as even though it to is shorter than a long sword it is the largest of the three substitute swords).
(3) A regular crossbow with its range and damage is very close to what the hand crossbows provided and is a close equivalent weapon.
(4) All three mace weapons listed above are reasonably close in speed and damage.
(5) While a javelin is a thrown weapon, the closest weapon in UO is the short spear. Unfortunately there are no projectiles in the game. In the interest of balance if a Drow wishes to use a short spear this is reasonable.
(6) A military fork was used on occasion by the Drow when they were defending areas with gates or walls which could be found both within the Vault (most common) and in a limited number of locations outside the Vault itself. The war fork in UO is actually a very close equivalent save that it has been shortened by about 2' to 3'. While military forks where two handed weapons the work fork is very close and serves as a suitable conversion weapon even though it is one handed. In any case the military fork was not seen as commonly as the other weapons listed above. However it was still equipment carried by certain Drow.
(7) Death Lance was a rare weapon and actually was similar to a long spear of about 10' in length. Here the UO equivalent would be the long spear.
Despite the ongoing debate and controversy about what are the optimum weapons in UO there was no changes or additions made to the list above. Each UO weapon was selected on the basis of its equivalency to what the Drow actually used. While Drow who live or spend a considerable amount of time on the surface can be found using all manner of weapons and some not listed here, its extremely important for those in the Drow role playing group (living below the surface) to make every effort to choose weapons from the following list. As noted in a previous section the use of Drow equipment with either add to or detract from efforts to be perceived as Drow role players.

Poison
The Drow made widespread use of a sleep poison that would render the victim of it unconscious. This was only used on their missile weapons which included poison coated darts fired from their hand held crossbows and poison coated javelins. The use of this poison was so widespread that almost every Drow combatant who carried a handheld crossbow or javelins carried these poison coated projectiles. These poison applications began to loose their effectiveness over time and lost their potency after two months. To counter this the poison was periodically reapplied.
Note: If there is one wild card to UO it has to be the use poison. While it is not possible actually coat missile weapons with poison all Drow roleplayers are strongly encouraged to make use of poisoned weapons. Currently in UO a weapon can be poisoned and will remain poisoned until it is used at which time the poisons potency wears down with every use of that particular weapon. The Drow also applied their poison applications well before any hostile encounter occurred . Therefore its not necessary for all Drow to develop a skill in poisoning. If a small number of players are available with that skill they should be able to poison a large number of weapons and reapply as needed. From a combat standpoint the use of any type of poison and its ability to disrupt healing and spell casting provides a welcome benefit.