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Singing, dancing, music, feasting, swordplay, hunting, kindness, sword forging, and sheltering strangers... I just have to say that that is a strange portfolio and I dig it.
It all shares a connection. At her core, Eilistraee has one concept: overcoming your wounds (and in her backstory she has lost and struggled a lot) by taking all your pain, all your sadness, and using it to create beauty. Turning it into art, into empathy for others, into making the world a better place for all (kinda like Schopenhauer's philosophy). From this stems searching for and healing the good in the broken. Reaching for the outcasts, the miserable, seeing the potential in them, and empowering them to fulfill themselves. Because untold beauty can stem from an awakaned soul. And this is what she does with the drow, not merely "redeeming" her. The world redemption doesn't appear even once in her original lore. This is not just her goal, this is how she copes with her suffering--i.e. what she built herself around, and what drives herself to wake up every morning (or better, at every moonrise). You might say that hunting and sword forging are weird, but they're not. They're part of how she teaches the drow how to survive in a world that is their home, but that has become hostile to them.
@@transient_moonlight I wasn't criticizing it or saying it can't be explained. Just that when you look at it on its own it is a rather odd list, particularly since spears are a better option for hunting than sword.
@@adambielen8996 Ah yeah, I see what you mean. What I was saying is that it all makes sense once you look at it from the perspective of how she built herself.
@@adambielen8996 "And now, our moonlit hunt shall commence once the ceremonial...oh. Wait a moment, everyone. Sister Niallia, what weapon is that?" "It's a bardiche, Mother Ameryll." "You know that Great Mother Eilistraee demands that we hunt with _swords,_ yes?" "Well, think of my bardiche as a sword...with a short, curved blade, no quillons and a very, _very_ long hilt. Its blade even looks like a crescent moon! Totally Eilistraeen! See?" "See here, Sister Niallia..." "Mother Ameryll, I am _completely naked!_ Those minotaurs have huge muscles, long, pointy horns and nasty teeth! So I'd like to keep my little naked body as far away from those beastly horns and teeth as possible! And since ranged weapons are strictly forbidden, pole arms are the next best thing! So here's a bardiche, Mother! Take it or leave it." "..." "..." "...fine. But after this hunt, we are going to have a long, serious talk in my office about this!" "Yes, Mother."
And it is kinda hard to replicate into a character that follows her ideals of things you should know. They are an obvious Dex build but they use long swords just to spite us. You don’t gain enough proficiencies during vanilla character creation to be able to do everything a cleric should. For a player to follow her rituals is nice for players that miss sessions a lot but suck for players that come reliably. Also sunlight sensitivity sucks.
The one time I played a campaign where I played a drow, I chose a Cleric because the party needed a healer. Most of the party was chaotic natural or lawful evil. I wanted to play a good character just to piss the DM off, however, his reaction was the complete opposite of how I thought he would act. He smiled and told me that there was only one goddess that would align with my chaotic good character, this one. I was adamant about playing a male, so he told me to play as a crusader to save me some trouble. He took some rights as a DM to give me a break, so I had to dance for new spells, to earn them rather than be given them. The DC's were always increasing, so I poured a lot into the preform skill and eventually earned the goddess's respect. Later on, my party went to rob a dark god's temple on an epic campaign. We were between the levels of 18 and 20, and while they were beating Vhaeraun's Avatar, I used a True Wish I had been saving since the middle of the campaign. I stole Vhaeraun's divinity and killed him before becoming the new god of the night. My party members by now were mostly good characters, over the time spent freeing slaves, helping the innocent seek freedom, their alignment shifted. So I granted them each a single level in divinity, making them Demi-Gods. Later I attempted to woo Eilistraee with a dance and love confession. Rolled a Nat20, and since I was a god, she didn't have any natural resistance against that sort of thing. From that day forward, a moon could be found floating in the Underdark. A haven for those who worshiped the night and moon. We brought the light to the darkness. Favorite Campaign I ever played.
Truly amazing. If you remember it in great detail you could legitimately write a book based around that...it definitely seems like a lore worthy tale. One of very few redemptions for the Drow. Who knows maybe submit it and we can see something in 6E 😁
Eilistraee is the most wholesome deity in the game. She's a loving mother, who wants to spread beauty in all things, and see her children back where she feels they belong. I also love her view on violence: She prefers not to start a fight whenever possible, but if you push her, she'll damn well finish it.
Actually, I think Yondalla is the most wholesome goddess in D&D, but then anything related to Halflings is gonna be wholesome 😅 But Eilistraee is a close second!
@@khai96x Calling it now, Ynnead isn't going to actually kill Slaanesh when it manifests in full. It's just going to drag Slaanesh to rehab and keep it from escaping early.
As someone new to dnd, I was wondering if you could do gnolls, I haven’t seen them on your channel and the depth you go for your research is astounding, and I wouldn’t even know where to look
It's fine. Some people are uptight, and if they truly can't help being that way, then forgive them too. Otherwise, ignore the whiny people. They aren't allowed at our naked Drow parties. 😉
Honestly I always saw Eilistraee as the most bad ass god in FR. She has the guts to be "part" of the Dark Seldarine to help save her people. In a way she is fighting against all odds considering she is a lone good Dark Seldarine god. With her followers in the minority. It's... a pretty bad arse thing to do. To fight against such odds. All while keeping to her ideals.
Agreed, it's one of the coolest things about her. She could have had all she wanted from life--confort/luxury/safety-- as she was offered to retain her place in Arvandor in FR lore. However, she chose to give up all of that just to be one of her people. Even though she was but the equivalent of a late teenager, and had foreseen a path of hardships. That's a nice change from the selfish-god trope.
Adding to the fact that, since a god's power and ability to "grow" is strictly based around their followers, she took an almost suicidal path of having the fewest followers possible and the hardest to "convert" due to their strongest deity being directly opposed to her, and trying to wipe out any and all mention of her among their shared people. Definitely balls of steal on the sultry elven beauty!
@@pathwaystoadventure The only god I can imagine caring more for their followers than Eilistraee is Ilmater himself. She's a great example of a god actually caring for their people and ready to make sacrifices for them.
"good aligned drow goddess of music and beauty..." ... *Looks at my lawful-good Drow Bard known for her music and her beauty* Well shit. think i made a follower or a blessed soul of this goddess and didn't even know it.
Considering it seems that her name isn't spoke upon, it looks like the most realistic to happen. Following divine inspiration without realising it is even at work. That's the beauty of it.
I could argue that you could be a Mormon if you naturally followed many of our tenants. Just because you have values of one does not mean that you automatically become the other.
I did the same and my half-elf ain't even Drow. She and her party literally go around just... singing songs, building houses, saving kids, passing out food and money, helping refugees, etc. 😅🤷🏼♀️
Not only is there magic missiles. But it is 100% a thing that you can get a good 171 pound high explosive firework rocket and enchanted it to home in on its target. Yet we dragons still rule the skies. Think about that. With respect.
@@rachdarastrix5251 The point was that the "never miss" part is perfect for Eilistraee's lore, since she refues to use a bow, despite being a terrific archer, because her mom (Lolth) once enchanted Corellon's scabbard to draw arrows to his chests, which resulted in one of Eilistraee's arrows (meant to save him) hitting him and nearly killing him during a battle. Since using a bow got Eilistraee to severely injuring her dad (Corellon, btw), fearing that her arrows could be once again misled to unintended targets by magic, she now uses magic missile for ranged attacks, because magic missiles never miss.
Honestly I could write alot of the reasons why Eilistraee is my go to goddess in D&D, but my favorit reason is: you could place a follower of Eilistraee into any Hobbit City and both sides would dig it.
Drow: Would you be interested in joining our religion? Other Drow: Well what's your religion? (Shows pic of hot naked dancing Drow waifu.) Other Drow: I'm interested.
My first character was actually a Drow (male) bladesinger who during the campaign became a follower of Eilistraee, changing from neutral to good. I still remember the moment my DM told me I was officially good. Nice video, what a pity Eilistraee is unknown.
Okay, first I´m not a good writer at all so I will apologize for that in advance. Now, my character started as a neutral non-religious drow (still a bladesinger), after some time in the campaign I researched about the dark seldarine, just the sake of understanding better my character, I discover Eilistraee and I just fell in love with the ideology. I started changing little by little my character behavior. The final change took place when one of the most beloved NPC for the party died, at the beginning we didn´t know but it was due to the actions of one of the PJ (let's call PJ1), once other PJ (let´s call PJ2) and I discovered we were pretty pissed off. I was the first to talk to this PJ1 and tried to sympathy with her since she didn't know anything. When the other PJ2 arrived I went to receive him, he was really angry and wanted to reproach PJ1 for what she had done I stopped him and talk to avoid the worst scenario where the whole party splits up, I can´t remember the exact words but was something on the line of "We shouldn't blame on her since she only wanted some guidance", and because of that my DM said, "Okay you are Neutral Good now". Obviously, the tension of the moment and the improvisation made everything more spectacular, but that's pretty much everything, probably it was more spectacular in your minds than what I have told 😂, but as said I'm not a good storyteller.
@@danielherreros3168 > probably it was more spectacular in your minds than what I have told I did originally imagine it as more flashy and climactic, but I actually think that what you described is better. One might imagine an alignment shift as a big, dramatic moment, possibly where a character makes an important choice during a battle. But that isn't true to how people (usually) change in real life. In a way, I think it's more meaningful that an alignment shift to good would happen as a result of your words. My first character was also a neutral good drow, a redemption paladin. I was definitely playing this character in the wrong type of campaign, though, so there are few happy stories to recount. Ironically, he was even risking becoming an oathbreaker, by the time the campaign unceremoniously fell apart.
Ed Greenwood created her to be the mother figure of the dark elves that her mother, Lolth, isn't. It's too bad that everyone only knows of Drizzt as the only good-aligned drow when there are clearly more thanks to the Dark Maiden.
Salvatore HATES Eilistraee, its my biggest problem with him. It's a shared world, at least an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT in the Drizzt books that they exist would be nice. FFS in the last 3 drizzt books there is a temple of Eilistree in Waterdeep's field ward, they could have come in handy during the events of those books!
I read the original Drizzt trilogy then skipped out on the rest and never looked back. I've never heard anything that makes me think I should regret this decision lol
@@ValkyrieTiara I only want to read them for Jarlaxle, cause I really like him and those kind of characters. I might just read the spinoff series he's the main character off though.
I was concerned about that. This came up for me and I really wanted to add her temple in to a player running an old sword sage from the older dnd. Glad to know this isn't gonna ruffle to much lore
@@danielcunningham4339 I mean he did bring up that the majority of her worshippers are more spell casters than priests of the traditional sort. It makes sense the goddess prefers females to embody her image in the clergy kind of way but that doesn't mean someone can't imitate her with more minor divine blessings involved.
@@DemonKing19951 that's more what's happened this week, the temple is absolutely drow females worshiping her but her character wanted to hit the dervish class and it's been a lovely way to get her trained up.
Anyone else think the new Twilight Domain from Tasha's would be PERFECT for a cleric of Eilistraee? She's not listed as one of the example deities, but the whole flavor of the subclass (protecting those who travel in darkness and all) is right up her alley.
Maybe modify a bit, that to her followers doesn't make a "twilight" aura, but a bright full moon-like light (the effect would be the same, just the appearance change to be more fitting to the goddess)?
I'm currently playing a Twilight cleric of Eilistraee. A half drow half moon elf Male cleric at that as the rule against males in the clergy of her church has actually been lifted. I made him half moon elf to create a character foal to another half drow but full blooded elf in the party but of evil alignment. Mine is chaotic good, taking more after his moon elven heritage, the other is neutral evil taking after her drow parent. For flavor text, I sing all my spells with any Symantec components being little dances. I was also allowed to swap my melee weapon to a sword it's gotten to the point that if they want to distinguish between the elves in our party without using names they just call my charater who very much looks like a drow 'the moon elf' much to the confusion of anyone outside the party especially when he answers to it like it's just the most normal thing in the world.
"as long as you sing for 3 round straight" to people that don't know, a round is 6 seconds. a 300 gold diamond is worth 18 seconds of singing. and just because i wanted to do the math for the wage. 16.6... gold/sec 1,000 gold/min 60,000 gold/hour if a copper is a penny a silver is a dime and gold is a dollar a drow singer of Eilistraee makes $60,000 dollars an hour by singing.
Considering what I know about the way prices work in D&D - I'm almost positive that a single gold is worth more than one dollar. It's probably closer to $300,000 dollars an hour.
@@bleachbleachBLEACHER The rough scale I use to gauge if a gold amount is reasonable is that 1 copper = 1 dollar. This means that 1 gold = $100, or that the singer of Eillistraee makes about 6 million dollars an hour. Not a bad gig. The catch is that you can only reproduce spell effects this way, and Revivify is probably one of the more expensive spells. You could probably revive an entire town in an hour or so, if it wasn't for the fact that Revivify had a very strict time limit from when the person died. If it were Raise Dead, then you'd be golden, but Revivify just isn't a good money maker.
I did a bit of a twist for my character. Mine was a male drow who had escaped the Underdark and death - a divine soul sorcerer who had been blessed by an unknown goddess many years earlier, during the worst moments of his life. His journey and motivation was meant to find out who his mystery goddess was during his adventure and ultimately find her. As soon as I learned about Eilistraee I knew she had to be the goddess who blessed him. It’s sources like this that really helped me refine this story so thanks so much to the content creator :)
Oh hell yeah! She is my favorite as well. Genuinely a really nice goddess, who really cares about followers, and I have to admire how she fights to save the drow, a people everyone else seems to have abandoned. I have a soft spot for people who keep fighting despite the odds being against them. I have also allways been rather fund of the moon, and hunting and swordfighting is nice too. Not really a dancer though, but I do like watching it, and of course I like music like everyone else. Btw, the light domain is a suggested domain for her clerics. A light domain cleric that throws silver colored fireballs and blast her enemeis with divine moonlight. Yeah, I wanna play that. Really fitting too, since Eilistraee do manifests silver colored fire at times, as mentioned in the video.
I made her the main deity for the drow kingdom in my homebrew game. The kingdom is in a place which my player dubbed "magical Chernobyl" and the surface living drows are fighting off demons, aborations and more to keep the rest of the continent save.
Literally 3 minutes in, I envisioned the Moonlight Greatsword-like Bastard Sword with a Drow Cleric of Light in service to Eilistraee. 5 minutes in, and... _I remember that night. I remember when that silver radiance beheld such beauty before me._ _I remember the chains as they changed and clacked around me legs and hands. That night, my master had shown me to a new library for her studies, and I'd grown curious. Too curious, I used to think. I found a tome, hidden in dark recesses blocked by chain links, and the book told me of a hidden guide. Most my life, I feared our gods for their repulsive evils and disgusting minions. But her, she filled me with life. Merely an illustration made me feel free, til my master struck me for finding it._ _That night, my cuffs were unlocked in my bed. A voice rang out in my ear "Run, my dear. Quickly!" I take my harp with me and go out the window. Like a rabbit under pursuit by a fox, I ran for a nearby tunnel, the sounds of my former master calling the guards. The clanking of plated boots grew closer, and I ran ever faster; nearly tripping on the pebbles. I reached the surface; a full moon greeted me over a large pond. They came running, swords and crossbows drawn, and I was nearly done for. Suddenly, the light of the moon shone brilliantly on the entrance, and the rocks collapsed. A stream of blood came from the collapse. A voice came to me in the silence:_ "I've helped you, as I wish to help my people. I ask you: will you help them as I have helped you?" _When I turned, I saw her. She was a beauty unmatched, with her silver hair coiling and flowing around her. A silver bastard sword in her hand, and a kind face too alien to what Drow I've known. I dropped to my knees and swore my life to her, the Goddess that saved me, the Goddess that emboldened me, my Goddess Eilistraee._
I do find it rather ironic how the most good hearted deity came from one of the world’s darkest cultures. It makes me wonder how easy it might be for other creatures to stray from their kind’s typical alignments. That sort of flexibility on the highest level of being opens up quite a bit of roleplay potential for other creatures. Funny enough, that’s the message that Eilistraee is deliberately trying to spread: everyone should have a chance to follow the light, no matter how dark one’s upbringing might be. All the more reason she is my favorite.
Eilistraee had her own culture/nation before Lolth's cult was even relevant on Toril. The sun elves magic-nuked it. She still has her own culture, but--obviously--not her own nation.
@The Wolfman Smith Well the situation would be slightly different, even if you couldn't be a cleric or paladin as a male she would have given you both freedom and the ability to choose what you would do, you wouldn't be a slave to her nor anyone else, and if you chose to worship her that was a choice you made not something forced onto you.
I've been doing a lot of research recently on the Dark Maiden as I am making a character for a campaign I am about to do with my friends (5e). I wanted to have the character to be a male, so I've been scouring the internet looking to see whether or not I could have the cleric or paladin (as I am currently undecided) be male. The conclusion I have reached is that in her quest to reach drow and give them freedom from the grasps of Lolth and the terrors and stuff they face in the underdark, she as well as her clergy are an exception to normal drow culture, including in the way of males no longer being inferior to females. Most people I find agree with this idea, and so I think it is reasonable for the clergy of Eilistraee to include males as equals to females, at least for 5th edition. Please let me know if you find this to be true or not!
The male member of the clergy has at least once to go through a ritual of theirs which turns them into females. This change of gender they will have to live in for at least a month, but there are also a few cases in which some of the male clergy actually decide to stay as female as it makes them feel closer to understand and look more like their goddess
So apparently thats all undercommon is? 1st: Drow "Maaaaaaaaaaate!" 2nd Drow "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate!" Observer from the surface "What a curious lanuage"
My friend sent this to me. I play a drow bard who loves astronomy and currently has a magic sword that he uses when spells don't work. I love him so much and as he is trying to make a life for himself on the surface world, this is the perfect goddess for him. I need to talk to my DM to see if my bard can find out about and then begin worshiping Eilistrae
Go for it. Perhaps take a level of Favored Soul Sorcerer to open up your spellcasting options. Like casting spells from the Cleric list : Healing Word, Cure Wounds, Bless, etc. The ' Favored of the Gods ' bonus ability is always usefull. Adding 2d4 to an attack or save roll once per short rest.
@@kira68200 He knows, he just doesn't follow her. A drow being good aligned alone doesn't mean they need to follow Eilistraee or that they automatically suit each other.
@@00rasen I know, throuh even if he doesn't follow her, Eillistraee probably look over him from time to time, simply because he is is most part an exemple of what Eillistraee want the drow to be
Eilistraee: "Come live up here in the light." Drow: "Thanks Eilistraee these sunburns are great and I can't see anything because it is too bright. I hear that moon god has better health insurance!"
Not any worse then Lloth especially if your male. I'd very much rather have a sunburn then be a slave to some sadistic lady. That's just me though you do you.
Hey,come to think of it,vampires burn in the sunlight too,and they may even be reduced to a pile of ash by the Sun,so Drows should be thankful they suffer in sunlight,but don't get sundered to ashes.
@@melissawardjohns220 Lolth isn't a drow though, she's a demon. Firstly it's a meme format, secondly Most surface Drow worship Elistraee while the Subterranean Drow obviously worship Lolth in majority. "Virgin" implies less desirable "Chad" implies desirable. Sadly had to explain a meme :(
Thank god.... someone finally has created a good, comprehensive video not just about Eilistraee, but actually how to worship her and follow her faith. I would have loved to have found this video 6 years ago lmao
"Vhaeraun ... quite a popular one." *Me, struggling to find any information, art or lore on him besides the FR wiki.* Genuinely, I think he seems like a very interesting character, and I'd love to understand more of his motives. Since, apparently, his followers actually claim he is one of the more involved gods around. He answers a lot of prayers personally, joins them in combat and actually seems to value their souls, as he refuses to use them as bargaining chips. Even in death, he allows his followers to keep their memories and physical abilities, and brings them back as Vhaeraths - shadowy warriors gifted in stealth. And unlike his fellow deities, he actually encourages gender equality. Yet both the Seldarine *and* the Dark Seldarine despise him. I wish I knew what motivated Vhaeraun and what his plans are, since clearly making allies is a rare occurrence... I have a morally grey Vhaerath NPC that I'd love to flesh out, but I don't have the time to read all the novels for lore bits...
Eiliastraee and Vhaeraun are apparently on pretty decent terms despite their differences. Lolth most likely hates him because she's possessive like that, more followers for him means less puppets for her to play with. Not sure about the other drow gods tho.
Demihuman Deities, and the great novel Evermeet: Island of Elves by Elaine Cunningham will give you info on Vhaeraun. When Lolth turned against the Seldarine, she persuaded Vhaeraun to help her, but they later became enemies.
Vhaeraun participated in Lolth's plot to overthrow the Seldarine, so there's their end. He seeks to overthrow Lolth's system, so there's her end. Before the end of the Second Sundering he and Eilistraee were mortal foes, as Eilistraee sought to have the Drow become good-aligned citizens of the surface again, whereas Vhaeraun still shares the supremacist views of his mother. The other Dark Seldarine I can only presume reasons such as competition for followers.
Definitely sounds like a deity worth worshiping and spreading the word of. Creativity, vibrancy and variety of life, freedom of expression, merriment and comradery, and helping others who need it while smiting those who earn it
I first came across this goddess in 2nd ed and loved her lore that she voluntarily chose exile from her father and the seldarine to go with the drow and her mother araushnee in order to be a beacon of hope for the drow in the future and eilistraee has been my favourite goddess ever since.
At 13:24 the artist is yOshimura. If you could credit him, as he is amazing artist, it’d be most appreciated. Since you have such a following it would be good for people to know his name. :) thank you
is there a link to find more of his work?im having a hard time finding him, unless he really is the Tokyo Ghoul mangaka and im looking for something not there
I LOVE Eilistraee. I actually played a bard who was a human that had unknown Drow lineage, and later on she became a cleric of Elistraee. She also had an older sister who was a bard/paladin (her family were all traveling performers) of her as well. Sadly my character die fighting a tanaruk with her girlfriend before I could really get into the deeper lore of both Eilistraee, and the mystery of my bard's family.
That was beautiful. I remember once choosing her as the deity for one of my characters forever ago, when very new to roleplaying games, based on a very brief summary I'd had access to, but man... this resonated all the more & was very personally deeply moving to me. Thanks.
This made me so happy. Eilistraee is my favorite diety in the D&D Pantheon, and the campaign I'm running features her followers quite heavily, both at the Forest Temple & Promenade in/below Waterdeep, and via an NPC that the party befriended very early in the campaign. It actually went so far that the party's rogue decided to pursue the Herald subclass, dedicated to Eilistraee, despite being a Halfling, because she felt that Eilistraee best aligned with her character's philosophy and outlook.
I would have loved to hear more about the relationship between Eilistraee and Vhaeraun, especially how it actually matured through all the history and turmoil of drow history.
Ed Greenwood had a lot of lore for it. Sadly WotC decided to retcon Vhaeraun into Lolth's bodyguard for 5e and to throw all that lore out of the window.
@@BlackLotus30 WotC: "Hey, we stand for nuanced portrayal of the drow!" Also WotC: "let's make sure every drow culture is reduced into irrelevance, or is turned in just another aspect of the Lolthite faith, while doing the same with their gods. Also, let's put pur "this is racist" stamp on older books that actually give some emphasis to variant drow cultures and faiths, while we proceed to dedicate all the pagecount to describe how evil and monolithic the drow are." Smh...
Been messing around with dnd and never really gottwn to do a full campaign. My first venture into dnd wasn't even dnd, but rather it was basically vocal roleplaying. No character sheets or anything. the only thing that related to dnd is that when I was making my character, I looked up dnd races. Being an edgy kid I made a drow assassin. Years have passed, and my friend who did this roleplay is now running a 5e campaign version of this roleplay. So, i brought back this drow character named Ikza. Ikza's been through many renditions, especially after I watched this video for the first time I reworked it to include Eilistraee. Now I'm here, doing my first full campaign, which is a remake of my first ever roleplay, rewriting Ikza's backstory again into what I conaider to be it's final and best version. And this video is probably the biggest inspiration for that. I thank you for sharing your love for this character and her backstory. The way this puzzle piece fits in my dnd experience is just wild.
This video just solved my current D&D problem. I have been trying to figure out how to write a plot for one of my Game's PCs who is a Drow Warlock. With this information now i might actually be able to write a fun and lore friendly story for my player.
An Ancient Oath Paladin also works well for this. I know because making one is how I stumbled upon the dark dancer. Dex, Charisma, protective auras- a lot of melee casting and healing. Paladins don’t have to be heavy armor anymore. The oath works well with her teachings.
you actually dont need to be female to be a part of the clergy anymore, nor a drow. though i suppose it depends on the time in which your campaign is set. currently she accepts any sex and race into her clergy, its still dominated my females, but male preists and paladins arent particularly rare.
I was really surprised when I first stumbled upon her about a year ago. A good Drow Goddess? But I really liked her. Then I saw this Video, the title, and the thumbnail, and was like: skin and eyecolor? This has to be a drow. Best Goddess? Gotta be Eilistraee. And was not disappointed. And I appreciate her even more now. I mean, going willingly into eternal exile to help a whole people? I can respect that. Wish there was more info on her in the books (like Mordenkainens). Also, a cleric sworddancer subclass would be great. Would be a nice change. Also, her Songs would be nice to know, too. That's the kind of flavouring I think some of the deities could use for their clerics, apart from domain. Like, I totally think, that clerics of Sune should get prestidigitation as "domain" spell. Her description says, her clerics have to always look clean and pretty, so prestidigitation would make sense. But I digress. Anyway, thank you for, once again, making a great Video.
I really like the emphasis on how different the under dark and the surface are, to the point of the way you hunt things and the way you have to farm compared to growing fungus.
I played a male human fighter of ellistraee. His wife was a devote follower was slain by a dragon. Since their souls got get reincarnated, she gave my character her soul in the form of a double ended sword. (Intelligent weapon) because of this, he was able to talk to his wife everyday and so he devoted himself to the goddess as thanks.
Neverwinter Nights: Hoards of the Underdark memories ahoy! Ah, Nathyrra and the Seer had so many cool things to share about Eilistraee! Every campaign I make she's in there being cool and doin' stuff. She was an easy fictional crush when I was in high school, but she's got so many dope qualities!
@@nurgle333 Ehhh is it really theft when the entirety of fantasy is directly based in LOTR? Tolkien invented the genre in every way that matters. Hell D&D itself is just a way to play LOTR according to Gyagax.
@@michaelhowze8198 that's too much credit to Tolkein. Tolkein himself ripped off Shakespear, other Romantics, celtic mythology, norse and greek in the extreme himself. In Blizzard's case though, it really is a hard ripoff that's all they've ever done honestly. There's a little difference in homage, and "I can't believe they haven't been sued over it" which is where Blizzard really sits.
D&d is better. Beholders, Tieflings, the outer planes, Mythalars, the Orbs of Dragonkind. It is ALL folklore and mythologies in one. Also, Tharizdun. Nuff said.
I think we enjoy her for the same reasons - redemption and compassion are beautiful. And while most good stories involve mortal conflict (your average D&D game, or the Odyssey), this was a good example of a conflict transcending mortals (but involving a divine entity that gave up a lot to protect them when she didn't have to.) She's easily my favorite in D&D for that reason.
I know everyone knows Drizzt but another really good trilogy about a drow is Daughter of the drow. The main character is by far my favorite drow character and i have read all of Drizzts books. It even has Eilistraee and followers in them.
RA Salvatore is known to pick in non-Lolth gods completely ignoring their existance. The recent WotC announcement have raised a great outrage as they try to erase the great communities and gods from lore. And yes, Liriel is great :D
I have a former drow cleric turned aasimar cleric of Eilistraee from when she returned to life and joined with the magic goddess in my dnd group and I really do love this goddess much more than I have any other deity in the dnd worldbuild
A made a setting for my campaign where there was a continent trapped in a demi plane. The Drow there ended up all being converted to Eilistraee and building a society alongside the Dwarves in the mountains and underdark.
...****... I met her in an isekai campaign. I was a paladin and I met her when I ended up alone, and the rest of the party was captured. She cheered my character up and protected him while he slept and went to save the party.
I actually had fun with a human who was a follower of this Goddess. Worked with my dm, we had that my human was found by a blade dancer as a young child, alone after her family's farm was attacked and everyone killed by bandits. She was raised by this dancer. Pretty much becoming her child. She loved to paint, to sing, and she danced with two swords, the swish of which would sound like song and her laughter like bells. Then one day the aging drow dancer got sick, and she heard the voice of her goddess. my little human helped to carry her to the field, helped her to dance until her goddess came. And she grieved even as she watched tge beauty of the goddess with the woman who had become her Mother. Then, she was gone and my girl could only scream her grief. Until a silver light touched her, letting her feel the touch of her mother and hear her song. She left, carrying her Mother's sword and her hair long and silver as the glowing moon. The dm added the last touch. lol I wanted to play a redhead, but damn, that was such a beautiful scene I had to go with it.
This is easily one of my top five favorite videos from you. If I didn’t suck so much at writing plot and characters I’d love to run a whole campaign based around helping at least some Drow escape and find a new life along side the Goddesses Singing Swords
Oh my godess, Shes my favorite too! I'm so glad to hear you also appreciate Elistraee. The drow are so fascinating and I think it's awesome they have at least one benevolent deity looking out for them. Praise be to our lady of the night!
YES!! My favorite D&D deity since 2nd ed. My longest running pc is a drow bard/bladedancer (male) follower of her, who is actually a sort of Chosen of hers. He has a very dark backstory, and he is both a gifted musician and dancer, who uses his dancing as a form of combat.
In my D&D setting Eilistraee has the shape of a moth, and the moth godess are worshipped by a sect that has been exiled from the Drow Triarchy, and now live in some of the slums on some human dominated planets.
I have a 30th lvl charecter who's a king. My capital has an under city built in that I placed for good Drow refugees. After a war I won against them a few years back. I even had special glasses and clothes commissioned for them. So they could move about and work during the day comfortably.
I fell in love with this goddes when, for a oneshot, my boyfriend and I were making a scenario. It was a race of dark elves that, at some point, split off as a rebel group from a normal dark elven settlement in the underdark. Their greatest mages then created an orb to protect them from sieges and attacks from the dark elves they fled from. We also wanted to implement a light mechanic with the orb (as it created shadows out of all people trying to siege the city when it was activated and purged them when it was deactivated again. And with light being a weakness of shadows, the goddes blessed the light to be non-harmful to the dark elves living there, leaving a sort of giant, fake sun above the town's central square. It was so fun working with that goddes as a patron and a clergy that preached her word. It offers such a fun way for good and neutral drow to actually exist.
I love the Dark Elf pantheon. Baldur's Gate 3 recently came out, and naturally I went with my go-to Drow character. It was neat to be able to choose from Lloth-chosen or followers of Eilistraee, maybe in the future we'll see other variants for Vhaeraun and Ghaunadaur.
This is great! I once played a guest character in a long campaign, She was a drow cleric who worshipped Lolth. She was Lawful neutral and followed her own perception of fairness. which means equal returns, 'someone helps me, I help them, someone hurts me, I will make them suffer'. At some point she met a novice who loved music and dance, she tried to turn her to Lolths side properly but she was untamable. At some point she gets the instructions to kill her student for Lolth but she can't. She throws away the blade and runs away with her and some other unhappy folks from the city (male drow and some other outcasts). when she breaches the surface she dreams of Lolth and has to cut out her holy symbol from her outfit (which was located on her sternum) lots of saving throws later she's free of Lolth but no longer has any cleric magic (being level 16 ish at this point). In a dream later she meets Eilistraee who invites her to jump in a moonlit lake with her. She does and is embraced by Eilistraee for leaving Lolth and embracing her pupil as her daughter (her pupil being a chosen of Eilistraee for being a bard that loves too much) She wakes up changed (from trickery domain as Lolth cleric to now Twilight domain Eilistraee cleric) and is ready to face of against an evil lich that has cursed her people to die without the faerzress. in the campaign epilogue she has led many drow to the surface (especially the children) and become the headmistress of her own school. later she would leave the school to take on her own personal pupils who would become her daughters and sons. after years of adapting having left behind her preconceptions about other races and genders. She grieves for every short lived race that passes before her but sees the happiness that their lives were for her and the world.
Drow keep rothe as livestock and have (screaming) fungus farms. They were in one of the earlier volumes in The War of the Spider Queen series. These books were amazing to get an insight into drow society and the workings of their cities. They also go hunting and are quite capable to read tracks when on the surface, since they are trained to do their raids
Wonderful presentation Mr Rhexx! Easy to see why Eillistraee is your Fave Goddess. What's not to adore? Beyond her own attractions and capabilities, I'm pleased that her fave weapon happens to be the Bastard Sword, (my own fave type sword, for many years). :)
My first dnd character is a drow paladin of Eilistraee, so it honestly warms my heart that this video was made. I love her so much and wish she was more well known. Also I didn’t know that paladins under her were so rare, so now I feel even more unique ☺️
a naked dancing drow where the priestess are also often nude or just chilling in transparent clothing.... I think I found my new religion XD also ngl the silver hair on dark skin is just beautiful in general but all jokes aside, love seeing a good drow goddess, could give me an excuse to play a drow, college of swords bard makes the most sense or the blade singer... but either way you have also given me a great idea for campaign I am currently co running...
Sadly, Bob doesn't use her because he doesn't like her, for some weird reason. I suggest reading FR books outside the Drizzt books. Starlight and Shadows trilogy by Elaine Cunningham is great for info on Eilistraee.
@@feylights166 He sees her as waifu wish fulfillment for lonely neckbeards which of course make up 90% of DnD's fanbass. She was created by Ed Greenwood who is Papa Neckbeard and RA has also hated his writing
Ah, then I nominate my waifu/husbando/? for discussion The traveler (Eberron, not whatever that crit role one is supposed to be) I just like them alot (: shame theres no videos about them on youtube :/
Don't forget Qilué Veladorn, chosen of Eilistraee and Mystra. During the Era of upheaval, the church of Eilistraee gained renewed stability with the foundation of the Promenade of the Dark Maiden which was led by Qilué.
Due to a challenge from a Ginny Di video, I made a Bard differently than usual. This Bard was a Drow Elven female, from a family of Lorists living in exile in the Upperdark, who grew up as an acrobat, dancer, and performer, becoming an academic, like her parents, and an expert in Religion, Arcana, and Acrobatics, which she parleyed into a career as an Eilistraen priestess. With Magical secrets yielding Cleric spells, she is just a slightly different version of a Bladesinger or Sword Dancer.
I now have an idea for a Half-Drow Ranger who was born from a dark lady of Eilistraee and a Human huntsman whom was struck with amnesia and nursed back to health by the good-natured-drow. (He later regained his memory, but not until after witnessing the good that Drow are capable of, firsthand) Born of the consensual union of a human & a drow, on the surface no less, this character would represent a rare glimpse at Eilistraee's desired future. (And he is an individual that Lolth would rather see dead than living to be seen by the Drow commonfolk of the Underdark) Aware of this, he hopes to one day use the skills taught to him by both his parents to better aid in Elistraee's just mission.
I love that there is a goddess dedicated to making drow break the cycle and live differently. Also it's a great asset to use for roleplay or even a template for good aligned drow players so they won't all be named Drizzt clones.
![D&D Deities Ranked By Power [Lesser & Intermediate Deities]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fs4dHqgGLWk/mqdefault.jpg)
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
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Cool
Wish i could but i am a broke 15 year-old kid
She's my favorite diety too! I made a blind drow druid that follows her and this is such a great video
Love the idea of this series. Do you have plans to continue with other gods like those of the Triton, Gnome & other race pantheons?
It's too bad she died in 5th edition. She was a cool goddess.
31 minutes of simping for a drow goddess, I can dig it.
I can't
We all simp for her
I'M ABOUT TO SIMP!!!
A naked drow goddess XD
I came for this.
Singing, dancing, music, feasting, swordplay, hunting, kindness, sword forging, and sheltering strangers... I just have to say that that is a strange portfolio and I dig it.
It all shares a connection. At her core, Eilistraee has one concept: overcoming your wounds (and in her backstory she has lost and struggled a lot) by taking all your pain, all your sadness, and using it to create beauty. Turning it into art, into empathy for others, into making the world a better place for all (kinda like Schopenhauer's philosophy).
From this stems searching for and healing the good in the broken. Reaching for the outcasts, the miserable, seeing the potential in them, and empowering them to fulfill themselves. Because untold beauty can stem from an awakaned soul. And this is what she does with the drow, not merely "redeeming" her. The world redemption doesn't appear even once in her original lore.
This is not just her goal, this is how she copes with her suffering--i.e. what she built herself around, and what drives herself to wake up every morning (or better, at every moonrise).
You might say that hunting and sword forging are weird, but they're not. They're part of how she teaches the drow how to survive in a world that is their home, but that has become hostile to them.
@@transient_moonlight I wasn't criticizing it or saying it can't be explained. Just that when you look at it on its own it is a rather odd list, particularly since spears are a better option for hunting than sword.
@@adambielen8996 Ah yeah, I see what you mean. What I was saying is that it all makes sense once you look at it from the perspective of how she built herself.
@@adambielen8996 "And now, our moonlit hunt shall commence once the ceremonial...oh. Wait a moment, everyone. Sister Niallia, what weapon is that?"
"It's a bardiche, Mother Ameryll."
"You know that Great Mother Eilistraee demands that we hunt with _swords,_ yes?"
"Well, think of my bardiche as a sword...with a short, curved blade, no quillons and a very, _very_ long hilt. Its blade even looks like a crescent moon! Totally Eilistraeen! See?"
"See here, Sister Niallia..."
"Mother Ameryll, I am _completely naked!_ Those minotaurs have huge muscles, long, pointy horns and nasty teeth! So I'd like to keep my little naked body as far away from those beastly horns and teeth as possible! And since ranged weapons are strictly forbidden, pole arms are the next best thing! So here's a bardiche, Mother! Take it or leave it."
"..."
"..."
"...fine. But after this hunt, we are going to have a long, serious talk in my office about this!"
"Yes, Mother."
And it is kinda hard to replicate into a character that follows her ideals of things you should know. They are an obvious Dex build but they use long swords just to spite us. You don’t gain enough proficiencies during vanilla character creation to be able to do everything a cleric should. For a player to follow her rituals is nice for players that miss sessions a lot but suck for players that come reliably. Also sunlight sensitivity sucks.
The one time I played a campaign where I played a drow, I chose a Cleric because the party needed a healer. Most of the party was chaotic natural or lawful evil. I wanted to play a good character just to piss the DM off, however, his reaction was the complete opposite of how I thought he would act. He smiled and told me that there was only one goddess that would align with my chaotic good character, this one. I was adamant about playing a male, so he told me to play as a crusader to save me some trouble. He took some rights as a DM to give me a break, so I had to dance for new spells, to earn them rather than be given them. The DC's were always increasing, so I poured a lot into the preform skill and eventually earned the goddess's respect. Later on, my party went to rob a dark god's temple on an epic campaign. We were between the levels of 18 and 20, and while they were beating Vhaeraun's Avatar, I used a True Wish I had been saving since the middle of the campaign. I stole Vhaeraun's divinity and killed him before becoming the new god of the night. My party members by now were mostly good characters, over the time spent freeing slaves, helping the innocent seek freedom, their alignment shifted. So I granted them each a single level in divinity, making them Demi-Gods. Later I attempted to woo Eilistraee with a dance and love confession. Rolled a Nat20, and since I was a god, she didn't have any natural resistance against that sort of thing. From that day forward, a moon could be found floating in the Underdark. A haven for those who worshiped the night and moon. We brought the light to the darkness. Favorite Campaign I ever played.
This is sick.
That’s awesome!
Amazing
Truly amazing. If you remember it in great detail you could legitimately write a book based around that...it definitely seems like a lore worthy tale. One of very few redemptions for the Drow. Who knows maybe submit it and we can see something in 6E 😁
That is honestly cool as hell. If you can remember it in detail, I'd definitely put some of it down on words like another said
Before I clicked on this I was like "If this isn't about Eilistraee I'm unsubbing on the spot." Wasn't disappointed.
**Sips Tea**
im subscribing just because he made the correct choice. Eilistraee is best girl!
Hi kirito
@@namekman01 waifu
THAT IS BS YOU DID NOT SAY THAT YOU LITTLE LIKE gremlin
Eilistraee is the most wholesome deity in the game. She's a loving mother, who wants to spread beauty in all things, and see her children back where she feels they belong.
I also love her view on violence: She prefers not to start a fight whenever possible, but if you push her, she'll damn well finish it.
Actually, I think Yondalla is the most wholesome goddess in D&D, but then anything related to Halflings is gonna be wholesome 😅
But Eilistraee is a close second!
That view on violence makes her canonically Canadian and I love it.
Eilistraee comes off a bit like a version of Slaanesh that never discovered heroin.
Lol, thats fucking great. Hahahahah
This comment should have more upvotes. Here, have another!
@@TheRequiem000000 """likes"""
Or Slaanesh then went to rehab.
@@khai96x Calling it now, Ynnead isn't going to actually kill Slaanesh when it manifests in full. It's just going to drag Slaanesh to rehab and keep it from escaping early.
There are like 6 different ways to pronounce Eilistraee so please don't hate on me
She is a good sort and will probably forgive you... 😉
As someone new to dnd, I was wondering if you could do gnolls, I haven’t seen them on your channel and the depth you go for your research is astounding, and I wouldn’t even know where to look
We're not hating, were straight up killing ya
Is Grimm Hollow compatible with Pathfinder, or is it just for DnD?
It's fine. Some people are uptight, and if they truly can't help being that way, then forgive them too. Otherwise, ignore the whiny people. They aren't allowed at our naked Drow parties. 😉
Honestly I always saw Eilistraee as the most bad ass god in FR. She has the guts to be "part" of the Dark Seldarine to help save her people. In a way she is fighting against all odds considering she is a lone good Dark Seldarine god. With her followers in the minority. It's... a pretty bad arse thing to do. To fight against such odds. All while keeping to her ideals.
Agreed, it's one of the coolest things about her. She could have had all she wanted from life--confort/luxury/safety-- as she was offered to retain her place in Arvandor in FR lore. However, she chose to give up all of that just to be one of her people. Even though she was but the equivalent of a late teenager, and had foreseen a path of hardships. That's a nice change from the selfish-god trope.
Adding to the fact that, since a god's power and ability to "grow" is strictly based around their followers, she took an almost suicidal path of having the fewest followers possible and the hardest to "convert" due to their strongest deity being directly opposed to her, and trying to wipe out any and all mention of her among their shared people. Definitely balls of steal on the sultry elven beauty!
@@pathwaystoadventure The only god I can imagine caring more for their followers than Eilistraee is Ilmater himself. She's a great example of a god actually caring for their people and ready to make sacrifices for them.
Why can't she fight with the good seldarine though. Doesn't make sense to me .
@@starsfalldown1234567 Simply put, she would be of no use to the Drow if she was in the pantheon worshipped by all elves except the Dark ones.
I was actually shocked to see Eilistraee as a god option for a Cleric in the new Baldur's Gate 3 game.
That's the first thing I've heard about the game that makes me want to play it
Boulders Gate is a hilarious autocorrect.
@@Soitisisit Nah, i just cant spell.
wait. WHAT!?!?!?!? NANI!?!?!? *leaves to buy baldur's gate 3.*
Welp, time to buy Baldur's Gate 3.
"good aligned drow goddess of music and beauty..."
...
*Looks at my lawful-good Drow Bard known for her music and her beauty*
Well shit. think i made a follower or a blessed soul of this goddess and didn't even know it.
Considering it seems that her name isn't spoke upon, it looks like the most realistic to happen.
Following divine inspiration without realising it is even at work. That's the beauty of it.
the origin story
I could argue that you could be a Mormon if you naturally followed many of our tenants. Just because you have values of one does not mean that you automatically become the other.
I did the same and my half-elf ain't even Drow. She and her party literally go around just... singing songs, building houses, saving kids, passing out food and money, helping refugees, etc. 😅🤷🏼♀️
I LOVE when that happens!
The fact they all get magic missile as a range attack "because they never miss" is one of the best work ins of a spell I've ever heard. So well done.
Not only is there magic missiles. But it is 100% a thing that you can get a good 171 pound high explosive firework rocket and enchanted it to home in on its target.
Yet we dragons still rule the skies. Think about that.
With respect.
@@rachdarastrix5251 The point was that the "never miss" part is perfect for Eilistraee's lore, since she refues to use a bow, despite being a terrific archer, because her mom (Lolth) once enchanted Corellon's scabbard to draw arrows to his chests, which resulted in one of Eilistraee's arrows (meant to save him) hitting him and nearly killing him during a battle. Since using a bow got Eilistraee to severely injuring her dad (Corellon, btw), fearing that her arrows could be once again misled to unintended targets by magic, she now uses magic missile for ranged attacks, because magic missiles never miss.
@@transient_moonlight A incredible story.
Hey tell me, do you know much about humans by any chance?
@@rachdarastrix5251 They are crazy monkeys you don't want to mess with too much. never underestimate.
as someone who's playing good-aligned Drow, I'm glad to see Elistraee getting some attention.
What is your build ?
@@svofoy_tre inquisitive rouge.
I already knew about Eilistraee, but hearing all this extra info with the beautiful music in the background is amazing. Thanks for making this vid
Do you happen to know what book it is with those spells from the Goddes in it? (@9:25)
@@stefanb8727 _Demihumn Deities_ , I think.
Honestly I could write alot of the reasons why Eilistraee is my go to goddess in D&D, but my favorit reason is: you could place a follower of Eilistraee into any Hobbit City and both sides would dig it.
This is a great joke... I dig it.
And now I have a reason the Drow Bard I'm playing has a thing for Halflings!
Drow: Would you be interested in joining our religion?
Other Drow: Well what's your religion?
(Shows pic of hot naked dancing Drow waifu.)
Other Drow: I'm interested.
Drow: But ... um ... don't you want to hear about our doctrine and stuff?
Other Drow: Nope. I'm in. Er ... can I keep the photo?
Flirt to convert?
My first character was actually a Drow (male) bladesinger who during the campaign became a follower of Eilistraee, changing from neutral to good. I still remember the moment my DM told me I was officially good. Nice video, what a pity Eilistraee is unknown.
How the hell did that happen? This is too good a story NOT to hear!
I second the previous reply. I would also like to hear the story, if you want to tell it.
Okay, first I´m not a good writer at all so I will apologize for that in advance.
Now, my character started as a neutral non-religious drow (still a bladesinger), after some time in the campaign I researched about the dark seldarine, just the sake of understanding better my character, I discover Eilistraee and I just fell in love with the ideology. I started changing little by little my character behavior. The final change took place when one of the most beloved NPC for the party died, at the beginning we didn´t know but it was due to the actions of one of the PJ (let's call PJ1), once other PJ (let´s call PJ2) and I discovered we were pretty pissed off. I was the first to talk to this PJ1 and tried to sympathy with her since she didn't know anything. When the other PJ2 arrived I went to receive him, he was really angry and wanted to reproach PJ1 for what she had done I stopped him and talk to avoid the worst scenario where the whole party splits up, I can´t remember the exact words but was something on the line of "We shouldn't blame on her since she only wanted some guidance", and because of that my DM said, "Okay you are Neutral Good now".
Obviously, the tension of the moment and the improvisation made everything more spectacular, but that's pretty much everything, probably it was more spectacular in your minds than what I have told 😂, but as said I'm not a good storyteller.
@@danielherreros3168
> probably it was more spectacular in your minds than what I have told
I did originally imagine it as more flashy and climactic, but I actually think that what you described is better. One might imagine an alignment shift as a big, dramatic moment, possibly where a character makes an important choice during a battle. But that isn't true to how people (usually) change in real life. In a way, I think it's more meaningful that an alignment shift to good would happen as a result of your words.
My first character was also a neutral good drow, a redemption paladin. I was definitely playing this character in the wrong type of campaign, though, so there are few happy stories to recount. Ironically, he was even risking becoming an oathbreaker, by the time the campaign unceremoniously fell apart.
I ran a half-drow bladesinger recently myself.
Ed Greenwood created her to be the mother figure of the dark elves that her mother, Lolth, isn't. It's too bad that everyone only knows of Drizzt as the only good-aligned drow when there are clearly more thanks to the Dark Maiden.
Pretty sure that the followers of Loth actively hunt them. So them remaining hidden and being fairly unknown is consistent with the lore.
Salvatore HATES Eilistraee, its my biggest problem with him. It's a shared world, at least an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT in the Drizzt books that they exist would be nice. FFS in the last 3 drizzt books there is a temple of Eilistree in Waterdeep's field ward, they could have come in handy during the events of those books!
I read the original Drizzt trilogy then skipped out on the rest and never looked back. I've never heard anything that makes me think I should regret this decision lol
@@ValkyrieTiara I only want to read them for Jarlaxle, cause I really like him and those kind of characters. I might just read the spinoff series he's the main character off though.
Right how aren't they married,,drizz been promoting her since he left,,
Eilistraee's clergy welcomes male priests now. The restriction was slowly relaxed in the 1300 DRs, and now they're an accepted part of the clergy.
But only if you’re a femboy /s
I was concerned about that. This came up for me and I really wanted to add her temple in to a player running an old sword sage from the older dnd. Glad to know this isn't gonna ruffle to much lore
@@cyberpunkalphamale Just like most Diversity and Inclusion, eh?
@@danielcunningham4339 I mean he did bring up that the majority of her worshippers are more spell casters than priests of the traditional sort. It makes sense the goddess prefers females to embody her image in the clergy kind of way but that doesn't mean someone can't imitate her with more minor divine blessings involved.
@@DemonKing19951 that's more what's happened this week, the temple is absolutely drow females worshiping her but her character wanted to hit the dervish class and it's been a lovely way to get her trained up.
I'm very flattered that you used my art. Thank you!
do you have a gallery anywhere? i cant seem to find one by searching your name :)
@@gardeford not one that is up to date or easily accessible. I suppose I should chang that. Thanks for asking!
@@paladinpariah325 i'd love to see more from you if you ever do get something together ^.^
yeah I ,loved a lot of the art would love to see more.
Your artworks great mate!
Eilistraee followers: Hello sir, do you have a moment to talk about our lady and saviour Eilistraee?
Me: YES!!!!!
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY OFFERINGS!!
And then they dance....
My Lawful Good gunslinger: ....Depends on whether she's as bad as the rest of you drow...
Chaotic Good Half-Orc: “Talking and dancing with swords-women? SIGN ME UP!”
Hahahahhahaha.
Anyone else think the new Twilight Domain from Tasha's would be PERFECT for a cleric of Eilistraee? She's not listed as one of the example deities, but the whole flavor of the subclass (protecting those who travel in darkness and all) is right up her alley.
Light and twilight seem perfert for her. It would be nice if life can be attributed to her and for her clerics to get moonbeam for free.
It wouldn’t be a perfect one, since some kind of swordsinging cleric would be best, but until that happens it is fine
Maybe modify a bit, that to her followers doesn't make a "twilight" aura, but a bright full moon-like light (the effect would be the same, just the appearance change to be more fitting to the goddess)?
I'm currently playing a Twilight cleric of Eilistraee. A half drow half moon elf Male cleric at that as the rule against males in the clergy of her church has actually been lifted. I made him half moon elf to create a character foal to another half drow but full blooded elf in the party but of evil alignment. Mine is chaotic good, taking more after his moon elven heritage, the other is neutral evil taking after her drow parent. For flavor text, I sing all my spells with any Symantec components being little dances. I was also allowed to swap my melee weapon to a sword it's gotten to the point that if they want to distinguish between the elves in our party without using names they just call my charater who very much looks like a drow 'the moon elf' much to the confusion of anyone outside the party especially when he answers to it like it's just the most normal thing in the world.
This goddess is just so wholesome, and I'm so disappointed to myself for not knowing her before... Thank you so much for talking about her :D
And she is a DROW goddess, the race know for evil spiders and torture
@@SpectralKnight Yeah, she's pretty much outstanding in that context!
"as long as you sing for 3 round straight"
to people that don't know, a round is 6 seconds.
a 300 gold diamond is worth 18 seconds of singing.
and just because i wanted to do the math for the wage.
16.6... gold/sec
1,000 gold/min
60,000 gold/hour
if a copper is a penny
a silver is a dime
and gold is a dollar
a drow singer of Eilistraee makes $60,000 dollars an hour by singing.
Considering what I know about the way prices work in D&D - I'm almost positive that a single gold is worth more than one dollar.
It's probably closer to $300,000 dollars an hour.
@@bleachbleachBLEACHER The rough scale I use to gauge if a gold amount is reasonable is that 1 copper = 1 dollar. This means that 1 gold = $100, or that the singer of Eillistraee makes about 6 million dollars an hour. Not a bad gig. The catch is that you can only reproduce spell effects this way, and Revivify is probably one of the more expensive spells. You could probably revive an entire town in an hour or so, if it wasn't for the fact that Revivify had a very strict time limit from when the person died. If it were Raise Dead, then you'd be golden, but Revivify just isn't a good money maker.
Micheal Jackson was once paid 17 million US dollars for one concert so that seems reasonable. =)
A gold it's more around 100$
@@Greywander87 If I copper is a Dollar, how is 1 gold 100 dollars? wouldn't it be 10?
I did a bit of a twist for my character.
Mine was a male drow who had escaped the Underdark and death - a divine soul sorcerer who had been blessed by an unknown goddess many years earlier, during the worst moments of his life. His journey and motivation was meant to find out who his mystery goddess was during his adventure and ultimately find her. As soon as I learned about Eilistraee I knew she had to be the goddess who blessed him.
It’s sources like this that really helped me refine this story so thanks so much to the content creator :)
Don’t mind if I yoink this character concept.
Oh hell yeah! She is my favorite as well. Genuinely a really nice goddess, who really cares about followers, and I have to admire how she fights to save the drow, a people everyone else seems to have abandoned. I have a soft spot for people who keep fighting despite the odds being against them. I have also allways been rather fund of the moon, and hunting and swordfighting is nice too. Not really a dancer though, but I do like watching it, and of course I like music like everyone else.
Btw, the light domain is a suggested domain for her clerics. A light domain cleric that throws silver colored fireballs and blast her enemeis with divine moonlight. Yeah, I wanna play that.
Really fitting too, since Eilistraee do manifests silver colored fire at times, as mentioned in the video.
Ah. I see you're a man of culture. 😎
I'm actually running a light cleric of Eilistraee right now, it's been great.
The drow deserve their reputation, especially with a fucked up pantheon like that.
Drow Light Cleric of Eilistraee, I love playing him
Eilistraee needs more love in the Forgotten Realms.
I made her the main deity for the drow kingdom in my homebrew game.
The kingdom is in a place which my player dubbed "magical Chernobyl" and the surface living drows are fighting off demons, aborations and more to keep the rest of the continent save.
Literally 3 minutes in, I envisioned the Moonlight Greatsword-like Bastard Sword with a Drow Cleric of Light in service to Eilistraee. 5 minutes in, and...
_I remember that night. I remember when that silver radiance beheld such beauty before me._
_I remember the chains as they changed and clacked around me legs and hands. That night, my master had shown me to a new library for her studies, and I'd grown curious. Too curious, I used to think. I found a tome, hidden in dark recesses blocked by chain links, and the book told me of a hidden guide. Most my life, I feared our gods for their repulsive evils and disgusting minions. But her, she filled me with life. Merely an illustration made me feel free, til my master struck me for finding it._
_That night, my cuffs were unlocked in my bed. A voice rang out in my ear "Run, my dear. Quickly!" I take my harp with me and go out the window. Like a rabbit under pursuit by a fox, I ran for a nearby tunnel, the sounds of my former master calling the guards. The clanking of plated boots grew closer, and I ran ever faster; nearly tripping on the pebbles. I reached the surface; a full moon greeted me over a large pond. They came running, swords and crossbows drawn, and I was nearly done for. Suddenly, the light of the moon shone brilliantly on the entrance, and the rocks collapsed. A stream of blood came from the collapse. A voice came to me in the silence:_
"I've helped you, as I wish to help my people. I ask you: will you help them as I have helped you?"
_When I turned, I saw her. She was a beauty unmatched, with her silver hair coiling and flowing around her. A silver bastard sword in her hand, and a kind face too alien to what Drow I've known. I dropped to my knees and swore my life to her, the Goddess that saved me, the Goddess that emboldened me, my Goddess Eilistraee._
Topless female elven cleric + flute + Darude sandstorm = profit
*holds a Eilistraee body pillow* I see nothing wrong with this
topless female drow + flute + Arin Hansons rendition of derude sandstorm = mortgage payment
@@Xansion8642 "Hey Eilistraee how does Sandstorm go?"
*"DEH DODODODODO!"*
Dha fuque? I do like all these things on their own... but Eili + Darude Sandstorm???? Wtf?!!!?!!?! That just doesn't fit at all imo...
A dark elf with white hair and is usually naked?
Say no more, where do I sign?
One that doesn't want to literally whip you to death then resurrect you to do it again? Talk about added bonus lol
Most drow have white hair but yeah
Really?
Sure, sign here i.imgur.com/eGfdKkN_d.webp?maxwidth=728&fidelity=grand
@@tomc.5704 yousoonofaaabiiiiiiiitch!
Lol
I do find it rather ironic how the most good hearted deity came from one of the world’s darkest cultures. It makes me wonder how easy it might be for other creatures to stray from their kind’s typical alignments. That sort of flexibility on the highest level of being opens up quite a bit of roleplay potential for other creatures. Funny enough, that’s the message that Eilistraee is deliberately trying to spread: everyone should have a chance to follow the light, no matter how dark one’s upbringing might be.
All the more reason she is my favorite.
Eilistraee had her own culture/nation before Lolth's cult was even relevant on Toril. The sun elves magic-nuked it. She still has her own culture, but--obviously--not her own nation.
I would love to play a half-drow damhire and they would be a blade dancer.
The drow "this is fine" meme killed me, instantly looked it up and shared it with my D&D group who are about to play in a homebrew underdark setting
i actually read somewhere that she *initially* only accepted female clergy but eventually she started accepting men as well
@The Wolfman Smith Well the situation would be slightly different, even if you couldn't be a cleric or paladin as a male she would have given you both freedom and the ability to choose what you would do, you wouldn't be a slave to her nor anyone else, and if you chose to worship her that was a choice you made not something forced onto you.
I've been doing a lot of research recently on the Dark Maiden as I am making a character for a campaign I am about to do with my friends (5e). I wanted to have the character to be a male, so I've been scouring the internet looking to see whether or not I could have the cleric or paladin (as I am currently undecided) be male. The conclusion I have reached is that in her quest to reach drow and give them freedom from the grasps of Lolth and the terrors and stuff they face in the underdark, she as well as her clergy are an exception to normal drow culture, including in the way of males no longer being inferior to females. Most people I find agree with this idea, and so I think it is reasonable for the clergy of Eilistraee to include males as equals to females, at least for 5th edition. Please let me know if you find this to be true or not!
It would make sense, since that would go completely opposite of the teachings of Lolth. Just another way to show the acceptance and truths she offers
The male member of the clergy has at least once to go through a ritual of theirs which turns them into females. This change of gender they will have to live in for at least a month, but there are also a few cases in which some of the male clergy actually decide to stay as female as it makes them feel closer to understand and look more like their goddess
wasnt that in teh "divine opposites" story? The story features male dancers, even if for just a few paragraphs
I've always imagined regular elves having a posh british accent and dark elves having an Australian accent...because their from...down unda
We call it Elderscrolls, at least Skyrim.
Most Dark Elves has deep voice, like smoker voice.
Wait I’m a drow
@@thetriplejjj0177 You probably just smoke too much, but would be nice : )
@@JJDRAGO smoke! what I’m Aussie so that makes me a drow
I’m the most anti smoking person I now
So apparently thats all undercommon is?
1st: Drow "Maaaaaaaaaaate!"
2nd Drow "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate!"
Observer from the surface "What a curious lanuage"
Don't mind me, just stealing *cough cough* borrowing some ideas for my homebrew campaign
Steal from the best, invent the rest. That’s my dming philosophy
Same though lol
I have a drow character planned up for a future campaign and when I found out about this goddess, I wanted to know more lol
Lol you too?
I'm thinking bout blending aspects of her and Selune to make my goddess of the moon and night. The Silver Queen of Night
No judgement here, I watched his video on 12th level spells and ended up with Karsus as the BBEG of my current campaign
My friend sent this to me. I play a drow bard who loves astronomy and currently has a magic sword that he uses when spells don't work. I love him so much and as he is trying to make a life for himself on the surface world, this is the perfect goddess for him. I need to talk to my DM to see if my bard can find out about and then begin worshiping Eilistrae
he sounds wonderful :)
Go for it. Perhaps take a level of Favored Soul Sorcerer to open up your spellcasting options. Like casting spells from the Cleric list : Healing Word, Cure Wounds, Bless, etc.
The ' Favored of the Gods ' bonus ability is always usefull. Adding 2d4 to an attack or save roll once per short rest.
**Drizzt prays to Mielikki**
Eilistraee : "Am I a joke to you?"
That always made me wonder too.
I have the author said at one point that he didn't like eilistraee, being a catch 20 and all
did he even knows about her ? even for the Drows she's mostly a secret
@@kira68200 He knows, he just doesn't follow her. A drow being good aligned alone doesn't mean they need to follow Eilistraee or that they automatically suit each other.
@@00rasen I know, throuh even if he doesn't follow her, Eillistraee probably look over him from time to time, simply because he is is most part an exemple of what Eillistraee want the drow to be
Eilistraee: "Come live up here in the light." Drow: "Thanks Eilistraee these sunburns are great and I can't see anything because it is too bright. I hear that moon god has better health insurance!"
What drow can really use is dark glasses.
@@ГригорийГ-ч4н someone needs to find out the construction process behind the Knave's Eye Patch
Not any worse then Lloth especially if your male. I'd very much rather have a sunburn then be a slave to some sadistic lady. That's just me though you do you.
Hey,come to think of it,vampires burn in the sunlight too,and they may even be reduced to a pile of ash by the Sun,so Drows should be thankful they suffer in sunlight,but don't get sundered to ashes.
She is a moon goddess so just come out at night. It should be a lot kinder to your eyes and skin.
The Virgin Subterranean Drow: Lolth
VS
The Chad Surface Drow: Elistraee
Virgin, lolth is NOT....
Even on the surface, Vaeraun definitely a better God than the naked prancing hippie.
Elistraee and her brother are Lolth's children. Do the math....
@@melissawardjohns220 Lolth isn't a drow though, she's a demon. Firstly it's a meme format, secondly Most surface Drow worship Elistraee while the Subterranean Drow obviously worship Lolth in majority.
"Virgin" implies less desirable
"Chad" implies desirable.
Sadly had to explain a meme :(
@@melissawardjohns220 search up the Virgin Gnome vs Chad Kobold
Thank god.... someone finally has created a good, comprehensive video not just about Eilistraee, but actually how to worship her and follow her faith. I would have loved to have found this video 6 years ago lmao
"Vhaeraun ... quite a popular one."
*Me, struggling to find any information, art or lore on him besides the FR wiki.*
Genuinely, I think he seems like a very interesting character, and I'd love to understand more of his motives. Since, apparently, his followers actually claim he is one of the more involved gods around. He answers a lot of prayers personally, joins them in combat and actually seems to value their souls, as he refuses to use them as bargaining chips. Even in death, he allows his followers to keep their memories and physical abilities, and brings them back as Vhaeraths - shadowy warriors gifted in stealth. And unlike his fellow deities, he actually encourages gender equality.
Yet both the Seldarine *and* the Dark Seldarine despise him. I wish I knew what motivated Vhaeraun and what his plans are, since clearly making allies is a rare occurrence... I have a morally grey Vhaerath NPC that I'd love to flesh out, but I don't have the time to read all the novels for lore bits...
Wow, that sounds pretty cool. I’ve got to look into him
Eiliastraee and Vhaeraun are apparently on pretty decent terms despite their differences. Lolth most likely hates him because she's possessive like that, more followers for him means less puppets for her to play with. Not sure about the other drow gods tho.
Demihuman Deities, and the great novel Evermeet: Island of Elves by Elaine Cunningham will give you info on Vhaeraun. When Lolth turned against the Seldarine, she persuaded Vhaeraun to help her, but they later became enemies.
Gotta get pre-WOTC for that sort of detail.
Vhaeraun participated in Lolth's plot to overthrow the Seldarine, so there's their end. He seeks to overthrow Lolth's system, so there's her end. Before the end of the Second Sundering he and Eilistraee were mortal foes, as Eilistraee sought to have the Drow become good-aligned citizens of the surface again, whereas Vhaeraun still shares the supremacist views of his mother. The other Dark Seldarine I can only presume reasons such as competition for followers.
dude, you made me fall in love with her. im going to build a campaign on it now, thank you for the inspiration
Definitely sounds like a deity worth worshiping and spreading the word of. Creativity, vibrancy and variety of life, freedom of expression, merriment and comradery, and helping others who need it while smiting those who earn it
I first came across this goddess in 2nd ed and loved her lore that she voluntarily chose exile from her father and the seldarine to go with the drow and her mother araushnee in order to be a beacon of hope for the drow in the future and eilistraee has been my favourite goddess ever since.
At 13:24 the artist is yOshimura. If you could credit him, as he is amazing artist, it’d be most appreciated. Since you have such a following it would be good for people to know his name. :) thank you
He did actually good catch
is there a link to find more of his work?im having a hard time finding him, unless he really is the Tokyo Ghoul mangaka and im looking for something not there
I LOVE Eilistraee. I actually played a bard who was a human that had unknown Drow lineage, and later on she became a cleric of Elistraee. She also had an older sister who was a bard/paladin (her family were all traveling performers) of her as well. Sadly my character die fighting a tanaruk with her girlfriend before I could really get into the deeper lore of both Eilistraee, and the mystery of my bard's family.
As someone who just started a Drow Cleric of Eilistraee, I and The Dark Maiden approve this message. Walk with the Twilight, MrRhexx
That was beautiful. I remember once choosing her as the deity for one of my characters forever ago, when very new to roleplaying games, based on a very brief summary I'd had access to, but man... this resonated all the more & was very personally deeply moving to me. Thanks.
This made me so happy. Eilistraee is my favorite diety in the D&D Pantheon, and the campaign I'm running features her followers quite heavily, both at the Forest Temple & Promenade in/below Waterdeep, and via an NPC that the party befriended very early in the campaign. It actually went so far that the party's rogue decided to pursue the Herald subclass, dedicated to Eilistraee, despite being a Halfling, because she felt that Eilistraee best aligned with her character's philosophy and outlook.
I love being this early and Elistraee is easily one of my favorites as well so I'm here for it
Sounds like maybe parts of Matt Mercer's inspiration for the Moonweaver
I knew this was going to be a good video when I recognized mAh gurl Eilistraee from the Thumbnail
I'm currently in an Out of the Abyss campaign as a drow bard who's receiving visions from Eilistraee and this video is going straight to my DM
Please inform us if anything awesome happens. I'd love to know.
I would have loved to hear more about the relationship between Eilistraee and Vhaeraun, especially how it actually matured through all the history and turmoil of drow history.
Ed Greenwood had a lot of lore for it. Sadly WotC decided to retcon Vhaeraun into Lolth's bodyguard for 5e and to throw all that lore out of the window.
@@transient_moonlight I'll keep the lore alive in my D&D world... because ain't no way I'm letting a spider beat me...
@@Desiremademanifest Well, it would be a corporate beating you, not a spider. But I support the sentiment.
@@transient_moonlight which is wierd since she already had a bodyguard in the form of Selvetarm
@@BlackLotus30 WotC: "Hey, we stand for nuanced portrayal of the drow!"
Also WotC: "let's make sure every drow culture is reduced into irrelevance, or is turned in just another aspect of the Lolthite faith, while doing the same with their gods. Also, let's put pur "this is racist" stamp on older books that actually give some emphasis to variant drow cultures and faiths, while we proceed to dedicate all the pagecount to describe how evil and monolithic the drow are."
Smh...
Been messing around with dnd and never really gottwn to do a full campaign.
My first venture into dnd wasn't even dnd, but rather it was basically vocal roleplaying. No character sheets or anything. the only thing that related to dnd is that when I was making my character, I looked up dnd races. Being an edgy kid I made a drow assassin.
Years have passed, and my friend who did this roleplay is now running a 5e campaign version of this roleplay. So, i brought back this drow character named Ikza.
Ikza's been through many renditions, especially after I watched this video for the first time I reworked it to include Eilistraee.
Now I'm here, doing my first full campaign, which is a remake of my first ever roleplay, rewriting Ikza's backstory again into what I conaider to be it's final and best version. And this video is probably the biggest inspiration for that.
I thank you for sharing your love for this character and her backstory. The way this puzzle piece fits in my dnd experience is just wild.
This video just solved my current D&D problem. I have been trying to figure out how to write a plot for one of my Game's PCs who is a Drow Warlock. With this information now i might actually be able to write a fun and lore friendly story for my player.
I definitely need to hear all about this, cuz I've been trying to make a Drow Warlock, I wanna hear how you're going about it for inspiration 🥺
An Ancient Oath Paladin also works well for this. I know because making one is how I stumbled upon the dark dancer. Dex, Charisma, protective auras- a lot of melee casting and healing. Paladins don’t have to be heavy armor anymore. The oath works well with her teachings.
you actually dont need to be female to be a part of the clergy anymore, nor a drow. though i suppose it depends on the time in which your campaign is set. currently she accepts any sex and race into her clergy, its still dominated my females, but male preists and paladins arent particularly rare.
I was really surprised when I first stumbled upon her about a year ago. A good Drow Goddess? But I really liked her.
Then I saw this Video, the title, and the thumbnail, and was like: skin and eyecolor? This has to be a drow. Best Goddess? Gotta be Eilistraee.
And was not disappointed.
And I appreciate her even more now. I mean, going willingly into eternal exile to help a whole people? I can respect that.
Wish there was more info on her in the books (like Mordenkainens).
Also, a cleric sworddancer subclass would be great. Would be a nice change.
Also, her Songs would be nice to know, too. That's the kind of flavouring I think some of the deities could use for their clerics, apart from domain.
Like, I totally think, that clerics of Sune should get prestidigitation as "domain" spell. Her description says, her clerics have to always look clean and pretty, so prestidigitation would make sense.
But I digress.
Anyway, thank you for, once again, making a great Video.
I really like the emphasis on how different the under dark and the surface are, to the point of the way you hunt things and the way you have to farm compared to growing fungus.
I played a male human fighter of ellistraee. His wife was a devote follower was slain by a dragon. Since their souls got get reincarnated, she gave my character her soul in the form of a double ended sword. (Intelligent weapon) because of this, he was able to talk to his wife everyday and so he devoted himself to the goddess as thanks.
Woo, my favorite goddess getting recognition!
Ah. I see you are a man of culture
Its good to meet so many people of quality here.
Neverwinter Nights: Hoards of the Underdark memories ahoy!
Ah, Nathyrra and the Seer had so many cool things to share about Eilistraee!
Every campaign I make she's in there being cool and doin' stuff.
She was an easy fictional crush when I was in high school, but she's got so many dope qualities!
Made a Drow paladin of Eilistraee a few years back, still one of my favorite characters I've ever played!
What I find amusing is that the more I learn about D&D the more I realize just how much World of Warcraft has stolen from their lore and characters.
They stole from warhammer and lotr as well
@@nurgle333 Ehhh is it really theft when the entirety of fantasy is directly based in LOTR? Tolkien invented the genre in every way that matters. Hell D&D itself is just a way to play LOTR according to Gyagax.
@@michaelhowze8198 that's too much credit to Tolkein. Tolkein himself ripped off Shakespear, other Romantics, celtic mythology, norse and greek in the extreme himself. In Blizzard's case though, it really is a hard ripoff that's all they've ever done honestly. There's a little difference in homage, and "I can't believe they haven't been sued over it" which is where Blizzard really sits.
D&d is better. Beholders, Tieflings, the outer planes, Mythalars, the Orbs of Dragonkind. It is ALL folklore and mythologies in one.
Also, Tharizdun.
Nuff said.
@@michaelhowze8198 Gygax said he made D&D to play Conan the barbarian
I think we enjoy her for the same reasons - redemption and compassion are beautiful. And while most good stories involve mortal conflict (your average D&D game, or the Odyssey), this was a good example of a conflict transcending mortals (but involving a divine entity that gave up a lot to protect them when she didn't have to.) She's easily my favorite in D&D for that reason.
I know everyone knows Drizzt but another really good trilogy about a drow is Daughter of the drow. The main character is by far my favorite drow character and i have read all of Drizzts books. It even has Eilistraee and followers in them.
RA Salvatore is known to pick in non-Lolth gods completely ignoring their existance. The recent WotC announcement have raised a great outrage as they try to erase the great communities and gods from lore.
And yes, Liriel is great :D
I have a former drow cleric turned aasimar cleric of Eilistraee from when she returned to life and joined with the magic goddess in my dnd group and I really do love this goddess much more than I have any other deity in the dnd worldbuild
A made a setting for my campaign where there was a continent trapped in a demi plane. The Drow there ended up all being converted to Eilistraee and building a society alongside the Dwarves in the mountains and underdark.
She is literally one of the goddesses that I know about so it's really cool that my favorite dnd youtuber made a video about her for no reason
...****... I met her in an isekai campaign. I was a paladin and I met her when I ended up alone, and the rest of the party was captured. She cheered my character up and protected him while he slept and went to save the party.
So the 80s D&D cartoon?
Eilistraee is actually one of my favorites, too. I have her as a central influence for some drow plots and even a drow PC of mine.
Eilistraee has always been my favorite, too...good to see other D&D nerds showing her appreciation. 💖
I actually had fun with a human who was a follower of this Goddess.
Worked with my dm, we had that my human was found by a blade dancer as a young child, alone after her family's farm was attacked and everyone killed by bandits.
She was raised by this dancer. Pretty much becoming her child. She loved to paint, to sing, and she danced with two swords, the swish of which would sound like song and her laughter like bells.
Then one day the aging drow dancer got sick, and she heard the voice of her goddess.
my little human helped to carry her to the field, helped her to dance until her goddess came.
And she grieved even as she watched tge beauty of the goddess with the woman who had become her Mother.
Then, she was gone and my girl could only scream her grief. Until a silver light touched her, letting her feel the touch of her mother and hear her song.
She left, carrying her Mother's sword and her hair long and silver as the glowing moon.
The dm added the last touch. lol I wanted to play a redhead, but damn, that was such a beautiful scene I had to go with it.
This is easily one of my top five favorite videos from you. If I didn’t suck so much at writing plot and characters I’d love to run a whole campaign based around helping at least some Drow escape and find a new life along side the Goddesses Singing Swords
Oh my godess, Shes my favorite too! I'm so glad to hear you also appreciate Elistraee. The drow are so fascinating and I think it's awesome they have at least one benevolent deity looking out for them. Praise be to our lady of the night!
Now I want to play an Eilistraee cleric. There is a lot of depth behind her story that could be quite interesting.
YES!! My favorite D&D deity since 2nd ed. My longest running pc is a drow bard/bladedancer (male) follower of her, who is actually a sort of Chosen of hers. He has a very dark backstory, and he is both a gifted musician and dancer, who uses his dancing as a form of combat.
Can you imagine killing someone with a "Yo mama" joke?
You don't have to. Vicious Mockery has done it too often.
The Bards have you covered.
In my D&D setting Eilistraee has the shape of a moth, and the moth godess are worshipped by a sect that has been exiled from the Drow Triarchy, and now live in some of the slums on some human dominated planets.
I have a 30th lvl charecter who's a king. My capital has an under city built in that I placed for good Drow refugees. After a war I won against them a few years back. I even had special glasses and clothes commissioned for them. So they could move about and work during the day comfortably.
Oh the war was against evil drow bit good. The refugees were enslaved good drow that I freed when i sacked the capital
I fell in love with this goddes when, for a oneshot, my boyfriend and I were making a scenario. It was a race of dark elves that, at some point, split off as a rebel group from a normal dark elven settlement in the underdark. Their greatest mages then created an orb to protect them from sieges and attacks from the dark elves they fled from. We also wanted to implement a light mechanic with the orb (as it created shadows out of all people trying to siege the city when it was activated and purged them when it was deactivated again. And with light being a weakness of shadows, the goddes blessed the light to be non-harmful to the dark elves living there, leaving a sort of giant, fake sun above the town's central square. It was so fun working with that goddes as a patron and a clergy that preached her word. It offers such a fun way for good and neutral drow to actually exist.
I love the Dark Elf pantheon. Baldur's Gate 3 recently came out, and naturally I went with my go-to Drow character. It was neat to be able to choose from Lloth-chosen or followers of Eilistraee, maybe in the future we'll see other variants for Vhaeraun and Ghaunadaur.
She is the nest most selfless goddess. Wish she had more stories.
I love everything drow related, thank you for making this
Eilistraee is a big thing in my campaign.
This is great! I once played a guest character in a long campaign, She was a drow cleric who worshipped Lolth. She was Lawful neutral and followed her own perception of fairness. which means equal returns, 'someone helps me, I help them, someone hurts me, I will make them suffer'. At some point she met a novice who loved music and dance, she tried to turn her to Lolths side properly but she was untamable. At some point she gets the instructions to kill her student for Lolth but she can't. She throws away the blade and runs away with her and some other unhappy folks from the city (male drow and some other outcasts). when she breaches the surface she dreams of Lolth and has to cut out her holy symbol from her outfit (which was located on her sternum) lots of saving throws later she's free of Lolth but no longer has any cleric magic (being level 16 ish at this point). In a dream later she meets Eilistraee who invites her to jump in a moonlit lake with her. She does and is embraced by Eilistraee for leaving Lolth and embracing her pupil as her daughter (her pupil being a chosen of Eilistraee for being a bard that loves too much) She wakes up changed (from trickery domain as Lolth cleric to now Twilight domain Eilistraee cleric) and is ready to face of against an evil lich that has cursed her people to die without the faerzress. in the campaign epilogue she has led many drow to the surface (especially the children) and become the headmistress of her own school. later she would leave the school to take on her own personal pupils who would become her daughters and sons. after years of adapting having left behind her preconceptions about other races and genders. She grieves for every short lived race that passes before her but sees the happiness that their lives were for her and the world.
Drow keep rothe as livestock and have (screaming) fungus farms. They were in one of the earlier volumes in The War of the Spider Queen series.
These books were amazing to get an insight into drow society and the workings of their cities.
They also go hunting and are quite capable to read tracks when on the surface, since they are trained to do their raids
MrRexx same here. My favorite god/goddess for all time. Even on my one of the first DMing attempt (15 years ago) the main plot was around her.
Wonderful presentation Mr Rhexx!
Easy to see why Eillistraee is your Fave Goddess. What's not to adore? Beyond her own attractions and capabilities, I'm pleased that her fave weapon happens to be the Bastard Sword, (my own fave type sword, for many years). :)
My first dnd character is a drow paladin of Eilistraee, so it honestly warms my heart that this video was made. I love her so much and wish she was more well known. Also I didn’t know that paladins under her were so rare, so now I feel even more unique ☺️
a naked dancing drow where the priestess are also often nude or just chilling in transparent clothing.... I think I found my new religion XD
also ngl the silver hair on dark skin is just beautiful in general but all jokes aside, love seeing a good drow goddess, could give me an excuse to play a drow, college of swords bard makes the most sense or the blade singer... but either way you have also given me a great idea for campaign I am currently co running...
Alright lads time to bring out the twilight cleric/bladesinger wizards
Eilistraee is by far my favorite deity in D&D! So glad to see a video about her!
I’ve read most the Drizzt Do’Urden books and haven’t heard of her. Love to know that she exists.
RAS has stated that he dislikes her and will never use her in his books.
Sadly, Bob doesn't use her because he doesn't like her, for some weird reason. I suggest reading FR books outside the Drizzt books. Starlight and Shadows trilogy by Elaine Cunningham is great for info on Eilistraee.
@@feylights166 Maybe the blackface has something to do with it.
@@SodaPopBarbecue I doubt it, otherwise he wouldn't be writing about drow at all. He just has a weird thing against her.
@@feylights166 He sees her as waifu wish fulfillment for lonely neckbeards which of course make up 90% of DnD's fanbass. She was created by Ed Greenwood who is Papa Neckbeard and RA has also hated his writing
Me, Looking at thumbnail. "Oh, this looks like it's about Elistraee
Less than a minute into the video "Not the most known."
Me: ... Yeah I'm a nerd.
"The Best Goddess", are we talking waifus now?
Yes
Ah, then I nominate my waifu/husbando/? for discussion
The traveler (Eberron, not whatever that crit role one is supposed to be)
I just like them alot (:
shame theres no videos about them on youtube :/
@@nuclearcatpotatoe3714 my heart is a temple to Ehlonna
@@MadAtreides1 please ilmater is the best godly boy
We all know who the worst Goddess is outside of DnD. You could even call her _Useless_
Don't forget Qilué Veladorn, chosen of Eilistraee and Mystra. During the Era of upheaval, the church of Eilistraee gained renewed stability with the foundation of the Promenade of the Dark Maiden which was led by Qilué.
Not many gods or goddesses will share a chosen one.
Due to a challenge from a Ginny Di video, I made a Bard differently than usual. This Bard was a Drow Elven female, from a family of Lorists living in exile in the Upperdark, who grew up as an acrobat, dancer, and performer, becoming an academic, like her parents, and an expert in Religion, Arcana, and Acrobatics, which she parleyed into a career as an Eilistraen priestess. With Magical secrets yielding Cleric spells, she is just a slightly different version of a Bladesinger or Sword Dancer.
I now have an idea for a Half-Drow Ranger who was born from a dark lady of Eilistraee and a Human huntsman whom was struck with amnesia and nursed back to health by the good-natured-drow. (He later regained his memory, but not until after witnessing the good that Drow are capable of, firsthand)
Born of the consensual union of a human & a drow, on the surface no less, this character would represent a rare glimpse at Eilistraee's desired future. (And he is an individual that Lolth would rather see dead than living to be seen by the Drow commonfolk of the Underdark)
Aware of this, he hopes to one day use the skills taught to him by both his parents to better aid in Elistraee's just mission.
I love that there is a goddess dedicated to making drow break the cycle and live differently. Also it's a great asset to use for roleplay or even a template for good aligned drow players so they won't all be named Drizzt clones.