This is part seven of a multi-part series exploring how I, Lise, see the drow of D&D. For more info, see part 1’s introduction. Also worth reading is the post where this all started: “On making the drow less problematic.”
Additional note: currently I only have use of one arm due to an injury. Thankfully I wrote a lot of these ahead of time. Please excuse any infelicities that may result.
- Introduction + the banality of evil and social Darwinism
- The law of “don’t get caught”
- The ultimate in “guess” culture
- Chosen ones
- Connoisseurs of sensual pleasures
- Sexual orientation
- Gender identity and trans-ness
- Yes, heat vision (you are here)
- Drow language
- Consent in the matriarchy
- No one is born knowing their society is fucked
- Etc etc
Yes, heat vision
In their original formulation, the drow had infravision, i.e. they saw into the infrared spectrum and saw heat as color.
In 5e, this complexity has been completely erased; the drow now have darkvision (same as all elves), and it is described thusly:
If you have Darkvision, you can see in Dim Light within a specified range as if it were Bright Light and in Darkness within that range as if it were Dim Light. You discern colors in that Darkness only as shades of gray.
D&D 5e Free Rules
This is the kind of mechanical simplification that keeps being made with newer editions of D&D. And I get it. You want it balanced and not disruptive. We’ve all heard the “chorus of ‘but I have darkvision'” jokes.
But from a lore standpoint, it’s disappointing.
(Though I’m not convinced this is actually balancing! Put a 5e Gloom Stalker ranger in the Underdark and their “always invisible in darkvision” becomes a superpower. We actually had to house-rule this in my drow intrigue game, where the DM said, “yeah, no, that’s too powerful. Infravision ≠ darkvision, therefore they can still be seen in infravision”).
One of the first things that ever caught my eye about the alien-ness of the drow is infravision. In Homeland, in the description of Do’Urden’s attack on House DeVir , the attackers used ice armor to make themselves invisible in infravision. How cool is that?
(And as we all learned in my post about why I love TES, I LIVE for cultures that are truly alien, and not just “fantasy [real-life culture]”)
I use it in my Fel’rekt fic to good effect, when he is trying to hide against a hot fireplace in a cold kitchen, and his speeding heartbeat betrays him.
The door closed behind [Jarlaxle’s] back with a clack. He indeed was in a kitchen, narrow and long. The light from the hallway’s time-sconces didn’t penetrate far, but in infravision he could see the heat of a cooling hearth at the back of the room.
Blending into it was a humanoid shape, their back to the fireplace. Nearly, but not quite — the figure was slightly warmer and brighter than the stones.
As if the hearth was cooling even while a nervous heartbeat sped out of its owner’s control.
“What Do You Hear In These Sounds,” chapter 1
So, my drow have infravision; their world of perpetual darkness is rendered in vibrant color.
This also ties in well with the drow sign language that is mentioned elsewhere in canon (and is also totally ignored in 5e mechanics). Imagine how complex that sign language can be when you can use the temperature of someone’s hands as cues:
He gave his own languid smile, continuing to trace the vein in her palm. “Your blood, branching into your hand like a vein of silver.”
“I’m amazed you can see that fine level of detail.”
“Now you know why we have an entire language of hand signs.”
Bright Future, chapter 15, “Siltrin.”
Next time, let’s talk about the drow language: or, why they desperately need a linguist to look this shit over.
