Physiology
Weight and Height: Females are usually bigger and stronger, averaging height from 4'11" to 5'7" and weigh from 103 - 140 lbs. Males range from 4'2" to 5'5" and weigh from 100 to 130. It's not unknown of for their to be unusually taller and broader Drow.
Eye Color: Most have different shades of red. Green, black, brown, gray, and amber are not unknown of. Shades of blue or purple shows surface elf, or human blood.
Hair Color: Snow-white for a majority. Females hair yellow with age. Male's hair grays. Silver and copper colored are rare.
Skin Color: Jet black for full blooded Drow. Dark gray to brownish gray for half-drow. There are rare cases of bone white albinos.
Mouth Etc. Colors: Teeth may be black, white, or purple, and their gums, tongues, and throats pink, red, or purple.
Social Relationships
Most of the surface world knows little about the society of the dark elves except for a few stereotypes: Dominated by the female clerics of Lloth the Spider Queen, males are subservient, and slaves and magic are everywhere. For most of the surface world, that information is more than sufficient, but while these stereotypes are based in fact, they only scratch the surface of what life is like among the dark elves. Drow, like humans and other civilized beings, eat, fall in love, marry, raise children, and have families. In fact, because dark elves have long lifespans and drow society is frequented by upheavals, relations among the drow are usually more complex than a typical human family.
Gender Roles
Lloth is the patron goddess of the drow, and they owe their existence in (or, to be precise, their banishment to) the Underdark to her. Given such an involvement in the origin of the dark elves, it is unsurprising that the majority of drow cities, and thus the majority of all drow, pay homage to the Spider Queen. With her patronage comes her rigid dogma of female superiority and male inferiority. In these societies, females control almost all of the power, leaving males to pick at the scraps. Traditionally, females enter the clergy and serve Lolth as her priestesses, while males enter the military or (rarely) study wizardry. Priestesses are trained in the arts of war, and often squadrons and armies are led directly by the foul clerics of the Spider Queen, but normally they keep themselves out of harm's way and give orders to experienced male officers, some of which are kept in check by physical or magical threats or even outright magical domination.
Wizardry is the only real way a male in a Llothian society can gain any true power. Even the most experienced male general and veteran of many conflicts might be killed for an accidental insult to a spider-priestess, but a wizard of equal status is far more valuable simply because they are rarer and more useful. Still, even the most talented male wizard is technically a social inferior to the lowest female cleric -- a fact that the male wizards resent greatly. In a world where they are doomed to servitude because of an accident of their gender, a male wizard who can transcend space and time and who must bow and scrape to female clerics who can barely muster the power to mend a scraped knee leads a frustrated existence.
The above describes the majority of dark elf cities, but a not insignificant number of drow cities have an entirely different societal structure. For example, the city of Sshamath is ruled by male wizards, with female clerics of Lloth shunted into lesser roles. (Sshamath's nature came about due to a larger number of males born in the past few centuries, coupled with increased research into old magic sites and a temporary disruption in clerical magic.) Given that Sshamath has survived despite being a thorn in the side of Lloth's official view on drow society means that other unusual drow societies may exist, such as those ruled by the military or hereditary nobles regardless of faith.
However, most drow societies reflect the deity they venerate. Some may be built around the philosophy of Kiaransalee, a minor drow goddess of undeath and vengeance. In such a place, the drow in power may be those with the ability to command and create undead, or are undead themselves. Vhaeraun, a rising power of drow males, thievery, and life on the world's surface, has a more balanced view of the sexes, seeking equality but requiring the downfall of Lolth's existing matriarchy. The settlements his followers have been creating on the surface world have a much more equal distribution of power between males and females, although it is slightly skewed in favor of males because of old grudges against females and because there are fewer females among the Vhaeraunian faithful. Ghaunadaur, an old and bizarre deity of slimes and oozes that resents Lloth's usurpation of Underdark territory, cares little for whether his followers are male or female as long as they serve his interests. While no actual drow cities are known to officially endorse Ghaunadaur, small settlements and cults do exist and have hierarchies based entirely on power and loyalty. Most unusual of all of the drow cultures are those tied to Eilistraee, Lloth's benevolent daughter (and Vhaeraun's sister), who is the patron of all good drow and especially those who wish to live peacefully with the other beings on the surface world. Eilistraee's followers usually must hide within the cities of the Spider Queen, but those fortunate to live in a place where their faith can be expressed enjoy a gender-equal society like those of the Vhaeraunian drow, except without the taint of evil, vengeance, and conquest that her family's followers carry with them. But the majority follow Lloth's teachings, and the remainder of this report assumes a Lolthian city.
Nobility
Most drow societies have some sort of noble class. Unlike in human and other societies, drow nobles are significantly different than commoners, at least in terms of magical ability. For example, most drow nobles develop the ability to detect magic, levitate, or sense the nature of other beings through sheer force of will. This difference probably stems from the origins of most drow cities, which are founded by exceptional dark elf individuals or families, who then pass on their exceptional traits to their offspring, which become the noble class of the growing city. These abilities usually breed true, so commoners taken into the noble families to improve the bloodlines or expand the familiy can be parents to nobles with powers even though they themselves lack those abilities. Those rare nobles whose bloodlines are so thin as to not manifest the noble traits often carry magical tokens to make up for this lack; more common among the nobles are magic items that expand their abilities, such as in frequency, power, or versatility.
Unless wishing to be incognito, most drow nobles dress appropriately to their station, with fine clothing, superior equipment (even for dark elves, of which the lowest soldier usually has at least a masterwork weapon), and an almost-palpable aura of superiority, menace, and power. Commoners learn quickly to recognize an approaching noble and to stay out of their way when they are in a bad mood. In traditional drow society, commoners are only slightly less expendable than slaves; if given a choice of sacrificing a slave or a drow commoner to further a goal, a dark elf noble will choose the slave, but if the only way to succeed is to eliminate a drow commoner, that commoner is as good as dead.
Those with unusual talent in war or magic can attain status similar to that of a noble, and such individuals are often adopted into a noble's household to increase the prestige and power of that house. Weapon master Zaknafein, father of Drizzt Do'Urden, was such an individual. He was born a commoner but permanently attached to House Do'Urden because of his fantastic skill with weapons; he was even allowed to bear the Do'Urden name, and because of his time as the consort of Matron Do'Urden, his children are full noble members of the house.
In most cases, the best a commoner can aspire to is to be the consort of an influential noble. Such a position brings great privilege and the opportunity to live in luxury without need to work. Unfortunately such appointments don't last long since the noble may grow tired of the consort, or other members of the household may use the consort as a pawn in their sick and deadly games against each other. The uplifted commoner, lacking the depth of experience in intrigue that the true nobles have, may insult their mate or another member of the house, which usually results in torture and death or, if the noble is lenient, expulsion from the house and a return to a commoner's life in shame.
Work
Like the people on the surface, most dark elves have some sort of work that keeps them busy, whether farming, crafting items, working in a shop, or other similarly mundane tasks. Most go about their work day in a similar fashion to surface folk, maintaining old feuds, engaging in gossip, and trying to support themselves and their families. Hovering above this mundane façade are the shadows of the Spider Queen's clerics, who nominally are expected to compensate merchants for their goods, but are fully within their rights to claim whatever they want in the name of the Spider Queen. Many times has a jeweler or gemsmith been reduced to poverty because his works are so greatly desired by clerics unwilling to pay; after mortgaging their homes and selling off their possessions to stay in business, these poor souls are often consigned to work in the temples or noble houses as little more than talented slaves to pay off their debts. Such cruel irony is a delicious form of humor to the spider-priestesses.
Unlike surface communities, drow cities never have a problem with unemployment or homelessness. Those drow put into such a situation quickly become victims, whether of slavery, murder sport by bored nobles, sacrifices to Lloth, or indiscriminate violence practiced against those who have no house, church, or family to protect them. Because of this grim spectre looming near all poor drow, most choose to sign on with the military forces of the city or a noble house, since they can always use more soldiers, no matter how poorly trained. After all, life as a soldier at least provides meals and shelter, and, despite the occasional risk of death in combat, it is a far safer choice than living homeless in the streets where the spider-clerics walk.
Courting
Llothian drow have a matriarchal society where inheritance of property, titles, and birthright pass from mother to daughter. Bearing children is a sign of the power of femininity and an ability that men can never have. Because of these factors, drow women normally want to have as many children as their slow elven birthrate allows. Because the females have all the control, relationships between men and women have few protocols, and it is the women who decide who their lovers are and how long the relationship lasts. The concept of courting as understood by humans and other surface races is almost unknown to the drow; in a society where males are valueless and life is worth little, having a lengthy process of becoming involved with another person is inefficient.
Furthermore, the concept of a male pursuing a coy or disinterested female is an aberration, for it puts the male in a position of power and the female in a subservient role. Any male that practiced such a tactic would quickly be tortured and sacrificed to the Spider Queen for his impertinence. Instead, "courting" is the responsibility of the females, who pick their mates like selecting a good breeding animal, and the males are expected to comply. Many times the selection of a mate is the start of a deadly rivalry between different females as they fight over the choicest specimens. These males usually end up the worse for wear in the deadly games of the female, and more than once has a female "given up" on a male only to leave him skinned and dead in her rival's bedchamber.
Love
Among the cruel and self-centered dark elves, love is practically unheard of. Long-standing mates live together for practical reasons, not romantic ones, such as complementary careers, physical attractiveness, a legacy of producing many female heirs, political influence, and so on. Families remain together only because it provides a shield against enemies from outside the family (even though intra-family rivalries can be just as deadly as outside threats). Parents see children as a means to more power and are willing to sacrifice those children (males moreso than females) if it proves the key to greater power. Children quickly lose their innocent naivety and learn the horrible truths of drow society, thereafter seeing their parents as strict tormenters who nonetheless keep the world's predators at bay until the children can fend for themselves. In the rare cases where mated drow develop some affection for each other, it is usually when the male is an excellent physical specimen, has provided excellent service, and has never caused embarrassment to the female.
In these cases, the bond is more like that of a spoiled or insensitive human matron and her pampered lapdog; the male is a cherished pet that will still be put down if it misbehaves too much. Even rarer is an honest bond of love between a parent and child, which is usually only possible if the parent is somehow resistant to the pressures of drow society and passes this trait on to the child. Zaknafein and his son Drizzt shared such a bond; the father's disdain of his own cruel race and wishes for a different life both existed in the son as well, and once they recognized their shared secret, they became close like human families are wont to do. Unfortunately for this famous pair, their aversion to the drow way of life was discovered (all too common, as living in secrecy is extremely taxing) and Zaknafein was sacrificed to Lloth.
Marriage
In a culture where females rule and males are little more than slaves, the idea of a female legally attaching herself to a single male for the rest of her life is an absurd concept. Marriage does not exist in Lloth's cities. Females take whatever consorts they wish and choose a new one when they grow bored with the old. If the dark elves could more easily fall in love, things might be different, but such concepts are ground out of the drow very early in life by the teachings of the Spider Queen.
Child-Rearing
The drow are hardly doting parents. Among the noble class, a young drow is raised by tutors and elder siblings, and he or she normally sees his or her parents only a few times a year. Noble males are sent to the city's military or wizard academy depending upon their talents, while noble females enter the church and study the teachings of the Spider Queen, in each case seeing less and less of their families. (Because of the long lifespan of the drow and the number of years needed to reach maturity, these academies are like boarding schools and train the children for ten years or more, usually only letting them come home once a year for important family or religious meetings.) This practice only reinforces the drow's lack of affection for their own blood kin, for strong parent-child bonds cannot form when the parents are nearly absent from the child's life.
Among the commoners, it is a similar setup, although the parents usually don't have the resources to afford private tutors and so the responsibility for raising the child falls primarily upon the extended family. Talented commoners are recruited into the wizard or cleric academies, and the rest learn their parents' trades or are sent to military schooling. As with the nobles, the parents are always emotionally distant and often physically distant, too. If the children were permitted a more normal (by surface standards) home environment, they might have a chance to grow up without being emotionally stunted, and drow society might change for the better.
Family
Dark elves live for several hundred years, and females have the capability to bear children at least every hundred years. Because of this, drow families tend to be larger than those of surface elves, who breed more slowly (either as a function of their greater lifespan as compared to the drow or in some interest in not overpopulating their lands). For example, Drizzt Do'Urden had five siblings, although one brother was killed on the night he was born (by Drizzt's other brother, oddly enough). These large families help relieve the parents of the responsibility of raising the younger children (which is put upon the elder siblings). Rivalries between siblings can be competitive and deadly (as Drizzt's brothers prove), for just as females are superior to males, firstborn children are superior to those born later.
With their long lifespan, dark elves have the possibility of having several generations within one family alive at the same time. Although this is reduced somewhat because of violence in drow society and the plots of various family members against each other, most commoner families have grandparents and great-grandparents still alive and living with the youngest members of the household. As dark elves remain viable until the last few years (and once they grow feeble they are usually killed), these great-elders are not a burden upon the family and act as their guides, teachers, lorekeepers, and rememberers of old grudges. A very old member of a family is someone to be respected and feared, for they have survived Lolth's games for centuries, having grown and adapted to thrive in an environment of treachery and chaos.
Drow nobles are slightly different. With more to gain from the elimination of rivals and superiors, there are fewer incidents of multi-generation households among the nobles, and those in power usually keep their own siblings on a tight leash or kill them off. For example, nothing is known of Matron Malice Do'Urden's aunts or her sisters, all of whom reasonably ought to have been priestesses of significant power. In a family of six siblings, Drizzt knew no other family members except his own father, and only after he had become an adult.
The Test
On the fringes of the Spider Queen's cities are abandoned caves and old monster lairs. Some of these are inhabited by horrible creatures that are half-drow and half-spider. These tortured things, known as driders, are the outcasts of drow society, for they have failed the test of the Spider Queen. All promising drow who reach a certain level of power are tested by Lolth. She tests their loyalty, their wits, and their power. Those who succeed in the tests are allowed to continue living in drow society. Those who fail are cursed to grow spider legs from their lower half and also become bloated and unrecognizable in their upper half. No longer beautiful, but still feeling the need to be near other drow, these hateful evil creatures lurk in the fringes of drow civilizations, hunting lost drow and any other creature that crosses their path. The Test of Lloth, as it is known (the only test described as such in drow society), is whispered of among the common folk and used as a threat by the priestesses against the more willful nobles. The existence of driders is more evidence that the Spider Queen is absolutely evil, cruel, and possibly insane, for while other deities are known to test their followers from time to time, even among the evil ones, Lolth is the only one who deliberately disfigures them in such a horrible way and leaves them alive (most evil deities are content to simply blast those who fail into oblivion).
Origins
Brief History
More than thirteen thousand years ago, the Crown Wars raged among the Fair Folk, and for three thousand years the elven nations of Aryvandaar, Miyeritar, Shantel Othreier, Keltormir, Ilythiir, and others battled one another in a series of five great conflicts. At the end of the fourth Crown War, circa -10,000 DR, the corrupt dark elven Ilythiiri and others were transformed by Corellon's magic into drow as directed through the Protector's priests and high mages, and banished to the lightless depths of the Underdark.
The first drow civilizations arose in the Underdark of southern Faerun circa -9600 DR. The first great kingdom of the drow was Telantiwar, with its capital in the great cavern of Bhaerynden, the conquered heart of the first great kingdom of the Stout Folk (dwarves), which was seized by the drow in -9000 DR. The drow fought among themselves, noble against noble, priest against priest, for rule of their new realm. This war ended amid great magical explosions that brought down the roof of Bhaerynden. The ceiling collapsed entirely, burying many drow and the shattered dwarven cities they have seized. The cavern, now open to the sky, became known as the Great Rift. Gold dwaf ancestors later resettled the chasm and surrounding caverns to form the Deep Realm.In the following diaspora known as the Scattering, the surviving drow nobles and priests gathered what people, slaves, and equipment they could seize and fled into the wilds of the Underdark. Since that time, countless cities and smaller settlements have risen and fallen in an increasing radius around the territory held by the empire of Telantiwar
Roleplaying Drow
Drow, no matter what alignment, share certain qualities that should come across whether you roleplay them as a DM or a player.
Superiority
Drow know they are superior, especially to surface elves. Drow are born with abilities that other creatures would kill to have, so it only makes sense that the lesser races should be jealous and hateful toward them.
TIP: Whether openly derisive of other races or quitely condescending, a drow should make others understand that whatever power they may gain, they can never match what dark elves accomplish simply by being born.
Egotism
Drow believe in themselves because faith in others is foreign to them. They have always relied on their own wits and skills to survive, and they must continue to believe that they can, or they'll succumb to the depredations of other drow trying to scramble up the social ladder.
TIP: If you're not the best at what you do, you will be. Let others take note when you act that you are destined for greatness.
Suspicion
Treachery and lies are expected in drow society, and a devastating betrayal is admired. Despite their sense of superiority, most drow fear that other creatures will get the better of them somehow, and they are always on their guards.
TIP: Don't be openly suspicious; that can provoke attack. Be wary, and choose your words carefully.
Humility
While not commonly associated with drow, humility is a necessary skill in their cutthroat culture. Confronted on equal or lesser footing with a being of greater power, dark elves will often abase themselves to survive. The dead don't get revenge.
TIP: Switch from superiority to groveling if you have to. If you live, you can make them grovel before you later.
Caution
Drow take calculated risks. Only those with a death wish put themselves in situations that are likely to turn against them. Thus, drow rarely fight for anything but themselves. For a greater cause, like serving a deity or the survival of their House, some drow take greater risks, but only the most fanatic fight fearlessly.
TIP: Always have a backup plan should things go sour. Flee to fight another day.
Drive
Every action must have a purpose, and drow take steps toward some end with everything they do. The most driven are usually the most powerful.
TIP: Always keep your goals in mind. There are things you want from life, and you're going to take them.
Drow Psyche
The drow psyche is both similar to and vastly different from that of other intelligent beings. Adrift in darkness and treachery, drow have developed a tortured psychology as a survival mechanism. Before you can understand their culture and history, you must understand the strange forces and emotions that drive them.
Greed
Drow hunger for wealth and power, but this hunger is greater than simple avarice. They see wealth as a means to power, and power as a means of control. Drow need control. They need to feel like they are the manipulators rather than the manipulated. Throughout their lives, drow are trapped in a web of falsehood and treachery where each step could be their last. The strong rule over the weak and use or kill them at a whim. In such a turbulent and abusive environment, drow see power and control as security. This is illusion, though, perpetuated by the fact that even those who have gained some measure of control are insecure but dare not admit it--and with good reason: Fear is viewed as weakness, and showing it turns erstwhile allies into deadly foes and servants into power-hungry murderers.
Security is forever out of reach so long as drow culture does not change.
Hate
All drow hate all other drow. This hatred stems in many cases from envy. A drow who sees someone more powerful, more intelligent, or more secure sees an enemy. Each believes that he should be the most important and powerful--in effect, every drow desires godhood. But each fears that others with prove to be better. A drow's level of insecurity is roughly related to his place in society. When a drow's sefl-hatred and self-doubt outweigh his hatred of others, he fails to take risks and can no longer seize what should be his.
Gluttony
There are very few obese drow (though note that some do exist). This is not to say that drow do not engage in binge eating. They do so with great frequency, often holding or being privvy to grand parties (at least the nobles). But being overweight or too obsessed with food is a weakness, and weakness is deadly. The same is true of alcohol consumption: It's simply too dangerous. This problem is skirted around by practices such as self-induced vomiting and various drugs or herbs to waylay the effects of alcohol consumption. Those few drow who blatantly live life as obese are in positions of great authority and power, which manages to keep most predators at bay, at least for a time.
Sloth
Drow must constantly struggle and forever be on their guard. Laziness often results in defeat. At the same time, they tire of always being watchful. The desire for power is also a desire for the opportunity to rest. Although all drow meditate and most participate in leisure pursuits, few understand what it means to truly relax. Even so, some do become slothful and listless. These drow usually fall by the wayside as their fellows gain power.
Wrath
Anger is a drow's constant companion. The emotion is considered both normal and inevitable, but a drow's reaction to it falls in one of two camps. Some believe that anger itself is a tool: red-hot rage gives you strength to persevere over your foes. Others believe that anger should be cool and calculating: Hiding it will give you more opportunities to take vengeance. Most drow borrow from both schools of thought as the situation demands, but none would argue about the outcome: revenge.
Revenge is an art form among drow. It comes quickly or takes centuries. It can be long and excruciatingly painful, or painless and deadly swift. All drow appreciate a well-executed vengeance, even when they are the targets. There are as many flavors of revenge as there are drow. Each drow establishes a preferred style at an early age, using this as a kind of signature and warning to others. Some prefer to use the techniques of their enemies in order to place the blame on others, but this in turn becomes their own style, and drow learn to look through such deceits to find the responsible party.
Pride
Pride is the same as self-confidence among the drow. A truly humble drow is destined to remain on the lowest rungs of the social ladder. Most drow are like bullies. They put up a haughty front, intimidating and degrading all whom they can to hide their own doubts and fears. Anything that shakes a drow's sense of pride is likely to result in a fit of pique. Pique breeds petty paybacks, small actions meant to harm without giving cause for full-blown, deadly revenge.
Deceit
Deceit is integral to the nature of drow. They deceive others to protect themselves, and they deceive themselves to protect their egos. Lying is second nature to most drow, and telling lies well is a skill fostered from childhood.
Betrayal
Betrayal is a virtual art form amongst drow, held as an ideal of the highest factor, a fact which continues to lead to the eventual downfall of the race as a whole. It shouldn't be surprising, taking this into account, that most drow tend to be paranoid. A certain amount of suspicion is a survival mechanism; even through a foe might not be acting against you now, one is certain to do so in the near future. Yet drow who become too defensive lost their edge, becoming victims of their own fear.
Lust
Given their tense and deadly society, it is surprising that lust plays any part in drow's lives, but lust and sex (consensual or not) are huge factors in drow psychology. Sex plays many roles. It is a release of tension, a moment of closeness, and it staves off fear of inevitable death. Despite their long life spans, few drow can expect to die of old age, so procreation is a way to establish a kind of life beyond death. Sex is also one of the rare times when drow can express a minor degree of tenderness for one another. It is not always tender, of course, but it offers pleasure in being weak or strong, and drow involved in consensual sex often reverse their normal roles in society. Slaves can be masters, and masters, slaves. In this physical release, drow come as close to happiness as most of them will ever get. Drow have no real understanding of monogamy or marriage. They have children to further their bloodline and House, and sometimes parents make an effort to protect a child, but both parents will likely have many partners and form no lasting relationship as the child grows to maturity.
Playing Evil Characters
The standard fantasy game is heroic, but playing an evil character can be interesting and entertaining. Still, you should consider a few things when introducing an evil character to a campaign.
What is Evil?
Is theft, murder, defiling and robbing tombs, and killing innocents evil? Most people would say so, but good-aligned characters do this all the time in typical games. The actions of a player character exist in the morally gray area of vigilante justice--rarely do PCs take the evil lich or ogre bandit into town for trial. In addition, many creatures are inherently evil: even if a demon has never harmed anyone, players can rest assured that it will do terribly evil things when it has the opportunity. Disturbing these conventions can create interesting roleplaying opportunities, but it's most often best to leave the artificial morality of the game alone. People play to have fun, engage their minds, and socialize; moral arguments can ruin this and destroy the suspension of disbelief necessary for a good game.
How evil should PCs be?
If your evil PCs are robbing and killing other evil creatures, your game won't look that much different from anyone else's. It will be just as filled with epic adventure and tragedy as any good game. Things become less fun and more troubling when players have their characters attack good-aligned creatures or engage in more disturbing activities like slavery, torture, and rape. Although such elements are covered in various sources to offer scene-setting and scenario possibilities, they usually make for a bad game in the hands of PCs. Almost everyone (but unfortunately not everyone) finds these subjects uncomfortable, and roleplaying such activity will likely lead to some players leaving the game dissatisfied and upset. If you plan to allow evil PCs into your game as a DM, make it clear from the beginning just how far you will allow them to go during play, and let your players know that the session will stop if things get out of hand. There's evil aplenty in lies, murder, betrayal, robbery, assassination, treachery, poison, and plotting.
PC against PC
One of the most troubling issues when dealing with evil PCs is the tendency for them to turn against one another. Many players figure that since their characters are evil, there's nothing wrong with robbing and murdering other PCs. But not every evil creature is psychotic and bloodthirsty, or so greed-filled that it puts itself above all others. Were that true, evil races would not exist in the game world, and evil individuals would attract so much attention that tohers would bring them down as soon as they cropped up. Evil societies and groups exist for the same reason good people come together: mutual protection, division of duties, companionship, and so on. These are concepts that hold sway over thieves' guilds, pirate crews, and orc tribes, so there's no reason why your player's characters shouldn't abide by them. Just as a DM should limit the evil activities of the PCs, set rules and guidelines for interaction. Make certain that the players understand and agree on how evil PCs will interact with one another or a party of non-evil PCs. Betraying the group might seem like a great roleplaying opportunity, but if often leads to bad feeling all around, and one or more players quitting the group.
The Means Justify The Ends
If players want to play evil PCs, but the above suggestions aren't workig in a particular campaign, propose this philosophy: The means justify the ends. The PCs, evil though they are, still want to be seen as heros. They take every opportunity to do good deeds and help others, but their eventual goals are wicked. Perhaps they want to enslave a whole kingdom or lead one nation in and effort to exterminate another. To do this, they must first gain the trust and admiration of many people--hence their desire to play the "hero".
Neutral In Lieu of Evil
An interesting option for Drow and Underdark campaigns is for players to use neutral-aligned characters in those dangerous realms. In this case the PCs must constantly be on their guard so that the surrounding evil society doesn't discover their "moral weakness". This can make for a tense and fun game, but make certain that the PCs don't stray too far down the path of evil. Set all the limits you would for evil PCs and make them known to the players if you are a DM.
Main Abridged History Alignment His Deity Noble Blood OoC Info Writings
Drow Information
Information gathered from WoTC and TSR
Names PoisonsRole-playingFighting Styles Pets