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  1. - Top - End - #1
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    Yora's Avatar

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    Default D&D - Derro lore

    Recently I've come to take a liking to these weird little crazy fellows, even though they are pretty much the only thing in the 3rd Edition Monster Manuals that never got a picture.

    But there isn't really much info on them in 3rd Edition books except possibly being degenerate albino dwarf/gnome/human-hybrids that are completely insane. And under 3rd Ed. rules crazy powerful.

    Anything else you could tell me about them?

    I think I'm going to use them and Grimlocks as the main Underworld races who are the descendants of cultists that worshiped aberration demigods, like the people of Innsmouth.
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    EvilClericGuy

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    Default Re: D&D - Derro lore

    Open Design/Kobold Quarterly/Kobold Press has some really disturbing takes on the little buggers. The KQ and Paizo websites should have some samples.

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    Chambers's Avatar

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    Default Re: D&D - Derro lore

    Derro (Pathfinder SRD).

    It's got a few paragraphs about them under Knowledge checks and Ecology.
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    Default Re: D&D - Derro lore

    according to my advanced d&d
    extra cruel particularly hate humans human slaves are given the worst tasks and used for "breeding"
    derro live only to slowly and humiliatingly kill humans/ demi humans
    and for the "perversion of knowledge to their own dark ends"

    several days of sunlight is fatal
    very group oriented hate being alone
    don't worship gods led by "savants" who have a random selection of spells of varying level the savants are sorta worshiped by regular derro
    don't care for gold other then it's monetary value and love magic items
    every 20 years go to war to with all their neighbors which kills off their weakest members and serves to unites the group.
    Last edited by awa; 2013-01-26 at 01:44 PM.

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    Bhu's Avatar

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    Default Re: D&D - Derro lore

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derro_%...%26_Dragons%29
    http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Derro

    wiki has some info on them.


    They are believed to be inspired by the Dero written about by Richard Sharpe Shaver

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Sharpe_Shaver
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    Pixie in the Playground
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    Default Re: D&D - Derro lore

    Here's a post that should give you a really good picture of Derro origins....

    Hmmm. It appears I'm too new to post links, so Google 'Nerds on Earth Derro'

    Sorry that's so clunky. I'll post around and soon I'll be able to be more helpful with links.

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    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: D&D - Derro lore

    Apologies, I meant to reply earlier but have been busy and forgot.

    For 2nd Ed AD&D WotC managed to mess up and publish their stats in two different modules fairly close together:
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    Derro are a degenerate race of dwarven stature. They have dwelled in the Underdark for ages, but they were discovered by the mind flayers only five centuries ago, and by the drow shortly before that. The derro have made a name for themselves by their marked cruelty. It is said that a derro lives for two things: the slow and humiliating death of surface demihumans and especially humans, and the perversion of knowledge for their own dark ends.
    Derro are short, with skin the color of an ice-covered lake (white, with bluish undertones), sickly pale yellow or tan hair (always straight), and staring pupil-less eyes. Their features remind dwarves of humans, and vice versa. Derro have rough skin, spotted with short coarse tufts of hair. Most derro wear a loose costume woven from the hair of underground creatures and dyed in deep reds and browns. Even in full armor, exploring new territory or patrolling their own, derro are easily recognizable. Their armor is leather, studded in copper and brass. Leaders, though, wear tougher leather armors, made from the hides of creatures far tougher than cattle. Derro prefer weapons designed to cripple opponents, rather than those built for a quick kill; derro don't see any sport in spears and axes.

    The entry in WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins looks identical on a cursory glance.

    There's a fair bit more about them, so please fire any specific questions and I will see what I can answer.

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    Lord Torath's Avatar

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    Default Re: D&D - Derro lore

    They were also in the module S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.
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    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: D&D - Derro lore

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Torath View Post
    They were also in the module S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.
    That would be 1st Ed AD&D not 2nd...

    There was an article, I think in Dragon (probably the editorial) where the author noted that he discovered that they had printed Derro twice for 2nd Ed, having both modules I looked them up and was embarrassed not to have noticed. (My excuse is that I was not impressed by the Falcon trilogy.

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    Lord Torath's Avatar

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    Default Re: D&D - Derro lore

    Quote Originally Posted by Khedrac View Post
    That would be 1st Ed AD&D not 2nd...
    True, but Yora didn't specify a particular edition. And I generally run 1E modules with very little changes when playing 2E. YMMV, of course.
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    Thri-Kreen Ranger/Psionicist by me, based off of Rich's A Monster for Every Season

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    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: D&D - Derro lore

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Torath View Post
    True, but Yora didn't specify a particular edition. And I generally run 1E modules with very little changes when playing 2E. YMMV, of course.
    Point - and I apologies as I was sure that 2nd Ed had been specified. That makes S4 probably the best source as it is the original (though it may be less developed that some of the later version). That or was it MM2 they made it into?

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