The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed

Ogre
The ogre is one of the backbones of the drow slave trade.
Strong and bloodthirsty, they make excellent gladiators and
soldiers. Hard labour is another major task of ogre slaves,
though proper training and supervision are required to keep
them working.
Orc
For the drow who cannot afford a giant or ogre, there is the
orc. Slightly more intelligent but significantly less strong
than either a hill giant or ogre, the violent and warlike
temperament of orcs nonetheless makes them entertaining
gladiators. In large numbers, they may be used as shock
troops or cannon fodder in drow armies, but those tasks
more commonly fall to bugbears and gnolls. The violent
and bloodthirsty nature of orcs is a source of amusement
for some drow, who enjoy the prospect of breaking the
orc entirely of such behaviour. With enough training
and punishment, some drow have turned their orcs into
whimpering, submissive servants, eager to attend to the
domestic needs of their masters and terrified of the mere
sight of weapons.
Troll
Strong, tough, blessed with natural weapons and virtually
impossible to kill, trolls have all the makings of devastating
soldiers. Unfortunately, while breaking a troll’s spirit is
relatively simple, it is much more difficult to break the
troll’s natural instinct to quit fighting and start devouring
the dead while the battle is still going on. For this reason,
groups of trolls in a drow army are often held in reserve to
mop up at the end of a fight, or, if the drow are forced to
retreat, unleashed upon the enemy as a rear guard. Trolls
are sometimes used as gladiators, but their regeneration
abilities make them boring combatants. Some Noble
Houses keep extremely well-trained trolls as House guards,
though always under the supervision of slaves from some
other race, as no noble would willingly trust his life to a
pack of trolls.
Troll, Deep
Deep trolls are even more dangerous than their simpler
counterparts, and are more intelligent to boot. These
qualities combine to make them either shunned as slaves in
some drow cultures, or sought as highly as any other race in
others. Their greater intelligence makes them more useful
as slaves, but also more capable of finding a way to escape
and wreak vengeance upon those who enslaved them.
Those Noble Houses wealthy enough to afford a number
of trained deep trolls commonly use them as guards and
soldiers, positions for which the deep trolls are very well
suited.
Slave Prices
Base Cost: The cost for purchasing an untrained and
unskilled slave from the auction block. The slave at this
point is beaten, exhausted and confused, but otherwise has
not yet been broken to the collar. Obviously, this base price
can fluctuate due to a variety of factors, from the number of
bidders at an auction to scarcity of one creature or another
in different parts of the Underdeep. Likewise, not every
manner of slave listed here will always be available. A
drow who desires a slave of a race that is not available may
place an order with one of the guilds of slavers, but the
price paid upon delivery of this special order will be higher
than the base cost listed in the table above.
Skilled: Slaves who are skilled naturally cost more than
those who are not. The modifier in this column should
be applied to the base cost for any purchase of a skilled
slave. For the purposes of this modifier, a skilled slave
is considered to have at least three ranks in a skill the
drow would find useful. For example, a deep gnome with
three or more ranks in Craft (gemcutting) or Knowledge
(architecture and engineering) would be considered quite
valuable, while a gnome who only had ranks in skills such
as Jump or Swimming would not be considered skilled.
Trained: The drow do not consider a slave trained merely
because he obeys out of fear of the lash; that is a lesson
every drow slave learns quickly. Most slaves are never
technically trained as those whose sole purposes will
involve heavy labour and menial chores are not worth the
expense. However other slaves often receive training, such
as those intended for use in war, in gladiatorial matches,
as personal servants or as concubines. Slave training is
expensive and time consuming, relying on brainwashing,
drugs and sometimes even spells to accomplish its goal, but
the drow consider a well-trained slave worth the wait and
expense. A professionally-trained slave serves his drow
master willingly and enthusiastically, and is often loyal to
the drow unto death.
Training a slave takes at least one week per character level or
Hit Dice, during which time the trainer must spend at least
four hours every day with the slave. A 4 th level character,
for example, would require four weeks to train. At the end
of that time, the slave trainer must make a Handle Animal
check (DC 20+1 for every level or Hit Dice of the slave). If
successful, the slave has been trained and is ready to begin
his life of servitude. If the skill check is not successful, the
process must begin all over again.
The modifier for training cost is always the last modifier
applied to the price of a slave. For example, to determine
the cost for a skilled slave with multiple character levels
(see below), the base cost would be modified by the cost
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