Draegloth

Draegloths were half-demon, half-drow monstrosities. They were the progeny of coupling between a glabrezu and a newly ordained high priestess of the drow goddess Lolth. "These drow house pets are as graceful and nimble as Waterdhavian stage dancers. Only they're slayers and enforcers, four-armed brutes built like an ogre. Life isn't fair."

- Volo

Description
Draegloths came in several different forms, differentiated by a combination of gender and the species of their mother. The most common were male draegloths born to drow mothers; less common were female draegloths of drow heritage, who were known as "Favored Ones." Rarest still were draegloths that spawned when drider blood was mingled with that of demons via foul rituals; these were known as "Abominations."

Male draegloths were 7.5–8.0 feet (2.28–2.44 meters) tall. They had four arms: large claws on the upper arms and humanoid hands on the lower arms. Their faces were stretched so that they resembled those of dogs. Their skin was black and covered in a fine coat of white fur. They had a yellow-whitish mane of hair on their head.

Female draegloths were as tall as their brothers, but favored their drow ancestry; they looked mostly like a female drow, save for having two pairs of drow-like arms and a distinctly lupine cast to their features. Their fingernails and toenails were sharp and claw-like, but not so large as to interfere with spellcasting or delicate work.

Draegloth Abominations were the most bestial-looking of the draegloths. Their features included wicked claws, spider-like legs, and gnashing teeth. They had the ability to secrete webbing, which they used to tether foes and pull them into close quarters to be torn apart.

Draegloths were immune to poisons, as well as sleep-inducing spells and effects, and they were resistant to most elemental energy.

Combat
Male draegloths used their upper arms for hand-to-hand combat, delighting in the carnage and death they could cause in melee. As such, they waded into battle without fear, and held little consideration for tactics. Though not unintelligent, Draegloths were impatient when it comes to slaughtering their prey.

Female draegloths were more cunning and intelligent than their brothers, but no less bloodthirsty. Trained from birth in the clerical arts, they typically stayed at the rear of combat, relying on drow and spider underlings to keep their foes at bay whilst they made use of ranged spellcraft to battle them. If forced into melee combat, they could still rend foes apart with their claws and strength.

Draegloth abominations combined draegloth ferocity, drider cunning, and greater savagery than either of their parents. They were characterized as patient hunters, who stalked prey from the shadows and then ambushed it at the most opportune moment, using their webbing to drag foes from afar into close-quarters, so they could rip them to shreds. They possessed the ability to create a cloud of maddening darkness, and to reflexively combine the releasing of this cloud with teleportation when in danger, although neither ability could be used with great frequency.

Society
Draegloths were often seen as a sign of favor from Lolth. They were sacred creatures to the Lolthites and were usually treated with respect. Draegloths were perhaps the only variety of half-fiend that was created regularly and intentionally by a mortal race.

Female draegloths, due to their rarity, their greater intelligence, and their gender, were regarded with much more favor than their male counterparts in drow society, as evidenced by their title of "Favored Ones". Female draegloths were always adopted by the Church of Lolth and brought up as clerics to the Spider Goddess. Some draegloths trained as wizards.

Draegloth abominations had no society. They were uncontrollable monsters, so crazed for blood that even drow society couldn't tolerate them in its midst. Consequently, the usual practice was that soon after an abomination was born, the draegloth was ceremonially gifted to Lolth by being sent through a portal to the Demonweb Pits, where it became one of the many fiendish predators roaming that plane. When this did not happen, the abomination invariably brought ruin to its mother and all drow around it.

History
In the drow city of Menzoberranzan, part of the annual graduation ceremony of the Arach-Tinilith academy was the summoning of a glabrezu and the attempt to produce a draegloth. This succeeded about once a decade, and nearly always precipitated conflict as the drow house "blessed" with the half-fiend moved to strike against its rivals.

During the Silence of Lolth over 1372/1373 DR, some draegloths, formerly unquestionably loyal to the matriarchs, went off on their own, abandoning or even betraying their mothers and demanding equal status.

Notable Draegloths

 * Jeggred Baenre
 * Son of Triel Baenre of Menzoberranzan.
 * Son of Triel Baenre of Menzoberranzan.


 * Eclavdra Pharn
 * Daughter of Akordia Pharn of Menzoberranzan.
 * Daughter of Akordia Pharn of Menzoberranzan.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * City of the Spider Queen
 * Novels


 * Dissolution
 * Insurrection
 * Condemnation
 * Extinction
 * Annihilation
 * Resurrection