Drow

Drow are shorter than many other subraces of elves, but there is no average height differences between males and females. Drow are around 4'7"-5'5" and weighing in from 80-155 lbs. on average.
Drow skin is eerily pale, lacking the melanin gained from sunlight. It has taken on a purplish hue through thousands of years. Hair colors lack melanin as well, and are usually varying shades of white or silver. They groom and care for their hair carefully, wearing it long for the most part and adorning it with jewelry and other accessories (especially among nobles). Drow eyes are usually a pale pink to a wine red. They're also larger than their surface counterparts, adapting to their dark environment.
Many drow are beautiful, especially the nobles. This is not a coincidence, but the result of careful and selective breeding. Drow have a reputation of being more fertile, but in actuality they aren't any more fertile than other elves. However, certain drow were selected to birth as many children as possible during their lives.
Drow are also capable of having children with humans to have half-drow offspring. Their lifespans surpass human lives greatly and are comparable to the rest of the elven races (though somewhat longer). Assuming the drow doesn't meet a violent end, an average drow has a natural lifespan of 750 years.
Because of the extreme paleness of their skin, the drow often veil themselves in all black--covering most of their body, face, and hair, to better blend into the dark when hunting for prey or ambushing enemies.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Drow-Elvish, Undercommon

Culture and cultural heritage

Thousands and thousands of years ago, the elves were divided in the Crown Wars. The dark elves, or ssri-tel-quessir, were ruthless and all-powerful in their conquering of all other elven realms. Their rampage came to an end when the ssri-tel-quessir were banished the the Underdark as drow by the good elven deity Corellon Larethian, cursed to hate the sunlight. The drow found leadership in the only elven deity who had not forsaken them, and at her command the drow have built an empire in the underworld.

Shared customary codes and values

Many of the drow worship Lolth, a deity who resides in the Abyss. Known as the Spider Queen or the Demon Queen of Spiders, she is the figure around which the dark elves have built their subterranean civilization. When the Seldarine gods turned away from the drow thousands of years ago, Lolth opened her arms to embrace them as the only deity to accept the dark elves. After some time, her toxic rule has made them dependent on her, and it is nigh impossible to escape her reaches even if any drow wanted to. Whatever she demands, the drow do.
Drow are seldom seen by the surface world. Though Lolth's followers plot to destroy the elves that banished them, they no longer see themselves as exiles. They are the destined rulers of the Darkness, and when Lolth commands them to rise up and destroy their surface-dwelling kin, they will.
When slaves are in short supply in The Underdark, the drow send raiding parties to the surface to capture humanoids under cover of darkness, bringing them back to their cities to be tortured into submission. Beyond those occasional excursions, the drow are content to remain in their subterranean realm, where they feel secure and in control.
The dark elves build fantastic cities in enormous caverns where food and water are abundant. Their ability to sculpt stone rivals that of the greatest dwarf artisans, yet their structures retain a decidedly elven aesthetic. Though appearing delicate, drow settlements are structurally sound and remarkably resilient. The drow like to hollow out enormous stalagmites and stalactites, creating populated spires that rise from the floors and ceilings.
Most drow cities are sprawling metropolises enclosed by high walls. Non-drow visitors must conduct their business outside the walls under watchful eyes. The drow raise and keep giant spiders to help protect their cities against intruders, even as they drape those cities in beautiful webbing, creating a gossamer snare to catch flying enemies that would otherwise soar over the walls.
Just as the drow have adapted to underground life, so too has their magic. In addition to using that magic to carve their cities from stone, they empower their weapons, create dangerous new magic items, and summon demons from the Abyss. Drow spellcasters are supremely arrogant and never hesitate to use their magic in the most abhorrent ways.
Drow craft Weapons made of adamantine, a dark and supernaturally hard metal. Drow artisans adorn their weapons and armor with web-like filigree and spider motifs, and mages sometimes imbue items with magic to enhance their effectiveness. However, such magic fades when exposed to sunlight, so that magical drow weapons and armor rarely retain their enhancement bonuses and magical properties when brought to the surface.
Drow politics are cutthroat and rife with intrigue. When drow work together, it is typically to destroy a common foe and ensure their own survival, and such alliances are short lived and fraught with peril.
Drow society is divided into noble houses, each ruled by a matron who seeks to raise the prestige and power of her house above all others. Other high-ranking members of the house are blood relatives, while the middling ranks are flush with drow from weaker families that have sworn fealty to the greater house. Clinging precariously to the bottom rung of a house’s social ladder are the house slaves, made up of male drow of low birth and the occasional non-drow captive.
Lolth, through her faithful priestesses, dictates the rules of drow society, ensuring that her orders and plots are carried out. Since Lolth is prone to manifesting on The Material Plane and directly punishing those that disobey her, the drow have learned to heed what she says and do as her priestesses command.
In most drow societies, males are subservient to females. A male drow might lead an Underdark patrol or a raiding party to the surface, but he reports to a female drow—either the matron of his house or one of her hand-picked female subordinates. Although male drow can fill almost any function in drow society, they can’t be priests, nor can they rule a house.
Distilled from Spider venom and the flora of The Underdark, poison can be found in abundance among the drow, and it plays an important part in their culture and politics. Drow mages concoct a viscid toxin that leaves enemies unconscious. Drow warriors coat their blades and crossbow bolts with this venom, looking forward to the interrogation and torture that follows combat.
It should be noted that there are exceptions to these kinds of drow, some who wish to break away from the cruel ways of Lolth and to find a way to live in peace again. They are normally outnumbered by Lolth's worshippers, who are taught that the "weak must be culled".