Drow

The drow is a race specific to SLASH'EM, most noted for their bare-handed sleep attack. While SLASH'EM's regular elves are lawful or neutral, drow are chaotic. Drow are elven but they are unlike other elves.

When drow fight bare-handed, their melee attacks will sometimes put monsters to sleep; this makes them an excellent choice for new SLASH'EM players. Like other elves, player drow gain sleep resistance at experience level 4. Unlike other elves, drow do not have infravision, nor are they infravisible.

Drow are dark elves, more out-of-place at the surface than in the dungeon. Drow can take the roles of barbarian, flame mage, ice mage, necromancer, priest, ranger, undead slayer or wizard; they play chaotic for all of them.

During the early game, drow survive well if they fight bare-handed. Monsters will wake soon after the drow puts them to sleep, but not if the drow attacks repeatedly. In this way, the drow can win many fights without taking any damage after the monster slept. Even if surrounded, the drow's sleep attack helps them fight multiple opponents or flee into a corridor. Drow who forget to try bare-handed combat will find the game much more difficult. However, many monsters have sleep resistance and must be dealt with differently. Drow with high bare-handed combat skill can even take down shopkeepers in hand-to-hand battles without taking a hit. The trade-off for this remarkable power comes later, when the drow finds its maximum stat scores limited. (Though the limits are the same as other elves)

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
18	18	16	20	20	18

A droven Barbarian is an easy race-role combination and allows the player to begin fighting bare-handed before switching to a better weapon like a battle-axe or artifact.

It is possible to twoweapon as a drow and still get the benefits of putting monsters to sleep, provided the weapon is wielded in the off-hand and the main hand is bare. That way, a droven character may combine the power of e.g. a +7 Grayswandir with their sleeping attack.