Rules edition: This build uses the 2014 Player’s Handbook half-elf and warlock rules, plus the optional half-elf Drow Descent variant from Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide (SCAG). It does not use the revised 2024 species or warlock rules. Confirm with your DM that SCAG options and feats from other supplements are allowed.
A half-drow warlock can combine a high Charisma score with a few innate spells and the warlock’s flexible pact magic. The key is understanding what the ancestry actually grants—and what it does not—then choosing a patron and invocations that suit the campaign rather than assuming every feature stacks into a damage combo.
What Drow Descent Gives a 2014 Half-Elf
Start with the 2014 half-elf: increase Charisma by 2 and two other ability scores by 1 each; you also have 30-foot speed, 60-foot darkvision, Fey Ancestry, and Skill Versatility. With the SCAG variant, you give up Skill Versatility and choose a trait based on your elf parentage. A half-elf of drow descent can take the drow’s Drow Magic trait. This replaces the skills; it is not an extra feature layered on top of them.
Drow Magic gives you dancing lights. At character level 3, it lets you cast faerie fire once, and at character level 5, darkness once; the spells use Charisma. The Player’s Handbook errata changed the original “once per day” wording for Drow Magic to “when you finish a long rest.” These racial casts do not expend your warlock Pact Magic slots.
Your darkvision remains 60 feet—the half-elf trait—not the 120-foot Superior Darkvision of a full drow. The variant also does not give you the full drow’s Sunlight Sensitivity. Keep the character sheet tied to the selected ancestry rather than mixing traits from both entries.
Build Ability Scores and Defenses
Charisma drives your warlock spell attacks and save DC, so make it your highest score. With the 2014 standard array, one legal starting spread is Charisma 15, Constitution 14, Dexterity 13, Wisdom 12, Intelligence 10, and Strength 8; apply the half-elf increases to reach Charisma 17, Constitution 15, and Dexterity 14. Point buy can produce a similar start. At a warlock Ability Score Improvement, raising Charisma and Constitution by 1 each takes them to 18 and 16.
Warlocks use a d8 Hit Die and begin proficient with light armor, simple weapons, and Wisdom and Charisma saving throws. Dexterity still matters for initiative, Dexterity saves, and light-armor AC. Constitution supports hit points and concentration saves. A Hexblade gains medium-armor and shield proficiency, but other patrons do not; do not assume the subclass grants extra attacks or Charisma weapon attacks beyond its printed features.
How 2014 Pact Magic Changes Your Choices
You know a small number of warlock spells and have few Pact Magic slots, but all those slots share a level and return when you finish a short or long rest. Slot count increases as you level, reaching a maximum of four at warlock level 17; slot level reaches 5th at warlock level 9. This recovery is useful when the party takes short rests, but it is not a guarantee that the group will rest after every encounter.
You receive Eldritch Invocations at warlock level 2, choose a Pact Boon at level 3, and gain Ability Score Improvements at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 19. Plan for the campaign you are actually playing: an invocation that improves a cantrip may be more valuable over a long adventuring day than a situational combination that consumes your concentration and obscures your allies’ vision.
Patron and Invocation Options
Fiend: Dark One’s Blessing grants temporary hit points when you reduce a hostile creature to 0 hit points. Its expanded spell list includes options such as fireball and wall of fire; these are options you may learn, not spells automatically added to your spells known.
Great Old One: Awakened Mind offers limited telepathy, making it useful for quiet communication and strange patron stories. Archfey: Fey Presence adds a close-range charm-or-frighten option, while later features support escape and misdirection. Hexblade: this Xanathar’s Guide option grants armor and weapon features for a more durable weapon-focused character. Choose for the features and tone your table wants; no patron is mandatory for a half-drow.
Agonizing Blast is a common choice if you know eldritch blast, adding Charisma to its damage. Repelling Blast can reposition enemies when a beam hits. Devil’s Sight lets you see normally through magical and nonmagical darkness out to 120 feet, but it does not make the party see through your darkness spell. Coordinate before using that tactic.
Concentration and the Drow Spells
Faerie fire, darkness, hex, and hypnotic pattern all require concentration. You can concentrate on only one spell at a time: casting one of these ends another concentration spell you were maintaining. In particular, faerie fire and darkness cannot run together from the same caster, and either competes with hex or hypnotic pattern.
Faerie fire can grant advantage on attack rolls against creatures that fail the save, if the attacker can see the outlined target. It can also reveal invisible creatures in its area. It does not guarantee advantage if the party cannot see the target or another rule imposes disadvantage.
Darkness blocks ordinary darkvision. Devil’s Sight can let you see through it, but creatures outside the spell may be unable to see your targets, and allies inside may be just as blind as enemies. The spell is concentration and can hinder the party’s attacks, sight-based features, and positioning. Use it when the group has a plan—not as an automatic damage increase.
Spells, Feats, and Playstyle
At low levels, consider how armor of Agathys protects you without concentration, while hex adds damage but occupies concentration. At warlock level 5 you can choose 3rd-level spells such as counterspell or hypnotic pattern; the latter is also concentration and ends for an affected creature if it takes damage or another creature uses an action to shake it. Think about the encounter, not only the spell’s highest possible result.
If your DM allows Xanathar’s Guide feats, Elven Accuracy has a prerequisite of elf or half-elf, which this Drow Descent character remains. Its reroll applies when you already have advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. It does not grant advantage by itself. War Caster can help maintain concentration and allows a spell in place of an opportunity attack when its conditions are met, but a ranged warlock may prefer an Ability Score Improvement or another feat.
For a ranged build, stay near cover, use eldritch blast when conserving slots, and save concentration spells for situations where their effect is worth giving up another spell. A Hexblade can move closer if desired, but still needs a plan for concentration and incoming damage. Outside combat, high Charisma supports social skills; choose background proficiencies and story hooks with your DM rather than treating one background as mechanically required.
Official Rules Sources
- 2014 Basic Rules: Half-Elf traits
- Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide: Half-Elf variants (Drow Descent)
- 2014 Basic Rules: Warlock class and Pact Magic
- 2014 Player’s Handbook errata: Drow Magic recovery
- 2014 faerie fire, 2014 darkness, and 2014 hypnotic pattern
- Xanathar’s Guide: Elven Accuracy
Related: See our system-neutral Half-Drow Warlock roleplaying guide for character concepts, or the Warlock guide for class-wide fundamentals.
