I’m thinking about race changing my Shadow Priest to a Draenei, but I’m not sure how to make the concept work RP-wise.
Draenei lore is a bit confusing to me, but maybe I’m not understanding it correctly. As far as I know, they’re basically bound to the Light, and there’s basically no option for them to not be Light-focused. The race as a whole seems to be written as Lawful Good to its logical extreme.
I don’t want to have an “evil” draenei, just a morally gray Draenei alchemist whose faith in the light had been steadily dwindling over time, culminating in somewhat unhealthy feelings of having no control over her life. She’d eventually end up taking an interest in Shadow magic, enjoying what she can do with it from more of a scientifically minded standpoint rather than “must dominate”.
So, is that type of character feasible with a Draenei? I really like the race and their culture, I just feel a bit restricted in the type of character it seems would make sense for them to be.
2 Likes
Now I am no Blizzard lore expert - far from it - but that being said, I think OG Draenei tend to be pretty strongly devoted to the Lawful facet of the D&D alignment spectrum, not necessarily just Lawful Good. And even then, just because most Draenei would fall under lawful, that doesn’t mean all Draenei would have to. There is room for a Draenei of any alignment (though that does get a bit harder to justify if you’re talking about Lightforged Draenei, but again, I think a LF Draenei could easily still be Lawful Neutral or even Lawful Evil).
Dwarves tend to be lawful, but Dloin here is definitely Chaotic Good. There’s always room for exceptions, and those are often where the good stories come out of anyway.
Long story short, yes, I think a Draenei Shadow Priest whose faith in the light has been eroded over the years is a great character concept. Especially following the events of Legion, and what we now know of the Light (specifically as embodied by the Naru), there are bound to be people who question its infallibility and eventually defect.
1 Like
It’s entirely feasible! My suggestion would be to be something along the lines of a surviving Auchindoun anchorite. That was where they housed and venerated the spirits of their dead, as well as bound them to constructs in occasional cases, so that they could continue to ‘live’ after a fashion and serve. Whether from Outlands, an Exodar survivor, or an AU Draenor member that returned with the expedition, plenty of reasons for them to want to see the wider world given the state of things. Tending to the dead and to souls could inherently involve a bit of shadow magic, so certainly simple enough to play off Discipline as that, and with Shadow, it’d be an interesting plot hook for them to misconstrue any whispers they heard as being the voices of the departed!
1 Like
Also, just to touch on one point about them being Lawful Good and Light focused… it’s worth remembering that they’re EXTREMELY long lived and that the Naaru, for all of being 25,000 years a part of their culture, are still a relatively new influence. The oldest among them and those who were young at the time will still well remember life before, where their society was more of a magocracy than anything else. You’ll also have those leery of just how much their adherance to the Light has come to resemble bending to the Legion, particularly since the Lightforged have joined. Being so long lived and slow to change, it’s also worth noting the prejudice both shamans and Broken have faced among them. There’s a few instances in particular of them using the Broken to do jobs such as torture, so as to keep their own hands clean. Being a caste society, they’re the very bottom rung, which definitely provides room for non Lawful Good characters, as well as those less Light focused. Hope that helps! 
1 Like
I mean I play a Lawfull Good Void Priestess so it’s doable. I think a lot of it is figuring out your character’s upbringing among the Dran and what shifts in their world view allowed them to either lose the lawful, lose the good or lose the cultural hang-ups about the shadow.
2 Likes
I would suggest looking into draenei ‘soul priests’. They use a lot of abilities and actual in-game mechanics that are shadow-based, while still being practitioners/followers of the light.
Also, you might want to look into or progress through your order hall in legion, as it goes into a lot of subtle intricacies about shadow and shadow priest related things that could give you some further inspiration for your character within the class.
Much to my frustration, the Draenei lore has huge time gaps in it. But one thing that is vastly overlooked, is that “Draenei” is not the race, but merely a faction (Exiled Ones) of the Erudar race that refused to join the legion and fled. Later being protected and blessed by the Naru, infused with the essence of light. . . that being said, they had a choice! And thus, could easily start questioning The Light, especially after what Xe’ra tried to do to Illidan. Free Will! We all have it!
Yveti rarely has words of wisdom, but when faced with a Death Knight, Demon Hunter, or Horde members who question their nature and their purpose, she asks them if she too should be slave to the image of being an Erudar? Confused and enlightened RP usually follows. It’s one of my faves! 
This was all REALLY helpful.
Thank you!!
1 Like