Drow dont only have to play with drow, try to enslave some Caliban? or other chars?
Close to what I did. <.< I definitely hit the experience penalty faster than anyone else (in terms of how far through the level I progressed), but the benefits ARE very nice. The int/cha bonuses are strong, the SR is godlike, and you don't
require ultravision in order to benefit from darkness at all - still has plenty of confusion/escape utility even if you can't see in it either.
If ECL experience works how I think it does, and you count as two levels higher for the purpose of experience, then really, the pain is mostly frontloaded - going from 2-3 will take you about twice as much as anyone else, but once you are a bit higher up, an extra 2,000 experience per level isn't quite as painful when you're already in need of thousands upon thousands.
There is a reason drow don't last.
There is a reason that not everyone is level 20. If someone is dedicated enough to make it to 20, then a drow trying to make theoretical level 22 isn't that much more of a far cry to me. My guess would that drow simply have a higher mortality rate based on what they are and how they act, or people apply for it and get disillusioned with the roleplay and give it up... Not that their amazing bonuses are somehow falsely advertised.