My friends and I are trying to come up with ways to get around the drow's sunlight limitations. We thought of using spells, but Darkness makes it impossible to see, which would defeat the purpose.
The best I've been able to come up with is lashing a large patio umbrella to a mule and making it follow the drow everywhere. Would this work, at least for a low level melee character?
What other options does our drow have?
This question is about what I can do as a player to take advantage of RAW; the players in my group don't mind being munchkin-y. Telling the GM to make the campaign take place at night isn't an option.
Best Answer
There is no disadvantage on spells that require saves, only on attack rolls.
Since drow racial abilities synergize well with being a Charisma-based caster, Sunlight Sensitivity is not such a harsh penalty as it might seem initially.
You can get around the penalty by playing a caster with cantrips and spells that do not require an attack roll, but use a saving throw instead, and use those when under the penalty of sunlight.
As an example, a bard could use Vicious Mockery, a sorcerer Acid Splash or Poison Spray and a cleric Sacred Flame. Here is a list of spells with saving throws.
The Darkness spell (and 5th-level drow ability) mentioned in other answers might help too; but, is generally too harmful to your own party to be of frequent use, even as a warlock with Devil's Sight.
Anything that grants advantage negates the disadvantage of Sunlight Sensitivity. "In such a situation, you have neither advantage nor disadvantage." (PHB, p. 173)
For example, as mentioned in a comment by @sadaqah, drow get Faerie Fire as a racial spell once per day at 3rd level and can use it to (potentially) negate the sunlight disadvantage.