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PumpkinEater
2009-08-08, 12:59 PM
The Dwarves

Personality: The dwarves are rough, cruel, and devious. They reside in the Glass Mountain range, and are rarely seen. Like the elves, only myths and legends exist about them. Dwarves are generally bloodthirsty fiends, although they generally have a code of honor which they adhere to (typically not harming defenseless children). Dwarven arms and armor are finely crafted, and dwarves spend most of their time either mining for ore, forging weapons and armor, or training. Dwarves hold one another in high respect, and there are little, if ever any, disputes between themselves.

Physical Description: Dwarves stand at about 3 and a half feet tall, and are quite broad. They have extraordinarily pale skin (when not covered in dust and soot), and their hair colors range from light gray to black. They typically have red eyes, and large eyebrows. They weigh about 120 – 160 pounds on average, and they are considered adults at the age of 20. Dwarves normally live to be about 200 years old.

Alignment: Dwarves are generally evil, although many of them are also neutrally aligned. Dwarves tend towards lawfulness, although there are some chaotic dwarves, and they are the more bloodthirsty of them.

Relations: Dwarves are completely unaware of the existence of elves, and they would regard them as humans if they were to ever meet one. The dwarves occasionally raid human encampments in the Glass Mountains, but only for the thrill of killing. They take nothing from these encampments, considering worthless, low quality trinkets anyhow.

Dwarven Lands: The dwarven homeland, Grunweld, is within the Glass Mountains, as a large network of caves linked throughout multiple mountains. These caves extend below the bases of the mountains as well. Mining tunnels are spread all through the Glass Mountains, and the dwarven homeland spread slowly throughout. There are many chambers for training, and there is one specific chamber that is used to hold staged battles.

Religion: The dwarves believe in no god.


+4 Constitution, -2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom
Medium size: Elves, being medium, receive no adjustments based on size.
Speed: A dwarf’s base land speed is 20 feet. Dwarves receive no penalty on movement speed when wearing medium or heavy armor, or when carrying a medium or heavy load.
Skill Affinity (Forging and Mining): Dwarves receive a +2 racial bonus on all craft (Weaponsmithing), craft (Armorsmithing), and profession (miner) checks.
Cold Endurance: Dwarves receive a +6 racial bonus on fortitude saves to resist the effects of cold weather or exposure.
Arctic Stalkers: Dwarves receive a +4 racial bonus to hide, move silently, and survival checks made when in an arctic environment.
Stonecunning: This ability grants a dwarf a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like. Something that isn’t stone but that is disguised as stone also counts as unusual stonework. A dwarf who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and a dwarf can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A dwarf can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up.
Icecunning: Dwarves can apply their stonecunning benefits to structures and natural features made of ice, as well as those made of stone.
Darkvision: Dwarves can see in the dark up to 120 feet away. Darkvision is in black and white only.
Languages: Dwarven
Favored Class: Fighter
Level Adjustment: +1


Okay. Dwarves! Thoughts?

AstralFire
2009-08-08, 01:19 PM
They're a pretty strong LA +1.

I would suggest tagging your threads for your Campaign Setting with something like [Name of Setting] in the title so people are aware these are supposed to be different from the core elements that share their names.

PumpkinEater
2009-08-08, 01:22 PM
They're a pretty strong LA +1.

I would suggest tagging your threads for your Campaign Setting with something like [Name of Setting] in the title so people are aware these are supposed to be different from the core elements that share their names.

Should I bump the natural armor up to +3, and set it to LA +2?

And I guess I'll tag 'em now. After I think of a name.

AstralFire
2009-08-08, 01:26 PM
No; leave them at LA +1. The higher the LA is, no matter how good a race is, the harder it is to use it in play. My personal tendency is to try to build everything down to LA +0, since a simple +2/-2 in the right places is often enough to get people to tend to build characters with associated stats. To use the base dwarves as an example, most will end up with +Str and +Con in character generation and level up because they have a low speed, but have benefits in armor, as well as taking a penalty to a mental stat which is less attractive for skill monkeys and casters beside the druid and wizard.

PumpkinEater
2009-08-08, 01:35 PM
No; leave them at LA +1. The higher the LA is, no matter how good a race is, the harder it is to use it in play. My personal tendency is to try to build everything down to LA +0, since a simple +2/-2 in the right places is often enough to get people to tend to build characters with associated stats. To use the base dwarves as an example, most will end up with +Str and +Con in character generation and level up because they have a low speed, but have benefits in armor, as well as taking a penalty to a mental stat which is less attractive for skill monkeys and casters beside the druid and wizard.

Ah... that makes sense, I see what you mean. Maybe I'll add on a wisdom penalty, and reduce the strength constitution bonus?

EDIT: Err... I mean constitution bonus. Whoops.

The Witch-King
2009-08-08, 01:52 PM
Okay. Dwarves! Thoughts?

Evil dwarves. Cool.

If such a significant portion of their time is spent forging weapons and armor, shouldn't they get some kind of a craft bonus?

And is there some reason they don't worship a god? Isn't a bit strange to be an atheist in a fantasy world? Or do they worship ancestor spirits or something?

PumpkinEater
2009-08-08, 01:56 PM
Evil dwarves. Cool.

If such a significant portion of their time is spent forging weapons and armor, shouldn't they get some kind of a craft bonus?

And is there some reason they don't worship a god? Isn't a bit strange to be an atheist in a fantasy world? Or do they worship ancestor spirits or something?

Oh yeah, I forgot about the craft bonus. I probably need to stick in a profession (mining) bonus too haha.

I don't know, I just thought about religion and these dwarves, and I was like "Naaah". Maybe worshiping ancestor spirits would fit in, like they worship those that died valorously in battle or something?

Maroon
2009-08-08, 02:38 PM
I don't know, I just thought about religion and these dwarves, and I was like "Naaah". Maybe worshiping ancestor spirits would fit in, like they worship those that died valorously in battle or something?
I'd imagine dwarves have a better use of their time than to waste it talking to dead people. They're practical, no-nonsense folk, and find it easier to believe in cold hard steel than in gods. Divine miracles reek of sorcery, anyway. Why pray to some invisible coward for aid when you can forge a sword and shield that'll serve you without wanting something in return?

Myiven
2009-08-08, 03:53 PM
I'm curious. Are these inspired by the Powries from R.A. Salvatore's books? They were pretty nasty.

I like evil dwarves more than good ones. I've always seen greed and obsession with wealth as a tad on the evil side.

PumpkinEater
2009-08-08, 04:00 PM
I'm curious. Are these inspired by the Powries from R.A. Salvatore's books? They were pretty nasty.

I like evil dwarves more than good ones. I've always seen greed and obsession with wealth as a tad on the evil side.

Never heard of Powries before.

Yeah, I always figured dwarves should be more evil than good.

AstralFire
2009-08-08, 04:01 PM
They actually are, traditionally.

Zuki
2009-08-08, 04:54 PM
They actually are, traditionally.

Evil or amoral? What tales of norse mythology, the best source of traditional dwarf myth I can think of, that I can bring to mind regarding dwarves seem to be somewhat more 'magical craftsmen with unparalleled skill that are typically out for their own self-interest' more so than what's typically regarded as 'evil' today.

The two dwarfen brothers that feature prominently in the Ring Cycle might be a significant exception this, I suppose.

I guess you have a point that the more traditional dwarf of norse mythology might somewhat more closely resemble a D&D Duergar than a Dwarf.