What makes dwarves so good?

[Thealtruistorc]

The more I dwell here, the more I see people praising dwarves as one of 3.5's best races. Honestly, I've yet to see why they are so powerful. Besides the bonus to con with only a charisma penalty, what makes dwarves such a powerful race?

[eggynack]

Do people really talk about them being awesome that much? It's a pretty good race, which offers what is likely the second most powerful set of abilities and bonuses of any race in core, after human. You can never go too far off course with a dwarf, unless you're playing something cha focused, because constitution is a secondary stat for everyone. Dwarves aren't great, but they're reasonable. You're usually going to be better off with something that's particularly good for your class/build, however.

[Werephilosopher]

Really? I haven't seen that much praise, definitely not as much as I've seen for strongheart halflings, gray elves, illumians, or anthropomorphic bats. Personally I'd say they fall right in the middle in terms of racial power- not too strong, but good enough to make a solid character.

They do get some sweet dwarf-only prcs though- Runesmith, Deepstone Sentinel, and Ironsoul Forgemaster come to mind. Also, they have nice beards.

[satorian]

It's not really that complicated. A powerful race has to have LA +0, since the LA system, barring buyoff, is too punitive to ever take anything more. If you have buyoff, LA +1 races are better usually, but only then, and only some of them. Without buyoff, you want a net benefit to things that are actually useful. Humans have that, with feat and skills. Dwarves have that, with useful ability scores and save bonuses. Elves kinda do, but losing Con hurts, so they are a bit lower. Half elves do not gain anything useful enough to lose the human feat. Gnomes and halflings are fine for non-bruisers, but their gains usually won't be as good as the human feat.

Basically, the idea is that for a race to be great LA0 race, it needs to at least rival the free feat humans get. Dwarves arguably do for any non-bard/sorc/paladin class. The other are far too situational. And losing Con is bad, while gaining is good for everyone.

Dwarves are good. Not as good as humans or maybe Elans, but good. They don't make good everythings: only humans do that. But generally dwarves are good all around, and not just in corner cases like the other races often are.

[Jeff the Green]

Do people really talk about them being awesome that much? It's a pretty good race, which offers what is likely the second most powerful set of abilities and bonuses of any race in core, after human. You can never go too far off course with a dwarf, unless you're playing something cha focused, because constitution is a secondary stat for everyone. Dwarves aren't great, but they're reasonable. You're usually going to be better off with something that's particularly good for your class/build, however.

Don't forget the bonus to saves vs. magic. In other words, a bonus to saves.

[eggynack]

Don't forget the bonus to saves vs. magic. In other words, a bonus to saves.
Yeah, that's some pretty sweet business also. The race as a whole is still within good territory, given that, rather than so good territory.

[Vinyl Scratch]

They are the only race I know of that can ignore armor speed penalties. They can even use the tumble skill in heavy armor.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

People have already hit the big points, but it helps to also consider the campaign.

Dwarves are a standard fantasy race, along with elves, goblins, humans, and half-pints of more than one variety. Some of the other amazing +0 LA races not so much. Some DMs have a thing against using one campaign setting's race outside of said setting, which hurts the strongheart halflings , others may take issue with the sheer bonus to a single stat that the anthropomorphic races give or the fact that they're walking, talking bats, birds, and snakes, or the fact that it could be a core-only game. For the Illumians, they shine brightest when used with casting classes, so other races would be better suited if you're not slinging spells.

Dwarves have none of those issues. Every living creature loves having a high Con score, the hit to charisma is far from painful in a lot of cases, the to-hit bonus versus goblins and orcs matters most at low levels - the same levels where such enemies are most common and bonuses less so, and a bonus to saves versus spells covers the two most common things that cause such things when it comes to subsystems (spells and powers).

[Jeff the Green]

the hit to charisma is far from painful in a lot of cases

There are also a lot of good subraces that change that. Desert, dream, and gold switch it to Dexterity (good for a Cleric, Paladin, or Crusader—particularly if dipping Deepwarden); arctic and earth add a penalty to Dexterity and a bonus to Strength, and Aleithian increase that Charisma penalty in favor of a bonus to Intelligence (making them an excellent choice for Archivists, Psions, and Wizard gishes who want to wear armor).

Basically, given any class (except perhaps Bard) there exists a dwarf subrace suited for it.

[HammeredWharf]

In addition to the other things mentioned in this thread, dwarves also have Darkvision and Stability. Both are quite useful early on.

[sideswipe]

and dwarves are just awesome anyway. in general. which means that you want to play them.

the fact they are a good race is a bonus.

[Red Fel]

Have a look in my sig. There's a handbook on being Dwarf Dwarfson, Chief Craftsdwarf of Dwarftown.

What, you need more reasons? Okay.

One, dwarves are on of the classical fantasy races, along with Elves and Orcs. But not everyone wants to play the archetypical treehugging prettyboy (looking at you, Legolas), or the bloodthirsty savage (looking at you, almost every Orc in literature). Yes, there are exceptions to those (I'm oversimplifying for humor), but the fact is that the three races named each have fairly consistent flavors, and sometimes you just like chocolate more than vanilla or strawberry.

Dwarves are chocolate in this example.

Two, dwarves are stubby drunken Scottish vikings. Don't ask why that's a thing; I don't know. It doesn't have to be. They could be French instead of Scottish. They could be poets instead of vikings. They could be so sober it hurts. Wouldn't matter. We think of them as short, stubby, drunken Scottish vikings, and it is awesome, and we love them for it.

Three, variety. For such a stable race (pun intended), dwarves are surprisingly varied. Again, see the handbook in my sig. There are classic dwarves, super-earthy dwarves, mage-dwarves, evil dwarves, Japanese dwarves, demon dwarves, all kinds of the buggers. Yes, this also holds true of Elves (two Elves walk into a bar; there is now a Bar-Elf sub-race) but see "treehugging prettyboys," above. You can find a particular kind of chocolate to suit your needs, be it milk, bittersweet, dark, or rich ganache. Which is usually also dark.

What I'm trying to say is that chocolate is delicious. And so are dwarves. Or something. And if you couldn't tell, most of this post was intended in partial jest.

[Psyren]

It's less that they are good (though they are) than that so many 3.5 races are meh or crap. And as others have mentioned, they have a lot of boons for being a core race.

[Zaq]

For the Illumians, they shine brightest when used with casting classes, so other races would be better suited if you're not slinging spells.

Gonna disagree with you on that. A +2 bonus on every single skill tied to your two favorite stats, whichever ones those may be, is hard to ignore. The ability to make up lost caster levels is nice, but illumians make absolutely crazy skillmonkeys.

Anyway. Dwarves. It's all been said before, but they're just a really nice package overall. A +2 on nearly every single save you'll ever make really is just that awesome. Also, stonecunning is seriously underrated. You can get a hell of a lot of mileage out of automatically sensing when some kind of unusual stonework is in play.

[JellyPooga]

Because, regardless of their actual Con score, HP or Fort save bonus, a Dwarf is always tougher than whoever they're comparing themselves to. Yes, this includes the Tarresque and (non-dwarven) gods.

Because, despite the fact that they might be a mewling, weakling Wizard or Thief (you know, instead of a proper, rough, tough, warrior), they'll still drink you under the table.

Because their foreheads are at groin height and they favour metallic headwear.

Because Axes and Chainmail.

Because stone lasts better than wood and bricks and because carved runes last longer than pen and ink.

Because they're stubborn and grumpy and stoic; a combination that always gets in own way in the end.

Because you can never get tired of songs about gold, beer or gold and beer.

Because sagas are better than stories.

Because bearded women are hot...no wait...not sure on that one. :smalltongue:

[ArcaneGlyph]

Beards, Beer and Battle Plate.
Dwarven Battle Plate.

I also really like their Axe Focus Fighter sub level and they have some fun feats that fit with Dwarves in races of stone.

Also you get to talk with a fun accent!

What's not to love?

[Shining Wrath]

It depends on what you're trying to do, which is true for any race other than humans, but there's a whole lot of character concept / class combinations where "tough bastard" fits, and dwarves are quintessential tough bastards.

[ArqArturo]

What I'm trying to say is that chocolate is delicious. And so are dwarves. Or something. And if you couldn't tell, most of this post was intended in partial jest.

I'm getting and idea for a Chocolate Golem crafted by dwarves.

[John Longarrow]

Because DWARVEN as a prefix for any alchoholic beverage increases both is deliciousness and potency by 300%!!!

Dwarven ALE

Dwarven BEER

Dwarven MEAD!!!

[Toliudar]

Oh, I get the game. Let me try!

DWARVEN PINA COLADA!

DWARVEN LONG ISLAND ICED TEA!

DWARVEN GRAND MARNIER!



Actually, dwarven grand marnier could be pretty great.

[ArqArturo]

Because DWARVEN as a prefix for any alchoholic beverage increases both is deliciousness and potency by 300%!!!

Dwarven ALE

Dwarven BEER

Dwarven MEAD!!!

Snark aside, there's a ginger beer called Ginger Beard (http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/160/71635/), with the picture of a dwarf in it :p. It's from the same brewers of the Hobgoblin ale.

[Jeff the Green]

Have a look in my sig. There's a handbook on being Dwarf Dwarfson, Chief Craftsdwarf of Dwarftown.

While we're linking handbooks, here's the dwarf section of my race handbook (I'm currently up to gnomes, so it'll be a while before it's officially up).

Dwarves
Yes, the beer is mandatory.

Traits


+2 Constitution -2 Charisma
Move at full speed in armor or while encumbered. This is actually quite handy. Among other things, this allows you to use Tumble in full plate. It’s also handy for those characters who want to dump Strength, effectively tripling what you can carry without reducing your speed.
Stonecunning. This is a bit situational. While it’s quite handy in dungeons and castles, if you’re in a somewhat less stereotypical campaign it’s going to be mostly useless.
WeaponFamiliarity. While the standard dwarven weapons are only slightly better than their martial equivalents, the dwarven warpike is a greatsword with reach. See CW p. 154 for details on this swap.
Stability. Being prone sucks. Don’t get tripped.
Saving throw bonuses. Poison and mind-affecting spells also suck—but even more so.
Combat bonuses. If you run up against goblins or giants a lot, this is a decent bonus. If not it’s useless.
Skill bonuses. Yippee. You’re good with stone.

Verdict: There’s a reason dwarves are considered in the top tier of LA 0 races. Between their ability modifiers, various abilities, and a bunch of subraces, they can take on a lot of different roles and be quite good at all of them.

Racial Options
Substitution Levels


Berronar Valkyrie PaladinCV (Female only) 3/4/6

At 3rd you lose divine health, but your equipment gains immunity to rust and acid, and you gain energy resistance to acid. If your DM likes destroying your equipment, this is okay, but most of the time I’d prefer disease immunity.
At 4th you give up turn undead for a limited pounce. Never, ever give up turn undead. Instead, get Travel Devotion to pseudo-pounce.
At 6th you lose remove disease and gain the ability to bind two creatures in an unbreakable oath. Unfortunately this is not like the one Snape made in Half Blood Prince, but only fatigues the oathbreaker and alerts you and the other oathmaker. You also gain a cantrip as an SLA at will. Whoopee.


ClericRoS 1/4/8

d10 hit die and add Knowledge (dungeoneering) as a class skill
At 1st you give up turn undead and get the ability to smite giants 1+Constitution modifier times per day. How often do you fight giants? And how many awesome divine feats are there?
At 4th you give up a 2nd-level spell slot for Weapon Proficiency (warhammer) and a +2 bonus to damage with warhammers. (Only clerics of a deity with warhammer as a favored weapon can take this level.) Considering that you could use that slot to cast bull’s strength for +2 damage and +2 to hit (and this is one of the worse options for a 2nd-level slot) this is a bad deal.
At 8th you give up a 4th-level spell slot for +1 CL for [Earth] spells while touching the ground. This is kind of tempting, actually, because clerics get some decent [Earth] spells. Unfortunately, by 8th level you should be in a prestige class anyway, and most of them will give you a better ability than this.


FighterRoS 1/2/8

d12 hit die and add Knowledge (dungeoneering) as a class skill.
At 1st you give up your bonus feat and gain +1 to attack with axes. If you were planning on taking Weapon Focus at 1st level this is a step up, giving you some versatility with weapons. You shouldn’t be taking Weapon Focus, and you shouldn’t be taking this.
At 2nd you give up your bonus feat and gain +2 damage to orcs, goblins, and giants. Weapon Specialization is better than this, and Weapon Specialization is horrible. Even worse, this disallows you from taking dungeoncrasher.
At 8th level you give up your bonus feat and gain +1 AC when wearing heavy armor. This is worse than Heavy Armor OptimizationPHBII, and that’s a horrible feat.


Golden Hands of Verdagain RogueCoV WE 2/3/6

Add Survival as a class skill.
At 2nd you give up a +1 to Reflex but gain Favored Enemy for an organization that opposes dwarves. In the right situation (like a campaign focuses on such an organization), this is excellent, but most of the time it’s going to be a downgrade.
At 3rd you give up Trap Sense and gain Track as a bonus feat. Particularly if you plan on PrCing out, this is a good trade. It’s even better if you can convince your DM you should be able to swap out for Urban TrackingUA.
At 6th you trade a point of BAB for an ability called Urban Tracking. As written this is really wonky, as whether there’s snow or not will change your Gather Information DC. If instead your DM says you get the Urban Tracking feat, this is a fairly even trade. This becomes more attractive if you’re playing in an urban campaign, aren’t combat-focused anyway, or don’t care much about BAB (say, you’re using touch attacks).


SorcererRoS 1/5/9

d6 HD and add Knowledge (dungeoneering) as a class skill.
At 1st you give up your familiar for the Alertness feat and DR 1/adamantine whenever you touch the ground. Just the familiar is almost certainly better than this, and Metamagic SpecialistPHBII is even better. If you really don’t want a familiar or to use metamagic, and don’t want to give up spell slots to prevent damage, I suppose this is okay.
At 5th you give up a 2nd-level spell known for the ability to channel spells through the earth, increasing range and DC. This would be much better if it worked when you or an enemy are flying, but even so it’s not a terrible option.
At 9th you give up a 4th-level spell known, but add your Constitution modifier to your Charisma score to determine bonus spells per day. Assuming your Constitution is 14-16, that means you get an extra 1-2 spells per day. You’re not hurting for spells (you chose a subrace without a Charisma penalty, right?), so this isn’t worth it.


SoulbornMoI (LG only) 1/4/9

d12 hit die and add Knowledge (dungeoneering) to class skills.
At 1st you get an extra +1 to hit with a warhammer when smiting. You don’t give anything up for this, so sure, go ahead.
At 4th you give up your bonus feat for a bonus to your various racial Appraise/Search/Damage rolls. The problem is that this bonus is equal to the number of soulmelds you have shaped. Check the table. How many of those do you get? You’re much better off with an Incarnum feat to boost your pitiful essentia pool.
At 9th you get the ability to share your Incarnum Defense with any dwarf within 30’ as a free action. Again, you give nothing up, so go ahead.


Feats

Aberrant DragonmarkECS. Tenser’s floating disk and shield are fun, but the others suffer from low DCs.

Lesser Aberrant DragonmarkDmk. I’m fond of bestow curse and suggestion, but false life and darkvision are useful too.

Greater Aberrant DragonmarkDmk. Enervation and dominate person are fun.



Ancestral KnowledgeRoS. This is fantastic for a cleric or ardent with Knowledge Devotion, and decent for anyone else with it but without the desire for a high Intelligence. Wisdom is overall better than Intelligence.
AzerbloodRoF. Just get fire immunity.
Battle HardenedRoS. Improved Initiative is better, though if you expect to be targeted with fear effects this might be worth it.
Clan PrestigeRoS. A hefty bonus, sure. But really, how often are you going to be hard pressed to convince your clan of something?
Cornered RatDCS. First, you’d have to be a gully dwarf. Second, you can’t control when your enemies will Intimidate you. I suppose on a diplomancer build this could be okay, but gully dwarves are pathetic diplomancers.
DisentanglerRoF. Another +2/+2 feat. Slightly better because one of the +2s is grapple checks, but still not good.
Duergar MindshaperRoF. If for some reason you’re playing a grey dwarf enchanter or beguiler, this is a good choice. It’s mechanically superior to Spell Focus (enchantment) and will stack with it, but unfortunately it won’t qualify you for the few feats that require Spell Focus.
Duerran Metaform TrainingCV. This is good for a Psychic Warrior, Ardent, or gishy Psion, but only if you’re using the XPH Duergar that has expansion as a PLA and not the MM one that has enlarge person as an SLA. PLAs are automatically augmented so this effectively gives you expansion as a power known and saves you PP after 5th level.
Dwarven Armor ProficiencyRoS. While better than Exotic Armor Proficiency, it still sucks. If you feel the need to wear super heavy armor, go for Thaalud Stone or Mechanus Gear.
Earth FistRoS. If you’re planning on fighting a lot of flightless fairies or devils, sure.
ForgeheartPGtF. Fire resistance is easily acquired. If you feel like you really need a nonmagical source, pick a Fireblood.
Gold Dwarf DweomersmithRoF. Not all that great. If you can convince your DM to add other spells to the list, it might be worth it, though. For a crafter, the discount is pitiful and you have better things to do with your feats.
Hammer FistRoF. For an unarmed barbarian this might be okay. Emphasis on might.
Improved Weapon FamiliarityRoS. There’s a rule in CW that lets you swap out racial weapon familiarity for other weapons associated with your race. Use that.
Iron MindRoF. In most campaigns, where psionics are an afterthought, this is worse than Iron Will. In a world like Athas where psionics are an everyday thing this is quite good.
Least DragonmarkECS. Dwarves have access to the Mark of Warding. It’s a little lackluster at this level.

Lesser DragonmarkECS. The Lesser Mark of Warding, on the other hand, has potential. glyph of warding without the material component or misdirection can be useful.

Greater DragonmarkECS. While greater mark of warding is excellent as an SLA, guards and wards is even better. It doesn’t see use a lot because of its long casting time, but you can now use it as a standard action. And you get it two levels before a Wizard!



Manticore’s StingDrmk. If you’re planning on using throwing weapons but not precision damage (say, a factotum), this isn’t a bad choice since it’s basically Manyshot without useless prerequisites and an added bonus.
Moradin’s SmileRoS. A slightly worse, non-Exalted Nymph’s Kiss.
Mror StalwartRoE. No.
Shield Dwarf WarderRoF. Like the Gold Dwarf equivalent, this is better if you can convince your DM to apply it to other spells, and definitely not for crafters.
Stable FootingRoE. Normally such a feat is pretty darn worthless, but it’s an excellent choice for DMs to put on NPCs if they have a Crusader tripper in the party.
StoneshaperRoF. Another +2/+2 feat.
Thunder TwinPGtF. For such an awesome name this is kind of a letdown. It’s basically Moradin’s Smile. It deserves consideration, though, for the roleplaying potential, particularly if taken by two party members playing twins.
Undermountain TacticsDng. Minor situational bonuses, uncommon situations.


Classes


BattleragerRoF. One good feat, one bad feat, and one okay feat as prerequisites; one two bad, one okay, and one good feat as bonuses. You also get extra uses of rage faster than a barbarian. You have better things to do with your feats and levels.
BattlesmithRoS. While the concept is cool, the execution is lacking. You can craft magic armor and weapons, but don’t have the spells to do so. You gain a very small bonus to AC. You delay fatigue and exhaustion, but unless you have rage this will only come up rarely. The capstone is pretty nice, though; if you can get the Mind over Body maneuver to make the Fortitude save less difficult.
Deepstone SentinelToB. Deepstone Sentinel is an underappreciated class. While many of its abilities (and the Stone Dragon stances) go away if you move more than 5’ in a round, you can always regain them with a swift action. It is an excellent addition to a lockdown build and can do some interesting things with dungeoncrasher as well.
DeepwardenRoS. Though its SLAs are useful (animal messenger, sending, and greater animal messenger), the real reason to take the class is its second level ability: you add your Constitution bonus to AC, not your Dexterity. This means you can dump Dexterity and wear the heaviest armor you want because it’s not constrained by the armor’s maximum Dexterity bonus. A two level dip is excellent for any heavily armored fighter, though the rest of the levels likely aren’t worth it.
Dwarven DefenderDMG. Dwarven Defender is legendarily bad. You’re hard to kill, but since you can’t move there’s no way to force enemies to attack you. Your defensive stance is limited per day. And everything else it gets is pretty darn useless. If you really want to play a dwarven wall of steel, be a Deepstone Sentinel.
Great Rift Deep DefenderSS. This is basically Dwarven Defender, but the defensive stance is worse.
Hammer of MoradinPGtF. While this is an interesting class, it’s basically superceded by combining Bloodstorm Blade with Boomerang Daze. Also for some reason it requires at least three levels in a divine casting class but doesn’t progress casting.
Ironsoul ForgemasterMoI. What Battlesmith should have been. While you still need someone else to provide spells to craft magic items, you progress meldshaping and gain the ability to enhance your equipment with essentia. Really, most dwarf incarnates should pick this up.
OlamCA. You trade two levels of spellcasting for crappy bardic music and knowledge. No.
RunesmithRoS. This is pretty darn awesome for a gish. A dip in dragonslayer will get you armor proficiency and then you can take this. The ability to share your runes is particularly cool; it allows you to share Personal spells like mirror image, alter self, and the bite of the lycanthrope line.
Silver KeyDmk. While this has a few interesting abilities, in the end it’s neither powerful nor focused enough to be worth it.
StonelordCW. While there are a few interesting things you can do with it (c.f. the Iron Chef competition (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?150595-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-IV)), it’s too weak and scattered to be of use in most builds.


Subraces


Aleithian DwarfOnline (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psb/20030926a)

Traits:

+2 Constitution +2 Intelligence -4 Charisma
Darkvision 90 ft.
Psi-like abilities. These are some really nice abilities. PLAs are automatically augmented, so empty mind gives you a bonus of 2 + ½ your HD to Will saves. Ego whip unfortunately suffers from now having its DC based on your Charisma, but honestly you’d only be using it on those enemies for whom even the half damage is crippling anyway. Unfortunately the two 0th level powers, as 0th level powers, were never updated in 3.5 books. Ectoplasmic repair was updated here (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040827e), but finger of fire wasn’t. (Don’t bother converting it; it does 1d3 fire damage on a ranged touch.)
Light sensitivity. Why is this not red? Because you can buy immunity for 10 GP—sundark goggles, from Races of Stone, negates this at the cost of -2 to Search and Spot.


Yeah… +2 Intelligence and good PLAs for an additional -2 Charisma and needing to buy a pair of goggles? This is pushing the bounds of LA 0. This is a fantastic race for a Psion or Wizard.


Aquatic DwarfUA

Traits:

+2 Strength +2 Constitution -4 Dexterity -2 Charisma
Aquaticsubtype
20 ft swim speed


Aquatic dwarves are basically your only dwarven choice for an aquatic campaign, and also only a choice for such a campaign. They fit many of the same archetypes as their more common land-bound brethren, except for the Dexterity penalty making it difficult for them to use ranged attacks (which are iffy underwater anyway) and light armor (which is more of a problem because of the ACP penalty to Swim).


Arctic DwarfUA

Traits:

+2 Strength +2 Constitution -4 Dexterity -2 Charisma
Cold Endurance. While this will probably be irrelevant in all but the lowest-level campaigns, the bonus is quite hefty when it does come up.
Icecunning. Stonecunning (and your skill bonuses) applies to ice too. In the Frostfell, this could be cool. Anywhere else, entirely irrelevant.
Attack bonus vs. Kobolds. You lose out on a bonus vs. orcs, so the value of this is campaign dependant.


While arctic dwarves are a tempting choice for a Dexterity-dumping, Strength-based class like a Crusader or Cleric, it’s mostly eclipsed by earth dwarf. The only thing that makes it better is that it doesn’t lose the bonus to saves vs. spells.


Badlands DwarfSand

Traits:

Waterwise. Essentially stonecunning for water. Campaign-dependent; in a Waste campaign this can be a life-saver.
Dehyration tolerance. You can go about twice as long without water. Same as waterwise, this is either very useful or very useless.
No skill bonuses. Whoop di doo.
Heat Endurance bonus feat. This helps you enter Walker in the Waste, I suppose, if only Walker in the Waste didn’t want a decent Charisma score.


All in all, the only mechanical reason to pick a badlands dwarf over your garden-variety shield/hill dwarf is if you plan on playing in the Waste. On the other hand, there’s really very little that you give up, so if you want to be a dwarf from the desert, there’s very little reason not to pick it.


Dark DwarfDCS

Traits:

+2 Constitution -4 Charisma
Darkvision 120’. The best you’ll get on a dwarf.
Skill bonuses. Good on a scout or rogue.
Light Sensitivity. Why is this not red? Because you can buy immunity for 10 GP—sundark goggles, from Races of Stone, negates this at the cost of -2 to Search and Spot.


I suppose if you’re making a roguish character who’s already dumping Charisma, this is a good choice. Otherwise the skill bonuses aren’t worth the hit to Charisma.


Deep DwarfMM

Traits:

Increased bonus to saves. Poison immunity is easy to come by, but spells are probably the most common thing forcing you to make saving throws.
Darkvision 90’. Not being blind is nice.
Light sensitivity. Why is this not red? Because you can buy immunity for 10 GP—sundark goggles, from Races of Stone, negates this at the cost of -2 to Search and Spot.


So… an additional 5% chance to save against spells for having to wear some cheap goggles? Sign me up!


Desert DwarfUA

Traits:

+2 Constitution -2 Dexterity
No Stonecunning.
Combat bonusesvs. reptiles. The game is ‘Dungeons and Dragons’, not ‘Dungeons and Giants’. On the other hand, orcs and goblins are more common than reptilian humanoids.
Knowledge Bonuses. Knowledge skills, even Architecture and Engineering, are generally better than Craft and Appraise.


Desert dwarves are a good choice for Charisma-based classes like Sorcerer, Wilder, Bard, or Marshal, and particularly for classes like Knight, Crusader, and Paladin who have Charisma as a secondary stat and will be dumping Dexterity anyway. They’re roughly equivalent to gold dwarves, being possibly a bit better for the Knowledge bonuses.


Dream DwarfRoS

Traits:

+2 Con -2 Dex
Darkvision 90’. Slighting farther than regular dwarves.
Bonus to diplomacy with [Earth] creatures.
Dreamsight. This is kinda situational, but when it comes up it will be very useful—and unlike some other situational abilities, it will come up in many different campaigns. The two big things it helps with is preventing ethereal ambush and saving you the need to cast true seeing when ghostbusting.
Spell power. If you’re a dream dwarf, this is probably why. This means longer durations, better chances of getting a useful answer from your divinations, and more damage. This is particularly good on a Wizard x/Divine Oracle y with the spontaneous divination ACF.
No saving throw bonuses. Why you gotta ruin my vibe, dream dwarf? Dwarves’ bonuses to saves vs. spells is really nice and losing it hurts. Oh, and I’d rather keep the bonus vs. poisons too.
No combat bonuses. This is less painful than the loss of the save bonuses because it’s pretty situational.


I want to like dream dwarves so much, and dreamsight and spell power are awesome abilities, but losing the bonus to saves vs. spells is painful. Over all, a fair choice for someone who will be casting divinations regularly, but for all other applications desert or gold dwarves are a better pick if you don’t want a penalty to Strength.


Earth DwarfUA

Traits:

+2 Strength +2 Constitution -2 Dexterity -2 Charisma
Improved stonecunning. Your situational ability has improved. Sure, it’s nice, but not fantastic
No bonus on saves against spells. Boo. Spells are probably the most common source of saving throws, and +2 (or +3) is a good boost.
No racial attack bonus. You lose your weak situational ability.
Increased skill bonuses. Your nearly useless ability is slightly more powerful, but no more useful.


Earth dwarves make excellent tanks, and so are an obvious choice for Deepstone Sentinel or Cleric. They can also make good Wizard- or Wu Jen-based gishes; the Dexterity penalty isn’t as painful when you’re an Abjurant Champion or using illusions to protect you better than AC ever could.


Fireblood DwarfDrM

Traits:

Dragonblood subtype. There are no downsides to this, but it doesn’t benefit you much. You don’t qualify for the interesting Draconic feats because you shouldn’t be a sorcerer, and the ones you do qualify for aren’t particularly useful because you’re associated with red dragons and so all of them do fire damage (to which enemies are often resistant or immune).
Dragon dodge. Again, ‘Dungeons and Dragons’, not ‘Dungeons and Giants.’ Unlike desert dwarves, you keep your bonuses to attack vs. orcs and goblins too.
Resistance to fire. Immunity to poison is easy to come by, but so is fire resistance. At low levels, where fire is more dangerous than poison, this is probably better than the poison resistance. Any other fire resistance will make this irrelevant, though.


Because they’re related to red dragons and in any case they have a Charisma penalty, fireblood dwarves are probably the worst of the draconic


Glacier DwarfFrost

Traits:

Icecunning. Stonecunning (and your skill bonuses) applies to ice too. In the Frostfell, this could be cool. Anywhere else, entirely irrelevant.
Cold Tolerant. Usually I’m more worried about poison than cold effects and exposure, but in the right campaign this can be a fair trade.


For a cold-climate dwarf, glacier dwarves are slightly better than their arctic cousins. While arctic dwarves get a nice bonus to Strength that many dwarves will use, glacier dwarves don’t have that painful penalty to Dexterity. Also, while arctic dwarves have a higher bonus to saves against cold weather, glacier dwarves’ bonus also applies to cold effects like orb of cold.


Gold DwarfPGtF

Traits

-2 Dexterity +2 Constitution
Attack bonus vs. aberrations. Like all the other subraces that change this ability, it’s situational but never really a deciding factor.


If you want to play a dwarf Sorcerer, Wilder, Bard, Marshal, or other Charisma-based class, this is your default choice. On balance desert dwarves are somewhat better because of their bonus to Knowledge checks, but the difference isn’t great.


Gully DwarfDCS

Traits:

+2 Dexterity +2 Constitution -4 Intelligence -4 Charisma
Small. Good and bad. Generally I prefer being small, but if you want to play a lockdown build or dungeoncrasher this is a problem.
Slowed by encumbrance. This sucks.
Survival Instinct. A wilderness rogue or scout could make good use of this.
Hardy. Same as a normal dwarf, except also for disease.
Pitiable. You’re an adventurer. You do not beg for mercy.
Cowardly. Really? A racial penalty to saves?
No save bonuses vs. spells. This was one of the best things about dwarves.
No Stonecunning. Eh. It’s a bit situational anyway.
No racial combat bonuses. They were situational to begin with, but still helpful.
No stability. Being knocked on your back isn’t fun.


This… this is not a dwarf. It’s not even a PC race. This is to regular dwarves what Commoners are to Warblades.


Jungle DwarfUA

Triats:

Low-Light Vision. Not really better or worse, just for different situations.
Skill bonuses. Maybe a little better, but not by much.
No stonecunning. Sad. Of course, it was a bit situational to begin with.


Eh, not much of a change. The loss of stonecunning hurts a bit, but if you’re running a purely above-ground campaign it’s probably a bit better than the standard.


KorobokuruOA

Traits:

+2 Constitution -2 Intelligence
Small. Good and bad. Generally I prefer being small, but if you want to play a lockdown build or dungeoncrasher this is a problem.
Slowed by encumbrance. This sucks.
Skill bonuses. A bit of an improvement, maybe.
No stonecunning. Again, sort of a loss, but only barely.


Korobokuru have a few niche uses. Like halflings and gnomes they’re good mounted by virtue of not needing large mounts, and are probably better sorcadins than other dwarf subraces. For most other roles, though, their small size, Intelligence penalty, and the loss of their ability to move in armor


Lesser DuergarPGtF

Traits:

+2 Constitution -4 Charisma
No weapon familiarity. For the most part, dwarves’ racial weapons are just a slight damage bonus, so this isn’t much of a loss.
Save bonus vs. phantasms and paralysis. Note that this stacks with the +2 bonus against spells in general.
Skill bonuses. Like the save bonuses, this is in addition to the normal one dwarves get.
SLAs. This isn’t bad to begin with, but it’s even better if you use the XPH version that gets it as an expansion PLA instead.
Light sensitivity. Like their deep brethren, lesser duergar can just buy sundark goggles to get rid of this.


Unless you plan on doing something with Charisma (and, as a dwarf, you’re not probably), lesser duergar are straight up better than your garden variety shield/hill dwarves. Particularly if you use the XPH version, (and possibly combine it with Duerran Metaform Training) they make excellent psigishes.


Mountain DwarfMM

Mountain dwarf, same as the hill dwarf. Just taller and paler.


Seacliff DwarfStorm

Traits:

No racial attack bonuses. You lose a small, situational bonus.
Strong swimmers. You gain an equally small, situational bonus.


These are probably a better choice than either the standard hill/shield dwarf or the aquatic dwarf for a naval campaign, but for nothing else. Of course, for standard land-campaigns they’re not much worse than hill/shield dwarves either.


Stonefire DwarfXPH

It’s a hill/shield dwarf with Wilder as its favored class. This is roughly equivalent to a half-orc with Wizard favored class.


Wild DwarfRoF

Traits:

Small. Good and bad. Generally I prefer being small, but if you want to play a lockdown build or dungeoncrasher this is a problem.
Weapon proficiency. Generally I prefer the familiarity, but this does give some new proficiencies and synergizes well with…
Poison use. Cool.
Fire resistance. Fairly minor and past the lowest levels superseded by spells and magic items. Still, it’s kind of cool to be able to set yourself on fire and get hurt only after half a minute.
Saving throw bonuses. Poisons and diseases suck.
No stonecunning. Sad, but it was situational to begin with.


Wild dwarves are an interesting choice. Of the three small dwarves it’s the only one that doesn’t lose its ability to move unslowed by encumbrance or armor. Its bonuses and proficiency with the blowgun also make it a decent choice for an assassin (not the class).


Classes
Perhaps obviously, dwarves are good tanks. They make especially good Crusaders because of the Deepstone Sentinel prestige class, but also do well as Psychic Warriors, Incarnates, and Totemists. They can also be surprisingly good mages, with Wizards, Wu Jen, Psions, and Archivists all making good use of the Constitution bonus and ignoring the Charisma penalty. Aleithian dwarves in particular are good for Intelligence-based casters with their +2 Intelligence. Clericsand Druids like the Constitution bonus too, but the former loses a use of Turn Undead.

Charisma-based classes aren’t a good fit for the standard hill/shield dwarves, but other subraces can make good Sorcerers, Marshals, Dragonfire Adepts, FavoredSouls, and SpiritShamans. Clerics also like the subraces with no Charisma penalty.

Essentially, given any class there exists a dwarf subrace that excels in it.

Tricks


A dwarf with the Quick trait moves at the same speed as most medium humanoids and can still do so in armor—you can also Tumble in heavy armor, which is a visual worth the ACP. The drawback (-1 HP/level) is less painful because you’re getting +1 HP/level from your +2 Constitution.


(Excuse the formatting, I haven't yet got the BBCode worked out so it's just copy/pasted from Google Docs.)

[Psyren]

Because DWARVEN as a prefix for any alchoholic beverage increases both is deliciousness and potency by 300%!!!

Dwarven ALE

Dwarven BEER

Dwarven MEAD!!!

Any race does that. Elven Firewine, Halfling Honeymead, Orcish Grog etc. :smalltongue:

It's a similar phenomenon to how throwing a nationality or location in front of food makes it more appetizing. Maine Lobster, Spanish Rice, Texas Toast...

[Gildedragon]

Oh, I get the game. Let me try!

DWARVEN PINA COLADA!

DWARVEN LONG ISLAND ICED TEA!

DWARVEN GRAND MARNIER!



Actually, dwarven grand marnier could be pretty great.

or for that matter:
DWARVEN ZOMBIE
"Nay, not the onyx-for eyes one. The other one. This one one you can drink.
Nay, neither the ooze dwarven zombie... Please dinnae call the clerics!
ah buggerit, let's just change the name:" -Donur Saltstache: First Dwarven Cocktaileer
DWARVEN SKULL PUNCHER!!!

But yeah: race diversity, bonus to con, decent saves. Good traits overall. Unlike the horcs that really got late to the racial-bonus allocation party

[John Longarrow]

Psyren
But Texas Toast is neither 300% more delicious or 300% more potent than regular toast.
And Orcish Grog would still be Grog. Grog is the anti-Dwarvish drink as it involves taking a good alchoholic beverage and diluting it.

[Gildedragon]

Psyren
But Texas Toast is neither 300% more delicious or 300% more potent than regular toast.
And Orcish Grog would still be Grog. Grog is the anti-Dwarvish drink as it involves taking a good alchoholic beverage and diluting it.

Dwarvish grog involves taking an alcoholic beverage and diluting it... in pure alcohol.

[Elderand]

Dwarvish grog involves taking an alcoholic beverage and diluting it... in pure alcohol.

Diluting, you keep using that word.

[Jeff the Green]

Diluting, you keep using that word.

You can absolutely dilute the water in rum by adding 100% EtOH. :smallbiggrin:

[Elderand]

You can absolutely dilute the water in rum by adding 100% EtOH. :smallbiggrin:

And contaminating perfectly good EtOH with some watery rum ? I think not. A true dwarf would distill the RUM to get rid of the sily water entirely and keep only the alcohol.

[Psyren]

But Texas Toast is neither 300% more delicious or 300% more potent than regular toast.

French Toast then :smalltongue: And the fact that you only took issue with that one proves my point.



And Orcish Grog would still be Grog. Grog is the anti-Dwarvish drink as it involves taking a good alchoholic beverage and diluting it.

Aren't you "diluting" beer with rum? i.e. making it stronger?

(Unless you meant rum is the dwarvish drink, but I always thought beer was more associated with them than rum.)

And here again, only one example...

[Gildedragon]

And contaminating perfectly good EtOH with some watery rum ? I think not. A true dwarf would distill the RUM to get rid of the sily water entirely and keep only the alcohol.

but the water is where the character of the drink is
Otherwise they'll pass any grain-grown swill for the true rock-pressed stuff.

[holywhippet]

Because their foreheads are at groin height and they favour metallic headwear.


You might be thinking of halflings/gnomes. Dwarves are about 4 - 4.5 feet tool according to the rules. Most people have their groins a lot lower than that.

I wonder if you could use that as a valid battle trick if you were a halfling. Wear a helmet with a single spike or horns, crouch beneath your opponent then stand up.

[Shining Wrath]

You might be thinking of halflings/gnomes. Dwarves are about 4 - 4.5 feet tool according to the rules. Most people have their groins a lot lower than that.

I wonder if you could use that as a valid battle trick if you were a halfling. Wear a helmet with a single spike or horns, crouch beneath your opponent then stand up.

Essentially how Samwise wounded Shelob.

[JellyPooga]

You might be thinking of halflings/gnomes. Dwarves are about 4 - 4.5 feet tool according to the rules. Most people have their groins a lot lower than that.

I wonder if you could use that as a valid battle trick if you were a halfling. Wear a helmet with a single spike or horns, crouch beneath your opponent then stand up.

Maybe you associate with giant Dwarves, but my dwarves are a might more...condensed than that :smalltongue:

[RedMage125]

Orcish Grog?

*Imagines a scenario with an adventurer at a bar with a 1/2 orc bartender*
Bartender: Our special tonight is Orcish Grog
Adventurer: What's in it?
Bartender: Mostly rust.

Back on topic:
Dwarves, contrary to all fluff and flavor text in existence, make FANTASTIC wizards. Bonus to CON shores up low hps, bonus to all saves against any hostile spell cast at you makes you a great anti-caster. Get you some +x mithril breastplate of nimbleness and twilight (with a thistledown lining) and be the most bad-*** wizard in the dungeon.

[Coidzor]

You might be thinking of halflings/gnomes. Dwarves are about 4 - 4.5 feet tool according to the rules. Most people have their groins a lot lower than that.

I wonder if you could use that as a valid battle trick if you were a halfling. Wear a helmet with a single spike or horns, crouch beneath your opponent then stand up.

One of the two Horned Helms(Magic Item Compendium version) gives a Gore attack with its horns. Though a Halfling would have to shrink down with Reduce Person to use Confound the Big Folk & the other fun feats for taking advantage of their small size against opponents, IIRC.

[Jeff the Green]

Back on topic:
Dwarves, contrary to all fluff and flavor text in existence, make FANTASTIC wizards. Bonus to CON shores up low hps, bonus to all saves against any hostile spell cast at you makes you a great anti-caster. Get you some +x mithril breastplate of nimbleness and twilight (with a thistledown lining) and be the most bad-*** wizard in the dungeon.

Which would be why in my home setting they have the most practical and military magic power. The only reason the elves survive is Favored Souls a whole lot of inhospitable terrain, and the gnomes only have their navy and Sorcerer slaves.

Anyway, they also have one of the best Gish classes available: Runesmith. You do lose 3 points of BAB, but lose their somatic components and gain the ability to share Personal buffs.