Oath Of Ancients the Dwarven way

[Johnny Krillers]

The title is hopefully kinda self explanatory, but here's clarification. How do you think an order of Dwarves would bolster the light of life, happiness and all things good? If you want some tighter parameters I could use help with on dwarf in particular as detailed below.

I'm trying to create a dwarven paladin who, due to ancestry and outlook has decided to take the Oath of the Ancients, but I'm a bit conflicted on how to play him, I was thinking for certain I'd keep the stereotypical dwarven love of drinking and fighting, but I'm caught between boisterously cheerful or calm and wise/fatherly, or some weird combination. Since I'm stuck, I figured I'd bring it to the forums, and broaden the scope, but there's a reader's digest version of his back story if you keep reading and want to help with the specifics.

Years ago I came up with a dwarven clan who had been banished from the inside of their ancestral mountain city, due to political nonsense and an insane king and essentially took to guard duty on the outside of the mountain and since they were stuck in the forest anyway, all took to being rangers, after doing a lot of good, being un-banished but deciding to keep their post voluntarily and taking recruits, they got wiped out for the most part by a joint hoard of orcs, gnolls, goblinoids, and giants. The dwarf I'm playing is the last survivor of the main family, who joined an order of paladins based in the same mountain range, with a more earth and rock based look on the Oath of the ancients, trying to beat back the darkness and specifically whatever was big and powerful enough to get the improbable conglomeration of baddies that took out his family and their post together.

[Ninja_Prawn]

This is a great opportunity for some subtle roleplay. One the one hand, you've got dwarven culture, which is widely seen as monolithic and predictable, but on the other, you've got an oath that brings a slightly different vibe.

Not that there's anything especially incompatible about a 'traditional' dwarf being an ancient paladin, but your focus here should be about differentiating individual dwarves as unique people, within the constraints of their overarching culture.

So like, take the "stereotypical dwarven love of drinking". We'll keep it, but expand on what this 'drinking' really is. Some thoughts:

Per the RAW, all dwarves have resistance to poison and +2 Con compared to other races. So they can drink more without being negatively affected.
There are lots of different types of drink. Perhaps one clan is particularly famous for its beer, while another favours mushroom wine.
For humans, 'brewer' is a skilled trade that brings wealth into a community, as prestigious as being a miller or innkeeper. Do dwarves value it even higher, raising their brewers up the way humans do smiths and knights - or does the greater abundance of brewing skill among dwarves depress the labour market enough to take things the other way? Perhaps this varies from city to city.
Typical dwarven culture is very respectful of craft and artifice - dwarves like things to be functional and well-made (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GermanicEfficiency). The same would surely apply to their beers! Half-orcs may brew them just as strong, but the dwarven stuff actually has flavour!
If most dwarves live underground... where do they grow plants for brewing? Do they hold surface-farms? Do they trade for it? Do they have magical underground plants? Some mixture of the three? Again, probably varies by city, and some dwarves may have strong feelings about which way is best.
Is your dwarf an alcoholic - as in, with an actual problem? Is it his capital-F Flaw? Or, does he become violent or amorous or sleepy when he drinks too much?
So, even with crude stereotypes like 'drunken dwarf', there's a lot of levers to pull to differentiate any given individual from the pack.

And then, looking more at the oath, it's obviously geared towards protecting the beauty of the natural world. Why should that not apply to the mountainhome? Glittering caverns, lined with gemstones, stunning magma rivers, majestic dwarven statues and carvings hewn from the living rock. Something like this (http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--uNhyc1ck--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/18yr3epu46adhjpg.jpg) is just as beautiful as this (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/0c/47/1b/0c471bbd3de7dbc6f4dd51a090d8c781.jpg).

And sure, forests seem to have cornered the market on fey creatures, but there are mountain-dwelling ones: oreads, odhow, fey trolls... your character could take his stylistic cues from these.

[NiklasWB]

I'm trying to create a dwarven paladin who, due to ancestry and outlook has decided to take the Oath of the Ancients, but I'm a bit conflicted on how to play him, I was thinking for certain I'd keep the stereotypical dwarven love of drinking and fighting, but I'm caught between boisterously cheerful or calm and wise/fatherly, or some weird combination.

This description did catch my notice and sparked my interest. I think a perfect example of such a character would be Uncle Iroh from Avatar the Last Airbender cartoon. He loves drinking (tea, mind you), get's in wacky situations and spreads joy and light everywhere, however, he is also the wisest and most calm and fatherly figure out there. Furthermore, he is a kickass warrior who can have fun fighting.

I'd say go for all of it. Fatherly and calm (philosophical even), when out of combat, but laughing and spewing nonsensical dwarven proverbs in combat ('The bigger the stone the easier it chips as it rolls down the mountain'), ('A tunnel has only two ends, but a thousand possible endings') etc. Sounds like a very interesting and deep character concept.

[Ninja_Prawn]

nonsensical dwarven proverbs

"If you give a dwarf a fire, he will be warm for a night. If you set a dwarf on fire, he will be warm for the rest of his life."

"When you sever your foe's arm, not only does he lose a weapon, but you gain one."

[NiklasWB]

"If you give a dwarf a fire, he will be warm for a night. If you set a dwarf on fire, he will be warm for the rest of his life."

"When you sever your foes arm, not only does he lose a weapon, but you gain one."

Thank you for letting me know I'm not the only one. :)

[Mith]

Anyone recall the phrase for the dwarven proverb from Discworld that goes along the lines of:

General translation: "The larger the foe, the harder they fall"
More specific translation: "When their knees are at your shoulders..."

[Regitnui]

Anyone recall the phrase for the dwarven proverb from Discworld that goes along the lines of:

General translation: "The larger the foe, the harder they fall"
More specific translation: "When their knees are at your shoulders..."

Are we turning this into a "dwarven sayings" thread?

I'll second the Uncle Iroh analogy, but take a look at his return in the sequel series. He gets even more like a spirit advisor, especially since he lives in the spirit world now.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Are we turning this into a "dwarven sayings" thread?

Did you really have to ask?

[Regitnui]

Did you really have to ask?

Well, it would undermine my idea to make a new thread for "Dwarven Proverbs". And its sequels "Elven Sayings", "Gnome Sayings" and "Changeling Sayings".

[Ninja_Prawn]

Well, it would undermine my idea to make a new thread for "Dwarven Proverbs". And its sequels "Elven Sayings", "Gnome Sayings" and "Changeling Sayings".

Maybe start an all-races proverbs, sayings and old wives' tales thread, where the poster has to specify which race/culture the proverb belongs to? I'm sure I'll be able to dredge up some of my ancient fey wisdom to get you started. :smallwink:

Probably do it in the main Roleplaying Games forum, since it's not edition-specific.

[Johnny Krillers]

This description did catch my notice and sparked my interest. I think a perfect example of such a character would be Uncle Iroh from Avatar the Last Airbender cartoon. He loves drinking (tea, mind you), get's in wacky situations and spreads joy and light everywhere, however, he is also the wisest and most calm and fatherly figure out there. Furthermore, he is a kickass warrior who can have fun fighting.

I'd say go for all of it. Fatherly and calm (philosophical even), when out of combat, but laughing and spewing nonsensical dwarven proverbs in combat ('The bigger the stone the easier it chips as it rolls down the mountain'), ('A tunnel has only two ends, but a thousand possible endings') etc. Sounds like a very interesting and deep character concept.

Iroh was actually a big reason I came up with the idea, I thought in town he'd help those less fortunate a lot like the tales of Ba Sing Se portion devoted to Iroh, but I didn't want to clone him, so thanks for the spin.


So, even with crude stereotypes like 'drunken dwarf', there's a lot of levers to pull to differentiate any given individual from the pack.

And then, looking more at the oath, it's obviously geared towards protecting the beauty of the natural world. Why should that not apply to the mountainhome? Glittering caverns, lined with gemstones, stunning magma rivers, majestic dwarven statues and carvings hewn from the living rock. Something like this is just as beautiful as this.

And sure, forests seem to have cornered the market on fey creatures, but there are mountain-dwelling ones: oreads, odhow, fey trolls... your character could take his stylistic cues from these.

I was thinking the same, I love to play dwarves and aside from making crazy hyperbole about the earth and stone based bonuses and always having a flask on hand... there's a lot more to them, I swear.
Joking aside I was going to make a few flavor based modifications to the oath of the ancients, like making a cast-able version of the earth elementals' "earth glide" ability and swapping it for tree stride, changing a few of the plant based spells and channel divinity to be about earth or stone instead, might put something up on home brew when I hash it out fully.

And to add to the proverbs bit: Whether it be half empty or half full, at least ya have some ale an a tankard to drink from.