Mearls on Dwarves & Duergars

[Unoriginal]

https://youtu.be/TYNU3Bk23IE

Very nice video, IMO.

It helps make clear what differentiate the 5e Dwarves from other universes' versions, and honestly give more identity and story opportunities to Duergars that I've ever seen before (not that I've searched much, but still).

I especially like the explanation that Dwarves get a Constitution bonus not because they're naturally tougher than humans or the like, but because they tend to get lost in their work or training and do it for hours and hours on ends, which ends up making them more resilient.

The Duergars' story is also pretty well done, I think, at least the glimpse we have here.

I don't know for you, but I'm hyped for Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

[willdaBEAST]

Thanks for sharing. I'm hoping to play a Duergar in the near future, there was a lot of great lore in the video.

[DracoKnight]

Between this video and the forge domain, it seems that Mearles is bent on making me play a dwarf at some point. And ya, know? I might actually enjoy it at this rate :smallbiggrin:

[Mith]

I like the ideas for the both the dwarves and the grey dwarves, although in a homebrewed setting, I would probably do a different origin and culture for the grey dwarves.

[Millstone85]

There is an intriguing contrast between the creation of dwarves by Moradin, intentional and metallic, and the creation of elves by Corellon, accidental and organic.

I see something similar between angels and eladrin. An angel is created as such, while an eladrin has to develop from a Feywild humanoid to an archfey to a celestial. I imagine an eladrin would hear the turning of gears as an angel moves, even if other creatures don't notice.

I wonder how the azers fit into this. They are pretty much dwarves, in appearance and culture, but literaly and visibly crafted from bronze. Did Moradin made prototypes in the Plane of Fire? Did an elder elemental try to copy Moradin's work?

[Unoriginal]

There is an intriguing contrast between the creation of dwarves by Moradin, intentional and metallic, and the creation of elves by Corellon, accidental and organic.

I see something similar between angels and eladrin. An angel is created as such, while an eladrin has to develop from a Feywild humanoid to an archfey to a celestial. I imagine an eladrin would hear the turning of gears as an angel moves, even if other creatures don't notice.

I wonder how the azers fit into this. They are pretty much dwarves, in appearance and culture, but literaly and visibly crafted from bronze. Did Moradin made prototypes in the Plane of Fire? Did an elder elemental try to copy Moradin's work?

I don't know for the Azers, but the intentional creation of Dwarves vs the accidental creation of Elves is very much a deliberate contrast. It played a major role into the early history of the Elves, and is part of their fall-from-grace.

I doubt Eladrins would "hear the gears" of the Angel, though. The Eladrin would probably more be envious of that close connection the Angel and their god share, and envious of its inherent celestial nature that the Eladrin could have innately too if the early Elves hadn't ****ed up so terribly.

[Tetrasodium]

I'm going to surprise a few people & say again that I liked it. The story & reasons are easily adaptable to any setting without needing to use "but Moradin" as an excuse to justify their societal structure/values because both variants he mentions are able to stand on their own as functioning societies.

[Regitnui]

I'm going to surprise a few people & say again that I liked it. The story & reasons are easily adaptable to any setting without needing to use "but Moradin" as an excuse to justify their societal structure/values because both variants he mentions are able to stand on their own as functioning societies.

It's fairly easy to trade out Moradin for ancestral examples. Instead of "moradin is the ultimate craftsgod and you try to beat his example", it would become "your grandfather made swords that could cut through whole boars and not get a drop of blood in the filigree. How can you beat that?"

[guachi]

Sounds more like Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk dwarves he's talking about. It's not really something I recognize as D&D dwarves in general.

[Unoriginal]

Sounds more like Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk dwarves he's talking about. It's not really something I recognize as D&D dwarves in general.

This is how 5e Dwarves are in general.

It's how they're presented in the PHB, though this is more detailed and explain more about the "why they're like that".

[Tetrasodium]

Sounds more like Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk dwarves he's talking about. It's not really something I recognize as D&D dwarves in general.

No, it's 5e dwarves in general. The deity walking the earth is so tangential you can remove and/or replace it with all the thought and consideration of a ticky/postit note in a wild divergence from the drow & "because lolth!" justification for why a society that would destroy itself and/or make any of its near & not so near neighbors look on in horror then say "guys guys I found these horrible demons, we need to go kill them now!" if ever discovered.