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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Generic "Active Ability" for Dwarves?



Composer99
2019-12-12, 04:32 PM
Hey, everyone,

I'd like to give dwarves an "active" ability. So far, I have two ideas mostly fleshed out:
(1) A feature somewhat like a lesser version of the meld into stone spell.
(2) A "grudge" ability, giving bonuses to attack and/or damage against a creature that harms the dwarf.

An idea I'm still working on is "blessed of the forge", which gives fire-related benefits.

Both of these are, I think, nice, and would be good as racial feats, but I don't think they're generic enough. The "grudge" comes close, but it's good for weapon-using dwarves. It'd be nice to have something that spellcasters could use.

Given this, I think I have two options to proceed:
(1) Come up with one or two other more specific abilities, and then offer the whole suite as something a dwarf can choose from at character creation - the player picks the one they want, while the others might still be available as feat choices later;
(2) Come up with a more generic feature that all dwarves get.

Any suggestions or ideas would be helpful. (Even "the grudge idea is good enough" would be helpful if that's what you think.)

(Note that this isn't meant to be balanced against the PHB races.)

Trandir
2019-12-12, 04:45 PM
Some random ideas:

Dwarven Resilience/Will: once per long rest you can get advantage on a constitution/wisdom saving throw.

Iron Body: once per long rest you can use your action to gain damage reduction equal to your proficiency modifier for 1 minute.

Dienekes
2019-12-12, 07:35 PM
Gonna agree with the direction Trandir is going. To me, some dwarves may be connected to the stone, others may be angry weapon masters. But all dwarves are naturally hardy. I’d make their power more defensive focused.

Composer99
2019-12-13, 11:11 AM
Thanks for your suggestions/advice. Going to take them and do up something more defensive for the dwarves.