Human raised by dwarves?

[Talon Sky]

What would be the statistical variations for a human raised amongst dwarves? I know, strength would probably be a high stat, but would he/she have a bonus to fort rolls and such?

[sambo.]

someone want to play Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson?

i don't see they would get any stat bonus' from being raised by dwarves, probably just access to Dwarf language and crafting skills.

[Telonius]

As far as I know, there are no official rules for gaining the "cultural" aspects of a race, having been raised in it, from level 1 on. Personally I'd allow it as a DM; there's no reason a dwarf raised by wood elves would have Dwarven as an automatic language, let alone Terran or Giant as bonus languages.

You might look into the "Stoneblessed" PrC from Races of Stone. It gives bonuses equivalent to a Dwarf over three levels of the class.

EDIT: Just in general, if I were to distribute a collection of numbers into stats for such a character, I'd probably put higher numbers in Con and Str, lower numbers in Cha and Dex. Int and Wis as you like.

[KIDS]

The example of such a human might be Wulfgar from the Icewind Dale triology. It is certainly an interesting concept, but I would rather leave the mechanics untouched since most of the dwarven stuff seems biological stuff.

[bosssmiley]

What would be the statistical variations for a human raised amongst dwarves? I know, strength would probably be a high stat, but would he/she have a bonus to fort rolls and such?

Why would being raised by dwarves grant an adopted human dwarven racial abilities? Unless your D&D is some unholy outpost of Lamarckism that is...

Also, in b4 Carrot Ironfounderson! Ninja'ed by Sambo

[Flickerdart]

I'd take away the bonus skill point and give them Weapon Familiarity, the +2 on Appraise and Craft pertaining to stone or gems, and the offensive/defencive training. Stonecunning is more of a sixth sense, and the other things have more to do with a Dwarf's physical build.

Edit: also perhaps +1 save against poisons due to the incredibly stout dwarven ale.

[ericgrau]

Humans skills and feat are semi-cultural and semi-instinct. Dwarven cultural abilities are language, stonecunning, other skill bonuses, weapon familiarity, and the dodge bonus to AC against giants. I'd give all of those to the dwarf-raised human and reduce the human granted abilities to balance. IMO that'd be removing the 1 skill point per level but keeping the bonus feat. Or if you want to discourage the sudden influx of PCs as dwarf-raised humans, then say all human abilities require both instinct and culture and that they get none of them when raised by dwarves.

EDIT: Ninja'd. I can see how stonecunning might be a sixth sense, but the AC bonus against giants is trained. Before the war(s) with the giants I don't think dwarves had it.

[Wulfram]

-2 int due to low ceilings

edit: Seriously, I wouldn't do much. Dwarven language perhaps, but the simplest thing would be for him to simply spent some of his free human skill points or feat on something vaguely dwarvish

[Mando Knight]

Seriously, I wouldn't do much. Dwarven language perhaps, but the simplest thing would be for him to simply spent some of his free human skill points or feat on something vaguely dwarvish

Pretty much this, and stats skewed towards Constitution and Strength, or Constitution, Strength, and Wisdom if it's 4e. Give the character knowledge of the Dwarven language (ask your DM for it as a bonus language if you've got a 10 or lower Int character in a game where languages are Intelligence-dependent) and give the character ranks in Knowledge (dungeoneering) if it's a class skill. Use hammers and axes for your main weapons...

Basically, just play the character like he was an overgrown dwarf with human stats. You might not need any houseruling at all unless you need/want Dwarven and don't have the Int to know it (and don't want to sacrifice the skill points on getting Speak Language).

[Talon Sky]

-2 int due to low ceilings

Quoted for the lolz.

Alright, thanks guys. I was just wondering because the idea struck me last night, and got me wondering. After all, a human raised among other humans thinks and acts like those of his city; a human raised among dwarves would think and act like a dwarf. Unless he or she went out of his way to learn about human culture, in essence a human brought up by the stout midgets wouldn't know anything about ordinary human life.

[Holocron Coder]

Here is a good example of what you're thinking. It's homebrew, obviously, but I imagine you can get some use out of it.

[Typewriter]

I played a genie who was raised by dwarves once(long story).

The way I saw it is that I was doing so for role playing fluff. If I wanted the abilities to match the RP, then it's my job to take the appropriate feats/skills.

I took dwarven as a language, I put points into crafting, I took exotic weapon proficiency(dwarven warpike if I recollect).

Saying your character does something doesn't make it do anything unless you spend those stats/skills/feats on it. After all, those are supposed to represent what your character has spent his life doing.

[shadzar]

Racial bonuses would not be granted to a member of another race, just by being raised by that race.

I would reckon that the languages would be gained as though the character were a dwarf for already known languages, and any other cultural benefits. Physical properties would probably have little benefit as a human is still a human.

[warrl]

The 4e character builder has a Backgrounds section, and one of the options is being raised by another race. You might play with that and use it as a guide, as follows:

(1) Write (on paper or in another program) a list of all the human racial attributes (including languages, skills, etc, translating from 4e to the version you'll actually be using if different).
(2) Go into the background section and add to your list the attributes you get from being raised by dwarves.
(3) Re-race the character as a dwarf, go into the background section and look at what he would gain from being raised as human. *Remove* those attributes from your list. (Note: This step is for the orphan raised exclusively among dwarves. If instead you were part of a small human community living within a dwarven mine, you might skip this step. As the 4e character builder does.)

That's what you would expect to have on the day that you and your dwarven childhood playmates come out of the caverns and begin your lives as adult adventurers on the surface.

[Devils_Advocate]

Why would being raised by dwarves grant an adopted human dwarven racial abilities?

Because some "racial" abilities are cultural, not hereditary. Unless you think that dwarves are born knowing how to speak Dwarven.

As far as I know, there are no official rules for gaining the "cultural" aspects of a race, having been raised in it, from level 1 on.

p 110 of the PHB talks about it briefly, but there aren't general rules per se, just the suggestion that tweaking things a bit may be appropriate for unusual characters. However, it does specifically talk about the example of a dwarf raised outside of dwaven society, and therefore which dwarven traits are cultural and which are inborn. Based on this, I would suggest the following feat for a human:

Raised by Dwarves [General]

Benefit
You gain the following cultural attributes of dwarves:

• Stonecunning
• Dwarven Weapon Familiarity
• +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against orcs and goblinoids.
• +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type.
• +2 racial bonus on Appraise and Craft checks that are related to stone or metal items.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, Terran, and Undercommon.
• Favored Class: Fighter

Special
This feat may only be taken at 1st level.

It's a bit complicated, however, because some of those things may represent innate abilities honed by practice instead of purely cultural things. Intuiting depth is the only thing I see a human being unable to learn, though.

[awa]

Personal i wouldn't do any thing humans get a bonus feat and extra skill points put the feat in exotic weapon proficiency or improved fortitude. place your stats to favor con and use charisma as a dump stat spend your skill points on craft and your done no special rules needed. Most of the other solutions like that dwarf raised feat that was suggested seem massively overpowered

[Thespianus]

It would make more sense to let a human raised by dwarves count the dwarven exotic weapons as martial weapons, just like the dwarves do. After all, it's a lot more likely that a human fighter raised by dwarves have been using a Dwarven Waraxe rather than a lance or ranceur, don't you think?

I'd be lenient. No need to punish players for flavor by forcing one of their first level feats be exotic weapon proficiency in a weapon the character has grown up around.

Also, I would give the +1 bonus against goblinoids, lower the bonus against giants to (say) +2 AC, and let him retain the +2 on appraise checks for stone and metalwork items and maybe take away the extra human skillpoint / level.

[Devils_Advocate]

The extra skillpoint per level is a non-cultural human racial feature, though. It makes more sense to me to have a human spend his extra feat on an unusual background.

[Satyr]

This is pretty much the reason why we divided culture and species into two different entities in Serpents and Sewers. A human raised among dwwarves would take dwarf- specific cultural background traits, like Craftsman and Mountaineer and is not any more difficult to create than a human raised among horse nomads, a warrior cult or a monastery.

[Thurbane]

The Stoneblessed PrC from RoS allows non-dwarves to acquire many dwarf-like characteristics...

[Blackjackg]

Raised by Dwarves [General]

Benefit
You gain the following cultural attributes of dwarves:

• Stonecunning
• Dwarven Weapon Familiarity
• +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against orcs and goblinoids.
• +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type.
• +2 racial bonus on Appraise and Craft checks that are related to stone or metal items.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, Terran, and Undercommon.
• Favored Class: Fighter

Special
This feat may only be taken at 1st level.

Seconded. It seems a bit hefty, and I might leave out either the dodge bonus against giants or Stonecunning, but it's a solid idea.

[AslanCross]

The example of such a human might be Wulfgar from the Icewind Dale triology. It is certainly an interesting concept, but I would rather leave the mechanics untouched since most of the dwarven stuff seems biological stuff.

Wulfgar was already a teenager when he was adopted by Bruenor, though. Going by the books, the only thing that Wulfgar gained from his upbringing was his high strength score from all those ours working out at the forge (instead of brawling and wrestling with his tribesmen, which would have been the case had he remained with the barbarians). It doesn't even seem that he picked up Dwarven.

Catti-brie, on the other hand, was much younger when Bruenor took her in, so she kind of gained the accent and presumably learned how to speak Dwarven.

One of my players came up with an even more bizarre version of this, with a Warforged scout coming out of the Mournland (Eberron setting) right after the Last War with practically no memory. He was taken in by dwarves and given a Dwarven name. I allowed him to have Dwarven as an automatic language, but that's pretty much it. Being a construct, there was no reason he should gain the racial traits of dwarves. He was immune to poison, anyway.

[chiasaur11]

Well, one thing to remember is that, in the case of Ironfoundson at least, we're dealing with an individual who is, for all legal and spiritual purposes a dwarf.

So, that's something to remember, I guess.

Wish I could remember where I was going with that.

[Thespianus]

The extra skillpoint per level is a non-cultural human racial feature, though. It makes more sense to me to have a human spend his extra feat on an unusual background.

Well, I don't agree. Maybe it says so RAW, I don't know, but I get the impression that Humans get extra skill points because it's in the human culture to be curious and imaginative.

But, well, I guess it could easily be any which way.