Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 14:45:14 -0700 (PDT)
As with all racial discussions, PC's may violate the terms here entirely but the farther you deviate from the norm, the more likely there is to be severe in-game social consequences. Or to put it another way, a Lawful Good Red Dragon will have a hard time convincing anyone that he's not evil. Similar strictures apply here.
A Dwarf Hero typically starts with his family putting up the money to have him properly armed and trained in the arts of war. His commission may well start as a leader in a Dwarf warband, leading warriors in battle, or it may have just been someone rich enough to get a personal instructor. Military Heros should have Profession Warband, if that is part of your background. A person who does not have this kind of access will not usually think to try a Heroic profession, although you will get the odd Sorcerer, Cleric or Rogue who do their best to fit in without such training. Generally lack of Fighter training means it would not even occur to a Dwarf to be a hero, he would be far more likely to end up as a commoner or expert or at best warrior.
Put bluntly, a Hero is expected to be able to use heavy armor and normal military weapons, and if he has a deficiency in this area, it should be in the weapon choices, not the armor. In other words, Clerics get some slack, but not much.
In the warband and on Dwarf Hero teams, everyone dresses the same, so that an enemy can not tell who the spellcasters are and who the warriors are. This leads to many misconceptions about dwarves, including that they are adverse to using magic and are an unusually disciplined lot. In fact it is just the Heroic tradition that makes a lot of Heroes ex-soldiers, and that profession puts its stamp on what the outside world sees.
Internally, Dwarf Heroes are every bit as competitive as Dwarf Craftsmen, both at a unit/team level and at the individual level. However the Dwarf heroic tradition can be summed up as "Deeds not Words".
A dwarf hero does mighty things and after the doing identifies himself. Other than that he prefers to let the deeds speak for themselves.
Dwarves have a tendency toward the Purity form of Fire, the creative aspect. Giants by contrast seem to have a prediliction toward the more destructive side. Dwarves are the original Sun people and by far the most adaptable. The various Giants are Dwarf tribes or peoples who chose a more specialized path, away from the normal Heroic Tradition and toward an identification with a an environment, and usually the more destructive forms of it. Hence a Frost Giant will live in cold regions and tend to behave more like an Avalanche than a gentle snowfall. In spite of the fact that a Frost Giant is in theory the opposite of a Fire creature, in reality they align with the Sun and War aspects of Fire than many of the Wild fiery elemental creatures.
Dwarves favor many of the same climes chosen by Giants, and can in fact live anywhere a Giant does, although they may not consider it an expecially great place to live.
Dwarves favor crossbows not because they don't respect the power of a bow, but because bows are awkward to store on their smaller frames when combined with armor and shield, and crossbows are more compact. For Arcane casters, the advantage of being able to fire a loaded crossbow one-handed in combination with Truestrike is not to be underestimated as an appeal of the Crossbow to a Dwarf Hero band. Furthermore Clerics can also start out using the Crossbow, without having to devote an extra proficiency feat to it, making it much easier to make the party look the same to outsiders.
Dwarf movement "bonuses" in heavy armor in 3.5 fit perfectly with my vision of Dwarf heroes.
One thing about them is you can't tell the character classes apart. They all use heavy armor and martial weapons if they became a Hero in the normal way. A given band of heroes will have a distinctive hearldry, armor type/color etc, but the individuals within the band will try to look as alike as possible when in battle array. Of course when the mage still-spells the fireball and the cleric drops a Chaos Hammer, then you'll have a hint of who is who :)
Of all the races, they are the best trained at fighting and working in full armor (and are most likely to have the steel on-hand to make something like field plate, and are the most likely to actually MAKE field plate instead of 100 plowshares or 20 swords)
The abilities of this class mesh poorly with the desire to wear heavy armor into battle. However the obvious advantage of being able to Rage is not lost on the Dwarf military and a level of Barbarian is not at all uncommon in any Dwarven settlement that has any contact at all with Sea People. While fast movement is also helpful for Dwarves, a Dwarf will typicaly only have light enough armor to use it if he is working with Sea People, rather than a usual Dwarf Hero Band.
Dwarf Bards are very rare, as high enough charisma to power a Hero is rare among Dwarves and culturally bragging about your actions is not considered good form. Plus Bards favor light armor, etc. A Dwarvish Bard is likely to have been exposed to the Sky People. If he takes a level of something that gives heavy armor proficiencies and chooses weapons that "fit in", he might be accepted in a Hero Band.More likely though the rare Dwarvish Bard will find his path elsewhere. As with other unsuitable Dwarf classes, this tends to be a collecting ground for Heroic individuals of Dwarf heritage whose family were unable to afford proper training.
Evenly split between Purity, Sun and Strife, but many of the Strife are Chaotic Neutral, rather than Evil, and some of the Sun clerics are Good, so the overall shift in alignments is toward the more Altruistic group. Clerics without War domain typically take a martial weapon proficiency as soon as they can to "fit in better". Dwarf clerics tend toward casting enhancement spells and fighting like a warrior, rather than serving as a healing battery or alternate offensive spellcaster, but that depends highly on their Hero Band's needs and on their own personal prejudices. Dwarves are highly tolerant of Dwarf Clerics of other religions, although they are expected to conform in other respects to how a member of a Hero Band behaves, including armor and weapon choices.
It is absolutely impossible to make a druid fit into a Dwarf Hero Band, unless he has access to Change Self or similar magic to make him LOOK like an armored warrior. A dwarf druid is very likely a Hero who failed to get proper training but was determined to be a Hero. He is also far more likely to work with a mixed-race Hero band than he is to be found in a Dwarf Hero group.
Obviously a popular choice, and Fighters often leaven their basic skillset with a level or two of other classes (cleric for domain powers, Wizard/sorceror for Trueshot, Ranger for track+skills, Barbarian for rage+ skills, Rogue for sneak attack, evasion and skills, especially spot, listen, search, disable device and pick locks....ie stuff that does not have armor check penalties). Dwarf Heroes like an "Edge"....they really enjoy being treated as dumb fighters until they pull their clever unusual ability and mix it with devastating fighter attack bonuses and feats.
Dwarf monks are very rare for alignment reasons, and like Druids they don't play well with Dwarf Hero bands, barring some magic to make them appear as if they are heavily armored and armed. A dwarf monk is very likely a person who failed get proper training but was determined to be a Hero. He is also far more likely to work with a mixed-race Hero band than he is to be found in a Dwarf Hero group.
Dwarf paladins are very rare for alignment reasons but if they can stand to work with their Chaotic brothers they are a welcome addition to any Purity oriented Hero team. Such Paladins do tend to have to do an atonement from time to time, as more unscrupulous party members trick them into overlooking some dodgy action or other (eventually this stuff will get discovered or exposed and the Paladin, even though unwitting, will have to atone. A Paladin who willingly goes along with everything his more Chaotic fellows want to do won't remain a Paladin long).
Dwarves are most likely to take Ranger levels for the Track Feat and spot/listen skills, trading skill points for fighter feats. A pure Ranger is rare and is quite likely to have 1-4 fighter levels anyway to beef up their pure fighting ability. Taking a single level of Ranger and a single level of Barbarian with the rest as fighter levels is however a "feat path" not uncommon among Fighters, giving them tracking, alertness skills, rage and the option to scout in lighter armor without being at a huge disadvantage.
Dwarves tend to take Rogue for Evasion, Sneak Attack, Spot, Listen Search and Disable Device/Open Lock skills. Crafting traps is also a popular sideline, although anyone can do that.Stealth is not valued. Social skills are sometimes a motive, but low Dwarf Charisma and laconic Heroic style tend to make a "Dwarf Talker" merely someone less monosyllabic than the usual Hero. You don't need skills for that, just roleplay it. Sense Motive, however, is a fine reason to take Rogue levels, as is Bluff.
While Dwarves with enough Charisma to be a good high level Sorcerer hero are very rare, it is not uncommon for a 11+ charisma Fighter to take a level of Sorcerer in order to get the Trueshot spell, plus a few handy cantrips such as Mending and Prestdigitation to keep armor and weapons in top condition once the fighting is over. A pure sorceror will likely need something like Change Self to fit in with a normal Dwarf Hero band, duplicating the appearance of a normal Fighter. More often, a high charisma dwarf Hero might take a single level of Fighter, Still Spells and a good mix of verbal-only, long- duration buff spells and a few zaps that he'll cast at one level higher, similar to the approach taken by a mage.
Dwarf wizards almost invariably take a level of fighter as primary when they start out, getting a huge health bonus and solid fighting ability to help them through the early levels.They will tend to have spells oriented around enhancement and favor verbal-only spells like trueshot, knock, Dimension Door, Polymorph Self, Shout, Power Words, etc. Still Spell is a very common feat for a Dwarf Wizard, and as such the zaps used by dwarf wizards tend to be cast at one level higher. Dwarf arcane casters of either Wizard or Sorcerer persuasion value offensive wands highly, as wands do not suffer from armor check penalties and work nicely with shields.
Scouting and Sneaking..Dwarf Warbands scout with familiars, usually invisible. The warband always has at least one person with an arcane level after the earliest levels, and it seems stupid to them to use large, metal-covered Heroes to do what tiny, sharp-sensed creatures can do excellently. Toads are not a popular familiar choice for Dwarves, nor are Vipers. Flying familiars are most common, but the cats and weasels have their place.
The dwarf response to a door that blocks a familiar is to check it for traps, pick it and then send the familiar through.Failing the ability to do that, Shatter or kicking the door down is appropriate. Dwarves are sneaky and tricksy but not subtle.
Dwarf society is very competitive and incapable of organizing beyond family or at best clan levels. A Warband is pretty much the largest unit of cooperating Dwarves, and there are equivalents for large scale crafting jobs such as carving a temple out of the living rock.A Warband or Craftband is a temporary gathering of perhaps 50 people with similar skills, who will for a brief period work with a true master to accomplish some task they can't do on their own. Permanent groupings tend to be at extended family level and professional groupings such as a Hero band rarely exceed 8-10 people, of which half are clearly subservient to the rest, generally doing apprenticeship of some kind.
Dwarves are capable of living under difficult terrain and weather conditions and for a long time were a majority race on the land. The Earth and Sky people have been slowly encroaching on Dwarven territories and the Sea People were a big shock, as many "fallow" lands were suddenly full of those short lived, tall and fragile people. Dwarves are concerned by these trends but have till now proved unable to do anything about long term pressures.You can't invade dwarves, they'll generally stand up to anything in a straight-up fight.But slow and steady pressure is not something they are socially equipped to deal with.
Where Gnomes wish to be unique and noticed, Dwarves want to be the Best, whether or not they're different or recognized. They expect their deeds to sing their praises, not their mouths. This means that whatever a Dwarf does, he will try to do well if it is in his speciality....but he'll probably be indifferent at anything else, preferring to trade services with a true expert than to attempt it himself and look foolish.
Noncombatant feats generally are skill focus feats for their best skills.
It is important to remember that Dwarves mostly don't value charisma and tend to be very blunt and egotistical. A typical encounter with an ordinary dwarf will be done in monosylables and as quickly as possible. However should you "bond" with the dwarf (talk in native tongue, maybe feed him and get him drunk and get him talking about his speciality) the hard part might be to shut him up about his area of interest. The other time you might suddenly get a Dwarf talking is when haggling with them. If you intend to bring a Dwarf down in price when buying a broom, expect a long lecture on the three types of hay bristles in the brush, the forging of the wire that binds it to the handle, the growth of the tree that formed the handle and the careful selection and trimming of the branch used, etc, plus of course the difficulty of brining it to you for sale. Many people just choose to pay full price.
Dwarf Commoners max out whatever skills or crafts their intelligence allows. As they want to be the Best, they'll usually pick crafting skills if smart and professions if wise. Physical attributes may enhance or support certain professions (strength for a Smith, charisma for a herder, dexterity for a hunter, constitution for a laborer). As an example, as humble a profession as woodcutting generally is, in Dwarf society, the translation of his title is "Miner of Wood" or a more literal translation "Profession of removing valuable wood ore from the worthless expanse of forest". Such a Dwarf would have a maxed Profession woodcutter skill and he probably would use a feat on Martial Weapon Proficiency Greataxe and may well have a single skill point in the professions or crafts supported by his trade so he can talk with them about the merits of different types of wood, where they grow best, rare foreign wood, the best ways to pack wood on your back for long carrying, etc. An intelligent woodcutter may well have other skills at middling levels which assist the profession, such as Teamster (so you can get a cart to carry the wood), Forester (so you don't blight the forest and remove only what it can regrow), Merchant (to get the best price for your wood) etc.
Dwarf Experts are typically Lorelords, where a Lorelord is someone whose expertise is in knowledge rather than a craft or profession. Dwarves have a need for Knowledge Experts, as their mages are usually either Heroes or magic item crafters.
A Lorelord will typically have a cluster of related knowledges but there is the odd maveric who has deep but specialized knowledge in several unrelated fields. The Commoners know HOW to do things, but a lot of where they get their deep knowledge of their profession is by finding the right Lorelord when young and pumping them for information about their topic. Lorelord are easier than Commoners to get talking about their speciality. Many Lorelords also take the Instructor profession, much to the relief of their students.
Adepts are not part of this framework as divine and arcane magic mixing does not fit in well. What are called adepts and what fill their "slots" in the community are typically single-classed wizards, sorcerors or clerics depending on their best mental attribute, but instead of getting military training they either craft magic items (and are quite often expert blacksmiths, jewelers, etc) or they go the Lore route and are the local expert in Alchemy, Spellcraft, Kn Arcana, Kn Religion etc. A mage might just be a Loremaster and have a lot of divinitory spells. A fairly common task for a Hero band is to escort an Adept somewhere that he can gain enough power to deepen his understanding of his profession or to craft some mighty item. Certainly if you are a Hero band and want a suit of magic armor, expect to take the Blacksmith Adept along with you on your next raid, and do your best to keep him or her alive. While powerful in their speciality, Adepts tend to be combat-inept.
Dwarf Warriors are typically Commoners who know how to fight too. They will usually have a maxed profession or craft skill in addition to their martial training, and it may well be something unrelated to war. Dwarves live a long time, the Warriors are the ones who got around to learning how to fight.They are NOT Heroes and tend to resent attempts to use them as cannon fodder. A Warband requires a crisis to form under most circumstances, although from time to time (and the choosing of when to form is undersood only by Dwarves) Warbands form up just for "practice". Unfortunately for other Dwarves or any nearby neighbors, practice may well take the form of raiding.
Dwarf Aristocrats are the Dwarf "Experts" in dealing with outside races and mediating between Dwarf bands. They have a near monopoly on social skills, and are not adverse to using their military training to evoke echoes of Heroes when attempting to get a group of Dwarves to cooperate. Outside races attempting to make treaties, trade agreements or whatever with a settlement of Dwarves are invariably routed to the local "Prince" or "Queen" or whatever. If questioned, even under truth spells, yes, they are a hereditary nobility, which have the right to make policy for the larger settlement.What they don't tell you is that EVERY Dwarf thinks he is a "Prince" and has the right to make policy. Still, making a deal with the local Aristocrat is your best bet to getting along with the settlement, as the Aristocrat WILL exert his considerable social influence to make everyone WANT to go along with the deal...and most Dwarves are unarmed against this kind of manipulation. Aristocrats bordering the Earth People spend a lot of time keeping distance between the sophisticated Halflings and their more innocent Expert Dwarves. They also manage cultural pollution from the Shining Courts and the Sea People but in spite of their best efforts, some Dwarves WILL start adapting some habits of their neighbors, even if it takes the form of doing them one better.(Conan the Dwarf Barbarian, is more Barbarian the than the most unruly Orc. He despises heavy armor, rages at every opportunity, has combat reflexes and a sky-high listen skill so he can butcher enemies even when caught in an ambush.He'll have no useful skills at all and will speak Orcish whenever possible....with a horrific accent)
Giants are examples of what happens with Aristocrats fail or when the local Aristocrats forget their mission and get caught up in an idea too strongly. Most Giants are Dwarf communities which as a group focused too strongly on an ideal....mostly having to do with hostile environment survival for the lesser Giants. With Cloud and Storm giants the goal was more complex. In any case they grew strange, undwarflike and generally more destructive than constructive. It is possible the fractiousness of Dwarf society is a defense against the tendency to "Get Big" behind an idea. Giant settlements are far more likely to have real rulers, the person who embodies the ideal of that form of Giant. They tend to be more survival focused, which means they can be hard on neighbors who are perceived as threats, and tend to produce little in the way of tradeable wares. Think of Giants as a Dwarf society with nothing but Commoners and Warriors and a strong leader or two....and the Commoners don't work or craft for anyone but their own type of Giant. You might admire that magic Huge Flaming Sword made by the Fire Giant Smith...but unless you're immune to flame and 12 feet tall you won't get any good out of it.
The racial title Dwarf is probably a slight mistranslation of how Dwarves distinguish a proper Dwarf society from those of their cousin Giants.
The Gnomes and Halflings probably though it was an ironic name for the largest "great race" in the land and passed it on to the Sea-people, who in their innocence use it literally (as they are the first major race that is actually larger than the Dwarves, not counting the reptilians and Wild creatures which to the main races don't really count)