The Dwarves

“Yer late, elf!” came the rough edge of a familiar voice. Bruenor Battlehammer walked up the back of his dead foe, disregarding the fact that the heavy monster lay on top of his elven friend. In spite of the added discomfort, the dwarf’s long, pointed, often-broken nose and gray-streaked though still-fiery red beard came as a welcome sight to Drizzt. “Knew I’d find ye in trouble if I came out an’ looked for ye!”

Dwarf Traits

Ability Score Increase: Mountainborn: Your Constitution increases by 2 and your Strength increases by 1 Surfacer: Your Constitution increases by 2 and your Charisma increases by 1
Age: Dwarves reach maturity around the age of 15, but they are considered young until they reach about 50 years. On average they live to be around 200 years old. Old age does not weaken a dwarf in quite the same way it weakens other races however, and most dwarves are fit to fight most of their lives.
Alignment: Most dwarves are lawful, believing firmly in the benefits of a well-ordered society. They tend toward good as well, with a strong sense of fair play and a belief that everyone deserves to share in the benefits of a just order.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Dwarvish. Dwarvish is full of hard consonants and guttural sounds, and those characteristics spill over into whatever other language a dwarf might speak. Mountain-born dwarves often have more problems speaking common than those living on the surface because of their isolationist nature. (https://lingojam.com/TheDwarvenLanguage)
Vision: Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light.
Favored Time of Day: Dwarves do not count time in the same way as other races, by following the sun. They instead have their own system with 10 hours of work and 14 hours of sleep and free time. Dwarven calendars are also quite different from that of the common calendar. There are 12 months in the dwarven year divided into 4 seasons of 3 months each. Unlike the traditional Gregorian calendar, each dwarven month is exactly 4 weeks long, or 28 days, for a total of 336 days in a year. New Year's Day and the first day of Spring both fall on the 1st of Granite. New Year's Eve and the last day of Winter both fall on the 28th of Obsidian. The months are named after kinds of stones, ore, gems and wood.
Favored Climate: Temperate to cold
Favored Terrain: Underground, mountain regions

Bonus Proficiencies (Pick 2)

Brawn: You have proficiency in the Aethletics skill.
Historian: You have proficiency in the History skill.
Keen Eye: You have proficiency in the Investigation skill.
Born Performer: You have proficiency in the Performance skill.
Strong Physique: You have proficiency in the Endurance skill.

Dwarven Combat Training:

Growing up you heard tales of the greatest warriors of your people, the paragons. You have proficiency with the battleaxe, handaxe, light hammer, and warhammer.

Mountainborn:

Tool Proficiency: You gain proficiency with the artisan’s tools of your choice: smith’s tools, brewer’s supplies, or mason’s tools.
Child of The Earth: Because of your deep connection to the earth of Gaea, you can call upon the stone mother to bless you in times of need, once every long rest. Your skin becomes tough as stone, you can add +2 to your hit points for a duration of five minutes.
Dwarven Resilience: As your people are sturdy and are used to living under harsh conditions, you have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.
Stonecunning: Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.

Surfacer:

Tool Proficiency: You gain proficiency with the artisan’s tools of your choice: smith’s tools, brewer’s supplies, or mason’s tools.
Child of The Earth: Because of your deep connection to the earth of Gaea, you can call upon the stone mother to bless you in times of need, once every long rest. Your skin becomes tough as stone, you can add +2 to your hit points for a duration of five minutes.
Dwarven Resilience: As your people are sturdy and are used to living under harsh conditions, you have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.
Good Reputation: Your people have a remarkably good reputation wherever they go on the surface. Once every day you can muster up every ounce of your charming personality to add +2 to one charisma-related roll of your choice.

Appearance

As a dwarf, you’re strong and hardy, accustomed to a difficult life in rugged terrain. Your appearance reflects this.
Size and build: Dwarves stand between 110 and 150 cm tall and average about 69kg. Your size is Medium.
Skintones: Dwarves have tough skin that comes in all tones from medium to light. Mountain dwarves typical have lighter skin than the surfacers, as they live underground and rarely see the sun. A dwarf living on the surface usually tan quite easily, and rarely get suburnt.
Haircolor: Hair colors come in all shades of brown, black, red or blonde. Dwarven hair becomes silvery with old age. Both male and female dwarves are capable of growing beards, though it is considered slightly rare among females. Dwarves are very particular abut grooming their beards, as long lush beards are considered very attractive, on both males and females.
Eye color: Dwarven eye colors come in all shades of brown, green, blue or grey. Though green is slightly less common.
Clothes and adornments: Mountain dwarves favor simple clothing over extravagant jewelry and intricate designs. That being said, dwarves, and then especially the mountain dwarves of Antreia are the single best race on Gaea when it comes to metalsmithing and forging. The Mountain dwarf kingdoms also typically have an abundance of metals and minerals, and many of their designs feature stones and metals. Common dwarven clothing are usually made out of the leather of the animals they hunt underground, typically rodents. Many dwarves also feature fur in their clothing, either pelts that have been traded from the surface, or from the Dolyaks or Rhinoceros that the dwarves keep as cattle in their large underground settlements. As the average dwarves value clan and lineage, the noble clans of the Dwarven Kingdoms receive great respect among their kin. They live in large mansions, with large, elaborate gold and silver decorations, and ceiling so high up above you that you can barely see them. These noble clans wear more elaborate clothing than the common dwarf, but even here their style is far more practical than for example the elves.
Surfacers care far less about lineage and nobility than their prouder mountain dwarven cousins. Because of this, there are no real "nobles" among the dwarves of the surface. Your worth is based on your profession and your crafts, and this reflects in their clothing and adornments.
Some dwarves wear tattoos, but these are based on your rank, clan (or clanlessness) title or professions rather than used for decoration. Some clans have their own tattoo designs, which young members of the family are allowed to adorn when they reach adulthood. Some tattoos are only granted to the wearer through great feats of heroism, or if you have gained mastery in a specific profession. Almost every dwarven tattoo is located in the face area, and these specific tattoo designs are often mixed with other designs to create unique artworks for each dwarf. Saying all this, tattoos still aren't especially normal among the dwarves, and even though the traditions of these tattoos are deep, they are completely optional

Diet

Most dwarves follow a mostly meat-based diet. Though a variety of mushrooms and roots are also frequently used in dishes. Dwarven food is hearty and comes in big potions. Stews are very common, as well as grilled meat. Dwarven chefs are skillful at making dishes that taste amazing and warm the belly, though the presentation isn't always the best. The dishes are often accompanied by large amounts of alcohol.
Alcohol is the specialty of the dwarves, and they can drink extreme amounts of the stuff without even getting tipsy. They brew most everything, but they favor ale and beer over fancy wine. Most dwarves, especially the surfacers, are also fond of experimenting when it comes to brewing, and most families have their own special brew.

History

The mountain-dwelling dwarves have ruledover the mountains and the undergrounds since the first age. They were originally awakened by Gaia, The Earth mother, during The Age of Dragons, to do what they consider the task of ruling fairly over the stone and the undersurface. The Ancient Dwarves stayed almost completely isolated for centuries, only doing the occasional trading deal with the High Elves of the first age. This changed during the second age, when dwarves became increasingly active in dealing with other races, and when they enslaved huge populations of underground-dwelling Kobolds and Goblins.
In 3A 130 almost every dwarven kingdom fell to the combined might of the Goblins and Kobolds. The refugees of this destruction flee to the surface and became the surface dwarves, while the remaining Kingdoms close of the gates to their cities and become increasingly isolated, these are today known as the mountain dwarves. The ones that stayed on the surface mingled with the humans in particular, and have today become a common sight in all the major human cities in the north.

Personality and Reputation

The mountain dwarves live deep down in the most impressive mountains on the planet, and as such most have little contact with the outside world. Mountain dwarves absolutely despite goblins, whom they have a long-standing rivalry with. After the destruction of many of the great dwarven cities by goblin hands, dwarves are downright hostile towards the race, killing them on sight in most cases.
The dwarves had a very close relationships with the High Elves during the days of the elven kingdoms, but this has changed in recent centuries. The relationship between them is currently neutral, as most dwarves find elves to be a race of "obnoxious and arrogant weaklings", while the elves view dwarves as stubborn and dumb.
Most mountainborn dwarves are skeptical towards the other races. In the most recent century the mountain dwarves have become more and more closed off to the world, only interacting with the outside world through trading, but even then, they prefer to trade with their surfacer cousins, and no one else. They still look down on the surfacers however, only a tad bit less than everyone else.
Surfacers often live among other races in cities and settlements as they no longer have a real ancestral home of their own after the fall of the dwarven kingdoms of old. Because of this they generally have a very good relationship with most races, especially the humans and of whom they share some characteristics with. The ones who live together with other surface dwarves in clans also mostly have a positive relationship with the rest of the world, as they often trade their crafts with others.

Society

The dwarven kingdoms used to encompass almost every part of the great mountains on Antreia. When the elves ruled the land, the dwarves ruled the underground. They had the biggest military force on the planet, but after the devastating attack of the combined army of the goblins, almost 70 percent of the kingdoms fell. No one knows exactly how it happened, but the goblins got their hands on a magical weapon of mass destruction that would wipe out over 50 percent of the entire dwarven population in an instance, turning all living things it touched into stone. The ruins of these great kingdoms still stand to this day however, filled with treasures, though most are overrun by kobolds and goblins.
Mountain dwarves have a very structured and strict society. Clan and family mean most everything, and every dwarf is expected to abide by the rules of their clan and their kingdom. Each dwarven kingdom have a king, and each king is part of the same noble clan, which is currently clan Dawnhammer. Clan Dawhammer has been the reigning clan for many centuries and their kings have been largely cherished by the common folk.
There are currently three dwarven kingdoms left on Antreia: The kingdom of Vardarhal the smallest of the three ruled by the youngest brother of clan Dawnhammer, located in Lostrath territory. The kingdom of Bighrau, located in the east, deep inside the iron peaks in the Dragontail Mountains chain. They are ruled by the middle child. And lastly the kingdom of Dharindur, the biggest of the three, located in the mountains of Garyx’s Spine whom the oldest of the three brothers is currently residing over. Most of the smaller cities of the dwarves have been overtaken by goblins, and only the biggest and most fortified remain. Surfacers are the descendants of the dwarves who fled to the surface when the goblins attacked, and such they haven't seen the grand underground cities of their forefathers for generations. Most Hill Dwarves no longer feel any real connection to the place from which they came, so most live happily on the surface in small communities. Some Hill Dwarves prefer to still live underground however, often in mountainous or hilly regions, though never as deep as the mountain dwarves as many have lost their “stonesense” as the mountainborn call it, and thus also their will and ability to live underground.
Most professions of the dwarves are passed on from father to son and mother to daughter, and even though the Dwarves have little differences between the genders, there are a few jobs that are designated male and designated female. Only those of the trader profession are allowed to ever leave to the surface (the dwarves of Vardarhal is the exception to this rule however), and even among them very few wishes to. To leave one’s clan and kingdom without either special permission or in the case of individuals being banished because of some crime, is forbidden by law. If a young adventurous mountainborn dwarf choose to leave on his own accord, he will never be allowed to come back to his clan. This strictness is claimed to exist to protect the kingdoms. as the cities act as giant fortresses, it would be catastrophic if spies or individuals of ill-meaning manage to get inside them.

Religion

Dwarves are not of the religious sort. Most scoff at the idea of blindly worshipping gods, deities or more powerful beings. However, all dwarves, regardless of birthplace, greatly respect the mother of the earth, Gaia, whom they believe were the one to breathe life into dead stone to create their people. No grand ceremonies are held in her honor however, the dwarves prefer to appreciate their goddess in other subtler ways. Despite the lack of religious practices in dwarven society, dwarves have their own way of worship, one of which the mountainborn take more seriously than the surfacers. Paragons are those of the dwarven race who have performed amazing feats of heroism, intellect, strength or wisdom. These paragons act as a kind of "living god" among the dwarves, and they are respected and revered even after their death as immortal beings. When a dwarf is elected paragon by the king and the noble council because of some great deed, a new clan is born with the paragon as its founder. All the paragons offspring are hereby considered nobility, and are granted riches and fame beyond imagination.
Some dwarves feel a connection to the religion of the Giants, and some follow The Ordning. This is more common among the Dwarves of Bighrau, or among those of the dwarves who live on the surface.

GOLD AND CLAN

Dwarves who take up the adventuring life might be motivated by a desire for treasure—for its own sake, for a specific purpose, or even out of an altruistic desire to help others. Other dwarves are driven by the command or inspiration of a paragon, a direct calling or simply a desire to bring glory to their clan. Clan and ancestry are also important motivators. A dwarf might seek to restore a clan’s lost honor, avenge an ancient wrong the clan suffered, or earn a new place within the clan after having been exiled. Or a dwarf might search for the axe wielded by a mighty ancestor, lost on the field of battle centuries ago.

STUBBORN AND LONG-LIVED

Dwarves are solid and enduring like the mountains they love, weathering the passage of centuries with stoic endurance and little change. They respect the traditions of their clans, tracing their ancestry back to the founding of their most ancient strongholds in the youth of the world, and don’t abandon those traditions lightly. Dwarves can live to be more than 200 years old. This longevity grants them a perspective on the world that shorter-lived races such as humans and smallfolk lack. Dwarves are stubborn and unmoving as the stone of which they were created, and they have a great memory. Because of this Dwarves tend to hold grudges for generations, and they can be slow to trust.

LOYALTY AMONG COMRADES

Individual dwarves are determined and loyal, true to their word and decisive in action, sometimes to the point of stubbornness. Many dwarves have a strong sense of justice, and they are slow to forget wrongs they have suffered. A wrong done to one dwarf is a wrong done to the dwarf’s entire clan, so what begins as one dwarf’s hunt for vengeance can become a full-blown clan feud.

SHORT AND STOUT

Bold and hardy, dwarves are known as skilled warriors, miners, and workers of stone and metal. Though most stand well under 150cmtall, dwarves are so broad and compact that they can weigh as much as a human standing many centimeters taller. Their courage and endurance are also easily a match for any of the larger folk.

Classes

Magic: After the devastating magical attack on their kingdoms, most dwarves are very skeptical towards magic. This, in addition to a lack of talent for most things magical (except enchanting) make magical dwarves a very rare sight.
Mix: Dwarves, despite their lack of raw magical talent, make good bards and storytellers. Paladins are also not too uncommon.
Non-Magic: This is the area where the dwarves truly shine. They make excellent fighters and barbarians. Rogues are also a common sight and some dwarves also choose to become rangers, however then often preferring guns and animal companies over bows and dexterity.

Dwarven Names

A dwarf’s name is granted by his or her parents. Every proper dwarven name has been used and reused down through the generations. Mountainborn typically introduce themselves by first name, surname (which is the name of their father) and clan name, while surfacers are more lax and typically just us their first name when meeting others.
Male Names: Adrik, Alberich, Baern, Barendd, Brottor, Bruenor, Dain, Darrak, Delg, Eberk, Einkil, Fargrim, Flint, Gardain, Harbek, Kildrak, Morgran, Orsik, Oskar, Rangrim, Rurik, Taklinn, Thoradin, Thorin, Tordek, Traubon, Travok, Ulfgar, Veit, Vondal
Female Names: Amber, Artin, Audhild, Bardryn, Dagnal, Diesa, Eldeth, Falkrunn, Finellen, Gunnloda, Gurdis, Helja, Hlin, Kathra, Kristryd, Ilde, Liftrasa, Mardred, Riswynn, Sannl, Torbera, Torgga, Vistra
Surnames: Son of Thrain, Daughter of Harbek
Clan Names: Flintpride, Battlehammer, Brawnanvil, Dawnbreaker, Fireforge, Frostbeard, Ironfist, Strongboots, Stoneeye, Brightpride, Sternhorn

Related Organizations

• The Aspects