Gully Dwarves
Gully Dwarf Ability Scores
| Ability | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 6 | 18 |
| Dexterity | 6 | 18 |
| Constitution | 8 | 16 |
| Intelligence | 3 | 12 |
| Wisdom | 3 | 14 |
| Charisma | 3 | 12 |
Gully dwarves are stupid. They are master scavengers and have raised groveling to an art form. They do not fight very effectively. Players should bear these restrictions in mind when considering playing a gully dwarf character.
Ability Score Adjustments: The initial ability scores are modified by a -2 penalty to Charisma and +1 bonuses to Strength and Dexterity. The minimum and maximum ability scores are as shown.
Recommended Languages: Gully dwarf, common, gnome, orc, goblin.
Infravision: 60 feet.
Special Advantages: A gully dwarf may attempt to grovel. Any time he is in a dangerous situation and is not immediately engaged in melee, he may throw himself on the mercy of his attacker, or faint in the hope that he will be ignored in the ensuing melee. This causes his opponents to make a saving throw vs. magic. If they are successful they may attack the gully dwarf. If they fail they may not attack him for 1d6 rounds, but they may restrain him or tie him up. The saving throw is modified by the gully dwarf's level as shown on the Groveling Table.
Special Disadvantages: Gully dwarves are usually stupid. A player character gully dwarf is an exception to the rule, being superior to others of his kind by virtue of his ability to think. However, players should not abuse this ability and allow their characters to concoct clever plans and schemes. Intelligence checks may be requested to see if the character could actually come up with such ideas.
Groveling Table
| Level | Saving Throw Modifier |
|---|---|
| 1-4 | 0 |
| 5-8 | -2 |
| 9-12 | -3 |
| 13+ | -5 |
The chance of a magical item failing in the hands of a gully dwarf is increased from 20% to 40%.
Racial Enmities: Ogres, trolls, ogre magi, giants, and titans suffer a -4 penalty to attack gully dwarves.
Additional Experience Cost: None.
Life Expectancy: 250 years.
Gully dwarves are the most degenerate of all the dwarf races. Lacking any racial pride, they make virtues of cowardice, filth, witlessness, and dirty tricks. They live in abandoned strongholds, human villages, or in old mines and caves, in sewers, refuse dumps, or the slums of larger towns and cities. Elves will not tolerate their depravity.
An average gully dwarf is 4 feet tall and weighs only 100 pounds. He is more slender than hill or mountain dwarves and has thin fingers. It is a status symbol for a gully dwarf to have a large pot belly for it displays his skill as a scavenger.
Skin ranges in color from olive brown to light yellow, reminiscent of old parchment. It is often hard to determine a gully dwarf's skin color, however, because of the thick layers of dirt, scar tissue, boils, and scabs covering his skin.
Their beards and hair range from a dirty blond to a dull, indeterminate color. Female gully dwarves have hairy cheeks, but no beards. The eyes of both sexes are dull and lifeless, varying in color from watery blue through green to hazel.
Gullys are renowned for being stupid and obnoxious. In spite of this they have high opinions of themselves and take themselves very seriously. They consider other dwarves to be "uppity" and "stuck up warts." Gully dwarves will lie, steal, bully, and cheat each other and every other race they encounter. If attacked, they grovel, whine, run away, or do whatever it takes to avoid injury. If combat cannot be avoided they will fight half-heartedly, usually with their eyes closed.
Because gully dwarves live in places that even orcs consider unattractive, they have few racial enemies. Scavenging most of their equipment from the junk heaps of other races, their "wealth" does not tempt others. Carrion crawlers have been known to turn up their tentacles rather than eat a gully dwarf.
Where do they come from? Other dwarves claim they are a cruel jest played by the gods on a mischievous stronghold of dwarves. Narvil believes that they are outcasts from a stronghold who later bred and infested the world. Perhaps they are the result of cross breeding between dwarves and gnomes, or dwarves and goblins. They may even have been the result of a vile experiment by an evil wizard. No one knows for sure, least of all the gullys themselves.
They are always treated with contempt, although they may be employed to perform menial tasks. Enclaves of gully dwarves could exist in most strongholds where they would be little better than slaves.
Gully dwarves are often of chaotic neutral alignment, but this diverse people may be of any alignment.
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