The Dwarven Subraces
There are a few considerations to take into account when choosing a dwarven subrace. The most common dwarves in the World of Greyhawk are Hill and Mountain Dwarves, but other dwarven subraces exist. Races such as Deep Dwarves, Sundered Dwarves, and Gully Dwarves, to name a few. Some even consider the evil Derro to be a dwarven subrace but are not allowed to be player characters at this time.
Some races are specific to certain campaign worlds (Gully dwarves are native to the Dragonlance® setting, for example), but there is no reason why a reason can’t be created why a given subrace exists in a setting other than its native one.
Hill Dwarves
Hill Dwarf Ability Scores
| Ability | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 8 | 18 |
| Dexterity | 3 | 17 |
| Constitution | 11 | 18 |
| Intelligence | 3 | 18 |
| Wisdom | 3 | 18 |
| Charisma | 3 | 17 |
The most common dwarf, hill dwarves are found in most AD&D® campaign worlds.
Ability Score Adjustments: The initial ability scores are modified by a -1 penalty to Charisma and a +1 bonus to Constitution. The minimum and maximum ability scores are shown in the table to the left.
Recommenced Languages: Hill dwarf, common, gnome, goblin, kobold, orc.
Infravision: 60 feet.
Special Advantages: None.
Special Disadvantages: None.
Racial Enmities: Ogres, trolls, ogre magi, giants, and titans suffer a -4 penalty to attack hill dwarves.
Additional Experience Cost: None.
Life Expectancy: 350 years.
Hill dwarves live in areas of rolling hills. Their strongholds are primarily located underground, though they frequently have outposts on the surface.
A typical hill dwarf stands 4 feet tall and weighs about 150 pounds. He is stocky and muscular. His skin is a deep tan or light brown in color and he has ruddy cheeks and bright eyes. His hair could be black, gray, or brown. He favors dark, somber, earth-toned clothes, and wears little jewelry.
Hill dwarves are the most common dwarves. They have adapted well to life above and below ground. They claim that they have always lived in the hills, but they may have migrated there either by traveling above ground, or via underground passages. If by surface travel, they are probably descended from mountain dwarves.
The alignment of the hill dwarves is usually lawful good, but there is no reason they cannot be of another alignment. So long as the majority of remain lawful good, strongholds of chaotic, neutral, or evil dwarves will not unbalance a campaign and will give it more flavor and variety.
TopMountain Dwarves
Mountain Dwarf Ability Scores
| Ability | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 8 | 18 |
| Dexterity | 3 | 17 |
| Constitution | 11 | 19 |
| Intelligence | 3 | 18 |
| Wisdom | 3 | 18 |
| Charisma | 3 | 16 |
Mountain dwarves are also fairly common. Players who have existing mountain dwarf characters generated by using the Player's Handbook need only make minor adjustments to their characters. These include height, weight, and age. Otherwise the character can be kept as is.
Ability Score Adjustments: Initial ability scores are modified by a -1 penalty to Charisma and a +1 bonus to Constitution. The minimum and maximum ability scores are as shown.
Recommended Languages: Mountain dwarf, common, gnome, goblin, kobold, orc, ogre, troll.
Infravision: 60 feet.
Special Advantages: None.
Special Disadvantages: None.
Racial Enmities: Ogres, trolls, ogre magi, giants, and titans suffer a -4 penalty to attack mountain dwarves.
Additional Experience Cost: None.
Life Expectancy: 400 years.
These dwarves live beneath the mountains. Their strongholds are usually isolated and they have little contact with other races. Mountain dwarves tend to like their privacy and actively discourage visitors to their strongholds.
A typical mountain dwarf is, on average, 4 1/2 feet tall and weighs about 170 pounds. His hair is a lighter shade than his hill cousin's, and his skin is slightly more red in color.
Mountain dwarves claim that they are the first dwarves and all other dwarves are descended from them. They are wary of hill dwarves because of their closer dealings with humans, elves, and other races. They are clannish and keep to themselves. The majority are of lawful good alignment.
TopGray Dwarves (Duergar)
Duergar (Gray Dwarves) Ability Scores
| Ability | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 8 | 18 |
| Dexterity | 3 | 17 |
| Constitution | 11 | 18 |
| Intelligence | 3 | 16 |
| Wisdom | 3 | 18 |
| Charisma | 3 | 16 |
Duergar, or gray dwarves, are typically evil, but player characters can be of any alignment. Most good or neutrally aligned races are suspicious of duergar.
Ability Score Adjustments: The initial ability scores are modified by a B2 penalty to Charisma and a +1 bonus to Constitution. The minimum and maximum ability scores are as shown.
Recommended Languages: Duergar, deep dwarf, drow, illithid, kua-toa, troll, troglodyte, ghoul, undercommon, sign language.
Infravision: 120 feet.
Special Advantages: Duergar are stealthy. Parties or individuals at least 90 feet ahead of the party gain a surprise bonus. This causes a -2 penalty to the opponent's surprise rolls. If a door or other screen is opened, the bonus is lost. Duergar receive a +2 bonus on their own surprise rolls. In addition to the standard saving throw bonuses against magical attacks (see Saving Throws), duergar are unaffected by paralysis, illusion and phantasm spells. They are immune to all magical and alchemical poisons. Against natural poisons they gain the standard dwarf saving throw bonus.
In addition they possess the innate magical abilities of enlarge and invisibility. They can use each of these powers once per day. A duergar uses the enlarge ability as though he were a wizard twice his own level. A 2nd-level duergar uses enlarge as though he were a 4th-level wizard. He may use it only to affect himself and whatever he is wearing or carrying.
Special Disadvantages: Duergar are adversely affected by bright light such as sunlight or a continual light spell. They are not affected by the light of torches, lanterns, magic weapons, magical light or faerie fire.
Affected by bright light, his enhanced ability to gain surprise is negated. Dexterity is reduced by -2 and hit rolls are made at a -2 penalty.
In situations where a duergar is in darkness but his opponents are in bright light, his Dexterity and surprise advantages are unaffected, but he suffers a -1 penalty to his attack rolls. Other dwarves distrust duergar and react to them at -3 penalty. If the character kits are being used, this penalty is cumulative with any incurred when choosing a particular kit.
Racial Enmities: Ogres, trolls, ogre magi, giants, and titans suffer a -4 penalty to attack Duergar. These dwarves do not gain any advantage when fighting orcs, half-orcs, goblins, or hobgoblins.
Additional Experience Cost: Duergar require 20% additional experience points.
Life Expectancy: 400 years.
Duergar, or gray dwarves, live deep underground, sometimes below the deep dwarves. They rarely venture above ground, finding it painful, except during heavily overcast days or at night. The light does not cause them damage, but it does affect their ability to see clearly. A typical duergar is 4 feet tall and weighs 120 pounds. Emaciated, they possess pasty skins and white or dull gray beards. Men and women may be bald, and those who are not usually shave their heads.
Most duergar are lawful evil with neutral tendencies. Other dwarves find their ways repulsive. Duergar war on other dwarf races, and sometimes even join forces with orcs and other evil races to raid dwarf strongholds.
They frequently compete with deep dwarves for living space and minerals. Usually the duergar are bested in such struggles. Consequently, numerous duergar strongholds are exceptionally poor, having been driven into areas rejected by others. In some cases, however, this may have been to their advantage and may have led them to the discovery of hidden subterranean wealth that they could secretly acquire.
Duergar may at one time have lived with other dwarves before they were driven into the deep for their worship of evil gods. They may have been created by the evil gods to balance the races of lawful good dwarves. If that is the case, they will have a divine mission to eradicate or enslave all dwarves of good alignment.
Even though their society is evil, they still retain many of the social structures of hill and mountain dwarves. They are clan based, but their crafts are usually inferior to those of other dwarves.
TopDeep Dwarves
Deep Dwarf Ability Scores
| Ability | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 8 | 18 |
| Dexterity | 3 | 16 |
| Constitution | 13 | 19 |
| Intelligence | 3 | 18 |
| Wisdom | 3 | 18 |
| Charisma | 3 | 15 |
Deep dwarves live far under the earth and have superior infravision.
Ability Score Adjustments: Initial ability scores are modified by a -2 penalty to Charisma and a +2 bonus to Constitution. The minimum and maximum ability scores are as shown.
Recommended Languages: Deep dwarf, duergar, drow, illithid, kua-toa, troll, troglodyte, svirfneblin, undercommon, sign language.
Infravision: 180 feet.
Special Advantages: Excellent saving throws against magical attacks and toxins. A deep dwarf figures his Constitution saving throw bonuses for a normal dwarf and adds an additional +1 to his bonus.
Special Disadvantages: Deep dwarves suffer a -1 penalty to all rolls in bright sunlight or within the radius of a continual light spell. Light spells have no additional effect.
Racial Enmities: Ogres, trolls, ogre magi, giants, and titans suffer a -4 penalty to attack deep dwarves.
Additional Experience Cost: +10% experience points to gain a new level.
Life Expectancy: 380 years.
Deep dwarves live far beneath the surface of the earth. They may always have lived there, or they may have gone deep underground to escape a dreadful cataclysm, marauding monsters, or perhaps were driven downward by mountain or hill dwarves.
Deep dwarves average 4 feet to 4 1/2 feet tall and weigh about 120 pounds. They are large boned, but leaner than other dwarves. Their skin varies from pale brown to light tan, and often carries a reddish tinge. Their eyes are large, but without the sheen of their surface cousins; in color, a washed-out blue. Hair color ranges from flame red to straw blond. The females wear their beards long, unlike other dwarf women (who are typically clean-shaven).
Deep dwarves have little or no contact with the surface. It is too far for them to travel to the world above. They may be on friendly terms with hill and mountain dwarves, or they may harbor a grudge against them. They may avoid them because they consider them tainted by the influence of other races.
Frequently neutral in alignment, deep dwarves may also be lawful good or lawful neutral. They are just as conservative as hill or mountain dwarves, and consider themselves to be the sole repositories of dwarven culture.
TopSundered Dwarves
Sundered Dwarf Ability Scores
| Ability | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 8 | 18 |
| Dexterity | 3 | 17 |
| Constitution | 11 | 18 |
| Intelligence | 3 | 16 |
| Wisdom | 3 | 18 |
| Charisma | 3 | 16 |
Sundered dwarves are unlike any other dwarves, tending to be dirty and unkempt, though not as filthy as gully dwarves. For one reason or another, they have lost their halls and been forced onto the surface when their cousins would not take them in for one reason or another. They and their descendents suffer from claustrophobia.
Ability Score Adjustments: The initial ability scores are modified by a -1 penalty to Charisma, and +1 bonuses to Constitution and Strength. The minimum and maximum ability scores are as shown.
Recommended Languages: Common, any dwarf dialect, elf, goblin, orc, gnome, kobold, halfling, hobgoblin.
Infravision: 30 feet.
Special Advantages: None.
Special Disadvantages: Sundered dwarves are claustrophobic. A sundered dwarf must roll a successful saving throw vs. death magic to overcome his fear of the underground before he can enter dungeons, caves, and tombs. If the check fails, he may not enter. Once underground he must make a saving throw each day. If he fails, he will want to leave the underground by the most direct route.
Underground, a sundered dwarf attacks with a -2 penalty to his rolls. Should he fail his claustrophobic saving throw, the penalty increases by -1 for each additional day he stays underground. If he fails to reach open air, he may attempt further saving throws each day to overcome his claustrophobia. These saving throws are made at the same penalty as the dwarf's current attack roll penalty.
The sundered dwarf also has no Underground detection abilities and may not dedicated nonweapon proficiency slots to underground detection abilities.
Racial Enmities: Sundered dwarves are harder for ogres, trolls, ogre magi, giants, and titans attack. These races subtract -4 from their attack rolls when fighting sundered dwarves.
Additional Experience Cost: None.
Life Expectancy: 250 years.
Unlike most dwarves, sundered dwarves live on the surface. Once hill or mountain dwarves, they were cut off from their kin and traditional ways of life. Where deep dwarves went downward, sundered dwarves were forced onto the surface.
They may have been driven there by volcanoes or earthquakes that shattered their subterranean homes, or perhaps by orcs or dragons. Finding no safe haven underground, they were forced above. Some may even have chosen to abandon their homes and give up the subterranean life.
Over the centuries sundered dwarves adapted as best they could, but abandoning their natural habitat has taken its toll. They have lost much of their racial pride, and tend to be a miserable and dirty people. They have developed an irrational phobia of dark places, yet are uncomfortable under the open sky, in rain, and with most surface conditions.
Sundered dwarves may be found living among other races. They may make up the majority of the inhabitants in a ghetto, or small groups of them may be found living or adventuring with other races.
Although their traditional homes are gone, sundered dwarves continue to follow the crafts, especially mining and smithing. They will work for humans or elves.
With a height of 4 1/2 to 5 feet, a typical sundered dwarf is slightly taller than a mountain dwarf, but he is of slimmer build, weighing about 155 pounds. His skin is usually lighter than a hill dwarf's, more pink than brown. His hair is dark with tinges of blue. Stronger than other dwarves, they gain a +1 bonus to Strength in character generation.
Sundered dwarves are usually lawful neutral in alignment. Their society retains its traditional lawful organization, but is more concerned with maintaining its laws than ensuring that all citizens share in its benefits.
TopGully 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.
The gully dwarf has no Underground Detection abilities and may not dedicate nonweapon proficiency slots to underground detection abilities.
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.
TopThieving Skill Adjustments by Subrace
The Dwarven Sub-racial Thieving Skill Adjustments Table gives adjustments to be made to a character's thieving skills by subrace.
Dwarven Sub-racial Thieving Skill Adjustments Table
| Skill | Hill | Mountain | Deep | Duergar | Sundered | Gully |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pick Pockets | --- | --- | +5% | +5% | --- | +10% |
| Open Locks | +10% | +10% | --- | --- | +5% | -5% |
| Find/Remove Traps | +15% | +15% | +10% | +10% | +10% | +5% |
| Move Silently | --- | --- | --- | +10% | +5% | --- |
| Hide in Shadows | --- | --- | +5% | +5% | +5% | -5% |
| Detect Noise | --- | --- | --- | +10% | --- | --- |
| Climb Walls | -10% | -10% | -10% | -10% | --- | -5% |
| Read Languages | -5% | -5% | -15% | -15% | -10% | -25% |
Height & Weight
Either choose your character's height and weight or generate them randomly. They are listed on the table below for each subrace. Take the base score appropriate for your race and add the die roll modifier. Bizarre combinations should be ignored or rerolled, but this is up to the player to determine.
Females tend to be lighter and shorter than males so the base numbers for height and weight are divided into male/female values. There is a broad range in each category.
Dwarven Average Height and Weight Table
| Race | Height (in.) | Weight (lbs.) |
|---|---|---|
| Deep | 45/42+2d6 | 100/80+4d10 |
| Duergar | 41/40+2d6 | 95/75+5d10 |
| Gully | 40/38+2d6 | 80/65+4d10 |
| Hill | 43/41+1d10 | 130/105+4d10 |
| Mountain | 49/47+1d10 | 145/115+5d10 |
| Sundered | 50/48+1d10 | 135/110+3d12 |
Starting Age & Lifespan
Choose or generate a character's starting age and possible life span using the table below. To determine starting age, add the die roll to the base starting age. You will only have an idea of how long he is likely to live, assuming he dies of old age!
As an alternative you may play an older character, one who has been drawn or forced into adventuring late in life. Your character starts at 1st-level, but his ability scores are adjusted to reflect his greater age as shown on the Aging Effects Table.
These adjustments may result in either exceeding or falling below the minimum and maximum abilities required for your subrace, but this is not a problem as long as the character met them before he aged.
Dwarven Aging Effects Table
| Race | Starting Age | Middle Age* | Old Age** | Venerable Age*** | Maximum Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deep | 45+3d12 | 140 | 187 | 280 | +2d100 |
| Duergar | 40+4d6 | 150 | 200 | 300 | +2d100 |
| Gully | 30+2d12 | 200 | 134 | 200 | +5d20 |
| Hill | 40+5d6 | 125 | 167 | 250 | +2d100 |
| Mountain | 50+6d6 | 150 | 200 | 300 | +2d100 |
| Sundered | 25+4d4 | 100 | 134 | 200 | +5d20 |
* -1 Str/Con; +1 Int/Wis
** -2 Str/Dex; B1 Con; +1 Wis
*** -1 Str/Dex/Con; +1 Int/Wis
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