Are Duergar dwarves?

[DracoSuave]

Even then, really...

...do you -need- feats? It's a MM race, that's special enough without having to form a complicated backdrop of feats to back it up. It's not like there's a shortage of non-racial feats that any class a Duergar could be would take.

 

[Walking Dad]

This.

Like I said before, the duergar is no more a dwarf than a drow is an elf. They may have shared the same traits in past editions, but now they are completely different (if related) animals.

That is what I thought before reading this:

medium natural humanoid, dwarf (devil)

That's the keyword line for all duergar entries in MM2.

Contrast this with:

medium fey humanoid, eladrin

which is the keyword line for MM2 eladrin (though admittedly MOST of them inexplicably lack the eladrin part, probably should be errated).

...

Maybe they should make them a 'bloodline' like the vampire and vistani entries, exclusive for dwarfs.

Or a racial feat like 'moon elf', that gives them the quill power.

 

[DracoSuave]

Except, of course, for the lack of 'This race counts as a dwarf' that you get in race entries that are intended to interact with other race's feats.

Like Half-Elf as a perfect example.

Just because they're related to dwarves doesn't mean they get access to the cultural and physiological aspects of being a dwarf.

Hell, they're less related to dwarves now than they used to be. I don't remember them being porcupine dudes in the old days.

 

[Trebor62]

Is the player the reasonable type? If so have the player propose some feats and in game justifications / background for them, i.e. let the player flesh out the Duergar as a PC race for you.

 

[mvincent]

medium natural humanoid, dwarf (devil)

That's the keyword line for all duergar entries in MM2.

Interestingly: the "dwarf" part is left out in their compendium entries.