Ouch! That sucks. I've been there and it isn't a happy place.
Yeah, I tried calling the tech support people, and their only advice was to turn off the anti-virus. And, I've had the anti-virus for most of the year (bought it the same time I got this new computer) so... not sure why this month everything has been going wrong.
There is. Despite the claim that the core setting is FR, there is really almost nothing FR about the PHB, DMG and MM. It's like the silly claim that Greyhawk was the 3e core setting.
The PHB Dwarves are designed to be dropped into whatever setting people want, or to be changed to conform to other settings. The Sword Coast altered the PHB Dwarf fluff to conform to that setting. Where it differs from the PHB is where specific beats general.
Yes, Hill Dwarves "keen senses, deep intuition..." is why as a subrace they get +1 to wisdom. Mountain Dwarves as a subrace are NOT like that, so they do not get +1 to wisdom. As you not, though, an individual Mountain Dwarf could be born with keen senses and deep intuition, and that would be reflected by rolling/buying a high wisdom.
"Designed to be dropped into whatever setting people want" Also, they are specifically called out to be the Dwarves of both of those settings. So, saying they aren't those dwarves when they specifically are, seems to be shifty.
And the Sword Coast can't contradict the PHB, because the PHB says nothing. Mordenkainens, which came out at least a year after Sword Coast, is the one contradicting it.
And, lets just ask the question you won't answer. Why do Hill Dwarves have "keen senses, deep intuition, and greater resilience" than mountain dwarves? The PHB doesn't tell us. It states that they are and we just have to guess why.
People proposed culture, but this applies to two different cultures that are radically different, Gold Dwarves are much closer in attitude and culture to Greyhawk's Mountain Dwarves. So, how do we explain this?
You say that a Mountain Dwarves could be rolled to be Hill Dwarves.... but doesn't that completely prove my point? A Mountain Dwarf with high Wisdom isn't breaking any lore, he isn't destroying the status quo. And, I could just as easily represent him with the Hill Dwarf stats. After all, if he was a cleric or Fighter, he gets the mountain Dwarf armor anyways. Just missing a little strength, which maybe I can just roll.
It does not specifically state where they live, but the name pretty clearly implies hills for Hill Dwarves and mountains for Mountain Dwarves. Hills can also be found without any mountains around. If you look at real world cultures, there are varying cultures just a few miles away from each other. If you go further into dwellers of different terrain types, the cultural differences are profound. That one type of dwarf would leave the mountains and go live elsewhere with a different focus on life, to the extent that they develop different racial abilities, means that they have a significantly different culture.
Real life also has people who hold the same culture despite being seperated by dozens or hundreds of miles. So, is the two mile trek down the mountain really enough? Also, while human cultures do change, they change over generations. Over the course of 100 years, we have 5 generations. Dwarves might have two. That is a much slower rate of change, and would make that sort of culture drift much less likely.
And sure, you could find hills without mountains. But do Hill Dwarves live there? I mean deserts have hills. Do Hill Dwarves live in the desert? Maybe they live in the Tundra, those have hills. Forests have hills too.
In fact, I think those hill dwarves would have a bigger difference in culture than you would find between Mountain Dwarves living in the Mountains and Hill Dwarves living in the foothills of those mountains.
The PHB tells us that they are different. The get very different racial abilities, which means that they cannot possibly be the same. In fact, it goes out of the way to tell us which abilities both get for their similarities and then goes into their differences.
Aw, infallible logic. They are different because they are different. Solid logic.... Especially since the PHB says nothing of the sort. In fact, it says the opposite. Wanna know how I know?
Because under the entry of Hill Dwarves, it says that in the Forgotten Realms Hill Dwarves are called Gold Dwarves. It specifically says they are the same.
Oh! You might have gotten confused again, mixing up Gold Dwarves and Mountain Dwarves, which are supposed to be different, but they are described the exact same way in Mordenkainens. Okay, that is unfair it isn't "exact" they are both just xenophobic shut-ins who fight underground wars against dark threats to their livelihoods and think of themselves as the true dwarves. But it they don't copy and paste the lore.
Oh, and the Shield Dwarves and Hill Dwarves are their more adventurous, surface dwelling cousins who make closer bonds with the other races, while building more empires instead of enduring in the old fortresses.
Then you just have to remember that Shields are Mountains mechanically, while being Hills culturally. I mean, that isn't too confusing at all right? Clearly delinated differences between... well, I guess the mechanics are one type of difference and the culture is the opposite sort of difference. Which kind of blurs the lines.
It is not a contradiction. I've already shown how what you call contradiction can be easily reconciled together. Even there was a contradiction, 1) specific beats general, so the Gold Dwarf lore wins, and 2) the Gold Dwarf lore also has aspects that justify the +1 wisdom in a different way.
No Max, this is not a specific beats general situation.
The PHB says that these two races use the same mechanics.
Greyhawk Hill Dwarves have one set of lore and culture.
Forgotten Realm Gold Dwarves have a different set of lore and culture.
The Hill dwarves culture and the Gold Dwarves culture are opposed. They have the culture of the other type of dwarf (Shield and Mountain respectively).
Let me show this in a math equation.
PHB claims that a=b
Greyhawk says that a=1
Forgotten Realms says that b=2
Therefore either 1=2, or the PHB is wrong and a=/=b
And, even worse, Mordenkainen's says that FR b=2, while Sword Coast says that FR b=1. And, I have no idea which set of lore to believe. Because, despite Sword Coast being about FR, it was not written by WoTC and it is in direct contradiction of newer material. So, was this a retcon? A mistake? Or is this just a massively confused issue that no one seemed to notice?
So you can be both suspicious and optimistic. I am what you would call an optimistic realist, just like those dwarves. I am realistic and understand that basic human nature will almost always result in X, but despite my suspicions and distrust of that nature, I still optimistically hold out hope that this might be one of the exceptions. Again, what you are looking at as in opposition is not really in opposition at all.
That isn't what those words mean Max. And, I would have to say that if you really were optimistic, you would not act secretive and with suspicion. If you truly believed that "this time might be different" then you would act as though it were.
They don't. They act suspicious and secretive with everybody. That isn't realistic optimism (which frankly is just pessimism or realism with a shiny coat of paint).
