Note -- Updated the race write-up to version 4, incorporating comments.
Changes: Adjusted Avernal Bloodline racial feat to have a daily effect instead of encounter, added option to gain proficiency in war pick in lieu of the standard warhammer, adjusted the write-up for the expand racial power to decrease the damage bonus, and changed the Impregnable Mind save bonus to be +1 will and +2 bonus to perception checks involving illusions.
--------------------------------------- original post -----------------------------------------
Folks,
One of my favorite races has always been Duergar. And now that the Drow have been done as a basic race, I wanted to bring out the Duergar for my FR campaign.
Here is the first cut, which I based on the Duergar in the Thunderspire Labyrinth module with a dash of things from the FRCG, FRPG, FR Wiki, and a couple of my own ideas.
Comments are certainly welcome. I am particularly concerned with balancing the new feats and racial powers. They are designed so that a comparable level PC can end up with the same number of racial abilities (feats or powers) as the monster versions. I realize monster design has diverged from player design in 4e, but I still have a problem with level 6 monsters having more racial abilities than a level 6 PC of the same race.
Thanks.
[sblock=duergar]
Duergar
Natural humanoid (devil)
Average Height: 4’3” – 4’ 9”
Average Weight: 170-230 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence
Size: Medium
Speed 5
Vision: Darkvision
Languages Common, Deep Speech, Dwarven
Skill Bonuses: Dungeoneering +2, Arcana +2
Impregnable Mind: +1 racial bonus to Will defense, +2 Will defense vs. powers with the illusion key word
Tartarean Blood: Resist 5 fire, 5 poison
Duergar Weapon Proficiency: You gain proficiency with the warhammer or war pick (choose one when your character is created).
Encumbered Speed: You move at your normal speed even when it would normally be reduced by armor or a heavy load. Other effects that limit speed (such as difficult terrain or magical effects) affect you normally.
Beard Quill: Once per encounter, you can pluck a poisoned quill from beneath your beard (hair if female), and throw it as a minor action – you gain the Beard Quill racial encounter power.
Play a Duergar if you want...
to be resistant to fire, illusions and poison
to possess dark ties to fell heritage
to be a member of a race that favors the artificer, swordmage, and warlock classes.
The duergar, also called gray dwarves, were once a settlement of shield dwarves in the dwarven kingdom of Shanatar. The shield dwarves that eventually became the duergar lived in certain strongholds that fell under attack of mind flayers, or illithids, and were captured. During their captivity, which lasted for generations, the illithids performed many cruel and unusual experiments on the dwarves. Eventually, the dwarves rose up against their captors and gained their freedom from the mind flayers. Believing Moradin abandoned them in their long captivity, duergar turned to evil dwarven deities (like Ladaguer and Deep Duerra) and infernal powers, strengthening their stock by breeding with devils and seeking power in dark rituals. When the evil dwarven deities perished in war with the Moradinsaman, the duergar took Asmodeus as their favored deity. Now the duergar inhabit volcanic areas of the Underdark and have been left as cruel and evil as their former captors and quite withdrawn from their experiences.
Physical Qualities
Duergar are similar in appearance to their distant cousins, the dwarves. Short and strongly built, duergar stand about 4 ½ feet tall and weigh roughly 200 pounds. All duergar have fiery amber eyes, and their skin is usually gray to sooty black. Their hair is generally white to gray, and males are bald (although they wear facial hair). Their long association with devils and infernal magic has left them strongly resistant to illusions, fire and poison. Nearly all duergar have long, stiff spines concealed within their beards (for males) or hair (for females) that carry a burning venom. They can pluck and hurl these quills like daggers. In public, duergar wear drab clothing designed to help them blend into their environment. In private, they may add subdued jewelry and well-wrought metal bracers, armbands or torcs. They share the love of their surface cousins for mining and metalcraft, and excel at artifice.
Playing a Duergar
Grim and ruthless, duergar grow up like their infernal relations valuing strength and endurance, and despising weak sentiment or behavior. Courageous, duergar are fierce enemies with little sense of fair play. Even more than their surface cousins, duergar are insular, looking inward and little valuing those outside of their clans. They never forget their enemies, and will wait patiently for a chance to take their vengeance ten-fold for any harm done to them. They always pay back a debt; if you are lucky enough to be on the good side of a debt with a duergar, he will grudgingly make it good to the letter of the agreement. But if you have taken advantage of him or dishonored him in his own mind, he will add you to the tally of those who deserve ten-fold vengeance. Duergar are patient and will spend years if need be preparing a revenge that leaves their enemies humiliated, and in ashes or eternal servitude. It is not uncommon for a duergar’s vengeance to fall onto those one or two generations down from the person or creature who offended them, especially when dealing with shorter lived races.
In the chance that an adventurer wanders across a duergar on the surface, that adventurer is likely to notice facial and arm tattoos that mark the gray dwarf as a traitor to duergar society.
Racial Feats
Improved Tartarean Blood
Prerequisite: Duergar
Benefit: Fire and Poison resistance increase to 10.
Aberrant Slayer
Prerequisite: Duergar
Benefit: +1 bonus to attack rolls against aberrant creatures, and +2 saving throws versus power effects of aberrant creatures.
Avernal Bloodline
Prerequisite: Duergar, Constitution 13+
Benefit: Once per day, you can use either the invisibility or expansion duergar racial powers.
Racial Powers:
Beard Quill Duergar Racial Power
Encounter
Minor Action Ranged 3
Attack: Str +2 vs. AC
Hit: d6 + Con, Ongoing 2 poison and -2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends)
Expand Duergar Racial Power
Daily Polymorph
Free Action
Trigger: When first bloodied
Effect: You become Large, occupying 4 squares instead of 1. Any creatures in the squares that you come to occupy are pushed 1 square. You also gain reach 2 and a +2 bonus to your melee damage rolls. You remain Large until the end of the encounter.
Invisibility Duergar Racial Power
Daily Illusion
Minor Action
Effect: You turn invisible until end of your next turn. You become visible if you take a standard action
[/sblock]
Changes: Adjusted Avernal Bloodline racial feat to have a daily effect instead of encounter, added option to gain proficiency in war pick in lieu of the standard warhammer, adjusted the write-up for the expand racial power to decrease the damage bonus, and changed the Impregnable Mind save bonus to be +1 will and +2 bonus to perception checks involving illusions.
--------------------------------------- original post -----------------------------------------
Folks,
One of my favorite races has always been Duergar. And now that the Drow have been done as a basic race, I wanted to bring out the Duergar for my FR campaign.
Here is the first cut, which I based on the Duergar in the Thunderspire Labyrinth module with a dash of things from the FRCG, FRPG, FR Wiki, and a couple of my own ideas.
Comments are certainly welcome. I am particularly concerned with balancing the new feats and racial powers. They are designed so that a comparable level PC can end up with the same number of racial abilities (feats or powers) as the monster versions. I realize monster design has diverged from player design in 4e, but I still have a problem with level 6 monsters having more racial abilities than a level 6 PC of the same race.
Thanks.
[sblock=duergar]
Duergar
Natural humanoid (devil)
Average Height: 4’3” – 4’ 9”
Average Weight: 170-230 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence
Size: Medium
Speed 5
Vision: Darkvision
Languages Common, Deep Speech, Dwarven
Skill Bonuses: Dungeoneering +2, Arcana +2
Impregnable Mind: +1 racial bonus to Will defense, +2 Will defense vs. powers with the illusion key word
Tartarean Blood: Resist 5 fire, 5 poison
Duergar Weapon Proficiency: You gain proficiency with the warhammer or war pick (choose one when your character is created).
Encumbered Speed: You move at your normal speed even when it would normally be reduced by armor or a heavy load. Other effects that limit speed (such as difficult terrain or magical effects) affect you normally.
Beard Quill: Once per encounter, you can pluck a poisoned quill from beneath your beard (hair if female), and throw it as a minor action – you gain the Beard Quill racial encounter power.
Play a Duergar if you want...
to be resistant to fire, illusions and poison
to possess dark ties to fell heritage
to be a member of a race that favors the artificer, swordmage, and warlock classes.
The duergar, also called gray dwarves, were once a settlement of shield dwarves in the dwarven kingdom of Shanatar. The shield dwarves that eventually became the duergar lived in certain strongholds that fell under attack of mind flayers, or illithids, and were captured. During their captivity, which lasted for generations, the illithids performed many cruel and unusual experiments on the dwarves. Eventually, the dwarves rose up against their captors and gained their freedom from the mind flayers. Believing Moradin abandoned them in their long captivity, duergar turned to evil dwarven deities (like Ladaguer and Deep Duerra) and infernal powers, strengthening their stock by breeding with devils and seeking power in dark rituals. When the evil dwarven deities perished in war with the Moradinsaman, the duergar took Asmodeus as their favored deity. Now the duergar inhabit volcanic areas of the Underdark and have been left as cruel and evil as their former captors and quite withdrawn from their experiences.
Physical Qualities
Duergar are similar in appearance to their distant cousins, the dwarves. Short and strongly built, duergar stand about 4 ½ feet tall and weigh roughly 200 pounds. All duergar have fiery amber eyes, and their skin is usually gray to sooty black. Their hair is generally white to gray, and males are bald (although they wear facial hair). Their long association with devils and infernal magic has left them strongly resistant to illusions, fire and poison. Nearly all duergar have long, stiff spines concealed within their beards (for males) or hair (for females) that carry a burning venom. They can pluck and hurl these quills like daggers. In public, duergar wear drab clothing designed to help them blend into their environment. In private, they may add subdued jewelry and well-wrought metal bracers, armbands or torcs. They share the love of their surface cousins for mining and metalcraft, and excel at artifice.
Playing a Duergar
Grim and ruthless, duergar grow up like their infernal relations valuing strength and endurance, and despising weak sentiment or behavior. Courageous, duergar are fierce enemies with little sense of fair play. Even more than their surface cousins, duergar are insular, looking inward and little valuing those outside of their clans. They never forget their enemies, and will wait patiently for a chance to take their vengeance ten-fold for any harm done to them. They always pay back a debt; if you are lucky enough to be on the good side of a debt with a duergar, he will grudgingly make it good to the letter of the agreement. But if you have taken advantage of him or dishonored him in his own mind, he will add you to the tally of those who deserve ten-fold vengeance. Duergar are patient and will spend years if need be preparing a revenge that leaves their enemies humiliated, and in ashes or eternal servitude. It is not uncommon for a duergar’s vengeance to fall onto those one or two generations down from the person or creature who offended them, especially when dealing with shorter lived races.
In the chance that an adventurer wanders across a duergar on the surface, that adventurer is likely to notice facial and arm tattoos that mark the gray dwarf as a traitor to duergar society.
Racial Feats
Improved Tartarean Blood
Prerequisite: Duergar
Benefit: Fire and Poison resistance increase to 10.
Aberrant Slayer
Prerequisite: Duergar
Benefit: +1 bonus to attack rolls against aberrant creatures, and +2 saving throws versus power effects of aberrant creatures.
Avernal Bloodline
Prerequisite: Duergar, Constitution 13+
Benefit: Once per day, you can use either the invisibility or expansion duergar racial powers.
Racial Powers:
Beard Quill Duergar Racial Power
Encounter
Minor Action Ranged 3
Attack: Str +2 vs. AC
Hit: d6 + Con, Ongoing 2 poison and -2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends)
Expand Duergar Racial Power
Daily Polymorph
Free Action
Trigger: When first bloodied
Effect: You become Large, occupying 4 squares instead of 1. Any creatures in the squares that you come to occupy are pushed 1 square. You also gain reach 2 and a +2 bonus to your melee damage rolls. You remain Large until the end of the encounter.
Invisibility Duergar Racial Power
Daily Illusion
Minor Action
Effect: You turn invisible until end of your next turn. You become visible if you take a standard action
[/sblock]
Last edited:
