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A Look at the Duerger: Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes Preview
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<blockquote data-quote="QuietBrowser" data-source="post: 7737726" data-attributes="member: 6855057"><p>Ironically, they've made duergar even blander; they haven't mentioned psionics at all*, and they've watered down the dwarven infernalists niche they had in 4e by stating that most duergar are cheerless xenophobes, ala their 3e fluff, but the worst of the worst are those who've been subverted into worshipping Asmodeus instead of the incredibly niche Laduguer.</p><p></p><p>Yes, Derro are officially dwarves in this edition again. They were human/dwarf hybrids in Greyhawk (implied in the Monstrous Manual, confirmed in Dragon #241), degenerate humans in the Nentir Vale, and they're now dwarves in the Forgotten Realms... in fact, there's an unspoken connection between duergar and derro: they're both descendants of dwarves who were enslaved by the illithids and fought free of them. The difference is that the duergar are bitter and scarred, but the derro are broken.</p><p></p><p>*Duergar originally were supposed to be a psi-attuned dwarf race, with Unearthed Arcana 1e giving them double the chance to be psionic, which is why they had a psionics update in the Complete Psionics Handbook and a full PC writeup in the Expanded Psionics Handbook.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Here's the issue with why they're not popular... when it comes to duergar lore and them being more than "just dark dwarves"? They <strong>aren't</strong>. Duergar fluff has never really presented them anything more than all of the character flaws of surface dwarves but with none of the good qualities of them. They've always een an afterthought, a lazy dwarven analogue to drow, and that's why nobody'S ever bought them.</p><p></p><p>I mean, this is the entirety of their monster writeup in the D&D Monstrous Compendium Two... and the Monstrous Manual cuts this entry off after the first line of Habitat/Society due to poor editor's choice. It literally doesn't say anything about duergar other than that they're nastier dwarves who live in the worst conditions. </p><p><a href="http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dwarduer.html" target="_blank">http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dwarduer.html</a></p><p></p><p>Really, I don't know where you're getting any of this impression from... the 3e Monster Manual 1s both describe duergar in generic terminology as just "evil dwarves". The Expanded Psionics Handbook fluff boils down to them being enormous douchebags. Ecology of the Duergar portrays them as fanatic slaves of a theocratic tyranny almost worse than Asmodeus' faith. Unless this is Forgotten Realms specific fluff, because I actually don't know what FR sourcebooks they were detailed in prior to 5e.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Well, it's been around since 3rd edition at the least. Plus, as I said, they're now sharing that same "dwarf ex-slaves of the illithid" niche with the derro.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Really, dwarves in general have suffered in popularity compared to elves thanks to the long-lasting stigma against giving them any kind of sex appeal. For the longest time, it was assumed that all dwarves would be short, hairy, possibly pot-bellied, cranky old men; females were almost never mentioned and often described as dumpy or homely looking (hence the infamous "dwarf women have beards!" meme) - they've even been described as less common than men. 4th edition tried to fix this by bringing dwarf women more to the fore and giving them sex appeal, which definitely helped them, but duergar are still stuck in the "bitter, hairy little men" motif.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Definitely doesn't help the race when their default fluff all boils down to "every dwarven flaw or negative stereotypical trait with none of the redeeming qualities". Seriously, when your PC writeup in 3e describes you as avaricious, short-tempered, sullen, violent, ungrateful, vengeful, churlish, hateful, envious and merciless, and your "positive traits" boil down to "you're brave, you're determined, you work hard, and you leave people alone so long as they don't have anything you want", it's hard to make a positive impression.</p><p></p><p>Drow appeal to players who want anti-heroes, villain protagonists or redeemed villains because they have style.</p><p></p><p>Duergar are just <strong>jerks</strong>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="QuietBrowser, post: 7737726, member: 6855057"] Ironically, they've made duergar even blander; they haven't mentioned psionics at all*, and they've watered down the dwarven infernalists niche they had in 4e by stating that most duergar are cheerless xenophobes, ala their 3e fluff, but the worst of the worst are those who've been subverted into worshipping Asmodeus instead of the incredibly niche Laduguer. Yes, Derro are officially dwarves in this edition again. They were human/dwarf hybrids in Greyhawk (implied in the Monstrous Manual, confirmed in Dragon #241), degenerate humans in the Nentir Vale, and they're now dwarves in the Forgotten Realms... in fact, there's an unspoken connection between duergar and derro: they're both descendants of dwarves who were enslaved by the illithids and fought free of them. The difference is that the duergar are bitter and scarred, but the derro are broken. *Duergar originally were supposed to be a psi-attuned dwarf race, with Unearthed Arcana 1e giving them double the chance to be psionic, which is why they had a psionics update in the Complete Psionics Handbook and a full PC writeup in the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Here's the issue with why they're not popular... when it comes to duergar lore and them being more than "just dark dwarves"? They [B]aren't[/B]. Duergar fluff has never really presented them anything more than all of the character flaws of surface dwarves but with none of the good qualities of them. They've always een an afterthought, a lazy dwarven analogue to drow, and that's why nobody'S ever bought them. I mean, this is the entirety of their monster writeup in the D&D Monstrous Compendium Two... and the Monstrous Manual cuts this entry off after the first line of Habitat/Society due to poor editor's choice. It literally doesn't say anything about duergar other than that they're nastier dwarves who live in the worst conditions. [url]http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dwarduer.html[/url] Really, I don't know where you're getting any of this impression from... the 3e Monster Manual 1s both describe duergar in generic terminology as just "evil dwarves". The Expanded Psionics Handbook fluff boils down to them being enormous douchebags. Ecology of the Duergar portrays them as fanatic slaves of a theocratic tyranny almost worse than Asmodeus' faith. Unless this is Forgotten Realms specific fluff, because I actually don't know what FR sourcebooks they were detailed in prior to 5e. Well, it's been around since 3rd edition at the least. Plus, as I said, they're now sharing that same "dwarf ex-slaves of the illithid" niche with the derro. Really, dwarves in general have suffered in popularity compared to elves thanks to the long-lasting stigma against giving them any kind of sex appeal. For the longest time, it was assumed that all dwarves would be short, hairy, possibly pot-bellied, cranky old men; females were almost never mentioned and often described as dumpy or homely looking (hence the infamous "dwarf women have beards!" meme) - they've even been described as less common than men. 4th edition tried to fix this by bringing dwarf women more to the fore and giving them sex appeal, which definitely helped them, but duergar are still stuck in the "bitter, hairy little men" motif. Definitely doesn't help the race when their default fluff all boils down to "every dwarven flaw or negative stereotypical trait with none of the redeeming qualities". Seriously, when your PC writeup in 3e describes you as avaricious, short-tempered, sullen, violent, ungrateful, vengeful, churlish, hateful, envious and merciless, and your "positive traits" boil down to "you're brave, you're determined, you work hard, and you leave people alone so long as they don't have anything you want", it's hard to make a positive impression. Drow appeal to players who want anti-heroes, villain protagonists or redeemed villains because they have style. Duergar are just [B]jerks[/B]. [/QUOTE]
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