Andy Collins' "Personable Dwarves" Variant Rules from Dragon #308

[Felon]

In Dragon #308 Andy illustrates how a campaign can have flavor added to it by making changes to racial packages. The example that he provides entails exchanging the dwarf's Charisma penalty for a Dex penalty. That seems perfectly reasonable--in fact, if anything it's a more balanced exchange of ability scores.

Here's the part that gave me a bit of a jolt. Says Andy: "Of course, a penalty to Dexterity is harsher than a penalty to Charisma, so you might consider offsetting this by increasing the dwarf's Constitiution modifier to +4. While this seems like a big adjustment, a good Constitution doesn't make a character nearly as potent as a high Strength or Dexterity".

Hmm. Seems like I missed out on a paradigm shift here. When did Constitution get relegated to the "secondary abilities" category? Did hit points stop mattering so much at some point, or did they just become easier to come by somewhere along the way? Is Andy just exhibiting grapefruit-sized cajones at his suggestion that this is an equitable trade? What do you guys think?

Personally, I could live with the tradeoff if dwarves were given some other minor penalty, like perhaps a -2 to Ride and Swim checks.

 

[Mercule]

I guess I could see where a -1 AC and Ranged Attack could offset a +2 hp/level bonus. I don't necessarily agree, but I've heard a lot wilder concepts.

Personally, I like the idea of a -2 to Ride and Swim for Dwarves, especially Swim. I don't remember where it was (Guardians of the Flame, maybe), but I read a book in which it was stated that dwarves were too dense to effectively swim and I've always liked the idea. I think I'll tweak my dwarves with a -4 or better penalty to Swim. I'll just have to balance it out.

 

[Felon]

Originally posted by Mercule Personally, I like the idea of a -2 to Ride and Swim for Dwarves, especially Swim. I don't remember where it was (Guardians of the Flame, maybe), but I read a book in which it was stated that dwarves were too dense to effectively swim and I've always liked the idea. I think I'll tweak my dwarves with a -4 or better penalty to Swim. I'll just have to balance it out.

Well, WotC is already setting the stage to balance it for you. As confirmed somewhat by their racial description in Urban Arcanna, dwarves receive a "Stability" feature that gives them +4 to resist bull rushes and trip opposed checks, but explicitly only when they're standing on the ground. As far as I can tell, they don't lose anything to balance that out, so a penalty to a couple of situations where dwarves don't have their feet firmly planted on the ground provides a workable symmetry.

In addition, they also gain Weapon Familiarity with the waraxe and urghosh. All these bonuses are irksome IMO since dwarves already had way more perks than the other races, without any real attempt at a balanced tradeoff. Even the reduced movement isn't going to be so detrimental anymore, as the revised PHB will move away from granting effects that multiply movement to instead granting effects that simply add a flat "+ Xft" enhancement bonus. Through magic items they'll be able to close the movement gap.

I'd say this is one of those areas where they need to re-evaluate their playtesting process. I'm sure if someone asked them in a chat room or Mortality radio interview why they didn't give dwarves any penalties to balance the additional benefits, we'll hear that they played around with the idea, but playtesting revealed that players actually don't like penalties.

Ah well, I guess that's better than constantly portraying them as inadequate buffoons, a la Peter Jackson.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I must be the odd man out in still believing that all the attributes are more or less equal. I use Constitution as a dump stat far more often than Charisma. And I never, ever dump Intelligence.

 

[Darkness]

I use Constitution as a dump stat far more often than Charisma.

Str and Wis for me...

Not that often when I'm creating front-line combatants or divine spellcasters (or monks), though.

 

[DonAdam]

In my campaign I would say that all attributes are mostly equal except strength, simply because it is only useful to melee fighters.

I've been using the -2 to Dex for dwarves for a while. I don't see dwarves lacking in the intimidation and diplomacy departments.

The dex penalty is a little more harsh simply because dwarves tend to be combat characters, but I haven't done anything to balance that out, because I think dwarves were a little too good to begin with. The stonecunning ability is often overlooked as uber-powerful. The +2 on saves against spells is haus as well.

 

[Storminator]

I received Diomin as part of a free package, and they have the stat mods optional for all their races. I thought that was kind of a cool idea. So if you want to play a half orc sorcerer, you just forgo the stat mods, and play without a STR bump.

And yes, dwarves have it all. Yet oddly, I rarely see them in play. Quirk of my groups I guess.

PS

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Doesn't one of the Dwarven subraces from FR get a -2 to dex instead of cha?

 

[Cor Azer]

And yes, dwarves have it all. Yet oddly, I rarely see them in play. Quirk of my groups I guess.

Not just your group. Only one player in my extended group of 15+ players ever seems to play dwarves... although he usually alternates between dwarves and half-orcs for his characters

 

[DonAdam]

Doesn't one of the Dwarven subraces from FR get a -2 to dex instead of cha?

Gold dwarves do.

They look silly, but I like the stat adjustments.