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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mhacdebhandia" data-source="post: 1717202" data-attributes="member: 18832">I think dwarves have the potential to be far more interesting than, for example, either elves or halflings (the latter, about whom I ought to start one of these threads, have never interested me either when they were hobbits or when they became demi-elves).Dwarven clan structure is an easy hook on which to hang your design of their culture and politics for your own world, and their heavy focus on crafting makes the economic angle of dwarven nations and communities a lot easier to comprehend - especially when compared to elves, for whom trade and industry seem incongruous.That's how I look at dwarves as a future DM designing my own setting. As a player, I tend to prefer human characters, but again I can easily envision a dwarven character as unique and interesting in his own right, whether played against type or not. Out of the standard races in the Player's Handbook I would be personally more likely to play a dwarf than any other, after human.That said, dwarves have almost as many cliches surrounding them as elves do - the whole Scottish accent thing, for one, is getting more tired every year. I think it's the standard presentation that tends to get boring with nearly all races; Scottish dwarves, flighty woodland-dwelling elves, rebellious good drow searching for acceptance in the surface world while kicking ass with two scimitars, these are all things which do not have to be used in conjunction with the bare elements of the race itself.A subterranean existence, a penchant for working metal and stone, a strong loyalty to one's extended family, a hardy frame - these are the essential elements of a dwarf. If you're tired of seeing dour, Scots-accented dwarves, there are alternatives.Dwarves have a Charisma penalty - but perhaps that's not because they are dour creatures, but simply because they have a reserve born of an alien mindset. When a dwarf looks at the lives of the surface-dwellers around him, he may be unable to comprehend how they could live without a connection to their ancestors and their living kin such as dwarves enjoy.Perhaps dwarves live underground not because they dislike the open air but because their ancestors have always lived there - perhaps some trace of their ancestors' spirits lingers in the rock of their great underground cities, and it's that ever-present connection which keeps dwarves rooted underground. You could borrow from the historical Chinese traditions of ancestor reverence - perhaps dwarves believe that one must remain in the place where one's family has always lived to tend their graves and honour their spirits.Dwarven metalwork and stonecarving need not be Cyclopean in stature - while the sort of delicate, airy construction that D&D traditionally associates with elves might not be appropriate, perhaps dwarven art and architecture is always covered with representations of the natural world outside.It could even provide an adventuring hook for a dwarven PC - the reason one leaves one home and travels far and wide is to bring back impressions and images of the wider scope beyond the mountains. Each adventuring dwarf could be on some kind of artistic pilgrimage of inspiration, eventually (after decades) bringing back what they've seen and experienced to spend their twilight years decorating their cities and trade goods with all the wondrous sights of the lands beyond their own.Give it a twist, is all.</blockquote>

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