D&D General Dwarven Vikings

[AlViking]

I like the idea of Dwarves making use of terrace farms in the hills outside their holds.

I always assume for underground communities that spells like continual flame are used in subterranean greenhouses. The spell may be expensive bit it lasts forever and Dwarves are willing to make many long term investments.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I always assume for underground communities that spells like continual flame are used in subterranean greenhouses. The spell may be expensive bit it lasts forever and Dwarves are willing to make many long term investments.

Definitely, but I think a combination of techniques would also be possible depending on what's being grown. And the terrace farms would be good for pastoral enterprises as well.

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

Definitely, but I think a combination of techniques would also be possible depending on what's being grown. And the terrace farms would be good for pastoral enterprises as well.

It's always "look what nifty items we came up with for killing people with" and never "look what nifty items we came up for farming with". Like, people may want to argue about the Medievalesque look if magical industry takes off, but there's actually fewer reasons to change the appearance of things when you can magically heat, cool, and light the interior of somewhere (not to mention that basically every palace worth the name ought to have unseen servant: if there's one thing we know about the rich, it's that they won't pay people for something they can get for free).

 

[Yaarel]

Because my brain is a peculiar place, the following has been going on in it:

Though Dwarves are most often associated with hills and mountains, I don't see why they couldn't be sailors and farmers. If anyone would likely be similar to them, the Dwarves make the most sense. Of course, what this means is they'd (mostly) live in an area with fjords, mountains, and colder weather. They'd also mostly be farmers rather than miners with some few going out on boats to explore and trade (and occasionally plunder).

I couldn't get rid of the idea of them being miners and crafters, but I also get the idea that they'd likely have metal ships because I just can't see them wanting to go around in boats of wood. I could also see a variety of clans each of which has a particular job: fishing, farming, sailing, mining, etc.

Also, when my brain is in more sci-fi mode, I get the notion they could be Neanderthals since, from what I've read, their bodies would not be that dissimilar.

Any thoughts on this?

Remember that 'vikings' are reallife ethnic cultural heritage, so proceed accordingly. Generally it is fine to treat the heritage for fun, entertainment, and humor. At the same time, Nordics can be surprisingly sensitive about accuracy and sensibility. Generally avoid Conan the Barbarian tropes.

(Not all Japanese are ninja, and not all Norse are berserkar.)

Regarding 'viking dwarves', the Dvergar:
• Animistic nature beings, the minds of mineral patterns, including metals, rockforms, wetland.
• When manifesting a humanlike apparition, are normal human sizes.
• It is possible for a mineral formation to project a form of human of flesh and blood.
• Highly magical, the stillness of rock is understood as a deathlike magical trance.
• Are 'fates' (nornir), associating with bad luck, but knowing any kind of magic.
• Dvergar did create the ship that belongs to Freyr.
• This 'ship' probably relates to the 'boat shaped grave marker stones', sailing magically.
• Dvergar turn to stone in direct sunlight.

In D&D.
• Make the 'Viking Dwarves' normal Human Sizes (Small, Medium, possibly very tall).
• Dwarves are one of the 'hidden folks' = nature beings projecting into the Border Ethereal.
• The 5.24 Dwarf stats are fine for an animistic being that chose to become Human.
• These retain affinity with the land. And can have children with Humans.
• Emphasize magical classes. Druid and Wizard and Artificer might be culturally typical.
• There are no spellbooks, and the Wizard 'spellbook' is actually what each Dwarf remembers.
• When a Dwarf dies, their bodies turn to stone.
• The soul of a dead Dwarf returns to the unique rock formation that it originates from.
• Resurrection spells work normally, reverting the stone to living flesh and blood.
• 'Viking Dwarves' can be sailors and merchants ... who sail at night, but at day under blankets.
• Gamewise, if taking damage from direct sunlight is unfeasible, it is narratively 'painful'.
• Sunlight is called 'the Dance of Dvalinn', a Dwarf ancestor that must avoid the sun each day.
• Mist and Fog normally obscure direct sunlight.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's always "look what nifty items we came up with for killing people with" and never "look what nifty items we came up for farming with". Like, people may want to argue about the Medievalesque look if magical industry takes off, but there's actually fewer reasons to change the appearance of things when you can magically heat, cool, and light the interior of somewhere (not to mention that basically every palace worth the name ought to have unseen servant: if there's one thing we know about the rich, it's that they won't pay people for something they can get for free).

Oh yes. D&D magic has a world of non-combat implications!

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

Remember that 'vikings' are reallife ethnic cultural heritage, so proceed accordingly. Generally it is fine to treat the heritage for fun, entertainment, and humor. At the same time, Nordics can be surprisingly sensitive about accuracy and sensibility. Generally avoid Conan the Barbarian tropes.

(Not all Japanese are ninja, and not all Norse are berserkar.)

I really was not thinking along the lines of Conan the Barbarian or the more ridiculous 'horned helmed' types that didn't exist outside operas. Generally, I was thinking along the lines of RL Scandinavian cultures (which I know are multiple), but more generically since the Dwarves of D&D don't usually have sunlight issues.

Regarding 'viking dwarves', the Dvergar:
• Animistic nature beings, the minds of mineral patterns, including metals, rockforms, wetland.
• When manifesting a humanlike apparition, are normal human sizes.
• It is possible for a mineral formation to project a form of human of flesh and blood.
• Highly magical, the stillness of rock is understood as a deathlike magical trance.
• Are 'fates' (nornir), associating with bad luck, but knowing any kind of magic.
• Dvergar did create the ship that belongs to Freyr.
• This 'ship' probably relates to the 'boat shaped grave marker stones', sailing magically.
• Dvergar turn to stone in direct sunlight.

There's also a certain amount of overlap with the Svartálfar, so in theory they could be a variety of Elf. Or they could even be a variety of Troll, since Trolls were also known to turn into stone in sunlight on occasion.

In D&D.
• Make the 'Viking Dwarves' normal Human Sizes (Small, Medium, possibly very tall).
• Dwarves are one of the 'hidden folks' = nature beings projecting into the Border Ethereal.
• The 5.24 Dwarf stats are fine for an animistic being that chose to become Human.
• These retain affinity with the land. And can have children with Humans.
• Emphasize magical classes. Druid and Wizard and Artificer might be culturally typical.
• There are no spellbooks, and the Wizard 'spellbook' is actually what each Dwarf remembers.
• When a Dwarf dies, their bodies turn to stone.
• The soul of a dead Dwarf returns to the unique rock formation that it originates from.
• Resurrection spells work normally, reverting the stone to living flesh and blood.
• 'Viking Dwarves' can be sailors and merchants ... who sail at night, but at day under blankets.
• Gamewise, if taking damage from direct sunlight is unfeasible, it is narratively 'painful'.
• Sunlight is called 'the Dance of Dvalinn', a Dwarf ancestor that must avoid the sun each day.
• Mist and Fog normally obscure direct sunlight.

This would be an interesting take on Dwarves, though if they needed to avoid daylight sailing they could have boats that have some sort of canopy covering them, though a magically created mist or fog would also likely shield them from attacks (hard to hit something one can't see). I'm not sure how many people would like to play someone that has to be in constant pain every time they go out in sunlight, though.

 

[Stormonu]

Could go even a step further - dwarves, who either by choice or curse - have abandoned the land for the sea. They are loathe to step foot on solid ground and ply the sea in boats (perhaps made of dried kelp, driftwood or other non-mined materials), possibly raiding and/or exploring the nearby lands. Might even have great floating cities that lay on the surface, extend below the surface or perhaps are even completely submerged (requiring deep diving or submersible vehicles to reach).

Somehow, I could see Maui from Moana being what such a Sea Dwarf might look like.

 

[Yaarel]

There's also a certain amount of overlap with the Svartálfar, so in theory they could be a variety of Elf.

Svartalfar is an ironic nickname for a Dvergar.

Generally, the Alfar are known for good fortunes, success, and blessings, but Dvergar are known for bad fortunes, failure, and curses.

However, ironically, cursing ones enemies can be a kind of 'good luck'. So certain individual Dvergar (not all of them) who have been helpful toward a Human, are sometimes nicknamed a Svartalfr, something like a 'bleak-hearted guardian'.

Because the Dvergar are quintessentially magical, it sometimes did make sense in D&D to use Gnome stats or Drow stats to represent the Dvergar. But now the 5.24 Dwarf stats work great, and the Stonecunning trait is sufficiently magical and appropriately earthy.

For Dvergar culture, emphasize Norse magical traditions, and for Dvergar specifically the Druid class is fantastic, because of both the Elemental magic and the Wildshaping into Beasts. A Dvergr mage tends to have a favorite Beast form.

This would be an interesting take on Dwarves, though if they needed to avoid daylight sailing they could have boats that have some sort of canopy covering them, though a magically created mist or fog would also likely shield them from attacks (hard to hit something one can't see). I'm not sure how many people would like to play someone that has to be in constant pain every time they go out in sunlight, though.

Even hiding under blankets works fine to shield from direct sunlight, when in open sky.

The term 'niflungar', the mist-youths, seems to imply the normal use of magic to create mist and fog for the purpose of, heh, sunscreen protection.

They can be in daylight in the open air, but not exposed to direct sunlight. So they would need to coverup, one way or an other.

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

Could go even a step further - dwarves, who either by choice or curse - have abandoned the land for the sea. They are loathe to step foot on solid ground and ply the sea in boats (perhaps made of dried kelp, driftwood or other non-mined materials), possibly raiding and/or exploring the nearby lands. Might even have great floating cities that lay on the surface, extend below the surface or perhaps are even completely submerged (requiring deep diving or submersible vehicles to reach).

Somehow, I could see Maui from Moana being what such a Sea Dwarf might look like.

Stranger things have happened; one need only look at the Drow to see how a species can change when their environment does. They could even make their homes aboard giant turtles like the zaratan or something like the aspidochelone.

 

[jgsugden]

For inspiration:

In my setting the dwarves are an ancient race and were used by the Gods before the age of free will as workers and crafters. For maaaaaaany millenia they dug through the debris of the God Wars and built whatever the Gods asked. When the Gods discovered that granting free will to mortals (including dwarves) allowed them to worship and that could grant power, the dwarves continued to craft and gather resources. In this role they became the masters of the elements: Earth, air, fire and water/ice.

Earth and fire mastery brought them to be the masters of the forge. Enter stereotypical Tolkien dwarves.

However, they are also masters of air, ice and water - and there is more to mastery of fire than just the forge.

My dwarves are the kings of the skies in their flying citadels and skycraft. They are one of the dominant Spelljamming races. In fact, they dominate almost all non-teleportation based travel with their air ships, spell jammers, flying citadels, navel fleets, subterranean tunnel rockets, etc... The air is mostly a medium of transportation, but there is a segment of dwarven chemists that utilize various types of gas for explosives, propulsion, etc...

Ice is another medium for them. There are those that mine the icy grounds in artic zones, but there are also those that mine the ice itself and deliver it across the planes using gates. While dwarves do not teleport, they are the race that establishes the most permanent two way gates that connect two locations through as portal (Stargate style). They bring the ice (and water) to places that need it in large bulk. They compete with magics that can be used to freeze water, but they have a place.

Water dwarves tend to be more bio-builders that utilize the abundance of life in water. While they deal in water as a product as well, they primarily deal in the abundance of bio resources in oceans, seas, rivers and lakes. Honestly, they mostly serve as a more civilized counterpoint in underwater adventuring that we can use to establish bases PCs can visit that are more 'surface-like' and less merfolk, locathah, etc...

My fire dwarves are not just Azer. They are instead dwarves that master heat and how it is used with outer elements. They have sects of 'pyromancers' - which really are misnamed as they do not use magic, only science. They are crafters, but they also love fire and use it for many things, including warfare. many of them have 'tainted blood' making them akin to dragonborn or tielfings - in order to have some resistance to fire. This was not intentional ... it is just that the ones that had the taint survived a lot more often.