D&D General Make Your Dwarves More Interesting

[guachi]

I just had this mental image of young Dwarves looking like Goths, and listening to The Smiths, The Dammned, and The Cure.

Well, The Smiths for sure.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

3. Although dwarves are comfortable underground, most dwarves actually live above ground. Some groups stay for extended periods underground, of course, but even if a community has an extensive underground network, most will reside above ground and have several other buildings there as well.

This is similar to what I do in my games. For me there's too many world building challenges to an all-underground civilization (what do they do for food), thought they frequently build fortresses/shelters into mountains because they have a history of being attacked by dragons, and the traditional motte and bailey won't stop a dragon.

 

[delericho]

1. Do NOT have darkvision. Nearly every media/book/image of dwarves (even underground) shows them with light sources; and personally I think way too many races have darkvision (so others have lost it as well). YMMV, but that is my experience.

Yeah, I tend to agree. IMO, it's really unfortunate that WotC decided to merge darkvision and low-light vision. Plus, I tended towards giving out fewer 'special' visions altogether - of the PHB races, I would give dwarves low-light vision, tieflings and drow darkvision, and that's it. My few experiences with truly dark places were quite an instruction in just how much we take good lighting for granted.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I doubled down on darkvision with dwarves having blindsight to adjacent squares due to their beards and epic eyebrows being literal whiskers.

They were also made by dragons and are subterranean out of spite for their creators who built them for mining only to have the dwarves lock them out of said mines. Their favored element is air because of social pressure to learn air magic to circulate air in the deeps. This has led their magitech to be pneumatics instead of steam or clockwork.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I doubled down on darkvision with dwarves having blindsight to adjacent squares due to their beards and epic eyebrows being literal whiskers.

They were also made by dragons and are subterranean out of spite for their creators who built them for mining only to have the dwarves lock them out of said mines. Their favored element is air because of social pressure to learn air magic to circulate air in the deeps. This has led their magitech to be pneumatics instead of steam or clockwork.

you could give them the music obsession of the dwemer if you want?

 

[Vaalingrade]

you could give them the music obsession of the dwemer if you want?

They have a bardic tradition for throatsinging.

 

[Mind of tempest]

They have a bardic tradition for throatsinging.

I speak of a culture that has tonal architects who use songs to bend metal till it never rusts nor tarnishes who used a drum of a heart to power an artificial god bard could be so much more than what it is when all the world is a song, also have a death song a great song to unmake things why should bard not have forbidden lore?

 

[TheSword]

And don’t give them Scottish accents.......

Always a thick Yorkshire or Lancashire accent.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Yeah, I tend to agree. IMO, it's really unfortunate that WotC decided to merge darkvision and low-light vision. Plus, I tended towards giving out fewer 'special' visions altogether - of the PHB races, I would give dwarves low-light vision, tieflings and drow darkvision, and that's it. My few experiences with truly dark places were quite an instruction in just how much we take good lighting for granted.

For a while many of the races that lost darkvision in my game were giving Shadowsight, which turned dim light into bright light, but darkness remained darkness.

Now, only elves have shadowsight 60 ft., half-elves have shadowsight 30 ft.
Tieflings and Dragonborn have darkvision 60 ft., half-orcs have darkvision 30 ft., drow, deep gnomes, and duergar have darkvision 120 feet.


Other dwarves and gnomes, halflings and humans have no special vision.

 

[Bupp]

On my World of Eska, the dwarves were driven from their Great Halls by the drow during the Kinslayer Wars.

Now forced to live on the surface, the clans have lost their ancient connection to the earth. This has left them a bit crazy, and most of them have some sort of twitch, stutter, or other other tick. Barbarian is a favored class.

I had found this picture, and loved it for dwarves.

So the clans wander the surface, mounted on axebeaks. Those aren't actually bolas they are swinging, they are grenkarat.

These “poison stones” are a lump of burning charcoal, treated with foul chemicals that are carried in censers around the neck or swung around in battle. They give off a sickly green smoke that puts down as many foes as dwarven axe and hammer. The dwarves are also affected by the smoke, but with their high Constitution, Advantage on poison saves, and resistance to poison damage, they are rarely harmed by them.

Grenkarat. Anyone within 5 feet of a grenkarat is surrounded by smoke. The creature must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take 1d12 poison damage.

Surface Dwarves of Eska (Sabrak)

Like, Follow, Share, Support! The dwarves of Eska came a bit easier to me. I felt like the elves were a bit of a roadblock, being as they are a “keystone” on Eska. The dwarves also ha…

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