Kae'Yoss said:
So you reject the usual dwarven stereotypes but embrace the one about dwarves and magic?
Why not? Sterotypes are not always bad, but see my reasons for allowing dwarven clerics but not wizards.
Kae'Yoss said:
So why did you ban dwarf wizards? Did you think about it or is it "just because"?
In my current 3.5 game, dwarf wizards do exist but they are so rare as to be almost legendary. Entire dwarven kingdoms exist without a single wizard. Why? It's a design choice I made when 3.0 was released. One of the great things about 3rd ED is the wealth of choices it gives to players and DMs alike. However, I don't always agree with those choices and I see no reason why dwarven wizards should be common or even uncommon in my current world. Just because you can do it doesn't necessarily mean you should. If the rules allow for something that I don't like, it doesn't exist in my campaign. End of story. Any DM can decide that he or she doesn't want something in their game. That's their choice as DM. You may disagree with such arbitrary decisions but any DM has that choice. It's not lazy, it's a preference and to suggest that it's done simply because the DM is lazy is arrogant and insulting.
Getting back to my design choice...
My view of dwarves is influenced from my earliest days of playing AD&D. That's where my reluctance of the concept of the dwarf wizard comes from. But before you accuse me of living in the past, you should know that not all 1st ED stuff made sense to me. For instance, why were players forbidden to play dwarven clerics? Certainly a race that worships a god or gods must certainly be able to receive spells from said god(s). So clerics are okay for dwarves and I think dwarves make great clerics. But wizards??? I say no, or at the very least I say highly unlikely. Sorcerers I view differently. As I said before, sorcery is not learned. It chooses you. That's why I don't have a problem with any race being sorcerers. You mentioned the charisma penalty. Why not swap the charisma penalty for a dexterity penalty? Yes, I know a dex penalty makes for suboptimal dwarven rogue builds.
As a world builder I like to do different things and I sometimes like to create stuff that breaks the typical sterotypes of the various races. A buddy of mine created a campaign world where the only race choices we had for character creation were human, halfling, and half-orc. Why? Because it was part of his design when creating the setting? Elves, dwarves and gnomes were creatures more legendary than real and thus didn't exist in the campaign starting area. Would you have argued with my buddy and tried to make an elven character just because you wanted to, even though it broke all the rules of what his world was about? Again, it was his choice when designing the setting, just as it was my choice to design a setting where dwarven wizards are nearly non existant.