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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 8704150" data-attributes="member: 87792">Oh, so we're not actually talking about dwarfs. We're now talking about [USER=63508]@Minigiant[/USER] dwarfs that bear only a passing physical resemblance to actual D&D dwarfs. And dwarfs use axes and hammers because spears would be a terrible weapon underground under a lot of circumstances.First spears are a pretty terrible weapon for carrying in close underground tunnels. They are let's say five foot long. (That's a short spear but dwarfs are a short race). That means that that's a five foot straight line you need at all points to get through the tunnel - and manually dug tunnels are frequently small because it's hard work. If you try carrying a spear on your back in tight tunnels you will get stuck regularly - so you have to carry a spear in your hand. Meanwhile the one handed hammers and axes (dwarves don't get greataxe or maul proficiency) that dwarfs carry are things you can wear on your belt. So you can go through the tunnels with hands free and not getting stuck. This gap gets even bigger when kobolds counter-tunnel so the dwarfs would be squeezing and scrambling. Oh, and hammers and axes are in D&D shorter than the equivalent swords; a longsword would be a tripping hazard and really gets in the way if you need to crawl.Second spears are a pretty terrible weapon for fighting in close underground tunnels. Not only are they a pain to transport you need there to be a significant amount of space. You need to be able to line up the butt of the spear with the point of the spear with your foe. This requires at a minimum five feet for the spear plus about two feet for your foe. In any sort of tight and twisting corridor that's made narrow because excavation is work the spear is going to run into real problems each time there's a corner. And if you're fighting spear and shield one handed you hold the spear half way along for balance - it's frequently going to hit the back wall. Spears are a really bad weapon in any tunnel that's e.g. been built following a seam of ore. Or been built knowing that the other side uses spears.Third there is precisely nothing saying martially inclined dwarfs can't use swords every bit as well as human fighters can't. What dwarf weapon proficiency says is that there are no dwarfs without martial training. It doesn't say what the best do. It doesn't say what the military units do. It says what the militia do. And something about what the noncombatants would do in other races; every dwarf fights. The spear is a specialist weapon underground, more akin to the pike in the real world.Oh, and dwarfs are miners. Of course they are slow to trust. Get something wrong in the mines and you can bring the mine down on top of people. Gnomes can be happy go lucky underground folk (or whatever they are as it's never been settled) but bringing a mine down is a catastrophe and they need to make sure everything works, both on their kit and of their crew.So. Rather than being Darwin-Award stupid dwarfs are a race that adapts effectively to their environment.That sounds like your dwarfs tbh.</blockquote>

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