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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mortepierre" data-source="post: 1948320" data-attributes="member: 9765">Sundered Dwarves & the Kun-Orun:When the cataclysm struck, the dwarves’ world came crashing down on them (quite literally!). Earthquakes shattered underground halls that had stood for millennia. Lava flows submerged cities that had once seemed as eternal as the mountains themselves. Noxious fumes caused thousands to die in agony, their lungs on fire. And creatures seemingly conjured right out of their worst nightmares stalked their streets, tearing them to shreds. Faced with annihilation, the dwarves left for the surface world.For the survivors, life became a true ordeal. They had to scrounge to earn enough to allow their folks to go on, if only for another day. The old clan system was thrown away, and a new society created whose one and only goal was survival. They adapted slowly but not without pain. They had lost their racial pride and become a dour and miserable people.Due to what had happened, they also developed an irrational phobia of underground places - acute claustrophobia. To many of them, that was the last straw. They just couldn’t bear the thought of others knowing about it, so they shrouded it in secrets. It became their people’s greatest secret.. and shame. They called it the Kun-Orun.Weirdly, dwarves born after the Cataclysm also suffered from it as if it had spread like a curse to the new generations. There is a reason for that.. but I am going to keep it secret for now. No need to spoil the surprise so soon <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />As for stats, Sundered Dwarves are treated as ‘standard’ dwarves apart from the following modifications:* +1 Str/Con, -2 Cha: they are less hardy than their ancestors but have grown stronger due to the trials they endured to survive* darkvision reduced to 30 ft.: by living aboveground, they are losing it gradually* no innate ability to determine depth instinctively* +1 racial bonus to attack rolls vs. Giants* +4 racial bonus to all saves vs. fear: after what they have gone through, there isn’t much that can shake them anymore (note that this bonus doesn’t apply to the saving throw required by the Kun-Orun!)* Kun-Orun: a sundered dwarf must roll a successful Will saving throw (DC 15) in order to overcome his fear of the underground before he can enter dungeons, (natural) caves, and deep tombs. If the check fails, he may not enter but can try again the next day (albeit vs. a higher DC equal to 15 + the number of days he has failed his save since first trying).Spending 2 weeks (not underground!) away from the location will reset the DC to 15 (about this particular location only!). Even if his save succeeds, he will have to roll another one every day spent underground (at a DC equal to 15 + the number of days already spent underground).Remove Fear allows a dwarf who failed his save to make a new one immediately and resets the DC to 15 (no matter how many days underground have passed). Whether the save was successful or not, a sundered dwarf will always suffer a -1 penalty to his attack rolls as long as he is underground. A sundered dwarf who fails his save is treated as if affected by a Fear spell as long as he has not reached an open-air location on the surface.Normally, I should have forced Eirak’s player to roll a saving throw as soon as his character set foot inside the Vault but I decided that waiting and ‘increasing the pressure’ first was better for the role-play aspect of the game.And why did I impose such a harsh penalty on dwarves? Simply put, because I wanted this to be a ‘human campaign’ first and foremost. Thus, all non-human races were modified to incorporate one (or more) drawback(s) that makes them harder to play. Players could still choose them but would have a tougher time if they did. Of course, given how frequently ‘normal’ adventurers pay a visit to dungeons, Eirak’s handicap is probably the most frustrating of all.Dwarves are claustrophobic. Gobbers are scorned by pretty much everyone. As for halflings and elves, you’ll have to wait and see...I must say, I was a bit surprised (if not disappointed) when 3 of my players still insisted on taking non-human characters. However, in the long run, it worked out because it allowed me to incorporate their specific disadvantages in my campaign and build some stories around them.As a side note, dwarven holy warriors benefiting from the Aura of Courage special ability aren’t immune to the Kun-Orun but succumb to it only rarely compared to other members of their race. That’s because of another house rule of mine. I dislike class abilities that grant complete protection to something players confront on a regular basis. Thus, Aura of Courage and Divine Health have been adapted to grant a +20 bonus to save vs. - respectively - fear and disease instead of total immunity (but a ‘natural’ 1 is not treated as an automatic failure in this specific case!). Hence, a dwarven holy warrior endowed with Aura of Courage would need to spend at least 7 days (= DC 22) underground before risking serious problems.The main consequence is that a 1st level paladin (of any race) would still be all but immune to ‘standard’ fear and disease, but would no longer be able to ignore the fear aura of an epic creature or to ‘shrug off’ the disease spread by the touch of, say, a demon prince (because of the higher DC).</blockquote>

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