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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Flying Toaster" data-source="post: 9735853" data-attributes="member: 7052563">In general I like this newer modular approach to character generation, separating out ancestry, culture, class, background, etc so players can build highly customized characters without having to bend or break the rules.  I have begun learning Pathfinder 2E and character generation is a bit like building a car on an assembly line - you start with a bare-bones chassis and then bolt on various components at successive stages.  I have not started learning Level Up yet but it sounds broadly similar in some ways.The Mountain Dwarf culture seems to be a good fit for those who want the basic plug-and-play Tolkien dwarf package, all ready to go cavern-crawling, dungeon-delving, and goblin-slaying.  Interesting to see that you get resistance to fire damage and cold climates, but not poisons.  The Deep Dwarf culture seems to be D&D gray dwarves with the “enslaved by mindflayers” backstory and “always evil” trope deleted, and that seems fine to me.  IIRC the AD&D 2E dwarves splatbook introduced playable deep dwarves, perhaps to replace or complement the 1E UA gray dwarves, but they do not seem to have become very popular long term.  As part of their post-OGL-crisis remaster of PF2E, Paizo has renamed their duergar as “hryngar” and junked the alignment system altogether.  In medieval Norse and German sources dwarves often have the power to change size or shape, so the duergar ability to enlarge is one of the few traits of D&D dwarves derived straight from Germanic mythology and not indirectly via Tolkien.  The word “duergar” itself is also based on the Old English and Old Norse words for “dwarf”.  Incidentally many legendary dwarves cast magic spells and craft magic items, so it is not clear why Gygax thought dwarves should never be magic-users, because that is flatly contradicted by the original lore. The one thing that seems rather odd to me is the Hill Dwarf culture, which seems to lean very heavily on using enchantment magic to win “friends” and influence people.  Even low-level hill dwarves are apparently skilled in manipulating others.  Maybe it is just my “Deep Suspicion” talking (see what I did there? <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="😏" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60f.png" title="Smirking face    :smirk:" data-shortname=":smirk:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" />), but the spell abilities seem suited not so much for friendly community-building but for grifting and seducing the unwary.  In fact, add in the Wagoner skill and you are well on the way to ugly old stereotypes about Romany or Irish Travelers roving the roads, taking advantage of sedentary “honest folk”, along with the legendary dwarvish lust for gold.I can see it now: a hill dwarf caravan rolls into a humble halfling hamlet, and everybody gets excited about the exotic wares for sale, scrumptious food stalls, games and amusements, and of course barrels of flowing ale.  A few hours later the dwarves are long gone and everybody is left with dizzy heads and empty purses: “Where’s all me coppers?!” they ask.  And the bitter old hobbit propping up the bar goes off on a rant: “By Brandobaris’ belt!  Just like it happened thirty year ago!  Did anybody listen to me?  Noooo...  Never trust a hill dwarf!!!” Maybe I’m just paranoid. <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="😐" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f610.png" title="Neutral face    :neutral_face:" data-shortname=":neutral_face:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" /></blockquote>

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