Dwarves (Fleshforge Legacy Supplement)

Dwarves

Dwarves are known to be masters of crafting and architecture, creating weapons of unsurpassed beauty and strength, as well as awe-inspiring structures of a scale impossible for any other race. However, while they trade their weapons openly for a good price, and will occasionally take contracts to design structures, they refuse to be come involved in the affairs of other races.

Personality:

Dwarves are serious, logical, and methodical. They are slow to laugh or joke, and they are extremely suspicious of strangers. They value gems, gold, rare metals, well-crafted tools and other finely crafted metalwork. They are known to be a bit greedy, and are shrewd businessmen. They rarely involve themselves in combat unless absolutely necessary, preferring to direct their allies and work magic from the rear. They have a strong sense of honor, which makes them dangerous enemies and valuable allies.

Physical Description:

Dwarves usually stand between 4 and 4-1/2 feet, but they are so broad and compact that they are, on average, just as heavy as humans. Dwarf men are noticeably taller and heavier than dwarf women. Dwarves have skin ranging from pale to light brown, with dark eyes. Their hair ranges from blond to black, the most common being at brown, red, and gray. Females wear their hair long in large braids usually tipped in ornaments of finely-wrought gold or silver, but males shave the top of their heads, leaving thick beards that they painstakingly brush, braid and decorate with ornaments of gold or silver often embedded with gemstones. Dwarves are considered adults at age 50, but can live up to 500 years old.

Relations:

Dwarves maintain open, but cautious trading relationships, but they do not allow outsiders into their mountains. The kobolds are kept as slaves in the mines, and the warforged loyally serve their creators as bodyguards, soldiers, and servants. Dwarves generally dislike short-lived races, seeing them as frivolous and fickle. Elves attack dwarves on sight, and dwarves generally return the favor. Dwarves will occasionally allow halfings into their mountain homes, but only after thorough checks.

Alignment:

Dwarves strongly favor law over chaos, and show a slight tendancy towards good over evil, but the majority of dwarves are solidly lawful neutral. Adventuring dwarves are more likely to be of a different alignment, however, as they are generally the ones that didn’t fit in with dwarves culture.

Lands:

The dwarves control the northern mountains from the east coast to the west, and the tunnels that descend beneath them. Or, they used to. In recent years, the mountains on the furtest east end of the chain have fallen under the control of a number of powerful vampires, who have fortified their numbers with ghouls, wights, necropolitans, and other intelligent undead. Dwarves in other lands are usually exiles, or merchants selling weapons, tools and armor.

Language:

Dwarves speak dwarven, which has it’s own alphabet of runes. Dwarven language is infamous for it’s rigid meanings, making it ideal for scientific, medical, engineering, and arcane texts. The dwarven alphabet is used, with very little change, to write Gnomish, Goblin, Orc, and Terran.

Names:

Dwarven names are usually written and spoken with the clan name first. Children are given a personal name to use until they come of age, when they are given an honor name and enter into society. Usually, this honor name is tied strongly to the dwarf’s job or talents. A dwarf who disgraces his honor name is stripped of it, reverting to using his personal name, until he has earned the old one back or earned a new one.

Adventurers:

Dwarven adventurers are usually those who have, for some reason, been exiled from their mountain homes. They may be motivated by shame, greed, or religious zeal, but they usually are striving to regain lost honor, or add to their honor with tales of slain giants or the creation of glorious works.

RACIAL TRAITS

• +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma: Dwarves are intelligent and calculating, but they are often gruff, reserved, and suspicious.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, dwarves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Dwarven base land speed is 20 feet
• Darkvision: Dwarves can see up to 60 feet in the dark. Darkvision is black and white only, but otherwise is just like normal sight. Dwarves can function just fine without any light at all.
• Stonecunning: This ability grants a dwarf a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like. Something that isn’t stone but that is disguised as stone also counts as unusual stonework. A dwarf who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and a dwarf can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A dwarf can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up. Dwarves have a sixth sense about stonework, an innate ability that they get plenty of opportunity to practice and hone in their underground homes.
• Stability: Dwarves are exceptionally stable on their feet. A dwarf gains a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).
• Armored Casting: Dwarves reduce the Arcane Spell Failure Chance of any armor they wear by 10%.
• +2 racial bonus on Appraise checks that are related to stone or metal items: Dwarves are familiar with valuable items of all kinds, especially those made of stone or metal.
• +2 racial bonus to Use Magic Device checks. Most magic items are made by dwarves, giving them an innate understanding of how they work.
• +2 racial bonus on Craft checks that are related to stone or metal: Dwarves are especially capable with stonework and metalwork.
• +2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects: dwarves have an innate resistance to magic spells.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Gnome, Goblin, Orc, Terran, and Undercommon. Dwarves are familiar with the languages of their enemies and their allies.
• Favored Class: Artificer. A multiclass dwarf’s artificer class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.

Vital Statistics

Table: Aasimar Random Starting Ages

Adulthood	Simple	Moderate	Complex
20 years	+1d6	+2d6	+3d6

Table: Aasimar Aging Effects

Middle Age1	Old2	Venerable3	Maximum Age
62 years	93 years	125 years	+3d20 years
At middle age, −1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At old age, −2 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At venerable age, −3 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.

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