Dwarves

Around Cerrix, dwarves have a reputation for being dour and stoic, hiding in their homes and not having dealings or goes-on with other folks. But people who view dwarves as this have never been friends with a dwarf. Although slow to accept, and slower to trust, once a dwarf has opened up to you, you will have a loyal, life-long friend.

Dwarves are shorter than humans, although their broad bodies mean they weigh about the same. Dwarves are known for being of strong body and having great insight. Their culture doesn’t tend to value education in the same manner as others, instead training at a young age for specific jobs. Because of how they view education, dwarves tend to be gruff and unsociable, but also produces a large number of experts in specific fields. Due to their homes, and the value they can get from their goods, dwarves have an abundance of expert miners, expert smiths, and expert jewel crafters, all of whose craftsmanship rivals that of the rare experts outside of dwarven culture (with some exceptions from the elves, of course).

Dwarves tend to be a very lawful people, and have little crime in their homeland. Since not every dwarf has a well-rounded education, most dwarven cities understand the need to take care of each other, and build a well-rounded community, where everyone plays a part. Crime is rare in dwarven communities, and is usually swiftly punished.

Dwarven communities tend to build their residences low to the ground, or even under ground. Their buildings tend to be placed on or in the sides or hills or mountains, and tend to be low, flat buildings, rarely more than one story, unless you count the basement or two that dwarves tend to build. Although there still are some dwarven settlements that are built inside mountains, most dwarves have lost the ability to see in the dark hundreds of years ago, and find it difficult to keep torches lit and vented, leading to mostly going back into the mountain to mine, but living outside of it. Some dwarves, and indeed some societies have retained this ability, and continue to live inside of mountains.

Dwarven people take pride in their personal appearance, specifically their hairstyle, and in the case of dwarven men, their beards. Despite their underground domiciles, and long days in toil, nothing pleases a dwarf more than getting their hair cleaned and done up in the latest styles. Dwarven men mostly wear their beards long, although not all do, but regardless, most dwarves take immaculate care of their hair and beard. Seeing a clean shaven dwarf is very rare, and considered to be a social faux pas in dwarven cultures. They say that if you can talk about hair and beards with a dwarf, you will gain a friend, but if you mess with a dwarf’s beard, you will lose your life.

Dwarf Gameplay

All dwarves share the following gameplay elements.

Ancestry Traits

Ancestry Traits

Ancestry Keywords

Animus, Humanoid, Dwarf

Movement Speed

Your base move speed is 20 feet.

Size

You are a medium sized creature.

Native Langauges

Your native languages are Common and Dwarvish.

Vision

You have low-light vision. Additionally, you can enable or disable Infravision at will.

Dwarf Features

As a dwarf, you automatically gain access to all features below.

Arcanist Limitations

Arcanist Limitations

Ancestry Feature

Dwarves are deeply attuned to the underlying stability of the world. This attunement limits their ability to interact with certain forms of magical manipulation. A dwarf cannot select a class that grants the arcanist keyword.

However, this same attunement makes them exceptionally resistant to such magic. When a dwarf makes a Saving Throw against a magical spell or an effect created by one, they gain a +4 ancestry bonus to the Saving Throw.

Low Center of Gravity

Low Center of Gravity

Ancestry Feature

Dwarves short, stocky build makes them suited for carrying heavy loads. Dwarves do not suffer any move speed penalties for being under a Light or Medium load, and treat the move speed penalty for heavy loads as if were 5 feet lower.

They are impacted by being Overloaded just as much as anyone else.

Dwarven Fortitude

Dwarven Fortitude

Ancestry Feature

As a dwarf, your your physiology leaves you highly resistant to affects of the body, giving you a +4 ancestry bonus to Saving Throws vs Doom.

Dwarven Toughness

Dwarven Toughness

Ancestry Feature

Increase your maximum hit points by 1.

Meditation in Work

Meditation in Work

Ancestry Feature

Dwarven culture find work meditative. As such, when you take the Background Work downtime event, you are treated as if you took a Meditative downtime event at the same time.

Stone Lore

Stone Lore

Ancestry Feature

You gain bonuses when interacting with stone or ground. Any time you make any Attribute Test related to stones or ground, you gain a +1 Ancestry Bonus to your test, or a +1-in-Y.

Class Keyword Features

After selecting your class, you gain access to an additional ancestral feature based on your selected classes keyword. If your class has multiple keywords, or you are a multi-classed character, you can select 1 of the keywords granted to you by your class, and gain the feature with that keyword listed below.

Adept

Adept

Class Keyword Ancestry Feature

Reduce the number of Actions required to Reload a weapon with the Heavy and Reload properties by 1, to a minimum of 1 Action.

Additionally, you treat all weapons in the Axes, Maces, and Picks weapon groups that have the Light weapon property as if they had the Sneaky weapon property, so long as you are using the weapon in one hand.

Priest

Priest

Class Keyword Ancestry Feature

The Grit die granted by the class that provided your Priest keyword increases by one die step, to a maximum of d8. This feature does not affect any static Grit bonuses.

Example

A Cleric normally gains 1d6+2 Grit per level from levels 1-9. A dwarf with this feature instead gains 1d8+2 Grit per level. The +2 static bonus is unchanged.

Soldier

Soldier

Class Keyword Ancestry Feature

When determining how much damage you can block with your Shield Block reaction, you can add the damage bonus you gain from your Brawn to the amount blocked.

Dwarf Ages

Dwarves come late into their strength, but hold it long, enduring where others falter. Their bodies are slow to fail, and their will slower still, hardening into iron with age. The eldest among them are not swift, but they are immovable, and their word carries the weight of stone.

To randomly roll your starting age, you must first determine your class keywords. If you have 1 class keyword, take the Base Age for the keyword, and add the result of the Roll for the keyword as well. If you have more than 1 class keyword, you use the highest base age for your keywords, but roll all dice in the roll column for each class keyword you have.

Class Keyword	Base Age	Roll
Adept	15	5d10
Priest	40	5d12
Soldier	20	6d6

Two Dwarves

Cerrig has selected the Thief class, which contains the Adept class keyword. Thus, he rolls 5d10, getting a total of 24. He adds that to the base age of 15, and Cerrig is 39 years old, still quite the youthful dwarf!

However, Miranda is a Cleric\Fighter, which has the Priest and Solider keywords. Since the base age of priest is higher, her base age is 40. She then rolls 5d12 + 6d6, getting 23 for the 5d12, and 21 for the 6d6. Miranda is 84 years old (40 + 23 + 21), which is in her Prime.

After determining your age, you apply all age factors below for your current age, and every age lower. Thus, a dwarf who starts in their prime must step through all Young and Prime attribute adjustments. Note that some age requirements are optional.

As a reminder, during character creation, your attributes cannot go above 19, nor below 6 due to aging bonuses and penalties. Simply ignore any bonuses or penalties that would adjust your attributes so.

Some age breakpoints overlap; and when aging a character, once you hit the age breakpoint, you can choose to delay your attribute adjustments for up to 1 year, but must apply the attribute adjustments before you reach the age that doesn’t overlap. For example, 50 is both Young and Prime. Once you reach 50, you can choose to apply the attribute adjustments for being Prime, but you do not have to. During any rest between age 50 and 51 you can decide to apply the attribute adjustments, but it must be done by the time you turn 51, or it is done the first rest you have once you turn 51.

Young Dwarves (20 - 50)

Dwarves younger than 20 do not adventure. Young dwarves are seen as rebellious youths, and not ready for adulthood.

As a young dwarf, you have the option to make the following attribute adjustments. If you do, you must apply all of the adjustments listed.

• Select one attribute from the following list: Brawn or Precision. Increase the selected attribute by +1.
• Reduce your Presence Attribute by -1.

Prime Dwarves (50 - 120)

Dwarves in their prime have often proven themselves in society, and are often considered to be in their working years.

As a dwarf in your prime, you must make the following attribute adjustments.

• Select two attributes from the following list: Brawn, Heartiness, Precision, Reason. Increase the selected attributes by +1.

Mature Dwarves (120 - 170)

As dwarves age, they start to slow down. However, they also seemingly grow tougher, and more respected. Many dwarves of this age are still working or adventuring.

As a mature dwarf, you must make the following attribute adjustments.

• Your Heartiness, Precision, and Presence attributes are increased by +1.
• Your Agility attribute is reduced by -1.

Aging Dwarves (170- 200)

Aging dwarves are just now starting to decline in physical prowess, but maintain their toughness at the same time. Many dwarves, but not all, this age settle down, halting craft work to run business, or stoping adventuring to become advisors.

As an aging dwarf, you must make the following attribute adjustments.

• Your Logic, Reason, Savvy, and Presence attributes are increased by +1.
• Your Brawn attribute is reduced by -1.
• Your Agility attribute is reduced by -2.

Elderly Dwarves (200+)

Upon reaching the Elderly age, roll 3d20 and note the result. Add this result to 200, and you find the age you will die of old age. Elderly dwarves are well respected, and only now start to lose some of their legendary toughness.

As an elderly dwarf, you must make the following attribute adjustments.

• Your Reason, Savvy, and Presence attributes are increased by +1.
• Your Brawn and Heartiness attributes are reduced by -1.
• Your Agility attribute is reduced by -2.

Height and Weight

To randomly determine your character’s height and weight, start with rolling a 2d4, and note this as “extra inches”. Then roll a 2d6, and multiply the result of this roll by your “extra inches” to get your “extra weight”.

If your dwarf is a male, add your “extra inches” to 45 inches to get how tall you are in inches, additionally, add the “extra weight” to 130 lbs. to get your starting weight. If your dwarf is female, add your “extra inches” to 43 inches, and add your “extra weight” to 100 lbs.