Dweorhin

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Masters of stone and metal, mountain dwarves are regal and indomitable lords of the mountains. They rule in isolated greathalls and delves, but make common cause with humans and other races of good when confronting chaos and evil.

Relations: Mountain dwarves get along well with gnomes, who often ally with the dweorhin to master an alchemical problem or provide reinforcements in some underground conflict. They consider humans hopelessly naïve about the wars that go on beneath their feet, but trade with them for foodstuffs and other supplies not easily obtained underground. They have few dealings with ilvenkin, roane, or bridge trolls, but have sometimes found themselves allied with the faerilven against some menace, and believe them good allies in a pinch. The prolonged lifespan of dwarves, gnomes, and ilvenkin provides a common bond between the three races – none of them think anything of seeing a friend only once every fifty years or so. Mountain dwarves despise fuah and the jotunar.

Alignment: Dweorhin are usually lawful good or lawful neutral.

Dweorhin Lands: Mountain dwarves live in fortified underground complexes. The greatest of these are called greathalls, and each greathall has subordinate mines, holds, and smallhalls that owe it allegiance. The Reachlands hold only one greathall, Taràndrêllur, or Hollowhome, in the Grey Hills of Larenyss. The Scarlet Peaks of the Hundred Kingdoms once held several smallhalls, but the dweorhin there have sucumbed to agressors from below, or simply exhausted their mines. The Stormhall Peaks north of Pelkoti shelter a number of dwarves mines and holds, and the greathall Diamondsdelve is dug far into the roots of the Kameurhorns.

Racial Traits:

• +1 Constitution, –1 Dexterity. Dweorhin are sturdy, but not particularly agile.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, dwarves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Dwarf base land speed is 30 feet.
• Darkvision: Dwarves can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and dwarves can function just fine with no 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.
• Weapon Familiarity: Dwarves may treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven urgroshes as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.
• Stability: 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).
• +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison.
• +2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects.
• +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against orcs and goblinoids.
• +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class, such as when it’s caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.
• +2 racial bonus on Disable Device and Open Locks checks.
• -2 racial penalty on Bluff and Diplomacy checks.
• +2 racial bonus on Craft checks that are related to stone or metal.
• Automatic Languages: High Dwarven, Common. Bonus Languages: Amerite, Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Low Dwarven, Orc, Terran, Undercommon.

Dweorhin Feats

Mountain’s Rage

(Dweorh)

You keenly feel the ancient enmity between dweorhin and giants.

Prerequisite: Dweorhin, ability to invoke blessings.

Benefit: As a free action, you may use a blessing to charge a melee weapon with special potency against giants. For one round per point of your Charisma modifier, you may add your Charisma modifier to attack and damage rolls with that weapon if you are attacking a creature of the giant type.

Open Game License