Masters of stone and iron, dauntless and unyielding in the face of adversity
AW at-will · ENC encounter · DLY daily |
Fields: Req requirement · Trig trigger · Tgt target · Atk attack · Hit/Miss/Eff · 1°/2° primary/secondary · Sust sustain · After aftereffect · Spec special |
Shorthand: Str/Dex/Con/Wis/Int/Cha = ability mod · EONT/SONT = end/start of your next turn · sq = square(s) · CA combat advantage · OA opp. attack · MBA/RBA melee/ranged basic attack · HP hit points · tgt target · [W] weapon dice
Carved from the bedrock of the universe, dwarves endured an age of servitude to giants before winning their freedom. Their mighty mountain fortress-cities testify to the power of their ancient empires. Even those who live in human cities are counted among the staunchest defenders against the darkness that threatens to engulf the world.
Dwarves average about 4½ feet in height and are very broad, weighing as much as an adult human. Dwarves have the same variety of skin, eye, and hair colors as humans, although dwarf skin is sometimes gray or sandstone red and red hair is more common among them. Male dwarves are often bald and braid their long beards into elaborate patterns. Female dwarves braid their hair to show clan and ancestry. Dwarven attire and equipment, including weapons and shields, are decorated with bold geometric shapes, natural gems, and ancestral faces.
Although they reach physical maturity at roughly the same age as humans, dwarves age more slowly and remain vigorous well past 150 years of age, often living to see 200.
Proudly proclaiming they were made from the earth itself, dwarves share many qualities with the rock they love. They are strong, hardy, and dependable. They value their ancestral traditions, which they preserve through the ages as fiercely as they defend the carved structures of their mountain homes.
Dwarves believe in the importance of clan ties and ancestry. They deeply respect their elders, and they honor long-dead clan founders and ancestral heroes. They place great value on wisdom and the experience of years, and most are polite to elders of any race. More so than most other races, dwarves seek guidance and protection from the gods. They look to the divine for strength, hope, and inspiration, or they seek to propitiate cruel or destructive gods. Individual dwarves might be impious or openly heretical, but temples and shrines of some sort are found in almost every dwarven community. Dwarves revere Moradin as their creator, but individual dwarves honor those deities who hold sway over their vocations; warriors pray to Bahamut or Kord, architects to Erathis, and merchants to Avandra—or even to Tiamat, if a dwarf is consumed by the dwarven taste for wealth.
Dwarves never forget their enemies, either individuals who have wronged them or entire races of monsters who have done ill to their kind. Dwarves harbor a fierce hatred for orcs, which often inhabit the same mountainous areas that dwarves favor and which wreak periodic devastation on dwarf communities. Dwarves also despise giants and titans, because the dwarf race once labored as the giants’ slaves. They feel a mixture of pity and disgust toward those corrupted dwarves who still have not freed themselves from the giants’ yoke—azers and galeb duhrs among them.
To a dwarf, it is a gift and a mark of deep respect to stand beside an ally in battle, and a sign of deepest loyalty to shield that ally from enemy attack. Dwarven legends honor many heroes who gave their lives to save their clans or their friends.
Three sample dwarf adventurers are described below. Travok is a dwarf paladin committed to the service of Kord. Wearing shining plate armor crafted and proudly worn by his great-grandfather, Travok presents an impenetrable line of defense, defying his enemies to get past him to reach his allies. True to his god and the honor of his ancestors, Travok relishes his physical strength and endurance, vowing that nothing will move him from his place. He is fiercely loyal to his friends, and if the need arises, he will lay down his life to ensure that they live.
Kathra is a dwarf cleric devoted to Moradin, the Great Carver who formed the dwarves out of stone and liberated them from their servitude to the giants. Swinging a warhammer engraved with the hammerand-anvil symbol of her god, Kathra stands next to her fighter companion, trusting in divine power, the chainmail she made herself, and her own natural resilience to protect her from her enemies. Her dearest hope is to craft a legacy that will last through the ages, as beautiful and enduring as the finest dwarven jewelry—a legacy of peace and justice in this troubled world.
Tordek is a dwarf fighter, last in a long line of noble warriors. Three generations ago, his family’s ancestral fortress was overrun by orcs and laid to waste, leaving Tordek with nothing but a signet ring and tales of ancient glory as his birthright. He has sworn that he will rebuild the fortress one day, and that oath drives his every action. In the meantime, his adventuring companions know they can rely on him completely, and someday he will rely on them to help him reclaim his kingdom.
“My strength is the eternal endurance of the mountains. I will not break.”
At the dawn of creation, dwarven myths say, Moradin made the race of dwarves. His firstborn had bones cut from bedrock, souls wrought from iron, and hearts carved of gleaming diamonds. These firstborn were the models after which all other dwarves were patterned.
Although the firstborn of Moradin’s making vanished in servitude to the giants, their fighting techniques and mystical traditions have not been lost. A new era of dwarven heroism has arrived, and the legacy of the firstborn continues. Those few who most skillfully follow the paths of the ancient firstborn are slowly transformed into the image of Moradin’s firstborn.
As one of the present-day firstborn of Moradin, you forge a deep connection with the earth, tapping into the power that courses through the bedrock beneath your feet. You draw on the strength of the mountains to resist injury, expand your senses through rock and stone, and root yourself in the bones of the earth. You are the stuff new legends are made of.
| ENC | Receive the ChargeFirstborn of Moradin Attack 11Imm React Melee wpnWeaponTgt The triggering enemy | You ready yourself for an approaching enemy, deftly maneuvering to a better position and striking before your foe strikes you. Trig An enemy enters a sq adjacent to you Eff Before the attack, you shift 1 sq. · Atk Str vs AC · Hit 2[W] + Str dmg. |
| DLY | EarthsenseFirstborn of Moradin Utility 12Minor PersStance | Your connection with the earth allows you to sense even the faintest tremors in stone, letting you see what others cannot. Eff Until the stance ends, you gain tremorsense 10. |
| DLY | Mountain Stance StrikeFirstborn of Moradin Attack 20Std Melee wpnStance, WeaponTgt One creature | You call on the weight of the mountains to crash down on your foes and to ground yourself against your enemies’ attacks. Atk Str vs Fortitude · Hit 2[W] + Str dmg, and you knock tgt prone. If tgt stands up before EONT, you can make a MBA against it as an immediate interrupt if you are adjacent to it. Eff You assume the mountain stance. Until the stance ends, you gain a +2 bonus to AC, and you can ignore being pulled, pushed, slid, or knocked prone. Miss Half dmg. |