Bold and hardy, dwarves are known as skilled warriors, miners, and stone and metal workers. Dwarves are squat, muscular humanoid creatures standing below 5 feet tall with oily skin and hair that tends to be more solid than human hair. Their skin is tough — though not as tough as an orc’s skin — and all dwarves have beards, regardless of sex.

• Darkvision. Dwarves are accustomed to life underground and can see in the dark within 10“ (20 yards), ignoring all illumination penalties and up to 2 points of penalties from invisibility or similar powers.
• Reduced Pace Decrease the character's Pace by 1 and reduce the running die by one die type.
• Size -1. Dwarves reduce their Size by 1, but due to their physical endurance, do not reduce their Toughness by 1.
• Hardy. You are extremely Hardy and gain an additional +1 bonus to Toughness. A second Shaken result does not cause a Wound.
• Burrowers. Dwarves can burrow into loose earth and move through it at half normal Pace (cannot run). They cannot normally be attacked while in this state by conventional means. If they make a surprise attack while in this state, they will add +2 to his attack and damage rolls that round.

Some Dwarves hail from deep in The Underdark and also gain the following features:

• Night vision. You gain Night Vision, allowing you to ignore all illumination Penalties
• Light-Sensitive. Subtract -1 from all active Trait rolls in bright light. This refers to being under the effects of a light spell or being outdoors under direct sunlight. Significant shadows such as being in a thick forest or the shade of a large building let you avoid this penalty.

While dwarf society is fairly insular, their societies are often heavily based on trade with the outside world. All their cities and communities are underground, but many dwarves go to the surface to trade and sell the riches found mining to other species. While they are not necessarily dependent on “surface things,” trade is a large part of dwarven culture.

The fact that most dwarves that go to the surface are merchants can cause other species to stereotype dwarves as obsessed with gold, silver and jewels. The trade and working of metal, stone and jewels is very important in dwarven culture and their artwork and craftsmanship is renown around the world.

Dwarven Kingdoms are built around clans of powerful families. Dwarven clans are very honor-based and value their ancestors. Dwarves greatly value their clan name, home, traditions and any heirlooms their family passes down. Dwarven families are very closeknit and the worst thing that can happen to a dwarf is to become clanless, disowned from their own family.

Dwarven gods are greatly heroic dwarves from the past whose deeds and skills deified them after their death. The dwarven pantheon is made almost entirely out of dwarves who existed in history. The stories around those dwarves may have been exaggerated, but they are based on real figures. The religion is thus varied based on clan and caste, with families often deifying heroes of their clan. Even in the afterlife, many traditionalist dwarves believe that heroes of a higher caste are more powerful than those of lower castes.

The central figure of dwarven religion is Hephaestus, their creator god, and god of forging, heat, and metal. It is said he still lives in the deepest parts of the planet, where he remains because he was blinded by the Dwarven evil god of light and cold. It is said the highest priests of Hephaestus blind themselves in reverence, and in Dwarven culture a baby being born blind is seen as a good omen, and believe the child will be particularly spiritual.

Dwarves also have a reverence for metal and forged items. Architecture and blacksmithing are the two greatest arts in dwarven culture, and it is considered sacrilegious for dwarves of certain castes to wear certain metals. Mithril is considered the most sacred and rare, a metal made for kings or great heroes.

Dwarves used to look down on their brethren that live closer to the surface than them, viewing them as lesser dwarves. Today, this is a minor issue with the hill and mountain dwarves, due to both having grown to have a greater connection with the surface over the millenia, but some areas still have discrimination among dwarves based on how deep in the earth they live.

Historically, dwarves in Aldrea have lived in a strict caste-system based on how deep within the earth they reside, with those who went on the surface treated as slaves. Hill dwarves were the lowest caste and mountain dwarves above them, the Deep Dwarves above them and the mysterious Khokavet reigning over all of dwarfkind.

This system ended long ago, but the two subraces of lower dwarves, the Deep Dwarves (also known as Duergar) and Kokhavet still take this caste system very seriously, viewing the upper dwarves as poor examples of dwarves and mere tools. Some areas of the world still have this system in place, but today the divide is mostly between the Hill & Mountain Dwarves and the Duergar & Khokavet.

Deep within the planet, lower than most species can survive, dwell the Kokhavet. Appearing very inhuman, more like moles than another humanoid race or even dwarves, the Kokhavet live for millenia. Longterm planners, even now that they do not have direct rule of Dwarven society, the Kokhavet subtly work to control and shape Dwarven society over generations.

They only ever meet with elite members of the Deep Dwarves and are rarely seen outside of these planned meetings, causing most on the planet, including most dwarves, to believe they are a myth. This suits the Kokhavet and their machinations just fine, for now.

The Deep Dwarves live within the Underdark and serve the Kokhavet. Their culture is very divided from their brethren closer to the surface. Like much of the Underdark, slavery is common and due to the harsh conditions of the Underdark, Deep Dwarf society is much crueler than Hill and Mountain Dwarves. The clan is still the focus, but it is much easier for a dwarf to become clannless as being seen as weak is an expellable offense.

Duergar are typically more practical than other dwarves, mostly by necessity. Deep Dwarves don’t spend years making aesthetically beautiful architecture, instead focusing on making what is most efficient and effective. Deep Dwarves are often at their happiest when keeping the mind and body focused on a singular task and pride themselves on their excellent utilitarian craftmanship. They are rarely seen on the surface outside of clanless exiles. Check with your Dungeon Master to see if you can play a Deep Dwarf.

Dwarf adventurers are often motivated by bringing greater glory and power to their clan, whether by bringing in treasure, performing great deeds in their clan’s name, or by bringing glory to a diety. Some are on a quest of restoration, trying to reclaim a clan’s lost honor or their own after being exiled. Others are on altruistic quests to help others or on a personal quest to avenge a lost comrade or to retrieve a lost artifact.

Dwarf names are often based heavily around their clan name. Dwarves often reuse names from their ancestors, but will avoid doing so if a dwarf ascends to godhood, preferring to create offshoots of that name at that point. For instance, after Baldren Tarrasquerider ascended to his place as god of adventuring, Baldrenne and Baldrynne became common names.

Male Names: Addlebaern, Adren, Baldrenne, Baldrock, Braenor, Dracknaw, Darrak, Elberk, Faldren, Flint, Garrain, Haldrek, Kildrack, Mordam, Rangren, Taldek, Thoran.

Female Names: Amber, Arry, Baldrynne, Baldrynne, Dagnal, Diessy, Eldyth, Falkrynne, Gunnydola,Helja, Hilda, Kristrye, Ilde, Liftrasa, Mardres, Riswynna, Sannla, Vestria.

Clan Names: Battlehammer, Ironforge, Bronzepick, Strikeheim, Truehelm, Holdbringer, Truestrike, Firebringer, Diamondbreaker.