Dungeons and Dragons

Are you making a character and don’t know what race to pick? There are a lot of options in the Player’s Handbook, but where do you start? Unless you’re trying to make the most optimal character, race and class combinations don’t matter. Pick something that you like the sound of or are interested in playing. It’s your character after all. If you’ve never played before, here’s a brief explanation of dwarves (without all the confusing numbers attached to it).

What can you expect from a dwarf?

Dwarves have been a staple in fantasy since the beginning, so it’s no surprise that they have found their way into D&D. What they lack in height, they make up for in heart, and strength, and a lot of things actually. Dwarves are known to be bold, hardy, skilled warriors, miners and great workers with stone, steel and of course, alcohol. They are one of the races that live for a long time, living up to four hundred years old. Much like the mountains they dwell in, they endure the test of time with little change. They have a huge love for family and create clans, passing down their lineage and specialities learnt over thousands of years. Great dwarven kingdoms are formed on the community and combination of dozens of clans, forging a harmonious and well-balanced living space; the same way they forge their weapons and artefacts. Much like the stories of old, dwarves have a love for gold and gems, hording them within their mountain kingdoms.

How does this translate to your character sheet?

For the base stats as a dwarf (I will go into the extras you get from subraces later) you have a lot of benefits. Due to being a dwarf, you are hardier than most of the other races, meaning you’re a lot harder to take down or become sick. Speaking of which, dwarves have a resilience to poisons. It doesn’t mean that you can’t be poisoned, but it does make it harder to do. With the size of dwarves being shorter than most races, this does affect the base walking speed, but it’s nothing that would be a hinderance to your character. (Number wise, you’re at 25ft, compared to the average 30ft). Growing up living under the earth has granted the dwarven race the ability to see in the dark, but unlike normal vision, in pure darkness you see in black and white. Due to your heritage, dwarves are taught to use axes and hammers, not just in their everyday lives, but for battle as well. Your clan may have passed down their knowledge of a craft. They may have been smiths, brewers, or even masons. And, as we all know, dwarves gain the ability to understand stonework better than anyone else, distinguishing how old a building might be based on the materials used, or how stable a bridge looks. Last, but certainly not least, all dwarves speak a combination of common and of course, dwarvish.

Subraces:

There are two subraces of dwarves: Hill dwarves and Mountain dwarfs. Hill dwarves tend to have keener senses than their mountain kin, are deeply more intuitive and are remarkably more mentally and physically resilient. Hill dwarves have also been referred to as Gold dwarves in other settings of the game. The Mountain dwarves are generally a little taller (for a dwarf) than their Hill dwarf brothers and sisters, and because of their upbringing in their mountain kingdoms, they are a lot stronger too. The mountain dwarves are usually seen as fighters and have learnt to fight in armours ranging from leather to hide, or chain shirts to scale mail. Much like the Hill dwarves, the Mountain dwarves have been referred to as Shield dwarves in other settings.

What class should I pick for a dwarf?

For an example we have Bruenor Battlehammer (seen in the R.A. Salvatore novels) who has the Fighter class. Good for being in the front line and attacking. Alternatively, you could play something like a Barbarian, taking advantage of the bonuses dwarves get to Strength and Constitution. That said, it doesn’t mean you couldn’t make something like a dwarven Sorcerer whose main attribute is Charisma, or a book smart Wizard.

Does that mean there are more varieties of dwarves?

Yes, there are. These two are from the Player’s Handbook and what you would generally want to start with to keep things easy. There are extra supplemental books that have different types of dwarves and the lore behind them. I’ll be diving into those in another article.

There you have it. Dwarves of Dungeons and Dragons. Hopefully this gives you a good idea of what this race has to offer without confusing it all with numbers, skills and proficiencies.