Dwarves are master craftsmen and inventors of the frontier. Their long lives give them time to perfect their skills and create new and amazing things. Dwarves were the first to harness the power of steam and gunpowder. They invented trains, guns, and explosives, and designed the groundwork for the rail system. They also designed and created the forged, infusing them with magic in addition to their steam power.
- Humanoid.
- +2 constitution, -2 charisma.
- Medium: As Medium creatures, dwarves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
- Dwarf base land speed is 20 feet. However, dwarves can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
- 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.
- Dwarves gain a +2 bonus to checks for any craft skill involving alchemy or metal, including armorsmithing, firearms, mechanical, and weaponsmithing.
- Weapon Familiarity: Dwarves may treat dwarven waraxes, dwarven urgroshes, and dwarven gunaxes 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.
- Dwarves add 10% to their craft reserve. If a dwarf does not have a craft reserve, he gains one equal to 10% of the normal craft reserve for an artificer of his character level.
- Automatic Languages: Frontier Common and Dwarven.
Personality: Dwarves tend to be serious, diligent folks. They take great pride in their inventions and creations. They can be loners, preferring to work with machines over other people.
Physical Description: Dwarves are shorter than humans by about a head, but weigh about the same because of their thick, muscular frames. They tend to be hairy and often grow long beards.
Relations: As the longest-lived race on the frontier, dwarves can sometimes find it difficult to relate to other races, but they are well-respected by the other races as master builders and inventors. Dwarves can find the adventurous spirit of halflings a little obnoxious, but they get along reasonably well with most races. Dwarves have a complicated relationship with the forged. To some, the forged are simply machines to use as one would use any machine. Others feel a sense of pride at the accomplishment of creating a sentient machine. Some even feel that giving machines intelligence was a mistake. Among the native races, dwarves have the most in common with the lizardfolk’s no-nonsense attitudes.
Alignment: Dwarves tend toward lawfulness. They are disciplined, determined people, and usually work within the boundaries of the law. However their penchant for experimenting can sometimes cause them to break with tradition and current paradigms in order to advance their technology.
Lands: Dwarves occupy the frontier towns. They congregate around the railway towns, and work on the railway extensions. They don’t have as much interest in the small villages built in the more remote, wild areas.
Religion: Dwarves are more practical than religious. They are more interested in the physical world of nuts and bolts than they are with the metaphysical. Some do worship the Highfather, but they aren’t very pious.
Language: Dwarves speak Frontier Common and Dwarven. The old Dwarven language is punctuated with many hard consonant sounds and contains many compound words.
Names: Dwarves are no longer associated as strongly with clan as they were in the past age. They are now more closely related to their professions. They still retain their personal name and have a family name that reflects their profession.
Personal Names: Eberk, Torngat, Gar, Bellik.
Family Names: Railbender, Forgemaster, Gunrunner.
Classes: Dwarves, as master crafters, tend to follow the artificer path. They also commonly become alchemists, gunslingers, psions, psychic warriors, and factotums. The more martial dwarves adopt the warblade, swordsage, fighter, or ranger classes. Dwarves seldom take levels in classes that require high charisma, such as bard, sorcerer, or marshal.
Adventurers: Dwarves, like any race, can take to a life of adventure out of curiosity or a thirst for excitement. However, they are more likely to set out in search of knowledge. They may desire components for inventions, or new processes for creation, or simply new ideas for inventions. Dwarves also retain some of their former clannish attitudes, and will take a life of adventure to protect the frontier towns.
Character Options: Dwarves qualify for feats and prestige classes that require the dwarf subtype.
Duergar template
Duergar is an inherited template that can be applied to any dwarf. Duergar is a dwarven word meaning “under-dwarf,” or a dwarf of the greatest caste in the old speech. Duergar appear similar to dwarves but are darker and duller of skin tone, ranging from a light to dark grey. Their heads are entirely bald, though the men do grow long, white beards.
- Duergar gain the lawful subtype.
- +2 intelligence.
- Darkvision range increases by 60 feet.
- Immunity to paralysis, phantasms, and poison. This trait replaces the dwarf’s +2 racial bonus to saves against poison.
- Spell-like ability: 1/day – enlarge person (self only). Caster level equals hit dice.
- +2 use magic device.
- Spell Resistance equal to 10 + hit dice.
- Level adjustment +1.