Aquatic Dwarf

Aquatic dwarves, jokingly called artesians, are dwarves changed by magic to live underwater. Like many of their cousins on land, they are stubborn foes of evil and chaos. They are slimmer than land dwarves though still muscular, 4 to 4 1/2 feet tall and 120 to 150 pounds, with greenish brown skin and long black or gray-green hair. Their long beards are worn mainly to hide their gills and are rarely groomed. Fingers and toes are webbed, and their clothing is plain and scanty.

They share the racial ability adjustments of land dwarves and usually speak koalinth and merrow along with their own tongue. Air does not sustain them, so a few minutes on dry land is all they can endure.

Brave in battle, they distrust magic but often become priests, and they have the usual dwarven save bonuses and the usual risk of malfunction with non-military magic items. Old grudges have been joined by new ones: they gain +1 to hit sahuagin, koalinth and merrow, and merrow and scrags suffer -4 to hit them thanks to their size and training.

Their armies are orderly and well drilled. Troops wear armor of shell or sea-creature hide equal to scale mail and carry shields cut from giant mollusk shells. Typical weapon pairings are short sword and trident 30%, light crossbow and short sword 20%, heavy crossbow and harpoon 15%, weighted net and harpoon 15%, light crossbow and trident 10%, and shield and short sword 10%. Weapons may be stone or bone but are usually metal, guarded against rust by their priests.

Every 40 dwarves are led by a fighter of level 1d4+1. A force of 160 or more answers to a fighter/priest with 3rd-6th level fighting skill and 4th-7th level priest skill. Each fighter level gives a leader a 10% chance of magical arms or armor, and each priest level 10% of a priestly item, which is immune to malfunction. In their homes add 2d4 fighters of 2nd-5th level and 1d6 fighter/priests of 2nd-4th level in each class, plus females numbering half the adult males and children a quarter; the women fight with the same gear and skill as the men.

No one remembers how aquatic dwarves came to be. The few land dwarves aware of them avoid them as accursed, but they have thrived in their new home. Underwater they can judge the grade and slope of the sea floor (1-5 on 1d6) and their depth (1-3), and find objects buried in silt (1-3 when searching, 1-2 when passing within 10 feet).

They settle on ocean and sea floors in distinctive sites such as trenches, caves and undersea mountains, often building cities into the roots of islands. Their cities are always guarded, and 40% also use sea lions as guards. Society mirrors that of land dwarves: clans that specialize in crafts gather near raw materials to form cities, building for permanence and beauty. Material wealth matters less to them because it lasts so briefly in the sea; gems, pearls included, and art are treasured, while metal is good only for quick trade.

Tritons and other sea peoples who are not evil are their occasional allies, and have become a major power among the ocean's races as sworn enemies of sahuagin, koalinth, kopoacinth, ixitxachitl, merrow and scrags.

Skilled miners, engineers and artisans, they trade fine shell, coral and gem work with other races. No one else beneath the waves can produce finished metal weapons and tools, though their priests must handle most smithing with spells, and their shell mail is much sought after.