Dwarf

Dwarves are a proud underground race of city builders and warriors against evil and chaos, as hard and unbending as the stone they love; a rock, people say, will weep before a dwarf changes his mind.

Hill dwarves stand 4 to 4 1/2 feet tall and weigh 130 to 170 pounds, stocky and muscular, with ruddy cheeks, bright eyes and deep tan to light brown skin. They wear black, gray or brown hair long and prize carefully groomed but unadorned beards. Clothing is plain and earth-toned, jewelry modest, since flaunting wealth is vulgar.

Their hardiness grants +1 to starting Constitution, but their reserve toward outsiders costs -1 Charisma. They live 350 to 450 years and commonly speak gnome, goblin, kobold, orc and the common tongue besides their own.

Brave and dogged, dwarves may be priests but never wizards. Their nonmagical nature gives +1 to saves against wands, staves, rods and spells for every 3 1/2 points of Constitution, and the same bonus against poison. The flip side is a 20% chance that any magic item not made for their class malfunctions when they use it, a risk that applies to potions, rings, wands, staves, rods, amulets, jewels, horns and miscellaneous items; Gear with a military purpose, namely armor, shields, weapons, girdles and gauntlets, always works for them.

All dwarves have 60-foot infravision. Underground, within 10 feet of the feature, they can spot a passage's grade or slope (1-5 on 1d6), fresh tunneling (1-5), moving rooms or walls (1-4), and traps, pits or deadfalls built into stonework (1-3), and anywhere below ground they can estimate their depth (1-3). Old hatreds give them +1 to hit goblins, hobgoblins, orcs and half-orcs, while titans, giants, ogre magi, ogres and trolls attack them at -4 thanks to their small size and special training.

Dwarven armies are disciplined, wearing chain mail and shields. By weapons, a force is 25% axe and hammer, 20% spear and sword, 15% light crossbow and sword, and 10% each of pole arm and sword, heavy crossbow and axe, mace and axe, and pick and hammer. Every 40 dwarves are led by a fighter of level 1d6+1 (a 1 counts as 2nd). With 160 or more there is also a 6th-level chief and 4th-level lieutenant; with 200 or more, a fighter/priest of 3rd-6th fighting and 4th-7th priest level; with 320 or more, command passes to fighters of 8th and 7th level, joined by two 4th-level fighter/priests and a fighter/priest of 6th and 7th level respectively. Leaders wear plate, with a 10% chance per fighter level of magic arms or armor and, for fighter/priests, 10% per priest level of a priestly item. In their own halls add 2d6 fighters of level 1d4+1 and 2d4 fighter/priests of 2nd-4th level in both classes, plus women numbering half the adult males and children numbering a quarter; dwarf women fight as well as the men when their homes are threatened.

Dwarven cities, cut from living rock around profitable mines, are vast and beautiful, taking centuries to finish and then lasting millennia without repair. They are always guarded, and 60% also keep animal guards: 2d4 brown bears (75%) or 5d4 wolves (25%). Rival but peaceful clans, each devoted to one craft, cluster near raw materials until a city forms, and long apprenticeships train everyone, soldiers and politicians included.

Dwarves love law, order and permanence; watching wood rot within one lifetime teaches them to value what endures. They love the earth for its stability and despise and fear the sea as a symbol of change, so they spurn pearls while prizing gold, diamonds and gems, counted in private. Seen as greedy and dour, they find humans petty and elves frivolous, yet ally and trade with both. They loathe drow, evil giants, goblins and orcs, and wage unending war on the evil races of the deep underworld, which fear them in turn.

Superb miners and stone builders, dwarves rarely sell raw metal or gems but trade finished smithwork, arms and cut stones that fetch up to 20% above local prices, built to last a dwarven lifetime.

Mountain dwarves live deep inside mountains. They are slightly taller, averaging 4 1/2 feet, hardier with 1+1 Hit Dice, and lighter of skin and hair, and they live at least 400 years. Their armies carry more spears (up to 30%) and fewer crossbows (up to 20%). Even more isolationist than their hill cousins, they sometimes treat hill dwarves as outsiders.