Wild Dwarf

Called jungle dwarves by outsiders, these reclusive folk live only in remote, sweltering southern jungles. They are short, stout and dark, covered in tattoos and a slick of grease that wards off bugs and makes them hard to grab (reflected in their AC). They wear nothing but their own long, woven hair, caked with mud into crude armor for war, and they adorn themselves with bone jewelry, reserving metal for tools, weapons and barter.

Each carries a blowgun (range 1/3/5, two darts a round) and 1d10+6 barbed darts dealing 1d3 (1d2 to large creatures). The darts carry a sleep venom: a victim who fails a save vs. poison is slowed for 2 rounds, then sleeps for 2-5 rounds and cannot be slapped awake. Each dart holds enough venom for two uses. Adults are all specialists, gaining +2 to hit at short range whether blowing or throwing darts, and are immune to the venom. They also carry a spear (1d6) and a hand axe or spiked throwing club (1d6 either way).

Wild dwarves fight in large groups, sniping from cover until an enraged foe charges, then surrounding it. Their caves are protected by jungle-made deadfalls, pits, snares and other traps that work even against high-level intruders, especially those new to jungle warfare.

They share normal dwarven poison bonuses and magic-handling, plus an extra +1 on saves against poison and poisonous vapors from centuries of snakebite. They resist disease and parasites better than outsiders (DM's call) and take -1 per die from heat and insect swarm attacks, even magical ones.

Like other dwarves they have infravision, mining skills, long lives and a talent for forging metal, and they are tough (+1 Constitution) and strong. Wary of intruders, they avoid conflict unless provoked or attacked. They speak their own clicking, trilling language, a bit of the common tongue and the language of most roaming dwarves, and use dwarven runes.

They call themselves the People and see their race as one great family. With no tribes or clans, they live polygamously in hunting bands whose members come and go. Each band carries a talking drum to summon others to a big kill or warn of great danger, plus a large water bladder. A band knows several watering holes, a place to bathe, a shady dining spot with fire pit and lookouts, a sleeping cave, a few trees slung with vine-net hammocks, and at least five deep refuge caves.

The People follow talkers (planners of any age, sex or level), war leaders (5th- to 7th-level warriors), bloods (veterans of levels 2-4) and priests (clerics up to 10th level). All worship the jungle dwarves' own god and rarely honor any other dwarven power.

Their diet includes saps, leaves, roots, berries and fruit along with insects, worms, birds, reptiles and other animals, with snakes a special treat, and they ferment fruit wine in clay jugs. A few have eaten humans, though they are not true cannibals and normally avoid eating thinking creatures. They can interbreed with humans and every demihuman race, but they distrust outsiders and rarely leave their shady jungles willingly.