Dwarves

[Lysha]

Dwarf, Arctic

Regions: Damara, the North, Vaasa, Arctic Dwarf.
Racial Feats: Hammer Fist, Oral History, Swarmfighting.
Level Adjustment: +2.

Arctic dwarves, who call themselves the Inugaakalikurit, are the isolated inhabitants of Faerun's northernmost reaches. Native to the mountains at the heart of the Great Glacier and other northerly regions, arctic dwarves are little known to the outside world. Many arctic dwarves are rangers, barbarians, or fighters, for they hold little interest in the spellcasting arts or godly worship.
Arctic dwarves are unique among the Stout Folk in that they do not trace their ancestry back to Bhaerynden, the great cavern that later fell to the drow of Telantiwar and now lies open as the Great Rift. As such, they have little in common with other Stout Folk, lacking any common political, religious, craft, or magical traditions. In recent years, a handful of arctic dwarves have migrated across the icy northern wastes to establish new settlements along the shores of the Great Ice Sea and in the Silver Marshes, but for the most part the Inugaakalikurit have dwelt in splendid isolation for uncounted generations, wholly content with their lot in life.
Arctic dwarves are squat and hardy, with blocky bodies, pinched faces, and stubby legs. They rarely exceed 3 feet in height and are nearly as broad as they are tall. Their eyes are bright blue, their cheeks as ruddy as apples. Their skin is white, almost bluish, but because of their fondness for basking under the bright sun, many of them are sunburned red from head to toe, a condition that causes them no discomfort or other ill effects. Their fingers and toes are thick and blunt and their feet flat and wide. Curly white hair covers their heads and tumbles down their backs nearly to their waists. Males sport short beards and twisting mustaches. Both sexes favor simple tunics of polar bear fur and generally go barefoot.
Arctic dwarves are open and friendly and can be quite sociable with neighboring races, with the exception of frost giants, whom they despise. Unlike other dwarves, Inugaakalikurit have little interest in mining or crafts, instead devoting themselves to hunting, raising children, and leisure. Traditional dwarven strictures, such as those imposed by family and clan, hold little weight in arctic dwarf society, and history and past achievements of one's ancestors are seen as little more than a source of enjoyable tales. Arctic dwarves are quite curious about the outside world, although they have little inclination to go and see it.
Arctic dwarves have the life expectancy and age categories defined for dwarves in Tables 6-4 and 6-5 of the Player's Handbook, but use the following random height and weight characteristics instead of those described on Table 6-6:

Arctic dwarf, male 2'8" +2d4 50 lb. x(1d4) lb.
Arctic dwarf, female 2'4" +2d4 40 lb. x(1d4) lb.

[Zorinar]

These are REALLY really interesting. Thanks for putting all this stuff up. I dont have access to any books so it makes life a lot more easier for me seeing all these race guides.

[Lysha]

You're welcome! I'm glad that you're enjoying it! I'll be doing more, but I got tired from so much typing today.

[Lysha]

Dwarf, Gold

Regions: Dragon Coast, Dwarf (gold), Unther, Western Heartlands. Gold dwarves native to the Great Rift should select the gold dwarf region.
Racial Feats: Hammer Fist, Metallurgy, Skyrider, Stoneshaper.
Racial Prestige Class: Battlerager

Found largely in the South in the immediate vicinity of the Great Rift, gold dwarves are the dominant southern branch of the Stout Folk. Renowned not only for their smithwork and craftsmanship but also for their military prowess and legendary wealth, gold dwarves have maintained their empire for millennia, unbowed by the passage of time.
For generations, the Deep Kingdom of the gold dwarves has stoop unconquered, dominating the surface lands and subterranean caverns that surround the Great Rift. As their numbers never declined in the face of endless warfare like their northern cousins, the Thunder Blessing has actually filled the great caverns of the Deep Kingdom beyond their capacity. As a result, for the first time in many years, large numbers of gold dwarves are setting out to establish new strongholds across the South and the rest of Faerun, including the Smoking Mountains of Unther and the Giant's Run Mountains of the Shining Plains.
Averaging 4 feet tall and weighing as much as an adult human, gold dwarves are stocky and muscular. The skin of a gold dwarf is light brown or deeply tanned, and her eyes are usually brown or hazel. Both genders wear their hair long, and males (and some females) have long, carefully groomed beards and mustaches. Hair color ranges from black to gray or brown, with all shades fading to light gray as time progresses.
Like their northern kin, gold dwarves harbor a great deal of pride, both in their own accomplishments and those of their ancestors. They also share the philosophy that anything worth doing is worth doing well, and that the natural world is but raw material to be worked into objects of great beauty. Unlike the long-beleaguered shield dwarves, gold dwarves have not faced a serious challenge to their way of life for thousands of years. Confident and secure in their isolated realm, gold dwarves do not share the pessimism or fatalism of their shield dwarven brethren. To the contrary, having seen the rise and fall of countless elven, human, and shield dwarven empires, their endurance has fostered a deep-seated belief that their traditions and culture are superior to those of all other races.
Gold dwarves have the life expectancy and age categories defined for dwarves in Tables 6-4, 6-5, and 6-6 of the Player's Handbook.

[Lysha]

Dwarf, Gray

Regions: Dwarf (gray), The North, Turmish, Vaasa, Vilhon Reach. Most duergar characters have little contact with other cultures and chose gray dwarf region.
Racial Feats: Arachnid Rider, Hammer Fist, Iron Mind, Stoneshaper.
Level Adjustment: +2. Refer to the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting entry for gray dwarf racial abilities.

Dwelling in great subterranean cities of the Underdark, the gray dwarves are deep-dwelling cousins of the shield dwarves, known for their cruelty and bitterness. Like their surface-dwelling kin, gray dwarves are famed for their smithwork and craftsmanship, but unlike their brethren in the Realms Above, the duergar are grim and cheerless, living the lives of endless toil. Like their gold and shield dwarf kin, the duergar have forged great empires, founding such realms as the Deepkingdom of Gracklstugh and the Steel Kingdom of Dunspeirrin in the endless darkness of the Realms Below.
Averaging 4 feet tall, gray dwarves weight nearly as much as an adult human. While other dwarves tend to be round-bodied and stoutly muscled, duergar are wide of shoulder but wiry and lean, their limbs corded with tough muscle. The skin of a gray dwarf is light or dark gray, and his eyes are dull black. Both genders are usually bald, with males having long gray beards and mustaches.
Gray dwarves are consumed with bitterness; feeling their race has forever been denied what was rightfully theirs. The duergar expect and live lives of never-ending drudgery. While their work rivals that of shield and gold dwarves, they are relentless perfectionists who take no pleasure in their craftsmanship. Only cruel jokes and petty torments bring a moment's smile to most gray dwarves, and they delight in tormenting the weak and the helpless.
Gray dwarves have the life expectancy and age categories defined for dwarves in Tables 6-4 and 6-5 of the Player's Handbook, but use the following random height and weight characteristics instead of those described on Table 6-6.

Gray dwarf, male 3'9" +2d4 110 lb. X (2d4) lb.
Gray dwarf, female 3'7" +2d4 80 lb. X (2d4) lb.

[Lysha]

Dwarf, Shield

Regions: Damara, Dwarf (shield), Impiltur, the North, Silverymoon, Vaasa, the Vast, and Western Heartlands.
Racial Feats: Azerblood, Batrider, Hammer Fist, Oral History, Stoneshaper.
Racial Prestige Class: Battlerager

Found largely in the northern reaches of western and central Faerun, shield dwarves are the dominant northern branch of the Stout Folk. Renowned for their smithwork and craftsmanship, shield dwarves have endured a century-long decline in the face of never-ending wars with orcs, goblins, giants, and trolls.
Shield dwarves are descended from the founders of Shantar, a legendary dwarven empire that once ruled the caverns beneath modern-day Amn, Tethyr, and Calimshan. After Shantar fell, the shield dwarves migrated north, founding kingdoms such as Ammarindar, Delzoun, Gharraghaur, Haunghdannar, Oghrann, and Sarbreen. Although those kingdoms have also largely fallen, the Stout Folk of the North endure. The Thunder Blessing has served as a welcome reprieve for the beleaguered shield dwarves, giving hope that the descendants of ancient Shanatar may one day reclaim the glory of their forebears.
Taller by half a foot than their gold dwarf cousins, shield dwarves average 4 1/2 feet tall and weigh as much as an adult human. The skin of a shield dwarf is fair or lightly tanned, and her eyes are usually green or silvered blue. Both genders wear their hair long, and males (and very few females) have long, carefully groomed beards and mustaches. Hair color ranges from light brown to red, with all shades fading to silver or white as time progresses.
Shield dwarves keep to their word, whatever the cost, and are incredibly stubborn, unwilling to concede an inch unless there is absolutely no alternative. Such intransigence has enabled dwindling shield dwarf populations to hold on to ancient strongholds with just a fraction of their original defenders. However, it has also led to clan feuds and long-standing misunderstandings with other races that have sapped the strength of the Stout Folk. Shield dwarves love worked beauty, seeing the world as raw material to be forged and shaped into something more than the original.
Shield dwarves have the life expectancy and age categories defined for dwarves in Tables 6-4 and 6-5 of the Player's Handbook, but use the following random height and weight characteristics instead of those described on Table 6-6.

Shield dwarf, male 4'2" +2d4 145 lb. X (2d4) lb.
Shield dwarf, female 4'0" +2d4 110 lb. X (2d4) lb.

[Lysha]

Dwarf, Urdunnir

Regions: Dwarf (shield), Lake of Steam, the North, Tethyr, Urdunnir Dwarf. Small numbers of urdunnir dwarves live among the shield dwarf citadels of the North, but most urdunnirs hail from their own secretive kingdom in the deep Underdark.
Racial Feats: Stoneblood, Stoneshaper, Stonewalker Fist.
Level Adjustment: +4

Urdunnirs, sometimes known as orecutter dwarves, are a long forgotten offshoot of shield dwarves who have become one with the earth and stone. Thanks to the blessings of Dumathoin, urdunnirs can walk through earth and stone as if it were air and shape metal and stone with their hands. Many orecutter dwarves are clerics of Dumathoin, expert smiths, or expert gemcutters.
The Children of Dumathoin, as they call themselves, believe that the Silent Keeper transformed their ancestors in order to create a race of dwarves who could appreciate the true beauty of the subterranean landscape without needing to destroy it in the process. They have dwelt ever since in splendid isolation in Oldonnar, the legendary Lost Kingdom of Shanatar, deep beneath the Alimir Mountains.
Averaging 4 1/2 feet tall but weighing more than an adult human, orecutter dwarves are stocky and muscular. The skin of urdunnir is light gray, and their eyes are always silver. Both genders wear their hair long, and males (and some females) have long, carefully groomed beards and mustaches. Hair is uniformly gray, with varying degrees of silver and black highlights.
Urdunnir see the world as a work of living beauty, walking through stone and earth much as a diver might explore the ocean depths. The Children of Dumathoin regard themselves as particularly blessed, for they are not forced to cling to the exterior of Dumathoin's creation like other races but can wander through the heart of the world itself in an endless search to uncover the Silent Keeper's hidden secrets (gems).
Urdunnir dwarves have the life expectancy and age categories defined for dwarves in Tables 6-4 and 6-5 of the Player's Handbook, but use the following random height and weight characteristics instead of those described on Table 6-6 (the extra weight reflects the higher mineral composition in the orecutter dwarves' bodies).

Urdunnir dwarf, male 4'2" +2d4 180 lb. X (2d4) lb.
Urdunnir dwarf, female 4'0" +2d4 150 lb. X (2d4) lb.

[Lysha]

Dwarf, Wild

Regions: Chult, Tashalar, Wild Dwarf.
Racial Feats: Disentangler, Hammer Fist, Jungle Stamina, Swarmfighting.

Wild dwarves, who call themselves "dur Authalar" (the People), are the primitive inhabitants of the Jungles of Chult and the Mhair and Black Jungles. They have largely rejected the clan-based craft- and smith-oriented culture of their gold, gray, and shield dwarf cousins, choosing instead to live in hunting bands with ever-shifting memberships. Eschewing all trappings of civilization, wild dwarves live like beasts, engaged in an endless hunt for survival. Only those who dare the shadowy depths of Faerun's southern jungles are even aware of the existence of this barbaric dwarven subrace, for these elusive hunters keep to the depths of their woodland home.
Wild dwarves are dark-skinned, short, and stout, with dark brown eyes. Their heavily tattooed bodies are covered with grease to ward off insects and make them hard to hold. Wild dwarves wear little except their long, woven hair, which serves as adequate clothing. They plaster their hair and skin with mud to form a crude armor when going to war.
Dur Authalar have more in common with the beasts of the jungle than they do with their dwarven kin, viewing life as an endless hunt and each day a struggle to kill or be killed. Wild dwarves distrust all intruders into their jungle domain and, if confronted, are apt to attack first without question. Much like the beasts they strive to emulate, wild dwarves care little about going-ons in the world at large, the doings of those who are not wild dwarves, or material possessions.
Wild dwarves have the life expectancy and age categories defined for dwarves in Tables 6-4 and 6-5 of the Player's Handbook, but use the following random height and weight characteristics instead of those described on Table 6-6.

Wild dwarf, male 2'8" +2d4 50 lb. X (1d4) lb.
Wild dwarf, female 2'6" +2d4 40 lb. X (1d4) lb.