Tales of their ancestors fighting off goblins and driving orcs from their caves may be only one or two generations removed and can be often talked about with a legendary clarity, enshrining Dwarven values into their heritage. A young Dwarf might hear firsthand accounts of the first Dwarves in a fortress striking the earth and claiming a mountain for their own. Your bloodline determines your clan and the great works of your ancestors are well remembered with a long life span. Ancestry is important to any race or society that uses clans as a base unit of structure. This pairs nicely with their affinity for precious metals, jewels, and fine stonework that makes their homes even more impressive.Īnother facet of Dwarven society is the invocation of ancestors. With the expansive life of a Dwarf and a close clan structure, any dwarf has a better chance of taking the necessary time to hone a skill or craft to master levels. A Dwarven clan might live in a mountain home, but it will be ornately cared for and carved into a massive and impressive fortress. Dwarves in DnD keep to a lot of the same reference points and we find Dwarves as a tight knit society that values treasure and craftsmanship while hating goblins and orcs as a primal core to them being Dwarves.Īs opposed to the shorter lived races, Dwarven society tents towards long term massive projects. If we look into pop culture’s portrayal of Dwarves we can see them carving out deep mountain homes, building up wealth, and telling tales of the greatness of their group or clan. Dwarven Societyĭwarves as a race tend towards clans, kingdoms, family and tradition. As we’ll see in a moment, the life span of a creature can also change its attitude about what a long time is and this can play into racial dynamics. This long life should be noted by any DM, as it plays a big part in how societies and cultures form around any race. They can live to be 350 years old on average and are the third longest lived race of the basic 9, being beaten out by Gnomes and Elves. Broad and compact, in terms of game rules they gain an additional 2 Constitution as a racial bonus and are heartier than many other races, with an HP boost that comes from a higher Con score.ĭwarves are also long lived. Dwarves actually range between 4ft and 5ft tall! They’re medium creatures still, not small, and typically weigh 150lbs. While they are short, they’re not super short by the standards of DnD races. While they are very similar in appearance to humans, their smaller stature and more muscular build set them apart physically. Let’s delve deeply into Dwarves! What is a Dwarf?ĭwarves are short and stocky humanoids. But what makes a Dwarf a Dwarf? Whether you’re running Dwarven NPCs, managing Dwarf player characters, or setting up Dwarven civilizations, understanding the core aspects of Dwarves will help you run a better game. They’re a staple of fantasy and role playing, being as synonymous with high fantasy as Elves. I only have a small part of the campaign world detailed to any great degree.Dwarves are one of the 9 basic race types for DnD. I'm really bad at naming taverns, and I hate going for obvious names like the Green Dragon Inn or the Drunken (insert monster's name here) Tavern (though I've used it many times), and the names I've got posted in this email have been used over and over again too many times to count. Anyway, anybody got any good names for it? Maybe giving me a dwarven name and a translation. All of Brodin dwarves are usually there everynight, and some of the humans who the dwarves get along with go down there to. The name is comes out of an old dwarven folktale about a dwarf accidentally being turned into a mind flayer, his part in the destruction of a mind flayer city, and then his eventual return to dwarf form after a long quest.Īnyway, in the Undercity there is another tavern that's much larger than the M.M.F's tavern by a longshot. 25-50 humans live in the village part of Brodin as well. There are about 300 dwarves, young and old in the stronghold. The village part of the Keep is actually populated mostly by humans, and the Undercity is where all the dwarves live. In the upper part of the town, where the 'village' part is I have a tavern called the Miserable Mind Flayer Tavern and Boarding House (placed where the Green Man and One-Eyed Cat are in B1). Below that area is the Undercity, where most of the dwarves live and work. I'm using just the map of the Keep on the Borderlands (changing everything else though) for the upper part of the stronghold. The town/fortress is called Brodin (Blackhammer), and is named after a dwarven clan of the same name. I'm working on the base for a campaign i'm starting in a few days.

Dwarven tavern master