Str:-- Dex:-- Con:+2 Int:-- Wis:-- Cha:-2 Luc:--
Favoured Classes: Warrior, Priest
 
  Stubborn, driven, stoic and devoted -- these are the traits the dwarven people are most known for. A warrior race, dwarves have fought for millenia against the giants, orcs, aberrations and other monstrous threats that plague civilization. Ironically, this very devotion has ultimately put them at odds with the very world they strove to protect -- dwarves are a highly conservative people, with a great regard for the status quo and the honour of the clans, and as such they do not tend to interact well with the modern, metropolitan human cities that dot Therya's surface. The dwarves respond to a world they no longer understand with xenophobia, retreating to their mountain fortresses and Underdark enclaves; some clans' kings go so far as to restrict any contact with outsiders. As a result, dwarves are very rarely seen among the throngs of major cities, and their cultural development has all but stagnated as a result.
   Dwarven society is highly traditional (some would say hidebound), patriarchal (misogynistic), honour-conscious (warlike) and ritualistic (obsessive-compulsive). The sheer unbending willfulness that gave them the strength to fight on when other races had fled in less civilized times may now turn them into a barrier that humanity -- or a less forgiving race -- will eventually have to break due to the sheer difficulty of negotiation. While the signs are subtler, times are turning against the dwarves every bit as much as they are against the elves, and the future of their people looks grim indeed.
 
 DWARVEN RACIAL SKILLS
   Each dwarf begins her adult life as an apprentice to a miner, master craftsman, or warrior. As a result, dwarves have an even tighter set of racial skills than most races, and almost all dwarves have some proficiency in one or more of their racial skills. These skills are Craft and Mining.

 DWARVEN RACIAL TRAITS
   * Stonework Sense -- Dwarves' racial affinity for mining lends them an intuitive sense for stone and stonework. Dwarves can easily spot pit traps, secret doors, concealed rockfalls and similar constructions in a dungeon. In an underground setting, they can sense secrets doors just as elves do.
   In game terms, what this means in that dwarves receive a +2 bonus to saving throws versus traps when in a dungeon setting, as well as a +2 racial bonus to the Search, Craft and Mining skills. More interestingly, they always 'see' the type of stone 10 feet (1 square) in past the walls of the dungeon, allowing them to spot good areas to dig for ores, gems and other treasure.
   * Magic Resistance -- Dwarves have an inborn tolerance for magic, receiving a +2 racial bonus to saving throws versus spells at first level, increasing by +1 every 6th level.
   * Giant-Killer -- When fighting humanoid creatures larger than themselves, dwarves gain a +4 bonus to their defence class, representing certain racial fighting techniques specifically taught to each dwarf during their apprenticeship period. The threat range of all their attacks (armed, unarmed or ranged) also increased by one against giant-size enemies.
   * Earth Affinity -- Dwarves possess a deep spiritual tie with the base element of earth, and this is reflected in their magic. When a dwarf casts a spell or uses a magical device with the [Earth] descriptor, she gains a +2 bonus to the dweomer's save DC, a +1 bonus to her effective caster level and spends only half (round up) the normal mana cost. When a dwarf makes a social skill check against a creature with the Earth Creature subtype, she gains a +2 social modifier to her roll.
   * Dwarven Focus -- When a dwarf deticates himself to a given task, there is no standing between him and its completion. For this reason, dwarves gain bonuses in combat based on their level against a single unique creature they are sworn to kill -- often the central enemy of a given quest or task. When a dwarf wants to use this ability, he must choose a single creature within his line of sight that is a worthy foe (possessed of a Challenge Rating equal to his character level). Then, the following effects apply:
   * The dwarf receives a +2 circumstance bonus to hit and damage the creature in question, but suffers a -2 circumstance penalty to hit and damage against all enemies that are not directly allied with his focus.
   * The dwarf receives a +4 morale bonus to Will saves of all kinds -- quite literally nothing will turn him away from his appointed goal.
   * The dwarf receives three temporary fatigue points that remain with him until his enemy is slain. If losing these causes him to faint from exhaustion when the deed is done, then so be it.
   * The dwarf cannot voulantarily leave the level he is currently on, so long as the creature remains on it. If he invoulantarily leaves the level (such as by means of a pit trap), he suffers a penalty of 200 experience points per character level and the focus is broken.
   * The dwarf cannot choose to rest until his nemesis is slain.
   * When the dwarf finally kills his focus enemy, he receives bonus experience equal to 50 times the enemy's Challenge Rating. He cannot then choose another focus enemy until he has rested.
   * If the enemy dies from some cause other than the dwarf's attacks, the dwarf similarly suffers a 200 experience point per character level penalty, and the focus is of course finished.
   * Darkvision -- Dwarves are naturally able to see clearly in perfect darkness, having darkvision to a range of 60 feet (6 squares).
   * Weaponcraft -- While magical arms and armour are usually crafted by spellcasters arcane or divine, dwarves without any other magical skill have been known to craft such items, simply as a result of the deep spiritual tie that exists between a dwarven weaponsmith and his craft. In game terms, dwarves receive the Craft Magical Arms and Armour feat for free at 7th level, and may use their base attack bonus in lieu of a caster level when forging such items.
   * Armour Use -- For dwarves, wearing encumbering armour is a way of life. All dwarves have the Armour Proficiency (Heavy) feat for free. Dwarves who gain one or more levels as a paladin, warrior or priest gain the Armour Optimization feat for free and suffer only one-third of the normal Skill Check and Movement Rate penalties when wearing armour. They are not particularly agile, but dwarves are hardly helpless when covered in metal.
   * Racial Weapons -- Dwarves who are proficient with the Axes weapon group are automatically considered to be proficient with the dwarven waraxe -- normally an exotic weapon. Furthermore, dwarves treat the battleaxe and warhammer as Simple weapons.
   * Orc Slayer -- Dwarves have been at war with the orcs and goblins since the Dawn Times, conflicting over their racial territories beneath the earth. This racial 'tradition' has resulted in a body of lore and special training for fighting these races that grants dwarves increased chances to hit and increased damage (as per a Ranger's Chosen Enemies) against orcs and goblins.
  * Fatigue Regeneration -- Dwarves are so hardy that they can actually recover fatigue without sleeping. A dwarf that goes 100 turns without being involved in combat recovers one point of fatigue and then recovers an additional point of fatigue every 50 turns thereafter.
  * Starting Equipment -- Dwarves start with a medium backpack, food rations and a pickaxe. Dwarven warriors and barbarians start with a dwarven waraxe, while other dwarves proficient with impact weapons start with a warhammer. All starting weapons and armour are assumed to be dwarven-forged: heavy, hard and protective.

 DWARF SUBRACES (Unimplemented)
   Shield dwarves are the most common of the dwarven subraces, and are described by the traits given above. (Unlike most other races, dwarves don't tend to breed outside their ethnicity, meaning that almost all dwarves belong to one specific subrace.)
   Forge dwarves have a special affinity for fire and metalcraft, and tend to dwell in iron citadels close to active magma flows. They are the most rigid and driven of all the dwarven subraces, labouring under a secret shame their subrace supposedly bears from the primordial history of the dwarves. (The Azer are an offshoot of forge dwarves, taking the nature of their race to an even greater extreme.)
   Mountain dwarves consider themselves to be nobility among dwarves, and are (marginally) more outgoing than the other subraces. They are most famous for the beautiful and functional mountain citadels that they carve from solid stone. They have a strong aptitude for leadership and inspiration.
   Jungle dwarves are almost unseen in the Kinlands, hailing from far-off Angla Maua. They are primitive and tribal, though every bit as honourable and ritualistic as any other dwarves, and are renouned for their skill in wilderness survival and woodcraft, having a strong prediliction toward the ranger class.
   Gray dwarves are a degenerate and evil dwarven subrace, with a very limited intelligence and no concept of honour or nobility. They tend to dwell deep in the Underdark and possess potent innate magics. Gray dwarves are psychologically weak and craven, and it is said that they compose the portion of the dwarven race that did not have the strength of spirit to resist diabolical corruption in the primevil birth of the dwarven race.