Legends of Belariath

Dwarves

Dwarves lead lives of rugged splendor in their mountain range communities, where they often spend their entire lives within the stone, mining for gold, silver, and precious gems. These they use to decorate their extensive and grandiose underground cities as well as for commerce. They are a long-lived race, much like the more eye-pleasing elves; but like the elves, they too have their valuable assets, and their secrets. Usually, dwarves are taller than the more slender Halflings, but shorter by far than an average human. Their bodies are stocky, sturdy, their faces ruddy from their mining and mineral extraction processes, and their chins bearded, often on both sexes.

Dwarves enjoy magic and its trickery, but do not use it to rise above other races or to twist the world around their fat fingers. They are a very physical and defensive people, and will take their axes, their preferred weapons of battle, to bear upon anyone who questions their gods or their manners. Never insult a dwarf about his smell or his god or his choice of drink or women. And never cross an angry dwarf. Most of all, do not attempt to cross blades with an angry, drunken dwarf who hasn’t been home to his people in some time and desperately needs a woman!

Character Creation

Starter Classes: Warrior, Cleric, Ranger, Knight, Healer, Artisan, Entertainer, Laymen

Advanced Classes: Warlord, Priest/Priestess, Earth Mage, Fire Mage

Starting Stats:

	STR	INT	AGI	RES	STA	SPL	LFE
Basic Stats	5	2	1	2	8	1	8

Appearance

The dwarven race are taller then the more slender Halflings, but shorter by far then an average human. The average dwarf can grow to be anywhere from 3'5 to a solid build of just under 5'. They are by nature stocky in appearance, with broad torso and stout limbs; while hands and feet large with short plump digits. Their facial characteristics tend to lean towards the flat and ruddy, though it is not unheard of to hear one called 'handsome' or 'striking', but you would hardly ever find one being called pretty or delicate.

Your average dwarf can have hair and eye color ranging in styles much like a humans; however, a majority of the race tend to favor deep earth tones with hair, russet reds, browns, blacks and a mix thereof, while eye colors can be a deep earth brown to as bright as polished gems. Often the coloring of the dwarf is a good indication from what Clan or part of the world they hail from. For instance, the Stone Clan are known for their shock of white hair amid dark heads and bright pale eyes, while the Naturalists might run more towards wild reds and blonds with darker forest hued irises.

By far the most predominant feature of the Dwarf is their beard, something each and every member takes pride in from the onset of puberty. It is a status symbol among both sexes and can often denote rank or hierarchy, thus why the absence there of tends to make for a shunned member who is either rogue or clan less. The lack of a beard is a taboo that most dwarf's will fear, not to mention the sheer unattractiveness within their eye of seeing a naked chin, instead of a thick well groomed twist of coarse hairs. Nothing drives a male dwarf wild then a well endowed female dwarf with an equally well endowed set of chin hairs.

Society

The Dwarves are a hard, sturdy people that make their homes in the mountains and hills of Belariath. Their homes range from fearsome mountain fortresses of near impregnable might, to the small and quaint villages made of sturdy houses and burrows carved into the earth. This allowed the dwarves to keep to themselves for quite sometime during the first few millennia of their existence; however, after the Clans had shifted and grew, they were discovered by the Elves. Word spread of both the impressive sight of their underground homes, as well as the infamy of their Craftsmen and the riches they took from the earth.

This is a closely-knit people, often keeping to their friends and family and holding to a strong hierarchy and traditional values. These traditions are often seen in the work they produce; great crafters, metal smiths and wood workers, from pauper to leader, each responsible for adding something intrinsic to the community they live in. The Dwarves honor hard work wrought from one’s hands, and fearsome is the equally fervent belief in personal honor, loyalty and a strong mind that shapes who that dwarf will become within the mix of things. Because of this, if you manage to earn the friendship of a dwarf, you’ve earned a friend for life.

The Dwarven people are ruled over by a council of leaders comprised of members from each of the clans, who meet once annually to discuss matters of importance. The locations of these meetings are always the same, each representative given a position on the “Broken Table”, a round table that is set with different materials to represent each Clan. It’s not likely though that any point raised during these meetings will often come to a resolution; dwarves are a stubborn lot, and often little to nothing is accomplished because of this. However, should a clear and present danger present show itself to all dwarven people, they are quick to cast aside their normal differences and embrace each other as a unified, as an army of power that few can rival.

Entertainment and Taboo's

As any dwarf may tell you, “No one works harder then a Dwarf, so then, no one celebrates harder then a dwarf either..” One of the greater gifts to have come from the dwarven people are some of the strongest alcoholic beverages available on the continent. Not content to simply make these drinks, dwarves are known to almost never be without a mug of the strong brew within their hands. Their love for the fermented liquid goes back to Neserva, who taught the first of the race how to gather grapes and hops, and for each time a glass or mug is had, they honor her in the best way they know how. Thus is it considered taboo by mature adults of the dwarven race to practice sobriety; such an intricate part of tradition and who they are, to turn down a drink, is to open oneself up to ridicule and derisive comments.

Where there is drink, there will certainly be a Dwarf in some standard or another, and where there is a Dwarf, a good fight is almost surely to be had. Never intentional may be the solid rebuttal of responsibility, yet the race is most notorious for their fiery tempers and mule headed stubbornness, for which they are often the cause of countless brawls and fights. Over time, this has developed into a type of sport for the sturdy people; their eyes take on a strange gleam as their muscles surge as they throw them selves into battle. Indeed, the dwarven people are known for the incredible power and savageness of their berserkers. It is no wonder after so much carousing and brawling, that that same temper can translate into quite a lustful and passionate people. They are often brought to their ripest when they’re in the middle of a night of heavy drinking, fighting or back from a long day of work.

One of the surest ways to rouse a Dwarf’s temper is to ridicule or try and yank on their beard. Their society has made the beard a symbol of maturity, rank and prowess within the Clans, for both males and females. A dwarf without a beard is an outcast, without honor, shunned by his people for whatever he may have done to deserve this cruel twisted fate. For another to yank on a dwarf's beard is to invoke that burning temper that make the short beings known and feared. To cut or burn a dwarf's beard is to make an enemy for what is most likely to be a very short and violently ended life. It is perhaps one of the few reasons they look upon the elven race with some pity and apathy, a beardless race as that, surely could not be as great or prosperous.

Advantages

Craftsmanship:
When the Worldsmith crafted them, he imbued them with an sense of the nature of the worlds building materials. When a dwarf, their entire life spent learning the intricacies of their trade, works on a project, their skill and love for their work is easily seen in it. As such, a dwarf is often considered to be a master of their profession far earlier than others, and when they finally master their craft, the works they produce are nearly unrivalled.

OOC: Work produced by Dwarves is often considered above what their current level in a skill would indicate, but does not quite reach the next level of skill. When they have reached the Master Level of Their specified Craft, the Dwarf may opt to gain an Arch Master level in the same skill by spending the necessary ranked point and may be used towards pay in a relevant field. Once Arch Master has been applied, it can not be used with any other material; Applies to Brewing, Carpentry, Leatherworking, Metal Smith, Stonework, Mining.

Tolerance for Drink:
"A sober Dwarf is No Dwarf!" as the saying goes, but what few realize is how much it takes to actually desoberize a dwarf! After all! When your body is built mostly from solid muscle, even if it does come in a small form, and you have been drinking since you were weaned from your mother's breast, a tolerance for alcohol is developed. As such, it takes far more alcohol than would be expected to impair a dwarf.

Disadvantages

Non-Sobriety:
While it takes a lot to get a dwarf out of the unstable (for a Dwarf) state of Sobriety, They are able to keep that state with a reasonable amount of alcohol, and Dwarves will go to great lengths to keep themselves inebriated. "Never stand between a dwarf and his drink" as the saying goes. In fact it is nearly considered a crime against their nature to practice sobriety in any measure. After all, when under the grip of their Ale (which they often are) Dwarves find their blood pounding through their veins, their bodies searching to prove themselves, to erupt into action, into a fight. While the fight may be rough and filled with fury, dwarves usually do not hold animosity to those they fight; they are just a natural occurrence.

Body limits:
Gymnast, Acrobats, Supple, All powerfully descriptive words, and True when describing things other than dwarves. Dwarves are short and stocky, muscle bound and dense. They make great fighters and are suited for the original purpose driven by the Worldsmith's design; however, dwarfs will general keep from the more aerobatic of professions. In fact, flying tends to get a Dwarf downright queasy in some cases, and skills such as contortion or dance tend to be limited to the flex of an offensive finger or the seesaw motion they take when drink has been indulged. Thus will a Dwarf go to some extent to deliberately avoid such professions, skills or other aerobatic and aerial past times. The worldsmith did not build dancers, he built smiths, he built stone carvers, HE BUILT DWARVES!

Combat Modifiers

Disabilities and Their Mechanics

Type:	Attack				Defense				Init
	CloPhy	RanPhy	CloMag	RanMag	CloPhy	RanPhy	CloMag	RanMag
Sight	-30%	-100%	-30%	-100%	-30%	-30%	-30%	-30%	-50%
Hearing	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	-25%	-25%	-25%	-25%	-25%
Speech	N/A	N/A	-100%	-100%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Hands/Arms***	-25%	-25%	-50%	-50%	-25%	-25%	-25%	-25%	-20%
Legs/Feet***	-25%	-10%	-25%	-N/A	-25%	-20%	-25%	-25%	-25%
* Attack/Defense Enchantments are not effected, penalties apply to base stats. * Those temporarily blinded in one eye will receive half penalties for blindness to all attacks. ** All penalties are cumulative. *** Penalties are cumulative per limb. * Those temporarily blinded in one eye will receive half penalties for blindness to all attacks.