Web DM I would like to know a lot more about other races in the mythical fantasy world because I just read a chapter on one of my favourite manga that does blew me out the water so I like to know what other races that are out there and I can meet with humans to bring forward hybrid babies can you answer my question please thanks a lot man
RIP One of the Greatest World Builders Ever. I have run a D&D campaign for 7 people, set on the Disc, it was basically a the whole City Watch arch starting with Guards! Guards!, where let’s face it most of the primary(player) characters met in a pub. And yes as a tag along, you can guess the name of the party wizard…. And his very violent home brew familiar and part time mount.
I have Dwarven character who stepped on a trap in a hag’s lair. The DM rolled on a random table for the effect...landed on instantly growing to 6’2. He still considers himself to be a dwarf though.
that means he must be HUGE, because dwarves are stockier and wider than humans, so an extra foot of height and presumed heavy armor make him a living battering ram, still being much stockier than almost all humans, and about 2-4 inches taller.
The perfect explanation for the axe dwarf is from Sir Terry Pratchet. The dwarven axe is combination weapon and mining tool, a pickaxe. The pick side is for prospecting, the axe side is in case someone tries to stop you.
Huh, you guys didn't mention the all important dwarven book of grudges. Well sirs you two have now been added to the book of grudges because you forgot to mention the book of grudges. This will be remembered.
Ex-CUSE me! Insinuating that the 'average' Dwarf would EVER let their beard be anything but PERFECTLY GROOMED at all times is PREPOSTEROUS! And leaving blood on an axe is the fastest way to get a rusty axe, as any good Dwarf will know. Rusty axes don't cleave orc skulls as well! Dwarf sorcerers are actually really fun and interesting- focusing specifically on terrain manipulation can make for a very fun character- still useful, but not the traditional combat class. I'm wondering if Jim played a lot of Elder Scrolls- that might explain why he likes his Mesopotamian designs (as I do). I've posited that Dwarven music would actually have a lot of stacatto, a lot of percussion, backed up by drones. Really talented Dwarven musicians could actually use the echoes of those snaps and clacks and snares to create a complex interplay of rhythms.
Dwarven music to me is kind of like Caledonia, bagpipes and percussion, and for acapella, shanties and work songs inspired by 19th century railroad workers would be my choice, since they spend so much time in the mines breaking stone and extracting minerals.
Rarely in my games do I have Dwarves be rowdy or bullish. I always kind of see them as steeped in honor and tradition, very ritualistic in a martial sort of way. They have very strict social protocol and etiquette. Until it's time to fight, that is. Dwarves are essentially my knights in the underworld, the order that stands against the chaos of the Drow and all the other horrible stuff that lives below.
I think that the best part of that song is that they don't do any of that stuff, they're just teasing their host, sort of like hazing a new adventure buddy
Terminally Nerdy my first 3e campaign had a dwarf abjurer who I couldn’t for the life of me harm. Had to resort to sonic damage which led to a heated argument. Your dwarf sounds awesome though. Love a dwarf PC working off some shame.
Had a dwarf abjurer with the heavily armored feat so he would rush in to battle hit someone with a warhammer and if they tried to run shot them with lightning
I made a dwarf and my DM was like “Oh no I don’t want another classic dwarf” and then I a told him my backstory, I couldn’t stand the mines so I left to live off the land, I am a ranger, I am not talker but I am smart, a tracker and never a close quarter fighter I’m a ranger, my wolf attacks close and I shoot from a-far
A notable exception to the Scottish Dwarves trope: the classic Rankin-Bass "Hobbit" cartoon, us Gen X kids grew up on. 😀 Perhaps it pre-dates the trope...?
I finished most of Terry Pratchett Watch Novels. He really liked Dwarves, like a non-drinker alchemist called Chirry Littlebutton who is the CSI of the citywatch. Also my favorite Captain Carot, an "adopted" dwarf.
Another very non-standard Discworld Dwarf is Casununda who is a very unusual Dwarf being a foppish Highway man that actively tries to seduce women and not only shaves his face but wears a powdered wig. He might make for a good Dwarf Rouge.
Dwarf Bards are great, one of the players at my table plays one, and his thing was that he was a battle drummer, who gave the beat for soldiers to keep time with. It also works because it was a rhythm to shape metal to.
In the last campaign I ran, there are 3 main sort of Dwarf society’s, 1 the standard mountain/miner. 2 desert dwelling, architects. 3 island hopping Sailors/best fleet and ship builders.
I like the idea of a heavily armoured dwarven wizard, one of the sub races gets medium armour prof, so can easily pick up heavy armour prof feat for a full plate wizard.
So I have run a few campaigns where I let my characters pick everything but there class. Then at the end of the the second session, I give them a few option to that make them in directly choose their classes, then I tell them what class they are. Had a dwarf steal a forbidden book “about” an old god. But when given the option to choose armor, he chose plate. When choosing a skill, he chose smithing. He basically became a forge warlock. With some homebrew flavor, it became an awesome character. Almost exclusively fire magic. A bound weapon, one handed forge hammer. Heavy armor and all.
Hey guys, you mention mountain dwarves using horns to communicate valley to valley. What about them using a Whistled Language like Sfyria (Greece) or Silbo Gomero ( Canary Islands)? There are some other types, but those are the ones I remember right now.
Absolutely! I plan on throwing it into my campaign if I ever finish the ground work for it, but I'd love to see what other people can do with the idea as well.
I one played an Elf Ranger that was raised by Dwarves so I had all the physical stats of an elf but the bonuses like Stonecunning from dwarves, it was very fun.
In my setting dwarves have german accents because I use real-world languages as stand ins for my fantasy languages (I don't have time for making a language), and Norwiegan was already taken by giants, so I went with german.
Elf tells the dwarf Druid, " Those Orcs are wielding those legendary Rhesk hammers!!! " and the dwarf druid looks at the Elf and winks, " True but I wield Whamsical Whammers, let them try to fight me....hahahaha!!! "
One of the more amusing things I've done with a dwarf is make Teflon Thornforg, the rogue. As far as backstory was concerned, he was a once honorable dwarven leader, outcast from his tribe, living as a criminal hoping one day to regain some honor. Mechanically, he just shoved people over to get sneak attack.
In 3.5, I once played a Hill Dwarf Bard named Rimuldar Torunn IV (yes, his first name came from a certain town name of a certain video game), whose inspirations included Indiana Jones and the teamster Polk from the novelization of White Plume Mountain by Paul Kidd. For those of you who never read those books, Polk was sort of the storyteller (and comic relief) of the party who had this preconception of what true heroes - and true adventurers - were supposed to be like. As such, he was an idealist, having been "that guy" that purchased every miscellaneous item in the Player's Handbook "because they were proper adventuring gear," right down to the 10 ft. pole, pitons, and various other things. He even had this romanticized idea that heroes had to fight villains in an particularly epic way with blades clashing and many many one-liners and such, not with the brutal and grim way that the main character did things. I didn't take Rimuldar anywhere near THAT far as I knew the party would have quartered him by session's end, but I played him as a bit of a naive fop who went out on his first adventure. He had a pack mule (I forget what he had named the mule, but I remember I had decided in-session that he tended to vocalize his inner monologues to that mule since he was used to traveling alone), and his gear did, in fact, include much of the miscellaneous gear that he thought all adventurers used. And yes, he came from a rich family. :) My personal favorite dwarf that I ever played was Winterbeard, a Mountain Dwarf Druid (also in 3.5) who couldn't speak Common and was trained by an elf druid from the brutal arctic lands in the north of the campaign. Winterbeard was the evolution of the very first dwarf character I ever played - a dwarf Cleric, also ignorant in the Common language - from AD&D 2E. At first, I created Winterbeard as a tank/support character after realizing that Druids can use tower shields (as they are mostly wooden). However, he turned out to be more than that, becoming the morale compass of the group (most of which was Neutral-ish), the shieldbearer, the combat medic, and - one time only - a bit of a jerk when he tied a harpoon's rope around himself, threw the harpoon into an enemy archer on a low rooftop, shapechanged into a bear, and pulled him close and off the roof for a hug (obviously, it took a couple of rounds, but the reaction from the DM was priceless when I shapechanged). Granted, that was because the archer's group was responsible for the injury and deaths of innocent civilians, but still... not a fun way to go, but also pretty awesome. :) Strangely, I don't think either of these dwarves drank ale. Rimuldar didn't like the taste of it, and Winterbeard was too focused on his duties.
One of the greatest posts I've ever seen on a D&D facebook page only asked "What is your favourite race, and why is it dwarf?" I think that says it all.
One of the reason I love warhammer fantasy, it's huge pool of "classes" spans so many social classes and work spectrums it's easy to mix up a distinct dwarf. Anything from a stereotypical shield and heavy armor wearing shieldbearer to...a rat catcher.
I just ran a scenario in my head where I move to wherever Jim Davis lives, stage an encounter, befriend him whilst pretending not to know about dnd. Then Let him convince me to play a campaign he’s starting, choose a dwarf and then of course RP with a Scottish accent. 😎 Love you Jim!
7:40 - Similar to the Mesopotamian style mentioned; in my homebrew, lots of societies consider Dwarves rude since they rarely introduce themselves. This is because in my homeworld, the Dwarves have rings and plates woven into their beards; but not just decorative, they serve a function in the Dwarven society by having their clan, craft and ranking on one side, their name and family name on the other. Since Dwarves know who they are dealing with before even being in conversation range, they just go right to business. "Time is money; who has time for introductions?" It also shows all the other dwarves, 'this is me, who i am, and what you get from me.' A caste system with a foundation in honesty. Beardless Dwarves wear the rings and plates draped from their shoulders. Obviously anyone not familiar with Dwarves in my homebrew, or who can't read Dwarven, would just see these rings and plates as just decorations. I like the idea that my Dwarves, akin to the Japanese, like to master a skill/talent/craft. A Dwarven bard might specialize in storytelling, might not be so hot on the lute or juggling. A Dwarven jeweler might specialize in necklaces and amulets, but be capable of making rings, they just might not be as intricate as one who specializes in rings. But I agree there have to be Dwarves of every class and skill, 'cause how else you gonna run a city under a mountain? :P Personally I feel that every race and species has to have people of every class and skill, I don't see them thriving otherwise.
This brought two things to mind. First, I love the idea of a dwarf druid who's focused on underground life. Steve Jackson Games released a new boxed set for their Dungeon Fantasy line and a GM screen that comes with a bunch of pre-generated characters that includes ... a dwarf druid who's focused on the subterranean world (much of nature is underground, after all.) So someone beat ya to the punch; but in a great minds think alike way. Second, if we really conceptualize dwarves as living in an alpine environment, then maybe doubling down on the Swiss stereotypes/archetypes would be in order. Yes to alpine horns, a fierce desire for independence (individual and collective), neutrality in the affairs of others, steadfast mercenaries, dire goats with big bells around their necks, and yodeling bards!
I play a Dwarven Cleric of Ilmater, named Shorn Brightspyre, who is very soft-spoken and caring but still has the trademark Dwarven sternness/stubbornness. That being said, he's still often in the front lines where Dwarves are usually found. He's my first D&D character and I'm enjoying him a lot
Thanks for the upload guys. You two are the only reason why Wednesdays are worth existing for. So, y'know. No pressure. Edit - Sorry, you Three. Didn't mean to leave you out Travis!
Thanks for the reply Jim. You should look into Whistled languages as a way for your mountain dwelling Dwarves to communicate across the peaks. Sfyria and Silbo Gomero are the two that I know of, but there are more and they're all rather interesting. If you saw this info already in my comment below, my apologies.
Good point on the shortsword: A shield wall of a 5 men could seal of a small tunnel better than 10 men wielding greataxes. In that sense, a Roman legionaire like battle configuration would make quite a bit of sense.
5 man shield wall of battleaxes could also seal a tunnel off and march forward with overhand swings into opening between shields to become a walking combine harvester of beards and steel powered by ale ^^. 1 thing to consider is that there are a fair few threats in the Underdark and tunnels of the DnD world that have flight or wallclimbing so some sweeping swings to protect the over head is still useful. in any tunnel narrow enough to negate an axe completely will probably already restrain most use of a shortsword for your character anyway since the have to draw the blade first and both axe and sword user would likely resort to a dagger or something similar, though i expect more of a grapple and crush method when it comes to dwarves considering their strength and such.
Huh. You've made me want to do two things I'd never thought I'd want to do before. One, play a dwarf. Two, play a wizard. I wanna play a Dwarven Wizard. He's not a fighter of any sort. Not particularly interested in the gods, or even really much of a clansman. Avoids beer except on special occasions. But by damn is he drawn in by the forge. He sees Dwarven crafts and thinks, this is art, but we've a long way to go until perfection. He doesn't want to have to bother Moradin to imbue his works with the magic that will improve them. So instead he seeks to learn how to make grander magical works on his own. Strikes out, joins an academy at, let's say, thirty five. A wee lad to a Dwarf, but schooling is best started young. Spends at least fifteen years there. I'd say transmutation. He'd be super excited whenever he sees some new structure or item, and start theorizing on how it could be improved, or what he could learn from it.
I like transmutation or divination. Rolled up two dwarven wizards, one of each. One had a sage background, so he's a scholar when it comes to rock or ore. I haven't exactly pinned it down. The other is a guild artisan. Stone cutter.
Axes are probably for above ground for when you need lumber so they picked tools for weapons so I am still waiting for them to carry pickaxes as a weapon or a giant ice pick.
I’m rewatching this for some inspiration for an upcoming character. Hill Dwarf Noble Wizard. Trained since birth in combat and the Arcane. Highly intelligent, Speaks multiple languages to be an anthesis of the dwarfs in my current campaign. I am super hyped he is going to be awesome.
4-5 feet dense and stocky, I think it's the thickness of the Dwarven stature that makes people think they're shorter, it's hard to imagine a lanky dwarf.
I agree wholeheartedly on the whole 'not every dwarf has to sound Scottish' thing. In fact I'm playing a dwarf fighter right now, and he's essentially a dwarf Vegeta (including my best impression of Lanipator's Vegeta voice).
One of the guys I play with is a major Vegeta fan, and multiclassed his halfling fighter into a fighter/wizard. So now every time he casts a firebolt he stands up at the table and shouts "Big Bang Attack!" He's got a really good impression too, the rest of us always lose our shit over it.
If I play a fighter, it's hard not to go mountain dwarf. And when I do, despite my best intentions, a cheesy Scottish brogue keeps slipping in. I blame R.A. Salvatore. lol
Quick tip: in a shield wall, weapons with a "head" (axes, hammers, etc) can be used to hook down enemy shields or hook aside enemy weapons ;) plus, they are way cheaper and quicker to build and maintain and they can double as tools if necessary way better than a sword can.
I think my favorite dwarf (from a book) was definitely Pikel Bouldershoulder the dwarven druid. My favorite dwarf I played with was Liverwurst Doom (Protip:don't let your friends name your character). My favorite NPC I made was a dwarf named snow who had been sent on an impossible quest to find a lost relic to reclaim his honor, seven of his kin went with him. Tragically they were trapped in a cave by an angry earth elemental (who kept them there) and ... skipping over some parts Snow became a wight and his 7 dwarves became ghouls.
I play a dwarven bard! She was training to be a priest so she sings mostly hymns and recites historical poems. Her dream is to be the medieval equivalent of wikileaks :)
I blast through quite a lot of youtube videos a day half-watching them while working. Whenever Web DM comes out though I make sure I get in my comfy chair with some Tea so i can really savor it. Keep up the great work guys! PS. Dwarves are the most fun race to play imo. Being Irish might bias me towards grumpy, sarcastic assholes with hearts of gold though :P
I'm not sure about the "Heart of Gold" in that instance though haha! My current Dwarf is a Blood Hunter in Curse of Strahd who is kind of like him but is going through withdrawal since Whiskey doesn't exist on that demi-plane and he refuses to drink wine as it's worse than elf-piss.
Yup we just heard about that recently and Rangrim is constantly trying to push the party out of the city as he is holding out hope that the brewers there have the knowledge to make some.
I had a home-brew setting that featured a society of sea-fairing hill dwarves that lived in what was basically the Aegean Sea, trading and using the rocky coasts and islands to practice their stone-work.
Ive been into D&D for years and I haven’t heard of these guys, their great! They not only give an in depth explanation of the topic, but then they give real life experiences from their games.
I want minotaurs. I've liked them since the original Dragon Lance books, where as a culture they were seafaring people, lots of pirates, and every ship captain wanted one as navigator because they could never get lost.
They touched on monstrous characters briefly in a Q&A with Cody, but a full video would be wonderful. If you haven't read it already and are curious, a good portion of Volo's Guide is dedicated to monstrous lore, and they also have a short guide to monstrous player characters in addition to their other player races. I also found a great guide to homebrewing monstrous PCs using a sort of loose point-buy system here: www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/2j6xbo/5e_guide_to_homebrewing_races/
Jim, I'm glad you mentioned shortsword weilding dwarves! My favorite dwarf character that I've made was punished for favoring the sword over hammers, axes, etc... He forged a longsword that he poured his heart and soul into, but when his family found out, they broke the sword. He recovered the remains of his weapon (now counting as a shortsword) and fled, becoming an outcast from dwarven society. I love playing against type as well! You guys are awesome. Thanks for making roleplay more accessible 😊
Dwarves in my world can be described in 3 ways: always working, glory seekers and traditionalists. They always work because their god must forge more dwarves all the time so they also work all the time. They are glory seekers because they all cursed to return to whatever material they were made form and so must have as great a life as possible- preferably dying in battle. I haven’t figured out why dwarves are traditionalists yet - perhaps some connection to the physical world and how it never seems to change to them or how their age stops them from experiencing real change like we do - but I like the idea that there have been a bunch of dwarves empires which are all called the same name
I love the stereotypical dwarf, as they remind me of myself, and a good portion of my family. Short, quick to fight, heavy.....very heavy drinkers, bearded. We're mostly Irish and Polish. Also, a solid weapon for a dwarf would be the combi stick-a collapsible double pointed spear that is relatively small when its not being used, but grants a decent reach when extended. The gladius would be the ideal short sword side-arm for a dwarf. A solid slashing weapon, but really shines as a thrusting weapon. Dwarves, having shorter arms and being quite strong, could get a lot of kinetic force behind a thrust with a gladius, (less distance to travel, therefore more energy reserved for impact) potentially penning lighter armor clean through.
In my homebrew setting Dwarves are based on the Mongol horde/huns. Still stocky with the beards and mustaches but they are horse riding, archer/strikers. In an earlier setting that a stayed more "true to form" they did the whole mine thing but they were the penultimate mathematicians and thus were very powerful wizards and alchemists (you need lots of math to make the kinds of mines, jewel cuts, and above-and-beyond materials they are known for).
On dwarf druids, I made a mountain dwarf Druid once upon of time who went with the Circle of the Land (Mountain) archetype. He was gruff and hard to approach but eventually opened up and revealed he was really soft at heart. He had a love for nature and didn’t appreciate his people mining into the mountains for personal gain and not taking into account the effect it had on nature. He got Find Familiar with Magic Initiate, and his familiar was a reskinned raven that looked like a songbird. It nested out in his beard
that Dwarven Druid suggestion suprised me, coz it's the same idea i had when i looked at the druid class, i wanted to make one but not go for the usual elf or human. My approach to his background is kinda weird too, I imagined him to be like a Nature Consultant , teaching villages how to make nature preserves based on what animals they had and how to regularly trim the forest for proper maintenance.
I've given a group of dwarves in my world a southern aristocrat accent, along with a love for mint juleps over ale and a series of underground canals traversed by steamboats. The primary NPC is even named Hark Dwain and he wears a immaculate white suit with a well groomed beard.
I, like many many others who like: Star Trek and Matt Coleville have made most dwarves in my game little klingons. They dont get an accent, just a sort of style of speaking. They get to the point in as few words as possible.
I always picture dwarves as noble types, they are all rich from their various mining companies and hold the monopoly in weapon and armor forging. Yes elves craft arguably finer things, but I see dwarves as able to pump them out in huge forge factories in mass.
I have two dwarves that I love to play. Dwarf gloomstalker rogue, a cave delver who finds new deposits and scouts the deep enemies . The other a warlock storm sorcerer who uses his magic to be a better craftsman and Smith and made a pact with a elder earth elemental
My friend also in another setting played a dwarf beastmaster ranger who was a Mongolian horse archer, that was probably the most useful beastmaster I've ever seen
An idea I've always liked for a slightly off type dwarf is a druid. A dwarven druid of the mountain or the underdark, using their connection to stone and fire to forge items, and summon elementals. It offers a really fun alternative to the "hippy druid" stereotype, and the drunken rough and tumble dwarf steryotype.
In a game Im running right now I made a Dwarf town that was only just recently created, the Ideals of the dwarves of this new city was that they accept all people as denizens. A lot of Dwarves are Isolationist and I wanted to play against that and play with what it would look or feel like when those giant dwarf cities are being built.
I have in my campaign a dwarven mountain city run by a council of elite Transmutation Wizards that control all of the mining and smithing, and are very stoic and Vulcan-esque.
Had a player in 3.5 play a dwarf wizard who found himself acting up the stereotypes (axe, accent, etc.) around his family and other dwarves just so he wouldn't shame his father, but was otherwise as far removed from "dwarf" as a dwarf could be with his comrades. Loved that PC.
I ran a Dwarf Wizard in Pathfinder, wore silks, well groomed, and drank only wine. Spell book made of Adamantine with copper foil pages. Focused on Conjuration with summoning and teleportation, aim was to start a mail service over the whole kingdom.
This video inspired me, I’m going to go home and make an npc with each race matched with each class. It’s a great thought experiment to figure out where the sources of it come from!
Jim Davis I can highly recommend Dragon Age Origins as a Casteless Dwarf, their entire culture is incredibly fascinating and complex and I just started DMing Out of the Abyss using that India inspired lore. If the games dont click for you, the ,,World of Thedas" books are massive, wonderful tomes filled with all the great Lore, ready to be used for your campaign :)
MackAttack reminds me of a comment somewhere on the internet where someone talked about how all of their dwarves sounded like they were from Montana which actually makes some sense to me
Ah, dwaves, my favourite race to play and to use as a game master. In my world, they are basicly a neutral superpower (like a really big swiss) that uses the competition and wars between the other kingdoms to keep them in heck by adjusting the prizes of metal and warmachines. They are kinda dickish sometimes, I must admit^^ And in another one, their homelands and their god were destroyed, and the memories of the event erased from the minds of sentient beeings, so they are splintering into cults, trying to recreate their meaning of existance. They always have a special place in my campaigns.
Had an Italian wizard dwarf back in 3.5. Had a 16 con and thanks to some RNG had more HP than the fighter. Geovanni was a gem merchant and craftsman. Adventures were how he gained supplies.
Thanks for that video. Somehow I never had a chance to play DnD (I know it's weird, but everyone around me played other RPGs) and now I'm catching up with lore.
Axes are dwarven for de-foresting the mountainside and fueling their forges. While tactically i 110% agree with you they are something that is practical when leaving their tunnels and serves a 2nd purpose.
Had a Mountain Dwarf Wizard for a Welcome to Death House campaign, Vann Hillsinge, with near maxed STR and CON, for optimum fist casting Abjurating fun. At 4th level would have taken durable feat for getting 15 HP per hit die on short rests for every D6.
My favorite dwarves are the Roman empire style that use flintlock pistols and rifles from behind their interlocking tower shields. Their Frontline fighters are very much like the Viking berserkers. To me, these two styles are the most terrifying style of armies to have marched out onto the battlefield
Now I'm really looking forward to this Thursday! Prior to watching this I had made a character who is a dwarf bard who carries a banjo, named Steve, and is a vegan pacifist.
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Web DM I would like to know a lot more about other races in the mythical fantasy world because I just read a chapter on one of my favourite manga that does blew me out the water so I like to know what other races that are out there and I can meet with humans to bring forward hybrid babies can you answer my question please thanks a lot man
Sorry, all my dwarves are Scottish. And most of my humans... Some elves too... I'm Scottish.
Andrew Rodger Same here buddy. The struggle is real.
You're both excused
I'll allow it
Ayeeeee
+Andrew Roger. It could be worse. Irish themed dwarves always have the same name twice eg Balin-Balin as Irish dwarves "Have to sure, to be sure".
The dwarves in my homebrew setting speak with an Australian accent.
Ya see, they live down under...
Dude I have a dwarf rogue (thief subclass) that is an australian smuggler-type. He's super fun to play.
"HANDS OFF MY AXE YA BLOODY BOGAN"
Bonza mate! That's a ripper
Dwarven Ranger, beast master: Crickey, did see that? That the classic death roll! Hope the poor croc doesn't get indigestion from that swamp hag.
@@HiopX THIS
Wait, your dwarf comes from a land down under?
Were women craft and men plunder?
"Dwarfish courtship is an incredibly tactful affair, primarily concerned with finding out which gender the other dwarf is" - Terry Pratchett
It's easy to tell the boys from the girls in dwarven society. Just check the "southern beard".
@@CavTanker88 (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
RIP One of the Greatest World Builders Ever. I have run a D&D campaign for 7 people, set on the Disc, it was basically a the whole City Watch arch starting with Guards! Guards!, where let’s face it most of the primary(player) characters met in a pub. And yes as a tag along, you can guess the name of the party wizard…. And his very violent home brew familiar and part time mount.
I have Dwarven character who stepped on a trap in a hag’s lair. The DM rolled on a random table for the effect...landed on instantly growing to 6’2. He still considers himself to be a dwarf though.
He must really dwarf the rest of the party. I'm sorry.
This is the funniest fucking thing.
that means he must be HUGE, because dwarves are stockier and wider than humans, so an extra foot of height and presumed heavy armor make him a living battering ram, still being much stockier than almost all humans, and about 2-4 inches taller.
So would he be considered to be an giant dwarf?
Does he still have the usual proportions? Or are his legs abnormally long?
The perfect explanation for the axe dwarf is from Sir Terry Pratchet.
The dwarven axe is combination weapon and mining tool, a pickaxe. The pick side is for prospecting, the axe side is in case someone tries to stop you.
Huh, you guys didn't mention the all important dwarven book of grudges. Well sirs you two have now been added to the book of grudges because you forgot to mention the book of grudges. This will be remembered.
marcus aurelius we’re allies with the goblins anyway. They really know how to cut loose.
allies with goblins?! That's another grudge for the book!
Allied with goblins? That's a grudge-in'.
You've just made the Book!
Maybe she's born with it...maybe it's Moradin.
Lol. Well done:)
No, that's definitively just Moradin either way.
That is brilliant, by melding Dwarf and D&D type knowledge, and real life beauty products ... the juxtaposition is perfectly balanced.
Ex-CUSE me! Insinuating that the 'average' Dwarf would EVER let their beard be anything but PERFECTLY GROOMED at all times is PREPOSTEROUS! And leaving blood on an axe is the fastest way to get a rusty axe, as any good Dwarf will know. Rusty axes don't cleave orc skulls as well!
Dwarf sorcerers are actually really fun and interesting- focusing specifically on terrain manipulation can make for a very fun character- still useful, but not the traditional combat class.
I'm wondering if Jim played a lot of Elder Scrolls- that might explain why he likes his Mesopotamian designs (as I do).
I've posited that Dwarven music would actually have a lot of stacatto, a lot of percussion, backed up by drones. Really talented Dwarven musicians could actually use the echoes of those snaps and clacks and snares to create a complex interplay of rhythms.
Ufdi - A Dwarf overfond of preening and decorating his beard; a vain Dwarf; a Dwarf who cannot be trusted to fight.
I am a dwarf and I diggy a hole
Diggy, diggy hole
Diggy, diggy hole
Dwarven music to me is kind of like Caledonia, bagpipes and percussion, and for acapella, shanties and work songs inspired by 19th century railroad workers would be my choice, since they spend so much time in the mines breaking stone and extracting minerals.
I always have dwarves be very soft spoken due to living underground and knowing that their voices carry and echoe down the tunnels.
Rarely in my games do I have Dwarves be rowdy or bullish. I always kind of see them as steeped in honor and tradition, very ritualistic in a martial sort of way. They have very strict social protocol and etiquette. Until it's time to fight, that is.
Dwarves are essentially my knights in the underworld, the order that stands against the chaos of the Drow and all the other horrible stuff that lives below.
I guess Dark Dwarfs are the embodiment of the chaos they fight
Sorry if that's wrong idk much about Dark Dwarfs
Similar to my world's Duergar.
blunt the knives, bend the forks, smash the bottles and burn the corks, chip the glasses and crack the plates! That what the Web DM's hate!
I think that the best part of that song is that they don't do any of that stuff, they're just teasing their host, sort of like hazing a new adventure buddy
The best part is that it's followed up by Misty Mountains, which is fucking beautiful
YE HEAR THAT LADS? THEY DON'T LIKE SCOTTISH ACCENTS!
I had a dwarf transmuter once in 3rd Ed.
He died within 2 sessions. Murdered by the town blacksmith.
That's too ironic for a dwarf
It was a dwarf blacksmith who did it. He didnt like the fact that I had no beard (cursed in shame for touching that WIZARD NONSENSE!)
A dwarf wizard would be cool though. I just imagine a wizard with a warhammer and breastplate.
Terminally Nerdy my first 3e campaign had a dwarf abjurer who I couldn’t for the life of me harm. Had to resort to sonic damage which led to a heated argument.
Your dwarf sounds awesome though. Love a dwarf PC working off some shame.
Had a dwarf abjurer with the heavily armored feat so he would rush in to battle hit someone with a warhammer and if they tried to run shot them with lightning
I made a dwarf and my DM was like “Oh no I don’t want another classic dwarf” and then I a told him my backstory, I couldn’t stand the mines so I left to live off the land, I am a ranger, I am not talker but I am smart, a tracker and never a close quarter fighter I’m a ranger, my wolf attacks close and I shoot from a-far
A notable exception to the Scottish Dwarves trope:
the classic Rankin-Bass "Hobbit" cartoon, us Gen X kids grew up on. 😀
Perhaps it pre-dates the trope...?
I finished most of Terry Pratchett Watch Novels. He really liked Dwarves, like a non-drinker alchemist called Chirry Littlebutton who is the CSI of the citywatch. Also my favorite Captain Carot, an "adopted" dwarf.
Another very non-standard Discworld Dwarf is Casununda who is a very unusual Dwarf being a foppish Highway man that actively tries to seduce women and not only shaves his face but wears a powdered wig. He might make for a good Dwarf Rouge.
Dwarf Bards are great, one of the players at my table plays one, and his thing was that he was a battle drummer, who gave the beat for soldiers to keep time with. It also works because it was a rhythm to shape metal to.
In the last campaign I ran, there are 3 main sort of Dwarf society’s,
1 the standard mountain/miner.
2 desert dwelling, architects.
3 island hopping Sailors/best fleet and ship builders.
Nice.
You want to know how excited I am? I didn't have a beard before this episode started. Now I do.
LOL
Luckily for charity it helped you match your username.
I like the idea of a heavily armoured dwarven wizard, one of the sub races gets medium armour prof, so can easily pick up heavy armour prof feat for a full plate wizard.
So I have run a few campaigns where I let my characters pick everything but there class. Then at the end of the the second session, I give them a few option to that make them in directly choose their classes, then I tell them what class they are.
Had a dwarf steal a forbidden book “about” an old god. But when given the option to choose armor, he chose plate. When choosing a skill, he chose smithing.
He basically became a forge warlock. With some homebrew flavor, it became an awesome character. Almost exclusively fire magic. A bound weapon, one handed forge hammer. Heavy armor and all.
Hey guys, you mention mountain dwarves using horns to communicate valley to valley. What about them using a Whistled Language like Sfyria (Greece) or Silbo Gomero ( Canary Islands)? There are some other types, but those are the ones I remember right now.
That is an awesome idea. Could I use it if I ever get around to running a campaign?
Absolutely! I plan on throwing it into my campaign if I ever finish the ground work for it, but I'd love to see what other people can do with the idea as well.
ConriDubhghail hey I'm actually writing a story do you care if I also use it?
Most drums were what is called a talking drum. Messages would sound across miles drummed from a high point and get passed on at the next drum station.
I one played an Elf Ranger that was raised by Dwarves so I had all the physical stats of an elf but the bonuses like Stonecunning from dwarves, it was very fun.
Bloodymecha But did they have a Scottish accent?
I had an elf rouge who hated the forest. My friends described him as an elf that behaves like a dwarf.
Jakob Trangsrud my first 3e character was an elf who only dated dwarves. It was the beards that did it for her.
Jackson Bockus No but I did have a Pygmy Hippo for my animal companion.
In my setting dwarves have german accents because I use real-world languages as stand ins for my fantasy languages (I don't have time for making a language), and Norwiegan was already taken by giants, so I went with german.
"Dwarves have a strong elemental affinity", so Earth, Wind and Fire?
Do you remember? 21st night of September?
Elf tells the dwarf Druid, " Those Orcs are wielding those legendary Rhesk hammers!!! " and the dwarf druid looks at the Elf and winks, " True but I wield Whamsical Whammers, let them try to fight me....hahahaha!!! "
I love that Dwarfs from Total Warhammer have Yorkshire accents, reminds me of Uni where I lived with 3 Yorkshire men.
Good! Grimnir's axe thirsts!
One of the more amusing things I've done with a dwarf is make Teflon Thornforg, the rogue. As far as backstory was concerned, he was a once honorable dwarven leader, outcast from his tribe, living as a criminal hoping one day to regain some honor. Mechanically, he just shoved people over to get sneak attack.
In 3.5, I once played a Hill Dwarf Bard named Rimuldar Torunn IV (yes, his first name came from a certain town name of a certain video game), whose inspirations included Indiana Jones and the teamster Polk from the novelization of White Plume Mountain by Paul Kidd. For those of you who never read those books, Polk was sort of the storyteller (and comic relief) of the party who had this preconception of what true heroes - and true adventurers - were supposed to be like. As such, he was an idealist, having been "that guy" that purchased every miscellaneous item in the Player's Handbook "because they were proper adventuring gear," right down to the 10 ft. pole, pitons, and various other things. He even had this romanticized idea that heroes had to fight villains in an particularly epic way with blades clashing and many many one-liners and such, not with the brutal and grim way that the main character did things.
I didn't take Rimuldar anywhere near THAT far as I knew the party would have quartered him by session's end, but I played him as a bit of a naive fop who went out on his first adventure. He had a pack mule (I forget what he had named the mule, but I remember I had decided in-session that he tended to vocalize his inner monologues to that mule since he was used to traveling alone), and his gear did, in fact, include much of the miscellaneous gear that he thought all adventurers used.
And yes, he came from a rich family. :)
My personal favorite dwarf that I ever played was Winterbeard, a Mountain Dwarf Druid (also in 3.5) who couldn't speak Common and was trained by an elf druid from the brutal arctic lands in the north of the campaign. Winterbeard was the evolution of the very first dwarf character I ever played - a dwarf Cleric, also ignorant in the Common language - from AD&D 2E. At first, I created Winterbeard as a tank/support character after realizing that Druids can use tower shields (as they are mostly wooden). However, he turned out to be more than that, becoming the morale compass of the group (most of which was Neutral-ish), the shieldbearer, the combat medic, and - one time only - a bit of a jerk when he tied a harpoon's rope around himself, threw the harpoon into an enemy archer on a low rooftop, shapechanged into a bear, and pulled him close and off the roof for a hug (obviously, it took a couple of rounds, but the reaction from the DM was priceless when I shapechanged). Granted, that was because the archer's group was responsible for the injury and deaths of innocent civilians, but still... not a fun way to go, but also pretty awesome. :)
Strangely, I don't think either of these dwarves drank ale. Rimuldar didn't like the taste of it, and Winterbeard was too focused on his duties.
One of the greatest posts I've ever seen on a D&D facebook page only asked "What is your favourite race, and why is it dwarf?" I think that says it all.
One of the reason I love warhammer fantasy, it's huge pool of "classes" spans so many social classes and work spectrums it's easy to mix up a distinct dwarf.
Anything from a stereotypical shield and heavy armor wearing shieldbearer to...a rat catcher.
I think the opposite of the heavily armored dwarf would be the naked cult going dwarf that is trying to kill himself with monsters tbh
I just ran a scenario in my head where I move to wherever Jim Davis lives, stage an encounter, befriend him whilst pretending not to know about dnd. Then Let him convince me to play a campaign he’s starting, choose a dwarf and then of course RP with a Scottish accent. 😎
Love you Jim!
Larklan I can’t tell if I’d award XP for that or “rocks fall, everyone dies” the whole party.
Rolls Save vs Accent
7:40 - Similar to the Mesopotamian style mentioned; in my homebrew, lots of societies consider Dwarves rude since they rarely introduce themselves.
This is because in my homeworld, the Dwarves have rings and plates woven into their beards; but not just decorative, they serve a function in the Dwarven society by having their clan, craft and ranking on one side, their name and family name on the other. Since Dwarves know who they are dealing with before even being in conversation range, they just go right to business. "Time is money; who has time for introductions?"
It also shows all the other dwarves, 'this is me, who i am, and what you get from me.' A caste system with a foundation in honesty.
Beardless Dwarves wear the rings and plates draped from their shoulders.
Obviously anyone not familiar with Dwarves in my homebrew, or who can't read Dwarven, would just see these rings and plates as just decorations.
I like the idea that my Dwarves, akin to the Japanese, like to master a skill/talent/craft. A Dwarven bard might specialize in storytelling, might not be so hot on the lute or juggling. A Dwarven jeweler might specialize in necklaces and amulets, but be capable of making rings, they just might not be as intricate as one who specializes in rings.
But I agree there have to be Dwarves of every class and skill, 'cause how else you gonna run a city under a mountain? :P
Personally I feel that every race and species has to have people of every class and skill, I don't see them thriving otherwise.
I've always liked the idea of a Bard who fights using slam poetry, and a Dwarf seems perfect for that.
This brought two things to mind. First, I love the idea of a dwarf druid who's focused on underground life. Steve Jackson Games released a new boxed set for their Dungeon Fantasy line and a GM screen that comes with a bunch of pre-generated characters that includes ... a dwarf druid who's focused on the subterranean world (much of nature is underground, after all.) So someone beat ya to the punch; but in a great minds think alike way. Second, if we really conceptualize dwarves as living in an alpine environment, then maybe doubling down on the Swiss stereotypes/archetypes would be in order. Yes to alpine horns, a fierce desire for independence (individual and collective), neutrality in the affairs of others, steadfast mercenaries, dire goats with big bells around their necks, and yodeling bards!
" i like how it makes some people uncomfortable...with their wispy side hair..." i do NOT want to see Jim's browser history
Finally, someone else saw the Dwarves and axes problem. I feel better now.
I like spears. Not to throw, but to set against an attacker.
Dwarves use axes, because elves live in trees
I play a Dwarven Cleric of Ilmater, named Shorn Brightspyre, who is very soft-spoken and caring but still has the trademark Dwarven sternness/stubbornness. That being said, he's still often in the front lines where Dwarves are usually found. He's my first D&D character and I'm enjoying him a lot
In one of my campaign settings, the dwarfs are desert dwellers renowned for their skill at astrology and divination.
Thanks for the upload guys. You two are the only reason why Wednesdays are worth existing for. So, y'know. No pressure. Edit - Sorry, you Three. Didn't mean to leave you out Travis!
ConriDubhghail we carry that burden with honor. Dwarven honor
Thanks for the reply Jim. You should look into Whistled languages as a way for your mountain dwelling Dwarves to communicate across the peaks. Sfyria and Silbo Gomero are the two that I know of, but there are more and they're all rather interesting. If you saw this info already in my comment below, my apologies.
I agree. Wednesdays is my english class in College. I watch this instead of listening or draw for my portfolio.
what about zero punctuation
Good point on the shortsword: A shield wall of a 5 men could seal of a small tunnel better than 10 men wielding greataxes. In that sense, a Roman legionaire like battle configuration would make quite a bit of sense.
5 man shield wall of battleaxes could also seal a tunnel off and march forward with overhand swings into opening between shields to become a walking combine harvester of beards and steel powered by ale ^^. 1 thing to consider is that there are a fair few threats in the Underdark and tunnels of the DnD world that have flight or wallclimbing so some sweeping swings to protect the over head is still useful. in any tunnel narrow enough to negate an axe completely will probably already restrain most use of a shortsword for your character anyway since the have to draw the blade first and both axe and sword user would likely resort to a dagger or something similar, though i expect more of a grapple and crush method when it comes to dwarves considering their strength and such.
Huh.
You've made me want to do two things I'd never thought I'd want to do before.
One, play a dwarf.
Two, play a wizard.
I wanna play a Dwarven Wizard.
He's not a fighter of any sort. Not particularly interested in the gods, or even really much of a clansman. Avoids beer except on special occasions. But by damn is he drawn in by the forge.
He sees Dwarven crafts and thinks, this is art, but we've a long way to go until perfection. He doesn't want to have to bother Moradin to imbue his works with the magic that will improve them. So instead he seeks to learn how to make grander magical works on his own.
Strikes out, joins an academy at, let's say, thirty five. A wee lad to a Dwarf, but schooling is best started young. Spends at least fifteen years there. I'd say transmutation.
He'd be super excited whenever he sees some new structure or item, and start theorizing on how it could be improved, or what he could learn from it.
I like transmutation or divination. Rolled up two dwarven wizards, one of each. One had a sage background, so he's a scholar when it comes to rock or ore. I haven't exactly pinned it down. The other is a guild artisan. Stone cutter.
Axes are probably for above ground for when you need lumber so they picked tools for weapons so I am still waiting for them to carry pickaxes as a weapon or a giant ice pick.
well warhammer dwarfs do that plenty often
Dwarven bard Playing bagpipes leading the war party
I’m rewatching this for some inspiration for an upcoming character. Hill Dwarf Noble Wizard. Trained since birth in combat and the Arcane. Highly intelligent, Speaks multiple languages to be an anthesis of the dwarfs in my current campaign. I am super hyped he is going to be awesome.
I always hated the misconception that dwarves are uber short. They're not THAT much shorter than a hooman
As a dwarf gets taller the probability of him being played as Danny DeVito approaches 1
Dungeon Dad eye dungeon dad love the channel
4-5 feet dense and stocky, I think it's the thickness of the Dwarven stature that makes people think they're shorter, it's hard to imagine a lanky dwarf.
They are classified as medium height in the PHB. I once had a situation where my party assumed my dwarf character was the same size as a halfling.
I mean traditionally they are short. After all their called dwarves. Literally a dwarf, as in short.
I agree wholeheartedly on the whole 'not every dwarf has to sound Scottish' thing. In fact I'm playing a dwarf fighter right now, and he's essentially a dwarf Vegeta (including my best impression of Lanipator's Vegeta voice).
One of the guys I play with is a major Vegeta fan, and multiclassed his halfling fighter into a fighter/wizard. So now every time he casts a firebolt he stands up at the table and shouts "Big Bang Attack!" He's got a really good impression too, the rest of us always lose our shit over it.
If I play a fighter, it's hard not to go mountain dwarf. And when I do, despite my best intentions, a cheesy Scottish brogue keeps slipping in. I blame R.A. Salvatore. lol
I feel like I need him to cast a 9th level lightning bolt and shout "FINAL FLASH!" now.
Dwarves are Welsh not Scottish!
I’m the prince! The prince of all Dwarfs!
Though this video was a bit SHORT
Quick tip: in a shield wall, weapons with a "head" (axes, hammers, etc) can be used to hook down enemy shields or hook aside enemy weapons ;) plus, they are way cheaper and quicker to build and maintain and they can double as tools if necessary way better than a sword can.
I think my favorite dwarf (from a book) was definitely Pikel Bouldershoulder the dwarven druid. My favorite dwarf I played with was Liverwurst Doom (Protip:don't let your friends name your character). My favorite NPC I made was a dwarf named snow who had been sent on an impossible quest to find a lost relic to reclaim his honor, seven of his kin went with him. Tragically they were trapped in a cave by an angry earth elemental (who kept them there) and ... skipping over some parts Snow became a wight and his 7 dwarves became ghouls.
"For the last time, they're Swedish!" thanks Blizz
So. Much. Beard.
I mean, man-beards, child-beards, lady-beards, long-beards...
You've entered the *B E A R D Z O N E*
My dwarf maids have evil looking goatees
I play a dwarven bard! She was training to be a priest so she sings mostly hymns and recites historical poems. Her dream is to be the medieval equivalent of wikileaks :)
Dwarven elemental magic. Singing. There's an earth, wind and fire joke here somewhere.
I blast through quite a lot of youtube videos a day half-watching them while working. Whenever Web DM comes out though I make sure I get in my comfy chair with some Tea so i can really savor it. Keep up the great work guys!
PS. Dwarves are the most fun race to play imo. Being Irish might bias me towards grumpy, sarcastic assholes with hearts of gold though :P
I want to make a dwarf and play him like Bernard Black from Black Books.
I'm not sure about the "Heart of Gold" in that instance though haha! My current Dwarf is a Blood Hunter in Curse of Strahd who is kind of like him but is going through withdrawal since Whiskey doesn't exist on that demi-plane and he refuses to drink wine as it's worse than elf-piss.
Killian Duggan poor Barovians! When I ran it, the boys seemed really invested in helping reestablish the winery. Priorities!
Yup we just heard about that recently and Rangrim is constantly trying to push the party out of the city as he is holding out hope that the brewers there have the knowledge to make some.
The party eventually found an alchemist's jug, so they got to have their mead and drink it too
I had a home-brew setting that featured a society of sea-fairing hill dwarves that lived in what was basically the Aegean Sea, trading and using the rocky coasts and islands to practice their stone-work.
While on the subject of breaking the cliché of dwarves, I once made a dwarven monk who kept a clean shave and only sipped upon fine wine.
Ive been into D&D for years and I haven’t heard of these guys, their great! They not only give an in depth explanation of the topic, but then they give real life experiences from their games.
I would like something about monstrous races like Bugbears.
Monstrous Player Characters in general would be sweet.
I want minotaurs. I've liked them since the original Dragon Lance books, where as a culture they were seafaring people, lots of pirates, and every ship captain wanted one as navigator because they could never get lost.
not-quite-the-worst probably full on Goblinoids would be its own video. And Minotaur I agree
They touched on monstrous characters briefly in a Q&A with Cody, but a full video would be wonderful.
If you haven't read it already and are curious, a good portion of Volo's Guide is dedicated to monstrous lore, and they also have a short guide to monstrous player characters in addition to their other player races. I also found a great guide to homebrewing monstrous PCs using a sort of loose point-buy system here: www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/2j6xbo/5e_guide_to_homebrewing_races/
Yeah, the World needs more Coyouin love. Street Sharks.
Jim, I'm glad you mentioned shortsword weilding dwarves! My favorite dwarf character that I've made was punished for favoring the sword over hammers, axes, etc...
He forged a longsword that he poured his heart and soul into, but when his family found out, they broke the sword. He recovered the remains of his weapon (now counting as a shortsword) and fled, becoming an outcast from dwarven society. I love playing against type as well!
You guys are awesome. Thanks for making roleplay more accessible 😊
"dwarfven bard"
I am a dwarf and I diggy a hole *diggy, diggy hole* *diggy, diggy hole*
Dwarves in my world can be described in 3 ways: always working, glory seekers and traditionalists.
They always work because their god must forge more dwarves all the time so they also work all the time.
They are glory seekers because they all cursed to return to whatever material they were made form and so must have as great a life as possible- preferably dying in battle. I haven’t figured out why dwarves are traditionalists yet - perhaps some connection to the physical world and how it never seems to change to them or how their age stops them from experiencing real change like we do - but I like the idea that there have been a bunch of dwarves empires which are all called the same name
I love the stereotypical dwarf, as they remind me of myself, and a good portion of my family. Short, quick to fight, heavy.....very heavy drinkers, bearded. We're mostly Irish and Polish.
Also, a solid weapon for a dwarf would be the combi stick-a collapsible double pointed spear that is relatively small when its not being used, but grants a decent reach when extended. The gladius would be the ideal short sword side-arm for a dwarf. A solid slashing weapon, but really shines as a thrusting weapon. Dwarves, having shorter arms and being quite strong, could get a lot of kinetic force behind a thrust with a gladius, (less distance to travel, therefore more energy reserved for impact) potentially penning lighter armor clean through.
One of my favorites is the Hill Dwarf Tempest Cleric! I have yet to play one in 5e so I am looking forward to that.
Thanks as always for your videos. I always share them with my online D&D group and try to get RL groups to watch when they get the time.
kyubii972 thanks for spreading the word!
I'm absolutely stealing your mesopotamian dwarfs
In my homebrew setting Dwarves are based on the Mongol horde/huns. Still stocky with the beards and mustaches but they are horse riding, archer/strikers. In an earlier setting that a stayed more "true to form" they did the whole mine thing but they were the penultimate mathematicians and thus were very powerful wizards and alchemists (you need lots of math to make the kinds of mines, jewel cuts, and above-and-beyond materials they are known for).
On dwarf druids, I made a mountain dwarf Druid once upon of time who went with the Circle of the Land (Mountain) archetype. He was gruff and hard to approach but eventually opened up and revealed he was really soft at heart. He had a love for nature and didn’t appreciate his people mining into the mountains for personal gain and not taking into account the effect it had on nature. He got Find Familiar with Magic Initiate, and his familiar was a reskinned raven that looked like a songbird. It nested out in his beard
Dwarves are the MASTER RACE!
that Dwarven Druid suggestion suprised me, coz it's the same idea i had when i looked at the druid class, i wanted to make one but not go for the usual elf or human. My approach to his background is kinda weird too, I imagined him to be like a Nature Consultant , teaching villages how to make nature preserves based on what animals they had and how to regularly trim the forest for proper maintenance.
Hey guys, love the show and all your insight. Would love an episode about Sigil and the Lady of Pain.
I've given a group of dwarves in my world a southern aristocrat accent, along with a love for mint juleps over ale and a series of underground canals traversed by steamboats. The primary NPC is even named Hark Dwain and he wears a immaculate white suit with a well groomed beard.
I, like many many others who like: Star Trek and Matt Coleville have made most dwarves in my game little klingons. They dont get an accent, just a sort of style of speaking. They get to the point in as few words as possible.
I always picture dwarves as noble types, they are all rich from their various mining companies and hold the monopoly in weapon and armor forging. Yes elves craft arguably finer things, but I see dwarves as able to pump them out in huge forge factories in mass.
A friend of mine had immense fun playing a Dwarven ranger, the black sheep of his family
I have two dwarves that I love to play. Dwarf gloomstalker rogue, a cave delver who finds new deposits and scouts the deep enemies . The other a warlock storm sorcerer who uses his magic to be a better craftsman and Smith and made a pact with a elder earth elemental
My friend also in another setting played a dwarf beastmaster ranger who was a Mongolian horse archer, that was probably the most useful beastmaster I've ever seen
I find that instead of creating a rich diverse world, to play against type tends to create a lot more noise
An idea I've always liked for a slightly off type dwarf is a druid. A dwarven druid of the mountain or the underdark, using their connection to stone and fire to forge items, and summon elementals. It offers a really fun alternative to the "hippy druid" stereotype, and the drunken rough and tumble dwarf steryotype.
In a game Im running right now I made a Dwarf town that was only just recently created, the Ideals of the dwarves of this new city was that they accept all people as denizens. A lot of Dwarves are Isolationist and I wanted to play against that and play with what it would look or feel like when those giant dwarf cities are being built.
I have in my campaign a dwarven mountain city run by a council of elite Transmutation Wizards that control all of the mining and smithing, and are very stoic and Vulcan-esque.
Had a player in 3.5 play a dwarf wizard who found himself acting up the stereotypes (axe, accent, etc.) around his family and other dwarves just so he wouldn't shame his father, but was otherwise as far removed from "dwarf" as a dwarf could be with his comrades. Loved that PC.
Only 2 puns? That's coming up short.
Great upload guys, one thing I want to see is you guys talking about the underdark
Regarding the end-cap on this one: I cannot get enough of Jim talking with Pruitt about OD&D and retro-clones.
I ran a Dwarf Wizard in Pathfinder, wore silks, well groomed, and drank only wine. Spell book made of Adamantine with copper foil pages. Focused on Conjuration with summoning and teleportation, aim was to start a mail service over the whole kingdom.
This video inspired me, I’m going to go home and make an npc with each race matched with each class. It’s a great thought experiment to figure out where the sources of it come from!
For dwarfes I highly recommend the Dragon Age games, they have amazing, India inspired lore in those games. :)
Florian Narratio I love the lore of the Dragon Age games but I could never actually get into them
the dwarves are great in DL though
Jim Davis I can highly recommend Dragon Age Origins as a Casteless Dwarf, their entire culture is incredibly fascinating and complex and I just started DMing Out of the Abyss using that India inspired lore. If the games dont click for you, the ,,World of Thedas" books are massive, wonderful tomes filled with all the great Lore, ready to be used for your campaign :)
The dwarves in Dragon Age also have a distinctly american accent, which sets them apart from your average "scottish" dwarf
MackAttack reminds me of a comment somewhere on the internet where someone talked about how all of their dwarves sounded like they were from Montana which actually makes some sense to me
Ah, dwaves, my favourite race to play and to use as a game master. In my world, they are basicly a neutral superpower (like a really big swiss) that uses the competition and wars between the other kingdoms to keep them in heck by adjusting the prizes of metal and warmachines. They are kinda dickish sometimes, I must admit^^
And in another one, their homelands and their god were destroyed, and the memories of the event erased from the minds of sentient beeings, so they are splintering into cults, trying to recreate their meaning of existance.
They always have a special place in my campaigns.
Dwarves in my world are like Maori pacific islanders.
I made a Dwarf Druid Pirate for an aquatic themed 5e campaign... they definitely make great Druids!
I had a friend who played a dwarven thief (Johnny Little Rockhead) who specialized in traps and lockbreaking.
Had an Italian wizard dwarf back in 3.5. Had a 16 con and thanks to some RNG had more HP than the fighter. Geovanni was a gem merchant and craftsman.
Adventures were how he gained supplies.
"GEOvanni"
That made me laugh more than it had any right to.
Thanks for that video. Somehow I never had a chance to play DnD (I know it's weird, but everyone around me played other RPGs) and now I'm catching up with lore.
Axes are dwarven for de-foresting the mountainside and fueling their forges. While tactically i 110% agree with you they are something that is practical when leaving their tunnels and serves a 2nd purpose.
Drawing on Warhammer again - should check out the Yorkshire accents the dwarves have there. I fell in love with those.
Had a Mountain Dwarf Wizard for a Welcome to Death House campaign, Vann Hillsinge, with near maxed STR and CON, for optimum fist casting Abjurating fun. At 4th level would have taken durable feat for getting 15 HP per hit die on short rests for every D6.
My favorite dwarves are the Roman empire style that use flintlock pistols and rifles from behind their interlocking tower shields. Their Frontline fighters are very much like the Viking berserkers. To me, these two styles are the most terrifying style of armies to have marched out onto the battlefield
Now I'm really looking forward to this Thursday! Prior to watching this I had made a character who is a dwarf bard who carries a banjo, named Steve, and is a vegan pacifist.
I love the dwarves, every time I make a new character I have to stop myself from going straight to the dwarves.