Todd Kenreck: Today, we're talking more about the dwarves with Mike Mearls and what makes them unique in the D&D multiverse.

Mike Mearls: Dwarves kind of have a little bit of an arrogant streak, because this is something they'll always get to hold over the elves, if you have a dwarf and an elf, wherever they converse in their myths, and we accept that these stories are what actually historically happened. Dwarves going to say, "We were created by our God. Our God wanted us to exist, because He sculpted us, literally breathe life into us, and let us out into the world. We are His children in the sense of, we were created with purpose to emulate our God." And that's why dwarves are really creatures of toil. They love to work. To dwarves, life has purpose. You were born, you have a vocation, you fulfill that vocation.

Your vocation could be metalsmithing. It could be warfare. You could be like, "My vocation is to be a soldier, to protect the clan, to protect the stronghold," but every dwarf has a purpose, and that's really where that lawful element comes in. Being lawful, good, you know, as the typical dwarf. We think of the stereotype, the dwarves are lawful, good. They're good in the sense of they care about the community. They care about other creatures, and their lawfulness, since they have a very strong sense of order. If dwarves existed in the modern world, they would be the people who really obey etiquette.

If you gave them a gift, they'd always send you a thank-you note right on time. They're very orderly, and they say, "This is how we do things." They kind of have a point, because they say, to a dwarf, "This is how we do things, because this is how Moradin taught us how to do it," and Moradin's a god, and one does not normally tell gods to sod off, right? You do what the god tells you to. But, they do it at a sense of love. Moradin being a good god. You can imagined a lawful, evil god would do it to keep someone in line. A lawful good god does it because Moradin looks on his children and says, "This is what's best for you, and I really mean that. I'm not just saying that because I want you to act this way. I'm saying because if you follow my dictates, you will be safe, and you'll be happy, and you'll be fulfilled."

And dwarves are generally fulfilled by long hours of hard work. To them, it satisfies a very primal need in them, and that's why you get this sense of dwarven citadels being these enormous ... They always add into them, always building. A dwarf isn't satisfied just in an environment that is just static. They always want to improve it. They always want to add to it. They always want to grow. They want to prosper. They're really probably the most driven of the folk, but at the same time, that points out the fundamental contradiction that underlines dwarves. Dwarves build kingdoms, but unlike humans, they're not conquerors.

They don't rule vast swaths of land, because at the end of the day, while dwarves like order and they like work, they like works that exists on much smaller scales. A dwarf wants to improve her skills. She wants to become a better metalsmith. She wants to become a more skilled warrior. There are dwarves who rule. Dwarves have kings and queens and nobles, but being a lawful good ... The children of a lawful, good God and having societies that exhibit lawful, good traits, they see their leaders as being more caretakers. A good dwarf king looks after his people and wants them to prosper. He doesn't have ambition. He doesn't look across from the highest point on his dwarven citadel and think, "Would it be great to conquer the area around us?"

To what end? You'd be risking the lives of the dwarven warriors. You'd be pulling the dwarven smiths away from their actual work to maybe produce weapons or armor or to fight. It just wouldn't compute to the dwarves. They are very happy being left alone to pursue their calling. That's what they want to do. A dwarf metalsmith would be very happy if she could spend her entire life doing nothing but getting up in the morning and working on metalsmithing and becoming better at it and producing more and more beautiful goods. Now, the one exception to that is family, the clan, child rearing.

Dwarves also see it's incredibly important. The family is very important to them, that the one thing that does override their sense of pride in their craft is their pride in their children, that the marriage is very important to them, having children, sustaining the clan, ensuring the line continues, because it's not only just a legacy of ... If I'm a dwarf and I'm a metalsmith and I have my skill, it's also the skill I then hand down to the next generation who I then guide and hope that, with my guidance, my example, they bring their skills up even farther. They become even more skilled. They surpass what has been done in the past.

To dwarves, one of the worst things that could happen them is if they lost a secret. If the dwarves knew how to shape, how to adamantine and lost that secret, they desperately want it back. Because to them, we're losing ground. And in many ways, what the dwarves want, what drives them, is they want to live up to the talent and the skills showcased by their creator. And then the other deities, the dwarven pantheon that also set specific examples. Moradin is, essentially, he's best in everything, but there are other dwarves who showcase very mastery of specific skills that the dwarves emulate.

It also shows why similar to the orcs in some way, the orcs society is very driven by religion. If you had an orc raised away from or society could just be whatever. They just grow up maybe whoever they want, because so much of what they are we think of them and traditionally how we deal with them in the world of deity is driven by how their society is shaped by their religion and how their religion is shaped by their direct relationship with the creator deity.