Homebrew Frost Dwarf Species Details

Description

Frost Dwarves are considered cousins to the traditional dwarf. The average Frost dwarf was even a medium creature, about the same average appearance as their normal dwarf cousin. Physically, their fingers and toes were thick and blunt, and their feet flat and wide to help them walk across the snow. Their skin was typically quite pale, ranging from a pale shade of blue to white, except for their cheeks which were a ruddy red and their noses which were slightly bulbous. Frost dwarf eyes were bright blue to steely grey and their thicker curly hair, which they usually let flow freely grow long to their waists, was white. Unlike most dwarves, frost dwarf females couldn't grow beards. Males often grew long beards with thick mustaches. Frost dwarf dress was typically simple, usually more utilitarian than for fashion. Often clothes in thick skins or fabric with sturdy boots. Even though many would often walk barefoot having grown accustomed to the cold.

Abilities

While ostensibly dwarves, frost dwarves had many significant physical differences between themselves and other dwarves.

Frost dwarves were extremely resistant to the effects of extreme cold. This cold also drove them to move with more haste than other dwarves and have overcome the limited movement speed of their cousins.

Frost dwarves also have a heavy focus on skills and knowledge and as such have passed on proficiency in dealing with cold, frost, snowy, and icy environments.

Living in these environments frost dwarves have also gained great skill in using ice and snow as building materials.

Personality

In general, frost dwarves were a gregarious people, open to the company of others. Unlike other dwarves, they cared little from what bloodline another dwarf came from and focused little on history and more on the present. This was because frost dwarves found little time to form divisions and sought the advantages of close-knit communities and strong familial bonds.

While individualistic and open-minded, their strong bonds with their community cause frost dwarves to rarely ventured beyond their own homelands to adventure. Those that did were usually driven by a spirit of curiosity, falling into the life of an adventurer more by default than by conscious decision. These individuals often became rangers or barbarians, for which the self-sufficient lifestyle of an frost dwarf was well-suited.

Society

Given the small numbers of their population, frost dwarf society was surprisingly homogeneous, most likely the result of millennia spent in isolation from other races. Unlike most dwarves, the frost dwarves did not divide themselves by clan lineage and they did not frequently remember individual deeds for more than a couple generations. Frost dwarves also valued hard work or craftsmanship to a higher degree as other dwarves or indeed as most other races. This was because quality was valued over quantity due to scarcity of most things.  

Frost dwarves focused themselves on contributing to the greater communal good, which itself demanded very little from them, meaning that most of the race were content to live in ease without concern for the future. Young children received a great deal of attention and were given the most care by their parents. Elders were largely devoid of any physical responsibility in frost dwarf society but were considered great teachers. While frost dwarves found little interest in historical details, they did see great interest and benefit in the skills and lessons learned along the way and saw it as their duty to pass down their skills and knowledge to the younger generation.

Frost dwarves were few in number and only very rarely did they migrate from their northern homes to more temperate regions. As a result, they integrated poorly with other cultures and often exerted a great deal of effort looking for others of similar mind to replicate the lifestyle of their culture.

Culture

Some frost dwarves dwelt in snowhouses, like the arctic humans of the regions in which they lived. Others would build their communities within the caves of the mountain. Their homes were build more around utility than luxury.

Frost dwarves almost exclusively spoke Kurit, a rare dialect of Dwarvish that was significantly influenced by Uluik, though a few also spoke the Sossal dialect of Common. Other frost dwarves learned Uluik, Giant, Damaran, or Draconic.

Art & Leisure

Because of their hunter-gatherer lifestyle, frost dwarves did not have a great degree of free time on their hands and as a result valued leisure. Among the activities enjoyed was dog riding and the frost dwarves employed a large number of riding dogs as pets, mounts, hunting companions, and beasts of burden.

Frost dwarves enjoy close quarters with friends and family and other shared food, drink, stories, and music. Food was seen as a source of life and with limited resources frost dwarf chefs were said to create robust meals and hardy drinks. Music and story were also very important. Music was seen a luxury that was easy to learn and hard to master. Making it accessible to everyone but of great amusement for those who were able to develop their skill. Stories were also treated in the same manner. Frost dwarf tales were seen as a great way to teach and to pass along lessons more than they were to tell of any individual person or event. Because of this educational nature of most stories there was not much embellishment, and many might even find some frost dwarf stories a little lacking in excitement. Art such as sculpting and painting was often not found in practice much except for the ability of frost dwarves to draw diagrams, maps, and other utilitarian items.

Frost dwarves often found great amusement in the artistic skill of outsiders as they were able to develop their skill in ways most frost dwarves simply did not have the time or the interest in doing. So, a story about a grandiose battle filled with hyperbole might have a much different impact to frost dwarves than other races.

Frost dwarf crafts were largely limited to practical items, such as hunting weapons or survival tools. Many frost dwarfs wore hide armor, the pelts of polar bears being the most valued. Most frost dwarfs went barefoot, in spite of the cold, but some did fashion sturdy boots for physical protection more than elemental. For hunting tools, frost dwarfs preferred the use easily carried items and those with repeated useability.

Magic & Religion

For the most part, frost dwarves lacked any significant magical traditions and largely view the Art as impractical. The magical items found among the race were mostly created by druids or the race's small number of arcane spellcasters. One of the few magic items unique to frost dwarves were kerrenderit or magically shaped ice crystals often used as arrowheads.

In addition to lacking an arcane spellcasting tradition, the frost dwarves were not particularly religious and venerated neither the Morndinsamman nor any other gods. Instead, the frost dwarves venerated the natural world, sometimes honoring Talos or Ulutiu in the process. Those few dwarves who practiced any magic of any kind were most frequently druids, adepts, or rangers. Frost dwarf druids were somewhat notable for their reliance on fire-based magic, which they employed against frost giants, frost worms, and other foes to great effectiveness.

Relations

Frost dwarves had very little contact with anyone besides themselves and Ulutiun humans, with whom they had friendly relations. However, because frost dwarves were a friendly and open-minded race they were usually very tolerant of outsiders. Gnomes and other dwarves were often considered amusing to frost dwarves, owing to their mix of familiar appearance and alien customs, an attitude that also applied to a lesser extent to humans other than the Ulutuiuns. The most familiar of the elves to frost dwarves were the flying avariel and as a consequence frost dwarves typically treated all elves with a degree of awe. Most other humanoid races only rarely encountered the frost dwarves and were considered quite exotic.

History

Unlike most dwarves, frost dwarves did not claim descent from any particular lineage or origin. Most of the history of their lineage actually comes from study from outsiders. With some myths claiming they were once ice elementals. Others claimed that the frost dwarves once ruled a mighty empire of their own and that it fell not from outside forces but from a dwindling internal desire from frost elves to want to maintain an expansive kingdom. Finding it a waste of their time and resources and instead focusing inward on building their communities. Since most of the frost dwarves find little benefit in maintaining long histories of people and places most of the legends are speculation more than fact.

 

Frost Dwarf Traits

Your dwarf character has an assortment of inborn abilities, part and parcel of dwarven nature.

Snowcraft

You are able to build with snow and ice just as others would use dirt, wood, metal or stone. Allowing you to make structures, fashion primitive weaponry, and manage natural snow and ice structures without disadvantage such as when climbing, walking, navigating, or sneaking. 

You are proficient with Nature, Perception, and Survival checks dealing in frozen, snowy, or icy environments.

In addition, your eyes are accustomed to looking through blizzards. Lightly obscured areas of fog, smoke, snow, or other similarly dense areas impose no disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

Ability Score Increase

Your Constitution score increases by 2.

Age

Dwarves mature at the same rate as humans, but they’re considered young until they reach the age of 50. On average, they live about 350 years.

Size

Dwarves stand between 4 and 5 feet tall and average about 150 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor.

Darkvision

Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Tundra Born

Your days in the arctic have given you resolve against the elements. You have resistance to cold damage. You’re also naturally adapted to cold climates, as described in chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Dwarven Combat Training

You have proficiency with the battleaxe, handaxe, light hammer, and warhammer.

Tool Proficiency

You gain proficiency with the artisan’s tools of your choice: smith’s tools, brewer’s supplies, or mason’s tools.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Dwarvish. Dwarvish is full of hard consonants and guttural sounds, and those characteristics spill over into whatever other language a dwarf might speak.