Homebrew Dweorg Species Details

“Should 'av jus' stayed underground, avoided all this human bullcrap. All 'em bickering over land, and whole lot of them winning in the name of some trumped up chatty man with a pointy hat. Stupid if you ask me, not gonna give 'em much time myself...but I'll still take their coin. If they throw another one of us in 'em jails though, me thinks those lightweights are goin' to 'ave a problem.”

—  Sveinn Stonebreaker

Kingdoms rich in ancient grandeur, halls carved into the roots of mountains, the echoing of picks and hammers in deep mines and blazing forges, a commitment to clan and tradition, and a burning hatred of nephilim and goblinoids — these common threads unite all dweorg.

Short and Dangerous

Bold and hardy, dweorg are known as skilled warriors, miners, and workers of stone and metal. Though they stand well under 5 feet tall, dweorg are so broad and compact that they can weigh as much as a human standing nearly two feet taller. Their courage and endurance are also easily a match for any of the larger folk. Dweorg skin ranges from deep brown to a paler hue tinged with red, but the most common shades are light brown or deep tan, like certain tones of earth. Their hair, worn long but in simple styles, is usually black, gray, or brown, though paler dwarves often have red hair. Male dwarves value their beards highly and groom them carefully.

Long Memory, Long Grudges

Dweorg can live to be more than 400 years old, so the oldest living dweorg often remember a very different world filled with nephilim, dragons, and angelic forces. For example, some of the oldest dweorg living in the dweorg fortress city of Varyndorog can recall the day, nearly two centuries ago, when the Hilthrin Imperium conquered the fortress and drove them into an exile that lasted over a century. This longevity grants them a perspective on the world that humanity lacks. Dweorg are solid and enduring like the earth they love, weathering the passage of centuries with stoic endurance and little change. They respect the traditions of their clans, tracing their ancestry back to the founding of their most ancient strongholds in the Primis Age, and don’t abandon those traditions lightly. Part of those traditions is devotion to the four divines who uphold the dweorg ideals of honour and fealty to ones superiors.

Honour and Glory

Individual dweorg are determined and loyal, well known for their stubborn streak and other races often believe them to be incredibly rude thanks to their straight talking manner; no dweorg can hold their tongue when there is a truth to be told. All dweorg have a strong sense of justice, and are slow to forget wrongs they have suffered. A wrong done to one dweorg is a wrong done to the dweorg’s entire clan, so what begins as one dweorg’s hunt for vengeance can become a full-blown clan feud. This is never truer than their hunt for the nephilim that slayed their king. Although it was only the king himself who had been wronged, several of the king’s clan and high ranking members of other clans have since signed up to the hunt. If the nephilim is to be found then the dweorg intend to find them.

Dweorg Traits

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

Ability Score Increase

Increase one ability score by 1 and one other ability score by 2

Age

Dweorg 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

Dweorg stand between 3.5 and 4.5 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.

Superior Darkvision

Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern colour in darkness, only shades of gray.

Dweorg Resilience

You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage (explained in the “Combat” section).

Dweorg Craftsmanship

You gain proficiency with tinker's tools and on set of artisan’s tools of your choice: smith’s tools, brewer’s supplies, or mason’s tools.

Dweorg Claws

Dweorg nails are thick and curved, not dissimilar to the claws found on other mammals and they use these to efficiently burrow & climb. As such you have a burrowing and climbing speed of 15ft. Additionally your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 + Strength slashing damage.

Destiny

All adventurers and heroes have a destiny. Choose one Destiny from the feats section.

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 dweorg might speak.