Homebrew Gully Dwarf Species Details

Personality: The following aspects to a gully dwarf's personality sum up the entire race: keen survival instinct, a strong (if baffling) pride in themselves, unflagging endurance, a pitiable aspect and their ability to use it to their advantage, a desperate and fierce will to live, and very low intelligence. The cornerstone of gully dwarf existence is simple survival. Gully dwarves do whatever it takes to stay alive, and are masters at it. When danger threatens, their first thought is to run if possible, grovel/cry/beg and fight as a last resort. Gully dwarves are not helpless because, if backed into a corner, gully dwarves fight viciously and with the fury of the cornered rat. Gully dwarves resort to any tactics to survive: biting, gnawing, scratching, and pummelling. If fighting is their only option, then "Fighting dirty" is naturally part of their fighting style, because they believe there is only one rule in fighting: win (survival instinct).

Gully dwarf stupidity is legendary. The gully dwarf numbering system is based on their lifestyle of possessing little and their complete lack of greed (not needing more than you do to survive).  The system includes the numerals "zero", to indicate nothing, "one," to indicate a single thing and "two," indicating anything more than one.  Despite the image other races hold of them, gully dwarves are extremely proud and act with great seriousness. Survival isn't a joke, and no other race comes close to possessing the raw talent for survival possessed by the gully dwarves.

Physical Description: Gully dwarves are short and squat, averaging 3 1/2 to almost 4 1/2 feet in height and weighing around 75 - 150 pounds, with females slightly smaller than males. Gully dwarves are physically much like other dwarves, though they are often covered with scars, boils, warts, sores, and filth due to their living conditions. Skin tone ranges from olive brown to pale cream to dirty gray brown. Mottled and splotched skin is not uncommon. Males grow long, scruffy beards, while females have wispy tufts of hair gracing their cheekbones. Hair color is dirty blond or brown, rust, gray, or a dull-black, while eye colors range from a watery blue and dull green through brown or hazel. Less heavy and stocky than typical dwarves, gully dwarves have slender, narrow fingers and limbs. Pot-bellies are common to both sexes. Gully dwarves dress in whatever comes to hand, with no regard to whether or not the item was originally intended as such apparel.  Due to their poor living conditions, most Aghar don't live much past 55 to 75 years of age.  Their survival in poor, if not toxic, environments has lead to rumors that they could live 2 or 3 times longer if they lived in better conditions.  They have Darkvision out to 60 feet and their base walking speed is 25 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy or ill-fitting armor.  Many Gully Dwarves get their armor from pieces expertly scrounged from battlefields, garbage dumps and other non-traditional types of protection like pots for helmets, potbellied stoves for breastplates, etc. 

Relations: Although gully dwarves can be found living throughout Ansalon, they are not particularly welcome anywhere. Once settled in an area, gully dwarves are extremely difficult to pry loose. The natives make the best of a bad situation by using the gully dwarves for menial labor, which they're only too happy to perform, with some races actually deliberately collecting them to serve them in this manner. Oddly enough, gully dwarves are among the best cooks in Ansalon.

Alignment: Survival knows no laws and neither do the gully dwarves. The concept of law or a rigid set of "rules" is alien to them. Gully dwarves are strongly inclined toward chaotic behavior, but a code or set of guidelines toward the greater survival of the group is almost always present.  Although they see little difference between the forces of good or evil, a race which is not openly hostile or greedy usually have some good tendencies.  When it comes to other races, none of them cares about the gully dwarves, so the Aghar don't care about them. 

Gully Dwarf Lands: The cataclysms and wars that are blights to the rest of the world are a blessing to the gully dwarves. As cataclysm and war destroy villages and cities alike, the gully dwarves move into the ruins left behind. Once-mighty towns such as Xak Tsaroth and the sewers of cities such as Palanthas are home to the gully dwarves. With no cultural homeland of their own, gully dwarves are more than willing to adopt the local customs of their chosen residence.

Religion: Gully dwarves believe they have been abandoned by Reorx, the patron deity of all dwarves and gnomes. To fill the void left by Reorx's abandonment, gully dwarves appeal to the spirits of departed ancestors to protect them from harm and ensure their survival. Aghar believe that objects can be imbued with power from natural or ancestral spirits, and the possession of such items is said to grant the spirits' power to the owner. A stone or preserved lizard, for example, may have wondrous healing properties to the gully dwarves. Other races interpret this belief as more proof of Aghar stupidity. Aghar don't particularly care what others think. Their faith works for them.

Language: Most Aghar are illiterate, but a rare few learn to be literate, although their penmanship is usually horrible.  They normally speak two languages, Common and their own invented language.  The Aghar language, known as Gullytalk, is harsh sounding, convoluted, and incomprehensible to any but gully dwarves. Not a true language per se, Aghar patois changes constantly, borrowing terms from others as needed. Gully dwarves show a remarkable inventiveness with their language. Aghar living near elves speak a language that sounds like broken Elven, while those living near dwarves speak a garbled Dwarven, and so on. Gullytalk evolves so rapidly that scholars are unable to study it. When two groups of gully dwarves meet, their dialects fuse together within a matter of days, creating an entirely new patois.  If a really clever and incredibly rare Gully Dwarf were to gain additional languages, they could trade in one to become literate, and any new languages would be from the race immediately next to where they live.

Names: Gully dwarves are named by their parents, by their "friends," by their masters, or by themselves. Gully dwarves change their names on a whim if they find a new one that they like. Total strangers may inadvertently contribute to the process. A human who once said to a gully dwarf, "Get out of my way, maggot!" gave the Aghar a name that was handed down for generations. Typically, a gully dwarf's name is a simple two-syllable combination that may have a meaning, or may simply sounds interesting at the time.

Male Names: Blip, Bron, Clout, Gandy, Glitch, Pook, Rounce, Scrib, Seston, Tunk.

Female Names: Bruze, Bupu, Fandy, Gata, Meany, Pert, Stura, Vilga, Zaka.

Clan Names: Brap, Bulp, Clang, Glug, Hurk, Migan, Pland, Slik, Tega, Zang.

Adventurers: Fighters and rogues are the most common "trades" taken up by intrepid gully dwarves, with a few rangers and barbarians dedicated to protecting the clan. While they are rarely capable of the focused mental effort required to wield arcane magic, gully dwarves do make surprisingly adept clerics, shamans and mystics. Although their faith is heavily driven by superstition, Aghar priests wholeheartedly embrace whatever deity happens to be willing to listen to them.

Gully Dwarf Traits

Your Gully Dwarf character has an assortment of inborn abilities, some can be traced to their parent dwarven and gnomish races, others being all their own.

Size

Dwarves stand between 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 feet tall, and average between 100 to 150 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Age

Gully Dwarves mature early, about half rate as humans. Depending on their living conditions, they live about 55-100 years.  They may have a longer lifespan, it is rumored to be possibly 2-3 times longer, but would have improve their living conditions to find that out.

Alignment

Survival knows no laws and neither do the gully dwarves. The concept of a codified set of "rules" is alien to them. Gully dwarves are strongly inclined toward chaotic behavior, and see little difference between the forces of good and those of evil - neither one cares about the gully dwarves, so the Aghar don't care about them.  However, since they lack greed and need for possessions, they do have a tendencies toward good.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Your speed and stealth are not reduced by wearing heavy or ill-fitting armor.  

Darkvision

Accustomed to life underground and in ruins, 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.

Languages

You can speak Common, Gullyspeak and either Dwarvish or Gnomish.  Most Gully Dwarves are illiterate. Gullyspeak is a guttural and butchered language and thus, they tend to butcher whatever other language a gully dwarf might speak.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity score increases by 2.  Your Constitution score increases by 4.  Your Intelligence score decreases by 4.

Gully Dwarf Resilience

You have advantage on saves against poison or disease, and resistance against damage caused by poison or disease. These benefits apply to all kinds, both mundane and magical.

Survival Instincts

You have proficiency with Perception, Stealth and Survival. If you can, and elect to take the Survival Skill again, you automatically gain expertise in the skill.

Pitiable

Whenever you make a Charisma based skill that involves begging, crying, grovelling or some other form of self-debasement, you gain advantage to the roll.

Cowardly

You are vulnerable to intimidation and fear.  You have disadvantage against intimidation skill checks and saving throws versus all fear spells/effects.