Dwarven Defender

Prerequisite: Must be a Dwarf or have been trained by a Dwarf.

The defensive line of most armies is trained to stand strong in the face of opposition, but there are few defensive warriors as capable of becoming a living defensive bastion as the Dwarven Defenders. Wielding a broad, heavy steel shield and an axe weapon, these heavy armor specialists are fearsome on their own, but when aiding a defensive line, they shine like no other fighter can, using phenomenal shield expertise to protect allies in astonishing ways.

In Avalestra, the Mountain Dwarves of the Moldorn Kingdom have had a reputation for being resolute warriors for centuries, and recent history demonstrated this as well. When the Dwarven Defenders formed their defensive line against the Diabolic Invasion in tandem with the Dwarven Shieldmagi, these sturdy soldiers were responsible for many casualties of the hordes. The chaotic, ravaging assaults of the hordes smashed with futility against the bulwarks formed by the Dwarven frontline, and while there were some casualties on the Dwarven army's lines, the powerful Dwarven Defenders lost very few lives at all, even against the fury of the Diabolic legions, so capable is their defense.

Defensive Stances

3rd-level Dwarven Defender feature

At 3rd level, when you achieve this archetype you have been trained in the many ways in which the Dwarven Defender utilizes shields for defense. You gain the Shield Master feat. If you already possess this feat, you may choose another feat instead. Additionally, you gain the ability to assume one of two Defensive Stances as a bonus action:

- Shield of the One: When you enter Shield of the One stance, your speed is reduced to 5 feet, and you gain the ability to use the dodge action as a bonus action on your turn. If you have taken the dodge action in this way and then you are forced to roll a saving throw and fail, you may use your reaction to reroll that saving throw one time until the beginning of your next turn. You may leave this stance as a bonus action.

- One Shield Among Many: When you enter One Shield Among Many stance, your speed is reduced to 5 feet, and you gain the ability to block adjacent squares with your shield. As a reaction when a friendly creature in an adjacent square would be hit with an attack, you may use your reaction to interpose your shield. You add your shield's Armor Class bonus to the friendly creature's Armor Class, which can cause the incoming attack to miss. You may leave this stance as a bonus action.

Alliance of Defense

7th-level Dwarven Defender feature

At 7th level, you gain the ability to be better prepared for the assistance of others in a team combat scenario, such that you are able to perform some special actions in a defensive manner. If you take the dodge action on your turn, you can perform the Help action for one action being performed by an adjacent creature as a bonus action or an action. 

Additionally, you can set yourself to receive a spell and by doing so, you prepare your body and aura to receive magical energy and gain stern resoluteness as a result of the training of your iron willpower. You may use a bonus action or an action to set yourself, and if you become the target of an abjuration or transmutation spell at any time before the beginning of your next turn, you increase your hit point maximum by a number equal to the spell level of the spell slot used, and then you immediately recover that many hit points. This increase in hit points lasts for a number of hours equal to your Proficiency Bonus. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus before you must finish a long rest to use it again.

Legendary Endurance

10th-level Dwarven Defender feature

Through a regimen of training that tests endurance and stamina to its most robust ends, the Dwarven Defenders become utterly inexhaustable by almost any stretch of the imagination, able to march miles on end for days at a time on minimal rations and little rest. They'll complete such a journey when they arrive only to have to immediately leap into combat to defend Dwarven allies and assets. And do they complain? Never, or at least, hardly ever. At 10th level, you are immune to exhaustion and magical sleep. You must still sleep, but you can go twice as long without sleep and subsist on 4 hours of daily rests at no penalties for as long as the campaign demands it.

Bulwark Against Evil

15th-level Dwarven Defender feature

At 15th level, you have learned the complete array of defensive techniques that the Dwarves teach, and The Dwarven Defenders must simply learn from that point on how to implement those final techniques into optimal defensive use within formation. You now gain the following improvements to your Defensive Stances:

- Shield of the One: while in this stance, you become very difficult to move against your will. You have resistance to saving throws against any effect that would move you or knock you prone, and if any effect succeeds in moving you, you reduce the distance you are moved by 10 feet. Additionally, you ignore the first 1 point of damage any source would deal to you while in this stance.

- One Shield Among Many: when you assume this stance, you become able to deter incoming ranged weapons when you assist adjacent allies in forming a cover position. When up to three friendly creatures are within 5 feet of you, all of you have partial cover against ranged attacks, and if any of the other adjacent allies are also wielding a shield, the degree of cover improves to half cover. This formation must consist of you and an adjacent ally in a space beside you and any other allies beside or behind you, as you face at least one enemy creature. Whenever you move from your square, this benefit ends, and you must enter your Defensive Stance again to regain this benefit. 

Additionally, you learn to deny much of the damage that would be dealt to yourself or others you protect. When you take the dodge action and for as long as you receive its benefit, if you or an adjacent ally would take damage, you can choose to roll 1d10 and reduce the amount of damage you or the ally would be dealt by an amount equal to that which was rolled. You may use this feature three times before you must finish a long rest to use it again.

Arcane Inurement

18th-level Dwarven Defender feature

At 18th level, you've fully mastered the intricacies of defense, and you know full well how to protect yourself from a great many unorthodox attacks. You even learn to shrug off magic quite easily. When you assume a Defensive Stance, you gain resistance to magic damage and advantage on saving throws against magic for 1d4+1 rounds. Once the last round has occurred, this benefit lasts until the end of your turn and you must spend two of your turns out of a stance to allow your psyche and aura to replenish the effect. For example, you spend a bonus action to enter Shield of the One stance and gain resistance to magic damage and advantage on saving throws against spells for 1d4+1 rounds, rolling 2 on the die for a total of 3. After three rounds have occurred, you lose resistance to magic and damage and advantage on saving throws against magic, and must be out of stance for two of your turns before you can gain this benefit again, reactivating it by entering a stance once again.

When you reach 20th level, you must only be out of stance for one of your turns before you can gain this benefit again.