Dwarf (Tiberium Rising Supplement)

Also see the dwarf creature listing.

Summary

Vasudan dwarves are expert miners, and hail from the Sarajevo mountain range. The dwarven race shares an intrinsic understanding of their shared history through their racial memory, known as the Collective. Dwarven recorded history extends further than that of any other race, to -27 KTR. The period before the start of their history is known as "The Silence", and almost universally, dwarves suspect the humans have something to do with the long period of non-sentience that gripped all races.

Many dwarves believe there maybe another collection of dwarves, deep beneath the surface of Vasuda, building incredibly elaborate cities and holding the key to the world from before the Silence. In accordance with this belief, generations of dwarves have faithfully excavated beneath Sarajevo, searching for the lost city that may hold glories of a past dwarven civilization.

Relations

Dwarves spend most of their lives underground (many will never see the sun), and tend to be the most isolated of any of the sentient races. Indeed, most factions do not have a diplomatic standing with the dwarves beyond trade. Even the Church of Lord Cuthbert makes little attempt to convert the insular dwarves (not that any advances would ever be well received).

While reserved amongst any of the "surface" races, dwarves often trade minerals and tools for materials that only others have, such as lumber, magical goods and food to supplement their mushroom-based diet. While dwarves do not generally favor magical equipment, they grudgingly accept the usefulness of magic and will deal with elves. Dwarves refuse to trade or work directly with humans on the grounds of their racial distrust. Because of this, halflings have risen as intermediaries, and were able to quickly set up a groundwork for their trade network. Orcs and half-orcs rarely come into contact with dwarves, though stories of orcish brutishness maintain a justifiable distrust. Dwarves and gnomes are fast allies, given similar interests in the mundane rather than the magical. Gnomes are often welcomed into dwarven clans, and vice versa.

While dwarves are slow to trust other races, they are more than willing to accept those who prove themselves on an individual level, whether as steadfast allies or adept miners and spelunkers. While other races are a rare sight in dwarven halls, those who have earned a place there are treated as well as any dwarf.

Tiberium

As Tiberium spreads throughout Vasuda, dwarves are the first to recognize the true depth of the problem, literally. Dwarves quickly discovered that veins of Tiberium spread deep beneath the surface of Vasuda. While surface Tiberium can be removed, the veins that grow underground are nearly impossible to control, exposing many dwarves to lethal amounts of radiation. On the plus side, dwarves adapted relatively quickly to the crystal, and were able to evolve with Tiberium, and harness it in the construction of numerous structures and tools.

Statistics

• +2 Constitution, –2 Charisma.
• Humanoid (Dwarf).
• Medium: As Medium creatures, hill dwarves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Hill dwarf base land speed is 20 feet. However, hill dwarves can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
• Darkvision: Hill dwarves can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and hill dwarves can function just fine with no light at all.
• Stonecunning: This ability grants a hill dwarf a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like. Something that isn’t stone but that is disguised as stone also counts as unusual stonework. A hill dwarf who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and a hill dwarf can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A hill dwarf can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up.
• Weapon Familiarity: Hill dwarves may treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven urgroshes as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.
• Stability: A hill dwarf gains a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).
• +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison.
• +2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects.
• +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against orcs and goblinoids.
• +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class, such as when it’s caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.
• +2 racial bonus on Appraise checks that are related to stone or metal items.
• +2 racial bonus on Craft checks that are related to stone or metal.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, Terran, and Undercommon.
• Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass hill dwarf’s Fighter class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
• Level Adjustment: +0.

Table: Hill Dwarf Random Starting Ages

Adulthood	Simple	Moderate	Complex
40 years	+3d6	+5d6	+7d6

Table: Hill Dwarf Aging Effects

Middle Age^1	Old^2	Venerable^3	Maximum Age
125 years	188 years	250 years	+2d% years
At middle age, −1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At old age, −2 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At venerable age, −3 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.

Table: Hill Dwarf Random Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Base Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	3’ 9”	+2d4	130 lb.	× (2d6) lb.
Female	3’ 7”	+2d4	100 lb.	× (2d6) lb.

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