Mountain Dwarf
The Gold Dwarf
Mountain Dwarves, also known as Gold Dwarves, were among the most common of the Dwarven peoples. Once the Chieftains of mighty Clans across Kelldoria, the gold Dwarves had since fallen by the wayside after centuries of warfare with their goblinoid enemies. Since then, mountain Dwarves were less commonly seen throughout the realms, though during the Era of Upheaval the subrace, spurred on by the Thunder Blessing, began to retake an important role in local politics. They were the most common Dwarven race in the north of Kelldoria. Mountain Dwarves are on average half a foot taller than other Dwarves. Their skin is fair or lightly tanned and they have green or silvery blue eyes with long light brown or red hair, growing grey and white with age. Most males and even some females have large beards and moustaches. The females were slightly shorter and less heavy than the males. Gold Dwarves are a cynical and gruff people, but they are not, despite a reputation to the contrary, fatalistic, still possessing some hope for the future. Typically, mountain Dwarves took time to trust and even longer to forgive but the dwindling of their race led many to be more open to other ways of thinking. Gold Dwarven attitudes were typically divided between the Hidden and the Wanderers, two separate schools of thought amongst the race, though since the Thunder Blessing this separation began to erode. The Hidden, like the Hill Dwarves, believed it best to take an isolationist policy towards other races, fortifying their mountain homes and continuing their ancient ways, while the Wanderers were more adventurous, seeking their fortunes on the surface. However, while Gold Dwarves had not always been so open-minded, there was a long tradition of adventurism in the race and many young Dwarves, particularly after the Thunder Blessing, hoped to find glory in doing great deeds in distant lands. Less self-interested mountain Dwarves also took to the adventuring life to reclaim ancient strongholds or treasures long lost. Whatever the case, most gold Dwarves who ventured beyond their homes were Fighters or Clerics trained in personal combat, leaning on the strong martial traditions of their people against the Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, and Giants that threatened the race. Experienced Dwarven adventurers might well go on to become Battleragers or Dwarven Defenders, while clerics might become Runecasters.Traits
Ability Score Increases:
STRENGTH +2 and WISDOM +1.Dwarven Toughness:
Your HIT POINT Maximum increases by 2, and increases by 2 every time you gain a level.Dwarven Armour Training:
You have PROFICIENCY with LIGHT and MEDIUM Armour.Dwarven Combat Training
PROFICIENCY with LIGHT and HEAVY CROSSBOW.Extra Languages
Basic Information
Anatomy
Humanoid (Dwarf): Head, Torso (Body), Two Arms ending with hands and Two Legs ending with feet.
Genetics and Reproduction
Female Dwarves have live births between 8 and 9 moons (months), having one child, it is fairly common to give birth to twin children, but very rare to have more.
Growth Rate & Stages
Age 50 (Young Adult), 100 (Adult), 150 (Mature Adult), 250 (Old), and 400+ (Ancient)
Dietary Needs and Habits
Omnivore
Additional Information
Social Structure
Traditionally, Clan and class meant everything among the mountain Dwarves but as their civilization declined so did the importance of these issues. Although bloodline was still a mark of pride for a Dwarf from a particularly strong clan, personal accomplishments came to mean more practically than the old ways, which seemed increasingly irrelevant. Among the Hidden, traditions remained strong, but there was an increasing number of gold Dwarves willing to leave the mountains for a life as adventurers or craftsmen among humans.
Family life remained a prime concern for Dwarves, however, and while elders played a diminishing role in child rearing, the relationships between parent and child or siblings remained as strong as ever. Most Dwarves were literate and were taught to read at an early age, before being handed off to an apprenticeship. In the workplace, Gold Dwarves were taught to work for not only themselves and their family but the greater good of their clan. Most mountain Dwarves, while proud of their work, were fairly humble and avoided ostentatious displays of decadence. After a mountain Dwarf lost his or her ability to work physically, they remain a valued part of the community for their experience and wisdom and when they died they were honoured with funeral rites appropriate to their legacy.
Gold Dwarves spoke a number of Dwarven dialects, and were also fluent in Common and the extensive trading contacts of the race encouraged many to learn other Human languages, and even Elven and Gnome as well. Mountain Dwarf warriors might also be encouraged to learn the languages of their enemies, such as Draconic, Giant, Orc, or Goblin.
The ancestral homelands of the Gold Dwarves were located in GONDONIA, but many were also in the North of the realms. Mountain Dwarves, like all Dwarves can be found in all Regions and Nations across KELIOS now. Of all their strongholds, the most important was STORMHOLD, the greatest hold and first ever Kingdom of the Dwarven race. However, while the Gold Dwarves retained many homelands of their own, generations of emigration by the Wanderers caused a vast diaspora of Mountain Dwarves to spread across human lands. These scattered communities often formed into loose approximations of a traditional Dwarven clan, maintaining their own ways while integrating into the local community.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Darkvision 60ft
Civilization and Culture
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Art & Leisure
Gold Dwarves were fine craftsmen but, more than other Dwarven races, their craft tended to be war. Mountain Dwarves accumulated a wide variety of weaponry in the defense of their homelands and, unlike many Dwarves, did not limit themselves simply to hammers or picks, instead drawing upon axes, urgroshes, spears, swords, and mauls as well. Gold Dwarves typically equipped themselves in heavy armour fashioned from Mithral, and Adamantine. For pets, they favoured bats, canaries, or small lizards such as the spitting crawler. Like other Dwarves, they used larger lizards or mules as beasts of burden and employed ponies, boars, and goats as their war steeds.Magic & Religion
While Gold Dwarves were openly dismissive of magic, they nonetheless relied on it to a significant degree in defense. Among the Hidden, illusionists and abjurers were immensely valued, since they could hide or protect a clan from enemy attack, layering their defenses with protective spells and rituals. Mountain Dwarves also made extensive use of magic items, though the Hidden and Wanderers differed over which type of items were best employed (armour and weaponry, respectively). A few magic items unique to the Gold Dwarves included doorbreakers, hammers of staggering blows, stonereavers, and foesplitter axes. In general, Mountain Dwarves were more open to divine magic and Clerics, Paladins, Runecasters, and Runesmiths were all fairly common. Gold Dwarf clerics had even fashioned a few prayers of their own, such as mindless rage and shape metal. For the most part, Gold Dwarves venerated all of the Pantheon besides Laduguer.Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Mountain Dwarves, while gruff, were not abrasive in personality and generally enjoyed the company of others, even those not of their own kind. Most of all, Gold Dwarves got along with other Dwarves, though Hill Dwarves they believed to be naive and overconfident. Although Mountain Dwarves have a long history of disputes with the Elves, most among both peoples were tolerant and even fond of the other. For Gnomes, Gold Dwarves had nothing but fondness, particularly the Rock Gnomes and Deep Gnomes, and Dwarves had a long tradition of friendship with most of their human neighbours.
There were exceptions to the Mountain Dwarves' tolerance. They were openly hostile with their kin the Duergar, who blamed the Gold Dwarves for their enslavement by the Mind Flayers. Mountain Dwarves also had little tolerance for Half-Orcs, seeing them as little different to Orcs, and for Planetouched, who were either too alien to their experiences to understand or too much like previous enemies. Earth Genasi were the only Planetouched that Gold Dwarves would easily trust and they were in fact welcomed into most delves across the North.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Genetic Descendants
Origin/Ancestry
Humanoid (Dwarf)
Lifespan
300 To 500 Years Old (350 Average)
Average Height
4ft To 5ft (Averaging 4ft 9")
Average Weight
140lbs To 220lbs (Averaging 170lbs)
Average Physique
Short and Stocky, Muscular, Broad shouldered. Mountain Dwarves are taller on average than most other Dwarves.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Mountain Dwarves are on average half a foot taller than other Dwarves. Their skin is fair or lightly tanned and they have green or silvery blue eyes with long light brown or red hair, growing grey and white with age. Most males and even some females have large beards and moustaches. The females were slightly shorter and less heavy than the males.
Related Organizations
- House Coinmaker of Clan Ironbeard
- House Goldsinger of Clan Ironbeard
- House Jadecoat of Clan Ironbeard
- House Longmail of Clan Ironbeard
- House Runehand of Clan Ironbeard
- House Silverguard of Clan Stormhammer
- House Steelshaper of Clan Brightaxe
- House Steelshaper of Clan Ironbeard
- House Steelshaper of Clan Stormhammer
- The Territories of The Bear Clans
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