This is the third and final part of a series about the Dwarves of Loaerth, one of the three Races of Men found in the upcoming adventure setting Loaerth & Feywyrd for the Savage Worlds Roleplaying Game. The last addition to the series mainly covers the Savage Worlds’ specific rules for Dwarves in Loaerth. Follow the links to the other parts to learn about their history, physical appearance, and culture: Part 1, Part2.
Player Character Traits
All dwarf characters exhibit these traits.
Tough as Nails:Dwarves are extremely tough and begin play with a d6 Vigor.
Hardy: Dwarf characters can tolerate harsh environmental conditions much better than other races. They gain a +4 bonus vs. all negative environmental effects such as cold, fire, suffocation, and drowning.
Low-Light Vision: Dwarves have eyes that can see extremely well even in the dimmest of lighting. They ignore all penalties in Dim and Dark lighting.
Natural Fear of Fey: After more than a millenia of oppression by the elves, the dwarves developed a natural fear of them, and this fear is reinforced from early childhood. Dwarven children are raised hearing horrible stories of the Fey, and all grown dwarves suffer from a persistent uneasyness around them. Whenever a dwarf character is in the presence of any Fey creature they must make a Guts roll. A failure indicates the dwarf suffering a -1 penalty on all Trait tests until the Fey creature is no longer in sight. On a critical failure, the penalty worsens to - 2 and the character is Shaken.
Slow: Dwarves have a Pace of 5″.
Racial Hindrances
These optional Hindrances are only available to dwarf characters.
Sooty Hands (Minor): Your character is obsessed with having small amounts of Dwarven Coal in their pockets to constantly play with. Invariably, the dirty black soot from the DC ends up getting all over anything and everything they handle. They suffer a -2 Charisma penalty on interactions with any Fey creature as a result.
Coal Cough (Major):Your character suffers from a disease often found in children raised in and near dwarven mines. His pace is reduced by 1 and his starting vigor is a d4. The benefit of this hindrance is that he starts with Knowledge (Geology & Mining) d6.
Racial Edges
These optional Edges are only available to dwarf characters.
Coalcraft Affinity
Requirements: Novice, Dwarf, Smarts d6, Spirit d6
Your dwarf has a natural feel for Coalcraft objects and receives a +2 to any Trait test required to use or activate such an item. This Edge must be chosen at character creation.
Coal Scarred
Requirements: Novice, Dwarf, Arcane Background, Vigor d6
Your body has been marked by dozens of coal scars, burns caused by the intentional burning of coalstone powder along the skin. If done correctly, by a fuelsmith for example, the designs of the scar and the pieces of stone that are placed into the wounds while they heal act as a permanent source of power throughout the character’s life. This Edge grants your character an addition 3 Power Points and +2 bonus to Intimidation rolls.
Ocular Ancestry
Requirements: Novice, Dwarf
You come from a long line of successful dwarven miners and fuelsmiths. Due to a Lamarckian Hex placed on your family centuries ago, your eyes are larger than normal and you see perfectly well in total darkness (even while reading texts). You never suffer any penalties due to the absence of lighting. You do, however, receive a -2 penalty on all Shooting and Throwing rolls in anything brighter that Dim environments. This Edge must be chosen at character creation.
Half-Dwarf
Requirements: Novice, Dwarf or Human.
You are a half-dwarf, the child of a dwarf and a human. You qualify as both races for meeting the requirements of any Edge, Hindrance, ability, item or other circumstance. You are genetically sterile and unable to produce offspring.
Visionary Coalcraft Artisan
Requirement:Seasoned, Dwarf, Smarts d8, Agility d8, Arcane Background (Coalcraft)
You have pushed your talent for coalcraft to new heights and have created a unique Coalcraft Wonder. This Edge may be taken multiple times, but only once per Tier, each time resulting in the creation of a new Wonder.
Just an idea, but what if, appearance-wise, dwarves had a quirk or something slightly monstrous in their appearance that set them apart from the “standard” dwarf appearance? L&F has a neat, weird vibe to it that seems like dwarves could be a little “off.”
Just a thought.
That’s a good idea… we’re already planning on having them generally have skin that is coal black; or albinos that are like alabaster. Their eyes are a bit larger than you might expect – or perhaps their pupils are larger.
Yeah.. that’s a weird thing. Maybe that would work. Eyes like pits of darkness becuase their pupils are HUGE. Maybe we could add in another Racial Hindrance or swap one out for Fear of Fey. Something like:
Light Sensitivity [racial hindrance]
Dwarves have from extremely large pupils, an adaptation from spending years underground, that makes it difficult to see in brightly lit settings. Thus, they suffer a -1 penalty on all trait tests in full daylight (or equivalent). In addition, all effects that target their vision (Blind spells, etc) have their effects or durations boosted by one die type.
Nice idea, and certainly more well thought out than my babbling. I look forward to the project and its evolution.
I hate to say it, but the dwarves appear rather boring in comparison to the trolls, mechanic-wise. Admittedly a lot of the stats for trolls are hindrances, they are at least flavorful, plus there is the Oral Tradition trait which sums up being a troll rather nicely.
I recommend Coalcraft Affinity be made part of the package that comes with being a dwarf, at the very least, or something similar. Natural Fear of Fey is a step in the right direction for traits related to culture rather than simply physical attributes, but “I’m afraid of the Fey” seems a bit dull in comparison to “I know about the history of the world and I used to live in a ghetto and I will bring down seven levels of pain upon all those who dare harm those who are close to me.”
Setting-wise they seem an interesting folk, so I’d hate to see them have mundane game stats in comparison. The culture and history are interesting enough that something good could be mined from it! (Pun intended.)
Just making certain, Coalcraft is an Arcane Background (Weird Science) variation, correct?
How common are Fey? The fear hindrance seems a bit too strong.
You may be right Sean – The Fey are basically any humanoid from the Feywyrd: elves, fey trolls, and hodolu for the most part.
To be honest though, I haven’t been working on L&F publicly for about a year – and if it ever does see the light of day in print it will most like not be a SW campaign setting; all my current dev notes are using PFRPG rules.