New PC Race: Ortho Dwarves

Dwarves

Dwarves on Ortho have always been a major power. A race that managed to hold its own against the tides of chaos in all of its forms. In truth, the Dwarves were never able to beat back that force and it always angered them. The Dwarves of Ortho were, initially, skeptical of the Knights of Harmony's claims to be able to bring about peace to the world.

Nevertheless, the Dwarves quickly grew interested as the Knights of Harmony systematically decimated the whole of the Chaos races on Ortho. While individual Dwarves had allied with the Knights from the beginning, the whole race signed its allegiance over when plans were made to create the OCA.

Now Dwarves are a major force of industry and power within the OCA. Some, however, believe they have sold out their racial pride to become the allies of their mortal enemies.

Personality: The Dwarves of Ortho are typically clannish, hardworking, and traditionalist with a propensity towards ale. Most of their kind are employed in heavy industries across Ortho and seem to favor the underground over the surface world.

Nevertheless, Dwarves on Ortho do have some startling differences from stereotypes associated with them. The first fact is that Dwarves on Ortho bear no particular racial grudges against monstrous humanoids. Dwarves can be found working on their forges beside Giants, Hobgoblins, and other races that they have been long the enemies of. The Dwarves have embraced the idea of harmony amongst the races.

Furthermore, Dwarves are no longer inclined to spend their lives in fortified strongholds of their own kind. Dwarves in Ortho are prone to living in human cities and amongst the other species with no hesitation. Entire generations of Dwarves live and die amongst human cultures that they adopt whole heartedly and mix with their own cultural traits.

Physical Description: Dwarves are short, stocky, and full muscled figures that tend to sport beards on the men. Peculiarly, the Dwarves of Ortho place much less value upon their facial hair than some might expect There is no particular shame in a Dwarf being clean shaven nor do they allow their beards to grow freely. Most of the Dwarves of Ortho keep their beards well trimmed and never decorate them.

Dwarves tend to ape the style of the lands that they are living in. Hence Shoryko Dwarves are usually adorned in long robes and prone to letting their fingernails grow out while those from Heka-Voll prefer a more chivalric attire. Those from South Thaera are almost always clad in the drab and soot ridden rags of the region if they're not part of the military.

Though this is only a matter of degrees, most Dwarves of Ortho are more ostentatious than most OCA citizens. Due to the relative safety of the land, they have let some of their hoarding quality filter off and prefer to flaunt their wealth. This has lead there to be a preponderance of overweight and pudgy dwarves in a race that's usually revered for its austere fitness.

Alignment: Most Dwarves are Lawful Good or Lawful Neutral on Ortho. Devotion to the Harmonium has replaced some of the traditional notions of personal honor and responsibility amongst Dwarves, though. Thus, strangely, there's a higher portion of Neutral and Chaotic Dwarves on Ortho than there are in other worlds. Furthermore, a substantial number of Dwarves are actually Evil.

Dwarven Lands: The only province with a massive populace of Dwarves is their homeland of Xaric. The Harmonium allowed numerous other species to settle there, initially over Dwarven objections. There has been a great deal of tension with the Orcish settlers despite the best efforts of the Dwarves to get them to assimilate. Otherwise, it is a land of tolerance with the humans and Kobolds working prosperously with the stout folk there for mutual advantage.

Dwarves are, however, located throughout the whole of Ortho. They are one of the most populous races in the world and a sight in every city. Whereas other planets have the Dwarven race in decline, they are vigorous and expanding on this planet. Some of the oldest members of their race still hold tremendous shame at their part in the many genocides that allowed this prosperity but most Dwarves consider that to be ancient history now.

Of special note amongst the Provinces are Motmurk, Irionda, South Thaera. Motmurk is the only exception to the universal good will towards the race. There Dwarves are actively persecuted by the Orcish majority. Irionda is filled with massive numbers of Dwarf settlers that have been located there by the state to make the poverty stricken province more profitable, to considerable tension with the locals. South Thaera is also noteworthy since its ruler, Governor Granin is a Dwarf and prefers employing members of the race. Granin is a controversial figure as some consider him a patriot and a hero while others believe he's nothing more than a mass murderer.

Religion: Dwarves worship the Lords of Order but are not usually known for their devotion. They revere no particular gods higher than any other but tend to merely revere the pantheon as a whole for the relevant circumstances. Some Dwarves worship Saint Cuthbert but this is not approved of in polite society. The greed of certain Dwarves also drives many to revere the god Alzrius who gives them tremendous riches.

Language: Dwarves tend to speak Ortho Common, even above their native language of Dwarvish. Dwarvish is a dying language and mostly practiced amongst those who are die hard advocates of their race. Most Dwarves are also familiar with Beholder and Hobgoblin tongues.

Names: Dwarves tend to take the names of their Clan first, despite the diminishing importance of it in their daily lives. This means that most Dwarves have the name "Stoneledge" then something more provincial like "Thoris." Some Dwarves have taken to having human-like names such as Fortitude or Mercy.

Adventurers: Centuries of peace have changed the focus of most Dwarves. No longer as they predominantly a race of fighters. The majority of Dwarves never pick up a weapon in their lives and are only familiar with the weapons of their people because of their preponderance amongst the military. There are actually more Dwarven Rogues active today than there are Fighters.

Curiously, the peace has encouraged many Dwarves to re-examine their long held bias against the arts of magic. With the loss of the elves creating a great absence of talented spell casters. The Dwarves applied for their love of craftsmanship to spell weaving and became the greatest magicians on Ortho. Both Sorcerers and Wizards are now widely known amongst them.

Dwarven Racial Traits

* +2 Constitution
* +2 Dexterity.
* Medium: As Medium creatures, dwarves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* Dwarf base land speed is 20 feet. However, 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: Dwarves can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and dwarves can function just fine with no light at all.
* Stonecunning: This ability grants a 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 dwarf who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and a dwarf can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A dwarf can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up.
* Weapon Familiarity: Dwarves may treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven urgroshes as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.
* Stability: A 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.
* +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: Ortho Common and Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Beholder, Orcish, Hobgoblin
* Favored Class: Wizard