Dwarves were once celestial giants, great beings who swore an oath to protect humanity, the children of Illiir. They violated this oath, deposing the Pantheon of Man and commanding the humans to worship them as gods instead. As punishment for their transgressions, Illiir cursed these giants. Forever would they stand shorter than humans, forever would they be barred from the afterlife and the cycle of rebirth, and forever would their souls be tied to the Heartstone that rests in the statue of each enclave’s founder. However, Sarish took pity on the fallen giants and offered them a way to lift the curse. If an enclave manages to craft the “perfect item”, that one enclave’s curse will be lifted.

Personality

Dwarves are a tragic race struggling to rectify the mistakes of their past by paying penance in one of many ways. Some dwarves are prone to extended bouts of melancholy and are very humble. This leads some to believe they are stoic in nature, when in fact they are a truly passionate people. They are passionate about furthering their crafts, gaining the redemption of their enclaves, protecting their friends or loved ones, and following the will of the Gods. Dwarves are nearly fanatical in their religious devotion, and a dwarf ’s religious beliefs largely define their actions. All dwarves suffer from a mild form of agoraphobia, finding comfort in having solid earth above them. When traveling above ground, they wear hooded cloaks to give them that sense of security. The uncharitable say that they do this to hide their shame from All-Seeing Illiir. Since the Battle of Solanos Mor, the Solani dwarves no longer suffer from this phobia.

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Physical Description

Dwarves range from between 4 to 5 feet in height and have the same proportions of a normal sized human, merely smaller. Dwarves are unusually compact and some weigh nearly 300 pounds. Most have full beards that they maintain per the traditions of their home enclave. Dwarven females are usually a bit smaller and weigh less than their male counterparts and contrary to legend, have no facial hair.

Relations

Besides their own people, dwarves are concerned with another race, the humans. Some dwarves remain in their enclaves, working feverishly to craft the perfect item to lift the curse of Illiir. However, many others, especially those from Solanos Mor and Tir Betoq, feel that their curse may only be lifted by following Illiir’s original mandate to protect the humans. Thus, Solani and Tir Betoqi dwarves have become renowned as mighty defenders of humanity. Dwarven relations between enclaves are usually cordial with some noted exceptions. The Solani mistrust the Encali, and the Reavers of Bealak Gempor are universally hated by all.

Lands

All dwarves call one of the massive underground enclaves home. Though dwarves often travel into human lands and live there temporarily, all are required to return to the sacred Heartstone of their home enclave to survive. Therefore, a dwarf ’s only permanent home is their enclave. Though more enclaves are rumored to exist, the known enclaves are Bealak Gempor, Deneki, Encali, Nol Dappa, Solanos Mor, Tultipet and Tir Betoq. Dwarves from Bealak Gempor or Deneki may not be chosen as heroes.

The dwarves of Tultipet were decimated when an ancient dragon was released from millenia of imprisonment. Once freed, the dragon took its vengeance on the descendants of its ancient enemy and captor, and destroyed the Tultipetan enclave.

Religion

All the enclaves worship the Pantheon of Man, as represented by the Mother Church of Coryan. Each enclave has a patron deity that is venerated above the others in the pantheon, but all dwarves respect the superiority of Illiir. They know that it is He whom they must please to lift their curse. The exception to this practice are the dwarves of Bealak Gempor who spurn the Gods. Some go so far as to seal themselves within armor as a show of faith that the Curse will never be lifted.

Dwarves from Solanos Mor take Illiir as their patron and focus on penitence while dwarves from Encali bitterly spurn Illiir and elevate Sarish as the true friend of the dwarves. The Nol Dappans place their faith in Nier and the Tir Betoqi dwarves pray to Hurrian for the strength to defend the Known Lands from the infernal hordes. Though their faith has been shaken, the few remaining dwarves of Tultipet follow the path that Larissa has laid out for them.

Dwarf Traits

Your dwarf Hero has an assortment of inborn abilities, part of their dwarven nature.
Ability Score Increase: Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age: Dwarves mature at the same rate as humans, but are not considered adults until the age of 60. On average, dwarves live about 350 years.
Size: Dwarves stand between 4 and 5 feet tall and average 200 to 300 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor.
Dwarven Resilience: You have advantage on all saving throws against poison, and have resistance against poison damage.
Mystical Limitations: As part of their curse, dwarves (with the exception of the Encali) lack the gift for wielding arcane magic. You can only gain the spellcasting feature through classes or archetypes that use the divine arcanum, such as cleric or paladin.
Stonecunning: Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Weight of the Curse: Dwarven souls are barred from the afterlife and may not be brought back from it. Instead, when dwarves die, their souls are transferred to an artifact they carry on them called a soul shard.
For you to be returned to life with spells such as revivify or raise dead, your soul shard must remain intact and in contact with your body. If your soul shard is in contact with your dead body, spells that restore hit points, such as cure wounds can restore your hit points. Until you are healed to your hit point maximum, you do not regain consciousness and are effectively dead. When you reach your hit point maximum, you return to life.
This effect also neutralizes any poisons and cures nonmagical diseases that affected you at the time you died. This effect doesn’t, however, remove magical diseases, curses, or similar effects. If these aren’t first removed, they take effect when you return to life.
This effect can’t return you to life if you were undead.
Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. You take a -4 penalty to all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks. Every time you finish a long rest, the penalty is reduced by 1 until it disappears.
If your soul is not returned to your body within 24 hours of your death, your soul is trapped in your soul shard forever. If your soul shard is destroyed and you die, you may not be returned to life by any means.
Languages and Literacy: You know Low Coryani and Udor and are literate. You also know a number of additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier. The Udor language is shared with the giants, a fact obvious to dwarves due to their ancient heritage, but unknown by most humans.
Enclaves: There are five major dwarven enclaves: Encali, Nol Dappa, Solanos Mor, Tir Betoq, and Tultipet. Choose one of these enclaves as your subrace.

Encali Dwarf


Encali dwarves have a reputation for being unscrupulous and untrustworthy, like most other worshipers of Sarish. These dwarves travel through the lands of man preying on the short-sighted and striking bargains that sometimes come back to haunt the shorter-lived races generations later. Encali dwarves are normally a bit shorter in stature than other dwarves, and they are easily recognized by their unique style of beard. These are usually dyed pitch black, the beard is braided into two forks, and are often capped on each end with a sinister-looking ornate crown.
Ability Score Increase: Your Intelligence increases by 1
Eldrich Spellcaster: Unlike other dwarves, you may gain the spellcasting feature from a class or archetype that uses the arcane magic.
Enclave Specialization: You gain proficiency with jeweler’s tools. You also have advantage on ability checks you make with jeweler’s tools.
Innate Distrust: Encali dwarves have a general distrust of anyone who is not from Encali. You gain advantage on all Wisdom (Insight) checks.

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Nol Dappan Dwarf


Nol Dappan dwarves are the most savage and barbaric of the dwarves. Their fiery tempers are said to rival the volcano they live in. These dwarves are famous for crafting and wielding barbaric looking arms and armor. This equipment is easily identifiable by its spiked and cruel appearance, as well as the reddish hue of the metal composing it. Nol Dappan dwarves are most often encountered when traveling to sell their wares; they are easily recognizable by their heatbaked, reddish-hued skin and their unkempt, flame-singed beards.
Ability Score Increase: Your Strength score increases by 1.
Enclave Specialization: You gain proficiency with smith’s tools. You also have advantage on any ability checks you make with smith’s tools.
Forged in Flames: You have resistance to fire damage.
Intimidating Presence: You gain advantage on all Charisma (Intimidation) checks unless you are trying to intimidate a fellow Nol Dappan dwarf.

Solani Dwarf


The dwarves of Solanos Mor have a reputation as some of the most noble and self-sacrificing among the dwarves. These noble beings travel throughout the lands of man, protecting, advising, and—if need be—sacrificing their lives for humanity. They are easily identified from other dwarves by their immaculately groomed beards.
Ability Score Increase: Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Enclave Specialization: You gain proficiency with smith’s tools. You also have advantage on all ability checks you make with smith’s tools.
Noble Heart: You gain advantage on all Wisdom (Insight) checks. You also have advantage on all saving throws when you are directly acting in the honest protection of defenseless humans, val, or tiefling.
Races Religious Training: Every Solani dwarf is taught both the Canticle of the Pantheon and the newer Revelations of Illiir. You gain proficiency in the Religion skill.

Tir Betoqi Dwarf


Although the dwarves of Tir Betoq seek to avoid recognition for their many good deeds, they have still gained a reputation as noble, honorable, and self-sacrificing as the Solani. They travel all the Known Lands in their quest to destroy the infernal. However, they are most often encountered traveling between their enclave and the Bulwark of Hurrian, where they try to hold back the infernal hordes. Male dwarves have elaborately braided beards intertwined with strands of pure gold. But their most distinguishing feature is their sunken, haunted eyes; eyes that have seen beyond the Bulwark and know what horrors lie there.
Ability Score Increase: Your Charisma increases by 1.
Enclave Specialization: You gain proficiency with glassblower’s tools. You also have advantage on any ability checks you make with glassblower’s tools
Heart of Iron: The horrors you have seen have strengthened your soul against the darkness. You gain advantage on any saving throws to resist being frightened. Starting at 10th level you can’t be frightened.
Infernal Killer: Tir Betoqi dwarves have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to infernals. You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track infernals, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them. You can also speak and read Hells Speak.

Tultipetan Dwarf


Tultipetan dwarves are some of the most honest and open of all their kin, yet they are often viewed with fear or suspicion due to their habit of covering their bodies in mystical tattoos. These superstitious dwarves usually do not venture forth from their enclave, and when they do, it is in relation to some type of vision received from Larissa. The dwarves of Tultipet were decimated when an ancient dragon was released from millenia of imprisonment. Once freed, the dragon took its vengeance on the descendants of its ancient enemy and captor, and destroyed the Tultipetan enclave. Tultipetan dwarves are usually only encountered by visiting their settlement in the ruins of their enclave or the giant observatory they have built on a nearby mountain. These dwarves are less stocky than their brethren and are easily identifiable by their tattooed bodies. They once had closely cropped and neat beards, but since the fall of Tultipet, many leave their beards wild and unkempt.
Ability Score Increase: Your Wisdom increases by 1.
Enclave Specialization: You gain proficiency with mason’s tools. You also have advantage on any ability checks you make with mason’s tools.
The Lady's Luck: When you roll a 1 on the d20 for an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll.
Gift of the Lady: You can cast precognition* once and regain the ability to do so after completing a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell.


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