Dwarves are another fantasy classic. The typical perception of a dwarf boils them down to hairy, angry, short drunkards with a greedy streak and Scottish accent. While, there is a kernel of truth to this, dwarves can be so much more. Hidden beneath all that hair lies a core of heartiness that expresses itself in all that a dwarf does. Not that playing a short-fused drinker isn’t fun in its own ways (I’ve played a dwarven Drunk Master), but in the endless aim to kill it in the role playing department, you’ve got to play it to the hilt.

Dwarves, even more than elves, love following their deities. The structure provided by a higher power secures a dwarf’s soul and their peace of mind. Rarely is a dwarf not a faithful follower of their patron deity. This is an excellent source of fuel for your role playing opportunities. Picking a deity and attributing a success to his or her intervention or blessing isn’t out of the question, but should be used sparingly. A particularly good time might be when you secure a victory from the jaws of defeat. To sprinkle this sentiment in more frequently, spouting it as a sort of exclamation or expletive is much more fun. Your dwarf might cry something akin to “MORADIN’S MASHER” in response to stubbing a toe or losing an arm wrestling match or “Moradin’s Mercy, ey dinnae mean it” if he’s making amends for an accident he caused. Also, Scottish slang might help too. To a slightly lesser extent, this devotion also extends to a dwarf’s clan and profession. The clan is your family who taught you, worked beside you, and shared in your victories and defeats. Your craftsmanship, then, is an even further extension of those things, as your skills are the fruits of those labors and the fruits of those labors reflect upon you, your clan, and your god. To convey this, pay closer attention to your skills you have starting out, particularly those you gain just from being a dwarf or those from your background, as those are likely to be the ones you’d define yourself by the most. To help convey this, use idioms reflective of your profession when possible and include the fact that you’re glancing over ale recipes or counting your gold for the umpteenth time or repairing damage to your metal weaponry.

While much of what’s preceded has been what comes from the heart of a dwarf, now it is time to dive into what that heart really is: obstinance. While this often has a negative connotation, this innate stubbornness isn’t all bad. Whatever a dwarf truly enjoys, he’ll stick to it, no matter what. Few things can deter them from a chosen path, once selected. This is especially true for their work. Dwarves immensely enjoy working with their hands, shaping the earth with mining and tunneling, and practicing their axe swinging. So much so, that it’s difficult to get them to stop. Outside of a strong ale, that is. You can convey this through your characters by being eager to get back to work, though be careful of implying you don’t want to be an adventurer. For example, if you were to collect the shoddy armor or weapons of barbaric enemies, your dwarf might get excited at the challenge of working it into something useful, even if he already has better gear. By the same measure, “work hard, play hard” applies when in the tavern and the ale is flowing. Dwarves’ natural heartiness helps them drink significantly more than most other creatures. They fondly reminisce of previous deeds and ancestors who made great accomplishments, taking great pride in their past. You’d do well to come up with a few semi-notable ancestors to bring up to represent this. For instance, say you’re planning to tackle a tribe of gnolls, you might tell a short anecdote about your great, great, great grandfather who slew a tribe of gnolls by luring them with a feast of carcasses in a pit where he and his companions waited in ambush. Whether or not your idea is picked isn’t important in this case (though that’s not a terrible idea for slaying gnolls), simply showing your dwarven pride in this potentially helpful way should be enough to help reinforce your dwarven themes. Just don’t take more than a minute to tell the story and don’t try too hard to interject it.

Finally, dwarves harbor a slightly darker side in their greed. Greed can be good, no doubts. But few dwarves aren’t at least a little excited to make even a few copper pieces more than they had before. A dwarf might spend some time counting and recounting all his coins, but a greedier dwarf might shine them, organize them, and designate the “low quality” piles that he’s willing to spend before the nicer looking change, so that’s something to bear in mind for additional downtime activities. Additionally, you might try to stubbornly haggle a price as low as you can, but never take up too much time doing so and when you do, see if the other party members can help you do so, as this also helps them in the long run. You can also easily keep your penny-pinching to yourself by only buying the cheapest things for yourself and taking time to fix or improve what you do buy on your own time. In that way, it’s two birds with one stone in regards to your work ethic and greed.

Dwarves are much deeper than people give them credit. Their complexity reaches as deep within themselves as they themselves reach into the earth. I hope the next time you’re tempted to play a dwarf, you remember these things. Look beyond just the beard and blade. See their faithfulness, their enduring bodies and minds, and their keen greed. Take those things into consideration when you play your dwarf and decide if you want to really play it to the hilt.

-The Clark Side.