Histories of Greed and Mettle

Dwarves


AS DEFAULT LotFP BUT:

House rule note: HP as fighter

Dwarf is dwarf
Dwarves are genderless. They are immune to all compulsions that play on a creature's desire for the opposite sex.

This also means they don't have sexual organs. Instead of urinating they excrete through sweating. Thus explaining their odour.

Gold Eater
May eat gems and rare metals as a food replacement. They in fact far prefer the taste of rare minerals to mundane food.

Fey Moods
Starting at level 2 and at every even level after dwarves are taken by a fey mood; a primal desire to create something beautiful and highly specific. The notion springs fully formed into their heads, the hows and whats of it, that this will go here and that will go there and on top we will menace it with spikes.

Exactly what it will be isn't necessarily known, but hunches will evolve as the piece does. Once it's completed the dwarf may either keep it or cash it in for twice its value in XP. Just the dwarf gets this, no sharing. (DM makes this up when it's finished. Be cool)

If the dwarf does not complete his masterpiece by the time another mood strikes he will be blighted by melancholy. Until the next fey mood the dwarf is tormented by the guilt of his failure, by the shapes and textures he could not realise. This manifests most concretely as a tangible malaise.

Malaise
Until resolved...

  • You are immune to happiness. Charms simple do not work. 
  • Cynicism reigns. Illusions and fear effects always allow a save.
  • The world has lost its colour. Roll twice on Search or noticing-things rolls, picking the worst result.
  • Deep down you wish you had simply died. Healing is half as effective.







To generate a fey mood roll on the following set of tables:

You are desirous of making...
  1. a piece of furniture
  2. armaments
  3. a support structure
  4. a knick-knack
  5. a magic item
  6. A dwarf



1-Furniture
  1. Door
  2. Chair
  3. Sarcophagus
  4. Cage
  5. Table
  6. Bed
  7. Statue
  8. Gallows


2-Armament
  1. Sword
  2. Axe
  3. Mace
  4. Chainmail
  5. Plate
  6. Scale
  7. Gun
  8. Siege weapon


3-Support structure (dwarves are known to make these in the middle of nowhere seemingly at random)
  1. Pillar
  2. Arch

4-Knick-knack
  1. Jigsaw puzzle
  2. Ornamental tree
  3. Flute
  4. Toy boat
  5. Skull paperweight
  6. Jacobs Ladder
  7. Rubix cube
  8. Clockwork tea server


5-Magic item
Roll again but it's magic. Effects are down to the DM, who has a 1 in 6 chance of telling you what it does.

6-A dwarf
Making a dwarf is a very personal experience. This will require a safe place where the sculpting can take place. Here the dwarf will take shape from gold and jewels and cloth and bone. Once finished a new full grown and fully mature (level 1) dwarf will be born, turn to its creator and exchange a nod of mutual respect.
What happens if the dwarf is magic? They are born rune-etched, flesh marked in metal and gems, forming primeval shapes. Inspired and inspiring.




Which requires...

Roll one material per current level

  1. Stone
  2. Wood
  3. Metal
  4. Glass
  5. Leather
  6. Cloth
  7. Bone
  8. Gems



1-Stone
  1. Rock salt
  2. Coprolite
  3. Granite
  4. Basalt
  5. Obsidian
  6. Marble
  7. Slate
  8. Demon's heart

2-Wood

  1. Ebony
  2. Chestnut
  3. Fungiwood
  4. Mahogany
  5. Mangrove
  6. Oak
  7. Ironwood
  8. Yggdrasil

3-Metal

  1. Gold
  2. Brass
  3. Meteoric iron 
  4. Lead
  5. Grey Adamant
  6. Silver
  7. Tin
  8. Quicksilver

4-Glass

  1. Obsidian
  2. Manmade
  3. Dragonglass
5-Leather
  1. Horse
  2. Monkey
  3. Elephant
  4. Mouse
  5. Cat
  6. Elf
  7. Whale
  8. Cow
6-Cloth
  1. Silk
  2. Velvet
  3. Sack cloth
  4. Cotton
  5. Adamantine
  6. Hair
  7. Linen
  8. Asbestos
7-Bone
  1. Snail shell
  2. Dog
  3. Human
  4. Pig
  5. Carp
  6. Lobster
  7. Walrus baculum
  8. Unicorn horn

8-Gem
  1. Emerald
  2. Black Pearl
  3. Star ruby
  4. Topaz
  5. Amber
  6. Opal
  7. Garnet
  8. Changeling's heart



EDIT: Have a name generator
(entirely lifted from the .txt files of Dwarf Fortress)



1 comment:

  1. I really, really like this. It makes the Dwarves into something far more strange and evocative than the short, stereotypical Scottish people I usually see them portrayed or played as.

    ReplyDelete