Design and Development: Dwarves Part 1

Meanwhile...

Yes, I'm working on two species at the same time, but it's not as difficult as you may think. Whereas the kobolds are getting designed from the ground up, the dwarves are simply in need of an edit.

Our dwarves are not that far removed from the "traditional" dwarf archetype, mixed with a little bit of the Soviet USSR, yes, but still, they're underground dwellers that excel at metallurgy, have magical resistances, and hate goblins. Because of this, all that needs to change from the standard AEC write-up is the flavor to mention dwarves tie to their own clan and a look at Class Limits.

I've mentioned before that I will look at classes for each species based not only on play balance, but on how they fit the world in which we designed for them. Because of this, the standard limits on the classes might not apply as how they do in the "standard" AEC entries.

Now in the AEC, Dwarves may be assassins, clerics, fighters, and thieves. All of which fit fine for the dwarves of Deminar. Fighters and thieves are universal classes it seems, every species has them as they require no special talents/abilities other then skill and talent. Assassins are a necessary evil for dwarves as they fight their on going battles against the goblins, since you need to employ more tactics then standing on the front lines. The dwarves worship the gods and some are blessed with ability because of it, meaning clerics work as well.

Druids, Illusionist, Magic-Users, Monks, Paladins, and Rangers are what is left out then. Illusionists and Magic-Users are out, due to the dwarf's resistance to magic. If they're resistant to magical energy, they probably couldn't tap into it to use it. Druids are more or less restricted to those species that don't worship the traditional gods, which is why only the Lizard Folk have access to it at the moment. Monks and Paladins are restricted to humans for the time being (unless something strikes me later that fits a different species), which leaves rangers.

Would dwarves have rangers?

On the "Yes" side, there's no reason for them not to be, rangers have no special powers not learned by training. Dwarves have a martial archetype, and rangers are more or less a martial class, so it seems to work.

On the "No" side, the rangers abilities mostly stem from training out in the wilderness, yes they can attempt to track underground and have bonuses to some underground races (including goblins), but the wilderness tracking, the bonuses against giants, the stealth, and just the iconic look of a ranger is that of a man of the woods. And if dwarves are mostly tied to their clan and their underground holdings, where would that training come from?

So, rangers on the face right now, thoughts?