Forgotten Realms has had a list of setting-specific elf and dwarf subraces since its inception, one which differs from the setup in the 4e Player’s Handbook. The FR Player’s Guide releases a few years before Neverwinter included a few notes mapping them to the 4e setup, but those were mostly roleplaying-oriented. Here, we go deeper and get variant rules for them.

Each variant has a set of benefits that replace standard traits from the PHB. Players can choose as many of these as they want, so it’s still possible to choose zero and play a PHB-standard character. Variants also have associated background skills, which work like those from the themes and might also include languages. If you pick a language, you’re fluent in it both in speech and writing.

Note that you can still only have one background pick - if you choose a skill or language from these variants, you can’t pick one from your theme or another source.

In the rest of this post, we’ll be looking at the variants for dwarves. Next one is elves.

Forgotten Realms Dwarves

DR dwarves were forged by Moradin at the dawn of time, deep underground. They reached the surface in a moutainous region and built one of its first mortal empires. Divisions among this empire caused part of the population to migrate west into the Great Rift, a plains region filled with underground caves. This was lucky because some ancient cataclysm then wiped out the original Mountainhome.

These plains dwarves split further over the course of history: some journeyed further into the world, while some stayed on the Rift. Distance changed these two groupings, though they remain on friendly terms and have a lot of culture in common.

Gold Dwarves

Gold Dwarves are those who stayed on and under the Great Rift. They proudly trace their ancestry back to the dawn of time, and as a result are a deeply traditionalist people that places great value on codes of honor. They believe each individual has their pre-determined place in society and frown upon those who would reject their fate.

Before the spellplague, gold dwarves had started expanding and migrating out of the Rift, and this is what saved them as a culture when the plague hit and destroyed it. A lot of the survivors returned and are attempting to rebuild, and the disaster also convinced some of them to seek new ways of doing things where tradition fails them. Other clans have instead doubled down and become actively xenophobic.

A typical Gold Dwarf PC is expected to place great importance on tradition and lineage, and to respect their elders. Getting to know someone also means learning about their family tree.

They can choose to replace Cast-Iron Stomach with Cast-Iron Mind, gaining a +5 to saves vs. ongoing psychic damage. They can also replace Dwarven Weapon Proficiency with Gold Dwarf Weapon Proficiency to become proficient with the war pick and the maul.

Their background skill is Dungeoneering, and their background languages are Deep Speech and Elven. They deal with drow and other Underdark denizens a lot.

Shield Dwarves

Shield Dwarves migrated out of the Great Rift early, spreading through the world and encountering more foreign people over their history. As a result they’re more open to seeking out friends and forging alliances. Though they also value tradition and honor, they do not consider it dishonorable for an individual to seek to forge their own destiny, even when it takes them away from home. Delzoun was founded by Shield Dwarves.

Impermanence seems to be a big thing for your typical shield dwarf PC. They are open to alliances and friendships because they know tradition can fail them, but they are also reserved with those allies because they know allies can fail them too. When facing problems, they’re all about striking first and taking control of the situation.

Shield Dwarves can replace their Dwarven Weapon Proficiency with either Shield Dwarf Weapon Proficiency (proficient in handaxes and battle axes) or Shield Proficiency (proficient with the light shield).

For a background pick, they can choose between the Dungeoneering, Endurance and Nature skills, or the Chondathan and Giant languages (FR has a lot more languages than core 4e).

Impressions

FR has been around since the early days of D&D, so I don’t know whether generic D&D dwarves take they traditionalism from FR ones or if it’s the other way around. Shield dwarves are the ones most similar to those in the core.

The Weapon Proficienty replacements seem to be about the same (low) power level, but Shield Proficiency is more generally useful to any non-martial PC who normally has a hand free. Wand and orb wizards, dagger sorcerers, many monks, and so on. An extra point of AC and Reflex always helps!

Cast-Iron Mind is an awesome replacement feature to take when you know you’ll be facing a lot of psychic enemies, which includes most things with the Aberrant origin. Spoiler alert: there’s quite a few of these in the Neverwinter campaign.