Let's Read the Dark Sun Creature Catalog: Dwarf
This post is part of a series! Click here to see the rest.
It’s customary for Fourth Edition monster books to include entries for playable species. After all, they may show up as enemies or allies. In this book, they also serve to flesh out some of the Dark Sun-specific story of each species. As you can see from the illustration, dwarves here are a little different.
The Lore
Dwarves probably had a pretty typical culture in Athas’ distant past, as the book says they ruled “great mountain kingdoms”. However, the genocidal wars of the Red Age pretty much destroyed their civilization. While modern-day dwarves are still extremely resilient and dedicated workers, the knowledge of reading and writing the Dwarven language has been lost. While you can still find Davek runes in their ruins, no one alive knows how to read them.
The book kinda conflates this with dwarves not knowing how to read at all, and therefore not knowing any magic, but that’s a giant leap that I think is incorrect. Dwarven writing is a lost art, but Common and a lot of other languages still have written forms and magic lore doesn’t have to be encoded in Dwarven. I’d say dwarves are as likely to be literate and to know magic rituals as any other person in this setting.
True, when you’re talking about typical civilians that’s still not very likely, but Dwarven PCs and major NPCs will still be literate. And it does sound flavorful for modern dwarven culture to include an element of pride about not needing magic to do their work.
Dwarves are a fairly common people. Every city state has hundreds or thousands of dwarven laborers and artisans, both free and enslaved. They also live in small communities in the wastes, some of which are also mining camps. Whether your interaction with them is peaceful or violent depends entirely on the behavior of the PCs and on the objectives of that specific group.
The Numbers
Despite the differences, Athasian dwarves are still Medium Natural Humanoids with a ground speed of 5 and Low-Light Vision, just like the ones from the PHB. They retain the PC traits that make them hard to move: Stand the Ground and Steady-Footed, which reduce forced movement by 1 and let them roll a save against being knocked prone, respectively. They also have +5 to saves against poison.
Earlier editions spent a lot of time describing how each dwarf had an obsessive focus on one kind of task, to the point where it restricted their actions. That makes an appearance here but it’s not as dominant as before.
Dwarf Conscript
Technically a civilian, the conscript still has a body hardened by countless hours of heavy labor, and will not hesitate to pick up weapons in defense of their mine or their home. This is a Level 2 Brute with 47 HP, wearing hide armor and wielding a Dark Sun polearm known as a “gouge”, which is basically a sharpened shovel.
The gouge is a standard brute attack, but if it scores a critical hit it also pushes the target 1 square and knocks it prone.
The conscript also has a Singular Focus minor action that’s the last vestige of the 2e rules. This lets the conscript choose an enemy as the target of their focus, and gain +5 damage against that enemy while they remain the conscript’s focus.
The power recharges when the chosen enemy drops to 0 HP, and it lasts until the end of the encounter or until the conscript uses it again. It makes the conscript punch way above their weight class when attacking their chosen enemy, and is a very nice incentive to behave obsessively in a fight. Since they can only switch focus when the previous enemy dies, targeted enemies should keep away to make the conscript waste actions chasing them.
Dwarf Sunpriest
Modern dwarven religion venerates primal spirits and elementals, particularly those associated with the sun. Sun priests are venerated spiritual and political leaders among them, and often lead other dwarves into battle when necessary.
The Sunpriest is Level 5 Artillery with 52 HP and the Leader tag. They wear hide armor and wield a mace in one hand and a totem in the other. Their basic melee attack is a Burning Mace that deals fire damage, and their main ranged attack is a Bright Ray (ranged 10) that deals radiant damage and inflicts a -2 attack penalty on the target for a turn.
Once per encounter they can apply a Sun Blessing to an ally within 5 squares. That ally regains 10 HP, deals 5 extra fire damage with their attacks for a turn, and any enemy that hits them in the same time span takes 5 fire damage. Praise the sun!
Dwarf War Chief
Despite the name, not all war chiefs are commanders, but they’re all renowned champions. They’re Level 6 Elite Soldiers with 144 HP.
The war chief fights with a Greatclub made from giant bone, and its basic attacks grant them 5 temporary HP. Their Spinning Club maneuver (recharge 5+) attacks enemies in a Close Burst 1. If it hits an enemy marked by the war chief, that enemy is immobilized until the start of the warchief’s next turn.
And how do they mark enemies? Via Battlefield Focus, a minor action that lets them automatically mark up to 2 enemies within 10 squares. It recharges when one of these enemies drops to 0 HP.
If a marked enemy adjacent to the war chief moves, shifts, or makes an attack, Brutal Club gives the dwarf a basic attack against them as an interrupt, which also immobilizes for a turn on a hit. This triggers even if the enemy attacks the war chief, and even if the enemy makes one of those moves that doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks. This means it’s more powerful than a PC fighter’s Combat Challenge.
Encounters and Final Impressions
Dwarves can be part of any encounter group whose theme is “a bunch of people”, be they villainous, allied, or bystanders. Dwarven communities, like everyone else, also domesticate a number of Athasian beasts that might see use in a fight.
I like these stat blocks! They’re low-level but each has some very interesting tricks they can use. The “focus” powers ended up being more useful than I thought at first.