The Darkest Secret of the Dwarves - D&D

stocky broad of body and extremely muscular the short figure before you may lack in height but not in physical strength or presence wrapped in metal armor and armed with a war axe the humanoid has light brown skin ready cheeks and bright eyes with black hair and a long carefully groomed beard and mustache this of course is a dwarf one of the primary species of dungeons and dragons this is going to start a fairly long series of videos where we're going to try and break down everything that you should know about these guys and more importantly the sort of stuff that fifth edition just will not tell you we will answer age long questions like do do our females have beards is it like lord of the rings where you cannot tell apart a female from a male what happens if you mix a dwarf and a human or a dwarf and an elf we of course know that there are half elves but are there half dwarfs we will talk about this and more including their psychology their physiology we will talk about what they like to wear their crafts and arts dwarf marriage dwarvish funerals will cover everything from their society to even their culture we will do it all including the greatest secret of the dwarvish species which might change the way you see dwarves for the rest of your life but before we do that i have an announcement that i am very excited to make i just finished up my second pdf this one is called mr rex's monster classics and as the number there implies it is the first of many that i'll be making because man did i enjoy building this and i do think that it is sorely needed so what i have created here is the ability to play as monsters i have designed not just racial features but full class features so that you can go from level 1 to level 20 as a deva as a succubus and as a ghost and this includes tables that you can use to better prepare the backstory for your character as a succubus you can control enemies with your charm abilities you get powerful spellcasting features and you have four different subclass options check this out immortal acts defined your kind and shackled you to your fiendish form choose the nature of the sin which has swayed your wicked soul pride lust vanity or wrath each deadly sin is a different subclass and it encompasses many different styles with which you can play your succubus pride is my favorite it's meant to be a very powerful spellcaster lost is a disruptive spellcaster on the other hand great for throwing off your enemies vanity is a martial class that focuses on long whips and beautiful acrobatic maneuvers and then wrath is of course the femme fatale the martial assassin who uses her looks to achieve her objectives the ghost is probably one of my proudest creations so far when you build the ghost you get to decide what is exactly it that you're hunting whether you're hunting you know like a creepy house or a graveyard or maybe even just like an object like a mirror when you level up as a ghost you get these supernatural manifestations which change the way that your ghost presents itself and also changes the way your haunt operates for example the touch of the grave supernatural manifestation it makes you look like a skeletal being rather than a full-blown ghost it then gives you the ability to prevent enemies from healing when you touch them and then lastly it makes the area around the place that you hunt prevent magical or supernatural healing we have over 20 of these different manifestations that can make your ghost very unique and very special because every ghost is different you can have a ghost that looks like casper or a ghost that looks like the headless horseman or a ghost that looks like the creepy girl from the ring there are so many different variations and i have added tons of different supernatural manifestations to represent that the class is super fun using fear mechanics and curses to weaken and overwhelmed enemies lastly there is the deva which of course are angels that descend from the heavens into the material plane the devide uses holy energy which functions like mana instead of spell slots and you use that energy to fuel your divine abilities which are considerable what's cool about the device is that you don't regain your holy energy through rest since devas are of course immune to exhaustion they don't need to rest instead you regain your energy by doing good deeds or following the tenets of the gods that you serve i wanted to bring back fan favorite abilities from previous editions like channel energy or touch of law check this as an action you can touch a willing creature infusing it with the power of divine order and allowing it to treat all attack roles ability checks and saving throws until the end of your next turn as if the d20 roll resulted in an 11. see i want these are like very famous old-school abilities that i wanted to bring back really cool features that we used to have for clerics in the past but we never got in fifth edition so this was a great opportunity for me to add this so yeah guys i have personally written every single word from this pdf i have spent so much time building these classes so that you guys could enjoy playing the monsters that you see all the time in your games and i have spent countless hours making sure that it is all balanced so that your dm doesn't get upset with you if you wanted to check it out you can either click the link in the description below or you can click this picture right here under the video either we'll take you to the store where you can see it i really appreciate you guys for supporting me all this time and i cannot wait to bring you more stuff like this but now back to the video okay there is so much content where do i even begin let's see let's do this so what even is a dwarf the dwarves are humanoids about four to four and a half feet in height so fairly small however they are incredibly dense they are described as having the breadth and depth of creatures nearly twice their height but what does that even mean basically they are incredibly muscular to the point where their size doesn't really prevent them from competing or doing anything strength related that a human would otherwise be able to do in fact in many ways they are often even stronger on average their arms are very long for their size reaching all the way down to their shins but the rest of their body like their torsos and their legs are in proportion to their size their bodies have thick well-rounded limbs and broad and powerful shoulders and hips and this by the way applies to both sexes female dwarves are build muscularly thick both sexes are also extremely hairy producing copious amounts of air everywhere on their body so so yeah this is gonna be a band-aid that i'm gonna just go ahead and rip from the beginning dnd generic female dwarves do not have beards but the female dwarves from the forgotten realms do have beards i do want to stress this out because sometimes there is a fair amount of difference between the creatures from the monster manuals and then creatures from the very specific worlds like the forgotten realms most things that i will say in this video will apply to both but the beard situation is certainly one where they are opposite but that's about it as far as physical description we could talk about skin color eye color hair colors but that is dependent on where the dwarf is from specifically if we're talking about mountain dwarfs or hill dwarves and that's going to be a whole different video as it's in here we're going to talk about all dwarfs now before we go in deep there is one last clarification that you guys need to understand not everything that we will talk about on this video from now on will apply to dwarves that live outside of dwarvish communities this would include dwarves that live in human settlements or dwarves that are adventurers or dwarves that were born outside of dwarvish societies see we will touch on a lot of cultural stuff which obviously becomes less relevant when you have a dwarf that wasn't born in a dwarves city however a lot of the psychological makeshift of the species which we will also touch on will probably apply to all dwarfs but yeah generally keep in mind that the the focus here is a dwarf that lives in underground communities with other dwarves and you can apply this to your own dwarvish character if you wish but just keep that in mind but alright let's begin many people associate the dwarf character as an eccentric maybe even boisterous scottish speaking person sometimes as a comedic character per chance many people take that inspiration of course from gimli from lore of the rings but according to ed greenwood who created the dwarves from the forgotten realms of them he would say quote grim mystery laced with sadness and pride these are the images that come to mind when one think of dwarves they are the images that should come to players minds when dwarves come on stage during play in the realms end quote grim mystery laced with sadness and pride see the thing about dwarves is that they are a people in decay a species that has fallen from their heyday who are grasping at a world that is slowly inking away from them they are a race in decline that have chosen to look towards their gods in steadfast fashion it is combined with the fact that dwarves are inherently pessimists they have these popular sayings that go every fair sky hides a lurking cloud or the gold you have yet to win gleams the brightest dwarves find themselves constantly preparing for the worst you combine these facts with their psychological tendency to be inflexible and stubborn and that leads to a species that will slowly move towards oblivion unable to change or adapt a dour proud taciturn and inflexible race that holds grudges and never forgets them a race that has a morbid dislike and mistrust of all strangers in particular to non-dwarves now why are they in decay though well i mean the real answer is because of duragar and drau who basically hunted them all down underground but the reason they can't quite ever get back their lost glory and why in spite of the fact that those days of legendary warfare are nearly over they're still bound to be in decay it's because of an interesting secret that really just defines their entire race this we call the doom of the dwarves a tragic secret that these species have dealt with for eons thinking that it was normal but in fact it wasn't dwarves have a very very low birth rate the number is typically to be that around 45 of all dwarfs are actually infertile and that applies to both sexes and to compound to this tragedy 70 of all babies born are male with only 30 percent being female this means that the chances of having fertile female dwarves are fairly uncommon now culturally to dwarves this is normal this is something that they have lived with since forever like they wouldn't see this as weird in fact the lore actually states that a normal dwarf that lives deep within its isolated dwarfish community would believe that the reason that humans for example are so numerous versus dwarves is literally just because humans mate constantly like it's funny but but it is in the lore the dwarves actually believe that humans just [ __ ] everyone they see and because they [ __ ] so much they are very numerous they think the same about orcs in fact see dwarves are an extremely monogamous species because a dwarf's mind tends to focus hard on a single thing for its whole life this is why you see a dwarf say just train and focus on blacksmithing blaze for his entire life or it might just focus on crafting rings for his entire life and their mind is such that they are very centered and stubborn to change and this applies to relationships as well see when they see humans changing relationships all the time doing you know one night stands and etc to them that's just like wild many of them just see that as the reason why they're not numerous when compared to humans or other races other dwarves the ones that do get to adventure outside of their otherwise you know lonely and isolated underground communities do get to see the real truth something is very wrong with the dwarven seed some sages speculate that the low fertility is due to exposure to heat bizarre alloys and metal toxins of which dwarves are of course in constant contact all the time but the good news is that there is a solution the dwarves there are in the know of this they call it the secret salvation of the rays that is that dwarves can actually procreate with humans gnomes and halflings the verdict is still out there for what exactly happens when a dwarf mates with an elf we know that they're called a dwelt funnily enough but we don't know much about them now what happens when a dwarf procreates with a human a gnome or a halfling is very very interesting see the dwarvish blood is very strong and it overpowers the rest there's a reason why you don't see the player's handbook letting you play a half dwarf in the same way as you might play a half elf and that is because there's virtually no difference between a half dwarf and a normal dwarf it just looks like a dwarf and the only thing that appears to change seems to be the height so for example a half dwarf who had a human and a dwarf parent would be about a foot taller than a pure blood dwarf but otherwise the differences are indiscernible now the reason that this is called the secret salvation of the dwarves is because if a half dwarf reproduces with another human then you still get a half dwarf that looks identical to a pure dwarf the union of a half dwarf in a human no more halfling will always result in a half dwarf that looks exactly like a dwarf but if at any point the half dwarf reproduces with a full dwarf then you would get a full dwarf so in essence the intermingling of the species whenever there is a dwarf included will always result in a dwarf this is essentially the future of the dwarf as a species and the way that it is described in the lore as the only way that the dwarves will stem their slow extinction this unironically also exacerbates the radical demographic monoracial diversity of the species since any humans that move in to live in dwarves settlements will inevitably result in just more dwarvish babies and not human babies now of course humans are very fertile and reproducing with humans results in dwarvish babies so many dwarves have come to understand this and of course use it to their benefit or sometimes even as their duty in order to expand their species the lore actually even states that evil dwarvish clans have felt forced to raid human settlements whenever they face stagnation and extinction within their kingdoms they basically enslave humans and use them as cattle for their reproduction though generally this would be seen more by durgar than than actual normal dwarves since normal dwarves have a very very strong aversion to slavery in any case there are two main factors that influence dwarvish culture the way they are nowadays which again revolves around their decay as a mighty power one is of course their infertility because of their low numbers and extremely long life it further compounds the old ways to stick which enhances the feeling of their cultural ways being very slow to shift but the other factor that we haven't talked about has a lot to do with their proclivity for underground dwelling see because dwarves prefer to live under stone there are many societal implications that result from this which have made their culture vastly different from that of many others quote dwarves come from a very closed environment with very little in the way of personal space or privacy expansion of any one settlement is greatly dependent on the location and earth in which it is set digging out new living space can be an expensive time consuming and possibly dangerous activity for every dwarf city nestled in a roomy expanse of trackless caverns thousands of smaller settlements exist in which every room has hewn from the surrounding stone by hand as a result living quarters are close together and regularly house entire extended families a society living in close contact with each other day in and day out must by necessity place the needs of the group above the needs of the individual the rule of law becomes paramount in many ways where only in such a society can disputes be settled fairly and expectations kept reasonable this cultural trait has become an ingrained habit for nearly all dwarfs and is considered a virtue among their people he who holds to this duty and obeys the law even at great cost to himself is held as a hero among his clan and held up as an example to others honor duty bravery stoicism and loyalty are considered the highest virtues in dwarven life those who live less responsible existences as the dwarfs might consider it are subjects of continuing bemusement to the ordered dwarven mind by the same token a dwarf who is considered rude or unsociable by other above ground races is looked at as the soul of matters and tact among his people for those who live below ground physical privacy is a thin illusion at best none but the most wealthy or those of the highest status in dwarf society can claim a space of their very own to be shared with no one else this forced physical intimacy has led dwarven culture to prize mental privacy thus emotions are considered highly personal and not readily shared outside the family or clan circles if a dwarf admits any sort of joy or sorrow it is an indication of how high the listener has risen in his esteem the same is true for personal revelations of any kind including weaknesses or achievements while this reluctance to show one's emotions is true of most dwarves however it is hardly true for every individual many dwarves who spend their lives wandering the surface find dwarven attitudes difficult to live with these individuals are often much more expressive and able to tolerate the seemingly chaotic cultures of humans elves and halflings still a dwarf has been caught more than once between the world in which he was raised and the life he has embraced such conflicts are often amusing to those who witness them and embarrassing for the dwarf but bridging two worlds is never easy just as some dwarves do not speak unless first spoken to other more garrulous dwarves enjoy carousing and boisterous living some dwarves happily tell of their own adventures with little prompting and others refuse to let another pay their way regardless of how little gold might remain to them a dwarf's actions in the surface world may or may not indicate of his behavior at home when it comes to other races or cultures dwarves are surprisingly tolerant despite their firm belief in the rightness of their own ways this attitude is due in large part to the reticence bred into the soul of every dwarf regardless of his opinion on the peoples he meet a well-mannered dwarf declines comment looking on the matter as none of his business his disapproval might be expressed in other ways should someone's behavior violate his own beliefs too violently but by and large he leaves well enough alone an old dwarven platitude states you cannot spot the weakness in your own work by staring too long at someone else's end quote this very interesting dynamic of basically having no space at all underground forces the family unit to be unusually close for example a typical dwarven household will have the grandparents the parents the uncles the aunts and all of your brothers all living together on this same home and sometimes even with children and nephews so for example in your dwarvish room you might have your wife your brother and his wife and your grandmother all in the same place and again that is if you're lucky see i say lucky because not everyone even gets a home the the expansion of a dwarvish settlement in order to construct new houses happens very slowly and when it does happen it is always in order to give newlywed couples a family house for them to live in if you're not married which is in fact you know the vast majority of male dwarfs since remember 70 of dwarves are male so the male to female ratio is kind of bonkers and then you will most certainly not live in a house instead you will live in common rooms with other single dwarves like if you were in a hustle which again most dwarves are totally okay with this is just normal to a dwarf traditionally if the settlement cannot offer new houses to newlyweds then that would basically signal the time to form an entirely new settlement but yeah in general in dorvish culture the general assumption is that you are never moving out from your family's home and you're living there for the rest of your life now similar to other cultures that have this very similar style of living like for example the kobolds which we talked about before children are raised communally by the family and clan and everyone is expected to help with them and their education quote by the same token the elderly are considered to be the memory of the clan dwarves place a great deal of pride in their ancestry and heritage and the oldest among them are looked down as living embodiments of the past to neglect or act disrespectfully to an elder dwarf is one of the greatest offenses anyone can make in door of society end quote there are two sacrileges that you can make as far as the dwarvish culture is concerned one is to be disrespectful to an elder and then the other is to steal but we will talk about that in a later video as far as household duties go and general gender norms are concerned both male and females tend to be fairly equal with both being trained in household responsibilities adult professions and even warfare female dwarves are described as being basically just as muscular as male dwarfs are so even though we are never told explicitly that their strength is the same it is kind of implied that they both share a similar level of physical power what is however actually described is that because females are much rarer than males females have managed to obtain a tremendous amount of leverage on dwarvish society and this in fact has allowed them to obtain many rights that were previously out of their reach before the lord does state that the only exception to this is for the clergy which appears to be still a very male dominated area but yeah this is a good topic to go under actually let's talk about relationships between the sexes quote almost all dwarfs are hirsute covered with at least some hair all over their bodies jungle dwarves have the least hair and shield dwarves the most dwarfs of both sexes may shave perfume trim and comb all their hair or tattoo themselves hair growth may be inhibited by treating areas of the body with a paste of secret ingredients then searing the area in open flame tattoos also inhibit the growth of hair many dwarves particularly females oil and shave their bodies regularly a non-dwarf seeing a shaggy bearded dwarf in heavy armor and furs that conceals the betraying lines of the female figure may have trouble determining the dwarf's sex most draven females dress and walk and fight as males do and have a similar low-pitched gruff husky voices like males they naturally grow beards and only some shave dwarves of both sexes may trim perfume and even hang their beards with gems or gold ornaments end quote as you can see female dwarves sound like male dwarves they dress like male dwarfs and they grow beards like male dwarfs so yeah i guess you could confuse them if you saw them wearing thick clothes for example quote while many picture dwarfs as dusty dirty smiths and miners the truth is quite the opposite the dwarf's familiarity with their underground habitats lets them find and harness underground hot springs pools and rivers providing dwarf settlements of all sizes with fresh water and bathing areas dwarven baths are public though segregated by gender into separate areas in attendance is considered an important social function as a result dwarves are typically far cleaner and better groomed than most surface races end quote love in particular is a very strong feeling that dwarves get even if outsiders might not be able to notice it at the reason that they might not be able to notice it is because it just takes a while for it to form to a dwarf sea dwarves are very slow to acclimate but once they do they are all about it so to speak for example it takes the average dwarf about 40 years of life before they fall in love for the first time then they marry on average when they are in their 60s for a couple to marry they need the consent and approval of the chieftain or clan leader which rules a settlement if for whatever reason the approval is not granted then the couple will be punished if they continue their romantic relationship this can range from simply being you know forcefully separated to being forced to pay fines to even being literally exiled from the clan if they continue in any case provided that the marriage is accepted it is common for the parents of both parties to give money to the newly wed couple whenever wealthy and powerful dwarfs are concerned in particular with bigger clans arranged marriages are not uncommon as many clans perform arranged marriages between each other in order to improve relations now we're going to go ahead and end it here for this video because we're already at our typical video time limit but there is an unbelievable amount of lore that i want to cover for the dwarfs there's like four more videos coming we're gonna touch on clothing arts and crafts magic how they deal with death religion i mean jesus there's so much i'm working on these videos in bulk so the next video should be out basically real soon in like two days so don't worry you won't have to wait too long and like i said there's three more videos coming so stay tuned i would like to thank my patreon supporters barry maskan 5d magic shop morgan johnson rusty rayne doc feeder the great kodini omega skills terry kolp benjamin bosters faulky 951 or doryx abim kurshab thomas hunt stephen solis ryder lost crusader stalia tribe909 trevor hess george fotland the living guild pack described hervert johnson the wizard's vault jameson perverted shoddycast lucas cyrek naktor rashura jesse felizziano brian camp chadiga john harley john the wicket shane and sam skinner warren smith barrack alissa kestrel kristen coleman lactose the intolerant holy five flame back 200 and murder games for supporting me on patreon at the 25 dollar level if you would like to support me as well then please head over to patreon.comrex to support alright guys thank you so much for watching thank you guys for being here check out the pdf please just click the link below it's awesome i promise you and i will see you all in two days

Channel: MrRhexx

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Length: 25min 16sec (1516 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 22 2022