Well im back, stirred to action by the last demonstration piece. So apparently Elves can eat body parts to magically gain memories, for some reason that probably involved a dart board and alcohol. While the Dwarves of Divinity have the amazing power of being short. So we can hide behind short things.
Clearly a Dwarven mind is required >: | I've been playing through the enhanced edition again recently to get a clearer understanding of the mechanics and systems and i read the available but limited information regarding the Dwarves. Let these be more than just 'short' humans!
Racial passives and abilities are tricky, since you dont want to pigeonhole a specific race into a strict path. A mix of flavor buffs (like eating body parts, which in my mind all elves do anyways) for funsies or convenience, and some concrete bonuses as well (stats/skills that anyone can spend into) to strike a balance between EFFECTIVE and INTERESTING.
These suggestions will be based on DD:OS:EE systems, a break down of the skills/talents and how Dwarves look and differ from the other races, borrowing largely from existing and favored Dwarf know-how and existing lore.
Attribute wise, Con and Str would obviously be their strong points, more-so than the other races. Speed (movement particularly) and Dex being the weakest points with Perception being debatable, they could take a hit to perception (on account of being short, less LoS) but have benefits to senses regardless such as detecting buried objects, hidden passages, and nearby ore for mining would all fall under this.
Passively, being short and stocky gives obvious benefits to balance, being harder to knock over or trip. A bit of resistance to fire, cold, and poison is a mainstay of a healthy Dwarf. Possibly benefits to being drunk for funsies.
As far as Weapons go they're all over the place for dual wielding, 2h, or 1h. Wands are just fancy toothpicks. Crossbows over bows as well, being short and having short arms makes efficient bow use tricky, but strong arms make for powerful crossbow potential.
Defense is probably where they shine the best.
If they had any lean in Skills, it would be man-at-arms and geomancy, or possible pyromancy as they seem to go in the fire direction in the lore. Dwarves could probably make for stellar geomancers but in any magic capacity they're going to lack the raw firepower, but make up for it by being extra durable casters/battle mages.
Personality? Lots! But between these four they'd probably suffer a charisma penalty (except when dealing with other dwarves, as they seek strong unity) and only have bonuses in Bartering or Luck (depending on backround?)
Blacksmithing is the obvious strength in the crafting department and is the only thing they need in the path. Whether this is just a simple point bonus or anything special like recipes/bonuses remains to be seen. Training blacksmithing as a way to gain passive boosts to existing equipment would be interesting (making personal tweaks to ones own equipment to maximize its efficiency)Would encourage all dwarves to get blacksmithing regardless of class for the personal benefits.
A possible talent could be their vow to never be humiliated again, and that they were once slaves. As such, many forms of crowd control will ENRAGE them, especially being charmed.
But i believe their strongest ties should be with blacksmithing since it can offer broad benefits to any character type.
Say a Dwarf warrior loots a nice axe, but with his blacksmithing skill he customizes it specifically for himself, adjusting the height, weight, blade and balance, tailoring it. This would effectively soulbind the item or just make it unwieldy in other hands. I read that any race can equip any item but Dwarven size and shape is a lot different, armors would need broadened and robes trimmed so it makes sense for them. This would be a personal benefit that requires the dwarf to have blacksmithing to take advantage of, so a dwarf couldnt do this for another in the party. Its sort of how lineage items are, creating a heirloom to be passed down, very personal.
OH, also drinking related buffs. I saw the Dwarven Stew.
