Best of Dragon Magazine 03.pdf

Best of

Magazine

Vol. Ill

Selected from out-of-print issues of DRAGON * Magazine

Best of

Lake Geneva, Wis.

July 1983

Dragon Publishing

A division of TSR, Inc.

D&D, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and ADVANCED D&D arc registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc

™ designates other trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.

ISBN 0-88038-064-0

Contents

I. Finishing the races

The dwarven point of view

The gods of the dwarves

The elven point of view

The halfling point of view

The gods of the halflings

The gnomish point of view

The gods of the gnomes

The half-ore point of view

The gods of the ores

II. Breathing life into dragons

That's not in the Monster Manual!

Hatching is only the beginning

Self defense for dragons

The faerie dragon

Two tough foes

Evil dragons make good armor

III. Playing with class

The thief: a special look

The druid and the DM

It's not easy being good

He's got a lot to kick about

Singing a new tune

Cantrips: minor magic

Cantrips for the illusionist

Spell books

IV. Creating new challenges

The winged folk

The alchemist

The archer

BEST OF DRAGON

The gods of the elves

I. Finishing

the races

Role-playing a human being is not, in relative terms, a very difficult

thing to do. The principal and most obvious reason for this is that we are

human beings. So, your human cleric character could be played to act

pretty much like you would act if you were a cleric.

But if you want to play an elven magic-user or a halfling thief, you've

got to be able to take a giant step back, away from "yourself," and look at

the world through a set of not-human eyes. You've got to have a different

point of view. And that's what this section of this anthology is all about.

Roger and Georgia Moore, who have been involved in ADVANCED

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® campaigns for longer than yours truly has

been editing DRAGON® Magazine, assembled a series of "point of view"

articles that appeared during the winter and spring of 1982. As we like to

say about all the articles and features we publish, the information is just

as good and as usable today as when it was originally printed. Even those

who don't agree with all of the general statements about the various races

have still told us how much they enjoyed having the non-human pan-

theons expanded with the "gods" section of each presentation. We hope

you'll enjoy these articles — but even if you don't, try to keep an open

mind. After all, we're only human. . ..

VOL in

The DWARVEN

point of view

by Roger Moore

As AD&D W players know, the dwarves

are a human-like race, standing about 4

feet in height but weighing as much as

150 pounds or so due to their broad build

and musculature. Most people also know

that dwarves prefer living underground

in caverns and mines, they value gold

highly, and they have beards (female

dwarves are also said to be bearded).

Their use of axes and hammers as weap-

ons and their hatred of ores and giants is

also familiar. Howtver, this limited

amount of information is the extent of

most people's awareness and knowledge

of dwarves.

Scattered throughout the ADfcD books

and a number of other sources are other

bits of information regarding this poorly

understood race — information that may

mean little in itself, but when put

together presents in some detail an inter-

esting portrait of a distinctly different

race, one that does not share our human

values and feelings on the topics of life

and living. Much of the difficulty in get-

ling to understand dwarves is due directly

to their habit of separation from the

affairs of other rates. The dwarves are

very much a race apart.

One of the most striking features of

dwarven society is the inequality in

numbers of males vs. females. Two out of

three dwarves are male at birth, and this

ratio continues to hold true as dwarves

get older. The effect this has upon them

reaches into nearly every aspect of their

lives. Most male dwarves do not marry,

but instead devote their lives to careers as

craftsmen, miners, adventurers, and so

forth,

Dwarves who do enter into marriage

become exceedingly jealous and posses-

sive of their partners, restricting the free-

dom each has in exchange for a life of

devotion to each other and their children.

Yet, though roughly half of all male

dwarves are destined to go through life as

bachelors, they do not appear overly sad

or frustrated. Their careers fill their daily

lives as completely as would the presence

of a wife, and appear to give them much

the same satisfaction (particularly in the

metal-working and jeweler crafts, for rea-

sons to be given later).

How would a human society cope with

an excess of males such as this? History

reveals that at times such as this, human

societies generally turn to warfare or

extreme violence in order to bring the

sexual imbalance back to normal. For

dwarvenkind. however, a male-to-female

ratio of 2 to 1 is normal.

Some dwarves, male and female alike,

would not marry even if they had the

chance, so immersed are they in their

work. The greatest heroes and heroines of

dwarvenkind have almost always been

single, as marriage means the end of any

outside occupations, especially adventur-

ing. For a married dwarf to adventure or

otherwise spend a lot of time out of the

home is seen as a shirking of responsibili-

ties and a disgraceful insult to the other

partner of the lowest order, in effect say-

ing that the partner (be it he or she) is not

worthy of the other's affections. Much of

this feeling is caused and reinforced by

the basically lawful good nature of the

dwarven fold.

By and large, dwarves are seen as pos-

sessive, single-minded, perhaps having a

narrow range of interests, yet throwing

all their energies into the seeking of their

goals. Dwarves are clannish, more so than

most other races, and few make a habit of

spending a lot of time among the com-

pany of non-dwarves for long periods of

time.

A strong streak of materialism is pres-

ent in the dwarven character, and they are

sometimes notoriously jealous of what

they own. Dwarves tend to hoard their

wealth, spending money only to make

more money, and are very watchful of

thieves, real and suspected. In dwarven

society, there is only one penalty for

pickpockets and burglars, and that is

death — unless, of course, the thief is

working for the dwarves against someone

else.

Many dwarves are rather vengeful, and

remember slights or insults long after

they have ceased to matter to anyone else,

They may well lake opportunities to re-

dress the situation when their enemies

have been lulled into complacency. Little

wonder that other races sometimes dis-

trust dwarves more than they do goblins.

Who knows, they ask, what a dwarf is

really thinking of you?

In the estimation of other intelligent

races, dwarves are humorless, "dour and

taciturn" (as the DMG puts it), and love-

less except for a lust for more and more

gold. Such is not true; there is much joy

in a dwarf's life in such things as the

birth of a child, the crafting of a beautiful

jewel, or the forging and finishing of a

great suit of armor or a matchless

weapon.

Yet, it is true that for the most part, the

life of a typical dwarf is fraughi with

ceaseless toil and labor; the dwarves' work

ethic makes the human conception of the

same concept appear lackadaisical. They

pay a price for this drive, in terms of the

many lines that fill their faces as they age.

This price, however, is seen as a badge of

honor among dwarves, and adds in some

sense to their satisfaction with them-

selves. Other races don't always see it this

way (especially the elves, who would be

sorely distressed to have to live such

serious and hard-working lives). Those

few who do admire the dwarves and

uphold their achievements publicly will

come to win their cautious gratitude, and

in time may be counted in some manner

as an "honorary dwarf" if they continue

to actively support and champion

dwarven causes,

Interestingly enough, there is some

element of humor in the dwarven charac-

ter, of a nature particular to themselves.

Whenever dwarves have been responsible

for the rescuing of persons of other races,

there is inevitably some jesting and josh-

ing to the effect that the victims wouldn't

have had to be rescued if they'd been

dwarves, or that the dwarves fail to

understand what was so awful about the

situation (regardless of how bad it was).

Though two demons, a dragon, and an

entire tribe or ores might be slain in the

From issue #58, February 1982

BEST OF DRAGON

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