Quote Originally Posted by noparlpf View Post
That's fair, and would probably be the best idea for mechanics.
However, the idea of things like Stonecunning is probably from Tolkien, where a god crafted dwarves of earth or something like that. (It's been a few years since I read Tolkien.) So they have an affinity for earth and stone, the ability to notice irregularities in stone, worked stone, hidden doors, stuff like that.

I'm sure that's the idea behind them, but that's pretty flavor heavy to me, and definitely not something that should be the default assumption. I have no problem with a campaign setting saying "Dwarves use this background and it cannot be changed", but I do not like the idea of every dwarf ever in every conceivable world having that capability.

And even with that explanation, it still doesn't justify how a Dwarf who has never even even heard of the Tsurauni Empire, would stumble upon some ancient ruins and instantly be able to identify the stonework as Tsurauni. Which is what dwarves in the current playtest packet can actually do with their stonecutting ability.