My one hit die campaign world (Dwarflands complete!)

[Thoughtbot360]

Greetings all,

I've never GM'ed before, but the time I've had to think about a game (since the local comic book store had closed down and been replaced by a crappy pawn shop) has left me with more house rules and revisions than ideas.

For example, lets take a look at some rules for running a one hit-die game (courtesy of SargentBrother). I got these from him on this thread

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AC Bonus : Every class gets an AC bonus equal to the Base Attack Bonus of the class. This bonus is negated if the character is immobilized. Shields provide a greater AC bonus than they previously did. Bucklers or other small protective devices add +1 AC. Small shields, such a round shields, add +2 to AC. Medium shields, such a heater and teardrop shields, add +3 to AC. Large shields, such as Viking round shields, add +4 AC. Body shields, such as Roman ones, add +5 to AC.

Hit Points : Player Characters do not get class hit dice, rather they have a number of Hit Points equal to their Constitution plus half of the of the maximum hit points that can be roled for their class at level one. This is the same for inhuman creatures, their hit points are modified by their size:
Fine & Diminutive : No hit Points, instant kill
Tiny : 1/4 Constitution Hit Points
Small : 1/2 Constitution Hit Points
Medium : Constitution Hit Points
Large : 1.5 * Constitution Hit Points
Huge : 2 * Constitution Hit Points
Gargantuan : 3 * Constitution Hit Points
Colossal : 4 * Constitution Hit Points
No-name faceless NPC's have half of the above hit points, while named or important NPC's have the same Hit Points as PCs do. Something that is brought to zero or fewer Hit Points can survive down to negative their maximum Hit Points before dying. The Toughness feat may only be taken once.

Sneak Attack : A rogue's sneak attack does 1d6 damage plus 1 per level of the rogue plus the damage for a normal attack of that type. Every other level (2, 4, 6, 8, etc.) a rogue gets a +1 bonus to score a critical hit on a sneak attack. This means that on the sneak attack roll of a 5th level rogue, a natural 18 on a roll to hit would be treated as a natural 20. This only applies to the first roll. Non-rogues who successfully sneak attack an opponent do an additional 1d6 damage but nothing more.

Magic Spells : Magical spells can only inflict one die of damage to any single opponent per level of the spell, plus the level of the casting magic user. For example, a level 10 wizard casts fireball - everyone in the area of effect takes 3d6+10 damage before a saving throw is made. Some damage spells ignore armor (such as horrid wilting), while others (like magic missile or fireball) half (round down) the armor value of the victim(s). Healing magic can only heal up to the spell's level in Hit Points to any particular target. This means that Cure Light Wounds will only heal 1 point of damage. Level 0 spells cannot heal actual Hit Points, but it will stop bleeding and stabilize the dying.

Armor Rules

Armor Rating : This is a value of damage reduction that a character has based upon the armor that they wear, the toughness of their skin, or anything else which provides a physical barrier that protects the character from injury. Armor provides no bonuses to AC. Below are new rules :

Damage Reduction
Padded or soft leather : 1
Thick leather, wood, wicker, hide, weave, etc. : 2
Buff coat, cuirboulli, or thick hide : 3
Byzainted or light chainmail : 4
Heavy chainmail, scale, splint : 5
Coat of plates, banded : 6
Light or partial plate : 7
Heavy plate : 8

Critical Threat Range
Critical threat scores are based on the armor being worn and not the weapon. A successful critical hit ignores the armor's damage reduction instead of multiplying damage. If an entire character’s body is covered by armor (including the face), then the critical threat range is 20. If the helm is open faced, it drops by 1. If there is no helmet, it drops by 2. If the arms are only partially covered, it drops by 1, if there are is no arm protection, it drops by 2. If only one arm is covered it drops by 1. The same applies to legs. If the body is not protected, it drops by 4 and if the body is only partly protected, it drops by 2.

Armor Weight
When determining the degree to which a suit of armor weighs down a character, double (quadruple for body) the damage reduction of each region protected and all locations together (head + left arm + right arm + left leg + right leg + body). If the area is only halfway protected, do not double the value. For every 10 points above 10 that the total value comes to, there is a -1 armor penalty. For every 25 points, reduce the character Dexterity modifier by -1. For every 35 points of armor, the wearer of the armor suffers a -5 penalty to movement speed.
Bronze armor weighs a little more than steel or iron armor (same penalties) but it provides one less point of armor Damage Reduction. Masterwork armor either acts as if it were 1 DR lighter or adds 1 to DR.

Armor Examples

Armor DR Dex Penalty Speed Critical
Full Plate 8 -4 -10 -15 20
Chain Haulberk 5 -1 -3 -5 16
Roman Lorica 6 -1 -3 -5 16
Buffcoat 3 - - - 15
Breastplate 8 -1 -2 - 14
Thick Clothing 1 - - - 18
Full Chainmail 5 -2 -5 -5 19
Greek Plate 6 -2 -6 -5 18
Scale Shirt 5 - -1 - 14
Samurai Armor 5 -2 -6 -5 20
Field Plate 7 -3 -8 -10 20
A Great Helm 8 - - - 12

I added the idea of a custom-fitted plate armor, historically accurate full plate of which had superb weigh distrubution so that no muscle in the entire body was overworked and you could actually do cartwheels in such armor (and didn't need to be craned on top of your horse....) Again this is my addition to Sargent Brother's armor rules.

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Bonus: Custom-fitted plate is a form of Heavy plate, but weighs 1/2 as much as normal plate. It must be masterwork, and takes 2 years to create, requires a Blacksmith with a +15 bonus to Craft (armor) to create (no DC). Custom plate cannot be worn by anyone else, doubles damage and -4 on fortitude (for weather) vs. heat and cold, makes obvious clanking noises that not only forbid the use move silently, but alert people in advance to your presence. (although the save can be said for normal plate armor that covers the body.) Standing up is a full-round action that requires a DC 18 strength check.
DR Dex Penalty Speed Critical
Custom Plate (lighter) 8 -1 -3 -5 20
Custom Plate (stronger) 9 -2 -4 -5 20
Brigandine 2/4 -1 -3 -5 18/13
Brigandine w/ helmet 2/4/8 -1 -3 -5 18/13/11

Brigandine is a mesh of Thick Leather with Light Chainmail. Also added an open-faced plate helmet for even better protection.

I might as well add Sargent Brothers rules for fielding an army and training commoners to become something useful:

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Cost to upgrade a commoner to a warrior, aristocrat, or expert : 100 gp

Cost to upgrade a commoner to an adept, rogue, or fighter : 250 gp

Cost to upgrade a commoner to another class : 500 gp

This makes it cheap enough so that somebody might actually want to have a group of warriors face off against a mob of commoners.

Make the rules so that you have to pay for everything, nothing can be crafted by experts or magic users or anything - that is just looking for loopholes. Just like no using the money to hire somebody to cast a spell or anything like that.

Furthermore, lets reduce the cost significantly for upkeep. Lets make commoners cost nothing - they are free. Unfortunately, every person who is combat ready (instead of working the fields) costs 5 gp per year each. For example, that 100,000 per year comes from the labor of your peasants - so if 10,000 peasants are armed with slings, even though they cost nothing to equip, they can't work the fields and thus you're out 50,000 gp per year. So this is a reason not just to arm any left over peasants you have with slings and clubs because it will reduce your ability to generate income.

Furthermore, lets count warriors as mercenaries who get paid 2 sp per day (per level lets say) and lets assume that they only serve you 125 days a year so that's 25 gold per year per level for a warrior. Lets double the amount for fighters, rogues, and adepts for 50 gp per pevel per year and double it again for other PC classes - 100 gp per level per year.

Thus if we have 5000 peasants and 1000 warriors, the total cost in upkeep would be 55,000 gp per year - 30,000 for the 6,000 people who aren't working your fields and 25,000 for 1000 1st level warriors.

Now, I also use the Elements of Magic system for this world, due to its flexibility and potential for creating unique magical traditions.

Since Magic was altered with Sargent Brother's rules, I also had to redo some of the Elements of magic rules.

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Evoke spells, Heal spells, and Elemental weapons using Create (Element/Alignment):
First of all, translate every d6 to simply 1 as if everytime you would roll a die, you decided to load it (just for gits and shiggles) to come up as a 1 (So that a spear of lightning created to do +4d6 bonus lightning damage simply does 4 instead.). Speaking of Elemental weapons, they multiply all damage done with the weapon by 1.5 when striking the opposite element, but for Life, Death, and Alignment weapons only double the bonus damage when striking their opposites. Therefore a chaotic energy weapon with +1d6 chaotic damage made with Create Chaos in the old rules translates to this with the new rules: +2 bonus damage versus lawful enemies, +1 vs. those that are neither lawful nor chaotic, and get no damage bonus when striking a chaotic foe.

The exception to this rule are Evoke (Element/Alignment) spells used for direct, instant damage (but not Side effects or enduring damage.) Those still do only a single point of damage per d6). However, after the initial 1d6 you get for cantip-level evoke magic, extra dice costs you twice as much. After you reach 10 MP (which would be 5d6 + 1d6), you simply add +1 damage per 2 MP. All damage from Evoke spells is reduced by half the DR from armor worn by any recipients (You can't emulate a horrid wilting spell in EOM anyway. Evoke Void spells can drain air from a target but not moisture.) If the damage seems to tame the GM could raise the d6s to d6s +1 per 2 MP spent in Evoke spells. Heal (Element/Alignment) spells work much the same as Sargent Brother listed them, but a 2 MP per point of healing after the first one rule stands because of 1 EOM MP does not equal 1 core rules spell level. (Also, You might consider leaving the healing dice as d6s rather than 1s because in original EOM, Heal (element/alignment) and Evoke (element/alignment) are equal.)

Errata for Healing and Evoking rules!: Evoke (Death)'s side effects are purchased differently from other elements' side effects: you trade in damage dice for them. And Healing dice are used to reverse these exact side effects. Well, I've made dice/healing points more expensive. To remedy this, "dice" that are used for causing or curing afflictions are worth only 1 MP.

Charm (Creature), Compel (Creature), and increasing Threshold:
Because characters no longer gain HDs as they gain levels, I have come up with a different value. HD repersent how many and how big a creature you can influence with your spells:
1 HD- one Diminutive or Fine creature
2 HD- one Tiny
3 HD- one Small
4 HD- one Medium
5 HD- one Large
8 HD- one Huge
10 HD- one Gargantuan
12 HD- one Collosal

Say you cast a Charm Giant 5/Gen 1 spell that has 10 HD threshold and an area of effect of 10 feet around the caster. If you get surronded by Ogres, you can put two of them into a Daze(5 HD per large creature).

The spell influences a number of creatures (That have the approiate creature type) in the area of effect until it runs out of HD. For Charm (Humanoid) or Compel (Humanoid) spells, it will use up any excess HD on any allies in the area of effect after its spent HD making each of the enemies make a saving throw, so its worth it to spend 1 MP on the "Discerning" general enhancement.

Someone might bring up that with this system a mind flayer is just as Charmable/Compelable as an orc (Only one's an Abberation and the other's a humanoid.) I'd point out that the mind flayer has better will saves, though.

Summoning, Transforming, and creature Challenge rating:
Darned if I know. Although, most high challenge rating monsters are bigger than your medium-sized self, and/or have special powers. Keep the challenge ratings, but lower the monster's hit points and damage as usual.

I'm still working on Challenge ratings.

Anyway. Tomorrrow I will post a small setting within the grander setting. It will be a contentinent that can be a perfect place for a dwarf-only campaign! And it will....ah, why spoil it?

Good night!

[elliott20]

so... combat classes just got robbed of their primary asset? wizards are even more uber than before now.

[Kyace]

How does this sound: You get HP as normal for first level, but after that you only get 1/4 as much, don't round. Weapons and magic deal the first 6 HPs of damage as normal and after that, you only take 1/4 as much damage. Thus, when Ted strikes someone with his great axe and rolls a 10 on damage, his foe takes 7 damage (6 + 4/4). Thus, wizards would average 1 more HP every two levels and fighters will average 1 and a bit every level. You keep fractions of HP from leveling and con increases until you gain a new HP which then increases you max HP, a la the Zelda games.

[elliott20]

or you can use a vitality point system, making crits that much more dangerous.

incidentally, how are you handling critical hits?

[Yakk]

I'd advise you to start with true20 instead of d20 if you want to do away with massively increasing HP as you gain levels.

[Thoughtbot360]

elliott20, I'm afraid you missed some points:

Before I get to the rules on magic and whatnot, I'd like to point out that critical hits only mean getting past DR from armor. An unarmored spellcaster or monk never deals with critical hits and the scythe's main selling point (x4 critical) is now mute. I have heard of the vitality system but I'd like to give SargentBrother's system a whirl.


For core rules magic:

Magic Spells : Magical spells can only inflict one die of damage to any single opponent per level of the spell, plus the level of the casting magic user. For example, a level 10 wizard casts fireball - everyone in the area of effect takes 3d6+10 damage before a saving throw is made. Some damage spells ignore armor (such as horrid wilting), while others (like magic missile or fireball) half (round down) the armor value of the victim(s). Healing magic can only heal up to the spell's level in Hit Points to any particular target. This means that Cure Light Wounds will only heal 1 point of damage. Level 0 spells cannot heal actual Hit Points, but it will stop bleeding and stabilize the dying.

Notice, that a 10th level fireball in Sargentbrother's system is merely 3d6 + 10 -1/2 the armor DR (-4 maximum), Reflex for half damage; instead of 10d6 Reflex for half damage. Damage bonuses based on caster level are a regular appearance in the vancian magic system, and that +10 damage sounds awfully dangerous, I have to admit. Lets do number cruching:

Its time for: Hit points of the world!
Dwarf Barbarain with 20 Con and the toughness feat: 29 hit points
More sane 16 constitution Barbarian: 22 hit points
Fighter with 14 Constitution: 19 hp
Monk with 12 Constitution: 16 hp
Rogue with 10 Constituion: 13 hp
Halfling Rogue with 10 Con: 8 hp
Gnome Illusionist with 16 con: 10 hp
Mage/Wizard/Sorcer with 14 Con: 16 hp
Elf Rogue with 6 Constituion: 9 hp
Elf Wizard with 6 Constituion: *SNAP!* oh, wait, I mean 8 hp XD
An Elf Wiz that wants to live with 12 con: 14 hit points

Maximum damage of the 10th level fireball: 28 - 1/2 armor.

Yowzers! that Fireball will kill everyone but the uber Maximized Barbarian. The only thing I can say is that the Toughness and Diehard feats become very useful in this type of world. Diehard in particular suddenly doubles your hit points! However, lets take a look at the more likely outcomes

Average fireball damage: 19 - armor

This might still be pretty bad, particular for the monk, the rogue and the mages listed above for they have no armor

Average fireball damage with succesful reflex save: 9 - armor

This outcome becomes more likely, since fireball is a 3rd level spell with a low reflex DC (for other 10th level characters) But still the Wizard will have learned other spells and have two spell levels higher. He'll be able to send something with FIVEd6 + bonus our hero's way and even harder Save DC.

I prefer to nerf Sargent Brother's rules on casting in one particular area: that damn bonus damage. Really, lets take off the +10 bonus damage that the wizard got just to flaunt that he reached 10th level and see how our PC's survival rates improve.

Maximum fireball damage: 18 - armor

Average fireball damage: 9 - armor

Average with save: 4 - armor

Hot-cha! A person in heavy plate (8 /2 =4) who succeds his reflex save completely nullifies the fireball. But the Fireball is still useful to elimate groups of faceless NPCs (noncombatants and faceless NPCs get 1/2 their designated hit points). For stronger enemies, the Wizard should use other or stronger spells. Lets take a look at a 5th level spell:

Maximum: 30
Average: 15
Save: 7

I, however, prefer using the Elements of Magic system to the Vancian magic of the Core book.

Evoke spells, Heal spells, and Elemental weapons using Create (Element/Alignment):
First of all, translate every d6 to simply 1 as if everytime you would roll a die, you decided to load it (just for gits and shiggles) to come up as a 1 (So that a spear of lightning created to do +4d6 bonus lightning damage simply does 4 instead.). The exception to this rule are Evoke (Element/Alignment) spells used for direct, instant damage (but not Side effects or enduring damage.) Those still do only a single point of damage per d6). However, after the initial 1d6 you get for cantip-level evoke magic, extra dice costs you twice as much. Three times as much after 10 MP (which would be 5d6 + 1d6). All damage from Evoke spells is reduced by half the DR from armor worn by any recipients (You can't emulate a horrid wilting spell in EOM anyway. Evoke Void spells can drain air from a target but not moisture.) If the damage seems to tame the GM could raise the d6s to d6s +1 per 2 MP spent in Evoke spells. Heal (Element/Alignment) spells work much the same as Sargent Brother listed them, but a 2 MP per point of healing after the first one rule stands because of 1 EOM MP does not equal 1 core rules spell level. (Also, You might consider leaving the healing dice as d6s rather than 1s because in original EOM, Heal (element/alignment) and Evoke (element/alignment) are equal.)

A 10th level mage can cast an Evoke spell that does 6d6 (if he is statisfied with only a touch range spell) under these rules, which is a bit dangerous, but afterwards every new d6 cost 3 mp instead of 2 and requires the mage to wait 3 caster levels before improving. At 20th level, the mage can cast a maximum of 9d6 at 30 feet (the 30 foot range costs 1 mp, the 9d6 costs 19.)

9d6 maximum: 63 - armor
Average: 31 - armor
Save: 15 - armor

I'm not going to lie to you. These are big numbers, but imagine how bad they would be with a PLUS TWENTY DAMAGE BONUS!!! :eep: However, this is twentieth level here, surely the magic items and feats at this level include something to improve survival. Generic Energy resistance and hit points are the order of the day. Even a 22 con Barbarbarian with Toughness, Diehard and in a Mighty Rage (thats....22 + 6 + 3 + 8 = 39 hit points TIMES TWO with Die hard. Wow.) okay... it seems like that guy could survive one maybe two spells like that. But not three. Hmm....elliot, I congradulate you for leading me to this conclusion. Evoke dice past 10 mp level are now +1 damage per every 2 mp.

Also, notice way back up there with the hit point listings that the Gnome and Halfling have surprising little hit points. Thats because small creatures get 1/2 constitution added to their hit points. I've decided to get all Shadow-runny with my explanation with magic and say this:

an Evoke [Element] or [Alignment] spell reaches through the astral plane, and there is a connection between the astral plane and the material plane via someone's aura, and the spell enters the material plane via the targets aura. Now, smaller creature has a smaller aura and a larger creature a larger aura, so Evoke [element/alignment] damage is multiplied by the the same amount as the constiution score is. For fine and diminutive creatures, who suffer one-hit kills, they all get evasion (even if the evoke spell calls for a fortitude or will save, they evade all damage if they succeed). +2 bonus to saves vs. Evocation spells if they already have evasion and another +2 for improved evasion.

As for Kyace's idea of adding hit points per level, I might house rule something like that in if I run into trouble.

[Thoughtbot360]

Now, for actual content! *Ahem*

Here it is; the Dwarflands!

Contents will eventually include:
Dwarven biology and diet
Dwarven society and holdings
Dwarven Ancestor worship and the Lord of Thunder
--Dwarven Clerics
Dwarven enemies
--Giants and their history
--The evil that stalks the land: Abberations and Undead
--Orcs
---Orc diet and Ancestor worship
--Wandering Goblins and Ogres
Dwarven Magic
--The Sons of Thunder
--The Stone Shifters
Dwarven Adventures and Campaign ideas

And just think, this is all one part of a grander world. XD

Dwarven biology and diet
Disc world this ain't -Me

The Dwarves live off of a variety of foods, almost all of which is either too strong, too alien, too full of alchohol, or too downright poisonous for a human to eat. But unlike Orcish foods, the majority of this requires a certain harvesting period. Lets take some popular foods step by step.

Kelvara AKA "Super Barley"
The Dwarves have discovered a spectacularly high-yield (considering the cold climate) strand of Barley (we think its barley-its a little...different.) The Dwarves have called it Kelvara, and with it they have brewed some of the strongest booze the world has come to know. The problem is, the really fine stuff is almost to strong (There is not an Elf alive who can hold his liquor when he's had a pint or two of this stuff. Longevity, it seems, comes at the price of being the butt of ever dwarven joke.) For visitation of and for exportation to other races, the Dwarves have watered down some of their brew. Dwarves, being highly resistant to being tipsy (that +2 bonus to resist poison comes in handy) find this brew

Potatoes, Livestock, and other "normal" food
The Dwarves are not well known for their domestication of animals, but mountain goats and rams have been seen on their farms, and are the primary source of dairy. Dwarven cheese comes from such animals and is fermented and occasionally seasoned (with the Kelvara Barley and other such things the Dwarves use as spices) to such a degree that many non-Dwarves cannot stand it (It has been said that a Dwarven boy heroically killed an Ogre by force-feeding him some cheese, thus causing him to choke. Pansy Ogres ). Pigs, being abundant animals are regularly butchered as a source of meat. Most interesting are the Dire Boars that wonder the wilderness and Dwarves have been known to form large parties to hunt down and kill such animals, not only for the meat, but also for the damage they cause when they get surly (although they don't mind if the hog charges in the Orc warcamp' direction, mind you). The Dwarves also harvest wheat for bread, nothing much to say about the bread.

Mosses
yumyuckmoss, enough said.

Mushrooms
The Dwarves are excellent tunnelers and miners, as you might have heard. As a result, they encounter many unique fungi that grows underground and in dark areas. A number of these fungi actually grow quite well when tended by a Dwarven Farmer. Which these mushrooms, the Dwarves have made thousands of unique foods from mushroom beer which has unique flavors no other drink has (probably because the mushroom in question is poisonous and causes non-Dwarves to be laid up in bed for a week, with the bedpan quickly becoming their best friend.) to various sauces that allow for variety that may remind us of what a modern day supermarket has in stock. There are mushrooms that taste (and emulate the nutritional values of) like tomatoes, citrus, olives, and screaming (oh, wait thats a Shrieker). The important thing to take from this is that Dwarves can farm underground, and any dwarven nation that can afford the tunneling achieves a huge step forward in defensibility (hope they don't mine into the underdark....)

The Elves may have more magic to aid farming, and the Humans have a powerful strand of wheat that allows for them to greatly reduce the land needed for argiculture (whoa just got ahead of myself, more on this later), but it one of the things that can be attributed to why Dwarves are so healthy (constitution-wise) may be because of their varied (if unusual) diet. It might even be plausible that Dwarves have created something like pizza using the tomato-mushrooms and the over-powering goat cheese (not neccessarily healthy, but its far advanced for an Iron Age civilization which historically had problems with getting a balanced diet). In fact, when leaving the Dwarf lands, the thing they probably miss most is the food. But, of course, they are Dwarves, and not Halflings (and they won't hesitate to remind of that fact should it ever come in question) and value stoicism highly, right up there with their personal honor.

Now, the main thing to note about Dwarven biology that cannot be inferred by the PHB's entry on Dwarves and what I've said about their diet, is how they breed. Female Dwarves don't have beards, but they tend to be more masculine (particularly those that happen to become adventurers and warriors) compared to human women, or, well, Elven men. *Ducks just in time to avoid the Manyshot arrows* Disc World this ain't, however, and Dwarven marriages don't end in embarrassment due to your spouse turning out to be the same gender as you.

Next time: Dwarven society!

[Thoughtbot360]

Dwarven society and holdings
The dance for fire and wind, and the stories of old kings, are pleasing our great lords, down in the village of Dwarves! -Rhaposdy of Fire

The northlands, are well, northlands. They are cold. They are mountainous. They have frost giants. However, the dwarves have cut a living for themselves in it. The Dwarves have a long, proud history as warriors, and even fought off the Ragesian Empire when it came to invade the Northlands.

-The majority of Dwarven states exists along a mountain range that extends from the ocean in the south east.
-These mountains have been rumored among the other races to hold a deep reserve of Adamantine ore, but it may be that Dwarven's stonecutting feature merely allows them to locate and develop better methods of exploiting the rare mineral.
-Dwarven states are actually smaller than human nations (about 6-10 square miles), but they are tightly tied together by a large road network. Trade between various villages and city states is completely open except in times of war. War between Dwarven states is not unheard of, but what is more common is violence between dwarves and the other races of the north lands.
-As much as half of a typical dwarven city is underground. Cities fortunate enough to have stone shifters in their employ are able to tunnel much more efficently. These underground networks are used for mining, but also for farming fungi and mosses on as much of an industrial scale as is possible. These farms may be one of the reasons dwarven borders are so small, as the same square mile of land is overlapped with surface and subterrainian holdings.
-Although the Dwarven lords are not under the direct control of a politically strong king, they do swear fealty to a dead one. One who has been deified and has a working church that has remodeled the king's castle (which was itself, once a fortess built for Frost Giants) into a Grand Cathedral. This king left no successor, but in place of a successor, this clergy educates the nobility, preserves the lore of dwarven culture, including the story of this great king, and deals with any ghosts that walk among the living(More on this in the section on religion). All in all, they are very powerful.
-Dwarves are proud and highly prize personal honor. They are also very touchy, and it has been said that there are a thousand and one ways to offend a dwarf because as plain as dwarves may seem to the outsider, there has been over the ages many veiled insults in the Dwarven language and gestures and posturing that shows disrespect. Murder rates among Dwarves are relatively high, with most of the lives lost in duels. Dwarves have a particularly difficult time dealing with the other races who are totally oblivous to how they have offended and in fact innocent of showing them any disrepect. Dwarves have a tendency to read too much into simple, trite observations people make and tend to lose their cool and ruin the negoiations (even if the dwarf initiated said negoiations!). Hence, the -2 Charisma.
-Dwarves are highly militant and most nonfarmers either becomes a miner, expert, teacher, cleric, or works in a government office (like a politician, military officer, judge or a tax collector), but it should be known that Dwarves as a whole are taught to fight, and conscripts are quite powerful for the autonomous dwarven states that cannot afford a decently sized standing army.
-Dwarven armies largely include infantry, but chalvary are relatively unheard off. The infantry tend to make use of the Dwarven Ugrosh with the Heater shield, and this has become popular because it Dwarves know that other humanoids do use chalvary, and it becomes useful to have a spear formation possible to be improvished on the fly when you encounter such charge-happy enemies, even if you use the axe most of the time.

[Thoughtbot360]

Dwarven Religion and the Lord of Thunder
All major deities, assuming they actually exist and weren't just made up by the Church to delude its followers, are in reality malevolent and will have to be destroyed. The only exception to this rule is the four nature spirits who have preserved the land since time immermorial, but now due to the folly of mankind have lost virtually all their power and need you to accomplish some ludicrous task to save them. -The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Cliches, Cliche # 89: Well, That About Wraps It Up For God

The Dwarves have long worshipped their ancestors, and have shouted out the name of their clans to bring them courage in battle. But no Dwarf was ever so universally venerated as the one that came to be known as the "Lord of Thunder." To understand the Lord of Thunder one most first learn of the Giants and, most especially; the Va'gon'as:

The Va'gon'as Horde was the largest army of Giants the World had ever known that practed archery on the backs of the great Dire Elks. Joining them to raid the countyside was seen as an alternative to the Major Culture of the time, the Frost Giant's Empire. It was seen as simply more fun, and the warriors of the Va'gon'as adorned themselves with gold, their spoils of war. In fact, the entire hoard was held together by constant plunder, and when you are Giant, you needs yourself a lot of plunder. Any way, many Hill Giants, Frost Giants, Ogres and Giants in general joined this wandering army.

In all of this mess, the Dwarves had it arguably the worst. The Orcs had little of value and even fewer permanent settlements, so they were overlooked by the Giants. Goblin refugees were forced into Dwarven territory, and they created a cache of hidden villages there that remain to this day. Also, one city dug a little too deep and uncovered the temple of an insanity cult that had, itself tunnels to the underdark. That particular city had to be evacuated and still has driders crawling around it to this day, despite sealing the tunnels. But the worst were the raids by the Va'gon'as. In less than a month, the Giants had ruined countless dwarven lives, and ended thousands. The most terrible was when they depopulated the largest city the dwarves had ever built, Izelhiem. The Giants, who had had too much dwarven ale at just the night when the citizens of the city had demanded that they leave. That idea didn't sit too well with the drunken Va'gon'as. From that city would come many refugees, one of which would become the most famous dwarf in their history and deified like no other.

That heroic Dwarf swore revenge against the Va'gon'as. He trained his group of refugees into his own horde, and developed tactics for fighting the Giants and studied effective ways of dealing with other enemies. He united the scattered clans under his rule through sheer force of charisma and liberated many Dwarven settlements that were ruled by the Frost Giants. He was crowned King of the Dwarves, but his accomplishments didn't stop there. He created not only a new standard for dwarven armies from that day forward, but a now way for dwarves to live. Many of these systems have been pefected up in the following centuries, this dwarf is given credit for creating them. But most spectatcular were his apparent powers. His voice was likened to a thunderclap, and it was reported that he once caused a mountain over 300 ft. away to avalance onto a Va'gon'as camp with his voice. He also was said to have caused a lightning storm at sea when the Frost Giants sent their navy to reenforce a critically important stronghold in the dwarflands (Nobody knows if this is true, but historically, the calm skies did suddenly turn on the Frost Giant fleet, and the famous Dwarf leader was awfully complacent to the chargin of his frantic military advisors before the event. He never offically admitted that he had anything to do with the storm.) These phonemnon, combined with his reputation gave him the title "Lord of Thunder."

The Frost Giants may have retaliated against the dwarves, but they had to deal with the Va'gon'as, who had turned their eyes to the capital city of the empire, so the Dwarves were left to their own devices. The Frost Giants would eventually buy off the Va'gon'as in a move that would leave the empire particularly impovished (considering thier recent defeats at the hands of The Lord of Thunder) and would leave the Emperor politically weak. However, none of this mattered to the Lord of Thunder, who had found what was the home of Va'su, the Va'gon'as leader. Now was the time for his revenge. The Va'gon'as had been an elusive and terrible enemy to fight, as the Lord of Thunder had yet to develop an effective counter to Archery from the backs of giant Elks, but then, the Va'gon'as had only ever fought on the offensive and with time to string their bows and mount their antlered beasts. So the Dwarves attacked Va'su's fortress in the night. The Giant's senses were dull and it was Darkvision vs. Low-Light Vision (in the Dwarves' favor). The Dwarves started by chasing off the Dire Elks they didn't kill and most of the Giants were forced to rout on foot after suffering massive causalities. After the battle, the Lord of Thunder told Va'su that the Dwarves would give him all the gold he could want and poured molten gold down his throat.

And that's the guy the Dwarves revere as a god.

I'll give more information on the Church of Thunder tomorrow but the domains clerics can choose are: Air, Travel, and War. The Lord of Thunder counts a TN, and Clerics can be of any alignment. Campaigns using the EOM rules must play clerics using the EOM clerics from Lyceum Arcana, the sister book to Elements of Magic Revised edition.

Most clerics that choose the Air domain pick Create Air as their extra spell list, so they can use the control weather enhancement to bring thunderstorms. Those that pick Travel prefer to get Move Nature as one of their two bonus Move [Element] spell lists, for snowstep, more than anything else, because The northlands have a lot of snow (not that Air walk or Spider climb arent cool either). War Clerics pick Evoke Lightning and Evoke Sound (Durkon did Sonic damage with a the thunderclap that accomponied a lightning bolt therefore Sound/Sonic=Thunder)usually, for obvious reasons.

[elliott20]

hmm... it seems like it could make for an interesting system. I'd like to see how it play tests out.

[Thoughtbot360]

hmm... it seems like it could make for an interesting system. I'd like to see how it play tests out.

Thank you, I'm glad you think its interesting.

I'll be posting the chapter on the Dwarves enemies later tonight, maybe squeeze in the magic. I'll be editing the section above right now to add more information about clerics.

-Clerics rules and fluff has been added.

[Thoughtbot360]

Well, okay, I got distracted. We had company over the weekend. Anyway:

-Seriously, I'll have the Enemies section up sometime.

Dwarven Enemies
In an ancient time, in an ancient land, with ancient ninjas -and very few adjectives- there lived lived a treacherous Magon (that's a half-monkey, half-dragon. You think a regular dragon is tough? Try fighting one with a pre-henselled tail. Kinda like you combine the Wizard of Oz and Reign of Fire...and Jonistan Libington Segal. Thats kinda what a magon is like.) This particular magon's name was Charles (not a particularly intimidating name-BUT! Wait till you hear what he was doing). He was.... -The Ninja from Ask a Ninja

One thing you might notice is that almost all the intelligent creatures in the northlands suffer a charisma penalty of some sort. Maybe thats why theres so much fighting going on here and there.

Giants
-Ah, Giants. The oldest enemies of the Dwarves ever. Maybe I should tell you some history of what happened to the great giant armies, namely the frost giant empire, and of course, the Va'gon'as.

Va'gon'as raiders
After Va'su was killed, his empire lasted exactly 5 minutes. The Va'gon'as required a constant supply of plunder and Va'su was the glue that held them together. Also many raiders broke away from the rest to persue personal vendettas of revenge or simply trying to loot indiscriminately. Many of these stories ended poorly for the splintered groups of ex-Va'gon'as. However, there are many affinianios of mounted archery in the villages where the ex-Va'gon'as retired, obviously passed on from the surviving raiders. Any way, the sudden disappearance of the Va'gon'as horde after Va'su's defeat was just fuel for the great bonfire of the Lord of Thunder's reputation.

The Frost Giant Empire
-The Frost Giant Empire was actually more of a large kingdom (if we scale the land up to properly measure Giant dimensions) that happens to include various settlements belonging to medium and small creatures the Giants took over. This "empire" actually only spanned about 1/10 of the Northlands at its height, and suffered economic turmoil due to Raiding and Correcion from the Va'gon'as, and due to the Lord of Thunder's liberation of the Dwarf city-states. The Empire lasted for another three centuries before giving way. Frost Giant society is still in tact, though, but constant in-fighting and poverty has greatly limited their ability to grow as a power. Among the races that the Frost Giants enslaved were the Hill Giants, the Bugbears, the Orcs, and the Dwarves. Kobolds were said to be among the oppressed, but they were either too much of a handful or they all died from their legendary accident-proness and cannibalism.

Goblins
-The Goblins are faster breeders than the orcs, but have short lifespans (thats for the goblins that survive genocide by PCs.) If they know anything, its how to be a pain in the ass for any invader of their territory.

Guest stars: Kobolds!
-Oh, boy. Do you really need another fodder monster? Actually, because I feel giddy, these kobolds are of the dog-like KAMB variety and the DM is encouraged to make only the most bizzare personalities with them (so long as it would be funny if they couldn't be competent to save their lives.) The biggest problem with portraying them this way in your game is that the cannibalism/infanticide/just plain too silly overtones won't be appreciated by your players. If they know anything, its how to goof up the simplest task and reduce painfully serious situations into hysterical examples of doing the wrong thing at the wrong place at the most decidely wrong time. Running gag is the watch word here.

Ogres
-Ogres are actually highly intelligent, but are heavily anti-social and consequently are largely stuck back in the stone age. Many have bone and wooden weapons, but if they hook up with more technologically advanced suppliers, they can be issued a metal weapon made for a large creature.

Orcs
-Orcs have very few permanent settlements, due to their omnivorious diet giving them the ability to stomach all kinds of odd foodstuffs found in nature, most of which is impalable by other races (insects, swamp weeds, seriously they eat cat tails-the plant you morons-like corn dogs). Orcs are actually one of the most numerous races (second only to kobolds) in the world, apparently due to faster breeding. The reason they outnumber the goblins is partially because of a sudden increase in Orcish lifespans that has occurred in recent generations among the savage tribes of Orcs (nobody really understands but its theorized that its because Orcs have become resistant to disease and some people say, have evolved to digest rotten food). But its also become there are two clans of Orcs that are actually civilized and their societies have made some improvements of overall orcish life. I'll tell about those civilized orcs some other time.

Ghosts
-One of the reasons the dwarves worship their ancestors so much is due to the presence of angry undead that haunt the dwarflands. Constant fighting has ensured many angry spirits that wander the frigid north. Ominous isn't it?

Abberations
-Apparently, the Dwarflands are just as exciting underground as below ground, lets just leave it at that...


Dwarven Magic
I cast Magic missile at the darkness!-revealing your side of the field -Little Kuriboh imitating Yami in his parody of the 4Kids version of the Yugi-oh anime: Yugi-oh the abridged series

Before we get to the major magical traditions and their implications, I feel compelled to mention the magical classes (besides clerics, which have been covered in the above chapter) that dwarves frequently use.
First of all, the re-made core classes:

Bards: Actually the Dwarves have a good deal of drinking songs. Not many become particularly good bards (or write particularly good drinking songs) but they are there.
Druids: Nature is largely a force to be tamed in the eyes of the dwarves, not protected. This profession may be a little too woodsy for the dwarves, but the DM could write in a clan of nature-worshipping dwarves that train druids.
Paladins: Sure, why not? Its hilarious to watch the reaction of a fanatical min-maxer who heard you were going to play a Dwarf Paladin.
Rangers: Very little about the Ranger absolutely screams dwarf, but they have some useful skills like tracking and fighting favored enemies.
Wizards/Sorcerers: See Mages and Arcanists. However, if you are playing with EOM AND Core magic side-by-side, hear's the scope on Dwarven wizards: They exist, but have trouble getting their hands on spellbooks they can copy to their own. Dwarven Arcanists have the same problem and may even team up with the Wizards to try and collect arcane magical knowledge (and might offer some kind of service to Mages and Sorcerers in exchange for knowledge on spells. Namely they might give free scrolls or discounts on any other magic items their guild creates to any helpful Mage or Sorcerer.)

Now for the exclusives EOM/Lyceum classes:

Mages: Most of the Sons of Thunder are Mages. Actually, mages are a diverse lot and there are many dwarves who are "freestyle" mages or have some mage tradition thats not as popular. Point is, there are mages outside the dwarven nobility and the stone shifter's guild.
Mage Knights: Hey, its almost like a fighter, with the added benefit of dabbling in magic. What's not to love?
Task mages: The dwarven taskmages not only exist, they actually started their own magic tradition, the Stone shifters
Arcanists: Its not that Dwarven Mages don't have spellbooks, its just that they are really hard to find. The Sons of Thunder and the Stone Shifters are protective of their secrets and its hard to track down a mage (particularly with all the fakes out there...)
Longwalker: Some problem as the Druid: too naturery.
GodHand: Thats the Giant's divine spell caster class! The Dwarves don't want any of those!
Exhalten: Dwarves just love the Lord of Thunder too much to show much hero worship for some semi-competent upstart. That and the low charisma gets in the way. Exhalten just never got popular.

Magical traditions

Sons of Thunder
So, when I was in the military academae, Me and some friends o'mine was aboot tae beat up that nancy boy what was goin' to be the Duke when his father died, what be lookin' down on us all the time, so we could get back at him (and so we could say that we beat up the king), when all of a sudden we was all struck by ligh'nin'! I was in the hospital fer a week, but I was just glad when my ears started workin' again; cuz' after that ligh'nin struck, the thunderclap afterwords took my hearing. The moral o' the story: Beware of the Dwarf what sits in the cities capital palace at this hour, for he truly has the blood of thunder in him. -Sargent Tillnoc Foehammer, as quoted in a copy of the Sons' (of Thunder) historical records in Izelem's grand library

The Sons of Thunder are said to be descending from the Lord of Thunder or (more frequently) say that their ancestors include the various other heroes and historic leaders that each individual Dwarven state chooses to revere as patron spirits, alongside the Lord of Thunder (this list changes from nation to nation, in much the same that early cities worshiped a single patron God like how Sparta had Ares and Athens had Athena, but both acknowledged Zeus as the Father of the Gods.) These Noble mages have formed a bit of an international club in the hopes of actually rivaling the Church of Thunder in power. In every society, those at the top of the ladder justified their position by invoke that they were gods, that they were descend by god, and finally, that the gods just preferred for them to rule and would be mad if anyone challenged them. The Dwarven nobles, and particularly the Sons of Thunder, use the second option, though it has been said that many Sons of Thunder invision themselves as Gods.
Availibility: The Sons of Thunder are similar to the Gabal Spellduelists (in Lyceum Arcana) in that they are an exclusive group that usually only takes in nobility. However, by being magically talented, and picking up the right "Skull and Bones" buddies in college, a non-noble might join to. Dwarves only.
Thematic Elemnents: The Lord of Thunder has been likened to many symbols of Thunder, Lightning, and many intimidating Beasts and Forces of Nature, but most of all there was his necklace with simple stone tags which were inscribed with the runes for the names of the families that died in the Izelheim massacre. The Sons of Thunder wear similar necklaces, but with their own ancestors' names, but also with a bejeweled tag that holds no name, but is supposed to represent to the Lord of Thunder himself. The spells they use are flashy and they howl thier verbal components more than chant them, in a manner not unlike the Ragesian Inquisitors, but this is to better emulate the Lord of Thunder. Their spells regularly use Lightning streaking across the sky, even for spells that are designed to do something that doesn't involve the Lightning Elemental at all, like say, setting something on Fire with side effects from the Evoke Fire Spell lists. The Lightning and Sound Elements are treated as simese twins by the Sons of Thunder and one is rarely seen without the other.
Spell lists: Abjure Giant, Charm Giant, Charm Humanoid, Create Air, Create Lightning, Create Mist, Create Sound, Evoke Lightning, Evoke Sound, Illusion Air, Transform Lightning. No Undead spells. They never get Move Earth.
Miscellaneous: The Sons of Thunder rarely go in the tunnels. Under the ground, Sons of thunder cannot cast spells that use the Lightning, Air, or Sound elements and their caster level is reduced by two for all other spells (minimum caster level: 1/2.) But when above groud, they have an extra amount of mp equal to their caster level which they can devote to spells that use those Elements. In a (non-magically created) storm, they get another half of their caster level in extra MP on top of the (caster level) MP they get for being out doors. Storms don't affect whats underground besides possible flooding, so the underground Son of Thunder gets nothing. Also, the Sons of Thunder have apparently read OOTS and figured out how to project Sonic damage from a thunderbolt they created.

Here are some feats Sons of Thunder have access to
Thunder Magic [Tradition]
--You can merge the Lightning and Sound elements into one.
Prerequistes: Evoke Lightning and Evoke Sound
Benefit: When spending MP on an Evoke Lightning or an Evoke Sound, you may purchase for free any intensity of side effect of the other element for 1/2 the MP you spend on the Evoke Lightning or Sound (whichever you spend more on if you are using a complex spell that uses the Evoke Lightning and Evoke Sound spell lists). One half of one MP equals an ambient effect. Therefore, an Evoke sound 2/ Drain Earth 6/ Gen 0 spell
that does 3d6 (or 2d6 with the one hit die rules) sound damage and lowers Str by 6 with a touch also gets the ability to stun the target for up to two rounds (a 1 MP lightning side-effect since the caster spent 2 MP on Evoke Sound). If you have MP in bewteen the costs of two intensities (only happens with sound side effects, not lightning), round down to the lower MP cost.
Normal: You have to pay the proper MP for every side-effect you want.

Thunderclap [Tradition]
--You can project a spell from any point within range as if you were standing there.
Prerequisites: Caster Level 5+, Thunder Magic, and at least one signature spell that uses only Evoke Sound and general enhancements but no discerning enhancements.
Benefit: If you cast an Evoke Lightning spell with any range enhancement that costs more than 1, you may cast a signature spell that uses only Evoke Sound and general enhancements (but no discerning enhancements!) from the 5-foot square where the Lightning struck from your other spell. You may not use this second spell to damage the same creature you did with the first spell that used Evoke Lightning. You must announce that you are going to Thunderclap and devote MP to the spell before you cast the first one. The Evoke Sound spell takes place at the end of the iniative round, when the character who rolled lowest on its iniative roll has had its turn.
Normal: You can only cast from the 5-foot square you yourself occupy.

Sample Spells:


Wrath of the Thunder Lord
Evoke Lightning 4/ Gen 6
MP: 10
Range: 150
Area of Effect: 30 feet
Save: Fort negates for deafening effect.(DC 15 + cha. modifier)
-A Forked Thunderbolt crashes down to earth, dealing 5d6(3d6 in one hit die rules) electricity damage in a 30-foot area. The lightning bolt forks out before impact and makes a ranged touch attack up to 10 enemies (or avoids up to 10 allies and attacks everything else) within the 30 foot area. Even if an enemy avoids the ranged touch attack, it must then succeed at a fortitude save of be deafened for one round, and suffer a -1 to Balance and Listen checks for 1 minute due to dizziness and ringing in the ears. This spell requires the Thunder magic feat. 4 MP lightning damage, 3 MP AOE, 2 MP Range, 1 MP Discerning, free mild Sound side-effect.

Warcry of the Storm
Evoke Sound 5/Gen 6
MP: 11
Range: 150 foot Cone
Save: Reflex half/Fort negates (DC 14 + Cha modifer)
-3d6 Sonic damage (2d6 in one hit die rules) in a 50-foot area. All creautres in the area take half damage on a successful reflex save, but must still make a fortitude save or be simalenously stunned for four rounds (they get a new fortitude save each round to shake off the stun earlier) and be deaf for 3 rounds (2 rounds in the one hit die rules, but maybe I could house rule 3 rounds in). This spell is usually cast in conjunction with "Wraith of the Thunderlord" via the Thunderclap feat. 2 MP Evoke Sound, 3 MP Moderate Sound side-effect, 6 MP Cone Range, free Lightning side effect.

Stone Shifters:
What is that? What is THAT!? Are you blind? Its obviously...hey, what is this again..OH, YES! Now I remember, its a stone incarnation what a mindflayer looks like after a chaos beast has destabilized its corporeal form! See, the chaos beast down there, near the mutated lump that used to be the mindflayer's genetalia? I know real chaos beast only take one form at a time, but I had sections of its body transforming into something else, to show just how diverse the Chaos Beast can be. People always ask what does a Chaos beast look like, and its hard to tell them because a Chaos beast doesn't look like any one thing, well, that partially melted lump of stone is the answer to the question. *That* is what a Chaos beast looks like. Why did it touch the mind flayer on the genetalia, you ask? Well... -Dirk Grubstone, revealing one of his masterpieces.

The Dwarves have spent so much time working with stone and metal they have redefined what it means to be a craftsman. But one Dwarven expert from the local stonemason's guild (Lets call him Dirk Grubstone) took a bad step while mining one day and fell down a whole and into the underdark. The experience left him insane, I mean "Oh, the walls are melting all around me, again, how drool" insane. However, as luck would have it, Dirk had dormant magical power that manifested themselves just in time to fight off the horrors and aberrations of the underdark. He still when insane from the c'thulu-esque adventure, but his insanity combined with his budding earth-related magical powers and, with it, he made many a disturbing (and often impossible to replicate with non-magical stoneworking) stone artifact. Rather than being thrown into the madhouse, Dirk was credited with giving the arts in Dwarven society a comeback, and his guild was actually transformed into a magic school, so that future generations might study his unique stone cutting techniques. Stone shifters' magic is useful for helping the dwarves dig tunnels, and they are known far and wide for their talents as well as their beautiful (or gruetresque) magic items, carved murals, and constructs. Some dwarves dislike the shifters' radical new styles of stonecutting (and those golems are bigger than they are, too! Therefore, the golems are clearly evil).
Availibility: A non-Dwarven Taskmage or any other character talented in crafting and magic can travel to the Shifter's guild in the Dwarflands to apply. However, dwarven stone shifters travel across the lands of other races to employ their services, and it may be possible to learn from one of them without going to the northlands.
Thematic elements: Dwarven craftsmen all, the shifters' spells include the earth, ooze, crystal, and metal elements in them. They are fund of Create and Transform spells, but use other kinds to (but in all their spells, even their Evoke Earth spells, are creative-and sometimes graphic- works of art.) They use Transform ooze to make stone more malleable (just like the Reshaping spell) or the Transform Life/Transform construct to create animated objects to fight for them. They also have been known to use the Side effects of Evoke Lava to merge one bar of metal cleaned of impurities with on that actually wasn't purified to create a weird, striped, statue, or one that used the different building materials to form an optical illusion, and then animate those statues into golems. They also boost their intelligence scores with Infuse Death spell to raise their craft skills into the heavens so that they might make wild and unheard of art objects.
Spell lists: Abjure Abberation, Create Crystal, Create Earth, Heal Earth, Infuse Death, Evoke Earth, Move Earth Transform Earth, Transform Ooze, Transform Construct
Miscellaneous: Stone shifters get a lot of work, for they are desired artisans (and tunnelers). A Stone shifter that actually takes the dangerous carrer of the adventurer is pretty rare. They prefer to wear workclothes most of the time, as spend most of their lives getting dirty. Not many mushroom farmers are stone shifters, but many owe their farms to a shifter's magic forming the tunnel.

Tradion Feats include:

Stone Shifting
-You are able to transform stone objects with the greatest of ease.
Prerequisites: Caster level 1+, 5+ ranks in Craft (Sculting), 5+ ranks (Stonemasonry), Transform Earth, Transform Ooze
Benefits: Once per day, you are able to cast a spell that uses Transform [Element], Transform [Creature], and general enhancements without paying any MP. This spell must be cast on a stone object and its MP limit is equal to the ranks you have in Craft (Sculting) or Craft (Stonemasonry), whichever is lowest.

Sample Spell:

Mud Caterpillar
Transform Ooze 3/ Transform Life 2/ Gen 3
Total MP: 8
Range: 30 ft (Line)
Duration: Ten minutes
-Transforms a 6 5-ft. squares in a row of solid rock into a strange, sub-sentient, pillar-shaped, clay creature (unique creature thats basically a worm with a 1 in all its stats and no intelligence score) that is 30 ft. long. It has no attacks and can only wiggle at a pace of 10 ft. per round. This worm (an ooze) usually is coaxed out of the dwarves' new "tunnel" by a Compel Ooze spell soon after its creation and herded somewhere where it safely turns back to stone.

[Thoughtbot360]

I'll post the adventure ideas tommorrow night. But I thought I'd give you a low down on where to find the other core races in this world:

Dwarves: C'mon, I've spent the better part of two weeks telling you about them!
Humans: They pre-dominatly exist along the cresent-shaped coastline of a great gulf and various locations more in-land from that gulf. They actually exist as a powerful minority, alongside various bronzeworking and boneworking humanoids that never developed advance agriculture and therefore other technologies, including magic and metalurgy, are underdevelopped. The problem is many of them (particularly Kobolds) breed in great number and despite their technological inferiority, some of the humanoids have in the past threatened to be rival kingdoms just like other human nations, other others seem to just be hopelessly wedged in between humans and some other, more powerful (and prosperous) monster. (agin, particularly Kobolds)
Elves: Elves exist in a loose confederatation of isolationist, heaviliy guarded settlements deep in secluded areas of a forest. They're like gated communities, only with Plant monsters instead of armed guards.
Orcs and Half-Orcs: Orcs are omnivorous and numerous, but have so far been held back by a lack of leisure time. The exceptions are the superstious Ragesian inquistors (a magic tradition listed in Lyceum Arcana) that descended from a tribe of orcs that sided with and where outfitted by the repressive Ragesian empire (a human empire) and then taught magic so that they might help destroy any mages that stood against Ragesia's power. The others are a tribe of orcs that mastered the arts of metalurgy by studing the Frost giants and the Dwarves. They are known as the Steel clans.
Gnomes and Halflings: I haven't thought much about the little people, stay posted.