3.1 KiB
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| Players Guide 2 |
Duergar are a variant of the dwarf lineage—descendants of dwarves changed by lifetimes spent in the deepest pits of the underworld.
Dwarven lore is riddled with warnings against digging too deep, lest a clan fall to the same fate as the duergar. The first duergar were born from a dwarven clan that dared to mine deeper than any had before. Driven by insatiable greed, they dug tunnels that stretched far into the underworld. They dug until they uncovered something awaiting them in the hungering dark, and it swallowed them whole, leaving no trace of their passage. When the clan did not return, the rest of the clans mourned, presuming them lost.
After an epoch, the dwarves rediscovered their long-lost cousins who, despite all odds, had survived in the abyssal depths and renamed themselves the duergar. It was clear these dwarves had changed significantly in their time below. Generations born in a world devoid of sunlight caused them to develop stronger darkvision. Their crafting traditions became more durable in the absence of the ample forges closer to the surface. They had abandoned long-standing customs and birthed a militaristic culture that could withstand the siege of the monsters below. The duergar were reforged by their unending war for survival, beset by abyssal fiends, ghoulish undead, aberrant monstrosities, and other horrors.
Duergar typically have milky-white eyes and stony skin that is dull gray, purple, and sometimes even blue. Duergar hair is almost exclusively white, though the hairs of their beard are known to develop color after prolonged exposure to the sunlight.
Duergar Lineage Traits
Your duergar character has the following hereditary traits.
Age
Duergar physically mature by the age of 20, but most duergar regard any dwarf large enough to wield a warhammer to be an adult. Duergar can live to be around 350 years old, but those born into the duergar cities within the lightless depths rarely survive to see such a venerable age.
Size
Your size is Medium. Duergar average between 4 to 5 feet tall and tend to have lither builds than their topside cousins. Duergar are often dense and rarely weigh less than 140 pounds.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Duergar Resilience
You have advantage on saves against being charmed or paralyzed. You also have advantage on checks made to see through, detect, or resist illusions and illusory effects.
Enlarge
As a bonus action, you magically increase in size for 1 minute, along with any equipment you are wearing or wielding. While enlarged, you are Large, double your damage dice on weapon attacks, and make STR checks and saves with advantage. If you lack the room to become Large, this bonus action fails. You can end the transformation early (no action required) to revert to Medium size. The transformation also ends early if you become unconscious. Once you’ve transformed in this way, you must finish a long rest before you can use this feature again.
Superior Darkvision
You have darkvision to a range of 120 feet. While you are in an area of sunlight, you have disadvantage on WIS (Perception) checks made to perceive via sight.