Dwarves (BG)

From Scratchpad

Dwarves are squat humans that make excellent fighters, but don't excel at other classes unless they are Multi-Classed.

Contents 1 Official description (BG) 2 Official description (IWD) 3 Advantages 4 Disadvantages 5 Classes 6 Multi-classes 7 Notes

[edit] Official description (BG)

Dwarves are short stocky fellow, easily identifiable by their size and shape. They have ruddy cheeks, dark eyes and dark hair. Dwarves tend to be dour and taciturn. Dwarves have a natural resistance to magic and poison. They possess infravision, which allows them to see in the dark. They gain a bonus to their Constitution, but incur a penalty to Charisma.

[edit] Official description (IWD)

Dwarves are short stocky humanoids with ruddy cheeks, dark eyes and dark hair. Though there are exceptions, they tend to be a dour and taciturn people. Dwarves have natural resistance to magic and poison and possess infravision, which allows them to see warm objects in the dark. Dwarves gain a bonus to Constitution, but a penalty to Charisma.

[edit] Advantages

• +1 Constitution.
• Infravision (60 feet).
• Resistance to Poison: +1 to saving throws for every 3.5 Constitution (+5 at 18, +6 at 21).
• Resistance to Magic: +1 to saving throws for every 3.5 Constitution (+5 at 18, +6 at 21).
• +10 Open Locks
• +15 Detect Traps

[edit] Disadvantages

• -1 Dexterity
• -2 Charisma

[edit] Classes

Barbarian Cleric Fighter Thief

[edit] Multi-classes

Fighter/Cleric Fighter/Thief

[edit] Notes

• Dwarves actually make better thieves than Humans since their inherent bonuses give them +5 more to their thieving abilities than a Human with 18 Dexterity.

• The penalty to Dexterity isn't disastrous for most classes. The only difference is that 17 Dexterity gives -3 Armour Class and 18 Dexterity gives -4 Armour Class. However, 18 Dexterity gives +5 to all thieving abilities compared to 17 Dexterity.

• Since it is possible to get +1 Constitution in Baldur's Gate I, a Dwarf can get 20 Constitution without cheating. This gives a slow but extremely useful rate of Regeneration.

• Aside from what is noted above, only Fighters benefit from having Constitution higher than 16. Dwarven Fighters can get more Hit Points than most other races (Half-Orcs can have 19 Constitution too).

• High Wisdom (15, 16, 17, 18+) gives bonuses against spells that attack the mind. Combined with the Dwarf's intrinsic resistances, this can make a Dwarven Cleric quite formidable.

• Combining the above, a Dwarven Fighter/Cleric with 19 Constitution and 18 Wisdom would get 6-14 Hit Points per level (until level 9?), +5 to saving throws against poison & spells and +4 to saving throws against mind-affecting spells!