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The Scene
A row of blindfolded dwarves, their hands behind their backs, are each presented with a cut rock or gem. Gingerly one of the dwarvish contestants sniffs his proffered rock and then with a broad stroke of his tongue he licks it.
"Too easy," says the dwarf, "Sandstone, with a hint of pyrite, cut about ten years ago, from the fields of Southern Chelish."
There is a polite round of clapping as the judges nod and calculate a score.
Then the next dwarf steps forward to taste his rock...
The Mechanics
Among the major races, only dwarves really get the hang of rock-tasting and a dwarf has a +4 racial bonus to rolls involving rocktasting.
Tasting a rock is a perception roll, the DC being between 15 and 25 for various rocks and gems. Most simple stones have a DC of 15-20. Most Gemstones have a DC of 20-25.
Dwarves that beat the DC by 5 can identify minor variations or additional metals or elements in the rock.
Dwarves that beat the DC by 10 can identify the length of time the rock has been exposed to the elements, generally an indication of how long ago the rock was cut or shaped. Dwarves that beat a gem-tasting attempt by this amount may also make an appraise check to determine the relative value of a gemstone with a +4 bonus to the appraisal check.
Dwarves that beat the DC by 15 can identify that part of the world from which the rock comes
Scoring
Dwarves are scored for each rock between 0 and 10. Getting the stone type right is usually worth 3-5 points. Additional details raise the amount by which the judges scored the tasting.
Much fun!
Go Dravite! It's your birthday!
Achhh! Every dwarf be knowin' that they all be fer tastin' gud! Ceptin' dose in yer fool, bare head, Hudak!
Dravite has pica.
I do recall a Dwarven character licking the walls of a mine back in some Forgotten Realms or DragonLance novel way back, he was able to find veins of ore this way.
What's a Dwarven rock tasters favorite snack food?
Anything by Ore-Ida?
Marble cake?
Basalt and pepper potato chips?
Accompanied, of course, by a talcoholic beverage.
keystone lime pie? Most excellent.
Marble rye? I prefer 7-granite bread.
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In the Big Rock Candy Mountains, you never change your socks
And little streams of alcohol come a-trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats and the railroad bulls are blind
There's a lake of stew and of whiskey too
And you can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains
Think of the racial slurs that could be applied to dwarves now, rocksuckers!
Wait a second, aren't both modifiers racial? I don't think they'd stack...
All the dwarven snobs lick rocks don't you know.
"All the dwarven snobs lick rocks you don't know."
**Considers making a spin-thread about Gnomish Craft-sniffing**
Naw...
~laughter~ This is too funny!
This needs to go in the Campaign Setting hardcover, perhaps as a sidebar.
Agreed! This is made of awesome!
tfad
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The Scene
A row of blindfolded dwarves, their hands behind their backs, are each presented with a cut rock or gem. Gingerly one of the dwarvish contestants sniffs his proffered rock and then with a broad stroke of his tongue he licks it."Too easy," says the dwarf, "Sandstone, with a hint of pyrite, cut about ten years ago, from the fields of Southern Chelish."
There is a polite round of clapping as the judges nod and calculate a score.
Then the next dwarf steps forward to taste his rock...
Ha! I could totally see the Funderlings in Tad Williams' Shadowkeep series doing this!
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If Rock Tasting is a favorite pasttime of dwarves, I could see dwarves having rock collections, which unlike wine collections can be enjoyed over and over again and also unlike wine collections, a good rock collection will rarely turn to vinegar.
All sorts of adventure opportunities suddenly arise around a rich dwarven businessman. For instance, he wants a rare sample of rock collected from a long abandoned mine. The ore there is particularly rare and some of the elements must be handled with care or they'll lose their distinctive flavor. Of course the fact that the mine is crawling with elemental ore eaters who also love the taste of these rocks is a minor problem.
And then you have the rock collector who has had his vintage collection of quartz crystals stolen by a rival collector. Each Crystal weighs about ten pounds and there are a hundred of them.
And finally, the dwarven love of gold all these years has been sadly misunderstood. Dwarves just think that few ores are as fun to lick as a good piece of gold. :p
This is ridiculously great, dude...You ROCK!
"Urinal scent stone???"
"You fail, you should have spedified 'used'"