Fighter, Brawler and Cleric are all good choices for Dwarves and fit the usual view of them well.
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Druid and cleric match stats.
Fighter is more lore friendly and with steel soul, glory of the ancestors, and shatterspell, they uniquely cover up many fighter holes.
1. Steel Soul, Combat Reflexes
2. Step-up
3. Master Armorer, Armor Training
4. Power Attack
5. Master Craftsman (Clothing), Weapon Training(Axes)
6. Disruptive
7. Craft Wondrous Item, Armored Juggernaut
8. Cut From the Air
9. Smash from the Air, Versatile Training(Climb, Survival) [retrain climb ranks to fly]
10. Spellbreaker
11. Shatterspell, Armor Specialization
12. Combat Stamina
13. Pindown, Defensive Weapon Training
14. Warrior Spirit
15. Armed Bravery, Critical Deflection
16. Fighter’s Reflexes
17. Sprightly Armor, Trained Initiative
18. Improved Initiative
19. Armored Sacrifice
20. Weapon Sacrifice
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Play whatever class you want to have fun playing as a dwarf. Making unique race-class combinations can be unexpectedly delightful. We live in the age of disrupting norms, so have fun.
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So.. What classes would thematicaly fit a dwarf? I know they can be any class, But ones would fit thematicaly based on lore and such? I kind of wanna be a dwarf at some point as I like dwarves, But I have no idea what class to make him..
Defend your Clan!
Brawler
* Fight with your fists. Fight with beer bottles. Fight with ale mugs. Fight with just about anything, and do it well.
* Extra dwarfiness: Mutagenic Mauler. You are a dwarven brewmaster whose ale is so strong that it makes you stronger, tougher, and dumber.
Fighter
* Dwarven fighter? Iconic.
* Extra Dwarfiness: Two Handed Fighter. Armor training does nothing for you. Replace with so much more damage.
Ranger
* You hate orcs? Now you don't just hate orcs, you are an expert in killing them.
* Extra Dwarfiness: You can replace your hatred with other bonuses. Have a grudge against the undead? You can make an undead hunting dwarf extraordinaire. Hate dragons? You can be the absolute best at hurting them. The ranger is for the dwarf with a grudge.
Honor the Ancestors
Warpriest
* He's a priest. Who knows how to fight. Take an earthbreaker. Worship Torag. At lvl6 get vital strike. Also get the weapon of the chosen feats, so you can re-roll those misses.
* Extra Dwarfiness: Arsenel Champion. You're using a large hammer. Get weapon training. Because you are a dwarf, and you are as well trained as any warrior.
Cleric
* You get +2 Con, +2 Wis. That screams cleric.
* Extra Dwarfiness: Grab a hammer too. You're a dwarf!
Inquisitor
* Hunt down the enemies of dwarvenkind with prejudice. This is *the* choice for being a dwarven face, as you get Wis for all face skills. You also get Bane, which makes attacks against those you have a grudge against extra potent.
* Extra Dwarfiness: Sanctified Slayer Inquisitor. Hunt down enemies in the name of Torag.
Cavalier/Samurai without the mount, Barbarian (albeit this one is a bit forgotten realms-y). Wizard earth elementalist, abjurer or diviner. Alchemist or investigator. There are many options but really, it depends on the campaign you are playing.
Paladin, some sorcerer bloodlines, and oracle fit but the charisma penalty hurts you a lot.
Fighter, Cleric, and Warpriest fit the stereotype thematically best. Gunslinger, inquisitor, and oracle also fit thematically.Personally, I've always loved my dwarf alchemists and wizards
Cave druid, Goliath druid (become what you hate). Iconic shaman is a dwarf.
The newest addition to our Emerald Spire jaunt is playing a dwarf cave druid. Seems an interesting concept but we've only done the 3rd level so far. His role is primarily to use the wand of CLW repeatedly as everyone tries their best to die.
barb, fighter, brawler, druid, cleric, monk, ranger, inquisitor, shaman, slayer, warpriest.
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Earth kineticist.
Honestly, basically anything that doesn't get punished by a charisma penalty is at least semi viable.
If you're gonna do paladin though, you really want to go with the Stonelord Archetype in ARG.
Tortured Crusader works well too, even if it is a little selfish. Grudges to settle, always more grudges to settle.
Dwarves = armor, so if a barbarian, then an armored hulk.
Dwarves = armor, so if a barbarian, then an armored hulk.
You like dwarves? What do you like about dwarves? Answer that, then choose a class that lets you emphasize that. Is it their affinity for caves and stone? Their association with tradition, duty and honor? Their beards and love of strong drink? Whatever your answer, choose a class that lets you play up that aspect of dwarviness.
From a mechanical viewpoint, the bump to Wisdom makes Dwarves a good choice for any class that needs it, and the hit to Charisma makes them less suitable for classes that rely on it. People have mentioned druid, warpriest, inquisitor, monk, cleric, and shaman as strong choices, and they are. You mentioned ranger, which is another excellent choice, but you're right that crossbows are somewhat less effective than other missile weapons. You'd be better off as a two-handed-weapon ranger, or a weapon-and-shield ranger. Access to dwarven weapons such as the dwarven longhammer, chain-flail, and waraxe give you some interesting options.
Good luck!
I think we see threads like this fairly often because so few classes complement all of the dwarf's racial stats and abilities. Slow and steady is the main sticking point. It makes you feel like you should wear heavy armor to get the most benefit of it, but it rarely works out. For example, the fighter has armor training which makes it redundant. And the paladin could benefit, but it also relies on charisma that the dwarf takes a penalty to. And then there aren't a lot of other heavy armor classes.
This is gonna sound counterintuitive, but Daring Champion Cavalier.
Use a heavy pick as your one-handed piercing weapon of choice. Use your favored class bonus to increase your challenge damage. Combine challenge and precise strike to deal 2.5x your level in damage to targets of your challenge. Glory of Old and Steel Soul shore up your saves. Most of the deeds you get work the same at 13 cha as they do at 5, so not much need to worry about that. And with the aforementioned damage bonus, you don't need to worry about jumping through hoops to get dex-to-damage.
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Might sound funny, but...
Dwarven Master of Many Styles Drunken Master Monk of the Iron Mountain
Drunken Master:
* Drink strong ale for temporary ki points
* Use ki points to do more damage due to your hard drink
* Immune to fear so long as you are drinking
* DR so long as you are drinking
* Can breathe fire when you drink alcohol
Iron Mountain
* Natural Armor
* Toughness feat free
* Can't be knocked prone or forced to move
* Can double DR for a ki point...
* Better AC when he doesn't talk "Can't talk, drinking."
Master of Many Styles
* No flurry of blows (though can still punch hard). Instead, you use dwarven weapon training (such as a dwarven axe)
* Instead you get "Dwarven hatred style" fighting (If anyone hits you, you can get as an immediate action +2 hit, +2 damage and +4 AC)
* Combine this with Earth Child Style. It increases your defensive training to +6...which combined with Dwarven Hatred Style means +6 AC against anyone who hits you.
* Finally get perfect style, for acid resistance...
You end up with a dwarf whose body is as tough as stone, and who gains strength/bravery/fire breath from drinking.
Man all you need to convince me that Iron mountain monk archetype is for a dwarf is the name. Iron and mountains are like a dwarfs favorite things.
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Man all you need to convince me that Iron mountain monk archetype is for a dwarf is the name. Iron and mountains are like a dwarfs favorite things.
Glad to hear it!
Also...with the build above. Let's say that you are a lvl12 monk. You had a 20 point buy, giving you...
Str (16) Dex (14) Con (15) Int (8) Wis (16) Cha (6).
Thus at lvl12, you now have +2 Str, +1 Wis, and from items you got a belt of physical perfection and a headband of +2 Wis. For:
Str (20) Dex (16) Con (18) Int (8) Wis (18) Cha (6).
Unarmored, you have AC 21. Throw on some cheap ring of protection, amulet of natural armor and bracers of armor, for AC 24, and dodge for AC 25.
An orc swings an axe and hits you. You use an immediate action, and because you now have a grudge against him, you have AC 31 vs him and are getting +2 hit and +2 damage.
So, you swing back. And because you were drinking, you have extra ki points. You use 2 of them to do +2d6 further damage with your axe.
Tell me, what is more dwarven than that?
+1 on The DM Of's post.
That said, here are some thematically fitting classes that don't have archetype or ability score bonus support for Dwarves, but should (note: not an exhaustive list):
- Alchemist: Who says a Dwarf can't be a mad scientist? Should be a mechanical tinkering-oriented archetype, and should also be found among Gnomes.
- Magus: An armored-from-the-start Magus archetype that isn't terrible. Actually, never mind that -- here's a build using existing material that I actually want to try out (needs some going over to take advantage of material that became available after I put this together). I said it in the build and I'll say it again -- Dwarves are awesome, even when their ability score bonuses don't line up right with what's needed (as long as you aren't talking 9/9 caster, and as long as a penalty doesn't line up with what's needed to be a bonus on a 6/9 caster).
- Oracle and Sorcerer: For the occasional outcast Dwarf with innate magic, need an archetype other than Empyreal Sorcerer (and an archetype at all for Oracle) that makes them Wisdom-based.
- Skald -- need the raging counterpart to this very recent (mostly) Dwarven Bard archetype (which, however, unfortunately doesn't do anything about the Charisma penalty).
- Wizard: Need an archetype for Dwarven crafters; biased towards Transmutation.
I rather like a two weapon fighting dwarf who uses Dwarven War Shields, locked gauntlets, Spiked Armor, Dwarven Boulder Helmet, Blade Boots, and wrist launchers.
Just be a mountain of armor, weapons, and death.
A melee Cleric of Torag is an excellent choice. There are many, many ways to make a good melee Cleric; Evangelist Cleric with one level of Urban Bloodrager, for example. Torag can grant the Blessed Hammer feat, which is pretty great.
If you're a martial dwarf, it's hard to go wrong with two levels ranger and the rest fighter. Take Quick Draw as a feat and Archery Style from ranger. You get all of the ranger's skills, and aren't useless versus flying opponents like most low/mid-level fighters. Really good Perception scores, and can usually spot a trap underground.
Dwarf is easily one of the strongest classes IMO.... just its ability to get +5 vs magic for 1 feat and a trait is often overlooked
Dwarf hasn't been a class since D&D Basic/Expert/etc. (not AD&D), but yes, Dwarves are awesome.
