I play a Dwarven Wizard (Trogdor the Burninator) in LFR for 4e, but in my OD&D setting, dwarves do not cast spells. Instead, they have NPC rituals to create magical items.

In my setting, Dwarves feel the casual and fleeting magic of elves, mages and clerics is petty compared to the permanence of their mighty rituals that can literally move mountains.

Quote from: RandallS;611129What races are available and what classes are available to those races is setting dependent to my mind.

I fully agree. Class/Race decisions are key components to defining a setting.

I fully believe that Dwarves can me mages, however, I feel that its such a rare occurance that any PC under my game would have a heck of a time attempting to level up.  There are so few dwarven mages that those who do know can charge astronomical fees.  Also, it takes a very special kind of dwarf to be able to wield magic.  Training would be very very costly.

This is one of those questions which are more smoke than fire. In other words, who gives a hoot?

Quote from: Melan;611194This is one of those questions which are more smoke than fire. In other words, who gives a hoot?

I think it's just one of those chatty threads where it's interesting to see where people's preferences stand. There are plenty of threads here like that.

I will grant that.

I am of the opinion that thissort of thing should be determined by the setting. In a standard setting it probably isn't great fit, but I like campaigns where the races are a bit different and are tailored to the world. One way to make a place unique andinteresting is play around with assumptions about the various races (though for that to work you haveto understand what those assumptions are and in this case dwarves not using magic is an important one).

A good question, like others, I'm biased depending on the setting. There are more than a few folk-tales/fairy stories with dwarves or dwarflike creatures who use magic.

Some version of Scandinavian Trolls fit the "Dwarf" mould as do some versions of the Svartalf, so depending on what you mean by "Dwarf" you can have a pretty common number of wizards to draw from as inspiration.

Many human's with dwarfish stature (due to their perception in the past) were presented as magic users of vile natures. Mostly because the "different=bad," view our ancestors had. That too can be used as inspiration.

I generally prefer dwarves as mystically empowered craftsmen--able to make enchanted items. I also like rune-magic for dwarf folk. True spellcasters tend to be rare in my preference list, but I'm not going to say its a given for a setting I create.

 In fact if using AD&D, I'd probably allow it because of the nature of magical crafting. (BECM solves this by letting dwarves create magic from their special dwarf forge) but it would make sense if adventuring dwarves could be wizards then essentially dual class to warrior later in life as they settle down to protect their home and be craftsmen. They learn magic, but give it up when they settle down except for fashioning items with their spells.

Quote from: Melan;611194This is one of those questions which are more smoke than fire. In other words, who gives a hoot?

Badwrongfun!

Perhaps it's Dwarven society that shuns magic-users.

• They're an embarrassment and we won't talk about the abberations (elven mixed-blood? shudder)
• Magic makes a dwarf lazy. Why spend hours at the forge when you can just transmogrify the ore into a sword. Bah, where's the artistry, work builds character.
• Remember when the Ironhammer clan delved too far beneath their mountain hall? They awoke "The Nameless Creature That Devours All" and the entire clan (and mountain for that matter) was consumed in a flurry of agony and destruction. Fortunately, we discovered that the nameless creature is drawn towards the arcane echoes produced magic, so as long as we don't cast arcane spells, it shouldn't find us. (Of course, the whole thing is just legend... or is it?)

There's no biological reason why a Dwarf (i.e. your character) can't be a magic-user, but if the the clan finds out, you'll be sent packing (at best), fed to the troglodytes (at worst). That would explain why the PC is away from home.

Yet if you've ever played higher than name level, you quickly realize all demihumans are second class citizens to actual humans.

It makes their culture and all irrelevant and stupid as well, considering they can never be THAT awesome.

Quote from: Blackhand;611247Yet if you've ever played higher than name level, you quickly realize all demihumans are second class citizens to actual humans.

It makes their culture and all irrelevant and stupid as well, considering they can never be THAT awesome.

The D&D RC (pp. 145-146) had some very, very interesting stuff about demihuman clan relics and how they could be used to create magic items, from ye olde +1 sword to magic ships that sailed through earth and stone. Dwarven clans jealously guard their Forges of Power, Elves sit around their Trees of Life probably playing the guitar and smoking pot, and even Halflings have a Blackflame to tend.

I've usually had dwarf casters as clerics, not magic users, and those who were casters were more like alchemists than actual magic users.

However, I don't see why you couldn't if you didn't want to.

Quote from: languagegeek;611235Perhaps it's Dwarven society that shuns magic-users.

• They're an embarrassment and we won't talk about the abberations (elven mixed-blood? shudder)
• Magic makes a dwarf lazy. Why spend hours at the forge when you can just transmogrify the ore into a sword. Bah, where's the artistry, work builds character.
• Remember when the Ironhammer clan delved too far beneath their mountain hall? They awoke "The Nameless Creature That Devours All" and the entire clan (and mountain for that matter) was consumed in a flurry of agony and destruction. Fortunately, we discovered that the nameless creature is drawn towards the arcane echoes produced magic, so as long as we don't cast arcane spells, it shouldn't find us. (Of course, the whole thing is just legend... or is it?)

There's no biological reason why a Dwarf (i.e. your character) can't be a magic-user, but if the the clan finds out, you'll be sent packing (at best), fed to the troglodytes (at worst). That would explain why the PC is away from home.

This has been my more recent explanation, to make logical sense why Dwarven culture remains "Tolkien-esque" in my setting. Dwarves are smart enough to see the benefit of magic, but also see it as inherently corrupting to the wielder.

I'm not what you'd call an old schooler, but here goes:

When 3E was first released, I was a little uncomfortable with the thought of dwarven wizards, and this lasted until I started seeing pictures of them in the art of the game. They just looked right to me, at least how the artists rendered them. From that point I've been comfortable with them.

All races should have access to all classes. I don't even like PrCs or feats that have racial limitations.