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Secrets of the Dwarves

by Sam Witt

Dwarves are an insular lot, keeping mostly to themselves in their subter-

ranean kingdoms and labyrinthine mines. While the more adventurous of

their number may travel to the surface to explore the world and their mer-

chants are always eager to trade with others, dwarves prefer their privacy.

The faces they show to the outside world are not always their true faces, and

the secrets of the dwarves are deeper and stranger than most suspect.

Requires the use of

a Roleplaying

Game Core Book

published by

Wizards of the

Coast, Inc.

This product uti-

lizes updated

material from the

v.3.5 revision.

This supplement provides a dozen secrets the dwarves keep from the rest of

the world and ways in which you can use those secrets in your campaign.

When determining which secrets to use in a campaign, it is important to

remember that not all of these secrets are designed to work in the same cam-

paign. The “World Machine” and “Guardians of the Core” present incom-

patible views of the world, for example.

Secret Descriptions

Campaign Uses

A Cancer of Magic

While arcane power has its uses, only the dwarves

understand magic’s dire consequences. Though

magic appear as an infinite source of power and

energy, in truth it draws its strength from the deeps

of the earth. As centuries pass and magic is used

more frequently, the dark mines and pillars of the

earth’s core grow brittle and collapse. In time, the

dwarves fear, rampant use of arcane magic will

destroy the world, devouring it from the inside out.

Dwarf bounty hunters are scouring the

earth for powerful magic users. They intend

to kill mages and destroy arcane tomes in

an effort to preserve the earth from destruc-

tion. These dwarves believe they are fight-

ing for the future of their world and are

utterly ruthless – they do not believe they,

or the rest of the world, will be safe until the

most powerful magicians and magical

items are hidden away and the knowledge

of the most powerful spells is extinguished.

The dwarves are not entirely against arcane magic,

however. Their studies teach them that magic only

becomes a real danger at its most powerful

extremes. Relatively minor spells (those of 3 rd -

level and below) seem to have little effect on the

world, even when used in large numbers.

Moderately powerful spells (those of 4 th to 7 th

level) are dangerous and create significant prob-

lems even when used sparingly. The most powerful

spells (of 8 th , 9 th , and Epic levels) are so destruc-

tive that even a single spell can cause detectable

erosion of the world.

A drow priestess knows dwarves are hoard-

ing magical items and arcane knowledge;

she will stop at nothing to claim this power

for herself. The dwarves find themselves

under attack from all sides as the drow call

in all their allies and begin a genocidal

attack on the dwarf strongholds. Desperate

and outnumbered, the dwarves send a plea

for help to the surface world, hoping

enough heroes will answer their call to

swing the tide of battle before it is too late.

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A band of gnomes is struggling to pre-

serve the magical heritage of its race and

has come into conflict with the dwarves.

The dwarves will not reveal their secret to

the gnomes and so the battle continues,

with the dwarves stealing magic and

killing sorcerers and wizards while the

gnomes fight to keep their arcane lore

from disappearing forever. Only a canny,

tactful negotiator will be able to get both

sides to set down at the table and work out

their differences without revealing the

dwarf’s secret.

investigate this similarity will find them-

selves drawn into a historical conspiracy

as they trace the origins of dwarf writing

and eventually uncover the alien plot.

Earth elementals are appearing, unbidden,

in dwarf territories. They attempt to com-

municate with anyone who will hear them,

warning them of the coming of the

‘devouring earth.’ These elementals only

remain in place for a short time (2d6 min-

utes) before they are pulled back to their

own plane. Characters who have a chance

to talk with these elementals learn the

basics of this secret.

Alien Runes

The writing of dwarves appears stolid and utilitar-

ian, runes meant for engraving in stone or etching

onto metal. What few know, however, is that the

dwarf language is actually an alien tongue given to

the dwarves by allied earth elementals millennia

ago. What even the dwarves do not know is the

true purpose of their runes – to grant elementals

access to the world of mortals.

Demonic creatures are leaking the truth of

dwarf writing to neighboring kingdoms.

The demons, of course, twist the truth and

tell anyone who will listen that the

dwarves and their elemental allies are

about to spring a trap on the rest of the

world. The demons tell just enough of the

truth to convince nearby powers to begin

taking action, which inevitably results in

hiring adventurers to do some investiga-

tion.

So far, the plans of the elementals have not borne

fruit. The time is coming, however, when the

arrangement of dwarf runes around the world will

finally permit a convergence between the elemen-

tal plane of earth and the material plane. When this

occurs, the elementals will pour forth and begin

waging a war of conquest against all mortals.

Fear of Dragons

Though few would admit it, dwarves fear dragons.

Like dwarves, dragons are hoarders of gold and

other treasures, storing their wealth in vaults hid-

den away beneath the earth. This similarity is the

root of the dwarf fear – their legends speak darkly

of miserly dwarves who become slaves to dragons

or, in some cases, become dragons. Dwarves often

refer to this affliction as ‘dragon fever’ or, more

rarely, ‘the gold curse.’

To prevent the invasion, certain key dwarf sites

will need to be destroyed. Ancient temples,

revered forges, and city keystones must be, at the

least, defaced to prevent the elemental invasion.

Convincing the dwarves to follow through on this

is another matter entirely – even those who know

the dangers these carvings present will be hard-

pressed to destroy such treasures.

Whether or not this is true, many dwarves firmly

believe they will become dragons if they become

too infatuated with hoarding treasures. To prevent

this, some dwarves have begun a twisted sort of

gift-giving, in which they lure outsiders to try and

steal their treasure. The dwarves will often disable

some of their deadlier defenses to allow the

‘thieves’ a better chance at escaping with some

loot, but there are still many dangers to face and

would-be burglars are in real danger if caught in

the act.

Campaign Uses

The characters discover an ancient tome

detailing an evil sect of creatures living on

the elemental plane of earth. Samples of

text taken from the belongings of one of

these creatures bear a striking resem-

blance to dwarf runes. Characters who

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This tradition amongst wealthier dwarves allows

them to comfortably continue their hoarding ways,

knowing someone will eventually come along to

pilfer some of their goods – hopefully preventing

the dwarf from becoming a dragon in the process.

a prison in which hideous enemies of the world

were imprisoned by the gods. The dwarves must

safeguard the core, preventing its occupants from

escaping and, just as importantly, preventing evil

disciples of those occupants from finding their

way to this secret prison.

Campaign Uses

As the years pass, this becomes more and more

difficult. The creatures imprisoned within the

Infernal Core are demons, devils, abominations,

and horrors from other planes. As the strongest

prisoners destroy the weaker, their strength grows

ever greater. Now they send forth dreams and

visions to those who share their evil nature, always

looking for followers they can use to open the

Core and begin a reign of terror.

A dwarf recently completed its transfor-

mation into a dragon and is now holding a

small mining colony hostage. Dwarf lead-

ers believe they can reverse the process by

stealing away enough of the dragon’s

hoard. What the dwarves do not have are

enough thieves to carry out the mission.

To make sure enough treasure is taken,

they hire several teams of adventurers and

turn them loose on the dragon. In a twist to

the usual employment requests, the adven-

turers are specifically told not to kill the

dragon or its slaves; the dwarves want to

rescue the mining colony, not destroy it.

Campaign Uses

Unbeknownst to the dwarves, the Infernal

Core actually holds the old gods of the

world. While these creatures are definitely

hostile to the new gods and their follow-

ers, they are not evil by nature. Druids and

rangers, along with many barbarian tribes

and even some monastic orders, are

receiving visions now and wish to free the

primal gods from their prison.

A clan of dwarves has captured a brood of

young dragons and is attempting to use

them in an alchemical process to reverse

the dragon change occurring in one of the

clan elders. Obviously, the dragons are

willing to do just about anything to get

their children back, but a straightforward

attack can only end in disaster. The char-

acters are hired to sneak in and get the

young dragons out of the dwarf hold.

Alternatively, the characters could be

hired by the dwarves to protect the eggs

from intruders hired by the dragons.

The dwarves now realize at least one of

the denizens of the Core has become so

powerful it threatens the integrity of the

entire prison. Left alone, this beast will

eventually grow too powerful to be con-

tained and will certainly rupture the Core

as it escapes. A group of heroes must be

assembled to venture into the Core, find

this creature, and destroy it before it can

bring ruin to the world.

Three dwarves are racing towards becom-

ing a dragon, each hoping to seize the

power it brings in order to expand their

territory and holdings. Characters may

work for any or all of the dwarves, alter-

nately stealing from and adding to treasure

hordes.

A dwarf seer claims he has seen the truth

of the Core. This seer believes the Core is

not a danger, but rather a great boon which

the petty gods wished to hide from their

children. This heretical dwarf claims any

dwarf who reaches the center of the Core

will become as a god himself. Of course,

the journey will not be easy, given the

powerful guardians the gods have placed

within the core – and the zealous protec-

tion provided by those dwarves who do

not understand the ‘truth’ of the core.

Guardians of the Core

Dwarves do not live below the earth by choice;

they live in their subterranean caverns because

they must. When the dwarves were created, they

were given the duty of guarding the Infernal Core,

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at least in a limited fashion, it can be used to

steer them towards new adventures.

Life’s Work

The greatest dwarf smiths all know, from a very

early age, when they will die. They sense their death

in omens others cannot interpret and are always

aware of their impending mortality. These legendary

smiths also know their lives will not end when their

bodies weaken and collapse from age. Their

essences are transferred into the items they create,

their thoughts and memories are passed down from

generation to generation through the products of

their forges and smithies. Known as True

Masterworks, these items are sacred to the dwarves

who see them as a combination history book and

immortal master smith.

Charismatic dwarf priests have started a cult

based on a number of powerful weapons

they believe are True Masterworks.

Unfortunately, these weapons are all intelli-

gent, evil magical items introduced to the

dwarves by a family of devils. Unless some-

one can convince the priests (and their fol-

lowers) of the real provenance of their ‘True

Masterworks’ the cult will spark off a dwarf

civil war.

Mithril Keys

Dwarves are often called upon to construct vaults,

prisons, chains, and other means of securing objects

or people of value (or those which are dangerous).

While most craftsmen do their jobs dutifully and in

good faith, there are some unscrupulous dwarves

who add in a few special ‘features’ on all such jobs.

Anyone who possesses a True Masterwork may con-

verse with the weapon via a speak with dead spell.

The True Masterwork is not intelligent, but it does

provide expertise and information. If asked about

specific crafting technique the True Masterwork

object provides a +2 bonus to any Craft skill check

involving metal or stone. A True Masterwork object

also provides the equivalent of bardic knowledge in

matters related to dwarf culture. Checks made using

this special ability have a +10 bonus.

The most notable of these features is a vulnerability to

a mithril key. During the creation of the item or struc-

ture, a mithril key is also fashioned which can open

all locks associated with the item. Mithril keys will

not open locks made or installed after the items initial

creation and delivery to the customer, however.

Campaign Uses

Three hundred years ago, one of the greatest

dwarf smiths ever to walk the tunnels of the

Underearth died. During his lifetime, seven

of the most powerful weapons he ever cre-

ated were given as gifts to various human

kingdoms. Now the smith’s ancestors want

those weapons back, as they seek to recov-

er the techniques of their most revered mas-

ter. Unfortunately, due to wars and other

tragedies, many of these weapons have been

lost to the ages. The characters are hired to

track them down and restore them to the

dwarves.

Dwarves have different reasons for creating mithril

keys, but most see it as a safeguard against betrayal.

After all, if someone shorts you on a payment, you

make sure the key gets into the hands of a thief who

will be happy to recover your fee for you – and a lit-

tle off the top for themselves. Dwarves never adver-

tise the existence of these keys, preferring to keep

them secret to protect their reputations and forestall

ambitious thieves who would certainly want to steal

these keys if they knew of them.

Campaign Uses

A group of adventurers discover a True

Masterwork weapon in a treasure trove. A

successful Knowledge (Religion) skill

check (DC 20) uncovers various necroman-

tic entreaties inscribed upon its blade,

including runes denoting communication

with the dead. Once the characters discover

that the weapon can be communicated with,

An ‘impregnable’ vault was found open

with its contents missing. The dwarf who

constructed the vault has hired the charac-

ters to investigate how this happened – but

doesn’t tell them that his mithril key was

stolen several weeks ago. Ideally, the

dwarf wants the characters to find the thief

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and deal with him - permanently. What the

dwarf does not know is that the thief was

the dwarf’s son, who is disgruntled with

the life of a smith and wants to become an

adventurer.

body within a great forge in the hopes that the dwarf

will return in a new form.

Campaign Uses

In the depths of some particularly heinous

dungeon, the characters stumble across a

dwarf skeleton. While most of the dead

dwarf’s gear has long since decayed or been

stolen away, a small mithril key can be found

with some diligent searching (successful

Search skill check, DC 20). The key contains

two items of information useful to its finders.

First, a dwarf heraldic crest is inscribed on its

handle (this is uncommon knowledge, DC

20, for bardic knowledge checks). Second, a

name is written on the barrel in ancient dwarf

runes (Decipher Script, DC 25). The name is

that of a well-known, exceedingly wealthy

merchant from the nearest city.

Dwarf characters are hired to stand watch

over a particularly active forge which is pro-

ducing dwarf children at an accelerated rate.

After the characters start spying on the

forge, it stops producing children. To set

things right, the characters must undertake a

quest to placate the dwarf gods of fertility

and the forge.

Small dwarf towns are being wiped out by

mysterious forces. Neighboring dwarf com-

munities are requesting help and the charac-

ters are hired to check into things. The cause

of the problem is demons, who discovered

the dwarf’s secret and have been switching

dwarf children with disguised demons.

Characters will need to rescue the children

and destroy the demons in order to save the

dwarves.

A beleaguered group of dwarves comes to

the characters with a request for aid. The

dwarves worked together to build a vault for

an avaricious black dragon, who then turned

on the dwarves and refused to pay them. The

dwarves offer the characters a mithril key

which will open the vault used to store the

dragon’s hoard. The dwarves would like the

dragon killed and their fee recovered from its

hoard.

A recent discovery of wraith ore (see below)

has resulted in strange deformities and

deaths amongst newborn dwarves. The

dwarves in this community know nothing

about wraith ore and will have to rely on the

characters to discover the truth. If the char-

acters do not discover the connection

between wraith ore and the deformed chil-

dren, some of the children will become pos-

sessed by evil essences (see wraith ore) and

will turn against their parents.

Reincarnation

of the Forge

Baby dwarves are not born – they are made. The great

forges of the dwarves, used to smelt metal and fash-

ion items of great power, are also the source of dwarf

children. From time to time, at unpredictable inter-

vals, baby dwarves are found in piles of scrap metal

and waste ash near forges. No one ever sees them

placed there, but they are often found shortly after

periods of intense activity or the creation of a partic-

ularly impressive weapon at a given forge.

Scent of Gold

Many dwarves actually can smell gold and use this

ability to track down rich veins of ore, lost treasures,

and heavy coin purses. While this ability varies in

effectiveness, and is available only to a small num-

ber of dwarves, it has allowed dwarf cultures to con-

sistently ferret out and mine gold.

Smell Gold [Racial]

Prerequisite: Must be a dwarf.

Benefit: You are able to smell gold when you

come near it. You automatically detect any gold

within 30 feet (60 feet if downwind from the gold)

These children are fostered to parents by the rulers of

the dwarf community, based in part on whether a cou-

ple has had children before and who owns the forge.

There are those who believe that the children are rein-

carnations of other dwarves cremated at a forge. As a

result, dwarf funerals often involve the burning of the

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