Dungeons and Dragons – Mystara
Races – Dwarf of Fire (Craftbound)
NPC Only Race
Sourcebooks: Midgards Heroes Handbook (mhh16) as Southland Dwarf.
Also known as Mad Dwarves.These dwarves are rumoured to be the crafters of the gods and live exclusively in the Northern Reaches having only 336 days (1 year) that they can exist out of that region over their lifetime. While away from home they are required to sleep in dirt from their home each long rest or receive no benefits from resting and increase their exhaustion by one level. All mad dwarves are servants of the entropic immortals as racial fall from grace has stained their family line far greater than those of the hill dwarves. They cannot interbreed with other dwarves. As a sign of their madness, they are known to work closely with gnomes and even travel with them on occasion.
A race designed to be resistant to magic changing to work with it instead has caused them to develop insanity when they begin to tap into their magic potential. They are associated with the sphere of Energy, the element of fire, and the colour red.
- Attributes – Dwarven Traits:
- Ability Score Increase: Constitution +2
- Alignment: Dwarves are Lawful in general
- Size: 4 to 5 ft tall and average about 150 pounds. Medium size.
- Speed: base walking is 25 ft and your speed is not reduced by heavy armour
- Darkvision (Dwarf) you can see in dim light within 60 ft as it was bright light, and darkness as if it was dim light. You can’t discern colour in darkness, only shades of grey.
- Dwarven Combat Training – Weapons Mastery: Gains proficiency with five weapons of significance of your choice. If you have proficiency with these weapons, they are upgraded to skilled. Standard Weapons – Battleaxe, Handaxe, Throwing Hammer, and Warhammer
- Tool Proficiency: You are proficient with the artisan’s tools of your choice: Smith’s tools, brewer’s supplies, or mason’s tools.
- Stonecunning (Dwarf) Whenever you make a Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
- Prophecy: Each dwarf is given a prophecy from their birth that describes how they die.
- Languages: You speak, read and write Common (Thyatian) and Dwarvish.
- Pantheon: Dwarven and Gnome
- Character Options – Available to all Dwarven Subraces
Craftbound Nationalities
- Karameikos: The Skarrad Clan as a colony. These are NPCs Dwarves connected to the Highforge community and help them design their outlandish items.
- Northern Reaches: The Modrigswerg Clan as their home.
- Rockhome: Skarrad Clan as their home and Modrigswerg Clan as a colony.
Clans:
- Modrigswerg (Northern Reaches) the creators of amazing things that sometimes do what they intended. The items they create are only rivalled by the artefacts of the gods themselves.
- Skarrad (Rockhome) Dwarven clan name means “Ironforge”. The engineers and architects of the Dwarven people.
Craftbound Heritage
The Craftbound people are an evolution from the Old Dwarves. They are connected to fire and magic. They have a racial insanity due to incompatibility with dwarves and arcane magic.
- Height – men and women 3’ 10″ to 4′ 10″.
- Complexion – Bronzed skinned.
- Colouration – skin is bronzed and hair black with eyes of rich gold.
- Known Locations: Rockhome, Northern Reaches.
- Traits – based on the Southland Dwarf and meets any requirements requiring that race.
Craftbound Traits
- Ability Score Increase: Intelligence +1.
- Heart of Flame: You are resistant to fire and necrotic damage. They also receive half the effect of healing magic (resistance to magical healing). You also have a weakness to cold damage. When crafting items, you can choose to half the time and the DC of any difficulty checks in making it. The price is that once the item is complete you are trapped in a madness for one year per rarity rank of the item, a common item costs six months, a uncommon item a year, a rare two years, very rare three years, and legendary four years. You can create Relics and Artefacts, but they are the pinnacle of your career and can only be done once in your life.
- Dwarven Mysticism: You gain proficiency with alchemist’s supplies, and you know either the guidance or resistance cantrip.
- Evolution (1st Evolution): Counts as the Old Dwarf and Genasi races for the purposes of effects and magical items. As a 1st evolution, there is a 25% chance for any offspring to be a Genasi.
- Cursed: You can only recover exhaustion within the living earth of your homeland.
- Racial Insanity (curse): All members of this race become insane upon becoming an adult.
Most Craftbound have the Fire Aspected Traits, to select other elemental traits please gain the game masters permission.
Elemental Aspects – Fire Aspected Traits
- Ability Score Increase: Intelligence +2
- Touch of the Fire (fire aspected) While taking a short rest in direct sunlight or within 5 ft of a source of fire, you can spend 1 HD to roll two dice and take the results of both.
- Power of Energy (fire aspected) When using (or effected by) Fire or Radiant damage you add your proficiency bonus to the damage (or reduce damage taken) and cause your eyes to glow red till the start of your next turn.
- Danger of Time (fire aspected) When hit by Cold or Force damage you take additional damage equal to your proficiency. Cold and force effects you use, have their attack, damage and saving throw reduced by your proficiency instead of increased by it.
- Fire Evolution: Counts as a Genasi for the purposes of using Fire Genasi effects and magical items, but not as a Fire Genasi. With every Genasi offspring there is a d20 roll to determine their elemental aspect:
- 80% chance of an Fire Aspected child (1 to 16)
- 5% chance of an one of the other elements aspects. Air (17), Darkness (18), Earth (19), Water (20)
Character Options – All Fire Aspected Sub-Races
- Barbarian – Path of the Storm Herald (Desert)
- Cleric – Domain of Fire
- Monk – Way of the Elements (Fire)
- Sorcerer – Draconic Bloodline (Red), Elemental Essence (Fire)
- Warlock – Pact of the Genie Lord (Fire)
- Wizard – Elementalist (Fire)
Craftbound Character Options
- Locations: Northern Reaches, Rockhome
- Craftbound Class Options
- Barbarian: Path of the Battlerager
- Bard: College of the Jester
- Fighter: Battle Master, Clacking Mercenary
- Monk: Way of the Drunken Master, Way of Iron
- Paladin: Oath of the Crown, Oath of Perfection
- Sorcerer: Runechild (tcs103)
- Wizard: School of Artifice, School of Clockwork
Craftbound Campaign Examples
- Mystara Friday Campaign Jeff (monk)
Craftbound Dwarf Racial Magical Items
Dwarves associated with arcana and invention. See all (Craftbound) items listed below as your relic magical items. You can also treat (Dwarven) as relic items as well. See Genasi Overview for (Firechild) genasi items you can use is if you were a genasi.
- Craftbound – The items from these people have a tendency to deal with arcana and invention style items.
- Dwarven – The items from these people have a tendency to deal with a mining and crafting style. A Dwarf (and all Dwarven subtypes) can use the base dwarf relic trait of all Dwarven items.
- Genasi (Fire) – These are elemental Fire based items. A Craftbound can use the relic trait of the item is if they are a base Genasi, just not the Fire aspect relic trait.
Designing the Craftbound Dwarves
With this dwarf I had intended them to be the duagar, but decided that I wanted something different for them to help showcase a group of dwarves dedicated to innovation and advancement, with some going too far by combining magic and machines such that their minds unhinge for a time as a cost from the gods for their abilities. This is where the Mad Dwarves part of the connections comes from.
This was the first of the envisioned dwarves to take the world lore for the mad dwarves of the Northern Reaches and bring it into the setting in a story fashion.
The Intelligence bonus as the choice to help them understand the arcana skills.
The Heart of Flame feature of the character shows their resistances and weakness based around the element of fire.
Looking at Touch of the Fire is an odd one out as its more about crafting than recovery.
The feature Dwarven Mysticism is a good connection to how this style of dwarf is different and connected to magic and creation of items with alchemy..
The Cursed and Racial Insanity is why this group of Dwarves is not a player race, and what stops it being used by others.
Lastly we have the 1st Evolution from the Old Dwarves. This means that if the character finds items that are keyed to any of their ancestral races, they also count as being part of that race. For Craftbound Dwarves this means that they count as Dwarf as well as Craftbound. And with their Air aspect they also count as a standard Genasi when using items belonging to the Fire Genasi.
Content Updates
- 2021-08-18 – Updated the classes and magical items.
- 2021-08-05 – Updated the menu.
- 2020-09-20 – Layout and elemental aspect cleanup.
- 2020-07-22 – Added magical items and shared dwarf traits.
- 2020-06-28 – Added in references.
- 2020-05-16 – Added in details about the design decisions as well as nationality.
- 2020-05-08 – Added in Heart of Fire traits to bring in line with other dwarves.
Mystara Races
Dragonkind Overview: Air (Crystalborn, Silverborn, Whiteborn), Darkness (Blackborn, Brassborn, Onyxborn), Earth (Copperborn, Emeraldborn, Greenborn), Fire( Amberborn, Goldborn, Redborn, Rubyborn), Water (Blueborn, Bronzeborn, Sapphineborn)
Dwarven Overview: Air (Hillbound), Darkness (Shadowbound), Earth (Stonebound), Fire (Craftbound), Water (Seabound)
Elven Overview: Air (Nomadfey, Skyfey), Darknes (Bloodfey, Shadowfey), Earth (Wildfey, Woodfey), Fire (Spiritfey, Sunfey), Water (Seafey), Elements (Seasonfey)
Genasi Overview: Air (Airchild), Earth (Earthchild), Darkness (Darkchild), Fire (Firechild), Water (Waterchild)
Gnome Overview: Air (Skykin), Darkness (Shadowkin), Earth (Forestkin), Fire (Tinkerkin), Water (Tradekin)
Halfling Overview: Air (Southshire), Darkness (Eastshire), Earth (Highshire), Fire (Heartshire), Water (Seashire)
Human Overview: Air (Hattian, Heldannic, Kerendan, Thyatian), Darkness (Nuari), Earth (Atruaghin, Ethengarian, Makistani), Fire (Alasiyan, Thothian, Traladaran), Water (Makai)
Inner World
Humans Overview: Fire – Nithian
D&D Gazetteer
The Known World Region: Alfheim, Atruaghin Clans, Broken Lands, Darokin, Ethengar, Five Shires, Glantri, Ierendi, Karameikos, Minrothad, Northern Reaches, Rockhome, Shadowlands, Ylaruam
Other Places of Note: Alphatia and Thyatis, Norwold Region, Thunder Rift
D&D 5E in Mystara
D&D Menu – Adventures, Artefacts, Backgrounds, Classes, Dominions, Downtime, Feats, Gazetteers, Gods, Magical Items, Monsters, Organisations, Pantheons, Races, Ranks & Titles, Rune Magic, Secret Crafts, Settlements, Spells, Timeline, Weapons Mastery
Game Management – Annotated Stat Block, Character Creation, Choosing a New Campaign, Gaming over Skype, GM’s Luck Roll, Tracking Experience
Class Builds –
Artificer – Bombardier (Tinkerkin),
Barbarian – Totem Warrior (Plamin, Camdu),
Bard – College of Valour (Sunfey),
Druid – Circle of Dreams (Woodfey), Circle of the Tree of Life (Seasonfey),
Fighter – Battlemaster (Seashire), Eldritch Knight (Kerendan), Weapons Master (Lani), Weapons Master (Stonebound),
Monk – Way of the Elements (Tidal),
Paladin – Oath of Radiance (Sunfey), Oath of Vengeance (Firechild),
Sorcerer – Wild Magic (Shadowfey),
Warlock – Celestial (Llewell),
Wizard – Bladesinger (Nerye),
Dragon – White (Calcryx).
Multiclass – Cleric/Wizard (Xhall), Rogue/Cleric (Dracnomir), Rogue/Sorcerer (Yodrey), Wizard/Rogue (Traladaran)
Floorplans – Thyatian
Session Recordings – Campaign Journals
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