@@marcus4046 How in the fuck did High elves shave dwarven beards and NOT cause a full blown war? Like did the rest of the elves dog pile the shavers and turn them over to the dwarves? Because I don't really see anything short of that working.
Medium armor is fantastic for spellcasters, since it allows them to put less focus on their Dexterity (since all you need is a +2 or a +3 if you take the feat, which you probably won't be doing) and more focus into their Constitution, allowing for a more durable mage altogether. There's also the added benefit that medium armor is either as good or better than mage armor (since scale mail and breastplate match mage armor with a +3 dexterity bonus, and is better than mage armor with a +2 dexterity bonus), is active all the time instead of for 8 hours, gives you another 1st level spell slot to work with, and offers you more magic item compatibility in the future. Now, is medium armor and a second +2 better than the feat that custom lineage and variant human offer, or the mound of features you get as a half-elf, plus the ASI of +2 +1 +1, which has the same mathematical potency as the mountain dwarf's +2 +2? Probably not, but medium armor is surprisingly more useful than it would seem at first glance.
Basically this^ Another benefit with the mountain dwarf trait is that they can take the heavily armoured feat, which completely eliminates the need for dex altogether. And one often overlooked feature of the dwarves, is that they ignore the strength requirement for heavy armour. Meaning they can dump both strength and dex and still have good AC
What’s weird is Davvy basically praised medium armor proficiency for spellcasters when he talked about the dwarf before. It feels like he’s going back on his word just to prove a point.
In regards to the duergar: another thing to note is that strength checks are also unaffected by sunlight sensitivity. This includes grapple checks. Additionally, Enlarge also gives you advantage on all strength checks, again, including grapple checks. Meaning that you can pretty reliably pin down enemies and beat the shirt out of them. Also look at the unarmed fighting style, which gives you free damage just by having someone grappled. Thoughts?
And yes, I do know the rune knight exists and is… objectively better for this play style. But more options are more options, imo, and thats what’s important.
Agreed unless I'm in an under dark campaign I am a Duregar fan.ILove the enlarge. Couple campaigns ago I played a stout half long that was 1/2 Duregar So I got the enlarge but couldn't do it in sunlight and no invisibility.
Especially since you can trade all those redundant weapon and armor efficiencies for extra skills, making a martial Mountain Dwarf quite the skill monkey as well
Mage Armor only beats Half-Plate when you have *TWENTY* dex, so yes, medium armor proficiency IS a great thing for casters. This same logic implies warforged are a terrible caster race for "only" giving you +1 AC
@@Hromovlad1 it lasts 8h, you can easly cast it at the begining of the dungeon, or any dangerous place and forgeth about it. Or better don't because you will not add it to AC :D But true medium armour is still better.
Ah Warforged, one of the best tank mage races. Ignore most BS DM mechanics, run around with a casual 22 AC in full plate if you take a single dip in forge cleric, and potentially have a higher con than the barb at the same time.
@@Asderuki medium armour is also better for rogue with the feat sense they really need to get in close and get the sentinel feat so they can get tons of sneak attacks.
Getting Medium armour as a racial trait is not useless on a caster. Medium armour on a wizard and sorcerer is great, for Wizard and Sorcerer medium is better than mage armour so it saves a 1st lv spell per day and gives you higher ac since what kind of wizard has 20 dex.
@@defensivekobra3873 Bladesingers sure but that is only 1 subclass, elves get a +2 to dex so they still shouldnt be getting to 20 and illusionists dont need dex anymore than other wizards.
@@HelloFellowMellowYellowJello start with a 16 from race and point buy, then just use asi's on dex and you'll get there by lvl 16. If you are in the rare table not using feats, it's between pumping dexterity and pumping constitution past 8th level
@@melonyb4659 if you are playing a illusionist, you are doing so becuase you wanna be a tricksy little bastard up to no good, and a lot of dex-based checks and proficiencies like thieve's tools, stealth and sleight of hand helps in that regard
I had a warforged wizard with this combo. I had more health than our barbarian at level 10 it was hilarious. Also did a single cleric dip for plate+shield prof. 22 AC wizard with over 100 something hp and 20 int was hilarious.
Two interesting thoughts: a Mark of Warding Dwarf would make a phenomenal Rogue, and a Duregar could be a Twilight Cleric to cancel out Sunlight Sensitivity.
I find it really shocking that you call the Hill Dwarf useless for giving you 1 extra hit point per level up. Having lots of hit points is always a good thing, especially if you're playing Hill Dwarf on a class that doesn't normally get a high hit die, like rogues or casters. And even on a martial class, more heath means you can stay in the fight longer and prevent the big monster from smashing your squishy spellcasters. Is it exciting? No, but it's a very practical choice.
His reason was that the dwarf already gets +2 to CON, which is effectively the same thing as +1HP. Okay Davvy, I'm about to blow your mind......both of those things work together at the same time!
Also forgetting that with Tasha's that you can swap those weapon proficiencies. Rogue Hill Dwarf with a Heavy Crossbow is...Well, quite nice to say the least. That low movement isn't an issue when you can use Aim every turn for your own way of gaining advantage without risk of being seen while hiding.
It sounds underwhelming until you realise that a +1 hp is hte equivalent increase in doing up 1 set of hit dice, so a hill dwarf cleric has the same hp as a fighter, or a fighter upgrades to barbarian hit point magnitudes
Not much at level 1; but overall It protects from about one half-hit in a fight, which can be all that matters Not as good as the Half-Orc thing that always gives you 1 extra hit to KO; but it isn't terrible
Davvy: "No one played the mountain Dwarf before Tasha's anyways, and now that the book came out I still don't see it happening soon anyways." Me: *Looks at recent fighter build, PHB mountain Dwarf, no Tasha intteruptus* "Yeah... Nobody..."
you forgot their moement speed can't be reduced by heavy armor it's why they make such good clerics cause you can get a pretty high ac without putting much into str
@@azathoththe3rd heavy armer comes with a str cost if you don't have a strength equal to or higher your movement is reduced by 10 ft, unless you are a dwarf.
2:00 Rock and Stone Brother! Gotta disagree with the armor tho. While you can have +5 from dex in light armor, most classes won't have a 20 dex score. So medium armor which can be up to 3 ac more than light armor and 2 more than mage armor is strictly better or equal in ac on everything except a 20 dex character with mage armor. Also there are magic armors that are not an option if you can't wear medium armor.
I went Mountain Dwarf War Wizard in a game so I could pick up Heavy Armorer as a feat. With the shield spell, this guy’s never getting hit, and can safely get into melee for touch and weapon based spells. No worries with Shadow Blade or Enlarge being lost after a turn.
The medium armor (but strangely not also shield) proficiency is a huge deal for most (sub)classes that don't already have acces to it. Many characters might not want to invest more into AC than they can get away with. Purely stat-wise, whether rolling or not, not having to sacrifice AC scoffing dexterity allows a character to more easily branch out: a historian bard might want high int, an illusion wizard can always use some extra charisma, etc. Sorcerers, specifically, have a very limited amount of spells known, so freeing up a spell by not needing mage armor is a big deal (as can be attested by draconic sorcs everywhere), especially in the early and most played levels. Lastly, medium armor proficiency where previously there was none allows a character to take one (1) feat and become proficient in heavy armor, removing dexterity from the AC equation entirely and opening the way for Plate Armour Sorcerer or Muscle Wizards or suchlike without breaking the bank in levels or ASI's. a fair number of subclasses get 'medium armour proficiency' as a defining feature, there is no reason for this to be any different for mountain dwarves.
To add to the heavy armor argument: Dwarves don't suffer any movement speed penalties from wearing heavy armor. This means that you can get that tasty full plate AC of 18 for the cost of one feat without even having to pump your Strength to 15! You might run into issues with carrying capacity, but it's still hella cool that mountain dwarves are just one feat away from wearing heavy armor on a squishy, low-Strength class.
Plate armor with a wizard hat sounds like the greatest option. Imagine the enemy laughing, only for you to use your left hand to cast a spell on your right hand before BURYING that right hand straight in their guts
I play a mountain dwarf. Specifically a wild magic barbarian (thank you Tasha) and I find the boost to strength and constitution are great for barbarian
I like mountain dwarf lore more than hill dwarf or (especially) duergar. Shield dwarves (as they are called in Forgotten Realms) are the most common type of dwarf other races will encounter. Gold dwarves are mostly holed up in the Great Rift and only send their people out in order to trade. Even if I played a cleric, I would play a shield dwarf because I could roleplay that I'm from Citadel Adbar or Mithral Hall. I also like the idea of a dwarf divine soul sorcerer who wears medium armor, carries a warhammer, pretends to be a cleric, and blasts enemies in the name of Moradin.
I play a hill dwarf bladesinger and it's actually hilarious, she has the second most health in our party after the fighter and is basically a second tank.
I feel like you're really under rating the effect of getting an extra +1 hp per level. On average that amounts to the same as upgrading your hit die to the one above it, which is quite powerful
On top of the +2 to Con, which at low levels is like 1.5-2 higher hit dice. If you were to play Dragon Sorcerer, you would be getting getting same HP as a Fighter(on average). *And* you can focus on Cha and Con since you don't need Str for Armor, should you get trained in Heavy Armor.
Sunlight Sensitivity is always easy to get around in my game, the character can just go get sunglasses. In the middle ages they were around for people who had illnesses that caused Sunlight Sensitivity.
regardless of historical citations, its just kinda illogical that an entire race of elves that raid the surface for slaves wouldnt figure out a way to see during the day.
@@kuroshinigami9143 I mean in the case of a reoccurring character or a player character. There is a drow npc in my game that escaped the underdark and became a pirate, he always wears sunglasses.
@@kuroshinigami9143 They can see during the day, just not as effecively as we do; just the way humans can see at night, for that same reason raiding is easier during the night.
You are SO WRONG About weapon and armor proficiency. Not all clerics get martial weapons, particularly forge cleric loves it. Thanks to Tasha's, monks can turn weapons into monk weapons, AS LONG AS THEY HAVE PROFICIENCY, and I don't know any monk who would reject turning their 1d8 from quarterstaffs to a d10 from a hammer Some casters, particularly sorcerers, have very limited spells known to them and would hate to waste one slot in mage armor. They would also rather invest in con for a bit extra health and concentration checks. Medium armor solves both problems. Are those proficiemcies amazing? No. Are they hot garbage and completely useless? In your dreams. But then again, what can you expect from someone who doesn't like guidance 💁♀️
You would need at least 18 dex for Mage Armor to match half plate, which Davvy seems to think is something most casters do. Even then, you wouldn't achieve that until high levels, whereas the dwarf gets medium armor right away. The only exception is if you rolled god stats.
Mountain dwarf works so well with War Magic Wizard. Medium armor and weapon proficiency means that +2 to AC is actually worth while and that I can use GFB when im restricted to cantrips to deal some heavy damage.
I’ve only played a dwarf once and I was a mountain dwarf wizard necromancer. Was it the most optimized thing ever? Probably not but it was a fun build that was surprisingly effective since half plate, green flame blade (or booming blade), spirit shroud and a battle axe make for a pretty sick combo with decent sustainability where you heal for 9 whenever you land a kill making it great at cleaving through weak enemies. Though I will say the build would probably be better if you took magic initiate for hex.
Admittedly didn't know about Tasha's letting you turn Axes and Hammers into monk weapons but I'll basically instantly agree with that one being a good idea (though really any monk worth their salt is going to Punch things anyway). Clerics are also the big one, though I get that Davvy's point about cleric is that they can just use Cantrips instead of an axe since they'll scale better with your magical abilities than an axe does. Medium Armor and Weapon Proficiencies always seemed like something great for a Valor Bard so that they can actually USE a high Strength score which was near impossible on a bard until level 3.
For anyone who may not know- Tasha's also allows you to trade a racial armor proficiency for proficiency in a simple weapon, martial weapon, or any type of tool. The same goes for racial weapon proficiencies. Tasha's also gives Monks feature to once a day choose a weapon they are proficient with that lacks the Heavy or Special properties and count it as a Monk weapon for the rest of the day. So this combined made me realize that you could use point buy to make a Mountain Dwarf Monk who at level 1 would have proficiency in 3-4 different tools (depending on if your DM would count the light and medium armor proficiencies as one or two things) with a Dexterity and Wisdom of 17 giving you an AC of 16. And come level 4 if you were to split your ability score increase between Dex and Wis your AC would jump to 18. At level 4. I think that the only thing keeping this from being a low level swiss army knife of utility and death is Monk's having such low amounts of starting gold if they choose to wave standard starting equipment keeps them from being able to buy all of those tools at the out set and having relatively low damage before level 5. Edit- Holy crap, I just double checked and realized that light hammers and hand axes are both simple weapons- something monks already have proficiency with so you can trade those in for tool proficiencies too. Meaning that RAW you can make a lvl 1 mountain dwarf monk with 6 tool proficiencies. 8 if you want to give up your battlaexe and warhammer proficiencies as well.
Yeah but your playing a monk which are outclassed by a STR wizard with the unarmed fighting style as a feat in damage, utility, and ability. Now throw that on a Rogue or Barbarian...
@@archmagemc3561 I'm a little reluctant to go that far. This is going to be my first ongoing D&D game ever as well as my buddy's first time DMing 5e (he's only got experience running Pathfinder 1e) so I'm a little reluctant to make an unstoppable murder machine when he's the type of guy who puts story first. I'll probably make a couple characters like that just in case, but I'm kind of reluctant to start off with one of those if the rest of the players aren't doing the same. I ended up sort of splitting the difference by using point point buy to make a Human Way of Mercy Monk who will still start with 16 AC. I'm planning to play them mainly as a dodge tank who'll put more emphasis on zipping around to keep his allies' health topped off then beating down enemies. Although the situation/party comp may make me reconsider that. My other potential characters right now are a Half-Elf Hexblade Warlock who is something of a glass cannon with 14 AC due to thinking he's some sort of Eldritch Knight instead of, you know, a warlock; As well as a Half-Orc Psi Warrior- who I'm having a hard time balancing stats for due to inexperience and not being sure which would be a good dumb stat, as well as unsure if I want to play him as primarily a tank, or a damage dealer. Right know I'm leaning towards making Wisdom his dump stat and having him be a damage specialist with a side of protection.
I know i'm late to this but I just have to say it, The armor proficeiency that Mountain Dwarfs get is amazing is you are playing a caster because mage armor requires dex and just the base AC of 11 holds it back but with armor proficiency you can gain use of higher AC with more options for Enchanted gear as one person said down below and as a player who loves player casters I'm willing to take a loss on INT. boosts to gain some more survivability at the early stages of a campain plus more awsome roleplay options.
Wizards and sorcerers don’t have Armor proficiencies and warlock only have light armor proficiency so the dwarf armor proficiency is not unless and medium armor is typically better than mage armor
Personally, I feel like the natural weapon proficiencies of a race are more so for the sake of deciding what a 'civilian' or class-less NPC would defend themselves with. Like, if a dwarven town or city got attacked and the dedicated local military wasn't enough to stop the invaders(As unlikely as that is for dwarves), then you'd know that most of the civilians that rallied for an impromptu last stand would use hammers and axes. not the most relevant piece of information in most games, but its good to know anyways imo.
Armor profenciencies are useful for spellcasters that don't get them, a mountan dwarf wizard using Tasha's rules is incredibly potent due to the wizard having armor
Me sitting here with my Charlatan Mountain Dwarf Artificer with 12 tool proficiencies at level 1. You sure Tasha's didn't change other things that affected Mountain Dwarves Davy?
Mountain dwarf; Default dwarf skin. Hill dwarf; Look at me I'm a guy with a extra hit point. Mark of warding dwarf; * Enemy dispels alarm * "You fool, I have 70 alternative spell slots." Duergar; "Never call a dwarf short in sunlight, worst mistake of my life." -Peter Griffon.
Mountain dwarf is and will always be the best dwarf subrace. I fail to see how getting two 18's at level 4 in strength and constitution makes the mountain dwarf bad. Also, the reallocating of ability score increases is stupid because that is part of what makes a race or subrace different. The defining feature of mountain dwarves is their amazing bonus to strength; if you take that away, they aren't mountain dwarves anymore. The same goes for just about every non-elven race and subrace.
@@thewonderfullymadejaraid7015 how? It represents a rare and exceptional dwarf that for some reason has better dexterity than the other dwarves. You arent suddenly changing the lore of the dwarves to make them all dexterous.
@@hephaestus9901, just do what the tieflings do and make a new subrace. Mountain dwarves, orcs and goliaths are phyically stronger than the other races, that is just the way the lore is. If you want a golaith that somehow manages to get a natural +2 to dexterity EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE 7-8 FEET TALL, go make a subrace.
@@hephaestus9901 It is, and I'm tired of pretending it's not It basically implies the sort of cultural background the character came from in the first place, and in some cases even the biological differences. It's like the difference between a pitbull and a beagle
My own world has a common magic item called “Algarizz’s Lenses” which are essentially sunglasses, cancelling out disadvantage on attacks, but not perception checks. Most underdark races that regularly traverse the surface have them and they are automatically given to all PCs playing said races.
Davvy, you keep bringing up how tool proficiencies are amazing, especially for Artificers. But what if you used Tasha's to make a Mountain Dwarf Artificer? That would already start with 4 tool proficiencies, and since Artificers already get light and medium armor you can trade in the racial armor proficiencies for 2 more tools, bringing you to 6. Artificers are also able to use all simple weapons so you can trade in the proficiency with hand axes and light hammers for 2 more, raising you up to 8 tool proficiencies at level 1. If you were maybe planning on taking the Battle Smith sub class later, you could just cut out the nonsense and trade in all your racial proficiencies for 10 different tool proficiencies at level 1. Then when you hit level 3, on top of getting another tool proficiency (raising your total # of tool proficiencies to either 9 or 11) as part of your sub class, you also get something called The Right Tool for the Job. This lets you use either your thief's tools or tinker tools to spend an hour to magic up a complete tool set of your choice (or as I'm planning to flavor it, the hour is added to the time I spend working on whatever it is I'm trying to work on with the tools I have on hand as I gradually use a bunch of magic, duct tape, and scrap to modify said tools into crude aproximations of what I need while swearing at said tools). Unless your DM and/or table has a problem with spending an extra hour to do stuff or home brewing away the extra time, you have essentially become the single greatest handy man the multiverse has ever seen.
I have a Drow in my game. She was raised by her High Elf father, so was always in sunlight as she grew up. We lowered her Darkvision to 60 and got rid of her sunlight sensitivity all together.
So you obviously don't know that medium armor+14 dex equals... heavy armor and 15 strenght, right? Otherwise, the fact you can now play a bard or sorcerer or wizard with 17 AC instead of 15 wouldn't be lost on you. Granted, plate mail means 18 AC if you have 15 strength but if that's the case, you can actually just get the heavy armored feat and get a bonus +1 to strength as well to help you carry that armor (not that dwarves care about armor weight mind you). Mark of warding dwarves have the benefit of armor of agathys being in their spell list, which on a full spellcaster like a moon druid or lore bard or bladesinger is amazing
If anyone likes big weapons, don't forget that since while under the effect of the Duergar's enlarge spell they are considered a large creature, you can wield weapons designed for large creatures, which is going to be pretty great and pretty nasty.
2:38 Made a hill dwarf barbarian with the tough feat once. He was chonky. And i put totem of the bear too. So basically his effective health was ridiculous
Hey Davvy! I know you haven’t done one in a while, but can you make a race video on Aasimar? High-key a seriously underrated race that deserves some love
Davvy! Video idea! After playing a one shot as a battlesmith with a robot monkey whose constant hijinks kept the group entertained, how about a video on how to play a comic relief character. The low int, the funny animal, the flesh hungry goblin, the kenku etc
First, quite possibly my favorite feature of the dwarf is the Dwarven Fortitude feat that lets you boost con by 1 and spend hit dice when you dodge. Second, I don't you're being completely fair to the medium armor proficiency of the mountain dwarf for casters. Who wants to have to spend ASIs on their wizard/sorcerer investing in dex higher than 14? Especially when most games won't go far enough for you to cap your casting stat, get things like War Caster or Resilient Con, AND boost dex to 20. But, you probably already know that and just went the hyperbolic route because it's a video for entertainment. We love you anyway, Banana Man.
Those who dislike the optional rule for moving ASI's might be purists, but those who dislike that optional rule being turned mandatory for all future races are certainly not. They just don't like being told that their fun is wrong. P.S. You're dead wrong about Mountain Dwarves. They're lovely, and work well for all Str-based martial builds, and multiple caster builds.
@@hephaestus9901 I do, and I'm tired of pretending it's not If nothing else, the lack of fixed ASI for non-human characters means that there is no longer a point for humans to exist.
@@Hromovlad1 your first sentence is very confusing, as for humans they still get depending on subrace: a choice of feat and skill proficiency or an increase to every ability score or all the spells ebberon humans get. Only the variant human from the PHB is actively trivialized because of his 2 +1 which every race can do now, but they still get a feat of choice and a choice of skill proficiency.
@@hephaestus9901 The increase in every ability score is only useful if you intend to multi-class heavily. The Eberron humans are so heavily bound to the setting's lore that most people probably won't let you play them outside of that setting. Also, it kinda defeats the purpose of the ASCI At this point, it may as well be abolished completely then.
Counter argument in defence of Mountain Dwarves: Under Tasha's rules (I think, or maybe you could do it before) you can swap all weapon/armour profs for tool profs. So base Dwarf = one tool already. Then another 4 for swapping out weapon profs. Then Mountain Dwarf allows another 2. Background for another potential 2. Classes/Subclasses can give 1 - 2 as well depending on what you pick. So to optimise this you can go either: Fighter, Rune Knight (with the fire rune, to get expertise in all tools by level 3) + another tool. or Artificer, any subclass, for another 2 tools and tool expertise by level 6. Having 9 - 11 tool profs/expertise might sound silly (which it is) but it is amazing how many times you can be use a tool prof/expertise as a slightly left of centre skill proficiency, with some creativity. Can make even an otherwise entirely classic Barbarian feel useful and involved in all sorts of social encounters, puzzles, camping/defence based situations and so on. Plus being able to fix everything/build everything is sweet, and it works well with both the Xanathar's tool prof rules and more homebrew-y crafting rules.
I've been musing about an idea of a subrace of ocean dwarves, but since I'm only just stepping into the DM space for the first time it'll be a bit before I consider putting ink to paper, however this got me thinking about them again and there is much 2 think about
On the weapon proficiencies, they are useful... for Clerics. With the exception of War, Tempest, Death, and Twilight, Clerics do not get martial weapons, but any of the subclasses with heavy armor do get bonuses to their melee weapon attacks starting at 8th level. However, since Clerics only get one attack, the increase from a D6 to a D8 damage die will rarely make any meaningful difference.
To get rid of Sunlight Sensitivity I would home rule that if a player is playing a race with that feature I would reduce Darkvision by half, basically they've adapted to life in bright light but at a cost to their Darkvision distance.
I don't personally care for Dwarves all that much, but I had an idea for a Dwarf character who is a Wizard as a way to spite his parents. His father wanted him to pick up some kind of craft, so he bent the rules and picked up "spellcraft".
Counterpoint: make an armorer dwarf, and martial proficiencies are very useful to take advantage of both the stealth/range armor and better melee at the same time
I disagree with the mountain dwarf. Being 1 of the few races that give med armor proficiently to any class without any dips or feats. Having a half plate or a breastplate will give you better ac as a wizard without the Dex bonus so you can focus on int and feats and focusing on con
I don't see needing super high stats at lvl 1 so I keep the racial bonuses in. I like the flavor of them, the welcome challenge they bring and want my players to think not about hyper focused stats. I do hate how many reacted to tashas as let people do what ever they want in there game and now people like me who like racial bonus are now shoved in with the dum asshats group which sucks.
I've DMed for my group for a while and since tasha's came out mountain dwarves don't get armor weapons, the get seven tool proficiencies. Hilariously, one was an artificer and the other a forge cleric
I let my players use Sunlight Sensitivity as described in monster stat blocks where it’s just when they’re in the sun, and also, sunglasses are a pretty good quick fix
Davvy what are you even saying?? The mountain dwarf's medium armor prof is baller on a spellcaster! Most casters want to focus on improving their casting, so they take war caster; resilient con; half feats that increase your casting stat; or they bump themselves with a +2 to their casting stat. There's no room in there for a dex increase! A 17 AC is better than a mage armor 15 ac. Especially with classes that get the shield spell.
I respectfully disagree with you. Mountain Dwarves are the only dwarves I play, and they make excellent fighters, barbarians, and paladins. And with the armor proficiency, you can effectively disguise yourself by wearing armor and carrying a battle-axe as a fighter. Mage Armor is a plus three and scale mail is a plus four to AC. My character's hairy ancestors would not allow me to stand by while you insulted them. :) Oh, and duergar are mostly evil and always pricks. The funniest thing is how people play duergar. They play them like Mountain Dwarves. The Hobbit, LOTR, nearly fantasy depiction of dwarves follow the MT Dwarves. Except maybe the Choose your own adventure book, the Revolt of the Dwarves, mostly because the Dwarves were mounted on horses, and that seems like a Hillish thing for a Dwarf to do.
Actually, the mountain dwarf is amazing, especially for barbarians, at least if you play point buy. That means +4 in STR and CON if you hit lvl 4, which not only helps you with hitting things, as any good barbarian should, it also raises your AC through unarmored defense.
Weapons for casters do have their use Some enemies are resistant or even immune to magic, and you better carry your wight in that fight Also, thanks to Tasha, those redundant weapon efficiencies can be traded out for something else Same with the armor proficiency Not to mention, and Armored Wizard or Sorcerer is ALWAYS the way to go, mage armor is waste of a spell slot and a turn Seriously, the best Wizards and Sorcerers I ever saw were Mountain Dwarves, even WITHOUT the ability to switch the strength out for a different stat (like a damn munchkin)
There should be a spell "Light vision" for underdark denizens to take . Seems like something they would try to develop. Or googles of day vision which should be much cheaper to get because it is non-magical shaded glass.
I'm currently playing an Aleithian Dwarf psychic warrior. We're 4th level now, at 6th level I'm going to dip into a level of Dwarven fighter, and then 7th level I'll go Iron Mind.
I like to run steampunk campaigns so sun sensitivity has never been an issue. Can’t stand sunlight? Sunglasses! Get them at your local corner store for 5sp!
I recently started playing a mountain dwarf War wizard who uses booming blade on a warhamer and where's half plate and makes a good tank with its arcane Deflection and mirror image and add in a little haste and your a great melee caster
Davvy: "They hold on to every grudge ever been given"
Me: "So, basically every internet community ever, got it. "
DON'T SHAVE THERE BEARDS -High elves after getting a nearly world war with the dwarfs
@@marcus4046 How in the fuck did High elves shave dwarven beards and NOT cause a full blown war? Like did the rest of the elves dog pile the shavers and turn them over to the dwarves? Because I don't really see anything short of that working.
@@barbatosmcmurderton4209 No they just didnt control the whole worlds it was basically a continent war. Im talking about warhammer fantasy dwarfs btw
"That's goin' straight
in the
FUCKIN' BOOOK!"
Medium armor is fantastic for spellcasters, since it allows them to put less focus on their Dexterity (since all you need is a +2 or a +3 if you take the feat, which you probably won't be doing) and more focus into their Constitution, allowing for a more durable mage altogether. There's also the added benefit that medium armor is either as good or better than mage armor (since scale mail and breastplate match mage armor with a +3 dexterity bonus, and is better than mage armor with a +2 dexterity bonus), is active all the time instead of for 8 hours, gives you another 1st level spell slot to work with, and offers you more magic item compatibility in the future.
Now, is medium armor and a second +2 better than the feat that custom lineage and variant human offer, or the mound of features you get as a half-elf, plus the ASI of +2 +1 +1, which has the same mathematical potency as the mountain dwarf's +2 +2? Probably not, but medium armor is surprisingly more useful than it would seem at first glance.
Plus since it is medium armor you can upgrade it with adamantine for immunity to crits.
Basically this^
Another benefit with the mountain dwarf trait is that they can take the heavily armoured feat, which completely eliminates the need for dex altogether. And one often overlooked feature of the dwarves, is that they ignore the strength requirement for heavy armour. Meaning they can dump both strength and dex and still have good AC
Nice to see I'm not the only person that understands the advantages the mountain dwarf free medium armor proficiency can offer spellcasters.
What’s weird is Davvy basically praised medium armor proficiency for spellcasters when he talked about the dwarf before. It feels like he’s going back on his word just to prove a point.
In regards to the duergar: another thing to note is that strength checks are also unaffected by sunlight sensitivity. This includes grapple checks. Additionally, Enlarge also gives you advantage on all strength checks, again, including grapple checks. Meaning that you can pretty reliably pin down enemies and beat the shirt out of them. Also look at the unarmed fighting style, which gives you free damage just by having someone grappled. Thoughts?
And yes, I do know the rune knight exists and is… objectively better for this play style. But more options are more options, imo, and thats what’s important.
Why not both? Be a Rune Knight Duergar and become the Gargantuan siege unit you always wanted to be. Suplex the Tarrasque.
@@cyborgcatrj6794 also valid. Would need extra help for gargantuan, though.
@@MM-lv7iy giant might from rune knight makes you large, enlarge from duergar makes you huge. you can grapple 1 size larger than yourself
@@ConfessedOak Agreed, but to become gargantuan, you’ll need another caster to cast enlarge on you again.
I have a mountain dwarf abjuration wizard sporting heavy armor and a shield that will disagree with your argument against the armor proficiencies.
how can you use heavy armor on a mountain dwarf? Isn't it just limited to light and medium? even if you swap it out you can't change it to heavy armor
Homebrew my friend.
@@spinesauce2687 I took the heavy armored feat, which required proficiency with medium armor.
@@npswm1314 no
So your just a waddling tower of buffs?
Yeah, no one ever played mountain dwarf......except for literally any strength-based martial character because you can get 2 18s at level 4.
Agreed unless I'm in an under dark campaign I am a Duregar fan.ILove the enlarge. Couple campaigns ago I played a stout half long that was 1/2 Duregar So I got the enlarge but couldn't do it in sunlight and no invisibility.
Especially since you can trade all those redundant weapon and armor efficiencies for extra skills, making a martial Mountain Dwarf quite the skill monkey as well
Mage Armor only beats Half-Plate when you have *TWENTY* dex, so yes, medium armor proficiency IS a great thing for casters. This same logic implies warforged are a terrible caster race for "only" giving you +1 AC
Not to mention Mage Armor is a waste of a slot and a turn
A turn any enemy worth their salt will use to kill the squishy caster first
@@Hromovlad1 it lasts 8h, you can easly cast it at the begining of the dungeon, or any dangerous place and forgeth about it. Or better don't because you will not add it to AC :D
But true medium armour is still better.
Ah Warforged, one of the best tank mage races. Ignore most BS DM mechanics, run around with a casual 22 AC in full plate if you take a single dip in forge cleric, and potentially have a higher con than the barb at the same time.
@@Asderuki medium armour is also better for rogue with the feat sense they really need to get in close and get the sentinel feat so they can get tons of sneak attacks.
Getting Medium armour as a racial trait is not useless on a caster. Medium armour on a wizard and sorcerer is great, for Wizard and Sorcerer medium is better than mage armour so it saves a 1st lv spell per day and gives you higher ac since what kind of wizard has 20 dex.
Bladesingers, elves, probably some illusionists
@@defensivekobra3873 bladesinger is a single subclass of a single spellcasting class and you have to roll some crazy stats for the others to be true.
@@defensivekobra3873 Bladesingers sure but that is only 1 subclass, elves get a +2 to dex so they still shouldnt be getting to 20 and illusionists dont need dex anymore than other wizards.
@@HelloFellowMellowYellowJello start with a 16 from race and point buy, then just use asi's on dex and you'll get there by lvl 16. If you are in the rare table not using feats, it's between pumping dexterity and pumping constitution past 8th level
@@melonyb4659 if you are playing a illusionist, you are doing so becuase you wanna be a tricksy little bastard up to no good, and a lot of dex-based checks and proficiencies like thieve's tools, stealth and sleight of hand helps in that regard
2:23 "gaining one extra health per level, that's it."
me: *laughs in +8 Hp per level thanks to max Con and Tough* I am CHONK!
Throw that on a barbarian and you got HP FOR DAYS
*Turn 10 or 11 in combat* Do you need a heal?
Dwarf: Nah, I'm good fam.
I had a warforged wizard with this combo. I had more health than our barbarian at level 10 it was hilarious. Also did a single cleric dip for plate+shield prof. 22 AC wizard with over 100 something hp and 20 int was hilarious.
Put that on a Draconic sorcerer for minimum 10hp per level up
*DM* : Make a Charisma Save.
"The weapon proficiencies are all but useless"
Excuse me sir, the Forge Domain Cleric would like to have a word with you
@@volkelmark me, a Goliath Fighter Battlemaster:
"No, he is correct - I use Unarmed Fighting more then my blades, anyway, so..."
"My name is Davvy Chappy and I like digging holes"
davvy chappy a daddy toppy confirmed #science
But... but... the lore? The magic items video?
Be *banished*
Two interesting thoughts: a Mark of Warding Dwarf would make a phenomenal Rogue, and a Duregar could be a Twilight Cleric to cancel out Sunlight Sensitivity.
I don't know where you work but they should pay you more.
i dont understand how a twillight cleric would cancel out the sunlight sensitivity. Is it faerie fire, as spell?
wait twilight sanctuary. Genius
@@Zanis0711 Bingo! Twilight Sanctuary has a lot of fun synergies like that
I find it really shocking that you call the Hill Dwarf useless for giving you 1 extra hit point per level up. Having lots of hit points is always a good thing, especially if you're playing Hill Dwarf on a class that doesn't normally get a high hit die, like rogues or casters. And even on a martial class, more heath means you can stay in the fight longer and prevent the big monster from smashing your squishy spellcasters. Is it exciting? No, but it's a very practical choice.
His reason was that the dwarf already gets +2 to CON, which is effectively the same thing as +1HP. Okay Davvy, I'm about to blow your mind......both of those things work together at the same time!
Also forgetting that with Tasha's that you can swap those weapon proficiencies. Rogue Hill Dwarf with a Heavy Crossbow is...Well, quite nice to say the least. That low movement isn't an issue when you can use Aim every turn for your own way of gaining advantage without risk of being seen while hiding.
It sounds underwhelming until you realise that a +1 hp is hte equivalent increase in doing up 1 set of hit dice, so a hill dwarf cleric has the same hp as a fighter, or a fighter upgrades to barbarian hit point magnitudes
Not much at level 1; but overall It protects from about one half-hit in a fight, which can be all that matters
Not as good as the Half-Orc thing that always gives you 1 extra hit to KO; but it isn't terrible
Davvy: "No one played the mountain Dwarf before Tasha's anyways, and now that the book came out I still don't see it happening soon anyways."
Me: *Looks at recent fighter build, PHB mountain Dwarf, no Tasha intteruptus* "Yeah... Nobody..."
you forgot their moement speed can't be reduced by heavy armor it's why they make such good clerics cause you can get a pretty high ac without putting much into str
Wait, heavy armor reduces movement?
@@azathoththe3rd heavy armer comes with a str cost if you don't have a strength equal to or higher your movement is reduced by 10 ft, unless you are a dwarf.
@@azathoththe3rd Yes it does. Don't know the page by heart though.
@@andrewthegeek6522 oh ok, thanks
The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this video "diggy diggy hole??"
A a brother if the mountain
Good God I feel old. That song is like 8 years old.
@@azathoththe3rd I discovered that song a week ago XD
“No one played Mountain Dwarf”
All of my dwarf characters are mountain dwarfs. Fight me, wazzock.
2:00 Rock and Stone Brother!
Gotta disagree with the armor tho. While you can have +5 from dex in light armor, most classes won't have a 20 dex score. So medium armor which can be up to 3 ac more than light armor and 2 more than mage armor is strictly better or equal in ac on everything except a 20 dex character with mage armor. Also there are magic armors that are not an option if you can't wear medium armor.
I went Mountain Dwarf War Wizard in a game so I could pick up Heavy Armorer as a feat. With the shield spell, this guy’s never getting hit, and can safely get into melee for touch and weapon based spells. No worries with Shadow Blade or Enlarge being lost after a turn.
The medium armor (but strangely not also shield) proficiency is a huge deal for most (sub)classes that don't already have acces to it.
Many characters might not want to invest more into AC than they can get away with. Purely stat-wise, whether rolling or not, not having to sacrifice AC scoffing dexterity allows a character to more easily branch out: a historian bard might want high int, an illusion wizard can always use some extra charisma, etc.
Sorcerers, specifically, have a very limited amount of spells known, so freeing up a spell by not needing mage armor is a big deal (as can be attested by draconic sorcs everywhere), especially in the early and most played levels.
Lastly, medium armor proficiency where previously there was none allows a character to take one (1) feat and become proficient in heavy armor, removing dexterity from the AC equation entirely and opening the way for Plate Armour Sorcerer or Muscle Wizards or suchlike without breaking the bank in levels or ASI's. a fair number of subclasses get 'medium armour proficiency' as a defining feature, there is no reason for this to be any different for mountain dwarves.
To add to the heavy armor argument: Dwarves don't suffer any movement speed penalties from wearing heavy armor. This means that you can get that tasty full plate AC of 18 for the cost of one feat without even having to pump your Strength to 15! You might run into issues with carrying capacity, but it's still hella cool that mountain dwarves are just one feat away from wearing heavy armor on a squishy, low-Strength class.
Plate armor with a wizard hat sounds like the greatest option. Imagine the enemy laughing, only for you to use your left hand to cast a spell on your right hand before BURYING that right hand straight in their guts
I play a mountain dwarf. Specifically a wild magic barbarian (thank you Tasha) and I find the boost to strength and constitution are great for barbarian
I like mountain dwarf lore more than hill dwarf or (especially) duergar. Shield dwarves (as they are called in Forgotten Realms) are the most common type of dwarf other races will encounter. Gold dwarves are mostly holed up in the Great Rift and only send their people out in order to trade. Even if I played a cleric, I would play a shield dwarf because I could roleplay that I'm from Citadel Adbar or Mithral Hall. I also like the idea of a dwarf divine soul sorcerer who wears medium armor, carries a warhammer, pretends to be a cleric, and blasts enemies in the name of Moradin.
I play a hill dwarf bladesinger and it's actually hilarious, she has the second most health in our party after the fighter and is basically a second tank.
He dissed the Mountain Dwarf and then suggests a dwarf that casts Elgi wazzok magic! Bring forth the Dammaz Kron! We have grudges to write!
I feel like you're really under rating the effect of getting an extra +1 hp per level. On average that amounts to the same as upgrading your hit die to the one above it, which is quite powerful
On top of the +2 to Con, which at low levels is like 1.5-2 higher hit dice.
If you were to play Dragon Sorcerer, you would be getting getting same HP as a Fighter(on average). *And* you can focus on Cha and Con since you don't need Str for Armor, should you get trained in Heavy Armor.
+2 Con gives that extra 1HP per level plus any other benefit you get from Con.
Sunlight Sensitivity is always easy to get around in my game, the character can just go get sunglasses. In the middle ages they were around for people who had illnesses that caused Sunlight Sensitivity.
regardless of historical citations, its just kinda illogical that an entire race of elves that raid the surface for slaves wouldnt figure out a way to see during the day.
@@kuroshinigami9143 I mean in the case of a reoccurring character or a player character. There is a drow npc in my game that escaped the underdark and became a pirate, he always wears sunglasses.
@@kuroshinigami9143 They can see during the day, just not as effecively as we do; just the way humans can see at night, for that same reason raiding is easier during the night.
Half-Plate and a Wizard hat sounds fire
I am a Dwarf, and I'm digging a hole. Diggy diggy hole, diggy diggy hole.
Good ol' times!
You are
SO WRONG
About weapon and armor proficiency.
Not all clerics get martial weapons, particularly forge cleric loves it.
Thanks to Tasha's, monks can turn weapons into monk weapons, AS LONG AS THEY HAVE PROFICIENCY, and I don't know any monk who would reject turning their 1d8 from quarterstaffs to a d10 from a hammer
Some casters, particularly sorcerers, have very limited spells known to them and would hate to waste one slot in mage armor. They would also rather invest in con for a bit extra health and concentration checks. Medium armor solves both problems.
Are those proficiemcies amazing? No. Are they hot garbage and completely useless? In your dreams. But then again, what can you expect from someone who doesn't like guidance 💁♀️
(This comment was very passive aggressive as a joke, I do not take these so seriously lol)
You would need at least 18 dex for Mage Armor to match half plate, which Davvy seems to think is something most casters do. Even then, you wouldn't achieve that until high levels, whereas the dwarf gets medium armor right away. The only exception is if you rolled god stats.
Mountain dwarf works so well with War Magic Wizard. Medium armor and weapon proficiency means that +2 to AC is actually worth while and that I can use GFB when im restricted to cantrips to deal some heavy damage.
I’ve only played a dwarf once and I was a mountain dwarf wizard necromancer. Was it the most optimized thing ever? Probably not but it was a fun build that was surprisingly effective since half plate, green flame blade (or booming blade), spirit shroud and a battle axe make for a pretty sick combo with decent sustainability where you heal for 9 whenever you land a kill making it great at cleaving through weak enemies. Though I will say the build would probably be better if you took magic initiate for hex.
Admittedly didn't know about Tasha's letting you turn Axes and Hammers into monk weapons but I'll basically instantly agree with that one being a good idea (though really any monk worth their salt is going to Punch things anyway).
Clerics are also the big one, though I get that Davvy's point about cleric is that they can just use Cantrips instead of an axe since they'll scale better with your magical abilities than an axe does.
Medium Armor and Weapon Proficiencies always seemed like something great for a Valor Bard so that they can actually USE a high Strength score which was near impossible on a bard until level 3.
For anyone who may not know- Tasha's also allows you to trade a racial armor proficiency for proficiency in a simple weapon, martial weapon, or any type of tool. The same goes for racial weapon proficiencies.
Tasha's also gives Monks feature to once a day choose a weapon they are proficient with that lacks the Heavy or Special properties and count it as a Monk weapon for the rest of the day.
So this combined made me realize that you could use point buy to make a Mountain Dwarf Monk who at level 1 would have proficiency in 3-4 different tools (depending on if your DM would count the light and medium armor proficiencies as one or two things) with a Dexterity and Wisdom of 17 giving you an AC of 16. And come level 4 if you were to split your ability score increase between Dex and Wis your AC would jump to 18. At level 4.
I think that the only thing keeping this from being a low level swiss army knife of utility and death is Monk's having such low amounts of starting gold if they choose to wave standard starting equipment keeps them from being able to buy all of those tools at the out set and having relatively low damage before level 5.
Edit- Holy crap, I just double checked and realized that light hammers and hand axes are both simple weapons- something monks already have proficiency with so you can trade those in for tool proficiencies too. Meaning that RAW you can make a lvl 1 mountain dwarf monk with 6 tool proficiencies. 8 if you want to give up your battlaexe and warhammer proficiencies as well.
Yeah but your playing a monk which are outclassed by a STR wizard with the unarmed fighting style as a feat in damage, utility, and ability. Now throw that on a Rogue or Barbarian...
@@archmagemc3561 I'm a little reluctant to go that far. This is going to be my first ongoing D&D game ever as well as my buddy's first time DMing 5e (he's only got experience running Pathfinder 1e) so I'm a little reluctant to make an unstoppable murder machine when he's the type of guy who puts story first.
I'll probably make a couple characters like that just in case, but I'm kind of reluctant to start off with one of those if the rest of the players aren't doing the same.
I ended up sort of splitting the difference by using point point buy to make a Human Way of Mercy Monk who will still start with 16 AC. I'm planning to play them mainly as a dodge tank who'll put more emphasis on zipping around to keep his allies' health topped off then beating down enemies. Although the situation/party comp may make me reconsider that.
My other potential characters right now are a Half-Elf Hexblade Warlock who is something of a glass cannon with 14 AC due to thinking he's some sort of Eldritch Knight instead of, you know, a warlock; As well as a Half-Orc Psi Warrior- who I'm having a hard time balancing stats for due to inexperience and not being sure which would be a good dumb stat, as well as unsure if I want to play him as primarily a tank, or a damage dealer. Right know I'm leaning towards making Wisdom his dump stat and having him be a damage specialist with a side of protection.
davvy and dwarfs are so similar. anything fae or bullshit magic they burn and kill with extreme pregidious and that grudge shall last forever.
You know, with all of the half races that exist, i'm suprised there isn't a Half Dwarf.
There is, they are called Mul and they appear in the 2nd and 4th editions
Thanks for the shout-out at 5:28, Davvy! You Sir, are a scholar and a gentleman.
I am required by management to say “Rock and Stone!” Whenever I see DRG content in other media.
I know i'm late to this but I just have to say it, The armor proficeiency that Mountain Dwarfs get is amazing is you are playing a caster because mage armor requires dex and just the base AC of 11 holds it back but with armor proficiency you can gain use of higher AC with more options for Enchanted gear as one person said down below and as a player who loves player casters I'm willing to take a loss on INT. boosts to gain some more survivability at the early stages of a campain plus more awsome roleplay options.
Wizards and sorcerers don’t have Armor proficiencies and warlock only have light armor proficiency so the dwarf armor proficiency is not unless and medium armor is typically better than mage armor
For sunlight sensitivity I just allow my players to either have or get made sunglasses. It's that simple, and what they are made for 😂😂
Dimension 20's newest season, The Seven's dwarves with Jersey accents and Italian demeanor are the best dwarves
Personally, I feel like the natural weapon proficiencies of a race are more so for the sake of deciding what a 'civilian' or class-less NPC would defend themselves with. Like, if a dwarven town or city got attacked and the dedicated local military wasn't enough to stop the invaders(As unlikely as that is for dwarves), then you'd know that most of the civilians that rallied for an impromptu last stand would use hammers and axes. not the most relevant piece of information in most games, but its good to know anyways imo.
We aren't made at Tasha's because of being "Purist", we are mad because of how it is implemented. She treats genetics like it's cultural.
well it works for skills and weapons but the stats where just there because they kinda knew races got chosen only for their stats
0:40
Dwarves living on an oil rig?
Oil dwarves who are natural pyromancers or Sea dwarves who make mountains out of ship wreaks
Armor profenciencies are useful for spellcasters that don't get them, a mountan dwarf wizard using Tasha's rules is incredibly potent due to the wizard having armor
Me sitting here with my Charlatan Mountain Dwarf Artificer with 12 tool proficiencies at level 1. You sure Tasha's didn't change other things that affected Mountain Dwarves Davy?
I was thinking it, you were thinking it, ROCK AND STONE!!
Mountain dwarf; Default dwarf skin.
Hill dwarf; Look at me I'm a guy with a extra hit point.
Mark of warding dwarf; * Enemy dispels alarm *
"You fool, I have 70 alternative spell slots."
Duergar; "Never call a dwarf short in sunlight, worst mistake of my life."
-Peter Griffon.
Mountain dwarf is and will always be the best dwarf subrace. I fail to see how getting two 18's at level 4 in strength and constitution makes the mountain dwarf bad. Also, the reallocating of ability score increases is stupid because that is part of what makes a race or subrace different. The defining feature of mountain dwarves is their amazing bonus to strength; if you take that away, they aren't mountain dwarves anymore. The same goes for just about every non-elven race and subrace.
Yeah sure "a +2 and +1 is what makes all the races distinct from each other" lmao
@@hephaestus9901, it doesn't make any sense for a dwarf to have a +2 to dexterity.
@@thewonderfullymadejaraid7015 how? It represents a rare and exceptional dwarf that for some reason has better dexterity than the other dwarves. You arent suddenly changing the lore of the dwarves to make them all dexterous.
@@hephaestus9901, just do what the tieflings do and make a new subrace. Mountain dwarves, orcs and goliaths are phyically stronger than the other races, that is just the way the lore is. If you want a golaith that somehow manages to get a natural +2 to dexterity EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE 7-8 FEET TALL, go make a subrace.
@@hephaestus9901 It is, and I'm tired of pretending it's not
It basically implies the sort of cultural background the character came from in the first place, and in some cases even the biological differences.
It's like the difference between a pitbull and a beagle
My own world has a common magic item called “Algarizz’s Lenses” which are essentially sunglasses, cancelling out disadvantage on attacks, but not perception checks. Most underdark races that regularly traverse the surface have them and they are automatically given to all PCs playing said races.
Davvy, you keep bringing up how tool proficiencies are amazing, especially for Artificers. But what if you used Tasha's to make a Mountain Dwarf Artificer? That would already start with 4 tool proficiencies, and since Artificers already get light and medium armor you can trade in the racial armor proficiencies for 2 more tools, bringing you to 6. Artificers are also able to use all simple weapons so you can trade in the proficiency with hand axes and light hammers for 2 more, raising you up to 8 tool proficiencies at level 1. If you were maybe planning on taking the Battle Smith sub class later, you could just cut out the nonsense and trade in all your racial proficiencies for 10 different tool proficiencies at level 1.
Then when you hit level 3, on top of getting another tool proficiency (raising your total # of tool proficiencies to either 9 or 11) as part of your sub class, you also get something called The Right Tool for the Job. This lets you use either your thief's tools or tinker tools to spend an hour to magic up a complete tool set of your choice (or as I'm planning to flavor it, the hour is added to the time I spend working on whatever it is I'm trying to work on with the tools I have on hand as I gradually use a bunch of magic, duct tape, and scrap to modify said tools into crude aproximations of what I need while swearing at said tools). Unless your DM and/or table has a problem with spending an extra hour to do stuff or home brewing away the extra time, you have essentially become the single greatest handy man the multiverse has ever seen.
I’ve been on a binge of your channel since I’ve gotten into dnd. I’m glad it’s your channel.
Dont dis my "I have 20 more health than any other barbarian" subrace
I have a Drow in my game. She was raised by her High Elf father, so was always in sunlight as she grew up. We lowered her Darkvision to 60 and got rid of her sunlight sensitivity all together.
So you obviously don't know that medium armor+14 dex equals... heavy armor and 15 strenght, right? Otherwise, the fact you can now play a bard or sorcerer or wizard with 17 AC instead of 15 wouldn't be lost on you. Granted, plate mail means 18 AC if you have 15 strength but if that's the case, you can actually just get the heavy armored feat and get a bonus +1 to strength as well to help you carry that armor (not that dwarves care about armor weight mind you). Mark of warding dwarves have the benefit of armor of agathys being in their spell list, which on a full spellcaster like a moon druid or lore bard or bladesinger is amazing
If anyone likes big weapons, don't forget that since while under the effect of the Duergar's enlarge spell they are considered a large creature, you can wield weapons designed for large creatures, which is going to be pretty great and pretty nasty.
Duregar also have a fun shenanigans with Rune Knight as an extra size bump beyond the rest.
2:38 Made a hill dwarf barbarian with the tough feat once. He was chonky. And i put totem of the bear too. So basically his effective health was ridiculous
Hey Davvy! I know you haven’t done one in a while, but can you make a race video on Aasimar? High-key a seriously underrated race that deserves some love
You know what Davvy hasn't done, the Expanded Spell Lists for subclasses.
(I love how he calls subraces 'subclasses' instead.
Davvy! Video idea!
After playing a one shot as a battlesmith with a robot monkey whose constant hijinks kept the group entertained, how about a video on how to play a comic relief character.
The low int, the funny animal, the flesh hungry goblin, the kenku etc
I'm playing my first dwarf character as a storm sorcerer
So you make Dwarven Bards?
Have a stick on beard for the cosplay?
First, quite possibly my favorite feature of the dwarf is the Dwarven Fortitude feat that lets you boost con by 1 and spend hit dice when you dodge.
Second, I don't you're being completely fair to the medium armor proficiency of the mountain dwarf for casters. Who wants to have to spend ASIs on their wizard/sorcerer investing in dex higher than 14? Especially when most games won't go far enough for you to cap your casting stat, get things like War Caster or Resilient Con, AND boost dex to 20.
But, you probably already know that and just went the hyperbolic route because it's a video for entertainment. We love you anyway, Banana Man.
Those who dislike the optional rule for moving ASI's might be purists, but those who dislike that optional rule being turned mandatory for all future races are certainly not.
They just don't like being told that their fun is wrong.
P.S. You're dead wrong about Mountain Dwarves. They're lovely, and work well for all Str-based martial builds, and multiple caster builds.
Hold up you are mad that future races will never have hypothetical fixed ASI and that you will never know what fixed ASI they might have had?
@@hephaestus9901 I do, and I'm tired of pretending it's not
If nothing else, the lack of fixed ASI for non-human characters means that there is no longer a point for humans to exist.
@@Hromovlad1 your first sentence is very confusing, as for humans they still get depending on subrace: a choice of feat and skill proficiency or an increase to every ability score or all the spells ebberon humans get. Only the variant human from the PHB is actively trivialized because of his 2 +1 which every race can do now, but they still get a feat of choice and a choice of skill proficiency.
@@hephaestus9901 The increase in every ability score is only useful if you intend to multi-class heavily.
The Eberron humans are so heavily bound to the setting's lore that most people probably won't let you play them outside of that setting.
Also, it kinda defeats the purpose of the ASCI
At this point, it may as well be abolished completely then.
I like how atleast half of the art in this video is from MtG.
Playing a kobold, I use the extra large hat strategy along with some magically crafted sunglasses
Counter argument in defence of Mountain Dwarves:
Under Tasha's rules (I think, or maybe you could do it before) you can swap all weapon/armour profs for tool profs.
So base Dwarf = one tool already. Then another 4 for swapping out weapon profs. Then Mountain Dwarf allows another 2. Background for another potential 2. Classes/Subclasses can give 1 - 2 as well depending on what you pick. So to optimise this you can go either:
Fighter, Rune Knight (with the fire rune, to get expertise in all tools by level 3) + another tool.
or
Artificer, any subclass, for another 2 tools and tool expertise by level 6.
Having 9 - 11 tool profs/expertise might sound silly (which it is) but it is amazing how many times you can be use a tool prof/expertise as a slightly left of centre skill proficiency, with some creativity. Can make even an otherwise entirely classic Barbarian feel useful and involved in all sorts of social encounters, puzzles, camping/defence based situations and so on.
Plus being able to fix everything/build everything is sweet, and it works well with both the Xanathar's tool prof rules and more homebrew-y crafting rules.
Big hat Danny, the most feared Duegar mage.
One thing my DMs often allow is dropping Sunlight Sensativity in exchange for only 60 foot darkvision.
I've been musing about an idea of a subrace of ocean dwarves, but since I'm only just stepping into the DM space for the first time it'll be a bit before I consider putting ink to paper, however this got me thinking about them again and there is much 2 think about
Dwarf Doug Dimmadome sounds like the coolest npc
My DM gave me a cloak that stopped my sunlight sensivity. Really nice, but i build my drow bard around that feature anyways
On the weapon proficiencies, they are useful... for Clerics. With the exception of War, Tempest, Death, and Twilight, Clerics do not get martial weapons, but any of the subclasses with heavy armor do get bonuses to their melee weapon attacks starting at 8th level.
However, since Clerics only get one attack, the increase from a D6 to a D8 damage die will rarely make any meaningful difference.
To get rid of Sunlight Sensitivity I would home rule that if a player is playing a race with that feature I would reduce Darkvision by half, basically they've adapted to life in bright light but at a cost to their Darkvision distance.
I don't personally care for Dwarves all that much, but I had an idea for a Dwarf character who is a Wizard as a way to spite his parents. His father wanted him to pick up some kind of craft, so he bent the rules and picked up "spellcraft".
Dwarves are the only race that it makes sense to have darkvision for.
There are so many different Elves, but only four Dwarf option. I would like to see more love given to Dwarfs, Gnomes and Halflings.
Counterpoint: make an armorer dwarf, and martial proficiencies are very useful to take advantage of both the stealth/range armor and better melee at the same time
The Duergar, atleast in my friend's group, have been discovered to be cool way of darkness monks and armorer artificiers.
You insulted Dwarves!? That's goin' in the book of grudges!!
Just a thought, if your playing a Duergar Artificer you could probably make some sunglasses to fight your sunlight sensitivity.
1:10 unless you know.. youre a forge domain cleric
I disagree with the mountain dwarf. Being 1 of the few races that give med armor proficiently to any class without any dips or feats. Having a half plate or a breastplate will give you better ac as a wizard without the Dex bonus so you can focus on int and feats and focusing on con
I don't see needing super high stats at lvl 1 so I keep the racial bonuses in. I like the flavor of them, the welcome challenge they bring and want my players to think not about hyper focused stats. I do hate how many reacted to tashas as let people do what ever they want in there game and now people like me who like racial bonus are now shoved in with the dum asshats group which sucks.
I've DMed for my group for a while and since tasha's came out mountain dwarves don't get armor weapons, the get seven tool proficiencies. Hilariously, one was an artificer and the other a forge cleric
I let my players use Sunlight Sensitivity as described in monster stat blocks where it’s just when they’re in the sun, and also, sunglasses are a pretty good quick fix
I actually plan on playing a melee based Fathomless Warlock and the Medium Armor proficiency made me chose a Mountain Dwarf.
Davvy what are you even saying?? The mountain dwarf's medium armor prof is baller on a spellcaster!
Most casters want to focus on improving their casting, so they take war caster; resilient con; half feats that increase your casting stat; or they bump themselves with a +2 to their casting stat. There's no room in there for a dex increase! A 17 AC is better than a mage armor 15 ac. Especially with classes that get the shield spell.
Spells caters lost a spell sot if they are in armor?
My drow got away with sunlight sensitivity by wearing a dark hat and really really tinted sunglasses lol
I respectfully disagree with you. Mountain Dwarves are the only dwarves I play, and they make excellent fighters, barbarians, and paladins. And with the armor proficiency, you can effectively disguise yourself by wearing armor and carrying a battle-axe as a fighter. Mage Armor is a plus three and scale mail is a plus four to AC. My character's hairy ancestors would not allow me to stand by while you insulted them. :) Oh, and duergar are mostly evil and always pricks. The funniest thing is how people play duergar. They play them like Mountain Dwarves. The Hobbit, LOTR, nearly fantasy depiction of dwarves follow the MT Dwarves. Except maybe the Choose your own adventure book, the Revolt of the Dwarves, mostly because the Dwarves were mounted on horses, and that seems like a Hillish thing for a Dwarf to do.
Actually, the mountain dwarf is amazing, especially for barbarians, at least if you play point buy.
That means +4 in STR and CON if you hit lvl 4, which not only helps you with hitting things, as any good barbarian should, it also raises your AC through unarmored defense.
Love it.
@@thomasmcc-l1658 don't you?
Weapons for casters do have their use
Some enemies are resistant or even immune to magic, and you better carry your wight in that fight
Also, thanks to Tasha, those redundant weapon efficiencies can be traded out for something else
Same with the armor proficiency
Not to mention, and Armored Wizard or Sorcerer is ALWAYS the way to go, mage armor is waste of a spell slot and a turn
Seriously, the best Wizards and Sorcerers I ever saw were Mountain Dwarves, even WITHOUT the ability to switch the strength out for a different stat (like a damn munchkin)
0:58 *Laughs in Artificer*
Davey love the channel brother. Any chance you could do a video on Cambiens and Fey'ri?🤘🤘
There should be a spell "Light vision" for underdark denizens to take . Seems like something they would try to develop. Or googles of day vision which should be much cheaper to get because it is non-magical shaded glass.
Sunglasses exist since medieval times, so they shouldn't be a problem to homebrew in a campaign.
I'm currently playing an Aleithian Dwarf psychic warrior. We're 4th level now, at 6th level I'm going to dip into a level of Dwarven fighter, and then 7th level I'll go Iron Mind.
I don't care too much about sunlight sensitivity, I played a drow priest once and the DM didn't really ever had me have the disadvantage.
Go artificer with duergar so you can modify any armor you make or get with some kick ass shades to help avoid the sun's wrath.
I like to run steampunk campaigns so sun sensitivity has never been an issue. Can’t stand sunlight? Sunglasses! Get them at your local corner store for 5sp!
I recently started playing a mountain dwarf War wizard who uses booming blade on a warhamer and where's half plate and makes a good tank with its arcane Deflection and mirror image and add in a little haste and your a great melee caster
*wears *you're