Well, I'd have to say that in my experience so far, getting to 34th level as a dwarf, that only a few things really would add to "the dwarven experience"
and here they are, in no particular order:
Flying tackle:
The one weakness of the dwarf is those darn spellcasters, especially if they're in the air, and there's no way to fix that without wasting time with dispel magic while they blow you away. The flying tackle is a pleasant compromise.
on success: Mutual trip 4 or so rounds (maybe have a wider range 2-8 or something) where the two are entangled and neither can cast.
on failure: Self trip for 1-3 rounds (you just fell)
Dwarven Resistance:
Dwarves are well known for being hardy folk, highly magic resistant (not to mention poison and whatnot.) My proposition to represent has 2 options.
skillwise: On a successful save, damage is mitigated, anywhere from half to completely shrugging it off, treated as a passive skill like dodge and parry.
resistwise: Flat bonus to save based on level. (not much flavor in that)
Dwarven Cannonball:
"Toss me"
"What?"
(Ok so I thought that'd just be a funny quote to throw in)
A couple different ways this could be treated, one being the bull rush style Lairian mentioned to me, where the dwarf charges through and pushes a single mob with him (there are female dwarves?) to the next room over. Personally I like the concept of a killing machine of DOOOOM where the dwarf enters into melee into a clusterf*** and wreaks havoc on all around him. (The biggest problem I've had with *ahem* events like that is that I become quickly disarmed.) My take on it would be to make this a targeted skill.... Complete with a move from the next room over. (Cannonball North makes you move north and start keeling.) Effective use: directional move, for duration of cannonball an AC buff (who wants to get close), possible atk/dam mod (maybe up maybe down, could even be a function of the skill activation) and a "trip" effect for the duration (you're in a berserker frenzy, what else can you do). Opening move also attempts to hit everything in the room, you can't pick friend from foe and is intended to pick a fight with everyone.
Cleave ~ Finishing Strike
When time comes to end the fight, it's a little silly chasing a mob across 3 or 4 rooms only to have them run again. (I'm almost completely straight up dwarf, blindness, parry, and identify being the only oog.) And it'd be nice to see some angry damage that jumps up and looks neat. Actual function would be like breath weapons, based on your HP, and hit or miss, leaves the dwarf functionally stunned, based on the targets HP. (Possible bonus for 2 handed)
Reforging
"We have the technology..."
Dwarves of lore have been famous for being smiths, and it seems appropriate to bring that skill out. Since creating items with whatever function a dwarf wants would be silly, something more tangible should be used. To reforge what's already there works a whole lot better.
System: Raise the level of the item to either the dwarf's or to a certain point the dwarf picks, raise the base AC appropriately, and add to AC or saves a function of the dwarf's level. The balance to this would be a money sink and xp sink. The dwarf is putting his heart into it, literally. Taking the idea for this from enhancing. Time and effort is put in, and an item that you like (Maybe that bright silver bracer
) is made better. Make a tag like "shiny" that would make it obvious that the item's been reforged, and limit forging to once in the items lifetime.
Alcoholerance:
Beer Beer Beer Tiddily Beer Beer Beer
Definitely needs to be a skill, as all the dwarven booze will make a mess of lesser people. Dwarves should just not feel the affects as much, period. One way to treat it to give a save vs spell, or use the dwarven fortitude previously mentioned, or just treat it as it's own function.
Teach
