Considerations for Dwarves

Dwarves are what on most MUDS is called the warrior class. As such they can take a fair amount of stopping power before needing to recover, and can deal out incredible amounts of damage with their weapons. Dwarves make good tanks, but perform even better in the second rank, where their massive blows are much harder to be parried or dodged. The key for the dwarf's success is his weapons. With a decent pair he can deal a tremendous amount of damage each round, with total disregard for lag, whether environmental or invoked by skills. Also note that there are weapons that can only be used by the dwarf's unsurpassed strength. All power comes at a price though, And the dwarf pays by being extremely hard to level, and having only some modest augmenting skills, headbutt being the most usefull. They can also learn some spells, but at a terrible price, for they make leveling even harder.

Weapon policy: Virtually all the damage a dwarf causes comes from weapons. Because of this, top priority should be given to getting a maximum of modified damage (after taking the weapon's own damage bonus in acount). Hit and damage bonuses are far less important, only needing to be taken in acount in order to determine how much damage a weapon causes on top of its base damage. Naturally, this shouldn't stop a dwarf from getting as good an enchant on his weapons as he can, since that only increases their effectiveness.

Armor policy: Dwarves in combat will typically fight either as tank, or immediately behind, falling in as tank when nessesary (using rescue). Because of this they should strike a balance between to hit and damage bonusses and armor class. When compeled to choose between the 2 however, pick bonusses, since the best way to avoid damage is to finish off the foe before he can cause it in the first place.

Grouping considerations: Dwarves group well with any class, even other dwarves. When grouped with a dwarf they should take turns tanking, thereby getting the best of their endurance. When grouped with an illithid or a human, the dwarf should let the other tank, falling in when their situation becomes critical. It is a good idea to customize your prompt to display tank status. Teamed with support classes like elves, druids or avians, they should tank themselves, letting the other classes back them up with spells and attacks. The most devastating combination however is achieved combined with a kender, where a combination of rescue and circle can inflict pure destruction on the foe battled.

Most prominent weakness: Since dwarves rely so much on weapon attacks, dealing out as much as 6 in one round, even a single disarm can spell disaster, easily halving the dwarf's damage output untill the lag subsides and the weapon can be re-wielded.

Other considerations: Because the ETL (Experience To next Level) already is astronomically high, as little should be learned OoG as possible. The dodge skill of course is a must, and maybe a single attack spell like fireball. The benevolent spells like a single healing spell and bless can also be considered, since they too greatly increase performance and are handy to have without the need for teammates or artifacts. However NO maladictions (curse, poison). These require in combat casting, much better used to heal up, cast another fireball or deal another headbutt. Detect hidden can be valuable since there are so few potions with that effect, but detect invis can just as easily be purchased in clathar. Most other spells/skills are a total waste of the extra ETL required to get them. Wait with learning them till you are level 50 and need one massive run of experience to hero anyway.

Dwarves are easy to play. The brunt of their work consists of getting good equipment, finding a good prey, get spelled up and just keep hitting till it dies. It isn't hard to hero with a dwarf, if just takes a lot of time!