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A dwarf, in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy roleplaying game, is a humanoid race, one of the primary races available for player characters. The idea for the ''D&D'' dwarf comes from the dwarves of European mythologies and J. R. R. Tolkien's novel ''The Lord of the Rings'' (1954-1955), and has been used in ''D&D'' and its predecessor ''Chainmail'' since the early 1970s. Variations from the standard dwarf archetype of a short and stout demihuman are commonly called subraces, of which there are more than a dozen across many different rule sets and campaign settings.

History

The concept of the dwarf comes from Norse and Teutonic mythology. In particular, the dwarves in the Germanic story '' The Ring of the Nibelungen'' and the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Rumpelstiltskin" have been called "ancestors" of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' dwarves. Along with giants, dwarves were one of the first types of non-humans to be introduced into the ''Chainmail'' game, the forebear of ''D&D'', when miniature figures of varying sizes were used together in the same wargame. The dwarf in ''D&D'' is based on Tolkien's version of the dwarf.

The dwarf first appears as a player character race in the original 1974 edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', with a design that is strongly influenced by the dwarves of Poul Anderson's 1961 novel ''Three Hearts and Three Lions''. This early version of the ''D&D'' dwarf is limited to playing a fighter, and can not progress beyond the sixth level. With the release of the first supplement, Greyhawk, in 1976, they were then allowed to play a thief with no level restriction. The dwarf and other non-human characters are considered their own classes in the original ''Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set'' (1977) and its sequels, where they were only permitted a maximum level of 12 (compared to the Halfling's 8, the Elves' 10, and the human classes 36). With the arrival of ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'', the dwarf was returned to a player character race in the ''Player's Handbook'' (1978) and detailed as a monster in the original ''Monster Manual'' (1977). A number of dwarven subraces are presented as character races in the original ''Unearthed Arcana'' (1985).

In 1989, the hill dwarf, the most common dwarven subrace, appears as a character race in the second edition ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' ''Player's Handbook'' and as a monster in the ''Monstrous Compendium Volume Two''. Dwarves are detailed as a race for the Forgotten Realms setting in ''Dwarves Deep'' (1990). Several dwarven races are detailed as player character races in ''The Complete Book of Dwarves'' (1991). The dwarf appears as a character race in the third edition ''Player's Handbook'' (2000), the 3.5 revised ''Player's Handbook'' (2003), the fourth edition ''Player's Handbook'' (2008), and the fifth edition ''Player's Handbook'' (2014). The arctic dwarf, gray dwarf, gold dwarf, shield dwarf, urdunnir, and wild dwarf are all detailed in '' Races of Faerûn'' (2003). Dwarves are one of the races detailed in ''Races of Stone'' (2004). The dwarf, including the dwarf bolter and the dwarf hammerer, appears as a monster in the fourth edition ''Monster Manual'' (2008).

Description

Dwarves average four feet in height, with stout, broad bodies. Male dwarves grow thick facial hair. The female dwarves in ''The Lord of the Rings'' novels, which greatly inspired ''D&D'', were able to grow beards as well. Some authors, such as R. A. Salvatore, have followed suit in their writing, though the game rules' official position is that females do not grow beards—the fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons portrayed female dwarves as "beardless and even attractive". In specific campaign settings, the potential for female dwarven facial hair sees much variation: In the ''World of Greyhawk'' some females can grow beards but those generally shave, in the ''Forgotten Realms'' they can grow full beards but also usually shave, and in ''Eberron'' they do not grow facial hair at all. In older editions of the game, female dwarves did grow beards in various campaign settings.

The book ''Three Hearts and Three Lions'' by Poul Anderson strongly influenced ''Dungeons & Dragons'', having a dwarf named Hugi with a Scottish accent. Most popular portrayals of dwarves feature such an accent. Dwarves tend to be more useful for combat-oriented players, as they gain a number of special abilities and bonuses in combat, mostly related to their hardiness and smaller stature compared to humans. Dwarves are also resistant to poison and magic, can see in the dark (a skill called ''infravision