Arctic dwarves, who call themselves the Inugaakalikurit, are the isolated inhabitants of Faerûn’s northernmost reaches. Native to the mountains at the heart of the Great Glacier and other northerly regions, arctic dwarves are little known to the outside world. Many arctic dwarves are rangers, barbarians or fighters, for they hold little interest in the spellcasting arts or godly worship.
Arctic dwarves are unique among the Stout Folk in that they do not trace their ancestry back to Bhaerynden, the great cavern that later fell to the drow of Telantiwar and now lies open as the Great Rift. As such, they have little in common with other Stout Folk, lacking any common political, religious, craft or magical traditions. In recent years, a handful of arctic dwarves have migrated across the icy northern wastes to establish new settlements along the shores of the Great Ice Sea and in the Silver Marches, but for the most part the Inugaakalikurit have dwelt in splendid isolation for uncounted generations, wholly content with their lot in life.
Arctic dwarves are squat and hardy, with blocky bodies, pinched faces and stubby legs. They rarely exceed 3 feet in height and are nearly as broad as they are tall. Their eyes are bright blue, their cheeks as ruddy as apples. Their skin is white, almost bluish, but because of their fondness for basking under the bright sun, many of them are sunburned red from head to toe, a condition that causes them no discomfort or other ill effects. Their fingers and toes are thick and blunt and their feet flat and wide. Curly white hair covers their heads and tumbles down their backs nearly to their waists. Males sport short beards and twisting mustaches. Both sexes favour simple tunics of polar bear fur and generally go barefoot.
Arctic dwarves are open and friendly and can be quite sociable with neighbouring races, with the exception of frost giants, whom they despise. Unlike other dwarves, Inugaakalikurit have little interest in mining or crafts, instead devoting themselves to hunting, raising children and leisure. Traditional dwarven strictures, such as those imposed by family and clan, hold little weight in arctic dwarf society, and history and the past achievements of one’s ancestors are seen as little more than a source of enjoyable tales. Arctic dwarves are quite curious about the outside world, although they have little inclination to go and see it.
History: Since the arctic dwarves have no historical record other than their own stories, little is known about the true history of this enigmatic sub-race. Scholars believe that the arctic dwarves migrated into northern Faerûn around the same time as the Stout Folk who originally founded Bhaerynden, but, if that is true, they have left no trace of their passing. Some claim that the Inugaakalikurit once ruled a northern empire that rivaled great Bhaerynden, but the Great Glacier long ago crushed any ruins it might have left.
Arctic dwarves did not always claim the towering peaks of Novularond as their home. Prior to the coming of the Ulutiuns, they dwelt in small villages across the Great Glacier. Since adapting to their alpine homes, the arctic dwarves have dwelt in quiet isolation, untouched by the passage of time.
Outlook: Arctic dwarves are friendly and outgoing, little concerned with class or clan distinctions. They enjoy life to the fullest and see little reason to accumulate wealth or material possessions. They believe in hunting and gathering sufficient food to feed themselves but otherwise have little interest in labour of any sort. They strive to spend as much time as possible in leisurely pursuits, storytelling, sports such as wrestling and games with their children.
Arctic dwarves are rarely drawn to adventuring, but those who do usually evince a curiosity about other cultures so strong that they willingly forgo the life of leisure they might otherwise pursue. Instead of waiting to chance upon evidence of other cultures in their remote glacial homes, they head out to explore the world, seeking out the exotic and the new. As such, they stumble into adventures by happenstance, happily exploring any new environment they come across.
Characters: Arctic dwarves typically make good rangers and barbarians, since they are well equipped to survive in extreme environments. Likewise, generations of battling frost giants and other monsters have given rise to a strong martial tradition. The self-sufficiency of these classes enables arctic dwarves to feel comfortable about their continued survival and hence engenders the relaxed attitude many feel toward life. Inugaakalikurit have no arcane spellcasting tradition, and their lack of religious faith precludes the role of cleric or paladin. Arctic dwarves often multiclass as ranger/fighters or ranger/barbarians.
Favoured Class: An arctic dwarf’s favoured class is ranger. The harsh polar environment of the Great Glacier rewards those who possess excellent survival skills, and the intermittent feuding between the Inugaakalikurit and their frost giant enemies demands the specialized skills of a giant-killing ranger.
Society: Arctic dwarf culture is remarkably homogeneous, the result of centuries of isolation from the other races of Faerûn. Compared to other dwarven cultures, Inugaakalikurit place almost no emphasis on bloodline or clan. While individual accomplishment does garner respect, rarely are such feats remembered for more than a generation. The pursuit of leisure is placed above hard work or skilled artisanship, and few arctic dwarves are driven to accomplish more than continued survival.
Arctic dwarves receive a great deal of individual attention in childhood, with all adult members of the community serving as parental figures to varying degrees. Little is expected of Inugaakalikurit youth, so they spend their days engaged in playful pursuits. As adults, each arctic dwarf is expected to contribute to the community’s well-being, but there is little societal reward for doing more than the minimum required. Elderly arctic dwarves are considered to have earned the right to live out the rest of their days engaging in leisurely pursuits and are simply encased beneath the ice and snow when death finally claims them.
Arctic dwarves have emigrated in such small numbers from their mountain homes that they have very little experience as minorities within other cultures. Those who do leave usually look for individuals of similar temperament, regardless of race, and attempt to recreate the easygoing lifestyle of their native villages.
Language: Like all dwarves, arctic dwarves speak a dialect of Dwarven and employ the Dethek rune alphabet. They also speak the dialect of Common spoken in Sossal. The Inugaakalikurit dialect of Dwarven is known as Kurit and has strong ties to Uluik, the Ulutiun tongue spoken by the humans of the Great Glacier and the Ice Hunters of the North. Common secondary languages include Uluik, Giant, Damaran and Draconic, which enable arctic dwarves to communicate with their neighbours.
All arctic dwarf characters are literate except for barbarians, adepts, aristocrats, experts, warriors and commoners.
Magic: Arctic dwarves take a pragmatic view toward magic: It’s useful if it helps them hunt, but otherwise spells and spellcasters — especially arcane ones — are a matter for tales told to youngsters.
Spells and Spellcasting: Arctic dwarves do not have an arcane spellcasting tradition. Since they do they not worship the dwarven deities, they lack a strong divine spellcasting tradition as well.
Most arctic dwarf spellcasters are druids, adepts and rangers. The druids in particular have an affinity to fire magic, because many of their most common foes (such as frost giants and frost worms) fear and hate flames.
Magic Items: Arctic dwarves rarely employ magic items, as they do not have a cultural tradition of clerics or arcane spellcasters to craft such items. Those few items that do exist are usually fashioned by druids or the rare arctic dwarf arcane spellcaster and include such items as amulets of natural armour and snowshoes of speed (identical to boots of speed).
In caves carved into the Great Glacier, arctic dwarves nurture coin-sized ice crystals of exceeding sharpness. Called kerrenderit in the Kurit tongue, these crystals can be magically enhanced to form deadly arrowheads. The kerrenderit crystals take a long time to form in their icy caves, so only the greatest hunters among the arctic dwarves carry kerrenderit arrows in their quivers.
Religion: Among the various dwarven sub-races, the Inugaakalikurit are unique in that they do not venerate the Morndinsamman or, indeed, worship any gods. A few exceptions exist, including a few arctic dwarves who have turned to the worship of the human god Ulutiu. Instead, the arctic dwarves follow a druidic tradition, venerating Talos and Ulutiu.
Relations: Isolated as they are by their environment, arctic dwarves have little experience with members of other races aside from Ulutiun humans and frost giants. They get along well with the former and hate the latter. Since most arctic dwarves are amiable and peace-loving, they treat representatives of most other races favourably unless shown reason not to. The Inugaakalikurit find other dwarves and gnomes somewhat amusing, a combination of their familiar appearance and odd (to an arctic dwarf) ways.
Likewise, humans other than Ulutiuns are seen as odd since their cultures differ greatly from that known to arctic dwarves. The Inugaakalikurit regard elves and half-elves with a measure of awe, having only ever seen winged elves soaring high above their mountain homes. Halflings, half-orcs and planetouched are exotic creatures to a typical arctic dwarf.
Equipment: Arctic dwarves commonly employ only a handful of weapons, including battleaxes, shortspears, shortbows and shortspears. Most arctic dwarves wear hide armour, with pelts of polar bears being most highly prized. The harsh arctic environment of the Great Glacier requires the use of dogsleds, snow goggles and snowshoes.
Arctic dwarves favour riding dogs with heavy winter coats as pets and pack animals. When they hunt behind dogsleds, they often chase down and exhaust their prey, then finish the hunt with arctic harpoons. While the arctic harpoon can be difficult for arctic dwarves to wield, they favour it anyway, motivated by a mythic tradition of arctic dwarf harpooners who felled impossibly large polar bears and other prey.
Regions: The Great Glacier, The Spine of the World.
Source: Races of Faerûn (Page 9)
Your character can be either male or female.
Every player character starts as an adult. You can choose or randomly generate your character’s age. If you choose it, it must be at least the minimum age for the character’s race and class (see Table: Starting Ages). Your character’s minimum starting age is the adulthood age of his or her race plus the number of dice indicated in the entry corresponding to the character’s race and class on Table: Starting Ages.
Alternatively, refer to Table: Starting Ages and roll dice to determine how old your character is.
| Adulthood | Intuitive1 | Self-Taught2 | Trained3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 years | +3d6 (43—58) years | +5d6 (45—70) years | +7d6 (47—82) years |
1 This category includes barbarians, rogues and sorcerers.
2 This category includes bards, fighters, paladins and rangers.
3 This category includes clerics, druids, monks and wizards.
With age, a character’s physical ability scores decrease and his or her mental ability scores increase (see Table: Aging Effects). The effects of each aging step are cumulative. However, none of a character’s ability scores can be reduced below 1 in this way.
| Middle Age1 | Old Age2 | Venerable3 | Maximum Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 125 years | 188 years | 250 years | +2d% years |
1 -1 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
2 -2 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
3 -3 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
When a character reaches venerable age, the DM secretly rolls his or her maximum age, which is the number from the Venerable column on Table: Aging Effects plus the result of the dice roll indicated on the Maximum Age column on that table, and records the result, which the player does not know. A character who reaches his or her maximum age dies of old age at some time during the following year, as determined by the DM.
The maximum ages are for player characters. Most people in the world at large die from pestilence, accidents, infections or violence before getting to venerable age.
Choose your character’s height and weight from the ranges mentioned in the appropriate race description or from the ranges found on Table: Height and Weight. Think about what your character’s abilities might say about his or her height and weight. A weak but agile character may be thin. A strong and tough character may be tall or just heavy.
Alternatively, roll randomly for your character’s height and weight on Table: Height and Weight. The dice roll given in the Height Modifier column determines the character’s extra height beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the dice roll or quantity given in the Weight Modifier column determines the character’s extra weight beyond the base weight.
| Gender | Base Height | Height Modifier | Base Weight | Weight Modifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 2’ 8" | +2d4 (2’ 10"—3’ 4") | 50 lbs. | ×1d4 (52—82 lbs.) |
| Female | 2’ 4" | +2d4 (2’ 6"—3’ 0") | 40 lbs. | ×1d4 (42—72 lbs.) |
Source: Player’s Handbook (Page 109), Races of Faerûn (Page 9)