Making Babies

As most of you probably know, dwarves in my Dwimmermount campaign are a male-only race. Even if they were immortal, which they're not, accidents and violence would ensure that their numbers would inevitably dwindle if there were not some way to create more dwarves. That way is through the carving of a "son" from living rock, with embellishments and adornments of precious metals and gems. With enough attention and craftsmanship -- outsiders say obsession -- a weird magic takes hold of the carving and imbues it with the spark of life, becoming a new dwarf.

In my campaign, Vladimir is in the process of creating a son for himself and I decided we needed rules to cover how this would work. Basically, a dwarf gets one chance per level to imbue his son with life. His player rolls 1D20 and adds the character's current level as a bonus. If the final result is 20 or more, the carving comes to life. This roll requires a minimum 10,000 gp investment in materials, however, with an additional +1 bonus to the carving roll for each additional 10,000 gp invested. Consequently, most low-level dwarves will not be able to make a carving roll, unless they're very lucky and/or diligent when it comes to seeking out loot. The investment bonus carries over from level to level, so a dwarf who invests 10,000 gp at level 5 and then invests 20,000 gp at level 6 gets a +3 bonus the next time he makes a carving roll (in addition to the +6 he gets from being 6th level).

There are some wrinkles to this system, of course. A roll of 1 is not just a failure but a critical one, resulting in something unusual occurring, according to the following table:

1D6 Roll	Result
1-2	Gnome
3-4	Inert
5-6	Knocker

Gnomes are an offshoot race of dwarves, created when something goes awry in the process of carving a dwarf son. Gnomes and dwarves have a complicated relationship, something I'll discuss in a couple of days in a separate entry. A knocker is a twisted dwarf, one so obsessed with gold and gems that it retreats into mines, dungeons, and other such subterranean locales in order to sate its lust for riches. Knockers are selfish, malevolent creatures with a penchant for trap-making and cruel practical jokes on other beings, most especially dwarves. A result of "inert" means that the carving is "stillborn" and unusable. The dwarf must start work over again on a new son. Inert dwarf sons are never discarded or destroyed. Instead, they are given a place of honor somewhere safe, often within a dwarf hold, which typically has a large "cemetery" filled with sons whose carvings failed to bring them to life.

A newly-carved dwarf is level 1 and has the same ability scores as his father. There is a 10% chance per ability score that it might be higher (or lower) than that of his father, owing to some quirk in the process of his carving. Roll 1D6, with even numbers conferring a +1 bonus to the ability score and odd numbers a -1 penalty. The new dwarf also owes his father an amount equal to the cost spent in carving him. Each month, there is a 75% chance the father will receive 1d12 x 100 gp from his son in partial repayment of this debt. The other 25% of the time, he receives nothing. This money cannot be converted into experience points, while the cost of carving a son can. (Remember that, in my campaign, only gold spent earns XP)

A dwarf PC, by the way, begins play in debt as well, to the tune of 1D10 x 10,000 gp. He is not under any obligation (other than a social one -- dwarves who don't attempt to repay their fathers are ostracized by others of their kind) to make good on this debt, although any money spent in doing so earns XP at the usual rate. Paying off a debt, however, does have one mechanical benefit. Usually, dwarves are limited to level 8 in advancement. For every 25% of their debt they pay off, they may advance an additional level, up to a maximum of 12.