The Dwarves of "Three Worlds": How much info is too much?

[Xeviat]

DWARVES
Dwarves, the final creation of the Earth Dragon, inhabit the mountains of the world. Dwarves generally prefer to face their difficulties head on. Stability and tradition are tenants of their lives, and they fight hard to maintain them.

Personality: Dwarves are often seen as stubborn, greedy, and reserved, but these flaws can just as often be the virtues of reliability, thrift, and cautiousness. They make friends slowly, but once friendship is given it is almost impossible to lose. They are prone to misunderstandings, even amongst friends. If they are slighted, they typically deal out a punishment; then the slight is forgiven (though sometimes the punishment is death). Value is of utmost importance; if there is nothing to gain from a given endeavor, it will generally not be undertaken. Dwarves are great friends, but frightening enemies. While they tend to be stoic and unemotional, they are well known for their bouts of rage.

Physical Description: Dwarves stand an average of 4 to 4 1/2 feet tall, but due to their broad girth, they generally weigh the same as a human. Dwarven men are slightly taller than dwarven women, but dwarven woman are slightly heavier. They have broad chiseled features which immediately suggest their durable nature. They have large slightly upturned noses, small eyes, and wide mouths, with slightly enlarged canines and small sharp teeth. Both Dwarven men and women grow ample and thick hair, with women growing thick locks and men growing full beards; both genders prize their hair. A Dwarves hair and beard grow partially down their upper back and upper chest, creating something of a mane. Dwarves have light eyes and course hair, but their exact skin, hair, and eye color depends on their ethnicity. They have distinct markings in their hair, creating streaks of differing color, as well as markings that flare out from their eyes along their face.

Growth and Development: Dwarves age a little faster than humans. They are children at 4 years, adolescents at 10 years, young adults at 16 years, and adults at 18 years. They reach middle age at 30, and are venerable at 50. From venerable they can live as much as another twenty years. It is a common misconception amongst humans that dwarves live extensively long; this is due to male dwarves growing their beards at age 10 and their hair graying to a dull silver as early as 30 (their dark hair markings generally take longer to gray).

Dwarven women are fertile monthly, but their pregnancy is delayed if they are under nourished, up to a full year; thus, dwarven settlements rarely grow larger then they can sustain. Under the best circumstances, a dwarven pregnancy lasts seven months.

Diet: Dwarves are carnivores, though they do eat some amount of plants in the form of herbs and grains used in seasoning and preparation.

DWARVEN RACIAL TRAITS
'¢   Ability Bonuses: +2 Constitution, -2 Charisma (Dexterity bonus from shrinking is canceled by an unlisted Dexterity penalty)
'¢   Skill Bonuses: +2 Endurance, +2 Intimidate
'¢   Bonus Feats: Rage
'¢   Stout (size bonuses): +2 Strength, +1 Toughness (Impervious), +1 Attack/Reflex, -2 Grapple, +2 Stealth, -1 Intimidate, +1 carrying capacity, -1 to Athletics, 20 ft. speed (speed x3/4).
'¢   Burrowing 7.5 ft.: ½ speed for hard clay, ¼ speed for stone.
'¢   Thick Nails: +1 unarmed damage
'¢   Resilient: +4 saves vs. disease and poison.
'¢   Tremorsense: 10 ft. ranged increment, can sense and target objects in touch with the ground (if an object isn't moving, they can sense returning echos from their own movements).
'¢   Scent: Can differentiate and identify individuals and some objects by smell.
'¢   Poor Vision: Vision is not accurate, cannot target attacks or pinpoint locations via vision. A dwarf has difficulty focusing their vision at a distance, and they have poor depth perception.

DEEP DWARVES   
Deep dwarves reside under the Grand Spire mountains in central Krellshah. Their homes are built into the mountain stone, in a mixture of natural caverns (carved by underground waterways or extinct volcanoes) and dwarf-made "rooms" where only magical light and torchlight can be found. Deep dwarven caverns are beautifully carved and meticulously designed. Because they live deep in the earth, they are afforded a buffer between them and the politics of the surface world, but in their homes they frequently battle the foul denizens of the deep. Deep dwarves are the most untrusting breed of dwarves, because they have little contact with the surface world other than for trade or war.

Physical Description: Deep dwarves are shorter and heavier than other dwarves; their smaller height favors their cramped surroundings, and their higher fat diet increases their bulk. Their eyes are light blue or white, their hair is dark with pale markings, and their skin is a deep to grayish brown with tan markings flaring out from their eyes. Their underground home has a generally unchanging temperature, so their clothes tend to be modest and simple. Their clothes are typically made of animal skins, although more wealthy families like to wear imported cloth and silk. Dwarven craftsfolk favor wearing jewelry of their own creation, but their disdain of excessiveness generally has them wear only a single piece of jewelry at a time; this allows them to show their skill and wealth in a single stroke without being ostentatious.

Relations: Deep dwarves get along favorably with humans, seeing them as good business partners and war allies. They rely upon halflings to trade their goods, selling a large portion of their exports to the halflings to sell as they see fit. They are distrustful of the wild Ifrit, having had more war than peace with them over the years. They have little contact with the tritons, as dwarves have little need for ocean travel, but they do trade with tritons indirectly through humans. While they are uneasy with the often erratic valkyries, they have an alliance with them to protect the valkyrie cities above them while the valkyries are away. Dwarves like to trade the raw metal they mine, and the stonework and metalwork of their design, for services and excess foods. Though they have little contact, dwarves get along well with elves, who share a similar connection to the spirits of the earth (plants are creatures of the earth). The often unpredictable (in dwarven perception) natures of non-dwarves lead them to remain untrusting of them, even with all their cooperation. Deep dwarves despise goblins, who represent nearly the exact opposite of them (and who often reside in the same lightless environments), and they are universally at war with giants of all kinds.

Other Races: Few non-dwarves live within deep dwarven settlements, and those that do are generally long term trade liaisons and not true members of deep dwarven society. Halflings are more common than others, and those halflings who live amongst the deep dwarves have fully assimilated. Most deep dwarven settlements are isolated.

Alignment: Deep dwarves favor tradition above all else, which makes them heavily lawful. They favor good over evil, because evil is rarely productive over the long term and rarely helps the masses, but pragmatism often leads them to neutrality.

Society: Deep dwarven settlements are made up of a single clan, and these clans are further segregated into matriarchal family units. The clans are lead by a patriarch who is generally the direct descendent of the clan's founder (either descended from the first born son down the line), and family lines are drawn through mothers. The deeper a family lives in the earth, the higher they are in society. Many families keep their own livestock, fed by grain purchased through farmers and their dealers; wealthy families purchase meat directly. Duty and loyalty are expected within the family and clan. Men are expected to work, and generally follow their father's profession. Women run the household and teach and raise children. Children are taught to respect their elders and the clan as a whole. Deep dwarven marriages are generally arranged between families of the same clan, but sometimes are arranged in order to strengthen the ties between two rival families or clans; rarely is love a question, only duty. In fact, the word "love" carries a connotation of infidelity; a "lover" is a partner outside of marriage vows. Every dwarf contributes to the clan, either through craftsmanship, mining, defense of the clan, or maintenance of the clan's households. Some large settlements, known as citadels, consist of several clans, and are ruled by a council formed by the clan monarchs.

Economy: Although dwarves possess some measure of social and economic mobility, professions are generally passed down from father to son, even though families are traced along a mother's line. Thus, a family's profession can change as new men are married into it. The most important professions are: farmers, who sell grain to others to support their livestock; miners, who provide the bulk of a clan's wealth and exports; blacksmiths, who make the tools and weapons used by the clan; and stonemasons, who ensure the safe growth of the clan's holdings. When a clan is first founded, its farms are able to provide for everyone, but eventually it grows so large that it is forced to purchase grain from other races. Citadels are better able to be self sufficient, as they control swaths of farmland. In some fertile regions, dwarves are able to live entirely underground; their farms are dug near the surface, farming tubers that grow near the surface; these clans do not grow very dense, and spread out over wide swaths of land.

Religion: The chief deity of deep dwarven society is Tyrannon, the Earth Dragon, the creator of the race of dwarves. Tyrannon has few, if any, tenants, so worship of him is generally relegated to doing things in honor of him; Tyrannon has influence over the element Earth, defense, and craftsmanship, so art (especially stonework and metalwork) and the forging of beautiful armor are seen as high honors in His name. Every family has a family-made idol of Tyrannon, preferably chiseled from a single block of uniform stone or metal ore (the idols are never made from forged metal), and every mine is sanctified in Tyrannon's name. Tyrannon is served by dwarf priests, who form their own families within clans. Non-priests never marry into priest families, but priests are sometimes married out to other families in order to create new priest families within other clans.

Second to the worship of Tyrannon is ancestor worship. Like Tyrannon's family idols, each clan prides itself on the lifelike, although giant, stone monoliths carved in the likeness of the clan's monarchs; the spirits of these monarchs reside within these statues, making the clan halls revered and sacred places. Deep dwarven animism focuses primarily on the spirits of the earth (who provide shelter and protection) and the water (who provide food). The local gods of their subterranean realm are respected, while their local demons are often isolated or imprisoned whenever possible. Dwarf shamans are not drawn from a family tradition, and dwarfs who show a connection to the spirit leave their families to be trained and educated by the shamans before returning to aid their families.

Names: Deep dwarves possess one name, given to them at birth, decided by the elders of their family and approved by elders of the clan (great care is taken to not repeat the name of great heroes or villains in their past, lest it color the dwarven child's destiny). Instead of possessing a family name, as humans do, deep dwarves generally refer to themselves as the child of their father or mother, and also the child of any great dwarves in their ancestry. Their clan also serves as an additional name, although the clan's name is the clan's founder's name. A typical dwarven name for a dwarven man might be "(name), son of (father's name), son of (family hero), of clan (founder's name)." Names, and the history and tradition they represent, are very important to dwarves.

Adventurers: Deep dwarven society possesses a great amount of structure and duty, where every dwarf has their place; thus, average dwarves rarely take up the life of an adventurer. Typical dwarven adventurers are warriors sent out on specific missions, dwarves from fallen families or clans trying to rebuild their family or clan honor, or dwarves who simply didn't fit in with typical society.

DEEP DWARF CULTURAL TRAITS
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HILL DWARVES
The hill dwarves separated from the other dwarfs at the same time the humans defeated the giants. The giant's defeat sent them into dwarven land; most dwarves thought it best to hide and let the threat pass, but the hill dwarves saw strength and inspiration in the humans, and remained on the surface to face the giants. While the deep dwarves dug into the mountains and closed their citadel doors, the hill dwarves battled the giants and forced them deeper into the mountains, and built a wall to hold them back. They settled into the mineral rich hills, and brought the knowledge of mining and metalworking to the new land. Rather than burrowing into the hillside and building a subterranean home, the hill dwarves chose to remain largely on the surface, and built strong relations with the local humans. They are less devoted to tradition and honor than other dwarves, and have instead developed a sense of community which extends to their friends and allies.

Physical Description: Hill dwarves are slightly taller and considerably leaner than other dwarves (largely due to their better diets and generations of surface living). Their eyes are generally green, their hair is blonde or red with black markings, and their skin is a deep earthy brown with darker markings. They dress much like humans, except that their higher tolerance for cold makes their clothes lighter. Common fashion encourages hill dwarfs to keep their hair trim and well kept, unlike the wild manes of deep dwarfs. Even when not on duty, or when retired, hill dwarves from the military are fond of wearing their badges and awards at all times. A well crafted sidearm is as fashionable as jewelry for other races.

Relations: Hill dwarven society is symbiotically connected with the humans of the Holylands, ever their partner in trade and war. Both have ensured the success of each other. Their close boarders with elves create tensions, especially when the elves believe that the hill dwarves have abandoned their gods. Since hill dwarves deal directly with humans in trade, they have less need for halfling caravans to handle their goods; thus, halflings get along less well with hill dwarves than with deep dwarves. While they generally dislike Ifrits, they have a begrudging respect for the black ifrit since they left their society due to their morels, the same as the hill dwarves. They have open trade with the Tritons, trading the metals that are rare for tritons for instruction in their technologies. Like all dwarves, hill dwarves do not wish to fight with valkyries, but since they do not share territory or a boarder, tensions are much stronger between them. They share the dwarven hatred of goblins and giants, but are more likely to accept ogres and hobgoblins due to their association with humans.

Other Races: Humans and halflings live amongst hill dwarves in fairly large numbers. Hill dwarves employ merchants and mercenaries, so many people move to hill dwarf land seeking a living. Valkyries are the least represented, and any valkyries living amongst hill dwarves are most likely temporary mercenaries for a season. Most hill dwarf settlements are mixed.

Alignment: Like all dwarves, hill dwarves prefer structure and order, so they lean towards law over chaos. Their association with humans and their chivalric faith fosters a leaning towards good over evil.

Society: Hill dwarven society is centered upon the community; everyone works for the community, and the community provides for everyone. A matriarch rules over the entire hill dwarven nation, but an elected representative rules over each city or town and their associated villages, and ensures proper distribution of food and protection; this representation is still controlled by the matriarch, as she chooses who can be nominated for office. Hill dwarf settlements are made up of multiple clans and hill dwarves only trace their family back to their living members; hill dwarven families are matrilineal, but beyond one's living family only the community matters. Spouses are chosen for love over duty, a trait they picked up from their close association with humans. Except for expectant and nursing mothers, there is little societal differentiation between dwarven males and females; the only difference is seen in the military, where dwarven males leave to fight during war and dwarven females remain to defend the homeland. The divide between social classes are small amongst hill dwarves; though some jobs are seen as simple (such as raising livestock), all jobs are necessary. Because of the focus on providing for the community, the arts are relegated to the status of a hobby, except amongst the clergy who have the time; thus, most hill dwarven literature and music are religious in nature, even though hill dwarven society is not as religious as the deep dwarves. Many hill dwarf traditions are drawn from the humans of the Holylands, and they have adopted the tenants of chivalry (especially courage, a hill dwarf once wielded the Gold Knight's sword).

Economy: Hill dwarven economy is nearly socialistic. The government makes its money through the sales of government food and the rental of land. Everyone from age 14 to 20 works for the military (though not always as soldiers; the military needs food and craftsmen as well). The state does not employ everyone, but they have much influence over most professions; farmers are self employed, for example, though they do sell as much as half their crop directly to the state (which is a way they can avoid the price of land rental). The state manages all exporting and importing, even on the local level. Villages are less regulated, though they still owe fealty and rent to the ruler of their local town. Villages are largely pastoral, while towns and cities largely subsist off the meat produced by villages; as such, much of the hill dwarven diet is salted or smoke cured.

Religion: Hill dwarves are less connected to the worship of the Earth Dragon Tyrannon than deep dwarves; hill dwarf wizards are more likely to worship Tyrannon than actual priests. Hill dwarven religion is a made of a mixture of ancestral worship and the Chivalric faith of the humans of the Holylands. Priests are gathered from all parts of society, from all those who show both the blessings of the spirits and the traits that make a good interpreter of the spirits and a guider of the people. Each hill dwarven settlement venerates the spirits of their dead, who are said to rejoin the earth beneath the settlement; this is why hill dwarf settlements are typically rebuilt on the same land if they are destroyed, and relocation is sacrilegious. These spirits are called upon for everything from blessings to guidance to ensuring a good grazing for their livestock. Hill dwarf shamans maintain shrines, interpret the spirits for others, and bless the land and buildings.

Centuries ago, one of the Gold Knights was wounded in a battle with giants and came to a hill dwarf village for aid. His injuries were too severe and he soon died, but before his death he passed on his sword and the teachings of chivalry to a young dwarf named Yaite, who carried on the mantle of the Gold Knight. The sword was passed along amongst the hill dwarves until the Knights reformed, when it was reluctantly returned to human hands. Courage remains the chief tenant to hill dwarves. The hill dwarf priests of courage, known as Templar (after their teaching: to be courageous is to 'temper' ones heart against the effects of fear), run prestigious military academies that train career soldiers and officers. Though the Templar lack as much influence over hill dwarven society as the human Judges do in the Holylands, their influence over hill dwarven military tradition is vast.

Names: A hill dwarf has three names. First, a personal name given to them by their parents on their first birthday; before that, they are referred to simply as 'child', 'son', or 'daughter'. Second is the name of their mother. Third is the name of their home. A typical hill dwarven name is (personal name), son of (mother's name), of (place). Upon marriage, a male hill dwarf replaces 'son of (mother's name)' with 'husband to (wife's name)'. In large towns and cities, a hill dwarf's mother's name is replaced with a family name, which is typically the name of a former head of the family.

Adventurers: Hill dwarf adventurers are frequently on quests that relate directly to their community. Although their travels may take them far from home, the memory of their home is never far from their thoughts. They typically see their adventuring companions, even those who are non-dwarves, as part of their family, and often expect the same treatment in return. Some hill dwarves were too greedy and focused on personal gain for polite society, so they leave to find their fortunes else where. The quest to find the Gold Knight's sword is of particular importance to chivalrous hill dwarves, as they believe it is their destiny to wield it again.

HILL DWARF CULTURAL TRAITS
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[Xeviat]

Aside from the statistical breakdown of how the racial abilities are constructed and priced within the "Mutants and Masterminds" system, this is formatted as I currently intend to put it in my setting's web "book". In addition to discussing the info itself, I'd like to know if I have ordered the information well. A few questions come to mind:

Would you prefer to have more info on the race itself, and have the specific cultures saved for a later part of the "book"? I want my information to be accessed easily by new players. I wonder if it might be easier to be bombarded with less information at the beginning, and present less pertinent information later in the "book" for those who actually care.

Is there anything else you are curious about? Does the information above bring to mind other questions?

Can you tell they're badgers? =P Like humans are related to apes, dwarves are related to badgers and mustelids. This won't come up in the game world, but it did drive many elements of their design.

[Lmns Crn]

I really dig this. I think a lot of settings sort of forget about dwarves and their societies, consigning them to faraway and mysterious "mountain caves" and bringing out occasional individuals when circumstances call for a tough warrior, a heavy drinker, a masterful smith, or some comic relief.

The badger connection was subtle enough that I didn't notice it, but after you pointed it out, it makes good sense. I like it-- I assume it's a big part of why the whole dwarven aesthetic is so... unified.

I enjoy the story of the hill dwarves and the gold knight. I feel a little bit like the dwarven templars adopted the gold knight's teachings wholesale, without really adapting or altering them. Is this accurate? I'd really be interested in hearing how the gold knight's teachings got blended with the existing dwarven reverence of ancestral spirits (assuming this happened?), and how the dwarven templar tradition grew apart from the human templar tradition that inspired it.

I think you could weave a lot of interesting stories/legends around the hill dwarf (or dwarves?) that wielded the gold knight's sword, and the heady days of dwarven templar glory, while the sword was in their possession.

In general, I like the physical image of dwarves: the facial markings (now clearly a badger feature, very clever!), and the "mane-like" appearance of their hair and beards.

I'm also pretty fond of the idea of punishment for wrongdoing "settling the score", and that dwarves don't hold grudges after such retribution, even if the retribution is death. (Is this a cultural feature that spans all dwarven cultures? Is it somehow genetic, or implemented deliberately by the Earth Dragon? Why is it a commonality?) I think it's interesting that you have these very close-knit dwarven societies, where dwarves apparently still hold each other at arms' length in many ways. (Although they are "prone to misunderstandings between friends," such transgressions are dealt with in an impersonal way that is almost transactional, businesslike. See also: what "love" connotes to a deep dwarf.)

So, ah, damn, man. This is awesome stuff. I'd say I'm speechless, but I've typed too many words already for that to be a credible claim.

[LordVreeg]

i have to say that your comment on adventuring types really sealed the deal, to an extent.  I was having trouble picturing an adventurer in each subtype, and each time, I liked the description you gave.

From a PC perspective, there seemed no real way there could be a chaotic dwarf without being an outcast.  Is that the case?

[Xeviat]

Luminous
Dwarves have really been hard for me. I knew how I wanted them to end up, but I needed to figure out how I wanted them to get there. As I talk about in my demographics thread, the question of 'where do they get their food' always bugged me, especially how they were heavy beer drinkers but lived deep in caves: where are their grain farms?

And yes, some badgers are heavily communal (European badgers mainly; American badgers are more solitary), yet they are individualistic. Sort of like house cats; in the wild, they live in groups, but they all feed themselves. Dwarves live together, but they keep to their own.

Thanks about the Gold Knight story. I came up with it as I was typing it. I knew I needed Hill Dwarves to be closer to the Holylands humans (they are allies in every major conflict). As for how they have taken to the teachings, they've taken on the Gold Knight's teachings of Courage, but do not hold the other chivalric tenants as closely (loyalty, justice, honesty, prowess); dwarven templar still believe in these tenants, but they view Courage as chief, unlike humans who generally view them all equally. I'll definitely be working on some stories of the dwarves who wielded the sword, and I hope it acts as a background element in future characters who could be joining the quest to find it (all but the Red sword were lost).

The commonality of dwarven retribution is sort of biological. They are prone to bouts of anger (that's why rage is an automatic feat for all dwarves), but the adrenaline and other hormones released during the rage also help to lessen the impact of the memory of what angered them in the first place. It has been further strengthened by dwarven society, sort of a societal protection against 'double jeopardy'; you've been punished, and you learn or you get it. Of course it doesn't always work this way, but that's how things are supposed to work.

I was pretty happy with their physical appearance. One of my hopes is to make all of my races unique, rather than just being human stereotypes. It is easier for my non-mammalian races (Ifrit, Triton, Valkyrie), but I hope the non-ape-like natures of dwarves are easily seen.

Vreeg
Thanks. That is definitely a feature I need to keep. I'm trying to find what I can cut out from the race chapter description and move over to the descriptions of regions and nations. From my perspective, all of this info is helpful for creating a character, but I'm aware that not all players are as detail oriented as I am. My intention is to provide many bits of information so that many players can find something that endears them to different races.

And yes, sort of: it would be very difficult for a chaotic dwarf to really get along in dwarven society. It's sort of like how left-handedness was trained out of many people in some schools (my fiancee's mother is left-handed but was forced to be a righty when she was in elementary school). Chaotic dwarves are either changed or they have to be smart enough to hide it. They're the criminals of dwarven society, but also the revolutionaries. At some point, they will find it best to leave, or they'll be imprisoned or killed.

[Xeviat]

Just putting up a bump. I think there are other people who will find this interesting, or at least can assist in deconstructing it into the most important information for players unsure about what race to play.

[Drizztrocks]

In my setting (that i've been working on in Microsoft Word before I start here) I have been trying to put more work into dwarves. I made them different but recognizable, alot like what you did, changing some aspects of them but still keeping them as 'dwarves'.

[Tillumni]

First, I really love how the dwarfen racial trait sets them apart from being simple "short stocky human, that's a little bit more tough....with beard"

as for how to cut down the fluff and avoid overwhelming players with too much information, then a good place to start might be to have a recap of each part in the players section that's focused more on the "what" part, and not so much the "why" or the extra info.

for example: "Deep dwarves reside under the Grand Spire mountains in central Krellshah. Their homes are built into the mountain stone, in a mixture of natural caverns (carved by underground waterways or extinct volcanoes) and dwarf-made "rooms" where only magical light and torchlight can be found...." and so on, can be shortened into "Deep dwarfes lives under the Krellshar mountain, the furtests underground of all the dwarfs races, something that also leads to limited contact with the other surface races while also puts them in contact with many of the monstrous denizens of the underground, making them the race off dwarfs that also have the hardest time trusting others"

it tells the players exactly the same as yours: where the deep dwarfs live, the must important part of thier nations enviroment (furtests underground of all the races) and thier overall relationship with the other races.

a trick you can use to cut down on info is to ask yourself "does my player need this info to play the character, or can he extrapolate enough to not break character without having read through the full description?"

[Drizztrocks]

Tillumni, I agree with you. Core D&D dwarves get really stale, and the ideas and format for this thread are very good. Good job to Xeviat.

[Xeviat]

Thanks for the tip Tillumni, I'll look it over and see where I can cut out the "why". "Why" can be added back in when I discuss Nations and Creatures in later chapters.

I'm working on my elves right now. I'm trying to embrace their fey heritage. Like 4E and WoW, I've divorced the master craftsman super magic user angle of the elves from their forester side. I hate to look like I'm copying it, but it works for me.

I'll post a trimmed version of the Dwarf soon.

[Xeviat]

Trying to start work on this again. Cutting out text is difficult. To make things easier, I'll probably be removing the whole cultural trait bonuses so that players don't need to read through cultures as well as races; I'm not sure.

[Lmns Crn]

I am glad to see you are working on this again.

badgerdwarf supremacy \m/

[Nomadic]

Trying to start work on this again. Cutting out text is difficult. To make things easier, I'll probably be removing the whole cultural trait bonuses so that players don't need to read through cultures as well as races; I'm not sure.

You could go race -> culture so that people move down a tree till they find what they like. A short example might look like:

Northern Halfling: good dex, good con, poor cha (+dex - halfling, +con - northern; -cha - northern)
Northern Dwarf: good str, good con, poor cha (+str - dwarf, +con - northern; -cha - northern)
Holylands Halfling: good dex, good wis, poor str (+dex - halfling, +wis - holylands; -str - holylands)
Holylands Triton: good wis, mediocre str (+str - triton, +wis - holylands; -str - holylands)

[Xeviat]

I'm not sure what you mean. I was thinking of having each race entry be followed by their culture entries. But that might not be the best way to do it, because people are supposed to be able to mix and match races and cultures (at least that was the general idea).

Or, should I not be worried about supporting the mixing of race/cultures and leave that up to the more advanced players who will come up with that on their own (just preface the Race/Culture chapter with a note that they can be mixed and matched)?

[Nomadic]

I'm not sure what you mean. I was thinking of having each race entry be followed by their culture entries. But that might not be the best way to do it, because people are supposed to be able to mix and match races and cultures (at least that was the general idea).

Or, should I not be worried about supporting the mixing of race/cultures and leave that up to the more advanced players who will come up with that on their own (just preface the Race/Culture chapter with a note that they can be mixed and matched)?

I mean do what vreeg does with celtricia. You don't have humans, elves, and dwarves... you have highland humans, lowland humans, wood elves, high elves, deep dwarves.... etc etc