Duergar

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Duergar Bio

Long ago, mind flayers conquered the strongholds of clan Duergar. After generations of enslavement and cruel experimentation at the hands of the illithids, the Duergar rose against their masters and regained their freedom. They emerged as a new subrace of Dwarf with limited mental powers. They are an evil and bitter race, but retain the superior skill and workmanship of Dwarvenkind.

Favored Class: Fighter
2 Constitution, -4 Charisma
Darkvision
Immunity to Paralysis, Poison, and Illusions
4 Move Silently, 1 Listen, 1 Spot
Invisibility 1/day self only, as cast by a Wizard twice the Duergar's level. At level 11 this ability becomes Improved Invisibility
Light Sensitivity: -2 to all attack rolls, saves, and skill checks in brightly lit areas. Exposure to bright light, natural or magical, blinds the Duergar for 1 round.
Level Adjustment 2

Note: Duergar is a Subrace of Dwarves. To choose it you must pick Dwarf at creation and choose Duergar at first login.

Choosing the Dwarf race will include Dwarf adjustments already, therefore your stats will be adjusted from those selected at character creation as follows:

-2 Charisma

Duergar Guide

Pros: The 2 to Constitution from Standard Dwarves is still intact, along with Darkvision as well. However, three Immunities are also added in. There is the Immunity to Poison, which will help non-Monks and non-Druids in their lower levels. The Immunity to Illusions will help against Spells like Wierd and Phantasmal Killer. Immunity to Paralysis is always nice vs. Stonehold and Death Attacks. They also receive a 4 to Move Silently and a 1 to Listen

Cons: The -2 to Charisma is decreased more to -4, and the Duergar have Light Sensitivity like Drow (which can and will be a pain). Also there is an ECL of 2, not 3 though so not too bad. Charisma is a dump stat for most builds though. The only one to worry about is the Light Sensitivity, which can be overcome.

Conclusion: Most builds won't use all of these bonuses, but if you can use most of them you'll get good value for ECL 2. Any good melee build could come out of here, but casters won't benefit much considering they already should have Improved Invisibility and Freedom of Movement as spells. Favored Class is Fighter, could make a good Fighter/Rogue/Dwarven Defender. Also a good Weapon Master in place of Dwarven Defender. Just imagine, a non-casting yet self-buffing Fighter with Improved Invisibility, Freedom of Movement, and Immune to some forms of Death Magic.