Dwarf (Dungeons & Dragons) - History

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 first appears as a player character class in the original 1974 edition of Dungeons & Dragons, with a design that is strongly influenced by their portrayal in 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. The dwarf is again a character class in the original Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977). With the arrival of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the dwarf was modified into 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), and the fourth edition Player's Handbook (2008). 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).