The Slayers Guide to Duergar

[Messageboard Golem]

One of the most evil races known to the surface dwelling peoples, the Duergar, or Dark Dwarves, are a thoroughly evil species whose machinations and scheming threatens all that is pure and good. Full details of this elusive race are uncovered in this Slayers Guide, including new feats, spells and prestige classes unique to the Duergar.

 

[GameWyrd]

The creatures covered by the Slayer’s Guides are getting progressively scarier and meaner – even when you discount the special Slayer’s Guide to Dragons - and the Slayer’s Guide to Duergar is further proof of this. Duergar are creepy little buggers, dangerous grey dwarves that can vanish at will and enlarge themselves too. (No sniggering at the back!).

The thing is, unlike many other Slayer’s Guides, this particular book doesn’t seem to make the Duergar any scarier. Their magical abilities of invisibility and enlarge are rarely touched on and when they are mentioned you can almost hear the voice of an embarrassed author. At one point it is suggested (and I can’t tell if it’s a joke or not) that the grey dwarves devolved invisibility as a good way to avoid the perceptive glare of others of their race. On the other hand, the book does quite well at making the Grey Dwarves seem more real. You could just about run an all Duergar game with this Slayer’s Guide.

The book follows the familiar Slayer’s Guide pattern. The Introduction quickly gives way to a chapter on physiology. The grey dwarves are grey. Oh. They’re without body hair and if they’re not bald then they’re with grey of "colourless" hair. The Duergar here are described as emaciated. The word’s used twice. The Monster Manual uses it too. I get the point, they’re slender compared to other dwarves and the authors go on to remind us that the Duergar are not physically weak. Someone just forgot to tell the artists though. There are some great pictures of these blighters in the book but if you want to find an illustration of a Duergar that certainly doesn’t look emaciated then you don’t need to look far. The section on the powers possessed by these dwarves runs through the formidable list. All their powers and poor reaction to sunlight are a result of the species evolving to suit the dark environment of these cavernous homes. Fair enough. It was the obvious call to make. Darn it though, I’d like to see the obvious being put on the shelf more often and something daring being tried once. Why not tie the poor reaction to sunlight and the invisibly powers together (invisibly could be bending light…) and then say the Duergar moved underground on purpose because it suited their physiology or even that they’ve always been underground and the race as a whole has never even spent a single generation above ground. Better still; why not have the Duergar as the progenitors of all dwarves and the other clans have simply lost their ability to enlarge themselves! But no, we get the usual story instead. The Duergar are just like Drow but are dwarves rather than elves.

Rather unusually for a Slayer’s Guide and even for a book that talks about the Underdark there are some gems in the habitat section. What I like here are the Duergar names given to important places in the maze-like homes these dwarves carve out for themselves. The primary living cavern is called a dur-holt and in the centre of that you’ll find the agut-holt. Slaves are kept in the fethet, the deshtuur are secondary caverns including burial cairns and the uldir-buurn is the strategically important corridor that links the home network of tunnels to the rest of the Underdark. See now. I like this. This is the sort of xeno-anthropology that could widen the basic appeal of the Slayer’s Guide series to those of us who like that sort of thing in the hobby.

There’s more of this in "Duergar Society" too, as you would expect. Their mindset is nicely summarised as – Mining, Murder and Misogyny. There’s something that doesn’t quite jell about this chapter though. Duergar are little bastards towards their kids, throwing all sorts of hardships at them since the very second of their birth. Literarily. A male Duergar has to survive a year alone in the Underdark before he is considered an adult. I like the idea but it’s awkward. What’s the Underdark? You might get half a dozen different answers to that. Some GMs might see it as vast expanse that’s most empty but turn the wrong corner and you’re suddenly in territory claimed by the Drow. A different GM might see it as some huge "second edition" dungeon that’s inexplicably packed with monsters. This is a surmountable problem though and I’ll admit it’s easier for individual GMs to fix than it would have been for the pair of authors who worked on this Slayer’s Guide to address. The religion seems a little awkward but blessed with nice ideas too. At one point in the book it says that Duergar don’t trust magic and describes the presence of clerics among their ranks as "not unheard of" but it turns out that clerics pay a vital and dominant role in society. Divine magic seems rather important too. The Duergar have a horrible fist altar for their God, The Lord of Toil, which crushes rejected sacrifices or failed Grey Dwarves alike. If you know my reviews then you might (ahem) have noticed I’ll rant about type casting fantasy roleplay as "high" fantasy at the drop of a hat. An altar shaped like a fist that closes to crush or kill rejects is… not necessarily high fantasy. It’s certainly not out of place among a race that wields such an array of magical talents. I rather like this idea; it provides a natural focus for everything Duergar.

Warfare in Dark does some work. The grey dwarves will either fight by ambush or by assassination. (Their enlarge ability does seem out of place). In fact, fighting by ambush or by assassination comes from their religious convictions and I’m a sucker for this sort of detail.

The Roleplaying with Duergar chapter does better work. It struggles long and hard to try and wheedle a believable way in which you can have a Grey Dwarf as a player character. Far more successful, though, is the first section in this chapter. It does well to explain the Duergar are all about toil. It’s their religion and life. It’s toil that drives them to mine, to fight off anyone who dares near their land and why they’re constantly striving to improve themselves. It’s in this chapter that you’ll find a handful of feats (and a handful is all I want in a book like this) and a pair of prestige classes. The Stonecaller (10 levels) is a Grey Dwarf with a strong affinity towards earth and stone and the Black Rock Magi (10 levels) make use of magical energy stored in special black rocks in order to enhance their abilities. Back Rock Magi are prestigious necromancers, illusionists and enchanters.

The last few pages of the 32-paged book are divided between a scenario set-up and the reference lists of typical stats. The typical stats at the back of each Slayer’s Guide (and some other Mongoose products) are really useful for a GM in a rush and in need of numbers. The scenario set-up is exactly as it sounds. There is some nice text on a situation that’s just waiting to boil over, some numbers and some stats for NPCs and it’s left to the GM to use this as she sees fit. In my opinion such a set up credits the reader with far more intelligence and gives better value for money than a linear dungeon crawl taking up the same amount of space would.

Just before I offer up a conclusion I’ll point out the front cover. It’s particularly good.

The Slayer’s Guide to Duergar isn’t the best in the series, it comes out as the d20 market continues to push up the level of quality but it doesn’t look out of place. There wasn’t anything in the book that made me think "Oh! Nice angle!" or "I wish I thought of that" but there are parts of the book that make me think "Okay, I can use that". The book holds its own with relative ease, I think it’ll be more warmly welcomed by Duergar fans (and the race is one of those with its own following) but welcomed anyway by most of its readers.

* This GameWyrd review was first published here.

 

[Simon Collins]

This is not a playtest review.

The Slayer's Guide To Duergar (TSGTD) is next in Mongoose's 'Slayers Guide' line.

TSGTD is a 32-page softcover mono book, costing $9.95. Both inside covers are used (for the usual useful physiological graphic representation of the race covered, and an ad). Space usage elsewhere is also good, including font, margins, and little white space. Internal artwork is mostly good, as is the cover showing three tattooed duergar in a dank tunnel. Writing style is also good, and editing seems fine.

The book begins with an overview of the Duergar and a page of flavour text. It continues with a detailed look at duergar physiology, discussing their lack of hair, grey skin colouration, and racial abilities, along with a random height/weight table. There is also a brief discussion regardin their weakness in light.

The next section covers the Duergar's underground habitat with discussion of the different living quarters for both the duergar and their slaves, as well as the defences to their lairs.

The section on Duergar society with a particular focus on the basics of Duergar life - the 3 M's (mining, murder, and misogyny). There is also a discussion of the drab and tortuous religious life of Duergar, dedicated to their one god, the Lord of Toil.

The book also takes a look at Duergar warfare, focusing on ambush and assassination, with a discussion on the modified weapons and armour the duergar use, and the dark magics of duergar clerics. The concept of a bladed crossbow that can be used in melee is offered.

A further section looks at roleplaying with Duergar - taking the worst traits of dwarves (greed, xenophobia, and an extremist work ethic) and exaggerating them seems to be the order of the day. One begins to get the feeling that the evil of a Duergar is merely an accumulation of societal influence rather than an inherent black vs. white inexplicable evil. This grey moral ground (excuse the pun) definitely brings a realistic feel to the race. There is further discussion of the allies a duergar clan may have made, and some of the aspects (planning, treachery, invisibility) a GM should take into account when running a scenario involving Duergar.

The book then expounds on the possibility of running Duergar as PCs (albeit as a renegade Duergar, since the workaday life of a standard Duergar is fairly mundane to say the least). This includes advice for level differences for Duergar PCs, pitfalls to be aware of in terms of personality clashes, unlikely classes (e.g. paladin) and a list of Duergar racial traits.

Three feats are also included: Exotic Weapon Focus (Bladed Crossbow), Unrelenting (sacrifice hit points for better Fortitude save), and Stone-touched (part of the duergar's body has a stone or crystalline facet - the change brings with it increasing spell-like abilities related to stone each time the feat is taken - the feat must originally be taken at 1st level).

Two Duergar prestige classes are offered:
* Stonecaller - must have taken the Stone-touched feat twice, gains Earth domain powers, can summon earth-subtype monsters, and gains various other stone-related abilities as he progresses. 10-level PrC.
* Black Rock Magi - 10-level arcane spellcaster that draws magical energy from a black rock that emanates evil power.

The Mines Of Verhaven details (in about 4 pages) a duergar colony, covering the colony's history, society, and defences, as well as a brief description of the nearby decadent human boom town on the surface.

The book ends with a reference list giving standard stats for a Duergar stonecaller, summoner, cleric, guard, footman, and scout (from CR 2 to CR 9).

Conclusion:
Gives some additional depth to Duergar for those who are intending to use the race as a prominent aspect of their campaign setting or adventures. Manages to give a fairly realistic background explanation to the traits of the duergar by expanding on duergar society and religion. Also provides some useful ideas and prestige classes for running challenging encounters with Duergar. Would have benefited from some adventure ideas, NPCs fleshed out some more in terms of personality, and a wider and more in-depth view of duergar politics with other races. Perhaps in place of the (rather lengthy at times) discussion of physiology and the dreary day-to-day lives of the grey dwarves.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

I wanted so badly to like this book. While I've only read a couple of books in the Slayer's Guide series, I have always liked the idea of the series; I like most of the choices of species. The first Slayer's Guide that I read was The Slayer's Guide to Trolls, which I found extremely exciting, as it did so much with the trolls' regenerative abilities that was unexpected--like reattaching severed limbs in places other than where they came from and letting the original limbs grow back in place: presto, extra limbs! In fact, it excited me so much that I was immediately inspired to write a Slayer's Guide of my own.

Then came The Slayer's Guide to Duergar. Oh well. I will say that while I do have some complaints that can be leveled directly at the authors--the prose is pretty amateurish and repetitious in spots, the "atmosphere text" is downright painful, there's little here to inspire, many generalities, and a lot less crunch than the Troll volume, which positively dripped with ideas--my real complaints can be lain directly at the feet of the publisher, Mongoose.

The editing appears rushed and a little slipshod. At one point the authors mention that the eating habits of the Duergar "will be discussed at length below." The topic is never mentioned again, except that a mushroom farm is mentioned in passing in the included scenario. Did the authors forget? I doubt it. It seems more likely that the editor(s) cut it for length (and who could blame them--I don’t really need to read "at length" about Duergar eating habits, I can connect the dots myself), but then never bothered to line-edit the reference to the text to come. It's not a war crime or anything, but anyone who didn’t know better would blame the authors.

The art and design conception is downright silly. The authors, as another reviewer pointed out, thrash the fact that Duergar are emaciated practically to death, but do we get that in the illustrations? Other than on the cover, no. What we get instead is normal, muscular dwarves with mean looks on their faces. "I'm a snarly, angry dwarf! I'm EEEEEEEEEEvil!" My absolutely favorite incomprehensible art choice, though, is this. The authors introduce a new and interesting weapon: the bladed crossbow, which, if I understand correctly (though the description is pretty unclear) is basically a crossbow with a bayonet. It wouldn't work as described, for reasons that WILL be discussed below. However, after introducing this intriguing new weapon, does Mongoose commission a piece of art to illustrate it? No, instead they give us a drawing of a spear (carefully labeled "Spear"), a light crossbow (carefully labeled "Light Crossbow"), a club (carefully labeled "Stone Club"), a dagger (carefully labeled "Stone Dagger"), a battle axe (carefully labeled "Battle Axe"), studded leather armor (carefully labeled "Studded Leather Armor"), and a leather gauntlet (carefully labeled "Leather Gauntlet"). Thanks be to GOD, Mongoose! Being a complete moron, I had NO IDEA what those things looked like! Taking up a quarter of a page of a 32-page book for this was SO necessary! Again, thank you SO much!

But back to the bladed crossbow. The authors say "a vicious iron blade [is] mounted to the stock in front." I think this is impossible, because the stock isn't there for cosmetic reasons. It's there because a crossbow string has a serious pull, and the foot is put in the loop of the stock to allow the user to use his body weight to add leverage when cocking the bow. This added leverage would be particularly important for a bowman with short arms, like a Duergar, for example. Add a blade to the front and the blade would be quickly ruined by repeatedly being thrust into a cavern floor, and the bowman is likely to either keel over trying to use it or have to hop around on it like some sort of deadly pogo stick. Don't set it down on your foot by accident...

There are a couple of prestige classes, one a sort of stone druid (but with 12-sided HD), the Stonecaller, with specialization in stone manipulation and earth elemental summoning and control, the other the Black Rock Mage, an arcane spellcaster with abilities tied to black rock, a mineral of the Underdark with magical properties. The latter seems really overspecialized and likely too weak to work as a PC, the former seems, if anything, a bit overpowered.

In conclusion, I think that the problem is that despite the fact that every race in the Monster Manual does not merit a 32-page book, they get churned out anyway. Overzealous authors wanting to go on and on about mundane aspects of a species' life and overzealous editors constrained to the 32-page format appear to have combined the worst aspects of spreading the material too thin and cutting things out for length. I cannot recommend this book, given that much of what is new--cultural info, which boils down to "they're like dwarves, but more evil," tactical info, all of which seems obvious, etc.--seems extraneous, and given that (good, official) information for playing PC Duergar already exists or will likely be in official products (like Savage Species, or more likely Races of Faerun) soon to come, this book is superfluous. I paid five bucks for this on Ebay and I still feel a bit ripped off. Buy The Slayer’s Guide to Trolls instead if you want an interesting monster book, or buy Hammer and Helm or Heroes of High Favor: Dwarves if you want a good dwarf book, or buy Plot & Poison if you want a good Underdark book. If your budget is limited, hold out for Savage Species. It's $30, but it's official, and you know the art will kick ass. Likewise Races of Faerun.

Final word: love the series, didn't like this book.

 

[geoffrey d`glanville]

The Slayer`s Guide to Duergar

Hi!

That`s a little discussion about a Slayer`s Guide by Mongoose Pub., this time for the Duergar.

First, the hardware.

The Cover was done rather nicely by Anne Stokes, a 4.2 out of 5.10, evocative and somehow threatening.

The Cover Layout is not bad, 3.2, but nothing special.

The Inner Layout of the book is also down the middle, 3.1.

The Duergar Illu on the inside front cover is good, as ususal, by Chris Quilliams, the eyes of the Duergar were especially nice here, 3.9.

The SGtD features 16 b/w illus by David Griffith, which were mostly quite O.K., 3.3.

The Paper Quality of this product is O.K., 3.1.

Price/Page is very bad, 9.95$ / 32 pages is 31.1 cents per page, making this seemingly cheap product quite expensive, if you see it from this point of view, 0.5.

Then, the Inner Values.

The Intro chapter was quire boring to read, as with most SG`s, 2.4.

The Grey Boxes of this one were actually quite well written and not without style, 4.0, 1.5 pages.

Duergar Physiology (3.6/3p) is not a bad chapter and brings to the reader most of this race`s physical peculiarities in a decent manner; could have been better, though.
A Soul in the Shadows: The Powers of the Gray Dwarves - Blood of Stone, Bones of the Earth - The Dying of the Light

Habitat (3.7/1p) again is aspiring, but way too short.

Duergar Society (3.9/4p) is a good chapter, extensive and profoundly written. Especially the chapter about the Duergar religion was nice to read.
The Duergar Mindset-Mining, Murder and Misogyny - Duergar Religion-A Life of Servitude

Next up is Warfare in the Dark, which is one of the best chapters in the book, 4.0/4p.
Interesting to read, it gives off a few new ideas while staying largely true to the known Duergar stereotypes.
Weapons and Armor - The Twin Faces of War - Ambush - Assassination - The Power of Dark Faith

Roleplaying with Duergar is also a strong chapter in the thin book, featuring interesting crunch, 4.5/9p.
While nice ideas are there how to include Duergar into one`s campaign for the benefit of all, it also features nice crunch in the way of two PrCs which are quite interesting to play in my eyes; especially the Stonecaller was nice, also its limitation that you can only add another Stonecaller level each intime year; nice story angle.
Duergar in your Game - Duergar as Player Characters - Duergar Feats - Duergar Prestige Classes

The Mines of Verhaven then is a relatively nicely done Duergar stronghold that is good to use in one`s campaign, but it lacks a map, which was not nice, 3.8/5p.
History of the Area - The Duergar Colony - Verhaven - Duergar Defences

Finally the usual Duergar Refence List rounds up this Slayer`s Guide, a little bit uninspired. 2.7/2p.

The overall Writing Style of the books is not bad, 3.7.

The Crunch/Fluff Ratio is quite good for that type of product, a little bit more crunch would have been good, 4.7.

Price /Value is mediocre, 2.4. For 9.95$ you get a pretty flappy book about the Duergar, that, while being relatively inspired, lacks the necessary depth and page-size to impress fully.
The fact that this is the only single-tome book about the Duergar (to my knowledge) is very likely the biggest asset of the book.

Published in 2002, this is a 3.0e book, which hardly matters in this case.
Note that this tome is relatively surely going to be published by Mongoose Pub. in a second hardcover Slayer`s Guide Compendium II.

Overall, a 3.4 product, three mediocre stars here on EN World.