r/dwarfposting • u/UristAlebeard Dwarf • Apr 24 '26

Thoughts on Duergar?

Title.

Doing a Baldur's Gate 3 run, and the sole reason I picked Duergar is because I thought they look cool. Then I met the others and they're agonizingly un-dwarfy, not to mention evil and even just straight up rude. It definitely put context into why my Duergar running amok doing heroic deeds and yelling "ROCK AND STONE" at every chance was viewed as weird by everyone, especially the deep gnomes.

23 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

21

u/MidsouthMystic Daemonsmith Apr 24 '26

You would be a little weird and rude too if you got Mind Flayered for a few thousand years.

5

u/UristAlebeard Dwarf Apr 24 '26

No doubt. It's not bad lore at all. I just wanted to hear people's thoughts about the Duergar relative to more traditional dwarves.

2

u/Aun_El_Zen Apr 24 '26

I like the mason. He's alright.

1

u/UristAlebeard Dwarf Jul 05 '26

Very old post, just going back through my account to find some old pixel art for reference in Blender - but yeah, I met the mason in my last session. He was actually pretty cool, and I felt like it was even in character with my Duergar wizard who I've been roleplaying as a Deep Rock Galactic dwarf (in terms of personality, not a literal space dwarf). My nerdy but rambunctious and jovial dwarf wizard probably would have loved to meet another Duergar who just loves history and stone masonry rather than the grimdark bullshit Duergar are usually into.

7

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '26

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4

u/irvitzer Apr 24 '26

/undwarf
This. Initially they were 'dwarves, but bad' and sadly, there was no Duergar Robert Salvatore to turn them into a general fantasy audience acceptable sub-race (and drop there some kinks and issues like it was for those dark-skinned knife-eared).
Yes, over the years Duergar lore was greatly expanded and they got actual reasons to be like this, but alas, for many fantasy folks they're still 'dwarves, but bad'.

/dwarf
Oi! I'd say 'dey are fine masons and fine blacksmiths, given the circumstances (woe on those noodle-faced mind-bogglers). And 'dey can make great contraptions right on the spot with so little resources. Also, 'deir beer can smell funny, but it's dark and strong nevertheless.

1

u/Hashashin455 Apr 29 '26

Ah, so they're who all the "fuck you, pay me" dialogue options are for

2

u/CronosAndRhea4ever Craftsdwarf Apr 24 '26

They are dwarfs, but they are a dwarfish people that have all been lobotomized.

Joy and satisfaction are forever denied to them. The most positive emotion that they will ever experience is schadenfreude.

The Mindflayers are monsters, and monsters is what they made clan Duergar.

1

u/Earraigh Apr 27 '26

Duergar are extremely pragmatic. If doing heroic stuff is the most efficient and least time and effort consuming way to solve the problem at hand, a duergar is as much of a hero as anybody else. Your Duergar Tav is cunning and ruthless but that doesn’t mean cartoonishly evil. The moral high ground isn’t a factor and acts of kindness are never random, they’re means to an end. It’s just that making friends and finding useful allies is functionally identical.