| Natural humanoid | |
| Hill dwarf | |
|---|---|
| Type | Natural humanoid |
| Subtype | Dwarf |
| Location | East Rift, the Giant's Run Mountains, the Smoking Mountains Template:Former Great Rift |
Hill dwarves are the aloof, confident and sometimes proud subrace of dwarves that predominantly come from the Great Rift. They are known to be particularly stalwart warriors and shrewd traders. Hill dwarves are often trained specifically to battle the horrendous aberrations that are known to come from the Underdark.
Unlike most dwarven peoples, the gold dwarves are not particularly superstitious about magic and while still cautious in its use, are no more so than any wise human mage. Unlike, shield dwarves, however, gold dwarves have a reputation for arrogance and pride, akin to that typically expected of many elves.
Like the shield dwarves, gold dwarves were blessed with a surge in birthrate by Moradin in the The Year of Thunder. In the years that followed afterwards many younger hill dwarves forsook the isolationist policies of their elders and took to exploring Faerûn, helping to put aside the misconception that gold dwarves are a xenophobic and untrusting race. Unlike most dwarves, however, the traditional enemies of the gold dwarf is not goblinoids but aberrations and other creatures of the Underdark, against whom many gold dwarves have some defensive training.
Hill dwarves are stout, tough individuals like their mountain dwarven brethren but are less off-putting and gruff in nature. Conversely, hill dwarves are often less agile then other dwarves.
Homelands[]
In contrast with their mountain dwarven brethren, the hill dwarves have largely kept their kingdom, East Rift, intact and have held strong against the assaults of other races. Hill dwarves can also be found in the Smoking Mountains as well as the Giant's Run Mountains west of the Vilhon Reach.