Settle the Debate: Short or Tall Dwarf? Options

[Calvin Hobbes]

Bear in mind, if you've posted in the art-sketch request page for your 5' dwarf and say anything besides that, Watcher spirits will mock you.

[Kagetenshi]

My dwarves are without exception 0" tall.

~J, nanodwarves or bust

[Foreigner]

I'm not sure, as my character has yet to encounter any Dwarves.

IIRC, most of the characters in Sahandrian's current campaign are Humans--that is, so-called "norms". However, I may be mistaken.

As originally conceived, my character is a Spike Baby Elf with the "Human-Looking" Edge, and has an I.E. in the family tree somewhere--however, the trait has been diluted to the point that the only genetic advantage he has is that he doesn't age. The gist of it was he thought that he was human, until a mana spike occurred near his birthplace (somewhere in England, but I haven't decided where yet). It was at that point that the effects of UGE kicked in, although he didn't know what was going on until he eventually realized that he had stopped aging somewhere between his twenty-first and thirtieth birthdays. His Adept powers didn't appear until after the SR-universe visit of Halley's Comet, in 2062, which is another explanation for his lack of shadowrunning expertise--he's still getting used to his new abilities.

Back to the topic--as I've said, I've yet to encounter any Dwarves, but I've always wondered how the comic character "Wolverine" would adapt to SR.

At 5 feet, 3 inches/1.6 meters tall and about 300 pounds/136 kilograms (160 pounds/72.6 kilograms without the Adamantium bonelacing/claws), he's a little tall for a Dwarf, but on the short side for a Human.

Also, at least one of his abilities is common to Dwarves: Natural Thermographic/Low-Light vision. He also has enhanced senses of taste, smell, touch, and hearing.

(However, unless your GM allows for paracritter powers--shifter-level Regeneration, in this case--to be adapted to non-shifter PCs, I think that the only way to make a PC version of ol' Wolvie would be to use bio- or cyberware--a Guardian Angel implant, for example.)

EDIT: Oops. Sorry, Kage & Halabis. I'd forgotten about that little fact. My bad. That's how it was explained to me, IIRC. Between the two of us, Sahandrian and I couldn't think of another way to make it work; otherwise, we'd have had a several-hundred-year-old PC with a HUGE amount of Karma and/or money (think "permanent Luxury Lifestyle") , and little to no experience running the shadows. (Which wouldn't have made a whole lot of sense. ;) )

EDIT # 2: VERY funny, Grinder. :)

--Foreigner

This post has been edited by Foreigner: Dec 23 2005, 07:57 PM

[Kagetenshi]

There are no part-metahumans, and ancestry is not required to be a particular form of meta.

~J

[Halabis]

not to mention to have a great grandparent as an elf, each generation would have to be having kids at a realy young age and you would have to be a realy young runner. =)

[Grinder]

Otaku? :D

[stevebugge]

Dwarves in my games have tended to be a little on the short side, mostly for humor factors.

"you walk in to the stuffer shack and you can't see over the counter"

[Herald of Verjig...]

I voted shortest but that has to do with preferring the metavariants that are even shorter than the standarld dwarf metahuman.

[Butterblume]

My last and longest played char was a dwarf with metric height 1,08m, which translates to roughly 43 inches.

[John Campbell]

My longest-run dwarf PC, Sven, is 130cm, or a hair over 4'3". Given that he's got max unmodified Body and above-average Strength, making him a little bigger than the average dwarf seemed appropriate.

He's also a sorcerer. Levitate and Magic Fingers solve most "can't reach the high shelf" problems.

[PoorHobo]

Only time I played a dwarf I played a really short one, 3 feet. With a huge Napoleon complex. And tended to attack knee caps/groin of people who made short jokes. Good times

[Mr.Platinum]

What does the book say for standard dwarf hieght.

[John Campbell]

Per SR3, 120 cm, or about 3'11".

[Lindt]

Damm they ARE short. Like leagelly disabled short. I always had them pegged at like 4'10" ish, 5 for the 'tall' ones.

[John Campbell]

I'd pay money to see someone call Sven "legally disabled" to his face.

[Lindt]

Hey, I know my ADA codes, and IIRC, anyone under 4'-10" is consdered legally disabled. Get those good parking spaces too.

[Kyoto Kid]

[Weredigo]

In my opinion it's not so much lack of hieght that is the Dwarves trademark, it's the additional muscle mass and stockiness of the physique that makes a Dwarf a Dwarf. Personally I hold off on the physical description detail stuff until I've got the stats, skills and everything else done on the character. If I'm creating a Dwarf I sit back and take a good look at the natural Strength and Body of the Character. If it's above the average I back it up with some additional hieght. Nuthin Crazy, I myself am only 5'1 and almost 30 years of age, and I strongly disagree with any dwarf over 5 foot.

p.s. thanks to the original poster of poll for including conversion from metric to standard or I would've been lost.

[RunnerPaul]

[Calvin Hobbes]

Laughing at that comment got me in trouble.

[Jrayjoker]

I always do a little random dice rolling to keep it in the range of "normal".