Dwarves

[Barehander]

Oh, I play Abelard.

But either way: you can only lead by example. Make a clan of traditional dwarves or a house of noble elves, and pressure other PCs to acknowledge you IC. I'm not really sure what concrete suggestion you're making in this topic; to DM-enforce dwarves greeting eachother at the threat of level loss?

[derfo]

Personally I agree 100% with OP. Dwarves should NOT be lallygagging about and ignoring their tried and true kin, it's just so instinctive to all dwarves. I can understand if they're outcasts or absurdly against dwarven ways (though even this should be a rarity, maybe app only). A clanless dwarf should not be a true dwarf in the eyes of the dwarven people.

[TheImpossibleDream]

Personally I agree 100% with OP. Dwarves should NOT be lallygagging about and ignoring their tried and true kin, it's just so instinctive to all dwarves. I can understand if they're outcasts or absurdly against dwarven ways (though even this should be a rarity, maybe app only). A clanless dwarf should not be a true dwarf in the eyes of the dwarven people.

Oh okay then.

[ExileStrife]

A lot of posts in this thread are way out of line.  Stop the stupid flaming.

To address the original post, there will never be that strigent of a roleplaying guideline for a non-application class, period.  That's not to say it doesn't make us sad when people play lousy representations of a race with such a rich history and with unique background opportunities, but we're simply not going to enforce any one specific way of playing a dwarf, or any other race.  They are open to a wide variety of interpretations and it's best to leave it that way.

[RIPnogarD]

Let me try this again...

I'm not talking about simply dwarves. A dwarf can be whatever the player wants to make of him a dwarf can have 'no religion' if that's what the concept is. I'm talking about the dwarven religion of the Morndinsamman. And this server has serious issues with those that play out of ones religoin. If a dwarf PC has a valid reason and the DM's are aware of it, fine. If they call themselves Morndinsamman and have a Morndinsamman deity and they walk awy from another dwarf they dont know that they see in a fight... OMG! If Moradin doesn't stike that so-called Morndinsamman down himself he's going to at least make his beard fall off ffs.

My issue is that I find it hard to believe that 4 out of 5 dwarves are NOT Morndinsamman. If this is the case then I'm wrong for complaining. But I'd also say that if this is the case then perhaps dwarves really should become an app race becasue a non-Morndinsamman dwarf is about as rare as a non-Loath Drow.

[Barehander]

You misunderstand the role of religion in the world. Everyone worships a bunch of gods, clerics included. It doesn't mean they know, understand, appreciate or obey the dogma completely. And it certainly doesn't mean the deities give a damn. The notion that Moradin would even notice, let alone get involved, when a dwarf doesn't care about his cousin, is absurd. And I'm not sure where you pull this super-duper dwarven fellowship stuff from. It's certainly not as exaggerated in the books (Dwarves Deep, Races of Faerûn) as you make it seem. An inclination towards certain behaviour is nothing more than that. I'm a Lutheran but I hate the stagnant weakness and world-weariness that God and Christianity represent. Why would a dwarf be any different? Of course they worship the racial pantheon, that's a given in the Realms. It doesn't mean they are paragons of their racial values.

Why does it bother you, though?

[RIPnogarD]

Why does it bother you, though?

I guess it stems back to being a Mithrilsoul [sighs]... When a dwarf was a dwarf and when 5 or 6 dwarves were something to behold. And now knowing there are five or six dwarves IG that are nothing but troll dung and they could be so much more...

Those that have been on a quest with 5 or more dwarves will know where I'm coming from...

I'm a student of religious studies and philosophy, and one of the biggest reasons I RP is so I can give life to academic concepts such as the Goddess cult, bodily mysticism, Neoplatonism, Jungian archetypes, the distinction of sacred and profane, Eliade's teophanies etc.

As far as the Morndinsamman as a religion debate goes... Can you say "Jahad!"?
[Sighs and walks away...]

[derfo]

I played World of Warcraft for quite awhile, and I never saw a dwarf in that game not worship Moradin. Not one.

Obviously you would expect here that it would at least be way out of line for dwarves to at least be somewhat xenophobic or have an incredibly strong racial pride.

[Relinquish]

You can't dictate people what their character was, is, will be, and their actions.

[Caddies]

Just focus on making your own PC as awesome as possible, and leave how others play their own PCs to the DMs. If there is a problem, we will address it.