Dwarf

Dwarf

Dwarves in Pathfinder are known for being gruff and stoic, living in underground cities in the mountains, constantly warring with giants, orcs and goblinoids.

Racial Traits:

Ability Scores: +2 Wisdom and Constitution, -2 Charisma - this makes them perfect candidates for Clerics, Rangers, and Inquisitors, but hurts their chances of making good Bards, Paladins, Sorcerers, Oracles and Summoners.

Size: Medium - Dwarves don’t make very good sneaky characters, but otherwise their size doesn’t affect them.

Speed: 20 ft - Dwarves don’t move as quickly as other Medium-sized creatures, but this is made up for by their stoutness, which allows them to keep that 20-foot movement speed no matter what their encumbrance or what type of armor they wear. This makes them excellent candidates for any class that can wear heavy armor.

Defensive Training: A +4 dodge bonus to AC is nice, but it’s very situational because it only works against creatures of the giant subtype. If your character is planning to fight a lot of giants, dwarves are an awesome choice!

Hardy: A +2 bonus on saving throws against all spells and spell-like abilities is a pretty amazing boost, and it helps against poisons too, so this one is good for any character ever.

Stability: A +4 bonus to CMD against bull rush or trip attempts can come in really handy, but it’s situational enough to not be a huge deal. If you really don’t like being tripped, though, be a dwarf!

Greed: A +2 to appraise is basically useless, and it’s only for gems or precious metals. No good.

Stonecunning: The +2 to Perception checks when it comes to stonework isn’t that big of a deal, but it can help you find certain traps, so it can come in handy.

Darkvision: This can come in really handy, and it can save you having to use a spell for it, so it’s a great racial ability.

Hatred: This ability can come in handy if you’re going to be fighting a lot of goblinoids or orcs, but otherwise it’ll only be useful every so often.

Weapon Familiarity: This ability can come in handy for classes that normally only get simple weapon proficiency, since a battleaxe is a pretty excellent weapon.

Alternate Racial Traits:

Ancient Enmity [Hatred]: +1 to attack vs. elves will most likely come up much less often than goblinoids or orcs, unless you know you’re going to be fighting a lot of drow.

Craftsman [Greed]:This one’s a stinker unless you’re playing Pathfinder Society and want to have a great Day Job check.

Deep Warrior [Defensive Training]:Giants will most likely show up more often than aberrations, so you’re better off with defensive training in most campaigns.

Giant Hunter [Hatred]: If you know you’re going to be fighting a lot of giants, this trait synergizes very well with Defensive Training. I like it.

Lorekeeper [Greed]: A racial bonus to Knowledge (history) can come in handy, but the second half of this trait is that you can use Knowledge (history) untrained, and putting a single skill point into it makes that second part completely useless.

Magic Resistant [Hardy]: Spell resistance is REALLY awesome at lower levels, so enjoy it, but be cautious because you will also be resistant to your allies’ spells unless you spend a standard action to lower it, which is horrible for action economy. An arcane magic user does NOT want this trait, though, because -2 to concentration sucks.

Minesight [Darkvision]: Increasing darkvision can be useful, but it’s probably not worth the dazzled condition that you get in normal sunlight, so use caution on this one.

Mountaineer [Stability]: Unless your game will be played exclusively on a frozen mountainside, this one sucks.

Relentless [Stability]: +2 bonus to bull rush and overruns could be very useful for a Fighter or Barbarian, so I like it.

Rock Stepper [Stonecunning]: You can ignore several types of difficult terrain, but only for five-foot steps. This would be super useful for any characters that rely on full-attack actions to deal much of their damage, such as Rogues and Maguses.

Saltbeard [Defensive training, hatred, stonecunning]: While this is obviously a situational bonus, if you’re playing a nautical or aquatic campaign, it’s kind of amazing!

Sky Sentinel [Defensive training, hatred, stonecunning]: This one is a great bonus against flying creatures, and so I really like it. You trade a LOT away for it though, so you’d better be sure you aren’t going to be fighting any giants or goblinoids underground!

Stonesinger [Stonecunning]: This trait only helps you if you are a spellcaster, but can be a significant boost to your bloodline or domain abilities. It’s a good choice.

Stubborn [Hardy]: This would be one of the best alternate race traits out there, except that it replaces an ability that’s already really great, Hardy. Anyone could benefit from this ability, though. This ability would probably pass up Hardy in usefulness if it wasn’t for the Steel Soul feat, which essentially doubles the bonus you get when using Hardy.

Surface Survivalist [Darkvision]: Don’t even consider this one, losing Darkvision is not nearly worth a boost against environmental effects.

Xenophobic [Languages]: A +1 bonus against mind-affecting effects is nice, but it’s really not worth the negative effects of this trait, so I’d stay away from it unless you’re playing in a dwarves-only campaign.

Wyrmscourged [Defensive training, hatred, stonecunning]: If you know for a fact you’re going to be playing a dragonslayer in your campaign, this is amazing, but otherwise, giving up three of your normal race traits for this one is not worth it.

Classes:

Alchemist: The base Alchemist isn’t a great choice for a dwarf, because you don’t get a bonus to Intelligence (for extracts) or Dexterity (for bombs), and the Wisdom bonus you do get isn’t helpful. The Vivisectionist archetype might make it worth your time if you’re going for a melee damage dealer, since you drop bombs and gain a Rogue’s sneak attack. Overall, not great.

Barbarian: A dwarf can make an excellent Barbarian, since the Fast Movement ability compensates for their slower speed, the Constitution boost gives you more rounds of Rage and more hit points, and Charisma isn’t important for a Barbarian. The Invulnerable Rager archetype is also a great choice for you, boosting damage reduction by giving up some of the more Dexterity-based abilities.

Bard: Dwarves aren’t really meant to be Bards, because Charisma is extremely important for a Bard, as is Intelligence. Neither of these are a dwarf’s strength. I don’t recommend it.

Cavalier [Samurai]: A dwarf can actually make a really great cavalier, because it’s got all the damage potential and staying power of the Paladin, but without the annoyance of all of your abilities being Charisma-based. The only Charisma-based abilities that a cavalier has, in fact, are specific to certain orders. There are even a few orders that have no Charisma requirement at all (such as Order of the Dragon). The Cavalier’s mount also lets a dwarf ignore his reduced speed. You may also want to look at the Honor Guard archetype, which is very defense-oriented. The Samurai is also a great choice, if you’d like to focus more on mounted archery, but in that case you’ll want to pump your Dex.

Cleric: Ah, the Cleric. Dwarves seem to be just meant to be traditional clerics, the Wisdom boost helping with spellcasting, the Con boost giving you extra hit points so that you can be a reasonable healer tank when wearing medium armor, which doesn’t cause encumbrance since you’re a dwarf. Indeed, dwarves make excellent clerics, and there are so many options available for clerics that I really can’t go into them all. Refer to one of these guides for more information on clerics (though an updated one would be nice at this point):

• • Tark's Big Holy Book of Clerical Optimization (Core, APG) [Discussion]

  • Axe’s Guide to Finding Divinity (Core only) [Discussion]

  • Rogue Eidolon’s Guide to Clerics (Core only) [Discussion]

One thing I did want to suggest, though, is the possibility of trading out channel energy, which uses your worst stat, Charisma, for something more suited to a dwarf’s taste. There are two ways to do this, the Divine Strategist archetype and the Forgemaster racial archetype. I discuss the Forgemaster in greater detail below, but one caveat to both of these is they both have abilities that are Intelligence-based. While this isn’t optimal, Int is probably going to be more generally useful to a cleric than Cha, so I would definitely consider one of the two. Remember, though, that if you give up channel energy, you’re going to be hurting for decent healing abilities at lower levels.

Druid: This one is great for a dwarf, with spellcasting based on Wisdom and the Con bonus to help during Wild Shapes. There are too many good archetypes to even go into it, but the Cave Druid is worth a look if you want to stick with the whole “dwarves come from the earth” type of thing. Overall, druid is a solid choice.

Fighter: Dwarves make excellent fighters, for several reasons. For one thing, Fighters can make the best use of the dwarven ability to ignore encumbrance effects to speed, making heavy armor a much more viable option. In addition, the Fighter’s Bravery ability synergizes very nicely with the dwarven bonuses against spells and other mind-affecting effects. Finally, dwarves have an excellent racial archetype called the Foehammer (see below) that is full of flavor and really fun. Overall, dwarven Fighters are pretty excellent.

Gunslinger: I.... can someone else write this part for me? I am such a non-fan of the Gunslinger class that I actually have no idea whether dwarves make good ones. I’ll try, I suppose. Grit uses Wisdom, so that’s one point for you there. It does seem like a lot of the deeds are tailored toward movement, which you’re not the best at with slow speed, and because of that the Gun Tank archetype seems like a viable option for a dwarven Gunslinger. Obviously stay away from the Mysterious Stranger archetype, which replaces Wisdom with Charisma for grit. It seems as if dwarves make pretty decent Gunslingers with the right build. Who knew?

Inquisitor: This is another class that dwarves just seem to be built for, in fact dwarves make even better Inquisitors than they do Clerics. Every supernatural ability for the Inquisitor uses Wisdom, which you have in droves. There’s also a nice, flavorful archetype called the Exarch that dwarves can take. Finally, look down at the Inquisitor dwarf favored class bonus. You get to be treated as a higher level for the Inquisitor’s flagstone abilitiy, Judgements. Overall, this is a GREAT choice for a dwarf, and I think that favored class bonus actually throws us into sky blue territory.

Magus: Magi are Intelligence-based, so you’ve lost a point there. There are two different build-styles for a magus, both explained in this guide:

Walter’s Guide to the Magus (Core, APG, UM) [Discussion]

Neither of them is better than the other for a dwarf, since you don’t get a bonus to either Strength or Dexterity. None of the archetypes available really strike me as dwarf-ish, though the Hexcrafter can get the Prehensile Hair hex, which means you can start smacking people with your beard. Overall, Magus is only a “meh” choice for a dwarf.

Monk: Dwarves can make pretty sweet monks, since ki points are based on Wisdom and their Fast Movement ability compensates (and then some) for the slowed movement of a dwarf. There are also some great flavor options for dwarven Monks, like the Drunken Master archetype, letting you make that constantly-drunk dwarf who is a beast in bar brawls. Don’t forget about the Monk Vows to boost your ki point pool even more (though the Vow of Cleanliness requires that you shave your face, so STAY AWAY!) If only the racial favored class bonus was better!

Oracle: A dwarf isn’t really suited to be an Oracle because of the hit to Charisma, which is the Oracle’s main stat. There aren’t any archetypes that change this, and the racial favored class bonus isn’t very exciting, so I’d generally suggest steering clear.

Paladin [Antipaladin]: With a bonus to Constitution, a dwarf can make a reasonable Paladin, though the penalty to Charisma definitely hurts. Despite this, there are perks to being a Paladin, such as self-healing with Lay on Hands, and not having to worry about your slower speed as long as you’re mounted. There is a very flavorful Paladin archetype called the Stonelord that deserves a look (see below), as a lot of the Charisma-based abilities are replaced by more static, super flavorful bonuses. Overall, a dwarven Paladin is definitely an option, though I would suggest looking at the Cavalier as an alternative.

Ranger: A dwarf is an excellent choice for a Ranger, since both Wisdom and Constitution are going to be extremely helpful, and Charisma can be a dump stat. In fact, the iconic Pathfinder Ranger is a dwarf, and he looks pretty badass. A few of the base and alternate dwarf racial traits synergize really well with a Ranger’s favored enemy and favored terrain abilities, and there are even a few archetypes that seem very dwarf-ish. These include the Deep Walker, the Skirmisher (which replaces the Ranger’s weak spellcasting with Hunter’s Tricks, sort of akin to Rogue Talents), and the Trapper (which replaces spellcasting with trap-setting). Overall, this is one of the best choices for an optimized dwarf, right behind the Inquisitor.

Rogue [Ninja]: This is a generally poor choice for a dwarf, as Rogues need high Dexterity (usually), Intelligence (almost always) and Charisma (sometimes), none of which the dwarf is good at. There are a few archetypes that will make the Rogue a little bit more appealing, such as the Sanctified Rogue, the Survivalist, and the Thug, but none of them really helps a dwarf optimize as a good Rogue, only helping to make the concept more appealing. With a relatively crappy favored class bonus on top of all that, I’d stay away. The Ninja, being completely Charisma and Dexterity-based, is also just not a good option.

Sorcerer: Until Ultimate Magic came out, I would have rated the Sorcerer a flat red for a dwarf, but the Empyreal bloodline has made a dwarven Sorcerer much more viable. This bloodline lets you use your Wisdom in place of Charisma for all Sorcerer class features, which means you can be a pretty kick-ass Sorcerer. Along with that, you get many of the powers of the Celestial bloodline, which is a great bloodline for summoning creatures to aid you and your allies. If you want to go totally non-traditional with your class choice as a dwarf, but want to keep optimization in mind, this is the way to go. With ANY OTHER BLOODLINE, Sorcerer is red. You may also consider the Razmiran Priest archetype, since it would let you dress your character as a cleric, while instead using arcane spells, which is a cool concept.

Summoner: A Summoner relies entirely too much on Charisma to make sense for a dwarf, and the dwarven racial abilities really don’t synergize with the class either. There are only two semi-reasonable builds I can think of, one involving making the eidolon Large and riding it (which you can’t do until at least 8th level) and the other being the Synthesist, which can be amazing with any base race.

Witch: The Witch is a caster that relies on Intelligence, and therefore if you like the class you could make a decent Witch with your dwarf, but the racial bonuses don’t add anything for this class. If you could convince your DM to let you use the Scarred Witch Doctor archetype (normally meant only for Orcs), you’d have a beastly Con-based caster, but otherwise this isn’t going to be optimal.

Wizard: Just like the Witch, the Wizard relies on Intelligence for his casting, and so while you CAN make a decent WIzard with a dwarf, it will never be as optimal as a Ranger or Inquisitor would be. There is one archetype that I can’t help but imagine is meant for both Dwarves and Gnomes, however, and that’s the Siege Mage. Check it out, because the flavor and roleplaying benefits might just outweigh the lack of ability score synergy for you.

Racial Favored Class Bonuses:

Alchemist: This is a great choice for a dwarven alchemist, unless you’re going for a ranged bomber build, which your ability bonuses steer you away from anyway.

Barbarian: Additional rounds of Rage are always helpful, so this is a great choice.

Bard: This is an excellent choice for bards who might want to wear armor, and it’s one of few favored class bonuses that actually give you a feat later on.

Cavalier: Adding damage to your Challenge opponent is super helpful. If you’re a Dwarven Cavalier, use this at every level.

Cleric: If you have a 1st-level domain power that is usable a number of times per day, this might be a really great choice for you, but otherwise it’s obviously useless.

Druid: More uses of domain powers is great... if you chose a domain instead of an animal companion. Personally, I’ll almost always choose the animal companion.

Fighter: This will stack with the Stability racial trait, and can be very helpful in a battle. I like it.

Gunslinger: I personally hate the Gunslinger class, but if you are a Dwarven Gunslinger this is probably a great choice.

Inquisitor: This is one of those awesome favored class bonuses that effectively makes you a higher level for one of your main class abilities, so it’s a no-brainer.

Magus: Adding uses per day of one of your Arcana is a great choice, so this one’s golden.

Monk: Really? Reduce the hardness of objects? And only when you use unarmed strike? This one sucks.

Oracle: Unless you have a specific exotic weapon that you want to use and you don’t have a feat slot to waste on Exotic Weapon Proficiency this one’s not great.

Paladin: As a paladin, you don’t have enough spells available for this to be super useful, so I’d say skip this one.

Ranger: This is way too situational to matter, unless you have an underground creature as your animal companion.

Rogue: This one is super situational, but it stacks with Stonecunning for noticing traps made of stone, so it could come in handy.

Sorcerer: Adding damage to your spells is great if you’re a blaster, so this is actually a decent one.

Summoner: Additional AC for your eidolon is cool, although if you’re a Synthesist Summoner, you probably want the hit point per level instead.

Witch: If your Familiar is getting into battle, you’re doing it wrong. This isn’t worth it.

Wizard: This probably isn’t terribly useful for you, since crafting is already a confusing system, and if your’re playing in Pathfinder Society you can’t use it anyway.

Racial Archetypes:

Exarch (Inquisitor): This archetype is very Lawful-oriented, letting you find and punish chaotic creatures with a vengeance. One of the best parts of this archetype is the ability to imbue your weapon with the menacing special ability, which increases the flanking bonus that your allies get by +2 as long as you’re adjacent to the creature they’re flanking. For a melee-heavy party, this can be a huge benefit. I also really like the Aura of Reversion ability, which is an aura that makes creatures using transmutation effects, especially polymorph effects, sickened and/or nauseated until they turn back. If you ever come up against an enemy druid, this can seriously change the tide of a battle. Note that this archetype is best for a melee-focused inquisitor, especially one who wants to use Two-Weapon Fighting.

Foehammer (Fighter): If you’ve ever wanted to play a hammer-wielding dwarf who can hit the ground with his hammer so hard that the floor shatters, this is the way to do it. This archetype is all about using a warhammer or similar weapon to deal literally crushing blows and cause debilitating effects while doing it. As you level up, you get bonuses to different combat maneuvers, you get to attempt a free trip after a sucessful bull rush, and at 19th level you can even deal an auto-critical hit with your hammer. This is a fun, flavorful archetype that brings to mind all of the cliches about dwarves you’ve been seeing in movies all your life, and it’s awesome.

Forgemaster (Cleric): This is an interesting archetype which is focused almost solely on item creation and enhancement, granting you Craft Magic Arms and Armor as a bonus feat at third level and replacing Channel Energy with the ability to inscribe magic runes on weapons or armor to give them interesting properties. One thing that I do NOT like about this archetype, however, is that the Runeforger ability relies on Intelligence to determine the number of uses per day, and for a Cleric, Intelligence is usually used as a dump stat. I suppose the reason they did this is that it’s replacing Channel Energy, which requires Charisma, so you can now dump that instead, but I don’t see how Intelligence makes sense in this case. Besides that, Channel Energy can be a really important ability for a cleric to keep his party alive, especially at lower levels when spell slots are at a premium. All in all, this archetype is interesting, but really not that great unless you were going to focus on crafting anyway.

Stonelord (Paladin): This archetype ends up being so different from a standard Paladin that I would consider it an alternate class rather than an archetype. You give up smite evil for a power that lets you treat your melee attacks as magic and admantine, letting you sunder pretty much anything with no problem. You give up divine grace for DR/adamantine and a natural armor bonus, which is sweet but losing your Cha bonus to saves is really painful. You give up divine health and several mercies to begin to ignore critical hits and precision damage, which is really nice. You give up ALL SPELLCASTING to gain the Defensive Stance ability of the Stalwart Defender prestige class, which is sort of like a controlled version of rage. You give up a paladin’s mount to get an earth elemental companion (which is actually a really sweet option). One really cool ability the Stonelord gets is phasing his attacks through stone or metal several times per day at higher levels, letting you completely ignore that full-plate the enemy antipaladin is wearing. Finally, at 20th level, the Stonelord effectively turns into stone, giving him immunity to several detrimental effects and complete immunity to critical hits and precision damage. When you combine all of this, you realize that the only thing that is still Paladin-ish about the resulting character is his ability to lay on hands to cure himself and allies, and other than that you’ve become an entirely new type of character, but you know what? I’m okay with that, because this really is a great archetype. The ONLY thing that sucks about being a Stonelord is your racial penalty to Charisma, but many of the abilities that would require it are replaced, so they really did a great job of making this a viable option for dwarves.

Prestige Classes:

Divine Scion: This prestige class lets you take the normal Cleric abilities given by your chosen domain and enhance them, gaining new ones in the process. The Domain Specialization ability gives you a spell-like ability based on the domain you chose, and it even lets you heal damage when you cast domain spells. Later on, you get abilities that let you deal more damage or give detrimental or helpful effects to others based on their alignment. This one is fun and not a bad choice for a dwarven Cleric or Inquisitor.

Gray Gardener: This is an interesting, assassin-style prestige class made for the Inquisitor, focusing more on sneak attacks and quiet killings. This is definitely not a good-aligned prestige class, but it’s got some cool abilities, and it would be a fun character to play. Check it out.

Holy Vindicator: The Holy Vindicator is excellent for a cleric who wants to get better at combat, or for a fighter/cleric who wants to boost his armor class and get auto-Empowered healing spells. This class also synergizes well with the Stalwart Defender, which I’ll talk about in a few minutes.

Horizon Walker: This prestige class is all about becoming the supreme master of your chosen terrain. It’s also one of the easiest prestige classes to qualify for, with just a single feat and 6 ranks in a skill required. With the combination of the Terrain Mastery and Terrain Dominance abilities focused on the Mountains or Underground terrains, you’ll get a thematic character who can essentially dominate creatures native to that terrain!

Inheritor’s Crusader: This three-level prestige class is really meant for Paladins, but it could be a great choice for a dwarven Cleric that focuses on healing and debuff-removal thanks to the Destroyer of Tyranny ability, which gives the cleric and his allies extra saving throws to remove detrimental conditions. Definitely take a look at it.

Knight of Ozem: Knights of Ozem are great at dealing with undead and other abominations, and get bonus feats meant for shield-based combat. You can qualify for this one using Fighter levels, or it could be a great choice for a Cavalier. You could also qualify with mostly Cleric or Inquisitor levels, but you need heavy armor proficiency, so a level of Fighter or the Heavy Armor Proficiency feat will be important in that case.

Mammoth Rider: Holy crap this prestige class is amazing. As a Cavalier or a Ranger who has taken the Boon Companion feat, you can start into this class at 10th level. When you take your first level in Mammoth Rider, your animal companion becomes a Huge creature, and as you continue on in the class, your companion gets pretty impressive Ability boosts (a max of +6 Con and +10 Str). This is the best way to get the best companion mount in the game, so take advantage of it.

Skyseeker: This class is definitely written specifically for dwarves, and it’s not a bad choice. The entry requirements will require you to either have 7 levels of Ranger or be a mix of Ranger and Druid or Cleric. The class gives you bonus damage against giants, goblins and orcs, gets a deflection bonus versus spell effects, and gains heavy armor proficiency that doesn’t block the use of his Ranger abilities. Later he gains spell resistance based on the type of armor he’s wearing. This prestige class actually synergizes with the Forgemaster Cleric archetype too, so consider that one.

Stalwart Defender: This one is all about defense, gaining an ability VERY similar to a Barbarian rage and a ton of defensive powers that are similar to a Barbarian’s rage powers, except that he can’t move at all while in his defensive stance. This is one of the best ways to become a true tank, gaining Uncanny Dodge and Damage Reduction.

Racial Feats:

Breadth of Experience: If you are trying to play a knowledge-focused character, a dwarf probably isn’t the best choice, but this could make it more viable.

Brewmaster: A dwarven alchemist will probably want to choose this, otherwise ignore it.

Cleave Through: This feat is a must-have for dwarven fighters past level 11. Seriously, being able to continue cleaving enemies by taking a five-foot step is golden.

Cloven Helm: Combined with Dented Helm, this will let you shrug off attacks that might normally be lethal to you by taking them straight to your head. That... is so dwarven and awesome that I want to build a whole character around it. This would be an excellent choice for a Fighter or Cavalier, but any front-line character would benefit from it.

Dented Helm: This feat continues the Hard-Headed line of feats that lets you essentially take attacks to your helmet to negate damage to yourself. I love this set of feats.

Fight On: This feat could be useful to a tank-style character, but honestly if you’re letting yourself get knocked unconscious, you’re doing it wrong. There are probably better choices out there.

Giant Killer: If you’re going down the Goblin Cleaver feat list, this can be invaluable to a Fighter-type who wants to mow down creatures larger than himself.

Goblin Cleaver: This is a pretty awesome feat for a dwarven Fighter, and it can be taken at third level! It also starts you on the path to eventually be cleaving any enemies that you threaten OR that you would threaten if you stepped 5 feet. If you know you’ll be fighting goblins early on in your campaign, all the better.

Hard-headed: This feat really is just a gateway into the Dented->Cloven Helm feat tree, as its benefits aren’t that spectacular. It’s still worth grabbing early on for any tank-style character, just to get started on the tree.

Improved Stonecunning: Boo. Not worth a feat unless you know your DM loves to throw traps at you, and even then this will only help with traps made of stone.

Ironguts: If you find yourself fighting against creatures that make you nauseated a lot, this could be useful, but overall there are much better choices out there.

Ironhide: If you aren’t planning to get a natural armor bonus through any of your class features (like from an Alchemist’s mutagen, or the Stonelord’s Heartstone ability), this might be worth considering. One nice thing here is that this bonus will stack with an amulet of natural armor when you can afford one later on, since that is an enhancement bonus to your natural armor bonus.

Ledge Walker: This is a decent ability if you’re planning to scale any mountains or delve through the Mines of Moria, but it’s very situational.

Let Them Come: This feat is from the Faction Guide, and so its prerequisites probably look a little strange to you (they did to me at first also). Basically, you need to have high enough standing in the Ninth Battallion faction to take the feat. If you aren’t using factions in your game, ask your GM if you can replace the faction requirement with something like 6 ranks in Perception or Sleight of Hand, so that it’s available at a similar level. If you CAN get it, though, it could be very useful to a melee fighter.

Orc Hewer: This is another one from the Goblin Cleaver feat tree, so if you’re going up that ladder, you’ll need this one.

Shatterspell: Man, this is seriously awesome. If you’re not a Barbarian, this is the only way to get access to the spell sunder rage power, and it really is a pretty amazing power. Take this for your fighter if you have a spare feat slot.

Steel Soul: This feat is really REALLY good. As a dwarf, you already have a +2 bonus to saves against ALL spells and spell-like abilities, which is amazing. This doubles that bonus, effectively giving you the saving throws of a 4th-level monk for a single feat. This is definitely worth taking for ANY character, but especially Fighters and Cavaliers who don’t have a great Will save normally.

Stone-Faced: If you want to lie as a dwarf, I suppose this feat is the way to do it, but if you’re playing a class that needs to lie a lot, the dwarf was a bad idea to begin with.

Stone Singer: A dwarven bard who will be underground a lot will definitely benefit from this, but otherwise it’s not a great feat.

Toxic Recovery: This is a great choice if your DM likes to use poisons or other sources of ability damage. I like it.

Twin Thunders: This is just way too situational to get my recommendation. Read the first sentence of the Benefit description and count how many things have to be true for you to actually apply this. Once per round, bludgeoning weapon in each hand, creature with the giant subtype, hit with your off-hand, after also hitting with your main hand. All of those things have to happen just to get double damage with your off-hand weapon. No way.