How do dwarves go into combat without their beards being chopped

Maybe it's like heraldry. Instead of wearing the emblem of your [clan/house/hold/kingdom], you trim and braid your beard in a way to represent your allegiance.

>>49700266
The mightiest beard repels even the sharpest axe.

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>>49700266
>he doesn't have beard armor

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>>49700266
Well, I'm pretty sure that various cultures in our world had warriors with pretty big beards.

At the same time the beards of the average dwarfs is even bigger AND they are smaller, so they either trip over their own beards or some enemy will be able to use it to his advantage, grap it, pull it, set it on fire.

It's almost as stupid as dwarfs using axes and hammers in tight tunnels instead of short spears and short swords.

>>49700423
>Beard clearly so large its weight keeps it pressed against the body cavity
>This can somehow be cut off without an enemy making a fatal block to said body cavity

>>49700443
>It's almost as stupid as dwarfs using axes and hammers in tight tunnels instead of short spears and short swords.

My current GM allowed the players to contribute to building the setting as a group, and this was the bit that I implemented. That and they were more culturally like the Roman Empire instead of just being Short Vikings who looked for shinys in the ground.

>>49700443
>It's almost as stupid as dwarfs using axes and hammers in tight tunnels instead of short spears and short swords.
My excuse is they used the Hammers and Heavy Picks for mining and building tunnels, and whenever they found something nasty they just beat it to death with their mining tools and went back to work.

>>49700749
God I loved my legendary miners.

>>49700749
This isn't really an excuse for dedicated warriors, sure for dwarfs like you described, or dwarfs militias that, out of dwarfen stubbornness and conservativism, only use weapons that they are used to or resemble tools. But not for professional soldiers.

>>49700443
>It's almost as stupid as dwarfs using axes and hammers in tight tunnels instead of short spears and short swords.
I always interpreted that as because both of those are tools first and weapons second.

Dwarves are not terribly violent by nature, eminently practical, and materialist. They make really swell tools, and use them for a lot of things (like killing people) because it beats also having to carry around a bunch of weapons on top of that.

You're down in a mine and your tunnel breaks open into a kobold warren, you fight with what you have in hand, not what you wish you had.

>>49700680
Your gm sounds like a cool dude

>>49700801
If it works in the tunnels for the miners, it works for the dedicated warriors.
Besides, why use a Short Spear or a Short Sword when tunnels are already big enough for a Heavy Pick or Hammer.
If the tunnel is too small, it's not a proper dwarf tunnel and we'll expand it as we go.

Dwarven Combat Miners are some of the most feared units on the planet.

>>49700873
>when tunnels are already big enough for a Heavy Pick or Hammer
They aren't. Even if they are not as wide as a dwarf it's a really stupid idea to bring weapons that you need to swing in a wide arc to be really effective.

>If the tunnel is too small, it's not a proper dwarf tunnel
Defeats the purpose of a tunnel.

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>>49700902
Building big to compensate for being dwarves is what makes dwarves dwarves

>>49700902
If you're already tunneling in a tunnel wide enough to support mining with Heavy Picks and Hammers, then why not use them? Most dwarven tunnels and underground cities will also be big enough to move through like that.

>>49700902
>Defeats the purpose of a tunnel.
>an artificial underground passage, especially one built through a hill or under a building, road, or river.
Not really.

>>49700867
Yeah, I was pretty surprised. It was an entirely new group, but looking back, it makes sense. It takes some strain off the GM as far as world building is concerned, and it gets the players invested into the setting more because they can put stuff they like INTO the setting, and not just have a GM that explains his totally original and cool do not steal setting that the players can get or at least become uninterested in.

>>49700940
>>49700959
>instead of making the tunnels as small as possible so that the dwarfs can hold their lines with their innate stubbornness and constitution
>make it as wide as possible so that goblins, orcs, skaven and other things can swarm you
This is why you lost the goblin wars and Moria.

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>>49700749
>whenever they found something nasty they just beat it to death with their mining tools and went back to work.

I actually like the idea of picks and hammers being symbolic weapons among dorfs, partly due to stories about workers (particularly miners and crafts-people) defeating monsters with their tools, and partly due to racial pride in mining, metallurgy, and stone-working.

Most dorfs would use sensible weapons like halberds or spears, and shortswords. But the generals, nobility, and other wealthy combatants would keep keep large hammers, picks, pole-axes, and great-axes and function as elite, heavily armored shock-troops. The symbolic weapons would carry implications of greater social status and also be used for show, especially at parades, and see use in ritual combat such as duels and trials-by-battle. The public nature of dwarven ritual combat would inspire travelers and chroniclers to create art and stories depicting this as the usual way of battle among the dwarves, reinforcing the perception and adding to confusion on the matter.

>>49700902
Eternal Hema fag chiming in to say this is horseshit. You dont need a "wide arc" to swing a pickaxe and kill a bitch with it. Same for a sledge or an axe. Haft blows, thrusting with the blunt, and even chocked twohanded swings are just as dangerous. Unless you're looking to crush armour or rock you dont need big windage. The rule of thumb is 1lbs of pressure to peice flesh, thats super easy to get with a pick.

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>>49700290
/tg/ had a great thread about that once.

>>49701354
But all kinds of spears, polearms and short weapons are still better than two handed axes and hammers in this kind of situation.

>>49701397
Arguably yes, that being said it doesnt diminish how deadly an improvised weapon like a pick or mattock can be in tight quarters. Saying they need room to be effective is streight up ignorate of how you kill things and defend yourself in tight spaces like tunnels.
My point was its not stupid to think dwarves as a culture modled their weaponry and armies after the mining tools rhey defend themselves with in ohshi- situations.
That being said a phalanx of dwarves with big ass shields and spears would fuck shit up even more effectivly.

>>49700290
>>49701371

I always preferred, like the first anon posted, the idea that dwarves would have specific knots and weaves they would produce as a heraldry thing. Only dwarves of house X would have a specific beard style.

Well, first of all it's pretty hard to shave someone's beard by accident, and doing it on purpose is wasting precious time you could use to just fucking kill the dwarf

Second, consider that dwarves could consider shaving their beards on the same level as scalping or worse. It's needless escalation of a conflict if you give your soldiers orders to shave the beards of any dwarves they capture

>>49701032
I was actually planning on doing this with the motley group ive put together at university. Did it work out well in the end?

>>49701465
>That being said a phalanx of dwarves with big ass shields and spears would fuck shit up even more effectivly.
This is why in my games, most dwarven combatants are militia. They have mandatory combat training for anyone physically fit enough for the task.

Their culture and geography doesn't support many career soldiers. But the ones they do have, holy shit, you do not want to try invading a dwarven city defended by a wall of wall of unmoving dwarves with tower shields. You might as well be trying to dig through a cave wall with your bare hands.

It's offensive military action that dwarves suck at. 'Defend the mountain home' is so ingrained in their culture that military tactics outside of 'wait for the siege to give up' is difficult for most dwarves to imagine.

>>49701805
>It's offensive military action that dwarves suck at. 'Defend the mountain home' is so ingrained in their culture that military tactics outside of 'wait for the siege to give up' is difficult for most dwarves to imagine.

I'd think that it's just because they aren't as great in the open until firearms become prominent, at which point their industry and small profiles might win the day.

mending?

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Can we not have a single goddamn fucking dwarf thread without you faggots debating axes and tunnels?

>>49702248
Then make it about gunpowder warfare. Would dwarfen stature grant them the advantage in Napoleonic warfare or would the slowness of their march hurt them too much?

>>49702273
In pathfinder they have medium speed and can't be slowed, I think.

>>49702273
>or would the slowness of their march
In most settings their natural hardiness gives them an advantage on the march compared to other armies and races.

Like, when you can just flat out march nonstop with barely any rest, the slight speed difference from being short is going to disappear.

>>49702436
You would need a commander and a mindset to take advantage of it though. If they're a bunch of Urist McTroutFighters they're going to get hung up on everything, constantly stopping even if they could go on.

>>49702455
>You would need a commander and a mindset to take advantage of it though
well, memes aside that's also usually the case. It takes a while for dwarves to decide on a course of action, but once they do they'll keep going without complaint until the job's done.

>>49702273
There's another thread going on to discuss that right now. >>49686909

>>49700443
If a corridor would be to narrow to swing an axe, a spear would prevent them from turning around.
>inb4 short
it wouldn't be a spear at that point so much as a knife with a longer handle.

>>49702248
spearfags are the new katana weaboos. They can't resist espousing the virtues of their meme weapon.

>>49700266
they don't.
Dwarven society values you by the length of your beard and how well it is kept, since only the best warriors would have a pristine and perfectly braided full-length beard; a bad warrior would have frayed and tangled beards of unimpressive length and lopsided or uneven trims.

A disgraced dwarf would likely have preferred that the armor they wore under it had failed instead of having to return to their home shamed and marked as a lesser warrior, knowing that to even touch up their beard and even it back up from being lopsided would mean losing more beard and therefore losing more social standing.

>>49702273
>the slowness of their march
Depends on what game we're talking about. Some games give them the same movement speed as humans, 3.5/PF gives them speed as an encumbered human, but they are not slowed by encumbrance.

>>49705529
The only "warrior" that has a pristine and perfect beard at all times is one who's never seen battle, some rich kid who talks shit and can't back it up. It's a bit like scarring. You can tell a dwarf has been through some shit when his beard's been ruffled and nicked, though most are quick to clean it up after the fight.

If you want your beard to look good for the ladies, then go ahead and tuck it away like the effeminate skirt-chasing chickenshit baby that you are. If you want to show your enemy that you're a *dwarf* and not some insecure human toddler who wandered aimlessly onto the field, then you wear that beard loud and proud. He swings for your beard, you swing for his neck, it's a pretty good trade.

>>49705724
now I'm just imagining a setting where dwarves prejudice what class and background you have based on your beard choices.

dirty and frayed is a blacksmith, short but pristine and fancy is a no-good theif, long and overly ornate is either some noble's kid or a good for nothin' caster, stubble is a criminal, stripped of dignity and beard, and bare chinned is just a drunk halfling, etc.

>>49701539
It's an easy way to get the players invested and interested in the world. Players would look forward to playing in the universe they helped to create, especially if they're playing as a race or class they specifically changed or created.

Player investment = great game

>>49701505
It makes a lot of sense too, that was done in real life by Roman philosophers to denote different schools of thought.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beard#The_.22philosopher.27s_beard.22

>>49701505
Would it be considered a crime to wear the knot of another house?

>>49700266
You know anything? I mean ANYFUCKINGTHING? You don't have hair? You never held an axe, or a sword in your life? Do you fucking not realize that hair isn't cut easily by dull ass weapons grade iron/steel? You need a razor, or some torque like that used scissors, or electric hair trimmers to cut it without much effort.

Fucking tard doesn't even realize that a solid amount of old metallic weapons were chisel edged to help with armor penetration and to hold the edge for a couple of real fights against metal armor.

>>49700266
Braided hair blocks blades.
You dummy.

>>49701047
>Enemies are smaller and navigate small quarters even better then you
Better make tunnels fit for rats instead of dwarves!