Here's a little teaser of the kind of stuff you're going to find in Clan & Hammer. This is an early draft of one of the clans player characters can select for their characters at creation. I give you, the Axecracker Clan.
Axecrackers
“Ahahahahahahaha! Is that all ye got
ye wee daisy-eating pig-stickin' pointy-eared bastard?”
All dwarves are warriors in one
capacity or another. But not all dwarves are driven to gleeful,
fearless bloodlust in battle. Axecrackers are the regarded as mad by
other clans and its quite possible they may be right. It is said that
Axecrackers are born with a blade in their hand and blood in their
beards. They crave battle for the sheer joy of it, one and all.
Fearless and without any regard for their own safety, they will leap
happily into flaming maw of a dragon or a horde of goblin spearmen,
simply for the thrill of combat and the off chance that if they
survive, they'll have one hell of a story to tell. Scars great and
small are regarded as badges of honor to Axecrackers. Whether it's a
scar from a barbed arrow or an eye lost to the bite of a giant
spider, members of this clan wear their war wounds openly and as
proof of the glory they've won for the clan. Indeed, most do not
regard an Axecracker as having entered adulthood until they have
their first battle scar.
When not cracking skulls and
terrorizing their foes, Axecrackers are master weapon smiths. Their
axe blades are broad and sharp, their hammers fall like an avalanche.
They forge no armor – such foolish protections are the province of
the Stonebones – and instead craft arms so deadly as to rival the
weapons of the gods, or so they claim.
Clan Strength: Axecrackers
are skilled in battle, one and all. Regardless of their class, they
can wield any melee weapons they choose in battle. In addition,
facing a foe or number of foes whose hit dice are twice their level
or more, they receive a +2 on all melee “to-hit” roll, +2 to all
melee damage rolls, and automatically succeed on any saving throws
made to resist fear-based effects.
Clan Weakness:
Because of their recklessness, all Axecrackers refuse to use ranged
weapons in combat, with the exception of the thrown war hammer or
thrown hand ax. Even then, this is only done as a prelude to charging
into melee combat. In addition, whenever faced with an opportunity to
slay a goblin, dragon, or other hated foe of their clan, the
Axecracker must make a saving throw or immediately throw caution to
the wind and charge into battle.
Clan Craft:
Axecrackers are masterful weapon smiths. Their Legacy Items are always
weapons that are passed down from generation to generation.
Smasher One-Eye, Axecracker
Warslayer speaks his mind regarding the other clans
Silverbeards:
“Well hello Mr. Fancycoin. Ain't ye all pretty with your finely
combed whiskers and your pretty words. Lets see how y' do when the
horde comes out 'ta the darkness gnawin' at yer bones.”
Stonebones:
“As good a dwarf outside the clan as can be found, but'n they need
to be more willin' to split skulls and spill blood instead of using
those mattocks for chippin' away at the rock. Nice armor, though –
if'n yer inta that sorta thing.”
Brewbeards:
“These lads are the ones y' wanna have patchin' ye up and pourin'
yer pints when its all over. They'll be singin' yer praises and that
of yer fathers long after yer in tha' tomb.”
Rockspeakers:
“I dunna know about all this
blood of the earth and speakin' ta stone business, but they're tapped
inta something queer, and I'm not rightly sure they're to be
trusted...”
Beardless:
“Only good one's a dead one. Faithless dogs who don't deserve ta
taste me axe. Worth less than goblin piss in me book.”
