Dwarves are non-magical creatures. They are blessed by the ability to add 3 to their POW or relevant characteristic when resisting spells. This is also a curse, for their starting magic points are actually three less than the normal amount for the purposes of casting spells. For resistance purposes, their magic points are treated as being six higher than their present total. Thus a dwarf with a POW of 14 and 11 magic points would resist spells with his magic points as if he had 17 magic points.
Dwarves automatically attempt to resist all spells whether they are beneficial or harmful.
Dwarven mages who attempt to cast spells against opponents will find that difficult. Opponents of dwarven mages always resist magic as if their characteristic were the Active One on the resistance table. Even the study of magic is hard for dwarves. The spell multiplier given in magical tomes' statistics will not help them, for dwarven students of sorcery may only use their own INT score unmodified when attempting to learn a spell, meaning they must roll INT x1 to do so. Dwarves make better fighters than mages, and have a long history of fighting.