Duergar Duergar ( pronounced DEW - ur - gar ) , also known as gray dwarves , were a subterranean race . They were close kin to dwarves , but with a diabolic taint to their blood . They carved out an existence in the Underdark , often near volcanoes . Their kinship to surface dwarves could be compared to that of the drow to surface elves . Description . Like their dwarven brethren , duergar were typically stocky figures , though beyond this there were many differences . Both male and female duergar were typically bald , with females also lacking the capacity to grow facial hair . Many were also thinner than their dwarven brethren . Most obvious , however , was their dull gray skin and hair , often matched with an equally stolid expression . When not bald , however , some duergar could grow spiny quills like those of a porcupine rather than typical hair , both along their scalp and in their beards , which they could shoot at their enemies . Because many duergar found on the surface world were criminal exiles , a surface dweller who encountered one of the gray dwarves was likely to notice facial and arm tattoos that marked the duergar as a traitor to his or her people . Abilities . Duergar were in some ways even better adapted to underground living than dwarves . While dwarves lacked the capacity to see completely in the deepest darkness , this was not a problem for duergar , who were so adapted . Duergar were also immune to many of the ancient techniques used by the mind flayer s to control them , such as paralysis , phantasms , alchemical poisons , or some types of illusion . Diabolic duergar also had a general resistance to fire or poison . Duergar were also a sneaky , crafty people , unlike their honor - bound cousins , and often excelled at setting up ambushes or moving out of sight . Conversely , many were also good at detecting hidden objects . A few duergar also possessed natural abilities akin to the " enlarge " and " invisibility " spell s . This came at a cost , however , and duergar , like drow , had a special vulnerability to sunlight . Personality . Duergar were at heart a grim and bitter race , pessimistic of their future and deeply cynical regarding the motives of others . In a dark inversion of the strong family bonds typical of their dwarven kin , duergar viewed their kin and clan as adversaries set on holding them back , an expectation that became a self - fulfilling prophecy since every duergar came to believe this from early childhood . As a result , duergar were a dark and cruel race , who showed no mercy to their foes and who took great pleasure in inflicting pain on others , a welcome relief from what they believed was a meaningless life ended with betrayal . Because of their pessimism , duergar rarely adventured of their own free will and were instead most commonly exiles cast out of their society . These adventurer s , most commonly concerned with personal gratification , were frequently fighter s or rogue s , leaning on their training against the threats of the Underdark . Cleric s were fairly common as well , serving the duergar gods in order to gain power and influence within society . Unlike the dwarves , duergar had no particular prejudices against arcane spellcaster s and both smiths specializing in the smithy of enchanted items and wizard s were well respected . Because of their cruel nature , experienced duergar adventurers often became assassin s or blackguard s , though the veneration of rune s in duergar culture also led many to become runecaster s . Culture . Duergar were , as a whole , generally cruel and malevolent creatures , but as in most evil races this was as much a cultural affectation as a psychological trait . A few duergar turned away from the worship of the wicked gods who ruled over the duergar such as Laduguer and Deep Duerra and found salvation through the Morndinsamman . Other duergar found escape from their society through petty crime , tattooed and cast out from their cities beneath the surface and driven into the arms of other races . Their grim disposition , however , made them unlikely to form many lasting friendships . Duergar primarily spoke Duergan , a dialect of Dwarven descended from the dialect of the shield dwarves and heavily influenced by mind flayer and drow words found in Undercommon . Duergar themselves were commonly fluent in Undercommon , the " lingua franca " of the Underdark . Other common second languages for duergar were those of their enemies , such as Draconic , Drow , Giant , Goblin , or Orc . Others might learn Terran in order to conduct trade with earth elemental s , while others learned Common to trade with the surface world . Duergar would often ferment fire lichen into their alcoholic beverages , to create a hot and spicy drink . Art and leisure . As the worshipers of Laduguer , the duergar had a long tradition of crafting that went back to their days as the rulers of Barakuir . Like the dwarves , duergar were fine craftsmen with an eye for detail , though they were often pragmatic enough to eschew the ostentatious decorations of their kin , which they felt were not only wasteful , but which could potentially give away their presence when treading the Underdark . Additionally , duergar art , unlike that of their brethren , was notable for its veneration of blood and cruelty , with scenes of warfare marking much of their art . Most of all , duergar were concerned with practicality , peddling military saddles , thunderstone s , poison s , and an extraordinarily effective form of armor lubricant . Like their dwarven kin , duergar preferred weapons that could serve as tools on the fly , such as hammer s or pick s . For pets or familiar s , duergar often enjoyed the company of Underdark creatures , such as bat s , spider s , osquip s , or spitting crawler s . For beasts of burden , duergar used large lizards or steeder s . Magic and religion . Unlike dwarves , duergar had a strong tradition of magic , both in the divine and arcane varieties and duergar clerics , runecasters , runesmith s , and wizards were highly respected for their skill . In particular , the duergar had a fondness for magically crafted items that they could use to aid them in combat , protect their minds against tampering , or to hide from enemy senses . Duergar crafted many magic item s unique to them , such as " absorbing shield s " , " bolts of battering " , and " stonereaver " axes . The chief god of the duergar was Laduguer , the dwarven god of crafting , a tradition going back to the days of Clan Duergar , when the god served as the clan ' s divine patron . Early on , the veneration of Laduguer led to disputes with many of the other kingdoms of Shanatar , who chose to venerate Dumathoin as the patron of the entire shield dwarven race . When Clan Duergar was enslaved by the mind flayers , the duergar carried on their worship in captivity , although many secretly formed pacts with the devils of the Nine Hells as well . Although the duergar formally venerated all the Morndinsamman , the duergar in their captivity became only more devout in their exclusive worship of Laduguer and , later on , his adopted daughter Deep Duerra . Duerra , initially a duergar herself , was beloved among the duergar for having stolen the Invisible Art from the mind flayers during her campaign against them . They didn ' t receive the Thunder Blessing like other dwarves and saw it as yet another sign of the Morndinsamman having abandoned them . However , Laduguer and Duerra perished during the Spellplague and , in their desperation , the duergar turned to Asmodeus . Relations with other races . Duergar were a coarse and distrustful race who felt that other races were out to get them , whether they were from the Underdark or the surface world . In spite of this , duergar were usually willing to trade with outside races , particularly from the surface world , for the sake of profit and the relations between duergar and their sometime - enemies , sometime - friends the drow and deep gnome s were especially complicated . However , the duergar had absolutely no love in their heart for their closest of kin , the shield dwarves , who the duergar felt abandoned them to the onslaught of the mind flayers . Since then , the duergar had waged war time and time again against the shield dwarves , demonstrating a deep - seated loathing . History . Initially , the duergar were a clan of shield dwarves in the dwarven kingdom of Barakuir , located within the ancient realm of Shanatar . Clan Duergar , which venerated Laduguer as their patron , was an ambitious and powerful clan , believing that they should lead the kingdoms of Shanatar themselves . When they were denied following the Second Spider War , Clan Duergar turned away from the other dwarven clans , paying only lip service to Shanatar ' s rulers . This proved a mistake when the mind flayer s of Oryndoll , seeing the isolation of Barakuir , attacked the realm in −8100 DR , enslaving or killing most of the population . During their captivity , which lasted for generations , the mind flayers performed many cruel and unusual experiments on the dwarves . It was during this harsh period of their history that the duergar ' s bloodlines acquired a diabolic taint and they emerged as a distinct race . Eventually , the resulting race rose up against their captors and gained their freedom from the mind flayers . Now free , the duergar carved out a new home for themselves beneath the Great Glacier , founding the city of Gracklstugh in −3717 DR . The Deepkingdom spread rapidly through the northern reaches of the Underdark , reaching its peak in −2600 DR before a war with the quaggoth s of Ursandunthar caused it to enter a gradual decline , battling the remnants of the nation and urged on by drow for centuries thereafter . Further to the south , beneath central Faerûn , the duergar established Dunspeirrin underneath the Orsraun Mountains , which grew to encompass the caverns beneath Turmish and the Dragon Coast . Dunspeirrin reached its height of power in −1800 DR , when Queen Duerra defeated an alliance of drow from Undreath and the mind flayers of Oryndoll , reclaiming Deep Shanatar and Alatorin . As her divine reward , Duerra was raised to god hood by Laduguer . Afterward , however , the duergar of Dunspeirrin fell into a decline , returning to power following the Time of Troubles , only to fall into a long and arduous war with the Army of Gold .