What is the Naked Dwarf?
The way the Toughness mechanic works in combat to reduce the damage inflicted and thus the number of Wounds a character receives creates a phenomenon known as the “Naked Dwarf”, in which a character is able to shrug off wounds easily due to an inflated Toughness. Case in point, a Dwarf with a Toughness of 7 and unclothed is hit five times by humans with a Strength of 3 carrying normal swords, doing 5 hits for the following damage: 2, 4, 6, 6, and 9. Struck five times by a sword, and with the Dwarf’s Toughness all but four of the hits have done no damage and one attack has done two. In other words, five sword wounds to the head and the character is all but unfazed.
