A dwarf is a master of stone; and a dwarf with this skill doubly so. With this skill, an experienced dwarf can sound faults in the stone, shape it to his will, even walk through a stone wall.

Similar to Elemental magic, but restricted to one element and not nearly so flexible, a dwarf with this skill gains the following abilities.

At Novice, the dwarf may communicate mentally with a stone he touches as though the stone were intelligent, observing what the stone saw in the past for instance.

At Proficient, the dwarf may shape stone to his will, though this takes a great deal of time depending on the amount; an hour to shape an amount equal to his body-weight.

At Advanced, a dwarf may alter the properties of stone, making it brittle or harder, denser or as light as pumice, even making it luminescent.

At Expert, the dwarf may treat stone as if it were of no import...he can walk through stone, and weapons made purely of stone can be ignored. No mineral poison will harm him. Each of these abilities requires touch.

Note that this skill affects crystal and stone only, man-shaped or natural. A dwarf may use this skill with metal, but he is treated as if he were one level lower; that is, a dwarf must be third level in this skill to be able to shape metal to his will, for instance. Glass and obsidian present the same difficulties as metal.