D&D’s dwarves live for a very long time. Not as long as elves (see How Long Do Elves in D&D Live?), of course, but for those of us who will probably die before we hit triple digits it might as well be forever. Exactly how long “forever” is varies based on the edition you’re playing — the following comes from the Player’s Handbook for each of them, except 1e, where you have to dip into the Monster Manual or Dungeon Master’s Guide:
- 5th Edition: Up to 350 years
- 4th Edition: 150+, sometimes up to 200 years
- 3rd Edition: Around 400 years or so
- 2nd Edition: 350 years
- 1st Edition: At least 350 years
- Mountain Dwarves: 400+ years
In 5e Dungeons and Dragons your dwarf can live up 350 years and reach maturity at 50, according to page 20 of the Player’s Handbook. Keep that in mind when you make your character. Very old dwarves probably don’t want to run into any ghosts.
In 4e dwarves can live for up 200 years, but often die earlier. They’re adults at 18-ish year old — page 37 of the Player’s Handbook says they reach maturing at roughly the same age as a human.
In 3e they can live past 400 and are adults at 40, according to page 14 of the Player’s Handbook 3.5th edition. This page also has a pretty cool pencil art comparing a human and dwarf skull to each other, and a facial portrait of a bearded dwarf.
In 2e dwarves live for 350 years flat, and mature whenever your DM or campaign setting book tells you they do, because Player’s Handbook page 20 doesn’t say. There are about a million 2e campaign setting boxes and most of them are okay to great, so if you’re playing 2e and aren’t familiar with those, you should check them out.
In 1e standard dwarves usually don’t die before 350, though violent dungeon delving adventurers are presumably an exception. Mountain dwarves can live past 400 — this is according to the top of page 36 in the first 1e Monster Manual, which saves you the effort of finding it yourself because it does not list page numbers in the table of contents. The Dungeon Master’s Guide doesn’t include dwarf lifespans in its racial description section which, notably, is one page after the rules for urinary tract infections. The 1e DMG is a remarkable book and one of two every D&D DM should read regardless of chosen edition (along with the 4e one).
