A dwarf is especially easy to find in the Gnomish Mines, and often carries a pick-axe or a dwarvish mattock. They are not a serious threat even at low levels, mainly due to their slow speed. Neutral and chaotic adventurers can quickly get a pick-axe by killing a dwarf, but they are often peaceful to lawful adventurers. Dwarves tunnel with their picks, often digging out large portions of the level and provoking shopkeepers to close up their shop walls when a dwarf digs through.

A dwarf sometimes wears a dwarvish mithril-coat, a dwarvish iron helm, a dwarvish roundshield, or iron shoes, all of which are good armor types. The dwarvish cloak offers no protection, but can protect the body armor underneath it from erosion, and is a good throwaway cloak when testing scrolls, in case the unknown scroll is a scroll of destroy armor.

A "dwarf corpse" is dropped by the dwarf zombie and dwarf mummy. It is also found in graves left by player dwarves in bones.