D&D 5E Bring Back Gnomes!

[Falling Icicle]

I too hope that Gnomes are in the PHB. To those who think they don't have enough of a niche, they could replace Eladrin as the Fey race.

 

[Pour]

Eladrin, elves, dwarves, and halflings have taken anything good gnomes might possess.

 

[shadow]

I always saw gnomes as having a unique niche - the forest/hill dwelling tricksters. Much like fey of folklore, gnomes prefer to play jokes and tricks on those who would invade their homeland. Maybe because I always pictured halflings like Tolkiens hobbits, I never saw halflings as the tricksters.

Moreover, does each race need a unique 'niche'? Don't orcs, goblins, bugbears, gnolls, ogres, etc. have pretty much the same niche - humanoid raiders? Why shouldn't gnomes be available in the core rules for people who want to play them?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Moreover, does each race need a unique 'niche'? Don't orcs, goblins, bugbears, gnolls, ogres, etc. have pretty much the same niche - humanoid raiders? Why shouldn't gnomes be available in the core rules for people who want to play them?

I think they do.

I got disenchanted, fast, with many of those races in AD&D. They might behave differently, but orcs were virtually statistically identical to gnolls, hobgoblins, etc. Fortunately, this only impacted them on a mechanical level. A battle with orcs should "feel" different from one with hobgoblins in AD&D, even though in each case you're attacking opponents with about 5 hit points, who deal 1d8 damage, and have an AC of about 5.

In 3.x, when large numbers of such humanoids could take class levels, they began to diverge. (Orcs tended to be disorganized barbarians, hobgoblins tended to be disciplined fighters, gnolls were presumably chaotic evil rangers and barbarians...)

In 4e, each race could have its own ecosystem. (There are gnoll brutes, soldiers, skirmishers, controllers, leaders, lurkers...) In addition, most of these races had features that "spoke" to their identity. (Orcs were so ferocious and tough they could try to attack you even after death. That orc running in The Two Towers - the movie - made perfect sense. It might have run out of hit points after being shot by an arrow, but it could still sprint to the base of the wall and let its bomb blow up.)

While some of these races are available for play, none but half-orcs (which wouldn't be found in large numbers except in Eberron) were in the Player's Handbook. If the DM decided they couldn't make hobgoblins a cool race, there wouldn't be any hobgoblin PCs.

I think in D&DN they're going back a bit on the mechanical distinction. Each raider race gets one feature, often a minor one. (Gnolls, for instance, get a free attack if someone drops near them.) These features generally back up a core part of the race's identity (gnolls get an extra attack because they're bloodthirsty demon worshippers, orcs used to get rage because of Warcraft's influence, hobgoblins are steadfast and disciplined so they get traits reflecting that). Their leaders generally power-up those features. (Gnoll leaders give a significant attack and damage bonus to these extra attacks, for instance.) Still, each race has a mechanical distinction.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is:

1) The savage races didn't need a whole lot of flavor, and often didn't get them. Being disciplined and steadfast is probably not enough of a niche to make a playable races. Dwarves tend to be disciplined and steadfast (just like hobgoblins), but there's a lot more to dwarves. Gnomes, unfortunately, only seem to get as much flavor as these savage races (just in a different direction), and if they seem to have more, it's only because they're stealing from other playable races.
2) Since AD&D, each of these "savage" races has been allowed to diverge, culminating in racial abilities in 4e and Next that back up their flavor. However, they're based on "limited" flavor.
3) If gnomes could be given a niche unique from the other playable races, they might become popular. I've seen no signs of that from WotC since the Gnomes of Zilarge article was published.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Nay to gnomes, I say. Bah Humbug

 

[Perun]

Elf description in the playtest document includes elven opinion of gnomes, among the playtest races (humans, halflings, dwarves). There's also mention of half-orcs. Then there's the bit about gnome illusionists in the Wizard's School of Illusion description. So, I take that as a pretty solid proof (although not definite) that gnomes are going to be included as a playable race, either in one of the iterations of the playtest document (we can only hope), or the PH once it's published.

Also, there are magic items created by gnomes already in the game, and there's a full-page colour image of a deep gnome in the Blindgenstone adventure in the playtest document. I can't recall seeing it before, so that might give us the clue about gnomes' appearance in the D&DN. I could be wrong on that one, though.

Regards.

 

[Hussar]

Meh, considering the sturm and drang over 4e's exclusion of gnomes, I'd say let them in, just so I wouldn't have to listen to people bitch about it for the next four years.

 

[vagabundo]

Aren't Gnomes confirmed to be in? Every PHB 1 race from every edition is in, I thought I read.

So that would be:

humans
elf
dwarf
halfling
gnome
half-orc
half-elf
dragonborn
thefling

Any missing?

 

[Shemeska]

They're an iconic part of D&D, so yes, absolutely, they should be in 5e from the start. Especially since they're making the attempt to appeal to the game's roots and history, it rather behooves them to include the gnome on equal standing with everything else they might consider including as PC races from the get go.

Perhaps I'm spoiled by the niche carved out by the [notranslate]Pathfinder[/notranslate] gnomes (dispossessed fey from the First World with technicolor hair), but I've fallen in love with gnomes within the past few years, so I'm biased about including them perhaps more than I would be otherwise.

 

[lutecius]

sure, the gnome doesn't have a clear niche between elves, dwarves and halflings (I've merged the gnome and halfling into one sneaky and slightly obsessive race imc. works pretty well), I can't say it's my first pick as a player either (although I'd play one over a dragonborn or even dwarf any time) but I'm sure the gnome will be in the PHB.

I don't see wotc repeating 4e's mistake and not include it after the vocal complaints they got, especially if they want to win back players of older editions.
And I think one of the designers said human, dwarf, elf and halfling would be common PC races (expected to be found in every campaign) while gnome, eladrin, half-orcs, half-elves, drow, dragonborn and tiefling would be either uncommon or rare but still in the phb.