How are GNOMES ?

[shmurghi]

synthesis/summary

I agree with a most of the posts here, and in my campaign gnomesshare the following aspects with other posts here:
1.curious little fey/humanoids
2. variation among all the different characteristics - some are tinkery some are woodsy...
3. the very apt dumbledore comparison holds - i.e. a lot of gnomes are eccentric benevolent intellectuals, who though maybe powerful, are not aggressive
4. druids wizards and bards are common callings for the gnomes.

also:
5. i like the "gnomes of Zurich" analogy, where the gnomes are kind of like the swiss (but more lighthearted)
6. in my campaign world, gnomes in non-gnomish societies are usually a "model minority" that is, skilled and knowledgeable, prosperous and non-disruptive, and also not greedy domineering hoarders either.
so overall, I like the Eberron spin on gnomes gradually grading off into reclusive bands of fey. One thing to remember is that gnomes would act very different on a secure society with their own kind than they would in the wilderness with possible threats all around.

 

[Mycanid]

Up with gnomes! (Especially the svirfneblin!)

AND

Up with Elves! (Especially Wood Elves and the Grugach!)

I have always liked gnomes, but must admit that somehow for me the image of the svirfneblin was more real as regards the gnomes. I honestly don't like the 3.x version of the gnome (NOTE: PLEASE! THIS IS NOT AN INVITATION TO A VERSION WAR! )

Ah well. To each his own, eh?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

My gnomes are straight out of the book stats wise, but behave more like fey dwarves of myth. They hide their homes (including some quite stately castles) behind illusions, craft magical items (some of which we'd call technological) and the animals of the forest protect and speak with them.

That log drifting on a creek? If you look out of the corner of your eye, you'll see it's a gnome fishing in a bark canoe.

Those squirrels that chitter madly when you walk under their trees? They're calling out to the gnomes that you're coming.

I agree on the loremasters: Think of gnomish bards as loremasters-in-training and you won't go wrong. Don't have them whip out a mandolin unless you really want to; gnomes perform with storytelling or poetry or written works or with musical instruments that make sense to gnomes (alpenhorns, accordions, bagpipes) and that everyone else finds an acquired taste at best.

They should see the world a little cockeyed and seem alternately naive and strange.

 

[Bardsandsages]

Whizbang! How Dare You!

How can you talk about gnomes at a time like this? Those big-nosed, meddling, techno-babbling, juicy and plump little gnomes that taste so good roasted live over an open flame!

Gods, make them stop! Make them stop!

With BBQ sauce! Yeaaaahhhhh, and a little pepper. Slow roasted while screaming their little gnomish lungs out!

Shame on you! That's OK. We know where you live. You have to go to sleep sometime! Yes you do!

ENOUGH! Go away! Shooo! I've had enough of this! Wait, what are you doing with that bear trap? Stop it!

*sigh*

Sorry. Kobolds took over my keyboard.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Heh, kobolds vs. gnomes is a big theme of my campaign. And so far, it's Kobolds-1, Gnomes-0, with a big 500-year-old ruin of the previous gnome colony, that was totally wiped out.

The gnome cleric/rogue in my campaign has some very foolish ideas that gnomes and kobolds can make peace. It's going to be a bumpy ride for him.

And oh yes, there will be babies stolen and eaten. Yes, there will ...

 

[shmurghi]

stats

on the edition track, I still use the old 1st edition intelligence bonus for gnomes and trade it with a strength penalty. I justify this because of the cause and effect of gnome size and culture.

small humanoids would be weaker than medium ones, thus only the smart ones would survive. with this intellectual bent and slight physical disadvantage, they would logically think or hide when trouble comes, rather than put the smack-down on it.
this would lead to a non-aggressive and curious culture, where the gnomes maximize the advantages of their small size and intelligence through illusion and just plain hiding.

charisma or constitution bonuses don't really make sense for reclusive nerdy tiny faeries. at the same time, tiny humanoids without many special innate abilities would not survive well without at least average wisdom. this is why I've picked the ability bonuses that I did.

 

[Agent Oracle]

btw for the best guide to Gnomes I've seen - read Terry Pratchetts Bromeliad Trilogy (Truckers,Diggers, Wings) then remove the tiny Sci-fi element

Pratchett seems to have a soft spot for the wee free men, they show up in his other, more famous series (Discworld) as being pint-sized powerhouses.

Height, 4" (inches) STR: 18+ Move: 30+

Four of them, working in conjunction, can steal a cow. They sneak up on a sleeping cow, then each grabs a hoof, lifts, and they all run for it. Nothing quite like watching a cow moving backwards at the speed of a full run without moving it's legs.

They are a colony-living fey-like creature (who insist on being called pixies, despite that, everyone calls them gnomes), who are masters of alchemy and disguise, as well as the air (they paint themselves green and wait by a pond until a stork comes down, when the stork tries to eat them, they punch it between the eyes and tie it down so they can tame it) and they are darn dangerous in their own way.

Urban Gnomes make livings as extremely bad-ass exterminators (planting explosives inside the super-intelligent hornet's nest, lighting the fuse, and then fighting the way out, armed only with a folding pocket-knife) and police officers (aireal survelance and recon mostly). Out in the country, they are notably more, how to say this... scottish. Yeah, really really scottish.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yeah, they've kind-of been just about everything, changing from one edition to the next, so that the archetypes have piled up, making the race a big muddle.

When I was a wee lad I loved the Gnomes book (complete with the tall pointy hats). Still do. Not that that's my image of D&D gnomes.

Including the Shannara series they've been savage barbarians and great trackers. In Midnight they're river-merchants and traders. Pratchett's Gnomes are pretty darn surly.

My gnomes occupy a bit of a middle ground between the archetypes, though I've downplayed the bardic and trickster elements, and have cut out entirely the tinker part.

All this leaves me thinking that gnomes seem to be a collection of unrelated traits, but there must be a rational explanation. And maybe more importantly, what are gnomes else than this?

 

[Arkhandus]

Different authors have just put gnomes into different niches, because they were always sort of a fifth wheel. Halflings/hobbits were the short and nimble thieves, dwarves were the short and tough magic-opposed warriors, elves were the nimble magician-fencers, humans were the inbetweeners, and, well, gnomes had to have some kind of niche. Though based on some of the same mythological sources as dwarves, they were focused on different aspects.

Some authors of D&D made gnomes into magic-resistant pranksters and illusionists, fitting somewhere between dwarves, halflings, and elves in their role. These were the gnomes of Oerth and Abeir-Toril, for instance. Other authors decided to make gnomes different in their own way, making the tinker gnomes of Krynn, eccentric inventors. Toril's gnomes also got some of this influence from the authors with the gnomes' faith in Gond, so they became artificers similar to the tinker gnomes of Krynn but utilizing magic and divine inspiration for their inventions moreso than just mechanical know-how. Both kinds of gnome were smart but unwise, clever but overly curious, so it wasn't too much of a stretch. Forest gnomes were also made part of D&D, being similar to the prankster-illusionist ones but with a druidic/rangery bent rather than an illusionist bent.

3rd Edition kind of messed with the gnome concept further, making them out to be tough but neither particularly smart nor particularly foolish, then going on to make them bards in 3.5. It's not entirely inappropriate, certainly, but it's still a definite deviation from 'true' D&D gnomes. True D&D gnomes would be a mixed population of scholars and pranksters (plus a few guardians and tradesfolk, of course), somewhere between being urbanized folk and being rural, fey-related folk. They'd most often be rogues, illusionists, or both, and would probably be more likely to be druids or generalist wizards rather than bards.

In my homebrew campaigns, gnomes fill different niches depending on the setting's material, but are pretty close to the traditional D&D gnomes..... Rhunarian gnomes are the eminant sages and philosophers of their world, detached from such lowly concerns as politics and religion. Their few divine spellcasters get their power merely from steadfast belief in a philosophy, and more often than not they're just arcane spellcasters instead. They live in small towns and small cities, inventing new things and philosophizing, trading the occasional products of their labor to other races for any raw materials not normally found in gnomish lands. They're not quite advanced enough for any life-changing mechanical inventions, but they've begun producing flintlock firearms shortly after dwarvenkind invented them first (the dwarves are far less magically-inclined and more technologically-inclined); gnomish engineering is just a bit behind dwarven engineering, and only when it comes to combat inventions. Aurelian gnomes are less mechanically inclined and a bit closer to nature, though still further from it than elvenkind; Aurelian gnomes are arcane and druidic scholars, with a bit of focus on alchemy, but they're also reasonably skilled and staunch opponents of giants, kobolds, goblins and orcs.

 

[Klaus]

Gnomes of Zilargo, part I

Gnomes of Zilargo, part II

Gnomes are great!

And if think other wise: