Photos of the new Gnome (PHB2)

[Rechan]

They differ by not being PC races. If there were brownies as a race in the PHB2 we'd be asking how they differ from gnomes.

... Then fine.

How do they differ if they were PC races.

Come on. Don't be obtuse here.

My point is that most faeries in literature look alike. Leprechauns are just short men with green coats. Pixies are really tiny, and have wings. Etc, etc. They all look like people, with the only difference being height (and the few rare cases like satyrs). Having pointy ears is one of the few things that screams "Faerie", thus it's going to be universally applied.

There was no visible difference between Halflings and Gnomes in the 3e PHB, aside from a slight variation of height. They looked exactly like short humans. Why people are complaining about this now like it's new, I don't know.

Oh wait, yeah I do. Because no matter what they did with gnomes, you can't make everyone happy. Someone would be upset. They're not tinker-enough (or TOO tinkery), or foresty enough (or TOO foresty), or too much emphasis on the pointy hats (or not ENOUGH), or too much pranksters, or whatever. No matter what, there's going to be at least some who say "THAT'S NOT A GNOME". Given that a gnome is a hodgepodge of about eighteen different notions.

 

[Webby140]

Too damn thin... too damn thin!! They look like a simplified Fey Halfling... not the usual Gnome look we're used to.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Whizzbang, was it you who made the comparison of gnomes to the rabbits in Watership Down? It's an absolutely inspired way of looking at gnomes, and what I've been using ever since.

It was, and thank you.

 

[ferratus]

... Then fine.

How do they differ if they were PC races.

See, but that's just it. Yeah, a lot of fairy creatures are similar. But if they are monsters then we only have to worry about one or two traits to distinguish them. Pixies are swarming creatures that put you to sleep, nixies are found in the water, sylphs summon air elementals, nymphs blind you. Notice that brownies aren't in the MM1, because there is nothing a brownie can do as a monster that the gnome cannot do. In fact, Korred who are the brownie's poor drunken redneck cousins got converted before they did.

If there were a PC sylph race proposed, one would be looking for flavour text that you couldn't get by playing an eladrin, and that includes look and feel. You wouldn't want "elves that summon air elementals".

There was no visible difference between Halflings and Gnomes in the 3e PHB, aside from a slight variation of height. They looked exactly like short humans. Why people are complaining about this now like it's new, I don't know.

Yeah, but people are complaining about halflings because they are too similar to humans. People didn't like 3e gnomes because they were too similar to halflings. So when people complained around the art direction for the 4e gnome, they complained about the fact they looked like elves. It could have been avoided if they had a beard and pointy ears. I don't think the first picture posted with the beard and the pointy hat is incompatible with the flavour description of the 4e gnome, and I have a feeling most gnomes will have beards and look a little like garden gnomes in play. The 2e forest gnomes did after all. It makes them more hobbitish too, and I have to say I miss hobbits just a little.

Oh wait, yeah I do. Because no matter what they did with gnomes, you can't make everyone happy.

I can agree with that. I like the forest gnomes as my favourite version of gnomes, even though I'm a dragonlance fan. I know other people like the other 17 concepts of gnomes. Some like them as tinkers, some like them as whisper gnome assassins, some would like them to be druids, some would like them to wrinkled little trolls.

For all the talk about races being too similar, you can also have the opposite. I'm kicking out dragonborn and tieflings because they are too monstrous the vibe of the civilized races of my campaign world. Dragons are for slaying not for playing. It's a prejudice I'm comfortable with.

 

[ferratus]

Too damn thin... too damn thin!! They look like a simplified Fey Halfling... not the usual Gnome look we're used to.

Yeah, the thinness and the grizzledness is not what I like either. They need to be a little plumper, a little rosier, and a little more mischievous. That's what they said in the "The Gnome, the Bad and the Ugly" article right? Gnomes are cute, gnomes are funny, and sometimes that's okay.

But I like the 2e forest gnome, rather than the 3e gnome.

 

[Gallo22]

They look exactly like elves! More watering down of D&D in 4th edition. I'm so glad I did not bite!

 

[Barastrondo]

As a guy who likes D and D to stay rather close to the literarical and mytholgical sources that preceded it, I do not like what I see. To me D and D Races should resemble the character that inspired them with room for your own imagination. Why does every Race nowadays tend to look like a bodybuilder corporation?

Me, I would have liked to see Paracelsus-style gnomes for a change. Nuts to this whole "mortal race" thing: give me a gnome that hangs with the the undine, salamander and sylph!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Me, I would have liked to see Paracelsus-style gnomes for a change. Nuts to this whole "mortal race" thing: give me a gnome that hangs with the the undine, salamander and sylph!

This would have been a great way to have started off in the OD&D era, that's for sure. (It's sort of weird that undines are such an afterthought in all D&D eras, too.)

 

[Klaus]

So, let me ask:

How do pixies, sylphs, brownies, sprites, and other such faeries differ from elves aside from size and (obviously) wings?

You play around with body proportions, eye scale, ear length, skin tone, etc.

For instance, look at the various races of fey in Van Richten's Guide to the Shadow Fey:

The Shee are the most "elven", and high elven at that. Very human proportions, but graceful and poised. Also, very pale.

The Alven are diminutive, with large eyes, green skin, orange hair and pettite, "fairy" bodies.

The powrie, or redcaps, have a distorted face, large predatory eyes, a sharp toothy grin and a thin but muscular body.

The portune have all-black eyes, sage-like faces, slim bodies and a large-ish head.

 

[Scribble]

I think that people miss the point in a lot of ways...

I don't think the pictures are indicating that ALL gnomes are chisled and thin... Just adventurer types tend to be. For the same reason the human picture isn't a fatass shmuck.

These are people/things that wander off the beaten path into places of danger. When's the last time you saw an out of shape activly serving military guy?