[3.5 Revision Spotlight] The Gnome

[Stalker0]

Hmm, a bardic gnome eh?

Forget Gimble, David the Gnome is in the house!!

 

[mooby]

All my gnomes have been members of the Circus

1. Gnomes have illusion spells = Special FX
2. Gnomes can 'talk' to animals = Giant Hamster trainers
3. Gnomes (should have) Wis bonus +2 (not Con)
4. The size bonuses to dodge etc should also include a bonus to tumbling

Bard makes perfect sense (although I would have preferred Druid)
[/B]

You totally lost me there. Why should a Gnome have a WIS bonus? In 1e & 2e, they even had a WIS negative.

 

[JoeBlank]

So much for Gnomes: Masters of Illusion.

Doing away with sacred cows is fine, but it should at least be consistent. Gnomes can all cast some illusion cantrips; they have racial bonuses to saves against illusion -- frankly it makes sense for their favored class to be illusionist. If all those things were enchantment-based, it would be more consistent with bard.

Agreed. Gnomes have always been illusion-slanted, and in a sense were the first to have anything like a favored class. Still, if the Bard spell list adds enough illusions I can see this working.

And now my gnome sorcerer in Olgar's campaign has the option of taking a level of Bard. Something to think about.

Aside to Olgar: If Sully sees any action Sunday be sure to give him the +1 DC to saves v. his Color Spray.

(Yes, I'm posting from vacation, just checking in while the kids nap, then it is back to the beach.)

 

[Zaruthustran]

I think it's pretty cool. Perhaps as Enceladus suggested, someone thought that gnomes were overly specialized as illusionists. ("I'm not going to play an illusionist, so why would I take a gnome?")

A buddy of mine is playing a sorceror that focuses on Illusion spells. Why didn't he play a Wizard Illusionist? Because he wanted to play a character with a high charisma. And he wanted to be able to cast spells on the fly.

Clearly, the change of favored class to Bard will make this player very happy.

-z, also glad WotC changed the favored class to Bard

 

[Tonguez]

You totally lost me there. Why should a Gnome have a WIS bonus? In 1e & 2e, they even had a WIS negative.

Because Wis = Intuition, Awareness and Perception

Gnomes imho are observers of the world of bignobs, they notice the little things and discover secrets which the bignobs miss (ie as a race they have natural inclination towards Bardic Knowledge). They have an affinity, an 'awareness' for the world around them (hence their ability to detect illusions). Gnomes also don't worry too much about things, they are intuitive doing what seems right at the time rather than getting stressed out or intellectualising everything (hence the notion that they are frivolous)

Again I would have liked Druid but Bard fits in my mind too...

 

[Nightstorm]

Wow! now maybe someone will play a gnome. As for the pic, while I cringe at the name, at least it looks like a gnome. Unlike the pic in the first 3rd ed. NOW my question is what did they do to the half elf? Most likely nothing which is very sad.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

OTOH, perhaps this finally puts the nail into the "tinker-gnome" coffin. Gnomes are namby-pamby right-brainers, now, no engineering for them: it's right there in the player's handbook.

I don't mind a race with FC:Bard; I'm just not sure gnomes are it. Half-elves would work as itinerant wanderers, though that would weaken an already weak race.

Maybe elves. Native magic, like singing, dancing, poetry, prancing & nancing about ... yep, them's Bards, I say!

 

[JPL]

I don't think the word gnome has anything to do with gnosis. It comes from gnoma, which was basically an earth spirit/fey style of creature (can't remember if it was greek or roman in origin). The other ones were sylpha for air (slyphs), undines for water, and salambes for flame (salamanders).

"The word gnome comes from the Greek word "gnosis" meaning knowledge. This was applied to them because it was said that they knew the exact location of precious metals."

Thanks, Google.

 

[Conaill]

They couldn't just say "Bard or Illusionist", nooo....

So much for their "don't change it if you don't have to" philosophy for 3.5.

 

[JPL]

But they did say "Let there be Rule Zero."

This discussion sort of underscores the idea that gnomes have been defined in two rather contradictory roles: as fae-like tricksters, and as tinkerers/inventors.

I like both ideas, but I have always had a hard time reconciling the two. This new rule seems to swing the pendulum toward the fairy-folk interpretation.

Gnomes still make the best illusionists: it's just less likely now that a gnome would decide later in life to study illusion magic, and it's less likely that an experienced illusionist would set aside his studies and pick up a second field.

I have an easier time imagining someone picking up bard as a second class, anyway. You adventure for a while, and you learn a little about everything --- how to fight, how to steal, how magic works. You have a chance to pick up adventurer's lore and half-remembered tales.

A level of bard gives you a character who's picked up a diverse bag of tricks to supplement his primary talent...and maybe he's just spent enough time in taverns that he's learned some drinking songs?