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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Do you think they'd take him serious?
- Thread starter Moe Ronalds
- Start date
Moe Ronalds
First Post
actually I WAS thinking about undead kids but I figured they'd be their tortured and anguished souls rather than their undead bodies
Gargoyle
Adventurer
Raethora, my current campaign world, is mostly ocean with a few archipeligos here and there, and one big land mass that the party will probably never get to. It's got some interesting "Waterworld" elements like halfling cities made of boats lashed together, but is mostly lots of "lost world" islands.
One of the traits of the setting is that the gnomish gods were slain, and the bitter gnomes have turned to worshipping various gods of evil, and have become the most feared pirates.
The players chuckled at the first mention of gnome pirates, but have gradually become more concerned as they hear more and more about them. I think they stopped laughting about it when they realized that the powerful magistrates of a city they recently entered feared the gnomes enough to pay regular and heavy tribute. They haven't seen any gnomish pirates yet, and won't for several sessions. I've decided to keep them mysterious for a while and build up some fear. The only thing players fear is the unknown.
When they do meet them, I'll make sure that the little buggers are mean as hell.
One of the traits of the setting is that the gnomish gods were slain, and the bitter gnomes have turned to worshipping various gods of evil, and have become the most feared pirates.
The players chuckled at the first mention of gnome pirates, but have gradually become more concerned as they hear more and more about them. I think they stopped laughting about it when they realized that the powerful magistrates of a city they recently entered feared the gnomes enough to pay regular and heavy tribute. They haven't seen any gnomish pirates yet, and won't for several sessions. I've decided to keep them mysterious for a while and build up some fear. The only thing players fear is the unknown.
When they do meet them, I'll make sure that the little buggers are mean as hell.
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Moe Ronalds said:
It depends on the context. By changing some of the wording in your original statement, it doesn't seem quite so humorous.
I find that encounters like this help shake things up a bit. The pacifist orc. The money grubbing elf. The lazy dwarf. These things change the races from only being standards to individuals.
psychognome
First Post
I just got a weird idea for an evil gnome...
Once upon a time there was a young gnome bard with a knack for light-hearted comedy and pranks. He traveled the world with a group of adventurers on a somber quest, always doing his best to lighten up the tense mood. His life as an adventurer was looking good... until his group was captured and tortured to death by a vile evil wizard.
The said wizard was rather amused by the gnome, and let him live. He dressed the gnome up in a jester's outfit, and kept him around just for his amusement. He even cursed the gnome's outfit so that it would dispel his magical abilities and made the gnome unable to remove it. But what the wizard forgot was that the gnome could still use spells from magic items, and one time when the wizard was unaware of the gnome sneaking around, the gnome grabbed a scroll of feeblemind from the wizard's desk, and cast it on the unsuspecting wizard. Immediately the wizard's mental capacities were completely dulled, and the gnome used a bunch of the wizard's scrolls to remove the jester's outfit, and force the wizard into wearing it.
Seeing the slow and painful death of his friends at the wizard's mercy and having endured months of servitude, the gnome had been completely changed from the merry, happy-go-lucky person he'd used to be. He now lives in the wizard's castle, with the wizards under his control and kept around for the entertainment value. He is happy to welcome aspiring adventurers into his humble abode, which is equipped with illusion- and sound-based traps. And if they were to survive the traps, he would gladly reward them with a fate akin to that of the wizard's.
How's that for an NPC?
Once upon a time there was a young gnome bard with a knack for light-hearted comedy and pranks. He traveled the world with a group of adventurers on a somber quest, always doing his best to lighten up the tense mood. His life as an adventurer was looking good... until his group was captured and tortured to death by a vile evil wizard.
The said wizard was rather amused by the gnome, and let him live. He dressed the gnome up in a jester's outfit, and kept him around just for his amusement. He even cursed the gnome's outfit so that it would dispel his magical abilities and made the gnome unable to remove it. But what the wizard forgot was that the gnome could still use spells from magic items, and one time when the wizard was unaware of the gnome sneaking around, the gnome grabbed a scroll of feeblemind from the wizard's desk, and cast it on the unsuspecting wizard. Immediately the wizard's mental capacities were completely dulled, and the gnome used a bunch of the wizard's scrolls to remove the jester's outfit, and force the wizard into wearing it.
Seeing the slow and painful death of his friends at the wizard's mercy and having endured months of servitude, the gnome had been completely changed from the merry, happy-go-lucky person he'd used to be. He now lives in the wizard's castle, with the wizards under his control and kept around for the entertainment value. He is happy to welcome aspiring adventurers into his humble abode, which is equipped with illusion- and sound-based traps. And if they were to survive the traps, he would gladly reward them with a fate akin to that of the wizard's.
How's that for an NPC?
Altamont Ravenard
Explorer
What's with resurrecting threads these days
We have a Gnome Wizard (maybe invoker) as a recurring villain in one of our games. God we hate him. In fact we hate all stinkin' wizards that teleport out after nailing us with 3-4 fireballs.
As for Gnome Necromancers, I'll be playing one soon (following the demise of most of the party to the hands (or claws / teeth / tentacles) of some randomly encountered Displacer beasts). His name is Oguilbon. He never really fitted with the other Gnomes. All they did was play pranks on each other. Oguilbon was a much more serious character. He left the Gnomish regions to find other people with characters more to his liking. When he came to the big city, he took up a Mortician's Apprenticeship, a job that fit him perfectly. Oguilbon was never really comfortable when he was alone, but was even less comfortable when he was around other people. He also disliked most animals. Being around dead bodies was somewhat soothing and recomforting, and thus he also took up the arts of Necromancy. To confirm his schism with traditional Gnomish culture, he chose Illusion as his opposed school.
While he still maintains a Mortician's office in the city, he adventures mainly to learn, and perhaps find some similarly-minded people.
AR
We have a Gnome Wizard (maybe invoker) as a recurring villain in one of our games. God we hate him. In fact we hate all stinkin' wizards that teleport out after nailing us with 3-4 fireballs.
As for Gnome Necromancers, I'll be playing one soon (following the demise of most of the party to the hands (or claws / teeth / tentacles) of some randomly encountered Displacer beasts). His name is Oguilbon. He never really fitted with the other Gnomes. All they did was play pranks on each other. Oguilbon was a much more serious character. He left the Gnomish regions to find other people with characters more to his liking. When he came to the big city, he took up a Mortician's Apprenticeship, a job that fit him perfectly. Oguilbon was never really comfortable when he was alone, but was even less comfortable when he was around other people. He also disliked most animals. Being around dead bodies was somewhat soothing and recomforting, and thus he also took up the arts of Necromancy. To confirm his schism with traditional Gnomish culture, he chose Illusion as his opposed school.
While he still maintains a Mortician's office in the city, he adventures mainly to learn, and perhaps find some similarly-minded people.
AR
Grazzt
Demon Lord
Moe Ronalds said:
Have the little guy light one of the PCs up with a spell or something....maybe not enough to kill the PC, but one that will do enough damage (or ability damage or whatever) to get their attention.
EDIT: Good lord. I just realized the date this thread was originally started. Someone get bored at work the other day and start bumping old threads or what?
Last edited:
Lord Pendragon
First Post
A gnome can definitely be frightening, either visually or situationally. Others have already give you great ideas for how to create a visually frightening gnome, so I won't rehash it.
But a gnome can also be frightening exactly because he doesn't look intimidating. If you set the stage by introducing atrocities he's commited, horrors he's unleashed, then the gnome can become frightening because, underneath that cherubic smile and unassuming frame, the PCs will know what kind of monster he truly is.
For those who watched Buffy, who was more frightening, the Master...or the Mayor?
But a gnome can also be frightening exactly because he doesn't look intimidating. If you set the stage by introducing atrocities he's commited, horrors he's unleashed, then the gnome can become frightening because, underneath that cherubic smile and unassuming frame, the PCs will know what kind of monster he truly is.
For those who watched Buffy, who was more frightening, the Master...or the Mayor?
