Do you want gnomes in the first phb?

[w_earle_wheeler]

Gnome are a big part of D&D to me. I don't see any reason to remove them.

I am excited by the rules changes for 4e, but I am less than thrilled by the "fluff" changes. I don't mind the addition of Tieflings and so forth at all, but I'd like the original core race options to remain.

Otherwise, I have to houserule it (I am not paying $30 for a splatbook or $10 for an "official" online write-up simply to regain what previous editions included in the core), and the more I have to houserule, the less likely I am to buy the core books.

After all, if I'm houseruling lots of things, I'd be better off just printing out the 4e SRD and putting my changes in.

 

[TwinBahamut]

I like Eberron and its Gnomes, but other than that, I find them awfully hard to do anything with. They are just... clunky. Humans are humans, elves are old and live in forests, dwarves make stuff, halflings are short and nice, goblins are short and crazy, orcs are savage, ogres are big, giants are very big, trolls are ugly and regenerate, but gnomes don't have such an easily identifiable role. It makes them really hard to put into a homebrew, far harder to place than easily playable creatures like orcs, goblins, ogres, giants, or trolls (if you balance out regeneration).

Tinker gnomes are far worse than other gnomes. They are much more annoying, and their only purpose would be for them to be excluded by homebrews and various settings as bringing in "that annoying clockwork stuff I don't want in my setting". Besides, it pulls the spotlight away from dwarves as the "great makers of stuff", which they have been since Norse mythology.

Gnomes work better as fey, since far more than elves, they are associated with fairy-tales and magical spirits. I think they would work far better as a kind of earth-elemental fey prankster in the Monster Manual than as a playable race.

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

Gnomes work better as fey, since far more than elves, they are associated with fairy-tales and magical spirits.

I agree with this part, but I still think they can be a great playable race.

The problem may not be that gnomes can't find their niche, it's that the elves have been given more than their fair share of the "nature" niche. Elven racial abilities have never really reflected a race that is especially in tune with nature.

Elves are more suited (by their listed racial abilities) to be aristocratic duelers and scholarly wizards. Forest gnomes on the other hand excel at hiding in a natural environment and using it to their advantage.

 

[Li Shenron]

I'm not going to cry if gnomes are cut from the PHB (with Half-Orcs they are the least-used race in our games), but it's not that I am wishing for it to happen...

 

[Lurks-no-More]

As far as I'm concerned, gnomes should go. I've never seen anyone play a gnome in any campaign I've played in or run, nor remember a single noteworthy gnome NPC.

Their problem is, as others have said, the lack of a good niche, either mechanical or conceptual. The Eberron gnomes do look interesting, but otherwise, it's good riddance, gnomes.

 

[WhatGravitas]

I like... Eberron gnomes. Mafia and CIA gnomes are interesting. Tinker gnomes are a parody of the technological edge of dwarves. And jolly gnomes are lawn decoration, at least they have that vibe.

Either good riddance or make them more spiffy, more interesting and less "halfling-and-dwarf"-parody.

Cheers, LT.

 

[variant]

I think gnomes should take a nature fae background.

 

[Wormwood]

I think gnomes should take a nature fae background.

I agree with you on that point.

But I also believe they should be in the MM, not the PHB.

 

[Li Shenron]

Gnomes as feys of the forests,
gnomes as illusionist wizards,
gnomes as inventors/tinkerers,
gnomes as garden decorations...

As long as they are NOT "gnomes as bards", everything is ok for me!

 

[Klaus]

Gnomes as feys of the forests,
gnomes as illusionist wizards,
gnomes as inventors/tinkerers,
gnomes as garden decorations...

As long as they are NOT "gnomes as bards", everything is ok for me!

Druid for gnomish favored class!