Dragon 372 - Design & Development: The Gnome, the Bad, and The Ugly

[Nahat Anoj]

In my game I've done that with half-elves. They're called 'half-elves' colloquially, but really they're half (or just part) fey.

I don't think this is a bad idea at all. The combination of fey blood and human blood is what makes a half-elf, not necessarily elf ancestry. I wonder if it would be too imbalancing to let half-elves also get access to all fey racial feats (eladrin, gnome, etc.) ...

I really liked what Mouseforatu did with the half-orcs in the Advanced Player's Guide. They descended from neanderthal/proto-human and orc interbreeding. So they're a true breeding race with old ancestry.

Before 4e came out, my hope was that orcs would be a race bred from proto-human stock by a demon prince. I guess I can use that backstory with half-orcs - the demon lord bred orcs and humans to create a race that combined the destructive, corruptive tendencies of both, but his efforts were too good and created a race of its own. I think the demon lord route is best for me to go with, because it gives a story that players can work with right away. It also gives us a demonic themed race to go along with the tielfings, who are devil-themed.

I know, I know, demons are all about destruction and not creation. But a wise demon prince would know that if he creates a lot of minions, the potential for destruction is much greater ...

I'm glad gnomes are back.

Me too! I might actually play another gnome this time. I think 4e will give us the best version of the gnome yet. I liked how they said they embraced the absurdity of gnomes rather than try to play it down.

 

[TheWyrd]

My only dissapointment here is that I actually LIKE a (toned down) tinker aspect to my gnomes. I also like them coming from the north and working for a guy who wears a red outfit.

But seriously.. I like the steampunk gnome rogue with pockets full of tools for disabling traps and goggles. Darn it all.

 

[Stoat]

My only dissapointment here is that I actually LIKE a (toned down) tinker aspect to my gnomes. I also like them coming from the north and working for a guy who wears a red outfit.

But seriously.. I like the steampunk gnome rogue with pockets full of tools for disabling traps and goggles. Darn it all.

Yeah, me too. I don't like full-on weird Dragonlance-style tinkers, but I do like eccentric clockwork makers who ride airships and protect themselves with golems. I hold out hope that I can use the artificer when it comes out to add a little tinker to the gnome.

 

[the Jester]

I love gnomes, and I love the "rabbit" treatment of them. I saw a post on ENWorld about it some time back, and it was totally inspiring.

But I also like the eccentric tinkerer clockwork/steampunk gnomes. I will doubtless keep them in my campaign- though the Dragonlance tinker gnome is just too ridiculous for my tastes. Moderation, mang.

 

[Rel]

Interesting read. I hadn't given a bunch of thought up to this point about how I'd fit Gnomes into my homebrew world but the mention of the "rabbit" thing and their connection to the Feywild sparks an idea...

(I'm sblocking this so my players don't read it. Hear that players?)

[sblock]My campaign world has undergone a terrible cataclysm around 500 years ago and it killed most of the population as well as rendered most of the world uninhabitable. Some of the Elves fled into the Feywild rather than hang around for the post-apocalypse. These became the Eladrin. Now the Eladrin have returned.

So what I'm thinking is that Eladrin breed very slowly. This is fine but makes fulfilling some of their grand designs (and they are grand designers) difficult because they lack manpower. So they turn to the Gnomes who are numerous and industrious. But perhaps a bit TOO numerous. Gnomes breed like rabbits. In fact they breed so often, almost always bearing multiple children at once and reach sexual maturity at such an early age that they have nearly overrun the Feywild. I'm drawing a bit of inspiration from the Moties of Niven's Mote in God's Eye.

Perhaps things weren't always like this but the Eladrin tinkered with Gnome reproduction using magic when they needed the extra help to carve out a home in the Feywild upon fleeing there 500 years ago. And perhaps the reason they have come back now is that the Gnomes have put such pressure on the Feywild with their sheer numbers that the Eladrin are considering abandoning THAT plane.

Hmm...I'll have to ponder this a bit further and see if I want to stick with it.[/sblock]

 

[Holy Smokes]

The important questions still havent been asked.

Can a PC Gnome have minions and a lair?

These things are exclusive prerogatives of MONSTARS!

 

[Verys Arkon]

I loved the behind-the-scenes look at the back and forth between designers and developers. It is what I thought D&D Insider would be like. (For a comparison, see Bill's DDI News articles - very sad).


Anway, looking forward to the Gnome Bard and Half-Orc Barbarian archtypes being fully supported again. Good things come to those with patience.

 

[garyh]

Interesting article, being that I'm a big half-orc fan. I like the multiple options for half-orc origins presented. This, though...

The idea that humans, no matter how savage, would "get along" with orcs in "that way" is a huge stretch.

...immediately made me think...

The idea that elves, no matter how savage, would "get along" with humans in "that way" is a huge stretch.

...and yet that's never been a problem in D&D.

 

[Sir Brennen]

These things are exclusive prerogatives of MONSTARS!

Rahrr!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Interesting article, being that I'm a big half-orc fan. I like the multiple options for half-orc origins presented. This, though...

The idea that humans, no matter how savage, would "get along" with orcs in "that way" is a huge stretch.

...immediately made me think...

The idea that elves, no matter how savage, would "get along" with humans in "that way" is a huge stretch.

...and yet that's never been a problem in D&D.

Because it is not the "savage" that get along. It are the ones that are educated and curious that get along. The human woman with the beautiful voice, the smart elven wizard whose eyes have seen so many things of wonder and horror that he desires to share with someone, the man that would compliment the elven woman at every opportunity so she felt more graceful then she was ever treated by an elven man. These guys that don't meat on the battlefield, but in taverns, in peaceful meetings, or on travels through a dangerous wilderness, these guys have something in common.

But the savage tribes that are competing about animals and land? They don't meet peacefully to talk about how working together makes everything better. Because it doesn't. They are savage, incapable or unwilling to create civilize the land, grow lifestock or work with agriculture. They are competitors, and they don't compete about who sings the best songs, they compete about who gets to get food the next winter.