Gnome Art Preview

[Korgoth]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/artpreview

That's a gnome? He doesn't look anything like the gnome from the interview video. Looks more like an elf.

Wow, that's a kickazz-looking minotaur. I'm glad the days of minotaurs being big dudes with bull's heads ia finally over. I don't even know where that idea came from in the first place.

I mean, I know it's not a gnome because it's not a short guy with a beard. Which. Is. What. Gnomes. Are.

 

[Clavis]

And the era of short, plump gnomes has been over for a long time. Since Nebin appeared in the Player's Handbook, in fact.

If I say "Gnome" to the average person, they think a short, heavy-set little person with a big nose and a white beard. That's what Gnomes are, and that's what new players will expect them to be. If you want to create a fantasy race that doesn't look like that, don't call them Gnomes. Above all, Gnomes are not sexy magic girls - that's the Elves' thing. Gnomes are magical, but in the Yoda kind of way.

 

[I'm A Banana]

That's what Gnomes are, and that's what new players will expect them to be. If you want to create a fantasy race that doesn't look like that, don't call them Gnomes.

In a game with Emerald Frost and White Raven Onslaughts and Golden Wyvern Adepts and Fuscia Monkey Explosions, I don't think "make it recognizable to other people" was exactly a Tier 1 design goal...

 

[hong]

Wow, that's a kickazz-looking minotaur. I'm glad the days of minotaurs being big dudes with bull's heads ia finally over. I don't even know where that idea came from in the first place.

I mean, I know it's not a gnome because it's not a short guy with a beard. Which. Is. What. Gnomes. Are.

Regdar is a gnome?

 

[DandD]

Mialee for sure was.

 

[MaelStorm]

The pointed ears and the face is ok, plus the nature/feywild link is cool. But the body looks too effeminate/transgender. On a lesser note, I think the hairstyle is a little bit too much to my taste.

 

[ImperialParadox]

If I saw the WoTC gnome art without a caption I would assume it was some kind of elf.

I don't like the WoTC alien-fey cartoon character as a gnome either (though I would love it as a new type of fey, just not a gnome).

The Pathfinder gnome is closer in the right direction to me, though I can see that as being easily mistaken for a halfling. Though I suppose if all gnomes had nature-colored hair and greenish tinged skin I could see that is becoming a readily identifiable marker for a gnome, as opposed to a halfling, who would look more 'normal'. If I had to pick which of the three images would represent the new gnome, the Pathfinder one would be it for me.

Though honestly in my mind I still picture gnomes as your short, plump, bearded folk in funny clothes and big noses, sometimes with a scholarly or tinker motif. An image that I suppose isn't 'cool' enough anymore, but the image that springs to my mind nonetheless.

 

[tsadkiel]

Regdar is a gnome?

So am I, apparently. Rawr, I'm a monster!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

In a game with Emerald Frost and White Raven Onslaughts and Golden Wyvern Adepts and Fuscia Monkey Explosions, I don't think "make it recognizable to other people" was exactly a Tier 1 design goal...

Ah, that's just hyperbole. Something as ridiculous as Golden Wyvern Adapts would never get into the actual Core Rules, would it?

 

[Zamkaizer]

If I say "Gnome" to the average person, they think a short, heavy-set little person with a big nose and a white beard. That's what Gnomes are, and that's what new players will expect them to be. If you want to create a fantasy race that doesn't look like that, don't call them Gnomes. Above all, Gnomes are not sexy magic girls - that's the Elves' thing. Gnomes are magical, but in the Yoda kind of way.

If I say "elf" and "dwarf" to the average person, they think of toy-makers and midgets. That's what elves and dwarves are, and that's what new players will expect them to be. If you want to create a fantasy race that doesn't look like that, don't call them elves or dwarves.

And excuse me for being dense, but I'm not familiar with the magical girl show featuring Sailor Sickle-Wielding Savage Clad In Leather Armor With A Battle-Scarred Panther Companion. I'm more of a seinan kind of guy, so that territory is largely unknown to me.