Gnome Favored Class: BARDS?!?

[RigaMortus2]

No, kender = halfling

Halflings aren't pastoral, homebound and folksy. Gnomes are.

I wasn't aware of a rule that required them to be.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

gnome, the weakest race? i thought they were the most powerfull, one step down from dwarves? At least a forest gnome is and they have no La and are in monster manual 1.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

Gnomes are definitely not the weakest race. They aren't great in toe-to-toe combat per se (although they can hold their own) but they are awesome spellcasters.

+Con for extra HP and Concentration bonus. Small for +1 to hit, +1 AC. Extra spell-like abilities. Higher DC spells. Bonus to Craft (Alchemy).

What do they lose for that? -Str and Small weapons. No self-respecting spellcaster is even going to notice. Lower speed. Maybe that hurts, but a bit of tactics reduces that problem, too.

Also, in the hands of a creative player, Prestidigitation, Dancing Lights, and Ghost Sound are huge. The distracting noise or sight, the change in appearance, color of clothing... and that's just for starters.

Gnomes are fine as bards. The only thing I feel bad about is that the Arcane Trickster is harder to achieve with gnomes now.

 

[TheNovaLord]

i think gnomes are very powerful race too, make excellent warmages i find

with 20+ core classes from WOTC books the whole concept opf favoured class has gone somewhat.
As folk have sort of mentioned an elf (in OD&D) for example was a fighter-wizard type so wizard no longer fits them. the 'halfling' could likely better be a scout, everybody should have favoured soul as a favoured class....they are picked they dont pick to be one.

JohnD

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I wasn't aware of a rule that required them to be.

I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about traditional flavor here.

 

[KarinsDad]

Gnomes are definitely not the weakest race. They aren't great in toe-to-toe combat per se (although they can hold their own) but they are awesome spellcasters.

+Con for extra HP and Concentration bonus. Small for +1 to hit, +1 AC. Extra spell-like abilities. Higher DC spells. Bonus to Craft (Alchemy).

What do they lose for that? -Str and Small weapons. No self-respecting spellcaster is even going to notice. Lower speed. Maybe that hurts, but a bit of tactics reduces that problem, too.

Also, in the hands of a creative player, Prestidigitation, Dancing Lights, and Ghost Sound are huge.

Huge? A few 0th level spells are white noise.

And, they really cannot hold their own in combat. They lose 2 points of damage (1 from Str and 1 from Weapon Size) compared to every core race except Halflings. They also have less mobility than most races.

While it is true that a Gnome can be a good Illusionist, they really are not awesome in any other spell casting class. Low Strength and Mobility makes them subpar to be a Cleric or Druid (until they can shapechange) because they are weak in melee. They make ok Wizards or Sorcerers, but not awesome ones. Giving up 10 speed for +1 DC for Illusion spells is a bad trade.

Race-wise for the lower mobility races, Dwarves and Halflings have better saving throws against spells. Halflings are better at AC, Ray and ranged touch spells. Dwarves have better vision and are harder to trip or bullrush. Defensively, many of the things you throw against spell casters, Dwarves and Halflings are typically better at.

Gnomes are not a terrible race, they are just not great at anything except Illusionist. All of the other races have multiple class nitches they can fill. Gnomes are mostly a single nitch race.

Gnomes are mostly stuck with being an Illusionist or an arcane caster who casts a lot of spells from the Illusionist school in order to take advantage of their strengths. Unfortunately, the Illusionist school is not known for being a powerhouse arcane school of magic. Even so, this makes Gnomes less versatile than other races. For most classes, there is always a better race choice than Gnome.

Also, mobility is a big thing in the game, especially at lower level. Halflings have the same problem, but they make as good or better spell casters than Gnomes plus they can also play pretty decent Rogues. Dwarves too have the same mobility problems, but they can play any combatant type or be nearly as good of a spell caster as a Gnome.

Finally, their Favored Class is a Bard. Bards are supposed to be able to melee a little bit (not a lot, but a little), but Gnomes are terrible at melee. It makes a weak class even weaker to make a Bard a Gnome.

All in all, the Gnome Bard concept is pretty screwy.

 

[Bront]

Actualy, reading a bit more on gnomes, I think that they should have been a bit more nature oriented (as they are close to fey, much like elves), and gone with druid or ranger as a favored class, with some benifits to match like a survival bonus or such. As is, I'm not a huge fan of the gnome because their flavor is a bit too limiting to high charisma flair characters.

 

[JoeBlank]

My first PC in 3d edition was a gnome bard. He died in a TPK at level 2.

My longest-played PC in 3.x was a gnome sorcerer. Made it to level 14 before the campaign ended.

As others have mentioned, small size and CON bonus works well for arcane casters. After a level or two, most sorcerers will not be using weapons. Until my gnome found a magic staff he carried no weapon from about level 6 to 10.

That created some problems when he got into some close combat and realized he did not even threaten in melee and therefore could not help his rogue friends flank.

 

[Felon]

You know what really makes people start to appreciate the half-elf? Playing up lighting.

Seriously - trying to be a sneaky scout/rogue type when you can't bloody well see is very painful. Either announce your presence with a bright light source or stumble around in the dark.

Well, low-light vision still requires light. I think it's surprising I don't see more dwarven rogues, really.

 

[Felon]

Gnomes are definitely not the weakest race. They aren't great in toe-to-toe combat per se (although they can hold their own) but they are awesome spellcasters.

+Con for extra HP and Concentration bonus. Small for +1 to hit, +1 AC. Extra spell-like abilities. Higher DC spells. Bonus to Craft (Alchemy).

True. Matter of fact, gnomes make much better wizards than elves do--as do halflings, dwarves, and of course, humans.

Discussions about favored classes are always puzzling to me. Some DM's talk about them like they possess some vital aesthetic value. All that debate over some pigeon-holing restriction that just serves to needlessly penalize character concepts that go against a designer-imposed stereotype.

I have a friend who's playing a half-orc monk. He really wanted to try on some wizard levels, but he realized he was in a campaign where favored classes are enforced unilaterally. Taking a 20% XP penalty is a show-stopper, mainly because it's not a penalty that's being traded in for any kind of benefit. It's purely punitive, and it's not clear what it's punishment for. An elven monk/wizard would be OK, but a half-orc one is somehow an abusive combination, even despite the half-orc's Int penalty?

Look, favored classes are just there to provide a guideline for nubs. For experienced gamers, I suggest applying the human's favored class rule to all races.