Gnome haters? It's Lockwood's fault!

[frankthedm]

Considering this is nowhere where gnomes went with 3.0, so I'm kinda doubtful of that quote. And I'm kinda happy that they didn't go with that.

Are you ignoring Chainmail [2001]? That bugger was in the first wave they made for that game. And IMHO for all intents and purposes, he was the first Ebberon mini too!

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

The gnomes of Zilargo are kind, friendly people who love to tell tales and hear them told. All the streets are clean, and there's hardly any crime.

That's because the secret police are everywhere in Zilargo. And there are backstabbing, opportunistic spies in every Zil embassy across the continent. They're masters of illusion, have keen senses, and even rats and badgers are potential sources of information to them.

Be afraid of the gnomes. Be very, very afraid.

The person who hired the PCs in the first adventure of our Eberron online campaign was a gnome.

Do I really need to say anything more?

 

[Zander]

Gnomes have never had a niche, not even in 1st edtion AD&D. The only reason they were put in the game is because of a book about Gnomes created by Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet that was very popular at the time.

While I don't doubt that Huygen and Poortvliet's book and its follow-up, Secrets of the Gnomes, influenced D&D, it seems that D&D gnomes were modelled mostly on a character in Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson.

In keeping with that tradition and with the idea that gnomes are kindred of the fey, I'm with Turanil. Gnomes should be trickster nature-lovers and, as such, should have illusionist and druid as favoured classes, not bard.

In pre-3.0 versions, gnomes were the only small race that could use arcane magic and therefore filled a role within the game. With 3.0's dropping of the race/class restrictions, gnomes got squeezed out. 3.5's attempt to make them bards looks like an ad hoc attempt to find a race that suits the bard. But it doesn't work well because there isn't much literary/folkloric/mythological tradition of gnomes as bards.

 

[Klaus]

For an extended view on Eberron gnomes:

Gnomes of Zilargo, Part I: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20041129a
Gnomes of Zilargo, Part II: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20041206a

 

[Umbran]

Gnomes should be trickster nature-lovers and, as such, should have illusionist and druid as favoured classes, not bard.

Bards have illusion spells. Illusionists, however, have diddly for social skills. Any good trickster needs social skills. Look at the stories about Coyote or Anansi - they're always talking people into doing things. So, the bard probably makes a better trickster than an illusionist.

 

[diaglo]

i still prefer OD&D(1974) gnomes... surprise, surprise...

they were a race of dwarf that was rumored to dabble in magic.

 

[Zander]

Bards have illusion spells. Illusionists, however, have diddly for social skills. Any good trickster needs social skills. Look at the stories about Coyote or Anansi - they're always talking people into doing things. So, the bard probably makes a better trickster than an illusionist.

Perhaps but bard implies many other things such as musician, story-teller, keeper of lore and traveller that don't particularly belong to gnomes. The iconic bard in the 3.5 PHB is portrayed primarily as an entertainer, not a trickster.

I don't have my Dragon Compendium to hand but perhaps the jester, illusionist and druid should be favoured classes.

 

[Klaus]

Perhaps but bard implies many other things such as musician, story-teller, keeper of lore and traveller that don't particularly belong to gnomes. The iconic bard in the 3.5 PHB is portrayed primarily as an entertainer, not a trickster.

Musician? Only because the ability is called Bardic Music. It can be perfectly accomplished by Perform (oratory), Perform (stand-up comedy) or Perform (Whose Line Is It Anyway?). A gnome bard can Inspire Courage by telling 'yo momma' jokes about the enemy, bolstering his allies.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

The iconic bard in the 3.5 PHB is portrayed primarily as an entertainer, not a trickster.

And the iconic wizards are portrayed as stuffy academics.

 

[Zander]

Musician? Only because the ability is called Bardic Music. It can be perfectly accomplished by Perform (oratory), Perform (stand-up comedy) or Perform (Whose Line Is It Anyway?). A gnome bard can Inspire Courage by telling 'yo momma' jokes about the enemy, bolstering his allies.

Jester then? (see my edited previous post)