D&D 3.x Gnome Poll

[Fenris-77]

Indeed! What does he transmute gnomes into?

Paladins, sadly. He has the death sentence in twelve systems at this point.

 

[Hoffmand]

My favorite gnome PC ever was played by a guy in the late 90s. He was a swashbuckler that spoke with a French accent. He was hilarious.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I have houseruled them out deliberately in the past, but stopped doing that soon enough when I DID realize I didn't need to - because nobody was ever interested in them.

 

[DammitVictor]

Shroompunk? Um, please tell me more

Shroompunk is my own questionably original gonzo D&D setting-- I got the idea from RPGnet a couple of forevers ago-- based on combining the intimacy and the urgency of sword & sorcery with the epic weirdness of 80s cartoons and videogames. The original idea was "what if Conan the Barbarian, but it's Super Mario Bros?" but it's expanded to include Masters of the Universe and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and Golden Axe and the Gauntlet series and the early Final Fantasy series.

It's set across multiple Worlds, connected by a network of extradimensional tunnels, that all run on a sort of fairy tale/video game logic... most Worlds are dangerous, ruled by tyrants and overrun with vicious flora and fauna. Psychic powers are common in Shroompunk, and universal amongst PCs and the same with martial arts-- academics argue viciously over where the line between them is drawn, or even if such a line should be drawn.

I'm designing it as a D&D clone to go with some of my other settings-- and for use as a generic D&D clone-- and I've got a novel in the works. PM me if you have more questions or want me to start a new thread.

 

[jmartkdr2]

While I'd certainly allow players to play as gnomes - I find that gnomes and halflings aren't well differentiated. There doesn't seem to be two distinct niches form them to fill, which is probably why a lot of the non-core subraces in 3.5 seem to be assigned randomly between the two. The writers couldn't remember which had which fluff.

Therefore, in my homebrew settings, they're one race. They call themselves gnomes; other call them halflings. Players can use either set of mechanics, depending on which fits their character concept better.

 

[DammitVictor]

While I'd certainly allow players to play as gnomes - I find that gnomes and halflings aren't well differentiated. There doesn't seem to be two distinct niches form them to fill, which is probably why a lot of the non-core subraces in 3.5 seem to be assigned randomly between the two.

In AD&D, when Dwarves and Elves got their own splatbooks, Gnomes and Halflings had to share.

Frankly, I don't think most races in D&D have been differentiated much at all since AD&D separated race and class. One of my major design goals, when houseruling either AD&D or PF1 is to address this lack of differentiation-- in AD&D I do this by giving each race its own unique set of class/multiclass options, and in PF1 I do this by giving each race scaling level abilities similar to racial FCBs.

Therefore, in my homebrew settings, they're one race. They call themselves gnomes; other call them halflings. Players can use either set of mechanics, depending on which fits their character concept better.

I don't strictly combine them, but I do tend to... muck about. Gnomes in Galactic Dragons are basically Eberron Gnomes crossed with Fraal, but are fearless and vaguely sinister like Athasian Halflings, while in Shroompunk, Gnome and Halfling traits are added to Dromites and my unnamed mouseling race, respectively.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

What is less precious than essence/earthly slag of gnome?

A halfling?

 

[The Crimson Binome]

It isn't a house rule for gnomes to not exist within a particular setting, any more than it's a house rule for beholders to not exist within a particular dungeon.

I've never created a setting where adding gnomes would have been an improvement.

 

[atanakar]

My second AD&D character was a Gnome Thief-Illusionist. Loved it. I never banned them except in my last 5e campaign in which I banned all races except humans.

 

[DammitVictor]

One of my earliest characters was a Gnome FIT.