Gnomes and their role in your game

[Nellisir]

Gnomes IMC are the keepers of secrets, the delvers after hidden lore...a racial obsession that has corrupted many of them. They have secondary aspects of craftsmen & tricksters, but the secrets are what most people associate with them.

Gnomes are one of the four True races -- dragons, full of magic and fire, were created from the blood of a fallen god; giants, strong and tough, were created from his bones; humans, plentiful and adaptable, were created from his flesh; and gnomes, hidden and secretive, were created from his inner organs.

Cheers
Nell.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

There are no such things as Gnomes IMC; there are rumours regarding the existence of elves; dwarves exist (my players have met some); ‘goblins’ and ‘trolls’ also exist. As far as my players know, nothing else (except of course Sea Serpents, though they’ve never seen one, they’ve spoken to a few drunken sailors who have).

GOM

 

[XanthorDrathos]

In my setting gnomes are the middleman traders between the elves and the humans. They are big into commerce between races as well as very effective in knowledge exchange and learning of other cultures. I still use but don't emphasize the tinker/mad scientist approach and I've kept the favored class of illusionist as well as the bard for them.

 

[Afrodyte]

In my house ruled non-human races, gnomes and dwarves are pretty much the same race, yet two sides of the same coin. Gnomes are the spirits of innovation and genius, but dwarves focus more on diligence and patience. I only made separate write-ups for them because these two are different enough to warrant it. However, although there is room for the PHB variety of gnomes, it is by no means the default. Actually, I took great pains to go beyond the surface and really get into what it means to play a gnome, and I settled for "genius incarnate" or something like that. Everything else, from their crafts to their arcane abilities to practical jokes, flowed very easily from there.

(Halflings, though, are not a race in my homebrew because I didn't want to mimic Tolkien. So, they are a variety of human with a different attribute distribution: dump stat would be Strength, and highest stat likely Dexterity.)

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Gnomes in my campaign world are half-fey, half-dwarf. As a result they have an odd mix of affinities for magic and technology. They're not mad scientists - gnomes build very reliable contraptions. They often create amazing things, but aren't always teh best at "bringing them to market" so to speak.

They are the inventors of smokepowder. They are excellent alchemists and arcanists. They're not all nice, and they're not all helpful.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

I've always had the gnomes as the craftsmen, the settled common folk, the traders of fey-kind. The kinds of folk you could go to for pixie dust, or hire one to guide you through the forest packed with cruel and capricious fey...if they like you, and that generally means having a good sense of humor and a good heart. Of course, they despise goblins, hobgoblins, and kobolds the most, but it seems the worst feuds are always between relatives...

 

[Gargoyle]

I never liked traditional D&D gnomes or the Krynn variety of tinker gnomes. They just seem to blend in. So in my last campaign I made a simple, but effective change:

I made the vast majority of gnomes evil.

Try it, you'll love it.

 

[Ibram]

For a long time Gnomes only existed IMC to let me use my "Gnome voice" on occasion. Several weeks ago as I was working on a campaing map their homeland suddenly materalized. Now that they actualy have a place in my world I've gone back and given them a story:

IMC:
Gnomes are another offshoot of the race that gave rise to the Dwarven Races. They are an isolated race, native to the northern end of the Aqulian Mountains which separate the Heartlands from the Inland Sea. Despite their isolation they have no fear of outsiders, and often trade with humans and dwarves. Though they are known as master Alchemists and Artificers most of the population is made up of herders and farmers. It is believed that Gnomes were the first to create black powder weapons, needing something to battle against the Orcs living in the Shadowed Forest.

 

[JonnyReb]

IMC, Similar to some above, my gnomes are a bridge race between dwarves & elves: <from my Players Guide>

On Aramosa, gnomes are a linking race between Elves and Dwarves. That is, each of these races considers themselves (at least partly) related to gnomes. Both would be correct, as gnomes are a woodland Faerie off-shoot (relating them to Elves) with a close association to the Earth (relating them to Dwarves). They are more common then Elves and less common then Dwarves, and are generally greeted well by non-gnomes.
The gnomes of Aramosa have a much stronger tie to Nature then in other campaigns, and (although gnomes retain their Illusionary racial traits) their preferred class is Druid, as they consider themselves to be Nature’s Wardens. They work in close association with Rangers, although few gnomes have the physical prowess to assume the Ranger’s mantle, preferring to use wit, guile, and subterfuge in lieu of force to defend their ecological charges .

I considered using a more traditional gnome (like David the Gnome) but really, how much use is a tiny PC? ( without wings - sorry Monte )

 

[Nifft]

IMC, the Tiny-sized Gnomes are the smallest of type Humanoid (Fey) -- the other two of that type are Halflings and Elves. (Their evil, evil-tainted-fey equivalents are the Goblin, Hobgoblin and Bugbear, respectively.)

IMC, Gnomes tend to be family-oriented researchers -- they take their spouse & kids (&some uncles & aunts &cet., &cet.) off into the wilds somewhere to reasearch some new magic spell, or natural phenomenon, or ancient temple ruin.

They are naturally Bardic. Thier secondary classes are Druid and Wizard. The few Clerics tend to be female, and tend to revere the NG Earth goddess or the CG Air goddess.

-- N