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Message: <blockquote data-quote="johnsemlak" data-source="post: 886636" data-attributes="member: 7233">OK,Here's a very brief first glance summary.  I may use this as a basis for a review later on, but I haven't read the whole thing carefully yet.The PDF has 8 chapters, plus there's one appendix ( glossary of Gnomish words)The eight chapters are: Background, Hill Gnomes, Mountain Gnomes, Imperial Gnomes, Developing a Gnome, Equipment, Prestige Classes, and Spells&Magic ItemsThe first four chapters (up to page 38) contain virtually no 'crunch' and are all flavor text.  A lot of Gnomish vocabulary is introduced (I'd like to know how they came up with it all).  The crunch is all in the final 4 chapters, where, the in adition to PrCs, spells, magic items, and equipment are feats, a gnomish pantheon, Gnomish diseases, and Gnomish subraces.Chapter 1: BackgroundInfo on Gnomes and Alignments, Languages, Aging, and Culture.  Virtually no game mechanics, though the suggested lifespan for Gnomes is about 250 (as opposed the the PHB's 350-500 years) and they state that Gnomes are characteristically Lawfully-aligned, which may not fit everyone's idea of a Gnome.Chapters II-IV: Hill Gnomes, Mountain Gnomes, and Imperial Gnomes.These chapters deal with three types of Gnomes.  It is a little confusing because in chapter 5, three more subraces are given (along with game imformation like ability score modifiers, special abilities, favored class, etc.).  However, in these chapters, no game mechanics are given to describe Hill, Mountian, and Imperial Gnomes.  Extensive flavor text is given.  Each chapter has sections on the life cycle, death, the family, the clan, society, the class structure, arts, education, government, recreation, food and drink, clothing, etc.  The chapters are very thorough in dealing with each Gnome's culture.In general, Hill Gnomes (called Quarden) are standard Gnomes.  Mountain Gnomes (called Tirisden) are a hard working, less humorous, dwarf-like Gnome.  Imperial Gnomes (Daewan) are xenophobic and extremely elitist.  The artwork for Imperial Gnomes gives them a rather Oriental appearence.Chapter 5 Developing a Gnome:Thiis where the crunch begins.  It offers feats, a sample Gnome pantheon, Gnome views on classes (which covers all PHB classes, the NPC classes in the DMG, but neither of the Psionic classes), Gnome diseases, and three new Gnome subraces.The subraces are the Frightlocks, an offshot races that characteristically dabbles in necromancy, which is abhorred by other Gnomes; Oakcaps, a wilderness dwelling Gnome; and Toedirts, a race of impoverished and destitute Gnomes.  This section, unlike chapters 2-4, gives full game info for each subrace.Chapter 6:  EquipmentThis chapter offers new weapons and mundane equipment.  interestingly the weapons don't include any of the hammers or picks usually associated with Gnomes.  There's a Prong Sword, a Bola Staff, a Chub Trident, and an interesting 'Fan Staff'.  The equipment section has a lot of things but in particular there are sevaral oils, essences, herbs, etc.Chapter 7: Spells and Magic Items:This chapter can be divided into four parts.  The first includes general spells and magic items.  In particular there is a section on Gnomish magical bucklers.  The next three are devoted to the spells and items of three legendary Gnomish spell-uses: Bandycook, Dooblebip, and Emerithop (yes, those are the names).  The spells are mostly from the Illusion and Transmutation schools, but most of the other schools are represented.Chapter 8: Prestige ClassesThere are 8 PrCs.  Here they are:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Burrow Savage:  A non Lawful Gnome who rejects "civilized' Gnomish society and becomes an outcast, gaining some useful fighting abilities. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Earthbound Lord: a Gnome devoted to the earth and the lands underneath it; this Gnome gains powers connected to earth elementals </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Gnome Guardian: sort of an equivelent of the Dwarven Defender, a Gnomish fighter devoted todefending Gnome lands and gains some special abilites. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Gnome Naturist: Sort of a Gnomish take on a Druid. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Illusioneer: basically what it sounds like.  An illusionist who uses illusions to make traps. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Master of Gnomonics:  The name of this  class almost seems like a parody. It's a very academic Gnome devoted to learning obscure information.  This class supposedly perfects Gnomish mastery of memorization.  The class gains abilites related to memory, recall, and focusing the mind. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Stump Knight: another near-parody.  It's an fighting order devoted to protecting short people.  It gains abilites against talller opponents. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tiger Monk: A Gnomish take on the Monk</li> </ul>Other general observations:  There were illustrations on every page, though the artwork seemed rather simple to me.  Text editing and writing was generally good (though I haven't read all of it carefully).  The formatting is excellent.  Bookmarks are thorough, and the table of contents at the beginning is extremely thorough and has links to each chapter and section (including each feat and PrC).Hope that gives people an idea of what's in it.</blockquote>

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