Gnomes! (HUH) What are they good for? Absolutely nothing!

[tuxgeo]

OK, you all ready to hear my crazy theory about gnomes? Of course you are. Here it is: gnomes aren't really a race. Gnomes are two sub-races.

The first gnomes are a sub-race of dwarves with an emphasis on mechanical prowess and tinkering. They still live underground but beards are optional. Call them 'tinker dwarves'.

The second gnomish sub-race are actually a sub-race of elves. They're mischievous and their small size means they prefer evasive tactics to direct combat. They live in the forest near their larger kin. They're 'little elves'.

There you go. Two separate sub-races... although perhaps they share a common gegnome.

Two sub-races? How about three or four or five or six?

We already have the "glammer-gnomes" (illusionists) and "tinker-gnomes" (artificers). In addition, weren't there some "whisper-gnomes" at one point? (And even "deeper-gnomes" in the form of the svirfneblin?)

And what about the "flatter-gnomes," who specialize in flattery, and who tend to become bards? What about them, eh?
(Alright, I made up those guys. . . .)

 

[Ryujin]

Two sub-races? How about three or four or five or six?

We already have the "glammer-gnomes" (illusionists) and "tinker-gnomes" (artificers). In addition, weren't there some "whisper-gnomes" at one point? (And even "deeper-gnomes" in the form of the svirfneblin?)

And what about the "flatter-gnomes," who specialize in flattery, and who tend to become bards? What about them, eh?
(Alright, I made up those guys. . . .)

Or perhaps you have a race of beings who are dilettantes, by nature. They like having hobbies. Some tinker with machines. Others tinker with magic. Still more like to learn and tell stories, sing, and/or play musical instruments. They are so gifted, or simply monomaniacal, that they tend to excel on the fields in which they 'dabble.'

One race. No sub species. And the result is an interesting society. For example the baker, down the street, happens to entertain on weekends by putting on illusionary 'puppet shows.'

 

[Herobizkit]

I hate gnomes with the passionate fire of a thousand suns.

But if I *HAD* to include them in a campaign, I would add them explicitly in a Feywild or Sylvan setting...

... and they would be Tiny instead of Small ...

And they would be Smurfs.

 

[delericho]

Gnomes are the tricksters, using illusion and enchantment to hide themselves, conceal their homes and mislead enemies.

This.

 

[exile]

Did any of you ever watch David the Gnome on Nickelodeon?

 

[DMZ2112]

I tend to think of the core D&D races and classes as elemental. Dwarves are a fire race and gnomes are an earth race. That has gone a long way toward differentiating them in my mind. I have more trouble with halflings, honestly, which is not to say I don't love halflings -- they are just very much a human subrace.

 

[Dungeoneer]

I tend to think of the core D&D races and classes as elemental. Dwarves are a fire race and gnomes are an earth race. That has gone a long way toward differentiating them in my mind. I have more trouble with halflings, honestly, which is not to say I don't love halflings -- they are just very much a human subrace.

Dwarves are fire?? Wha-?

 

[DMZ2112]

Dwarves are fire?? Wha-?

The forge? Magma? Molten metal? I'm not saying it's for everyone, just that gnomes don't have to be skinny dwarves if you don't want them to be.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

See also, Azer.

 

[steeldragons]

I hate to jump on the "trickster" bandwagon, but...*JUMP.*

They are not only this, of course. But it is the simplest way to generalize them...like 'Dwarves live in mountains and are smiths and miners. Elves live in forests and are archers and magicky folks. Halfings live in fields/rolling pastoral hills and fields...they are, if you will, cultivated nature and, more from their size than any prediliction to villainy, make natural rogues. So gnomes are the hills and woods that are not cultivated. See the traditional ability to speak to burrowing mammals or the "Gnomes" book depictions of them living with/in the woods and being friends/speaking to the animals thereof. "

They are no more niche or narrow than any other demihuman race. I have never seen or understood the attitude that are "redundant" or "skinny dwarves."