Gnomes in the MM!

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Actually, one of the primary issues with gnomes is their multiplicity of focus. Are they woodland fey, living underneath roots and speaking with burrowing animals? Slim dwarfs with big noses, a love of gems, a sense of humor and access to the illusionist class? Comedy relief pranksters with a fondness for the jester and bard classes? Mechanically talented tinkerers? Experimental alchemists? Shadowy manipulators with a love of intrigue?

Yes.

Humans manage that sort of range just fine.

 

[FourthBear]

Yes.

Humans manage that sort of range just fine.

Very true, but they also tend to have the blandest and least exciting racial packages, because any kind of focus tends to drift away from another potential focus. Are gnomes going to have 5 or 6 different racial write-ups, depending on what kind of gnome you'd like to play? As I noted before, I think this is what is going to happen. And no matter what write-up they include in the MM, it's going to exclude one of the many gnome concepts.

Frankly, many of the gnome focuses have other issues as well. Woodland Fey gnomes are always going to be second banana to Elves. Tinker Gnomes: don't we already have dwarves for the pseudo-industrial short race?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Frankly, many of the gnome focuses have other issues as well. Woodland Fey gnomes are always going to be second banana to Elves. Tinker Gnomes: don't we already have dwarves for the pseudo-industrial short race?

So, there's only room for one intelligent race in the forest? And only one short race that understands technology?

Because if that's the line in the sand you're drawing, future MM books are going to look pretty funny.

I think gnomes have a hook that works for most of their subraces, and the other cultural stuff can be swept in as secondary:

Gnomes are the equivalent of magical rabbits. They are smaller and weaker than almost everyone else (except for kobolds, whom they compete for living space with -- no one ever remembers that kobolds also live in dark forests per the RAW). EVERYONE can wipe them out if they want to, so gnomes, like rabbits, have learned to hide.

They're not illusionists because they're into Zen Buddhism, as Races of Stone tried to explain. They're illusionists because, if they're not, the local orc tribe will dig them all up and eat them during the next lunar eclipse.

And they're not illusionists in the cold, dry way that D&D magic is often portrayed. It permeates every aspect of their society. They learn tricks to hide their settlements, with secret doors and traps all over the place (albeit less cruel than the ones the kobolds use). They tell tall tales about the size of their settlements and nations, concealing the fact that the local king of the gnomes rules over four families living beneath a single meadow. They use false names and disguises when dealing with outsiders, to effectively increase their numbers. They lie and trick everyone they meet to see how easy they are to fool -- because they have to fool them to survive. Garl Glittergold isn't some Harlequin-style fool, he's El-ahrairah, the rabbit trickster hero from Watership Down. Some of them might even tell the world they're halflings because, you know, they're short and smart-alec and who really checks what race the short guy is?

They speak with animals because even the elves don't worry if a ground squirrel is watching them move through the forest, little realizing that the ground squirrel will pop into a gnome burrow for a treat later on, and tell the gnomes all about the band of elves marching single file through the woods.

They play with clockworks to bolster their numbers and master technology as an outgrowth in their trap-making expertise.

They trade in precious gems to buy the things they need to survive, and they call themselves "forest gnomes" who know nothing about mines and such when they're talking to races that figure a gnome burrow full of gems will be easy to rob.

There's one race of gnomes. They're just not foolish enough to show a single face to the world.

 

[Moorcrys]

Great stuff Whizbang!

You should write the gnome entry for the MM -- that's the best take on the gnome race I think I've ever read.

 

[FourthBear]

So, there's only room for one intelligent race in the forest? And only one short race that understands technology?

Because if that's the line in the sand you're drawing, future MM books are going to look pretty funny.

No, but I do think that what you include after this statement is exactly what the gnome needs: a clear, distinctive concept to wrap itself around. One that doesn't step on the toes of other races and make gnomes "that other race that is sort of like dwarves, but with a sense of humor" or "sort of like elves, but short."

I don't mind multiple forest races or multiple tech races. However, I would like the PH to use its limited number of races to capture as many distinctions as they can. It's why I was sorry to hear that they've apparently decided to include the half-elf in the PH. I think they would do much better to include a race that uses its pages to open up new areas, rather than play "also-ran"

I think that centering the race around the concept of concealment is an excellent central concept. The central concept needs to be broad enough to suit a number of character concepts, but narrow enough that you don't just get humans with a funny nose-bridge. I hope the designers of the 4e gnome can come up with something as nice.

 

[Desdichado]

Gnomes are awesome. I'm disappointed that WOTC would take gnomes away from the Player's Handbook to make room for tieflings as a PC race. That seems pretty silly.

Tieflings are silly and gnomes are not?

It's like we're speaking a completely different language here...

 

[Desdichado]

I think gnomes have a hook that works for most of their subraces, and the other cultural stuff can be swept in as secondary:

Gnomes are the equivalent of magical rabbits. They are smaller and weaker than almost everyone else (except for kobolds, whom they compete for living space with -- no one ever remembers that kobolds also live in dark forests per the RAW). EVERYONE can wipe them out if they want to, so gnomes, like rabbits, have learned to hide.

That would be great. If we didn't already have halflings nicely filling that same role.

If you use the terminology hobbits, the name even sounds vaguely like rabbit.

Maybe we should call them burrahobbits.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That would be great. If we didn't already have halflings nicely filling that same role.

For reasons I cannot fathom, they turned halflings into vaguely racist gypsy parodies. (Next up: Dwarves are all insulting Jewish stereotypes! Elves are walking slurs on Italians!)

Not the same niche at all.

If you use the terminology hobbits, the name even sounds vaguely like rabbit.

Maybe we should call them burrahobbits.

In my ideal world -- and, hey, in Praemal too, not coincidentally! -- gnomes and halflings would be one race with cultural distinctions at most. Frankly, I'd just merge them for 4E and call them "gnomes," instead of something linked to LotR.

 

[Umbran]

And no banjos!

What?!? Seems to me Banjo the Clown is a perfectly suitable gnomish deity...

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

So, there's only room for one intelligent race in the forest? And only one short race that understands technology?

Because if that's the line in the sand you're drawing, future MM books are going to look pretty funny.

I think gnomes have a hook that works for most of their subraces, and the other cultural stuff can be swept in as secondary:

Gnomes are the equivalent of magical rabbits. They are smaller and weaker than almost everyone else (except for kobolds, whom they compete for living space with -- no one ever remembers that kobolds also live in dark forests per the RAW). EVERYONE can wipe them out if they want to, so gnomes, like rabbits, have learned to hide.

They're not illusionists because they're into Zen Buddhism, as Races of Stone tried to explain. They're illusionists because, if they're not, the local orc tribe will dig them all up and eat them during the next lunar eclipse.

And they're not illusionists in the cold, dry way that D&D magic is often portrayed. It permeates every aspect of their society. They learn tricks to hide their settlements, with secret doors and traps all over the place (albeit less cruel than the ones the kobolds use). They tell tall tales about the size of their settlements and nations, concealing the fact that the local king of the gnomes rules over four families living beneath a single meadow. They use false names and disguises when dealing with outsiders, to effectively increase their numbers. They lie and trick everyone they meet to see how easy they are to fool -- because they have to fool them to survive. Garl Glittergold isn't some Harlequin-style fool, he's El-ahrairah, the rabbit trickster hero from Watership Down. Some of them might even tell the world they're halflings because, you know, they're short and smart-alec and who really checks what race the short guy is?

They speak with animals because even the elves don't worry if a ground squirrel is watching them move through the forest, little realizing that the ground squirrel will pop into a gnome burrow for a treat later on, and tell the gnomes all about the band of elves marching single file through the woods.

They play with clockworks to bolster their numbers and master technology as an outgrowth in their trap-making expertise.

They trade in precious gems to buy the things they need to survive, and they call themselves "forest gnomes" who know nothing about mines and such when they're talking to races that figure a gnome burrow full of gems will be easy to rob.

There's one race of gnomes. They're just not foolish enough to show a single face to the world.

I guess it doesn't matter what kind of fluff write-up they put in the MM, because this is the one I'm using.