How do you differentiate Gnomes from Dwarves and Halflings?

[Squire James]

I'll toss out a few ideas... personally I favor option 3, so the others may show a bit of negative bias on my part.

1. Trickster gnomes. They live like eternal children, literally living for laughs. If life ceases to be funny, it is the gnome's responsibility to mend the matter. Whether it is little pranks, illusion spells, or non-stop jokes, the gnomes are the best. I'd consider shifting the Con bonus to Dex (though this encroaches on halfling territory... in most campaigns the halflings should probably be the tricksters).

2. Krynn tinker gnomes. Gnomes make many complicated designs that explode a lot. Of course, if they try to make a device that's SUPPOSED to explode a lot, it won't! Not recommended for serious campaign play - they're comic relief and little else. The Con bonus stays put... they need it!

3. Serious tinker gnomes. Think of them as "hobbit geeks". While they are mostly homebodies, they are normally right at the maximum limit of the campaign's tech level. If guns exist in your world, chances are most gnomes have them! Definitely shift that Con bonus to Int.

4. Elizabeth Moon "Deed of Paksenarrion" gnomes. Sober and serious to a fault. VERY lawful-minded, lawyers and merchants rather than inventors. They prefer not to fight at all, but are not averse to hiring others to fight... as long as it's legal. Not sure where the ability bonus belongs, so leaving it at Con for now.

5. "David the Gnome" gnomes. Diminutive dwarf-like druids. Yeah, about as big as a toad (though slightly prettier). Interesting, maybe, but probably not very applicable to D&D. Larger (ie: Small) versions of them might work out, though. Shift the Con bonus to Wis.

 

[Number47]

In my campaign, the primary gnome race are the best sailors around. They are little swashbucklers, most of them salt-crusty and foul-mouthed. Then, of course, are the elite gnome captains and navigators. They get bonuses against racial enemies of lizardfolk and minotaurs. They get a +4 dodge bonus to armor class while aboard a ship. For that reason alone, you do NOT want to mess with a gnome ship unless you fireball it from afar.

 

[Nebin]

~Sniff~ WE are the Smart ones

 

[I'm A Banana]

This is all IMC, by the way, so no offence intended. Having fun is what matters, after all, and there's no "right" way to do it -- do whatever makes you happy.

Halflings = Gypsies. I know it's wierd, but it's the best idea I've had for them...they go where they're needed, traveling in mobile towns. Some try to make themselves useful in society, and others enjoy the excitement adventuring life brings.

Dwarves = Engineers. The dwarves will always be the ones making the useful inventions, the huge metal doors, the cannons, the gunpowder, etc. This fairly closely fits their 3e type. Don't let little Tinker-inspired gnomes take this away from dwarves. *They're* the mechinization type. Dwaves, IMC, have a working subway system.

Gnomes = Funloving pranksters. Anyone who says Halflings shuold be this has too much Kender-on-the-brain. Anyone who says gnomes should be useless tinker-people has too much Dragonlance on the brain altogether. Gnomes are the secretive type, not likely to go in for people who can't take a joke. They aren't homebodies, since they're intensely curious (which leads some to develop mechinization skills, though their in-bred sense of fun often leads them to make it for trivial things), but they aren't truly engineers, either. They may get a bit of Mr. Science in them, but they're fascinated by it's "kewlness," not concerned about any rational implication. They're like the playful side that Elves are too busy being stuck-up to express with the "Wow! Neat!" side of technology that the Dwarves are too busy wedging sticks up their arses to express.

In fact, viewing the Gnome as a cross between an elf and a dwarf is fairly accurate...hmmm.....

 

[eXodus]

i just LOVE gnomes. one day i will get a chance to play the gnome of my dreams. ah it will be great.

this particular gnome will be a rogue/illusionist and i picture him wearing silk shirts slightly unbottoned displaying his hairy chest, and his golden medallion depicting his patron deity. this little man will wear a big hat that is florished by a feather. he will carry a cane that doubles as a club. as gnomes typically have facial hair our little guy will have a 70's pimp-style mustache and goatee.

personality-wise i see gnomes as being playful but not quite as annoying as halflings. i picture them as being fun-loving and into pranks, riddles, and jokes. but not to the point where it starts to affect relationships with companions.

well there are my little gnome bits!

 

[Dark Psion]

Simple;

Gnomes have hair on their heads

Dwarves have hair on their faces

Halflings have hair on their feet

Everything else is negotiable

 

[Jhamin]

I went a little diffrent with my Gnomes.

In my campaign I have made a big deal out of the Faerie Courts. I got rid of Garl Glittergold and changed the Gnomes into Fey. They keep all their powers but are now considered Fey and therefore immune to "affects humanoids" type spells. In return they take extra damage from cold iron, a well known weakness. This way Dwarves, Halflings, and Gnomes seem diffrent and I haven't released all that Gnome technology into my world. It all belongs to the Fey courts.

Just to keep things interesting, the Gnomes' mortal enemies the Kobalds got the same treatment, becoming unseelie Fey.

 

[Gez]

OK. I already said this several times, but Search is disabled here and topics are not safekeeped on Wizards' (autodeletion after X days), so I have to say it again.

Gnomes are keepers of knowledge. The word "gnome" comes from the greek word "gnosis", which means knowledge and wisdom. Mythical gnomes were said to masters the secrets of alchemy and nature. Several Hermetist mage would have loved to interview a gnome.

So, my gnomes are keeper of knowledge as well. The best loremasters are gnomes IMC. However, they also are wise and cautious, and for these reasons they like to go unnoticed. For this, they use illusionary magic (which school is Invisibility, again ?) and affects to be harmless pranksters. As they usually have a good sense of humour, this is easy for them. Hence, most people dismiss gnomes as pointless and unnoticeable. And that's exactly what they want.

Sometimes, you'll see a drunkard in an inn, who will tell you: "the world must know... the gnomes... they are not what they seems... it is a conspiracy... take care... they will rule the world if we let... Ah ! A gnome ! Run !" And the fool will flee the inn out by a window because a halfling entered the room. The usual reaction to these declarations is "ah, again a poor guy who got caught by a gnome joke. These little men should get a life and stop to play such tricks".

On the other hand, gnomes are geeks. Love of engineery is a geeky trait. And affinity to illusion (also known as virtual reality, eheh) is geekish also. A whole race of nerds.

Finally, they are fey-like. Elves often say they are kin to the fey, but gnomes don't pretend it, they are. They speaks with animals, are at home in wilderness, have innate magic, and genuinely enjoy the pranks they perform.


Well, basically, I go with the keeper of knowledge thing. Each subrace has its domain of specialization, though:
Forest Gnomes knows all the secrets of nature. All animals and plants have a name in the forest dialect of the gnome tongue. They are always at ease with animals, plants, and fey, but wary of other civilized races. Especially the ones that carelessly slaughter and destroy, like most orcs, goblinoids, and reptilian humanoids.
Deep Gnomes knows the art of engineery, stone working and metal working. They often works with dwarves IMC and have helped them in the creation of a magically-motionned subway system. They are architecture and engineery buff.
Rock gnomes often travels as they collect the lore of geography, political matters, and trade. They also act as middlemen between the other gnome subraces and the rest of the world. They are often merchants and charlatans.

I also have a custom subrace of gnomes, practically unknown to other, who are called by those in the know "night gnomes", "moon gnomes" or "mystic gnomes". Their domain of lore is legends and cosmology. They live the night, as bright light dazzle them. They are as pale as the moon, and have silvery hair and eyes. Seen from afar, they seem ghostly. They live near lakes that they "carve" until it is perfectly circular, and build underground homes around it.


Halflings are opportunists. They are not all rovers (funny to see that they turned the hobbits into gypsies in 3e -- that's quite a drastic change -- and yet how it was easily accepted and seen as natural), although some are, but they indeed do not have their own culture and civilzation. Instead, they meld into an existing one. You can find halflings everywhere, with humans, dwarves, elves or even goblins.


Dwarves are expert warriors, miners and crafter. Everyone knows that. They also have a caste society somewhat akin to medieval japan, with the people not being able to pray, fight, or smith being the equivalent of eta. Honor and bloodlines are important concepts to the dwarves (and totally irrelevant to the elves except the lawful evil high elves).

 

[kenjib]

I would ditch the tinkering/engineering thing entirely. I see them as unwelcome Dragonlance additions creeping into canon.

I see them as reclusive, secretive, and modest folk who use magic to hide their homes and villages from the bumbling big folk. They are closely associated with fey and love to sing, dance, play music, and make merry. Magic is built into their lifestyle and way of thinking and is undifferentiated from nature for them. Magic is a natural thing. They are also closely in tune with nature, living in the natural world and living in harmony with animals.

Gnomes also have great lore and ability in creating potions of all kinds, and they guard their secrets in this area jealously.

This accounts for all of their racial traits and gives them an identity very distinct from the other two races.

They like to play pranks on big folk because they are all such bumbling oafs. Many of these pranks are also diversions to keep the big folk from finding their secret homes and villages. They have a grand sense of humor and also enjoy playing pranks on one another in good fun.

I think that the little guys in Legend are pretty close to what I'm thinking of, but with a few differences.

EDIT: One more thing - they are not often found in the company of people from other races. They almost never have communities integrated with those of other races. Adventuring gnomes are exceptional and are either very odd or the result of very portentious events (like the slaying of the unicorn in Legend, for example).

 

[Xylarthan]

This brings up the wider question of whether there should even be a difference between Halflings, Gnomes, and Dwarves/Dwarfs. [deleted]

Also, do we need to differentiate Kobolds, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Orcs, Bugbears, etc.? A lot of those monsters exist to fill a specific hit-die niche, not because they're qualitatively any different.

One of the things that Birthright did well was todifferentiate between the various short races and rework some humanoid races well.

Dwarves were more than just dour, they were of a denser mass in bone and flesh that explained some oftheir abilities. Halflings were what in 3e would be an Outsider race, being refugees from the Shadow World. Gnomes were an NPC race that resided in the hills and forests,very bucolic and fey. It was guite easy to keep[ them seperate in my mind with cultures that matched their backgrounds.

The Goblin Race consits of goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears, delineated as average, largeand elite 'goblins'. goblins held entire kingdoms in Cerilia! It was great.

Orcs were revamped as a primarily underground race, called orogs. they were tougher, more sinister and very like what the drow started off as - mysterious and unalterably evil.

When I play one of the short races, and i prefer them over the others, I make a point to keep in mind the racial background while writing the character up. My most recent is a dwarf wizard and much was set up with the DM about his being outcast from his clan due to his interest in magic. Since then, in roleplaying a rebellious youth, he has gained some degree of acceptance by dwarven culture but not the part of it that he grew up in. His primary worship isof a minor dwarven god and he pays homage to two human gods of magic. With this acceptance he has surprised the other party members with some changes to his outlook on things, particularly that he was not willing to loot a dwarven tomb!

A gnome illusionist I'd played previously was rather different. He was fun-loving and a bit larcenous; he also caused a few battles to be more difficult than the DM expected due to using his illusions without consulting with or warning the rest of the party. His opinion was that if he 'altered the battlefield' then they shouldn't go running across it, let the foes do that and suffer! the party's fighters didn't seem to be getting that concept so the gnome switched to using Meta-magic feats to get more magic Missiles. After a few battles of things dieing all around them from sippy lil balls of energy the party asked him to go back to using illusions!