If gnomes had the eladrin's powers would that make them more appealing?

[lutecius]

The first thing I thought when I heard about Eladrin was "why couldn't Gnomes have been the fey caster race, rather than adding yet another Elf race to the game?" I still feel that way. We have enough bloody Elf races already. We don't need Elves, Half-Elves, and Eladrin in the PHB! And by the way, why are there only Half-Elves and not Half-Eladrin? I think they should have left half-elves out and put general rules for making half-races in the MM.

Eladrin are not really another elf race, they're just the old wizardy high elves absorbing the grey elves, while they moved the woodsy stuff to the sylvan and wild elves now just called elves. this is consolidation, actually.
I think half-elves include half-eladrins. Their previewed abilities are not related to either race. But I agree they are not absolutely necessary. Maybe research showed that even half-elves were more popular than gnome.

Elves have always been a caster race so they could not give up that role (not that 4e designers seem very concerned about history, mind you)
I would have preferred them to be bards, sorcerers or any intuitive charisma-based casters. And gnomes would have been the arcane bookish Int-based caster type.
The 3.5 bard gnome / elf wizard never made sense to me.

 

[Pale Jackal]

Gnomes are lame.

Maybe if you made them mysterious, wizened, secretive and just a little scary... I could (personally) see playing one.

But friendly, mischevious 3' human? Aside from sounding a lot like halflings (to me anyways)... color me uninterested.

 

[VannATLC]

gnomes are too short. That's about it.

They do not fit in to the stat brackets, and they really don't fit with the 'no-negative-racial-penalties.

Gnomes should have no negatives to Str, and a Max str of 12. Tops.
They are 3ft Tall.
They simply don't have the leverage or the density to claim to be strong. At least in making Halfling's taller, they've given them some capability.

Gnomes don't have a good archetype. All the other races do.

DragonLance is embedded into the DnD space, through the books, if nothing else, and that helps solidify the Draconian/Dragonborn groups.

Tieflings have been insanely popular in things like NWN.. and personally, I like the horns and tail, but that's purely personally.

Gnomes are simply too short.

 

[Incenjucar]

Mini-gnomes would make great familiars though.

It would be like having a yammering puppet.

 

[fafhrd]

Dwarf gnomes? :\

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Mini-gnomes would make great familiars though.

It would be like having a yammering puppet.

I would sooo be called up on charges of animal abuse, I be punting that mini-gnome so far away from me.

 

[VannATLC]

I would sooo be called up on charges of animal abuse, I be punting that mini-gnome so far away from me.

And where are you when the sun goes down? You're so far away ... So far away from me..

 

[Incenjucar]

Dwarf gnomes? :\

It would be like Shrek's Pinocchio, as a "real boy."

Duct tape gags would be swiftly invented.

 

[Thyrwyn]

It is. Legend of Mana just borrowed Paracelsus' names for the four elemental creatures.

Legend of Mana may have borrowed it from where ever, but RuneQuest has been calling them that since 1978 - Never heard of Paracelsus though, thanks guys!

 

[Falling Icicle]

Eladrin are not really another elf race, they're just the old wizardy high elves absorbing the grey elves, while they moved the woodsy stuff to the sylvan and wild elves now just called elves. this is consolidation, actually.

Okay... so Eladrin aren't another Elf race but they're the new Gray Elves?

Yes, Eladrin are another Elf race. They look identical to Elves. They are distant cousins in their lore. They are different mostly in their culture and preferences. They are simply a subtype of Elf. There's really no reason they couldn't have kept Elves like they were in 3e, where they loved both nature and magic.

I'm glad they consolidated the dozens of Elf subtypes, but Elves and their kin are almost half of the races in the PHB now! Yet they couldn't make room for Gnomes and Half-Orcs? Why couldn't they have just saved the Eladrin for the MM? Considering their extra-planar origins, that would have been totally appropriate, and left room for my beloved Gnomes, who have been a core race in D&D for decades. But no, who cares about tradition or variety when you can play a sexy, pointy-eared Elf (who are now taller, to increase their allure). :\