This is the rough version of the Gnomes of the Cursed Earth Campaign. The Cursed Earth is a psuedo-post-apocalyptic technomagical 3.5 d20 fantasy campaign that uses a lot of various source material, included Perpetrated Press's ARSENAL and FACTORY, Monte Cook's CHAOSITECH, and other adaptions (including from d20 Modern and Future for certain skills and feats appropriate to a more advanced society). Characters have a choice of three basic backgrounds (which can grant feats and certain skills as class skills depending upon the characters origin): the Wild (which is basically a more dangerous D&D world with a Gamma World twist), the Federation (which is the "civilized" and technomagically developed part of the world) and the Strongholds (which are very similar to the Israeli style settlements, and have the best of both worlds, as the children of the strongholds are educated within the Federation but are trained to survive in the Wild). The Federation is on the surface an idyllic utopia (think a combination of Victorian England, Buerocracies of Imperial China, and Machiaveliian trading houses of Renaissance Italy), and made up of small to middle sized villages all interconnected by a teleportation grid. But scratch this bucolic veneer, and you have a dystopia run by elves not native to this world (invaded from another prime material plane) who caused the apocalypse that nearly destroyed the world by bringing with them the Shadow and it's Taint (which causes all TM machines larger then a battle suit or motorcycle to instantly Taint, becoming cursed, demonic, and go Christine on the world). Like all of the surviving player character races, the apocalypse scarred the gnomes in many profound ways, as did the changes they made to themselves during the earlier "Golden Age".
If nothing else, gnomes are survivors, and can be found in any of the three backgrounds. As the regimented life of a stronghold (i.e. Lawful) does not appeal to most gnomes, they are probably rarest in those settings, except as merchants and traders that run the general stores and trader outposts. The gnomes family connections within the Federation make it much easier for them to get hard to find TM manufactured goods and items, giving them an edge against other races trying to find a market within the Wild, so much so, that in the last few centuries, most mercantile houses have ceeded the Wild market to the gnomish trade families.
Wild gnomes tend to be in very hidden communities, prefering to depend upon stealth then the obviously inadequite martial strength of small folk, or build around Federation trading posts, Strongholds, or the Wall (think a modernized Great Wall of China with autocannons and powered armored troops guarding the Border between the Federation and the Wild). Even these obvious communities have many hidden tunnels and burrows, and those that border the Wall have many secret routes into and out of the Federation (all of which are designed to be collapsed/destroyed to keep the Wall from being penetrated by the forces of the Shadow or Taintcreatures -- the gnomes want to avoid customs and/or imigration officials, not weaken the security of the Federation, as they depend as much as anybody else on the safety brought about by the Federation). But most of these communities tend to only be small clusters of families, as even living in the protective shadow of the Federation in not nearly as safe as living within the Federation stifling embrace.
Thus, most gnomes on the Cursed Earth live and work within the Federation. Unlike every other race except humans, the gnomes have large scale intricate family ties on both sides of the Wall. Having a certain "moral flexibility", at least when it comes to other peoples laws, these relationships gave them an advantage in all types of trade, both legal and the less savory black marketeering and smuggling, leading to the gnomes filling the societal ecological niche of Organized Crime. Not all gnomes are criminals, as a matter of fact most are not, BUT all gnomes "know" somebody who is "connected". Think stereo-typical cinematic Italian Mafia. Gnomes keep detailed geneological records, and it is expected that a well educated gnomes know who is related to whom and how. Even the ancestor worshipping Federation elves are not as obsessive about family as a granddame gnome.
This desperate compulsion to find where a gnome fits in the greater racial family is one of the many scars left by the apocalypse. Another is an almost debilitating paranoia and an inability to trust almost anything or anybody. Ironically, this has lead to a culture where a gnomes word is his absolute bond. Gnomes do not directly lie (although lies of omission are not only permitted, but expected), and will go to incredible lengths to keep his word and fulfill a promise, even one made under duress. BUT, the letter of the agreement is much more important that the spirit (i.e. similar to the mythical traditional deal with the devil or with faeries). The better a deal is for the gnome, the less likely he is to look too closely for loop holes.
"When you shake on a deal with a gnome, always count your fingers. Then count them again later, just to be sure. You can never be too careful." -- common Federation dwarven expression.
While they delight in performing clever tricks on others, gnomes despise being tricked themselves, and consider it the highest form of insult. Gnomes NEVER forget a slight, and will expend a phenominal amount of effort (usually something overly complex) to "redress the balance", i.e. get even. To be fair, gnomes also never forget a favor (but how they may pay off such a debt may seem very strange, and not always appreciated or understood by any non-gnome).
A gnome always has to watch his natural paranoia coupled with an incredible imagination, for his natural instincts is to trust no one and to believe the most improbable of ideas. A gnome can believe a certain number of logically contradictory conspiracy theories at the same time. It does not help that the world is NOT a safe place, that there are many things out to get the unaware gnome, and the terrifying machinations and intrigues of the 13 (the council of 13 elven houses that rules the Federation), not to mention the other High Houses and Ministries of the Federation. Ironically, without all these outside forces, gnomish society might have shattered into a million factions. But a gnome KNOWS that he can trust another gnome, at least to a small degree. Those that cannot be trusted, or continually skirt breaking their word, quickly gain a reputation as such, as do their families, and soon find that no reputable gnome will do business with them, effectively exiling them.
Probably the strangest of all changes to the standard Gnome came not from the apocalypse, but from the "Golden Age". Being the inveterate tinkers, gnomes were the only race to really embrace technomagic genetic engineering. Many a Golden Age gnome thought nothing of doing some body sculpting to himself, the least of which would be surface modifications (hair, skin, eyes, etc). Some decided to go even deeper, and began to change how they interacted with magic, i.e. losing their natural affinity with illusions, replacing it with a predilection for another school of magic. Some even went so far as to change what spells they could cast naturally.
Most of these modifications were cosmetic or not inherited by their children. But the two that stuck was the potential affinity for any one school of magic and the natural spells a gnome can cast. So modern gnomes are not really known as illusionist, but rather as exception arcane spell casters and artificers. They are the ones that produce most of the dweotronics (TM electronics), gadgets, computer hardware, sensor/security systems and the like within the Federation. They are also noted for their craftsmanship with Armor Cloth (light TM armors) and light TM firearms (pistols and such). Dwarves and humans usually build the heavier stuff. Gnomes are also known as excellent hackers, but, because the Elves developed the Operating System of all Federation computer software, do not have any advantage on programming or hacking (think Linux users living in a Microsoft Paradise were EVERYTHING is MS).
That about covers the fluff. Now for the Crunch.
RACIAL TRAITS
- +2 Con, -2 Str
- Small size
- land speed is 20 feet
- Low-Light Vision
- Gnomes are never Lawful (not without GM approval and an unusual background)
- +2 racial bonus to Repair skill checks
- Gather Information is a Class skill for all Gnomes, and they recieve a +2 to checks dealing with gnomish gossip or the underworld
- All Gnomes start with Knowledge (Gnomish Heredity) at rank 4 as a bonus Class skill. This skill is used to remember who is related to whom and how.
- Choose one school of magic. Gnome gets a +2 racial bonus on Saving throws against that school and a +1 DC for all saves against spells of that school cast by that gnome.
- Artful Dodger (see above posts-- last generation)
- +2 racial bonus on Listen checks
- +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) or Craft (TM dweotronics) skill checks (bonus chosen at first level)
- +2 racial bonus on Use Magic Device skill (Federation gnomes only)
- lose ability to speak with burrowing mammals
- +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against Kobolds and Goblinoids (if from the Wild) OR against Federation Elves (if from the Federation or Strongholds)
- spell-like abilities: A gnome with a charisma of at least 10 can choose any 3 0-level wizard spells that he can cast as spell like abilities, each once per day. Once chosen, these spells cannot be changed. He can cast these spells like a sorcerer of equal level.
- RACIAL WEAKNESS: Paranoid/conspiracy nut -- -2 to Sense Motive checks vs opposed Bluff checks (GM may set this penalty to -4 or higher if the bluff feeds into this particular gnomes beliefs), as they can be gullible at times (this does not mean that gnomes are easy to con, for he may very well believe your bluff and shoot you anyway). -2 to Bluff checks, as gnomes do not directly lie and/or the gnomish reputation.
- Favored Class: Specialist Wizard (any), Bard (Wild only), Artificer (Federation/Stronghold only)
Well that about covers it.
Thanks
skippy
The GM of The Cursed Earth Campaign
PS Almost forgot to add that the gnomes of the hidden settlements in the wild are Whisper gnomes from the Races of Stone, and should ignore the above crunch. Use instead the stats from that book.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
