New Race -- my take on the gnome

[Frum]

No, I didn't forget. I thought that ECL 3 worked nicely, so they're LA +0 in my campaign at the moment.

I don't really see them as ECL 4, though. While they do get ability boosts, none are above +2 and it would be hard to take advantage of all of them. Their weaknesses are pretty apparent: few hit points and low BA (if fighting) and three levels without spellcasting (if casting).

If you really think they should be ECL 4, I'd like to hear more about why you think so. The gnome character is actually pretty weak right now... but I'll get to that later.

No, I don't think that there is any compelling reason to think that they should be ECL 4, I just meant that your gnome pushed close to it. Because of the way you have designed the race, and this is how you want it, it seems pretty well balanced to me at ECL 3. I would definitely add knowledge: nature and handle animal as class skills for the racial hd, however.

In my game I would almost be willing to try this kind of gnome out just to see if someone could play a gnome that I could take seriously.

 

[Ferret]

I intend for it to be available for PCs to play, if they wish. As I mentioned it's only been played once in all the time it's been open to PCs.

I'm curious to see why you think the race is powerful. I tend to think it's weak -- the gnome character is the weakest in the group despite respectable stats. Sure, it grants decent ability bonuses and some special abilities, but it costs 3 levels, which give a bad HD and only +1 BA over 3 levels, making combat somewhere between difficult and near-impossible. With mental boosts it is a good caster, except that it loses 3 spellcasting levels. A gnome Sor8 casts 4th level spells when the human Wiz11 casts 6th level spells, for example.

Do you have a particular class or class combination for which this gnome is overpowered?

Good point actually, I immediatly assumed that as it had an ECL it was overpowered. Once you've pay for it, it is quite good.