Niche

[Gez]

OK. Everytime there's a "race" thread (I'm not speaking about Nascar, here), you'll have people repeating like a mantra that gnomes have no niche.

What is a niche, and what purpose does one niche serve?

What's a niche? A specialisation the race will almost always fall in? Then ain't it better to not have niches at all, for stereotypes are boring?

What's the niche of elves? Woodlandfolk and archer extraordinaire? Elder race with large magical power and rich, complex civilization? Wild and debauched fey-kins? Swashbuckling spadassins? All of that? How can this be a niche?

What's the niche of halflings? Stay-at-home fatsos? Happy-go-lucky kleptomaniacs? Man-eating barbarians? Fortune-telling gypsies? Iron chefs? Sexy leather-clad tomb raiders?

What's the niche of dwarves? Dirty, ferocious berserkers, or noble and honorable stalwart protectors of their clans? Greedy bankers or tireless craftsmen?

And what's the damn niche of humans? Generic all-purpose guys? If-you-don't-know-what-to-play,-play-one default choice for any role that doesn't fit neatly in one of the proposed stereotypical niches?


I don't care whether your campaigns feature gnomes. I just want to understand if there's any validity behind the "no niche" argument that always crop up and seems to be just nincompoop.

 

[Turanil]

What is a niche, and what purpose does one niche serve?

And what about the dog's niche? (Okay, only a French will understand the idiotic pun...)

 

[Ryltar]

"No niche", IME, is just the short and rather mislabeled form of "I can't use gnomes in the fantasy world I like to play in", instead of referring to their cultural / mythological roots or something.

 

[diaglo]

OD&D is humanocentric. and as such the races listed are written from a Human point of view.


so PC race humans were humans. and NPC race humans were humans

PC race dwarves were dwarves. NPC race dwarves could be dwarves or gnomes. dwarves were those of their race that had dealings with the humans. gnomes were dwarves who had no contact with the humans.

PC race elves were elves. NPC race elves could be elves or faeries. elves were those of their race that had dealings with the humans. faeries were elves who had no contact with the humans.

PC race halflings were halflings. NPC race halflings could be halflings or hobbits. halflings were those of their race that had dealings with the humans. hobbits were halflings who had no contact with the humans.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

The reason to have a "niche" is to make each race unique and interesting. Niche is really the wrong term. It assumes they do something no one else does. What you really want is a reason for each race to be different than the other races.

Elves are interesting because of the long life span, their inherant tie to magic, their tie to the wilderness. They are mysterious and very different from humans. It is hard for us to comprehend how they think. But they are close enough to humans that we can TRY to understand them. So, we want to play them and try to see the world from their eyes.

Dwarves are the same. They are dour, they are down to earth. They revere metal, stone, strength, drink. There might be some humans out there who think like dwarves, but for most of us, they are something we'd only like to explore for a while and try to imagine what it's like living in that world.

Halflings are a bit less clear cut. This is because they've been changed in personality a couple of times. In their current form, they are unique in that they are small, fast, agile, cunning. They are the perfect thieves. People underestimate them due to their size. They live in a world where everyone expects the bigger and stronger you are, the better you are. They live to disrupt that world. We, as humans, love to explore that side of us.

Half-orcs: Big, strong, not especially bright. Mostly, these interest us because we just want to take a break from thinking and just be stronger and tougher than everyone else for a while.

Half-elves: They get the best of both humans and elves. Plus, they are rebels.

Gnomes: Umm...they have illusions. They MAY like to tinker. They can talk to burrowing animals. Does anyone know how their personality varies from the jovial halflings, dour dwarves, or joyful elves? Who are they really? What is it that you are exploring when you play a Gnome? Halflings are already known as tricksters and are probably better at it. So, if you want to explore that, you play a halfling. They aren't more dwarf than dwarf.

The big question is, as either an intellectual or powergaming standpoint, what is the point of playing a Gnome? I can't find one. So, I've never been a gnome.

 

[der_kluge]

I love gnomes. I see them as curious, and inquisitive, a trait that is not necessarily shared by any other race. That's their niche.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

What is a niche, and what purpose does one niche serve?

That would be a certain famous German Philosopher's younger, gamer, brother.

"That which does not kill you, makes you a level"

"The DM who laughs best today, will also laugh last"

"If you gaze long into an abyss, a balor will grab you"

 

[Ruined]

I used to be against gnomes in general, due to a lack of gnomes in my fantasy novels and the occasional tinker gnome stereotype. Suprisingly, World of Warcraft changed my opinion somewhat. Yes, they're still tinkering with mad inventions, but I kind of like them. I'd still rather have tieflings and aasimar, though.

 

[Desdichado]

If everyone's sick of gnomes, why not the other races? I'd almost rather play a gnome than a dwarf, elf or halfling anymore. I'm sick of seeing those buggers, and at least gnomes are relatively fresh. Give me kalashtar, shifters, changelings and warforged anyday, though. Those are at least somewhat fresh.

My current campaign has humans, and a handful of homebrew races only. And technically, the other races are human too -- they were bred by ancient slavers to be the equivalent of dog breeds or horse breeds.

 

[werk]

I don't buy that there is no niche for gnomes. I think that most people have a strong stereotypes for most of the races that they like to call that races' niche, but gnomes so rarely show up in the material that they do not have an established stereotype other than tinkers in dragonlance.

I really liked my pick wielding gnome fighter, but (IMO) he really suffered because he was size=small. Why doesn't D&D just make all the player races size medium?

I usually think of gnomes like the gnomes from Terry Brooks' Shanarrah books, kinda like evil, slender dwarves. If you steal from Terry, there is a lot of background for gnomes there. If you add Terry's gnomes with some Darksun halfling flavor, you get pretty much the way I play gnomes.