D&D (2024) No Dwarf, Halfling, and Orc suborgins, lineages, and legacies

[Mind of tempest]

I wonder if gnomes and halflings are necessary and useful to give more spice, something like Jimmy Olsen as Clark Kent's friend. Jimmy Olsen wasn't created to be cool, popular or loved but to help to show Clark Kent/Superman human side.

Gnomes and halflings help to show a kinder side of D&D world, they are the innocent people who have to be saved by the heroic PCs. In certay way, the gnome and halfling communities could be closest one in D&D to a true utopy. They are like characters from a preschool children cartoon or a family-friendly sitcom where villagers only worry about simple things for example to find the right boyfriend for the daughter.. Their villages are like that "happy and safe place" where Bilbo and Frodo want to return, rest and recover from war marks after their adventures.

and the age where Jimmy Olsen could headline a comic is long past.
they are small and largely irrelevant to the setting just put them in a corner and forget about them as they are supposed to not matter.

 

[Mecheon]

they are small and largely irrelevant to the setting just put them in a corner and forget about them as they are supposed to not matter.

Hey, us gnome fans are crazy about 'em and will gnome a place for not including them. Also given, y'know, Delicious in Dungeon's whole massive Thing at the moment, you don't want to sideline halflings at the moment given Chilchuck's a main character

Jimmy Olsen wished he had fans with half the love for him as gnome or halfling fans

 

[Hussar]

and the age where Jimmy Olsen could headline a comic is long past.
they are small and largely irrelevant to the setting just put them in a corner and forget about them as they are supposed to not matter.

Careful. Your own not allowed to think this if you hate halflings after all.

It will be interesting to see though given the Delicious in Dungeon thing. Will it have any impact? After all, Critical Roll didn’t help gnomes.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Hey, us gnome fans are crazy about 'em and will gnome a place for not including them. Also given, y'know, Delicious in Dungeon's whole massive Thing at the moment, you don't want to sideline halflings at the moment given Chilchuck's a main character

Jimmy Olsen wished he had fans with half the love for him as gnome or halfling fans

depends on whether it sticks in any way that matters lots of things have a moment but do not spread or stick.

what is so worthy about gnomes?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Hey, us gnome fans are crazy about 'em and will gnome a place for not including them. Also given, y'know, Delicious in Dungeon's whole massive Thing at the moment, you don't want to sideline halflings at the moment given Chilchuck's a main character

Jimmy Olsen wished he had fans with half the love for him as gnome or halfling fans

Love Delicious in Dungeon!

 

[Mecheon]

what is so worthy about gnomes?

Whimsy
Shoving settings out of medieval statsis because oops the gnomes invented a train/gun/tachikoma
Good nature vibes to 'em with the whole talking to animals
Got that 'crazy magic' energy to them, as distinct from other groups who have their own aesthetics
Outlook on life makes them more likely to be adventurers than halfling's whole "We're just hobbits", or appearing in multiple roles. They can be secret forest dwellers, crazed technologists who've made a sky citym and both of those fit fine in the general gnome idea

 

[Minigiant]

Personally,the gnomes in my setting have magical Mecha and Kaiju of their themes dormant in their communities. This causes a scientic focus on these fields of study.

Forest Gnomes have giant moles and badgers in their woods hidden by fey illusions. Forest Gnomes are the mastery of zoology and concealment illusions.
Rock Gnomes have giant stone and gem mecha who burst out the sides of their mountains on defense. Rock gnomes are the masters of tinkering and elemental gem based power sourcing.

So if you play a forest gnome at my table and face an illusionary enemy, I will tell the gnome player that they can roll INT to identify the illusion and recall a nonmagical way to disrupt it. Then I will name a item in one of the player's bags as a countermeasure.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

And halflings and gnomes are perfect for survival horror games because players or readers don't imagine them enough powerful to face and kick-ass the monsters or psycho-killers.

 

[Minigiant]

And halflings and gnomes are perfect for survival horror games because players or readers don't imagine them enough powerful to face and kick-ass the monsters or psycho-killers.

I don't think leaning on them being unassuming is healthy for the species unless it's mechanical.
Because ultimately it doesn't make sense unless you warp the setting to allow for it everytime like LOTR and Warhammer does.

Instead, I think gnomes should embrace being the "Genius race". A gnomish brain is like a super computer. A low INT gnome isn't stupid, they just make a lot of mistakes.

Halflings should either embrace being the "Stealth and Agility" species or the "Divinely Lucky" species. Being plucky underdogs doesn't make sense because D&D worlds by definition are too dangerous for wimps with no leveragable positive traits to survive.

So Halflings are either

• Always protected by a bigger race
• Little ninjas
• Magically lucky

And you can split any of these into subspecies or make each a subspecies.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Whimsy
Shoving settings out of medieval statsis because oops the gnomes invented a train/gun/tachikoma
Good nature vibes to 'em with the whole talking to animals
Got that 'crazy magic' energy to them, as distinct from other groups who have their own aesthetics
Outlook on life makes them more likely to be adventurers than halfling's whole "We're just hobbits", or appearing in multiple roles. They can be secret forest dwellers, crazed technologists who've made a sky citym and both of those fit fine in the general gnome idea

whimsy and the Industrial Revolution are effectively antonyms.
then again I am still surprised no one has gone with the gnomes as a new phenomenon to explain the lack of history gnomes seem to have in settings.