D&D (2024) One D&D gets gnomes close to perfect

[Aldarc]

I'd personally be fine with the Forest Gnome being  the Gnome and the tinker stuff being offloaded to a background, but I think WotC wants to accommodate the folks that want a strait up Dragonlance or World of Warcraft style Gnome.

The tinker gnomes came from Dragonlance, by designer Jeff Grubb in particular.

Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995) introduced tinker gnomes to Azeroth. The Warcraft creative team was into D&D and Warhammer, and you can see the influences all over the place.

Incidentally, both Richard Knaak (Dragonlance novelist) and Jeff Grubb (creator of Dragonlance's tinker gnomes) have written novels for Warcraft, both having written their first novels for the Warcraft universe in 2001: Day of the Dragon and The Last Guardian, respectively.

Jeff Grubb also was a story and lore developer for Guild Wars starting with Nightfall (the 3rd expansion), and the Asura he developed in Guild Wars: Eye of the North and Guild Wars 2 have a lot of conceptual overlap with tinker gnomes as well.

 

[Yaarel]

I also think they should be one.

I think they should have 2 of Mending/Minor Illusion/Prestidigitation AND be able to cast through the Artisan's Tool they decide to pick ala Artificer light.

Then, the Speak with Animals/Plants (or rocks for the gnomes) and Invisibility-light of the Firbolg should be given to them.

Change the Speak With Animals spell into a cantrip instead.

Then, the gnome can choose two from: Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation, Mending, and Speak With Animal. Additionally, the gnome can cast these cantrips thru a gadget.

Fewer lineages, with more versatility, is my hope for ODD design.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Change the Speak With Animals spell into a cantrip instead.

I would prefer if the ability to speak to animals and rocks was not a spell, just a supernatural ability for the magically inclined fey race.

Fey Ancestry.
You have advantage on saving throws and ability tests you make to resist or notice illusion spells.

Small-Folk Nimbleness.
You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours and you can move through and stop in a space large enough for a Tiny creature.

Hidden Steps.
As a bonus action, you can magically turn invisible until the start of your next turn or until you attack, make a damage roll, or force someone to make a saving throw. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Speech of Earth and Beast.
You have the ability to communicate in a limited manner with Beasts and stone creatures. You can speak Terran and Sylvan. If a beast do not have a language, they can understand the meaning of your words, though you have no special ability to understand them in return. You have advantage on all Charisma checks you make to influence them.

Hard-Working.
You know the Prestidigitation and Mending cantrips and you gain proficiency in an Artisan's Tool of your choice. You can cast those spells using the chosen tools as a spell focus. When you take a long rest, you can spend at least six hours in an intense focused state working with the tools you are proficient with. In this state, you appear absent-minded, but it doesn't render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Jeff Grubb also was a story and lore developer for Guild Wars starting with Nightfall (the 3rd expansion), and the Asura he developed in Guild Wars: Eye of the North and Guild Wars 2 have a lot of conceptual overlap with tinker gnomes as well.

Man that explains a lot, because Grubb is also keen on Kender (to the point of inflicting one on the FR!), and Asuras have personalities which seem to combine many of the worst traits of Tinker Gnome and Kender - huge amounts of egotism combined with child-like whimsy and faux-vulnerability is pretty goddamn irritating. I knew I hated them for a reason!

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I would prefer if the ability to speak to animals and rocks was not a spell, just a supernatural ability for the magically inclined fey race.

Fey Ancestry.
You have advantage on saving throws and ability tests you make to resist or notice illusion spells.

Small-Folk Nimbleness.
You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours and you can move through and stop in a space large enough for a Tiny creature.

Hidden Steps.
As a bonus action, you can magically turn invisible until the start of your next turn or until you attack, make a damage roll, or force someone to make a saving throw. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Speech of Earth and Beast.
You have the ability to communicate in a limited manner with Beasts and stone creatures. You can speak Terran and Sylvan. If a beast do not have a language, they can understand the meaning of your words, though you have no special ability to understand them in return. You have advantage on all Charisma checks you make to influence them.

Hard-Working.
You know the Prestidigitation and Mending cantrips and you gain proficiency in an Artisan's Tool of your choice. You can cast those spells using the chosen tools as a spell focus. When you take a long rest, you can spend at least six hours in an intense focused state working with the tools you are proficient with. In this state, you appear absent-minded, but it doesn't render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.

I like this but I'd suggest do not redefine Fey Ancestry without changing the name, this actively unhelpful and actively causes misunderstandings/confusions. Fey Ancestry is used in quite a lot of races, and it always means the same thing post-MotM (correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Fey Ancestry.
You have advantage on saving throws and ability tests you make to resist or notice illusion spells.

Would this replace Gnome Cunning? If so, that would be a major nerf, for no appreciable gain.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I like this but I'd suggest do not redefine Fey Ancestry without changing the name, this actively unhelpful and actively causes misunderstandings/confusions. Fey Ancestry is used in quite a lot of races, and it always means the same thing post-MotM (correct me if I'm wrong).

Would this replace Gnome Cunning? If so, that would be a major nerf, for no appreciable gain.

This was the idea, yeah. I preferred it to Cunning because it affected ability checks rather than just saves, since Illusion often use Intelligence check to resist o spot illusion magic.

I could make it advantage on Int/Wis/Cha saves and ability check to resist and spot illusion and enchantment magic?

The school restriction is because I find it weird that the cunning mind of the Gnome, often associated with their taste for beguiling magic, make's them better at resisting things like being slowed, eyebite, banishment etc. It would still make it cover most of the mind-affecting spells while removing the weird ones, IMO.

As for the name, I'm not keen on ''Gnome Cunning'', I'm looking for something that sounds a little more supernatural and related to their Feywild origin.

 

[Haplo781]

Just convert 4e gnome as closely as possible.

 

[Aldarc]

Man that explains a lot, because Grubb is also keen on Kender (to the point of inflicting one on the FR!), and Asuras have personalities which seem to combine many of the worst traits of Tinker Gnome and Kender - huge amounts of egotism combined with child-like whimsy and faux-vulnerability is pretty goddamn irritating. I knew I hated them for a reason!

I don't mind asura. I enjoy them more than WoW's tinker gnomes, which feels far more played up for laughs.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I don't mind asura. I enjoy them more than WoW's tinker gnomes, which feels far more played up for laughs.

Yeah WoW's tinker gnomes are basically straight-up imported from Dragonlance, just significantly higher-tech, and like, if they make tech off-screen it works, but if they make it on-screen, it goes wrong.