D&D 4E Rich Baker on Gnomes in 4E

[UngeheuerLich]

I personally really liked playing gnomes and bards and Specialist wizards. They won´t be in PHB1, thats sad. I played them since ADnD 2nd edition. In 3.x however, the Bard was not what I expected him to be... and the gnome was somewhere between weak and absolute overpowered. If WotC feel, as they told us everywhere, that the Gnomes deserve a good backstory and mechanics together with a good prestige class, then I will be happy.

When I look at my Game tables and not my own preferences, I see, that tieflings were a lot more frequently played than gnomes and even dragonlike characters were more often played than gnomes, so maybe their judgement was not that bad a all.

Specialist in 3.x were also very very badly designed. Although mechanics seamed very similar to ADnD 2nd Edition, they were a lot less usefull, because you had to waste all of your feats to make your choice meaningfull. And chosing which schools are forbidden made balancing the schools necessary so that spells had to be shifted in 3.5...

Making specialist their own classes will be a much better way. And with the new casting mechanics, it seems that every wizard can specialize as he wishes...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Making specialist their own classes will be a much better way.

Could be a much better way- there's no guarantee.

Here's hoping, though!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Could be a much better way- there's no guarantee.

Here's hoping, though!

Yes, right! Could be... as most we´ve heard about 4e...

 

[Dinkeldog]

So basically, the alternatives for people that want Gnome Druids or Half Orc Barbarians were this:
- Wait until 4E is released, but delay it to 2009.
- Have 4E released now, but wait to 2009 for Gnomes and Druids.

I can wait until 2009 for my gnome druid. Just think--it'll give the badger population a chance to recover.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Alternative #3: Pick up Necromancer Games' book (written by Mouseferatu, among others), which has all the missing PHB stuff in versions that, if not exactly how WotC will eventually do them, should be a pretty good temporary version at the very least.

That's where my gnome illusionist will be coming from this summer.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Thanks for the heads-up Whizbang!

(Unlikely though it may be that my DMs would let me use it, it sounds like a good product to pick up for my use.)

 

[Nahat Anoj]

While Worlds & Monsters says they're still working on gnomes, there was a little bit of gnome info to be had. One passage says that gnomes were kidnapped to serve as slaves for the fomorians (who are pretty much the BBEG of the Feywild). Another says that the Feywild Underdark is littered with brightly shining gems, much to the delight of gnomes. Finally, another passage suggests that gnomes could be one of the evil fey, like redcaps or quicklings. But, again, they are still working on it.

For my money, I don't think WotC will make them evil fey. I think they'll probably be dwarves kidnapped by the fomorians to work in their gem mines. Over the millenia, these dwarves evolved into gnomes, much like how eladrin and elves were once the same race and diverged.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

And if some player wants to play a gnome....

How many of you are going to be giving crap to people who play gnomes now and want to up date them to 4E? How many of you are going to be giving crap to people who play gnomes in 4E in general?

Be honest - most of you doubters and haters.

For that matter, did you doubt and hate before gnomes were killed, before it was fashionable and trendy to hate and doubt gnomes?

 

[Wormwood]

For that matter, did you doubt and hate before gnomes were killed, before it was fashionable and trendy to hate and doubt gnomes?

Nothing even remotely related to gnomes has ever been fashionable or trendy.

(Well, maybe this.. . . but that's about it. )

 

[Nahat Anoj]

For that matter, did you doubt and hate before gnomes were killed, before it was fashionable and trendy to hate and doubt gnomes?

I will miss the gnome, but I've always felt they were "dwarf-lite" as opposed to being their own unique and distinct race.

Most members of my local gaming circle have pretty much nothing but derision for gnomes. One of them (who absolutely *hates* gnomes) once ran a campaign where gnomes were the primary enemies of the setting. We fought more than a few battles against gnomes ...