Some thoughts on 4e getting long in the tooth.

[Argyle King]

I had nearly forgotten about the Diabli. I think I have 3rd Edition stats for them in one of my books. Now that you mention it, I do remember their fluff being pretty cool. They were blue, right? I remember thinking they looked similar to the Marvel character Nightcrawler.

I do agree with the Kobold love, but I was unsure if they'd be too similar to what is already available with Dragonborn.

 

[Desdichado]

There is a lot of truth in this. But also, for someone somewhere those cognates will have some sort of mythic resonance. Shardmind does not do this. Dragonborn - I can make a guess at.

Yeah, well, mythic resonance isn't all that's going on in fantasy these days. It seems to me that most modern, popular fantasy is less about classic, mythic, semi-Tolkien or Dunsanian whatever and more about focusing on some new perspective of world-building or character portrayal.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Oxford English Dictionary disagrees with you. He created it, it wasn't popularized until centuries later.

OED states he was first to use it in print- there is a difference.

At any rate, whichever of us is right about the origins of the word, it still has several hundreds of years of use- even unique use- in European legends. Besides Wagner, besides the Dutch, there are several mentioned in other sources, such s Grimm's. Again, while published in the 1800s, their tale is just the first time the old folk tale is committed to print.

 

[Viking Bastard]

To me, gnome has always brought this to mind:

We don't do gnomes.

Understandable, what with them being called "garden gnomes" in English. In Icelandic, though, they're called "garðálfar" or "garden elves".

 

[Wiseblood]

To the OP,

4e is getting long in the tooth. I burned out on it in one year. That has never happened before..... ever. When I broke up with 4e, I said it's not me ... it's you.

to the side race discussion. Dragonborn and tieflings belong in the monster manual. Orcs too for that matter.

 

[Jhaelen]

Understandable, what with them being called "garden gnomes" in English. In Icelandic, though, they're called "garðálfar" or "garden elves".

And in German they're called "Gartenzwerge", i.e. "Garden Dwarves"

 

[Jhaelen]

to the side race discussion. Dragonborn and tieflings belong in the monster manual. Orcs too for that matter.

Well, humans also belong in the monster manual. This was a glaring omission in 3e that was luckily corrected in 4e

 

[I'm A Banana]

Look, gnomes fill a role in D&D that is more important than all the mythic characters that might or might not be gnomes (because, honestly, if you're looking for a consistent definition of words, myths are not going to back you up on things -- they defy definition by their very nature as stories about magical things).

They fill a trope.

Hero = Human (or half-elf): They are the spunky can-do heroes who overcome their frail mortality to save the day for a cause greater than themselves!
Lancer = High Elf (or tiefling, or half-orc): They are ancient and arrogant and all-knowing and quite peaceful and kind of badass, but certainly better than you.
Smart Guy = GNOME (or eladrin, or halfling sneaky-style): They are clever and smart and tricky and sneaky and genius.
Big Guy = Dwarf (or half-orc, or dragonbobs): Tough and strong and noble and boisterous and affectionate.
The Chick = Halfling (hobbit-style, or gnome): They believe in the mission, pull the team together, compliment the hero's fortitude and really believe in the cause!

What REALLY happened, in the history of the game, was that halflings, in scrounging about for a trope that wasn't "the chick" (as Bilbo and Frodo and Sam most certainly were, and was determined in 3e to be a race of creatures that didn't go on adventures), landed on the physical counterpart to the gnome's magical Smart Guy, and promptly the gnomes were forgotten about, since they were never drawn in skintight leather rogue-wear with a come-hither gaze like certain halflings, and, well, sex sells.

Okay, there's a lot of alternate folks vying for that trope, and this certainly isn't the Definitive Word on it (tropes, like myths, resist a codified and immutable definition). Certainly a lot of folks legit love the "sneaky tricksy halfling" archetype in ways that the "intelligent, wise, smart-ass gnome" archetype never quite got (for whatever...reasons...).

But some of my favorite characters have been gnomes, from the 2e illusionist/thief who stole and tried to ride a pig, to my 4e gnome assassin who delighted in the remains of his enemies, to my character starting tomorrow: a gnome artificer in an Eberron game that gets along better with machines than she does with people.

PS: Bonus Round:
The Sixth Ranger = Kobold (or gnome, or half-orc)

 

[Dice4Hire]

to the side race discussion. Dragonborn and tieflings belong in the monster manual. Orcs too for that matter.

Umm, all the 4E races are in the Monster Manual, or at least one of them.

There might be an exception or two, but I do not think so.

 

[Wiseblood]

Umm, all the 4E races are in the Monster Manual, or at least one of them.

There might be an exception or two, but I do not think so.

True, but I was implying that they do not belong in the PHB. Sorry if I was vague.