Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 1788364" data-attributes="member: 3586">The changes to gnomes in 3.5e is a matter that I think worth discussing in its own thread... so, breaking off from "what shouldn't have been changed in 3.5e", I've taken this quote:I really like the changes to gnomes in 3.5e. I'd like to make a few points:Compared to 3e, Gnomes are now far better illusionists. Why? They get a +1 DC to all their illusion spells. This makes them the most effective illusionists in the game.What they lost was the ability to effectively multiclass as an illusionist.However, it should be said that the old 1e illusionist was nothing like the illusionist of today. The old illusionist was a dedicated class with its own spell list. Something like today's... bard. Yes, the 3.5e bard owes a lot to the 1e illusionist. Although it has a bunch of abilities that the old illusionist doesn't have, there's a lot in common as well. (And, after all, isn't an illusionist a performer of some sort?)And let's not forget that in 3e, gnomes couldn't effectively multiclass in illusionist... because multiclassing a spellcaster was something that was a quick way to inconsequence.Don't forget that "bard" doesn't imply a singer or minstrel - my PHB lists "Oratory", "Act", "Dance", and "Buffoonery" as disciplines of the Perform skill - that last fits the old Gnomish prankster very well!So I think Wizards ended up strengthening the gnome's illusionist traits more than weakening them.However, why was it necessary to change the gnome? I think, when you come down to it, you need to keep in mind one very salient point:Gnomes were an unpopular race - I'd say the most unpopular core race.They'd been that for a long time. Elves, Half-Elves, Dwarves, Halflings and Half-Orcs have all carved out their niches over time (although the Half-Elf took a huge hit in 3e), but the Gnome? An object of fun.That object of fun business? Very true for the designers. Look at these excerpts from the Complete Book of Gnomes and Halflings. (Rock gnomes are your "standard" gnome, btw).Respect for the gnome? Not there.With Races of Stone, Wizards went and addressed the balance. The gnomish race and culture was changed to make it distinctive (not just an inferior type of dwarf) and no longer an object of fun. I'd be more than happy to play a 3.5e gnome in a campaign: both mechanically and from a role-playing perspective, I think they are the most interesting and playable they have ever been.Cheers!</blockquote>

Verification