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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DreamChaser" data-source="post: 913128" data-attributes="member: 1190">I agree that your experience may be common but I think that is a problem of marketing more than anything else.  But there is also the matter of personal taste.  I have NEVER had a player play a dwarf (even my psychomunchkin older brother who prided himself on finding warped ways of dealing heinous amounts of damage and being able to survive the magical equivalent of a tac-nuke without flinching).I have had players play orcs and goblins more often than gnomes too.  Why?  Because gnomes are presented as being "silly" and most people think of David the Gnome when they think of the word gnome.  Many players want a character that will be taken seriously or at least feared by some.  A gnome-god-lich would be laughed at (while she was destroying the laughers utterly) because everything (even down the core gnome god) is presented as being silly.  Nothing I have ever done on the campaign level has completely overcome this preconception.My take on the gnome changes is that they are making it LESS silly by changing them over to bard.  They have a culture that is dynamic and artistic and they pride themselves on their resourcefulness and free thinking.  They excell at pranks but these are as likely to be vicious as not (depending on the individual) and moving them away from Illusions (which especially in 3e seem pretty harmless) makes them capable of seeming menacing and capable.This was exactly my point.  And more, it fits the "players like dark" idea.  Half-elves are often seen as broody and half-orcs are barbarian rages waiting to happen.  This has far more appeal than silly.  I wonder what would happen to the wide spread play of these races if they were made impotent and sterile due to their half breed status.  Or if they were the constant butt of jokes.  Or if they were all midgits.  I'm betting their population would drop siginificantly.And again I must say: If they are that common, why are there any elfs, orcs, and humans left?Or better:  why haven't they become their own race whcih only breeds with itself and has a name seperate from their ancestors?DC</blockquote>

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