THREE elven races, plus half-elves ... but they say gnomes have no niche?!

[Driddle]

...

EDIT: nevermind. problem solved.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Gnomes have been a core PC race for almost 30 years. Many versions have been tried. None have been popular. How much longer does one keep trying to fix a broken concept before finally admitting it's broken?

It's long, long past time the makers of D&D listened to their customers, got rid of gnomes and tried something new. Maybe the new races won't work, maybe they will. But an unknown quantity has to be better than a 30 year record of fail.

 

[Doug McCrae]

The closest has been the tinker gnome

I agree, tinker gnomes have been the best so far. Probably the reason WoW used that version.

Videogamey ftw.

 

[Shroomy]

I'd give good odds that gnome appears in PHBII along with a dedicated illusionist class...Until then, MMI will have to suffice.

 

[PeterWeller]

Again: Back off the personal comments. Don't ring the moderator's bell.

What again? Maybe you shouldn't get offended when people read something in your comments the way you're reading something in the developers'. Maybe you shouldn't try to take the high road with backseat moderation.

 

[Shroomy]

I agree, tinker gnomes have been the best so far. Probably the reason WoW used that version.

Videogamey ftw.

While tinker gnomes are probably the most well-known, I think the best conception of gnomes in any version of the game are Eberron's gnomes.

 

[Driddle]

Gnomes have been a core PC race for almost 30 years. Many versions have been tried.

What no one here has addressed is the nature of gnomes' fluctuating descriptions over time and the effect those changes have on how players perceive them as an iconic game element. The writers of the original Dragonlance series, for example, took the gnomes and made them something else entirely for that particular setting instead of introducing a new race -- a lot of people liked those books and the core gnome was diluted for it. The third edition of D&D tried to keep gnomes attached to their original illusionist roots, but v3.5 designers skewed them sideways into bard territory. Again, a shift in design led to the dillution of a cohesive racial concept over time, not the other way around. And now we have Eberron gnomes, too.

Yes, many racial concepts have been introduced over the years, each of which has been given the "gnome" label. But the original gnome could have sustained itself with minor tweaks, and the 4th edition designers failed to recognize that. Gnomes have no "niche" now because previous writers/game-designers have ruined it, NOT because of gamers.

 

[Sadrik]

Elf; Drow Elf; Eladrin Elf; Santa Elf.

Gnomes should have been recast as a Santa Elf!

 

[Cthulhudrew]

The Eladrin are the high and mighty, magicial kingdom kind of elves and the Elves are the tree hugging, back to the nature kind of elves.

Ah, so how is this unlike, say, the mighty, kingdom building kinds of humans and the tree hugging, pastoralist kinds of humans?

 

[Nahat Anoj]

Put some WoW juice into D&D gnomes and more people will like them and want to play them.

Actually, in R&C's gnome write-up it is suggested that the designers want to avoid the "mad tinker" aspect because it's been done to death in WoW.