THREE elven races, plus half-elves ... but they say gnomes have no niche?!
- Thread starter Driddle
- Start date
Not only do I like know, but several of my players like gnomes. In my current campaign world, the gnomes are a major race, running an underground railroad to smuggle dwarves out of the xenophobic, monotheistic dwarven kingdom. The gnomes are the good guys. Elves, strangely enough, are farmers, vintners, and are very agriculturally based and tend to be quite sedentary.TwoSix said:
GreatLemur
Explorer
Seriously, Driddle is at least completely right about the half-elves. They have no niche, and there really is absolutely no need for them as a fully-developed race.
Still, while a focus on making magical items is definitely a really cool niche for the gnome, it's probably not really a focus that belongs in the PHB. Not unless they were going to make magic items a larger, rather than smaller, part of the game. (I could dig that, though. Bring the Artificer class into the core, and introduce a stronger focus on minor, single-use magic items and such. Make the gnomes into the inherantly magical race, and skip the whole eladrin thing. I think that'd work.)
Maybe what gnomes really need is a focus on alchemy, which could be described as a little bit magic-lite and a little bit science-lite. It fits into more traditional campaign settings, and produces lots of low-powered, 1st-level-appropriate, single-use items. Also, 3e gnomes have a goddamned Craft (alchemy) bonus, so the connection is already there, though it's frequently forgotten.
drothgery said:
I don't own any Eberron books, and I've never played anything set in Eberron (unless you count a few hours in the free demo of that crappy D&D MMORPG). But even I know that Eberron is neither science nor steampunk.jaer said:
Still, while a focus on making magical items is definitely a really cool niche for the gnome, it's probably not really a focus that belongs in the PHB. Not unless they were going to make magic items a larger, rather than smaller, part of the game. (I could dig that, though. Bring the Artificer class into the core, and introduce a stronger focus on minor, single-use magic items and such. Make the gnomes into the inherantly magical race, and skip the whole eladrin thing. I think that'd work.)
Maybe what gnomes really need is a focus on alchemy, which could be described as a little bit magic-lite and a little bit science-lite. It fits into more traditional campaign settings, and produces lots of low-powered, 1st-level-appropriate, single-use items. Also, 3e gnomes have a goddamned Craft (alchemy) bonus, so the connection is already there, though it's frequently forgotten.
Doug McCrae said:
Sorry, I feel a strong need to turn this logic against you.
Note that D&D is a pretty unpopular pastime. Something under 1% of the US population plays the game, right? So, clearly the whole concept of D&D is broken, and it should be eliminated from the hobby landscape.
Same logic as you're using, but I think it'd fail with this bunch as a justification. Why?
Because some of us do like it, and it harms nothing to have it there, that's why. Anyone in a fringe hobby like D&D ought to understand how really annoying it is to lose support for a thing because not enough other people like it. We all enjoy a hobby that lives based on the idea that there's supposed to be a bit of room for all kinds of stuff, even if it isn't the most popular.
Reaper Steve
Explorer
Wolfspider said:
Right...because no one saw the LotR trilogy of movies except us geeks.
I just want to put my 2 cents in:
Like they said: Gnomes are part elf, part dwarf and part halfling and not really in their own niche.
This is totally true. The only niche gnomes have is being cute at that point.
I 100% agree with WOTC that gnomes need a redesign and to be removed until they figure it out.
Get over it
Besides, no one plays gnomes and if you say you are then your lying
Like they said: Gnomes are part elf, part dwarf and part halfling and not really in their own niche.
This is totally true. The only niche gnomes have is being cute at that point.
I 100% agree with WOTC that gnomes need a redesign and to be removed until they figure it out.
Get over it
Besides, no one plays gnomes and if you say you are then your lying
GameOgre
Adventurer
I don't live in the USofA, if it happens to be the cause, but I have no idea why elves should bake cookies.
Garden gnomes are very familiar to me though.
Keebler Elves were a special 1st edition Elf that were first introduced with the Valley Elves. Keebler elves have a secondary skill"Master Baker"Cookies".
They seemed to make cookies almost full time as a art form as well as for trade with Humans"magic cookies that Humans couldnt stop eating".
The Keebler elves finally ended up in a 1993 Module "Chips over Waterdeep" where Driz did battle with Master Keebler himself atop the battlements of waterdeep.
In forth edition there has been no word yet on these elven bakers but many of us still hold out hope.
Garden gnomes are very familiar to me though.
Keebler Elves were a special 1st edition Elf that were first introduced with the Valley Elves. Keebler elves have a secondary skill"Master Baker"Cookies".
They seemed to make cookies almost full time as a art form as well as for trade with Humans"magic cookies that Humans couldnt stop eating".
The Keebler elves finally ended up in a 1993 Module "Chips over Waterdeep" where Driz did battle with Master Keebler himself atop the battlements of waterdeep.
In forth edition there has been no word yet on these elven bakers but many of us still hold out hope.
