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

[Driddle]

If, of course, you accept what is essentially a publicity statement at face value. I don't do it with politicians, and I don't do it with people who want to sell me something.

There ya go!
Brownie points to you, sir or madam.

 

[Driddle]

If someone says, "the reason why we're not doing A is because we're not satisfied with our approach to A yet," you can generally take the statement at face value.

"No, honey, I didn't go to the store to buy that dress that I think is gawd-awful ugly for your birthday because I'm just not satisfied with my approach to it yet. My excuse has absolutely nothing to do with my personal feelings or a lack of effort. You can take what I'm saying at face value. Really."

We can speculate all we want about why Gnomes weren't developed into a distinct and exclusive niche. Maybe marketing deemed that face time be given to more flashy and "cool" races. Maybe the developers were too caught up thinking about other races. Maybe the developers just hate Gnomes. Maybe they don't really hate Gnomes, but they do really hate people who play Gnomes. Maybe by trying to stay true to what Gnomes were in previous editions, they developed a concept that they didn't feel was up to PHB snuff. Whatever the reason, the statement that Gnomes aren't in PHB1 because Gnomes don't have a unique and distinct enough niche in the world to be presented as one of the "core" 4E races isn't in any way disingenuous.

More likely all those other reasons you gave in the preceding paragraph were too harshly true for them to admit in their pretty little $20 R&C book, so they claimed something else instead.

I can understand the "race has no niche of its own" argument, but in the case of the gnome I personally am not sure it really applies. For 4e, the designers carved off the arcanist side of the elf to create a new racial niche, that of the inherently-magical race with connections to the fey. It seems to me that this is a role that gnomes, being mischievous illusionists with innate spell-like abilities (in addition to being inspired by subterranean Germanic fey), would have fit wonderfully.

Heck, yeah! The designers have already said the the magic schools have been radically changed, and that front-line magic users are expected to "blow stuff up." It wouldn't have taken too much effort to give illusion and shadow to gnomes (and maybe even divination, as the flipside of illusion). They could have even combined other previous edition racial concepts into one new package -- a lore-keeping people who value knowledge/information so much that their culture is based on manipulating it and other people via illusion, trickery, trading data with other races, and misleading others (or hiding in plain sight) with entertainment and song. As for poining to a spot on a map or terrain type where they might live, I'd point to the entire world -- their niche is to live comfortably side-by-side with other races within all the other big cities. Their "niche" environment is that they have no private niche.

It's not that they didn't have potential to be used. It's that the designers chose to ignore it.

 

[Hussar]

It's funny. In my last campaign, I had two different players, at different points in the campaign, bring in small sized, friendly, outgoing, charismatic PC's. One a thief, the other a bard. Neither were gnomes. One was a goblin and the other a kobold (both drawing on Eberron). I asked both players why they didn't just go with a gnome, which, in my mind anyway, fit much better with the niche they were going for.

Both answered that were utterly boring and neither had any interest in playing one.

Whether or not gnomes have a niche is not really the point. Gamers perceive them as not having one. They're not unique enough to be appealing.

 

[Lurks-no-More]

As others have said, gnomes don't have anything that other races - elves, halflings and dwarves - don't do better, except possibly the "weird inventors" angle, which was almost as annoying as the kender in Dragonlance, and which doesn't fit most D&D settings.

 

[Dausuul]

It's funny. In my last campaign, I had two different players, at different points in the campaign, bring in small sized, friendly, outgoing, charismatic PC's. One a thief, the other a bard. Neither were gnomes. One was a goblin and the other a kobold (both drawing on Eberron). I asked both players why they didn't just go with a gnome, which, in my mind anyway, fit much better with the niche they were going for.

Both answered that were utterly boring and neither had any interest in playing one.

Whether or not gnomes have a niche is not really the point. Gamers perceive them as not having one. They're not unique enough to be appealing.

And that pretty much sums up why WotC got rid of the gnome, I think. No gamer I have ever met likes gnomes (well, maybe one guy, though even he was more fond of halflings, and he usually DMed anyway). Players like races that have a cool factor going for them. Dwarves and half-orcs run on raw, testosterone-crazed toughness. Elves, eladrin, and half-elves rely partly on their aura of magicalness but mostly on sheer good looks (and here's hoping they get a Charisma bonus in 4E). Halflings have the stealthy, tricky "little guy in a big world" dynamic, and more importantly they look like miniature elves. Tieflings have the bad-boy (or bad-girl) thing going on, what the R&C writers sometimes called "evil-curious." Dragonborn... well, I don't like them, but they can at least bask in the reflected glory of dragons. But gnomes are just not cool, and so they have been banished from the PHB.

 

[HeinorNY]

It works somehow like that:

"Who wants gnomes?"

o o o o o o o o o o o o \o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o/ o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o/ o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o \o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

"OK, gnomes out."

 

[Driddle]

It's funny. In my last campaign... I asked both players why they didn't just go with a gnome, which, in my mind anyway, fit much better with the niche they were going for.

Both answered that were utterly boring and neither had any interest in playing one.

In my case, I've never met a player who actually finds elves interesting because, they say, the race is a weak cliche, at best. I've seen people roleplay dwarves and half-orcs and gnomes with stereotypical "ethnic" traits at the table, but never elves. (Even half-elves/half-humans have more playability because at least they can express discomfort at being outsiders to their inherited cultures.) ... That being said, however, it's worth noting that my observations of elf-disinterest cannot be trusted as being any more legitimate than some of the opinions here of wholesale gnome-disinterest.

Regardless...
The game designers had an opportunity to refine and define gnomes and their relationships with other races -- "niches" and all -- on a totally clean slate with the introduction of 4th edition. Whatever they write in the new books will become canon. In the same way that they developed new core races from scratch, they could have done the same with gnomes. Instead, they chose not to, and then justified that decision on itself -- i.e. "We couldn't design a niche because we didn't have a niche to design."

Elves, eladrin, and half-elves rely partly on their aura of magicalness but mostly on sheer good looks (and here's hoping they get a Charisma bonus in 4E). Halflings have the stealthy, tricky "little guy in a big world" dynamic, and more importantly they look like miniature elves.

Elfgasm!

By the way, you forgot to mention elves' inherent natural woodsy martialness in addition to their magicalness. Part of the new design notes, remember.

 

[Klaus]

It's funny. In my last campaign, I had two different players, at different points in the campaign, bring in small sized, friendly, outgoing, charismatic PC's. One a thief, the other a bard. Neither were gnomes. One was a goblin and the other a kobold (both drawing on Eberron). I asked both players why they didn't just go with a gnome, which, in my mind anyway, fit much better with the niche they were going for.

Both answered that were utterly boring and neither had any interest in playing one.

Whether or not gnomes have a niche is not really the point. Gamers perceive them as not having one. They're not unique enough to be appealing.

Until someone decides to make them appealing, they won't be.

This is what I set out to do, waaaaay back when I bought Hero Builder's Guidebook, and had a whole month of updates on my site focusing on gnomes (called Gnomania):

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Just because some people think gnomes are oh so great doesn't negate that most people detest them.

Hey, who posted all the Halfling Pictures? They are pretty cool.

 

[TwoSix]

Regardless...
The game designers had an opportunity to refine and define gnomes and their relationships with other races -- "niches" and all -- on a totally clean slate with the introduction of 4th edition. Whatever they write in the new books will become canon. In the same way that they developed new core races from scratch, they could have done the same with gnomes. Instead, they chose not to, and then justified that decision on itself -- i.e. "We couldn't design a niche because we didn't have a niche to design."

But no one actually likes gnomes. And if they're truly that into gnomes, against all my expectations, they're in the MM, which comes out simultaneously with the PHB. All this outrage against their demotion is, dare I say it, disingenuous.