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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 3956939" data-attributes="member: 13966">You really can't just compare gnomes to elves, though.  Elves and dwarves are THE two most iconic fantasy races, PERIOD.  Orcs are about as common as gnomes, but only because of Tolkien doing it first.  Gnomes have more precedent in folklore and such, but orcs were used by Tolkien.Who also made hobbits, which spread around as halflings in other stuff.  But that doesn't mean that orcs and halflings are more deserving of a spot in the PHB than gnomes, who actually have more traditional fantasy roots (orcs, far as I know, have some minor place in Norse lore and similar as orichar/orca/orcus, but that's all).It's just that the traditional gnome was a lot scarier and stranger than what Tolkien wanted out of hobbits, so he made hobbits.  Who somehow got twisted into an almost completely different race in 3E and 4E (and back in Dragonlance as kender, of course).Of course gnomes and halflings don't sell as well as elves.  Not even dwarves sell stuff quite as well as elves, but they're the only iconic fantasy race that comes close.  That doesn't mean that halflings, half-elves, one oddball race that used to be rare and relegated primarily to monster books, and another oddball race that nobody knew about nor gave a darn about before, are better choices for the Player's Handbook than gnomes (or orcs for that matter; orcs are certainly more popular in fantasy games than halflings and half-elves!  HECK, goblins are more popular in fantasy stuff than halflings!).They could just as easily have played up the creepyness potential of gnomes, and a bit of a sinister fey or trollkin side, instead of throwing in Tieflings as a frickin' undeserving core race.  It'd still fit Eberron gnomes well enough, and wouldn't be too much of a change from the mostly-silly archetype someone decided to foist upon them in other settings.</blockquote>

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