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<blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 8681691" data-attributes="member: 6796468">Gnomes have no unifying theme.They're basically there to give people a Small Size character option that isn't &quot;Hobbit&quot;. Because way back when, that's all halflings were. It took time for halflings to be more than portly hair-footed Bagginses. And gnomes gave people a way to play small without being -that-.That's it. That's the whole reason gnomes exist as an option for players.WotC and most other brands and writers try and differentiate gnomes by making them tinkers or fey or bankers (which has antisemitic roots) or whatever other role they can create that is as far from &quot;Hobbit&quot; as they can manage. Eberron made them Teachers, for example, tutors for the wealthy and powerful and... What are the rest of the gnomes doing while some tiny portion acts as teachers? Same thing as everyone else. Only in the &quot;Small People&quot; Ghetto where halflings, gnomes, and sometimes goblins hung out. And the Keith went &quot;Let's get crazy with halflings instead!&quot; and made them into dino-riders instead of hobbits. Well. Almost. He turned around and made Ghallanda and made them hospitable hobbits, too.Anyway. Yeah.Gnomes exist to give players a short race that isn't Bilbo to play. Everything else is just tacked on additions over editions to try and make them stand out more.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Steampunkette, post: 8681691, member: 6796468"] Gnomes have no unifying theme. They're basically there to give people a Small Size character option that isn't "Hobbit". Because way back when, that's all halflings were. It took time for halflings to be more than portly hair-footed Bagginses. And gnomes gave people a way to play small without being -that-. That's it. That's the whole reason gnomes exist as an option for players. WotC and most other brands and writers try and differentiate gnomes by making them tinkers or fey or bankers (which has antisemitic roots) or whatever other role they can create that is as far from "Hobbit" as they can manage. Eberron made them Teachers, for example, tutors for the wealthy and powerful and... What are the rest of the gnomes doing while some tiny portion acts as teachers? Same thing as everyone else. Only in the "Small People" Ghetto where halflings, gnomes, and sometimes goblins hung out. And the Keith went "Let's get crazy with halflings instead!" and made them into dino-riders instead of hobbits. Well. Almost. He turned around and made Ghallanda and made them hospitable hobbits, too. Anyway. Yeah. Gnomes exist to give players a short race that isn't Bilbo to play. Everything else is just tacked on additions over editions to try and make them stand out more. [/QUOTE]

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