What's the big deal about gnomes not being in the PHB? **Edited for adversarial tone*

[Rechan]

And yes, as others have pointed out, having them appear in the MM but not the PHB means a player would have to get DM approval for using them, since they're not in the default PC races.

And I would point out that just because it's in the PHB doesn't mean the DM will allow it anyhow.

There's been polls here on ENworld as to who would be banning Dragonborn/Tieflings from their games. Before they even saw them, mind you.

Sure, some DMs may not allow it because it's in the PHB. But that's not much of an excuse. If WotC had stuck Kobolds in the PHB, or Warforged, I'm fairly certain that there would be many a table that the DM would say, "Uh, not in my game."

 

[The Little Raven]

You don't think elves were changed at all? Okay, how about splitting the race in half and making two races out of it - eladrin and elves, one of which used to be an outsider. Nope, not radical at all.

Grey elves (now eladrin) have long been different enough from wood elves (now just elves) to warrant recognition of biological differences (different racial ability adjustments). Is giving them individual names instead of gobs of "<insert adjective here> Elves" really such a dramatic change?

How about the change of halflings from being gypsies to being river boaters. Nope, not a big change at all.

A nomadic people (as they were depicted in 3e) moving into an environment where their shortcomings (slower movement) don't affected their traditional lifestyle? Oh noes, changes that make sense!

Or how about making gnomes into green-skinned, skinny, beardless "monsters" with large black eyes. Nope, not a radical change at all.

Yeah, because the 1e->2e->3e constant changes in gnomes (oh wait, they're smart... no wait, that was 2nd edition, now they're sturdy) weren't dramatic at all.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Sure, some DMs may not allow it because it's in the PHB. But that's not much of an excuse. If WotC had stuck Kobolds in the PHB, or Warforged, I'm fairly certain that there would be many a table that the DM would say, "Uh, not in my game."

I've seen my share of DMs do that as well- usually for classes like the Monk or Paladin- rarely for races.

However, the truth remains that it stacks the deck against the gnome.

 

[The Little Raven]

However, the truth remains that it stacks the deck against the gnome.

Well, that's the fault of the community in general, since feedback is probably what determined the gnome was making his exit. The fact is, the gnome is one of the least used core races in the game, while non-core races like tiefling have become more popular.

 

[Arkhandus]

Part of which is due entirely to how gnomes were handled by the designers in 3rd Edition.

Just like Drow became popular because of Drizzt.

Gnomes in 3E were presented as a cruddy, confused little race of weakling dwarf-halfling-elf hybrids with no racial identity beyond trickster-who's-like-a-dwarf-but-smaller-and-weaker. For some godawful idiotic reason, they ditched the way gnomes used to be and shoehorned them into being neglected and disliked by most folks.

They should've maintained the statistical advantages of gnomes as smart, clever little cave and forest dwellers, who could be tricksters, but could also be formidable schemers, mages, tinkers, or rogues. Gnomes used to be less terrible as warriors than they are in 3rd Edition, for the most part.

Gnomes are unpopular in 3E precisely because WotC did a poor job of mucking with their racial traits and background, and choice to make them weak, silly, and inferior to most of the other core races for most purposes.

 

[Thunderfoot]

The basis is that there are plenty of people whom you have not played with.

My primary player character is a gnome illusionist/bard/gnome paragon -- what he'll look like initially in 4E is a complete mystery to me.

I DM two gnome player characters. Likewise, what's going to happen to them is a matter of genuine concern.

And before anyone sniffs about how worthless gnomes are, do not that there's no comparable outcry over half-orcs, barbarians, bards, druids and possibly sorcerers not being in the PHB. So, yeah, gnomes ARE pretty popular, relatively speaking. People who like them REALLY like them.

Yep, I'm with ya WD. I have a player in my group that is a GNOME DRUID...I have one phrase for you - "Flame Strike from nowhere". Being able to move from place to place at well beyond their normal movement as a flying or crawling creature, transforming and casting can ruin a monsters whole concept of life. And mind you, the entire time, this little bugger is a small or tiny creature regardless of what for its in, and if someone closes, he transforms into a black bear and slugs it out like a fighter....nasty, simply freakin' nasty.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The fact is, the gnome is one of the least used core races in the game, while non-core races like tiefling have become more popular.

Like Arkhandus and I pointed out, that is due in large part to the poor treatment they were given in 3.X, changing their favored class in 3.X to the Bard- one of what some consider to be the weakest classes in the edition.

But excising them from the PHB is, at worst, throwing the baby out with the bathwater. At best, its a form of temporizing while they try to strengthen their identity within the game. (Hopefully, its truly the latter, and the 4Ed gnome can stand up to the other races.)

As for non-core races...

As I state In other current threads, after 30 years in the hobby I've played all of the core races across the editions, most of the setting-specific races, and many homebrewed races...and that's just in D&D.

In short, I like variety- but not at the expense of the game's solid legacy. I wholeheartedly embraced 3.XEd's increased racial choices.

That still doesn't mean that I want the gnome gone from the core.

 

[The Little Raven]

Like Arkhandus and I pointed out, that is due in large part to the poor treatment they were given in 3.X, changing their favored class in 3.X to the Bard- one of what some consider to be the weakest classes in the edition.

They weren't exactly popular before 3rd Edition, either, because of their identity issues: too dwarf-like to be an elf, too elf-like to be a dwarf, and too short to be anything else. Aside from a couple tinker gnome novels in Dragonlance, you didn't really see many gnomes in prominent places in fiction. Outside of D&D, gnomes are generally jokes (David the Gnome, Travelocity's gnome, garden gnomes, etc), and aren't a strong, heroic (or anti-heroic) icon like the elf or dwarf is.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

More people played gnomes pre-3.X than post.

Outside of D&D, gnomes are generally jokes (David the Gnome, Travelocity's gnome, garden gnomes, etc), and aren't a strong, heroic (or anti-heroic) icon like the elf or dwarf is.

That simply isn't true.

Gnomes and gnome-like beings have played roles as magical tricksters of some potency and anti-heroes at least as often as Elves have in opera and various cultural legends. In fact, depending upon the region and the translator, the words "Goblin," "Gnome," "Elf" and "Dwarf" have been used interchangeably, usually under a general heading of "Fey." (In some legends, Elves are smaller than birds...how heroic is that?)

Germanic folklore's Rübezahl is the Lord of the Underworld- he was sometimes referred to as a mountain gnome. According to some traditions, the gnome king is called Gob.

The Nome King is the principle BBEG in Frank Baum's Oz series.

And in modern fiction, The Shanarra books feature Gnomes as one of the principle evil races, similar to D&D Goblins.