When did gnomes fall from grace?

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Myself, I like what Eberron has done with the gnome. Wily information gatherers (which somewhat justifies Bard as their preferred class) and elementalists. Gnomes have been put forward in a way as the go-betweens for all the different races, and the gnomes of House Sivis control and monitor the flow of information around the globe. I think when all is said and done we're going to find out that the gnomes actually secretly control Khorvaire...

 

[Vocenoctum]

I would like gnomes to be yanked from the core rules come 4th Edition and instead put in the relevant setting books, along with half-elves and half-orcs (which should be done as templates applied to men), thus reducing the PHB races to: Dwarves, Elves, Halflings and Men.

No offense, but that's silly.
All you gnome haters really need to realize that some of us love gnomes. Just because you don't "get" them, doesn't mean they should be removed from the game, or that they're somehow wrong. D&D is about options, and you want to remove an option that others like and you don't.

For the record, the lack of a gnome stereotype is why I like them. Gnomes are magical, they're tricksters that use illusion. They were also sort of tough in earlier editions (lack of a Str penalty) and somewhat in 3e (Con bonus). The tinkers were inventive, though a bit overboard.

Basically, gnomes have always been about Inspiration (or Passion, as above), and it's great to play a character like that. I don't play ONLY gnomes, and I'd certainly not vote to remove races other players enjoyed (unless you ditch them all and go to point based or template open creation).

And, one of the things that ticked me off with AU even before print, was the comments about throwing in something for people that liked the short races. I don't know why people that don't like the races must get so derogatory about it, but Gnomes being Small sized is incidental to the race, IMO.

"We don't need more than 1 small race"
We don't need more Medium races either then.

Having gnomes in the book detracts from the book that much for you folks? Just ignore them if you don't like them, like a lot of people do with Dwarves.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I've been trying to suss out the role of gnomes in the game world of D&D, so I asked Gary Gygax himself about what he envisioned when he put gnomes into the game. Here's the exchange from right here on these boards:

Hey Gary, I can't recall if this question has been posed to you before, so pardon if it covers old ground. The gnome of 3e D&D has gone through something of an identity crisis, in my opinion. Can you tell us what your role was in bringing the gnome into D&D in the first place, way back when, and what niche you felt the gnome occupied? The question was prompted by a recent rereading of Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun, in which there is a gnomish enclave deep within the mountains. In the Forgotten Temple module, in particular, the gnomes seem to be very much like how dwarves are usually portrayed in RPGs - bluff, serious, perhaps rather grim. Any thoughts on how to differentiate between the portrayal of gnomes and dwarves?

Good question, Colonel,

As you undoubtedly know, gnomes were originally the nbame for small earth elementals, as salamanders were of fire, sylphs of air, and undines (I think, it's been a long time since I read on this subject) water.

Despite the origination of the gnome, I meant to make the race more attuned to nature than are dwarves. The deep gnomes, Svirfneblin, are meant to be exceptional. The balance of their cousins deal well with both nature and the subterranean.

Dwarves are miners, forgers, and somewhat mechanical.

Gnomes are miners, botanists, and highly mechanical.

Dwarves love gold and gems.

Gnomes appreciate objects d'art more than gold, although those of Zurich love to keep the wealth of dwarves and others secure.

That cover it?

Cheers,
Gary

Now, since we know what you think about dwarven women and beards, the question is begged: do gnomes have big noses?

Did W. C. Fields enjoy imbibing spiritous liquor? "Godfrey Daniel! Who put lemonade in my lemonade?!"

Ciao,
Gary

 

[Vocenoctum]

Myself, I like what Eberron has done with the gnome. Wily information gatherers (which somewhat justifies Bard as their preferred class) and elementalists. Gnomes have been put forward in a way as the go-betweens for all the different races, and the gnomes of House Sivis control and monitor the flow of information around the globe. I think when all is said and done we're going to find out that the gnomes actually secretly control Khorvaire...

The main thing I didn't like with Zilargo gnomes, is they seem to ignore the racial alignment tendencies in most of the published stuff. I understand Eberron's claims to alignment variance, but I'm not saying no gnomes can be scheming blackmailers. It just seems odd that so many of them are.

 

[Richards]

I've always liked gnomes, and rather disliked halflings. (I was never much for hobbits. The 3E halflings have been my favorite "take" on the race thus far.) In fact, for those seemingly few who do like gnomes, the bottom and top links in my sig ("Chuul" and "Destrachan," in that order; the one's a sequel to the other) are unpublished "fiction and footnote" styled "Ecology" articles featuring a pair of gnomish cousins (and their human companion, and the first one has a trio of dwarves as well). I always enjoyed writing that series.

I greatly prefer the "gnomish illusionist" ties from the 1E days. Gnomish bards just don't do much for me.

Johnathan

 

[mmadsen]

However, I don't agree that the four core races should be human, dwarf, elf, and halfling.

The fact is, as much Tolkien influenced and defined most modern conceptions of fantasy, he isn't the be-all and end-all of it. D&D, at least originally, drew as much from pulp sword & sorcery as from Tolkien. I would hate for the game to reach the point where it implied that Tolkien-esque fantasy was the only way to play.

The D&D races are the single most Tolkien-esque element of D&D: every adventuring party resembles the Fellowship of the Ring. A pulp swords & sorcery setting simply wouldn't offer non-human races for player characters -- but it would offer plenty of different human races.

 

[VirgilCaine]

In my primary homebrew campaign--and how scary is it that I have enough that I need to designate one as "primary"? --gnomes are the preeminant arcanists. Their favored classer are sorcerer and wizard*, and it was they who invented (well, "discovered" might be a better term) arcane magic. Sure, today the majority of wizards are human, but that's just because gnomes are relatively uncommon.

I try to stay away from gnomes as inventors, when it comes to anything beyond magic. Too many shades of tinkers. Shudder.

Well, and they have that too IMC--the whole magic-happy gimmick which Elves for some reason have. Since I have no Elves IMC, Gnomes take that niche. Lots of nifty crystal magic and mineral based alchemical items.

 

[Presto2112]

I tried to give Gnomes some respectibility in my Spelljammer game. I made them inventors, not the stupid Dragonlance version but real inventors. Dwarves invented the cannon, Gnomes invented handguns and rifles. The elves invented Spelljamming technology, gnome invented improvements for them, rudders for manuvering, sails for speed, armor and what not.

So gnomes are the D&D equivalent of 3M.

 

[Dagger75]

So gnomes are the D&D equivalent of 3M.

In my Spelljammer game they were. They didn't invent the things, they make the things you use better

I tried.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

The very, very, very few times I've written in or played a gnome in a game I've run (I've never gamed with anybody who has actually played one), I've played them as...well...pretty much how Gygax written.