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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gez" data-source="post: 519620" data-attributes="member: 1328">BiggusGeekus@Work:I don't see the role that gnomes occupy.Do they need to ? Do anyone need to ? (Yes, it's a role-playing game !)OK. They are the wise people who know. Your characters need to find the complete prophecy about so-or-so ? The library with the fabled lore they need is run by gnomes.That's how I always seen them, and always will. Remember that the very word "gnome" comes from the greek "gnosis", which just mean... Knowledge. Mythically, gnomes were the little fey who knew every secret of nature and alchemy, and that alchemists associated with Hermes.Note the +2 racial bonus to Alchemy back that. Yeah, they speak about good sense of smell, wadada, wadada. But then, why don't half-orcs this bonus too ?Their inquisitive mind put them to search every lore they can. Gnome communities are often secluded and calm, just for the same reasons places of knowledge are secluded and calm.Their ability to speak with animals derive from this innate wisdom they have. And their free cantrips just prove that every gnome is at least a little bit a wizard.Are they magically inclined, like elves? Yes. Even more than elves. Elves are inclined to learn magic because they love it. Gnomes are inclined to perform magic because it's just in them.Are they mechanically inclined, like dwarves? No ! They're smart enough to understand mechanisms, but as a whole, they are not attracted by that. Go back, you awful krynnish tinkers ! You sully the name of gnome ! Begone, may have you never existed !Are they short & happy, like halflings? Yes, they're short. But remember that everyone is short, save for humans and half-orcs. Gnomes happen to be between dwarves and halflings in the shortness rating.When I think of the other core races I see a place for them.You're blind, then.By the way, don't be afraid of getting a little out of context. Every race are used out of context.The lawful good dwarves seem to be always depicted as wild dirty frantic berserkers, with a genocidal attitude toward their racial enemies (orcs, goblinoids, and frequently elves). That ain't in context to me.The chaotic good elves who love to study magic and thus have a favored class of wizard seem to be always depicted as distant, haughty, hierarchical creatures of pure light and magic, living in a centralized empire, obeying millenia old traditions, and giving a paramount importance to bloodline -- especially purity of bloodline -- while considering all other race to be at best, harmless annoyance, at worst, foes that must be eradicated; and somewhere in the middle, slaves.Halflings of today are a strange cross between hobbits and kenders, with a small amount of gypsie thrown in. As a result, they are seldom used as described.</blockquote>

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