D&D General Why Do People Hate Gnomes?

[Vaalingrade]

but that is about resiting becoming the other not being the other which is what I crave to play as, it is more personal horror than xenofiction let alone diet xenofiction.

That would be why it's diet. You're actively trying to not be human and the xenofiction is a punishment.

And WW really wants it to be personal horror when for me it's best played as The Matrix, but fangs.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Can you imagine two gnomes with very different personalities?

Case closed.

Yes. Case closed.

 

[Bedrockgames]

And WW really wants it to be personal horror when for me it's best played as The Matrix, but fangs.

I always liked it in Near Dark mode

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Serious question, as I've seen a ton of people online that play D&D make jokes about Gnomes or say how much they hate them. More than Kender, actually.

So . . . what is it about Gnomes that makes people hate them so much? Or such easy targets for jokes online?

People make fun of weird stuff. Gnomes remind people of weird humans.

I've never understood the dislike of Gnomes or Kender. But people have their preferences (I find Dragonborn a bit annoying for example, I know some players who get annoyed by the asymmetry of there being half elves and half orcs but no half gnomes, half halflings, half humans, and half dwarves: exceptions obviously in certain settings and supplements).

This always strikes me as odd, since it's so far opposite my preferences. Every move toward symmetry in world building annoys me. There being half elves just...doesn't mean there should be half gnomes. There being a plane of chaos and evil does not necessitate a plane of benevolent order.

Symmetry, to me, makes the world less believable and real.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I disagree but I agree with those that say that most participants - including the GMs - are unable to inhabit alien things or even imagine them, and they usually have no desire to anyway. They generally play a race for the bonuses and, to be frank since I have no clearer way to explain myself at this time, for sexual self-identification reasons. They want to play something that they perceive as exotic and desirable and "cool" - whether elf or tiefling or goliath or whatever they think gives them their character that allure. This is usually associated with the race having a stereotypical body shape that is more like the human ideal than the human ideal, as well as being perceived as graceful, feral, wild, and dangerous.

But this isn't to say that the D&D races aren't alien if you think about it, or that they can't be really alien, it's just that there is a cost to making them alien which is the more alien you make them the less well your players will be able to play them. I do try to make my D&D races something sufficiently biologically distinct that they aren't just stereotyped humans but I don't really ever have my players ever grok the races. For this reason, I tend to use mechanics that strongly encourage a human-centric party, just because I tend to find human PC's better imagined and better role-played than non-human PCs.

I resent that stat or sexual reason both are far from why I find all present races undesirable, I just crave something that fits and makes sense to me which probably is something truly strange given that my favour 5e class was mystic till they discontinued it.

I don’t hate gnomes in and of themselves, but unlike most people my experiences with gnomes in D&D tends to leave the impression that they are grouchy, egotistical, pompous, and generally just give off an heir of being better then everyone else that is so strong that it makes dwarves and elves look humble and likable by comparison.

All while constantly needing to be rescued by the adventuring group because they either got in over their heads, or because they are actually incapable of protecting themselves. And yet when you save them, they still act like they are better then you.

Now obviously this isn’t how many people play gnomes in their games but this has happened in a few groups I’ve played with and with enough frequency that it makes me wary of gnomes appearing in games.

When I decided to make my own homebrew world, I decided to take a look a some of the main races and consider how they would be represented in the world, especially since humans are not a main race on my world (they are considered outsiders as all humans on Salvera originate from other material planes). Gnomes are one of the races I thought a lot about and I’m pretty happy with my interpretation for my world, even if it’s a bit unoriginal.

Basically, I don’t hate gnomes but my experiences with them did them no favors.

those are not stereotypes I have ever heard of being gnomish, incompetent, enthusiastic, curious loves magic are gnome things not any of those.

That would be why it's diet. You're actively trying to not be human and the xenofiction is a punishment.

And WW really wants it to be personal horror when for me it's best played as The Matrix, but fangs.

given the punishment is to not be able to play your character at all it kinda falls flat, I agree with you on their failure to be good personal horror.
it is kinda like call of the unspellable you are not going crazy you are experiencing the collapse of your comfortable world view which honestly I call a mix of growing up and my Tuesday morning.

 

[Bedrockgames]

People make fun of weird stuff. Gnomes remind people of weird humans.

This always strikes me as odd, since it's so far opposite my preferences. Every move toward symmetry in world building annoys me. There being half elves just...doesn't mean there should be half gnomes. There being a plane of chaos and evil does not necessitate a plane of benevolent order.

Symmetry, to me, makes the world less believable and real.

I don't share the desire for symmetry either. It is just a critique I've heard a lot (and half humans was a joke lol).

 

[Celebrim]

I resent that stat or sexual reason both are far from why I find all present races undesirable

You seem to be resenting something I didn't say.

All I did was explain what I think makes popular races popular. They are either alluring or else they make for powerful builds. If they are neither alluring nor do they make for powerful builds, I typically do not find that players are very interested in playing them. If they are both alluring and make for powerful builds, then they will be enormously popular.

I just crave something that fits and makes sense to me...

You'll have to give me more to go on than that. Like, for example could I interest you in a catfolk race?

which probably is something truly strange given that my favour 5e class was mystic till they discontinued it.

You are not making this easy on me though because "mystic" is a very stereotypical "pick me" sort of class - loner, individualistic, self-powered, flexible, and like a wizard but not nerdy or constrained to do uncool things like chant, read books, and wave his hands around in a silly fashion. No, this is a being of pure reified ego, darn it, and he's cool!

 

[RoughCoronet0]

those are not stereotypes I have ever heard of being gnomish, incompetent, enthusiastic, curious loves magic are gnome things not any of those.

Yeah, you are not wrong that this is the wider understanding of them. This is just what I have experienced in the last 10+ years, and it had a hand in coloring my perception for quite a while.

 

[Bolares]

I think it's really hard for us humans to write anything ither then ourselves. True inhumanity is a hard concept to grasp...

 

[Tonguez]

Can you imagine two gnomes with very different personalities?

Case closed.

1 Eccentric absentminded elder,
2 quick, stealthy watcher
3. Boisterous, obsessive tinkerer
4 licentious lurking caliban