Greetings.

In another thread on D&D 4the Edition, there was a question about Gnomes.  I figured I'd provide what little research I could (given the demands of daily life) without cluttering up that thread. So, without further ado...

Dungeons & Dragons (c. 1978 - the Blue Box with the Dragon atop a pile of gold), Page 28:
Gnome

Gnomes are similar to dwarves, whom they resemble. They are smaller, have larger noses and beards and inhabit low-land and hill burrows rather than mountains. They favor crossbows.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Players Handbook; page 16:
Gnomes

A gnome's preferred habitation is an area of rolling, rocky hills, well-wooded and uninhabited by humans. Details of the race are found in ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, MONSTER MANUAL.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Monster Manual; Page 46:
GNOME

[Stat Block...]

Similar to their larger cousins, dwarves, the social organization of the gnomes is based on clans, and these groups are likewise neither exclusive nor hostile to each other, although there does exist a rivalry wherein each tries to outdo the other groups. For every 40 gnomes encountered...

[description of encounter possibilities, percentage of weapon types, armor types, etc.]

Description: Most Gnomes are wood brown, a few range to gray brown, of skin. Their hair is medium to pure white, and their eyes are gray-blue to bright blue. They wear leather and earth tones of cloth and like jewelry. The average gnome will live for 600 years.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition, Players Handbook; page 22:
Gnomes

Kin to dwarves, gnomes are noticeably smaller than their cousins. Gnomes, as they proudly maintain, are also less rotund than dwarves. Their noses, however, are significantly larger. Most gnomes have dark tan or brown skin and white hair. A typical gnome lives 600 years.

Gnomes have lively and sly sense of humor, especially for practical jokes. They have a great love of living things and finely wrought items, particularly gems and jewelry. Gnomes love all sorts of precious stones and are masters of gem polishing and cutting.

Gnomes prefer to live in areas of rolling, rocky hills, well wooded and uninhabited by humans. Their diminutive stature has made them suspicious of the larger races – humans and elves – although they are not hostile. They are sly and furtive with those they do not know or trust, and somewhat reserved even under the best of circumstances. Dwelling in mines and burrows, they are sympathetic to dwarves, but find their larger cousins' aversion to surface dwellers foolish.

Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, Core Rulebook I v.3.5; page 16:
Gnomes

Gnomes are welcome everywhere as technicians, alchemists, and inventors. Despite the demand for their skills, most gnomes prefer to remain among their own kind, living in comfortable burrows beneath rolling, wooded hills where animals abound.

Personality: Gnomes adore animals, beautiful gems, and jokes of all kinds. Members of this race have a great sense of humor, and while they love puns, jokes, and games, they also relish tricks – the more intricate the better. They apply the same dedication to more practical arts, such as engineering, as the do to their pranks.

Gnomes are inquisitive. They love to find things out by personal experience. At times they're even reckless. Their curiosity makes them skilled engineers, since they are always trying new way to build things. Sometimes a gnome pulls a prank just to see how the people involved will react.

Physical Description: Gnomes stand about 3 to 3-1/2 feet tall and weigh 40 to 45 pounds. Their skin ranges from dark tan to woody brown, their hair is fair, and their eyes can be any shade of blue. Gnome males prefer short, carefully trimmed beards. Gnomes generally wear leather or earth tones, and the decorate their clothes with intricate stitching or fine jewelry. Gnomes reach adulthood at about age 40, and they typically live about 350 years, though some can live almost 500 years.

[Snipped More on Relations, Alignment, Gnome Lands, Religion, Language, Names, etc.]

By and large, I think they improved through the editions. Clearly the changes are due to an effort to distinguish them both from Dwarves and Halflings. Beats me why they get the shaft now. I guess they don't fill one of the four roles, or some shit.

PS: Hang on. I forgot they shafted the Illusionist in 3.x, ditto Phantasmal Force. This sucked. Shafting the Gnomes themselves followed naturally from that suckage, I guess. Ph.F. might have given them a combat role, tech gadgets not so much because there are no comprehensive rules for them in the corebooks.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityBy and large, I think they improved through the editions. Clearly the changes are due to an effort to distinguish them both from Dwarves and Halflings. Beats me why they get the shaft now. I guess they don't fill one of the four roles, or some shit.

As I went through these and looked for the information, it was interesting to me how, as it became a PC race, it became more and more delineated as you describe.

Which, as you bring up, begs the question: Why no further development? Ah, well, our is not to...whatever....

Quote from: Pierce InverarityPS: Hang on. I forgot they shafted the Illusionist in 3.x, ditto Phantasmal Force. This sucked. Shafting the Gnomes themselves followed naturally from that suckage, I guess. Ph.F. might have given them a combat role, tech gadgets not so much because there are no comprehensive rules for them in the corebooks.

Nah... gnome favored class got switched to bard in 3.5.

Quote from: beejazzNah... gnome favored class got switched to bard in 3.5.

That always bugged me as to why.  +2 CON, -2 STR?  Doesn't exactly scream "bard".  Pity artificer wasn't in the 3.5 core--that'd have been a better fit.

Quote from: Zachary The FirstThat always bugged me as to why.  +2 CON, -2 STR?  Doesn't exactly scream "bard".  Pity artificer wasn't in the 3.5 core--that'd have been a better fit.

I tend to either houserule that this is the case or play as a gnome artificer myself. Two great tastes that taste great together.

And when I don't want to go all techy, I pick up the archivist from Heroes of Horror.

And now you know my secret shame... I am a supplement whore.

Interesting to see the gnome descriptions in different editions.

The problem that I've always had with gnomes as a PC race is that they didn't really fill a niche not already filled by either dwarves or halflings.  They always seemed somehow superfluous, a third 'wee people' when two were more than enough.

Except for AD&D gnome illusionist/thieves.  Those were kinda cool.
:gnome:

Quote from: AkrasiaExcept for AD&D gnome illusionist/thieves.  Those were kinda cool.
:gnome:

Exactly. Let me tell you about my favorite character, Theophrastus Bombastus Somethingorother...

...not.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityBy and large, I think they improved through the editions. Clearly the changes are due to an effort to distinguish them both from Dwarves and Halflings. Beats me why they get the shaft now. I guess they don't fill one of the four roles, or some shit.

I think they are probably going to bring the gnomes back in one of the later PHBs - perhaps one with "tinkering" or "invention" as a power source. The PHB I is being billed as "Magical, Divine and Martial heroes", for example - I could see the PHB II being billed as "Psionic and Gadgeteering Heroes" or something like that.

Gnomes suck, in all their versions.

RPGPundit

My experience with them (from D&D through 3.5) is that they started out as one of the generally more benign encounters you could run into. They usually weren't particularly agressive or violent, and sometimes you could get them to trade! Prior to them being a regular playable option, they struck me as something that didn't need a niche to fill; they were just other folks out there that one could deal with.

Later, they seemed to be sort of second stringers for the little races; not as specific as Dwarves or Halflings, but unable to play to their strengths (intelligence) either.  They had a bit of different flavor, though, and some supplements which opened up their class options made them 'the other magical demihuman' which could be kind of neat.

In 3.0, they were both made both more and less like minidwarves. 3.5 tried to reboot them, but some of the changes rubbed me the wrong way; in either case, I saw more Gnomish generalist wizards and clerics than I did Illusionists or Bards.

which book is artificer in?  eberron?

i never cared for them in any edition.  but in the brief 3.x campaign i ran, i made them the main "empire" with their human allies.  they used their knack for invention to rule with their flying ships.  firearms were martial weapons for them, etc.  unfortunately they remained in the fringe of the campaign and we never got to explore it further.  

so i guess the tinker-type gnome has been my favorite take so far.  just without the OTT way dragonlance did it.

Quote from: RPGPunditGnomes suck, in all their versions.

RPGPundit

You are so dead to me. Not that it matters or anything.

Also... yeah, artificers are in Eberron. I had my fingers crossed for them making an appearance in the PHb, but I knew better than to have my hopes up on that one.

I used to hate gnomes and switched to the Birthright setting when it came out and loved that they had no gnomes in it.  Then, just to do something different, I tried one in a 3.X game and fell in love with them.  It was nice finally playing a race that wasn't "Tolkin" inspired.  Ok.. maybe that's a bit generalized, but it was fun playing it.  The next game we played 3 us decided to all play gnomes... I was a druid, another was a rogue, and the third was an illusionist.  It was great fun for us (and the rest of the party) and helped lighten the mood with the odd prank.  (We were all mature enough though to keep it to the sidelines rather than interfere with the main story though).


I've never like the "tinkerer" aspect that Dragonlance gave them and tend to leave that out when I can.  I think one of the best takes on them is in a Kenzerco supplement called Gnomes & Kobolds.  They do a great job giving them a distinct culture and make them more "alive".