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Geez, you'd think Paizo's trying to play up the "Gnome = Fey" thing or something. Another in the tradition of somewhat gimped iconics, Lini seems like she'll fit in with the band perfectly. And I had actual hopes for the iconics group this time, what with Amiri seeming an interest and yet still effective character build.
Sorry, too many bad memories of one of my players (who basically only plays gnomes) and her essentially useless Gnome Druid. Even at 20th level with a Triceratops companion (in Shackled City no less!) she still was basically just dead weight for the party. Don't get me started about her boyfriend-turned-fiance and his kobold fetish, either...
Not sure why she'd be gimped. Wildshape takes care of size issues and the druid's animal companions and nature's ally spells rock.
The punk gnome druid art rocks, incidentally, although more specifics on the feelings of abandonment would help sell the turn to nature and away from civilization....
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Not sure why she'd be gimped. Wildshape takes care of size issues and the druid's animal companions and nature's ally spells rock.
The punk gnome druid art rocks, incidentally, although more specifics on the feelings of abandonment would help sell the turn to nature and away from civilization....
Yes, but what level does she get Wild Shape at? 5th. Till then, she's basically just there to cast spells and tell her leopard to maul things.
(Paizo crew: will she be using the Snow Leopard stats from Tome of Horrors II, by chance?)
I like the new look and feel of the PRPG gnomes. Putting them closer to the fey kin is an excellent idea. It looks like those Thorn miniatures (from Angelfire) will get some use after all...
- Zorg
Creative Director
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Gnomes actually make pretty good druids. They are, after all, the only core race with the ability to speak to animals of any kind. At lower levels, they can send in their animal companion to beat up monsters while they hang back and throw fire with produce fire or entangle or whatever. And yes; once they hit 5th level, wildshape more or less makes the size and strength penalty go away if you want to be a frontline combat machine.
As for her hair, yup. Our gnomes are fey; and one way that manifests is in their skin and hair colors. Gnome hair is all over the place, and can be of colors you see in nature, from the green of fresh grass to the reds and purples of wildflowers to the brown or gray of stones. Skin tone is similarly wide-ranging, although not quite as wild.
The eyebrows are a bit much but otherwise I really like her. :)
And I had actual hopes for the iconics group this time, what with Amiri seeming an interest and yet still effective character build.
What's not effective? Druids are casters - and not necessarily just buffers.
And in those cases when they want to attack themselves, they use wild-shape.
Sure, in the first couple of levels, the caster will mainly cast (*gasp*), but then, her size will not matter any more.
Come to think of it, using a race with a strength penalty and small size as druid is quite effective. I'd go as far as calling it borderline min-maxing.
And she has tons of style.
Very cool. What's with the stick though. :)
Read the backstory...
It's the green hair that really gets me.
She's a gnome - who are said to have wild hair and skin colours.
"Gnomes are by far the most mysterious and magical of the civilized races, and their vibrantly colored hair and skin show the influence of nature and their fey roots."
And she's a druid to boot. Green hair fits.
although more specifics on the feelings of abandonment would help sell the turn to nature and away from civilization....
What civilisation? She's a gnome. Golarion's gnomes have strong ties to nature and the fey to begin with.
Yes, but what level does she get Wild Shape at? 5th. Till then, she's basically just there to cast spells and tell her leopard to maul things.
So? A wizard only gets to cast spells - and maybe tell his familiar to annoy things.
Personally, I haven't seen that many druids that were slicing through armies since level one.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Geez, you'd think Paizo's trying to play up the "Gnome = Fey" thing or something. Another in the tradition of somewhat gimped iconics, Lini seems like she'll fit in with the band perfectly. And I had actual hopes for the iconics group this time, what with Amiri seeming an interest and yet still effective character build.
No one's forcing you to use the pregen characters. The iconics are just that, icons, that will appear throughout the Pathfinder product line. If you don't think a gnome druid is effective, play something else. Playable or not, I think her backstory's pretty rockin'. Speaking of which, are we ever going to get a full writeup for Valeros? Seems he got introduced before the backstories started to become long and interesting.
I await miniatures of these two. Very cool concept that I had not thought of...Gnome Druid...awesome.
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Creative Director
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Geez, you'd think Paizo's trying to play up the "Gnome = Fey" thing or something. Another in the tradition of somewhat gimped iconics, Lini seems like she'll fit in with the band perfectly. And I had actual hopes for the iconics group this time, what with Amiri seeming an interest and yet still effective character build.No one's forcing you to use the pregen characters. The iconics are just that, icons, that will appear throughout the Pathfinder product line. If you don't think a gnome druid is effective, play something else. Playable or not, I think her backstory's pretty rockin'. Speaking of which, are we ever going to get a full writeup for Valeros? Seems he got introduced before the backstories started to become long and interesting.
Eventually yeah. We'll do a backstory for Valeros. Eventually.
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Creative Director
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I did, and I'm sticking wondering why she collects and debarks them. :)Very cool. What's with the stick though. :)Read the backstory...
Because gnomes do weird things that humans don't understand. One of those traits is collecting stuff; in Lini's case, she collects twigs and sticks from the various forests she visits, and she likes how they look and feel all debarked better than when the bark's on.
I could explain the reasoning in character, but that'd take a few hours and result in a 5,000 word post.
Yes, but what level does she get Wild Shape at? 5th. Till then, she's basically just there to cast spells and tell her leopard to maul things.
Um, she's a spellcaster with an animal companion? What is she supposed to do other than cast spells and tell her leopard to maul things? Are you expecting her to be a tank frontline fighter or something? She's a druid - a full-level spellcaster, not a fighter or dual-wielding ranger. I would expect her to primarily cast spells - at least until she can wildshape. I just honestly don't understand the problem with her being a spellcaster. *shrug*
The big thing that annoys me about the iconics is that they are all interesting, and I'd like to play them as PCs or sneak them in as NPCs, but there's just too many. ;) I'm glad that Paizo has gone for interesting personalities and backgrounds rather than maximized stats.
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I did, and I'm sticking wondering why she collects and debarks them. :)Very cool. What's with the stick though. :)Read the backstory...Because gnomes do weird things that humans don't understand. One of those traits is collecting stuff; in Lini's case, she collects twigs and sticks from the various forests she visits, and she likes how they look and feel all debarked better than when the bark's on.
I could explain the reasoning in character, but that'd take a few hours and result in a 5,000 word post.
Go for it! We'll wait...
Yay, my sister shows her face!
although more specifics on the feelings of abandonment would help sell the turn to nature and away from civilization....What civilisation? She's a gnome. Golarion's gnomes have strong ties to nature and the fey to begin with.
Perhaps a poor word choice, but I was responding to this part of the blog entry: "More than once, Lini's traveling companions or enclave..."
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I did, and I'm sticking wondering why she collects and debarks them. :)Very cool. What's with the stick though. :)Read the backstory...Because gnomes do weird things that humans don't understand. One of those traits is collecting stuff; in Lini's case, she collects twigs and sticks from the various forests she visits, and she likes how they look and feel all debarked better than when the bark's on.
I could explain the reasoning in character, but that'd take a few hours and result in a 5,000 word post.
I assumed it was a classic fairy hink. Basically, fey creatures fetishize objects from the material plane as means of maintaining solidity and focus. Crafted/altered objects are especially prized, as they are the most 'solid' in a magical sense. Gnomes, being half-fey creatures, covet objects as a way to stave off the call of the faerie realms. They stabilize them.
Just a theory :)
By the way, I love the iconic. Good work guys.
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Like I said, I'm still just wary of the whole concept having seen one played first hand, and played badly.
Forget the whole thing.
Naw man, you can have your opinion! Did the player have a good time? This kind of stuff happens all the time at my table (well, the wizard always dies when a dragon shows up anyway) and we love it! Once those dragons die the wizard carves out a keepsake and vows revenge against the whole species...
This made me want to play a gnome druid .Love the look of pathfinder gnomes and the fey angel.Very nice guys.
I love your fey-gnomes. A much better niche, than "thr other smal guys, short dwarfs, mechanics".
I love the druid class, too.
The next character I would like to play:
Gnome Druid
Gnome Warlock (fey ancestry)
One of my most fun characters was a paranoid gnome illusionist.
One thing, dear paizo, change the favored class for gnomes.
Or give more than one.
Or use the old system.
I liked, that the old system only penalized multi-, but ot single classing.
Woah, She's awesome.
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Creative Director
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So what will her pregen for levels 1-3 do for animal companions since leopards are only available if you're level 4 or below?
Otherwise I like her, not my first choice for the Druid iconic, but I think my hopes are going to manifest in the upcoming Half Elf multiclasser.
Two Options:
1) You will note that a snow leopard is different than a leopard. We could say that a snow leopard is a less powerful leopard with different stats. (We could even go the lazy route and say a snow leopard's stats are identical to a wolf's.)
2) (and this is probably the one we'll go with) A snow leopard uses the same stats as a leopard. She can't get a snow leopard until she's 4th level, so when we illustrate her at lower than 4th level, we probably just won't show any animal companions at all. When we do up her stats when she's lower than 4th level, she'll have a different, temporary, animal companion. Maybe an owl. We'll tinker with her character history for that one a little somehow. We'll make it work.
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Contributor
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I think the Gnome druid looks really cool.
For the first time in 15+ years of gaming, playing a gnome is a possibility for me.
Yay! :D
I await miniatures of these two. Very cool concept that I had not thought of...Gnome Druid...awesome.
OMG I can't wait to see her mini!!! :D
Yay, my sister shows her face!
Yay! :D
Once again, a great iconic!
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So what will her pregen for levels 1-3 do for animal companions since leopards are only available if you're level 4 or below?
Otherwise I like her, not my first choice for the Druid iconic, but I think my hopes are going to manifest in the upcoming Half Elf multiclasser.
Two Options:
1) You will note that a snow leopard is different than a leopard. We could say that a snow leopard is a less powerful leopard with different stats. (We could even go the lazy route and say a snow leopard's stats are identical to a wolf's.)
2) (and this is probably the one we'll go with) A snow leopard uses the same stats as a leopard. She can't get a snow leopard until she's 4th level, so when we illustrate her at lower than 4th level, we probably just won't show any animal companions at all. When we do up her stats when she's lower than 4th level, she'll have a different, temporary, animal companion. Maybe an owl. We'll tinker with her character history for that one a little somehow. We'll make it work.
A Snow Leopard is generally smaller than a leopard (and not just a leopard with different fur coloring as a lot of people believe). I would love it if you guys came up with a cat animal companion for level 1 druids (we frequently use Serval stats from Sandstorm but it's not OGL).
The wolf is always such an obvious and overused choice, and I'm a cat lover >^.^<
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Chalk up another one for the group that for once, ever, in the history of playing D&D, looked at a gnome character and said, "Wow. That's actually pretty neat! I could actually DO something with that character."
Thank you, James, Mike, et al. who are responsible for reimagining these old tropes in ways I find fun.
*snip*
2) (and this is probably the one we'll go with) A snow leopard uses the same stats as a leopard. She can't get a snow leopard until she's 4th level, so when we illustrate her at lower than 4th level, we probably just won't show any animal companions at all. When we do up her stats when she's lower than 4th level, she'll have a different, temporary, animal companion. Maybe an owl. We'll tinker with her character history for that one a little somehow. We'll make it work.
Perhaps she had made a choice of not bonding with an aninmal companion as she felt she was torn between worlds, until the snow leopard made its appearance and chose her.
Otherwise, I thought it was a great write up on her. I really like the fey touch to her, harkening back to old-world references as gnomes being earth spirits/elementals.
I've always loved gnomes.... don't know why. Get mocked for it by several folks in my gaming circles too. I have a recurring NPC that is a gnome that always appears in my DnD campaigns. No matter what the setting. (Also a human fighter... but that's another story). I like the gnomes as presented in Golarion even better! I really hope that I actually get the chance to play in Golarion and am not juet relegated to DMing.
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My Savage Tide group had a druid that wanted a cat-family companion from the get-go. I made up stats for an Ocelot (small central/south american feline) that were in-line though not identical to a wolf. What about a lynx or a bobcat? The animal world offers lots of choices if you're willing to make your own stats.
Some of the previous comments regarding the druid's role (spellcaster vrs frontliner, at least until level 5) made me realize something that explains why many of the members in my group either don't play druids or are very frustrated when they do.
Druids "metamorphose" at level 5, and they are the only class I can think of that does. No other class gets such a "party role" altering ability. Especially in groups where the druid is responsible for healing, that shift can be terribly disruptive. I've noticed that many of my female players, who are often drawn to the druid because of the "fuzzy animal" aspect, become frustrated at the sudden shift in the focus of the class at level 5. If they do use the ability, they feel like they are somehow deviating from the spellcasting of the last 4 levels, but if they don't use it, they feel like they aren't being grateful for the new ability.
The PHB2 shapechanger variant, which is pure genius IMO, only solves the problem to introduce another, at least with my female gamers. Having the shapechange from level 1 makes it not feel like a "role shift" later on, but the cost is loosing the animal companion, which is a huge part of the draw for them.
Actually, now that I think of it, I have seen in the last 5 years of 3rd edition gaming a total of 2 druids played, out of multiple one-shots, 4 shackled city paths, 2 age of worms, and 1 savage tide, not to mention about 5 homebrew campaigns.
I would have loved to have seen this "role shift" issue adressed in Pathfinder, but I realize it would be a block to backwards compatability.
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Gnomes actually make pretty good druids. They are, after all, the only core race with the ability to speak to animals of any kind. At lower levels, they can send in their animal companion to beat up monsters while they hang back and throw fire with produce fire or entangle or whatever. And yes; once they hit 5th level, wildshape more or less makes the size and strength penalty go away if you want to be a frontline combat machine.
Not to mention, that, as a Small character, a gnome can actually ride on many of the lower-level animal companions. This negates their low movement rate, and ensures the companion is always 'within 5 feet', so can share spells. How can you argue against getting 2 for the price of 1 on your buffs?