For the players I've played with over the years; and myself the problem with gnomes is they don't fit a niche in the standard fantasy tropes.
Anyone who's played for more than 5 minutes has to notice that "Races" really just represent certain attitudes that players might find cool and a recepticle for their surrogate ego, just in a different imaginary skinsuit.
Gnomes don't have anything like that. Dwarves represent stubborn toughness, Elves represent ethereal wisdom and coolness, Halflings represent the mischevious underdog who can overcome, just as a few examples of the standard races.
What gnomes represent to most people is "The race that nobody wants to identify with" in a game who's primary goal is to bring together adolescents on various kinds of power fantasies for entertainment. At best, they represent a niche for players who want to try something "different" (My gnome fighter is tough as nails and goes against his stereotype!), or for players who enjoy playing something quirky just for the sake of being quirky except someone is already playing a halfling to they HAVE to up the ante by going full-gnome.
Gnomes are terrible, and having been absent them in large part since 2nd edition in my own games, and had only bad experiences with them as a player when dealing with other people playing them for 20+ years.. I don't miss them.
-Idle
If you'll excuse a little self-promotion, I did a few reskinned gnomes for Kobold Quarterly #4. I'd love to hear about it if anyone tries the gnomes as irritable, animistic weaselfolk. :-)
YOu would know your Halfling Lore: Whats a Ling?It's a misprint that stuck; half-lings are the bastard offspring of the Men from Leng.
Wait, that can't be right; that would actually make halfings interesting. ;p
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Looks around, dons his asbestos underwear and proximity suit. Then he says:
I think that the best take on gnomes that I have seen to date is in the Eberron campaign setting. I would recommend that people file the serial numbers and dragonmarks off that and incorporate it into their games.
Paizo's description of gnome society on page 23 of the Core Rulebook leaves me wondering how they could have survived as a species. Makes it sound like male gnomes and female gnomes come together only long enough to breed, with any resultant children abandoned as soon as they've stopped nursing.
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I first played a Gnome on a dare. In 1st Ed, the only stat mod was a -1 to Comliness (Once the UA cam out). Someone said 'You'll play anything, huh? Well, play a Gnome.
And Grundigoot Cerdenarn (Grundy) was born, Gnome Fighter/Illusionist.
With Chromatic Orb, he ruled the roost, period... Phantasmal Killer as well. Found a Giant Slaying Sword (Petrified them) and away he went!
A few years ago at Gencon (2009 I think), I played in the Iron Player Tourney with a bunch of friends. I played a Gnome Wizard. Specialized in Illusions etc... We got to the BBEG, and (While he was spouting about what he was going to do to us), I hit him with a Phantasmal Killer, in the Surprise Round... DC was 23 or something...he got a 23 with Mods. Then I said 'Oh, I forgot, I'm a GNOME, it's a 24.
DM: :|
Dad BBEG.
I ran an all Dwarf game a few years back (3.5), a family theme.
Trying to get their ancestral hold back, etc... I allowed one person to play something else, and my friend Steve picked a Gnome Warmage.
Hilarity of a different sort, since the Dwarves finally got to make 'short' jokes, and the player frequently forgot things such as Fireballs detonated on yourself (To wipe out the horde of Derro attacking you) also hurt yourself...He also took Leadership, and picked up a Gimlet, a Gnome Cleric of Garl Glittergold. with a penchant for smarting off (Goad Feat). He would Aggro the baddies, and they would charge him, right past several Dwarves waiting with axes,hammers and spears. Popular would be an understatement for their feelings towards that little fellow.
Rules aside,Gnomes are fun, period. I don't play WoW,so i can't comment on that whole other can of Purple Worms, but everyone that I know who has played a Gnome in recent years was the sort of player that made you laugh at the table. No, they weren't always 'tricksters', or Tinkerers, but they were always fun...Which isn't something that I can say for every Elf, every Dwarf, every anything-else.
Yeah, take your Gnome Hate and shove it XD. The same can be said for hating any other race, and (Honestly), all you have said is 'Ewww, Gnomes look like Troll Dolls!I hate them!'
Well, Dwarves look like drunken Bikers,Elves like effeminate Trannies and half-orcs. Well, half-orcs look pretty cool, actually.
Oh, all smack-talking aside, I love Gnomes, btw.
-Uriel
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I must use this rumorWait, that can't be right; that would actually make halfings interesting. ;pYOu would know your Halfling Lore: Whats a Ling?It's a misprint that stuck; half-lings are the bastard offspring of the Men from Leng.
Half-Leng? I always thought it was:
Hal the Stupid grabbed the strange little fellow attempting to extract his kneecap with a spatula and raised him over his head.
"Hal Flings!" The miniature man with hairy feet hurled through the air and impacted on the distant column of stone.
From that simple comment Bigby the Wizard concluded that his companion knew precisely what these three foot tall humanoids were by previous experience.
Why do I hate Gnomes? One word: Nackels! They are the bane of my existence as a GM. *Cue flashback music* It was several years ago in the old Living Greyhawk games. One friend mentioned that maybe it would be cool to have an all Gnome table, which led to "Hey, how about we all be related." And so the Nackels were born. Rowdy, disruptive, annoying little buggers. Thankfully I'm not the only GM to have to suffer them.
:)
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I'm not talking rule mechanics. I just hate gnomes. The old school gnomes looked ugly, the WoW gnomes look ridiculous, and the Golarion gnomes look like those old "Troll" dolls from when I was a kid. Not to mention lawn gnomes deserve smashing. All gnomes deserve my undying hatred. Why do you people put up with them?
Until Pathfinder, I've never allowed them in my game, except as villains. After Pathfinder I think I had one request to play a gnome. I'm not 100% sure why I don't like them. Maybe a garden gnome scared me as a child, but I have never liked them.
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I'm not talking rule mechanics. I just hate gnomes. The old school gnomes looked ugly, the WoW gnomes look ridiculous, and the Golarion gnomes look like those old "Troll" dolls from when I was a kid. Not to mention lawn gnomes deserve smashing. All gnomes deserve my undying hatred. Why do you people put up with them?Until Pathfinder, I've never allowed them in my game, except as villains. After Pathfinder I think I had one request to play a gnome. I'm not 100% sure why I don't like them. Maybe a garden gnome scared me as a child, but I have never liked them.
BASE (+10pt)
• Unusual Size - Tiny +5pt Size: 6 inches tall
• Elemental Spawn (Earth) +5pt Must remain in contact with prefered Element at all time.
SUBTOTAL +20pt
RACIAL POWERS
• Pass through Earth (as Air) -15pt
• See in Darkness 30’ -0pt
• Future Sight/Primitive -5pt This grants a Gnome the ability to simply see ahead - predicting the consequences of his own actions.
Description: The Gnome is spawned of the Earth Element and may pass through the earth element as though it were air. Their small size (6 inches) and their ability to see the consequences of their actions give them a unique perspective on the world.
Primary Abilities (Gnome): Wisdom, Dexterity
I have a theory the gnome-hate meme is rooted to the fact that most representations in games, literature ect present them with strong traditionally feminine themes without the saving grace of being sexy and/or stable enough to trust your children with. They are portrayed as a whole race of intensely enthusiastic, collectivist ‘girly’ girls with powerful trickster magics and mysterious technologies that have a proclivity for blowing things up when they aren’t supposed to.
I love them because it is such a fun trope to play off of with certain people... which probably only adds to their hate. ;P Many parties will be less terrified to enter an evil undead infested dungeon than a city of friendly gnomes. It is sort of like asking a hardened war veteran from 1950s America whether he’d rather return to the front lines or deal with a group of highly intelligent tweens at a boyband concert armed with glitter guns that are known to, on very rare occasion, randomly explode.
Gnomes are a safe outlet for the fear and/or distaste of the aspects of femininity that are not traditionally useful to or understood by the masculine. I realize this theory is pretty out-there, but I’d buy it more than the garden gnome thing. A lawn ornament doesn’t inspire the masses to murderous hate unless it is a physiological symbol for something much deeper.
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I love gnomes, but I'm not of the madcap-kender school. Mine tend to be of the Magnificent Bastard variety. I've had Malcolm MacDowell gnomes, Christina Ricci gnomes, old-style James Bond Q gnomes, that sort of thing.
Halflings may be nimble, but gnomes succeed through persistence and a Titivilus-style way of reshaping the truth to include their goals.
