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Subject line.
Go look at pictures of the iconic Bard, Druid, and Mesmerist.
It looks like it to me, but not long and pointy like elves. More like a normal human ear that happens to have a point.
The way look at it, it's your world and they can have pointed ears or not. In my world Elves do not have the ridiculously long donkey ears, but more like those of the ones in the Lord of the Rings movies or in extreme cases like Vulcans. My elves' eyes also change color with the seasons; blue for summer skies, green for spring, brown or golden for autumn, and grey for winter.
Rulebook art:
Looking at the Core Rulebook gnome, not pointed.
Looking at the Inner Sea Races gnomes, pointed (but not long).
Looking at Gnomes of Golarion, some pictured gnomes are pointed, some aren't.
Ditto for Advanced Race Guide.
Iconics:
Looking at Iconic Druid Lini and her miniatures, not pointed, or only very slightly.
The Iconic Bard Lem is a halfling, and they all have pointed ears.
The Iconic Mesmerist Meligaster is also a halfling, so N/A.
Iconic Summoner Balazar's ears are hidden beneath his headgear.
I'm wondering if it's just another one of those highly mutable facial features gnomes are famous for?
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Wayne Reynolds is the definitive guide to what races look like in Golarion. As the official Drawer of the Iconics, he establishes the benchmark.
In their appearance description HERE there's no mention about their ears, so it safe to assume they aren't pointed or at least there isn't something special about them. The illustrations really don't have a definitive distinction - looking at the NPC Codex, some of them have pointed ears, but others don't.
Lini has pointed ears.
Lini has pointed ears.
If you could provide an image, that would be great.
If you're referring to the one in the Core Rulebook, I personally find it hard to tell.
Her miniatures also don't have her ears particularly pointed; they look more like ovals to me.
There is also this image from the Pathfinder Wiki (which I think is an official source?), though not by Wayne Reynolds, that depicts a Lini with round ears, or if there is a point, it is only just barely so.
The roleplaying significance for me is if ear shape can be used to distinguish a gnome from a halfling. All halflings have noticeably pointed ears. If gnomes don't, or at least some don't, that would be a surefire way for a knowledgeable character to distinguish them.
Developer
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Gnomes should have rounded ears. Sometimes our artists go off-model and we either don't notice in the sketch stage, or we're on a strict enough timeline that sending art back for corrections would delay the publication of a book. Given the choice between having perfectly on-model gnome ears and having a book ship on time, we almost always choose the latter.
Gnomes should have rounded ears. Sometimes our artists go off-model and we either don't notice in the sketch stage, or we're on a strict enough timeline that sending art back for corrections would delay the publication of a book. Given the choice between having perfectly on-model gnome ears and having a book ship on time, we almost always choose the latter.
Thank you, Mark, for your answer!
Also thanks to everyone else who responded, and for taking the time to dig up images and links.
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Considering gnomes are supposed to have highly mutable facial characteristics I would say that some gnomes may have pointed ears. If someone wanted their gnome to have pointed ears it should not be a problem. Gnomes of all races should not really have any standards as far as features go. Sure they have height and weight standards, but other than that they could look like almost anything.
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Why?
Why not?
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As a Gnome Player, I find this an odd point (pun?) to nitpick considering the variety of NEON tones I can be, and that's before the magic question regarding Carpet/Drape color combinations even gets addressed.
