So I'm gearing up to play a fey-touched gnome sorcerer. Not having much experience playing gnomes (or seeing gnomes in play) decided to read GNOMES OF GOLARION to get a better idea of how to play a gnome that is "true to the race."
I'm only a few pages into the book, and I'm thinking my friends are all going to kill me!
Gnomes are SERIOUSLY WEIRD in Pathfinder! It seems they have the worst (best?) traits of Dragonlance's kender and Pathfinder's goblins.
Some excerpts:
How does one possibly play a Pathfinder gnome "properly" and not get murdered by their party (or fellow players) for being annoying and derailing everything with flights of fancy?
I thought we might brainstorm a bunch of things that a gnome might say or do that are, well, distinctly gnome-like. If nothing else comes out of this thread, I hope we can at least help players enjoy their gnome characters a little bit more.
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None of those excerpts sound particularly disruptive or likely to derail things? Some people might very well find it annoying, but that seems rather subjective and hard to control for.
But nothing about "enjoys combat" or "becomes interested in the things happening around them" actually sounds disruptive. Quite the opposite, in fact. It makes them sound like ideal adventurers.
The main thing with Gnomes is the Bleaching, that if they don't constantly strive to innovate, dream, and take new experiences, they become too bored and begin to die. So they usually look fowards adventures or have some obsession to give them something to live.
So I think if I made a Gnome Wizard that likes cooking so much that the spells and annotations in their spellbooks are like recipes and try to find strange ingredients (bright colored mushrooms, pieces of monsters) in unexpected places to try to find new tastes, it would be a Golarion Gnome.
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Frame challenge: If Gnomes are super variable, IS there a "proper" way to play a Gnome? Who is to say that your particular Gnome should be anything like the "average" Gnome?"
And since the above paragraph is likely only marginally useful at best...
My group tends to play Gnomes as a bit hyper, a bit manic, and super curious. Often quite friendly. The over-riding principle is "eager to dive in," if I had to distill it down to a one-liner. So I'm with Captain Morgan here... ideal adventurers. While the stodgy dwarf debates the merits of any particular action and the barbarian tries to keep up with the wizard's counter-arguments, it's the Gnome who gets it all rolling by enthusiastically siding with... I mean, whomever wants to move the adventure forward, typically......
We haven't really focused on anything other than the brief write-up in the Core books of 1st and 2nd edition, so maybe we aren't playing "ironclad Golarion cannon" gnomes, but it works for us and that's good enough for us :)
None of those excerpts sound particularly disruptive or likely to derail things?
They were more to demonstrate the weird factor, than the disruptive factor.
Other weird examples of (typical?) gnomes in the book include a woman who chases a copper coin and would do almost anything to get it back, and a knight who wears a tea kettle for a helmet and constantly narrates his own exploits in the third person as they occur.
What other weird things might a gnome character do?
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A random gnome might do almost anything. A particular gnome almost certainly has a specific pattern of behavior they engage in which reliably brings them new experiences to stave off the Bleaching.
What that pattern is, is the important thing to determine for a PC gnome that's different from other PCs.
Take the example with the gnome woman who has a particular coin she's always trying to get back. She does that not because she has to for some magical reason (she doesn't) and she definitely has lines she won't cross to get it back (as I recall, she's explicitly Good-aligned), but getting it back is a game to her, and a very effective one at bringing her new experiences.
For a PC, adventuring itself might well be that pattern, though if so they're probably a lot more excited about even some of the parts of adventuring other people don't get excited about, or it might just be a way to fund their own particular cure for bordedom. Or they might adventure for some other reason entirely divorced from their particular areas of interest. Which of these is the case is a large part of what you need to figure out.
None of those excerpts sound particularly disruptive or likely to derail things?They were more to demonstrate the weird factor, than the disruptive factor.
Other weird examples of (typical?) gnomes in the book include... and a knight who wears a tea kettle for a helmet and constantly narrates his own exploits in the third person as they occur.
Ok, that's a perfect example of a behavior that isn't disruptive. Narrating what your character is doing is exactly how TTRPGs work. The fact that the character is doing it would be weird in world, but to the players at the table it would be functionally the same as what any of them were doing, or perhaps being done with slightly more exaggeration.
I find that building the character and knowing in what direction you are taking them usually informs me on how to play them. For example, what skill do you want to first take to legendary? Then ask why’d they want to do so.
Let’s say you want to be a legendary diplomat. Ok, why as a gnome would you want to do that? Maybe you find humans fascinating and want to write biographies of every human you meet. They are so varied and have such interesting stories to tell. Sometimes the stories are incredibly happy and sometimes they are amazingly sad, but you want to know them all. You are constantly writing down in your notebooks their stories and life. You started as a barkeep but wanted to meet even more of these fascinating creatures. And becoming an adventurer was the easiest way to do so. And you will never run out of humans to write about, so you will never have to worry about the bleaching.
Great advice and awesome ideas everyone! Please keep 'em coming. :D
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I ask what things smell like a lot as a gnome. Not people, but scenes and rooms and items and monsters and such. One (a detective themed character) kept a journal detailing anything with an interesting smell. It was a way to roleplay curiosity and gives GMs an extra chance to drop extra hints about the plot.
One of my gnomes, a scholar of folklore, approaches every adventure like it is a fairy tale. They are reluctant to accept food or drink, and often speak to animals directly in case the animals are of the talking variety. They also investigate anything in sets of threes in case there is some special significance. If there are three combatants that attack, they always try to interrogate even if it seems random (and usually it is). If there are three doors in a hall they spend extra time looking for clues and hazards.
Another one dove headfirst into exploring the borders of life. They played a bit reckless hoping to get very close to dying and bounce back to get a better look at the edge. As a result, they volunteered to do anything that looked dangerous or suspicious when the party needed someone to do something reckless, like open doors that might be trapped or carry dangerous artifacts. Helped advance the story while fitting with gnomish curiosity.
Well I really think it depends mostly on the age of the gnome... When he is young everything is new and fantastic, you discover knew things everyday and the Bleaching is less of an issue, you may be obsessed with something this early on but it's, now, not every gnome who are obsessed with something (Gnome Obsession is now an ancestry feat thus optional).
When you're young everything interest you and others can see you as hyperactive and qualify you as an oddball, since you can become interested in things they can find strange and even alien...
The longer you live and you experience the world the less you are susceptible to those "naive" reaction BUT the more you need to experience new things or to go further and further in things you know (you may need to travel again and again to see new things, you may need to go more in depth in one or more areas like crafting or cooking new things or more complicated things, find new blueprints or recipes etc. )
The biggest enemy of gnomes is boredom... and if you're an adventurer I think you're pretty set for the duration of the game without having to think much about boredom ;)
But since, if you begin at level 1, adventuring is new to you, and so is everything you do while adventuring, you will likely begin with a lot of "hyperactive" behavior, being excited at everything you do, ready to go with every plan the others players wants to go with etc.
As you level up you don't want a "routine" to kick in and you're more susceptible to come with your own plans to do thing in a new way, to innovate instead of doing the same things again and again even if in those old tactics seems full proof you're willing to take a little bit more (or less) risks to do something new.
If you've fought, for example, zombies for a long time you will jump at every opportunity to fight something else etc.
I think you get the gist ;)
So, in short, at first you're like a children in a chocolate factory, easy to please, everything is good and new, but as time pass you're fed up and crave for something other than chocolate ;)
Another one dove headfirst into exploring the borders of life. They played a bit reckless hoping to get very close to dying and bounce back to get a better look at the edge. As a result, they volunteered to do anything that looked dangerous or suspicious when the party needed someone to do something reckless, like open doors that might be trapped or carry dangerous artifacts. Helped advance the story while fitting with gnomish curiosity.
Now that's an interesting idea! Turn it into a positive!
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Seeking novelty ties in pretty well with the way players interact with the game world.
Gnome adventurer: "Isn't this fascinating? I've never waded through leech-infested sewer water before."
Human adventurer: "This is horrible."
Gnome adventurer: "You're not having fun? And yet you chose a profession that requires you to do this sort of thing all the time? Humans are weird."
Other weird examples of (typical?) gnomes in the book include a woman who chases a copper coin and would do almost anything to get it back, and a knight who wears a tea kettle for a helmet and constantly narrates his own exploits in the third person as they occur.
What other weird things might a gnome character do?
I'd choose a weird obsession that happens to tie in with the campaign goals. For example, if I've caught a glimpse of the boss villain, I might become fascinated with his hat. "Who made that hat? Do you think he'd let me try it on?" This means I'm still trying to track down the bad guy, just for a slightly different reason to everyone else.
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Another thought I had is the bits of gnomes being disturbing, with body mangling and whatnot, fits really well on an intimidate build. I'm thinking up a rogue or rogue MC (not sure yet) with You're Next and Intimidating Glare who lances the left eye of whatever they kill while making staring at someone else and giggling. Not sure I'll ever get around to playing them, and it's the sort of feature you probably want to run by a group to know how much detail to go into, but I think it fits with the darker side of gnome behaviors. Fits well with a Fell Gnome.
Also, Lost Omens Character Guide's section on gnomes has some decent information on cutting back the kender tendencies of gnomes. Keenspark gnomes, for instance, are more focused on their invention and study than they are on playful antics and are somewhat grumpy or dour, which makes them less likely to drag the group into any trouble. And if they need monster parts for their invention or are studying a topic related to the adventure they come with a nice hook to follow the plot, and could even drive the party forward as part of their dedication to their work.
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IIrc Lini the iconic druid collects interesting sticks. I find some of the characteristics of gnomes remind me of my autistic nephews; fixations on specific topics or things,intense sensory experiences, keenly observant of patterns and details, a way of looking at the worlds that appears out of kilter with neurotypical people and so on.
Something to remember is that there are no inherently disruptive ancestries, classes or alignments; there are only disruptive players.
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So I just had my first game with my new gnome character, Zarzuket (a fey bloodline sorcerer and woodland hermit). Please let me know if you think I'm playing my gnome right. (Which, by the way, is something of a joke in itself, since I doubt there's much of a way to play a gnome wrong at this point.)
It was a short game consisting of my character's introduction and only one encounter.
While traveling along the river outside of Breachill, a will’o’wisp spooked Zarzuket's riding dog onto an unstable mud bank. The ground gave way, causing them to lose their footing and tumble into the river rapids. Though his steed made it out again just fine, Zarzuket was thrown. He is not a strong swimmer and was unable to transform into an aquatic form or take other action before he began choking on water. He might have drowned if not for the timely intervention of a small band of travelers heading home after a disastrous foray of their own.
After everyone was safe and on stable ground, introductions were made. Zarzuket makes it known that he is woodland hermit who has lived in the forest with the animals and fey for a VERY long time. He also claims to be a shapeshifter, and would have turned into a fish had he not been caught so off guard by the wisp.
The rest of the introductions went something like this, more or less:
Zarzuket:
Female Half-Elf Cleric:
Zarzuket:
Male Lizarfolk Fighter:
Zarzuket:
Male Dwarven Ranger:
Zarzuket:
*Zarzuket's riding dog, Bernard, and his carnivorous ground squirrel familiar, Sally, come prancing up.*
Zarzuket:
*He gestures to Sally, as she prunes herself from atop Bernard's saddle.*
Half-Elf Cleric:
Lizarfolk Fighter:
Dwarven Ranger:
Zarzuket:
*Party sighs in collective relief*
Zarzuket:
Half-Elf Cleric:
Zarzuket:
*Party's jaws collectively hit the ground*
Zarzuket:
*Zarzuket prances off in the wrong direction with his animal companions in tow.*
Lizarfolk Fighter: (Recovers first)
*Dwarven ranger stamps on the fighter's foot, staring at him reproachfully. Zarzuket turns around and passes the party again, going in the right direction this time.*
Zarzuket:
***
As they travel back to town together, the cleric sheepishly probes into Zarzuket's relationships--much to the chagrin of her companions. Zarzuket, seemingly unaware of their discomfort, and possessing no personal shame whatsoever, begins to go into great detail about his past exploits. After only a few lurid details, the cleric changes her mind, cuts him off, and changes the subject with "Have you heard of Dahak?" XD
***
Later on, we have an encounter with a monster in the cave and recover the bodies of the two deceased characters (my former female elf monk PC, and one NPC knight). We decided to interrogate the monster, who surrendered after a brief battle, in the hopes that it will tell us where the criminal we pursue might have gone. In the middle of the interrogation I say "This isn't working. My gnome reaches into his pants, grabs a fist full of faerie dust, and throws it into the beast's face."
Lizarfolk Fighter:
Dwarven Ranger: Looks at one of my character portraits, while whispering to the fighter player:
GM: (The GM later confessed to not having looked at the character sheet I sent him a week prior to the game.)
Half-Elf Cleric: While crossing her index fingers in a twisty motion:
Zarzuket:
*Party sighs in collective relief*
Zarzuket:
*Proceeds to cast charm on the prisoner covered in gold, sparkling dust from his pants, seemingly oblivious to the party's stunned bewilderment.*
Even though the game was only an introduction and a single encounter, it took much, much longer than usual on account of all the laughing, giggling, and stunned expressions.
I'd say we're off to a great start. XD
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Even though the game was only an introduction and a single encounter, it took much, much longer than usual on account of all the laughing, giggling, and stunned expressions.
I think this part makes it obvious you're playing your gnome right. You've made yourself a quirky character that your party seems to enjoy.