Gnome
Gnomes are vicious ornery little fuckers who appear to live in the forests of modern Earth, possibly even America. They are divided into clans named after their location such as the Stump clan or the Under the Hill clan, who have nothing but hatred for one another. In 4th Edition of D&D, they're a monster (rawr) who turn invisible damn near every round.
Still here? You're a persistent bastard. Alright, the simple truth of it is that gnomes have long been the embarrassing bastard stepchildren of the D&D races.
Long story short, Gary Gygax and his pals were at the same time huge Tolkien fags and had a soft spot for mythology and folk-tales. The problem was that both versions of dwarfs were pretty much irreconcilable: Tolkien's dwarfs were traditionalists (Tolkien saw industrialisation as the mother of all evil) whereas the various magical "small folk" of real-world mythology (more mystic or mythological dwarfs, household elfs, brownies, kobolds, etc...) tended to be inventive tinkerers (with sometimes catastrophic consequences) and artisans.
In the end, the 'smaller than human being that likes to tinker' became a race of their own, the Gnomes; while the Dwarfs stayed true to Tolkien's archetype. Sadly enough, the result was... less than impressive. In essence, your D&D gnome tends to come off as a sort of halfbreed of dwarf and elf (not literally -- although there's probably a /d/M out there who's done it that way). Small, dwarf-like humanoids with a big affinity for magic and trickery. This lackluster place in the game resulted in their tending to be ignored or shunned (even in AD&D, they had to share their racial splatbook with the halflings when elves and dwarfs both got two books to themselves, one for general use and one for the Forgotten Realms), or relegated to the "comedic relief" role.
In fact, gnomes are generally so forgettable that 4th Edition figured nobody would complain about the loss of gnomes in exchange for getting dragonborn and tieflings as new core races. And, to be fair, they were mostly right; more bitching was raised over the loss of the half-orc than over the gnome.
That said, when 4e brought them out, it actually did make them a little interesting, by giving them a default origin as a race of faerie slaves and resistance fighters against the oppression of malevolent giants in the Feywild.
Interestingly, the Pathfinder identity for gnomes is that they are fae beings who need to seek constant stimulation lest they fade away into nothing.
Appearance
Most stand at a height of 4 feet and have squat heavy bodies with short, heavy limbs and filthy matted beards, completely unlike any other fantasy species. The Gnomes seem to have an extremely primitive level of technology, using knives made of flint or the teeth of larger predators as weapons and wearing clothing of leaves and rodent hides. Despite the differences between the various clans the use of the pointed hat is nonetheless universal among them.
Anything you might of heard about them living in the Swiss Alps of Zurich hording wealth, or having an obsessive/compulsive relationship with machinery, or being taller than 12 inches even with their hat, is completely baseless and false. For the height thing, just look in your neighbor's garden. Those gnomes are life-size, dude.
Female Gnomes are frequently depicted as Loli in the hopes of tricking a drawfag into making a USB cable.
Religion & Festivals
Due to the small size of Gnomes relative to their environment and the various predators that love the taste of gnomeflesh, the Gnomes religion does not revolve so much around worshipping the gods as blaming them. The chief priest of the tribe leads his fellows in cursing the various gods during religious ceremonies for the gnomes' lot in life.
Notable deities in the Gnome pantheon include Vund, God of Making Animals Too Fucking Big; Niralla, that Bitch Who Makes it Cold Every Goddamn Year; and Hronthar, That Asshole Who Makes Poison Mushrooms Grow. Two relatively recent gods to appear in Gnome society are Garack, God of The Fucking Hot Thing in The Fucking Sky; and Magher, The Fucker Who Made Us Fucking Tiny.
Several mentions have been made of gnome festivals, but the only ones named thus far have been the Thank Fuck Winter's Over festival,The Fucking Bears Are Awake Again spring festival and the Where the Fuck is the Water summer celebration.
The Tinker Gnome Phenomena
As part of the general and ongoing attempt to make gnomes interesting, many settings have tried the path of making them tinkers. The general logic is that they have a vaguely-dwarfish industriousness and affinity for the sciences, but a distinctly undwarfy knack for magic, inventiveness, and prizing the new over the tried, true and traditional. So, they are a logical fit for a race that tries to create new inventions and things. In settings featuring them, dwarves may be better at rune-crafting or forging masterwork gear, but gnomes will be the ones who create steampunk and guns.
The very first example of this was in Mystara, where the gnomish civilization is a flying city-state, defended by manned machine-gun turrets and fully-functional biplanes. Sadly, like most Mystaran stuff, it is generally unknown except to a few ancient neckbeards.
The most famous example, sadly, are the Minoi of Dragonlance. Unfortunately, as with the Gully Dwarves and the notorious Kender, Tinker Gnomes were intended to be a Comic Relief race. So, once again, the authors failed to realise that A: traits that make one character amusing often become boring/embarrassing/ridiculous when applied to a whole race, and B: a race that is intended to be playable shouldn't come with traits that seem tailor-made for a character to be used as an excuse to piss off the rest of the party. With lore that they used to be humans who served Reorx, the God of Creation, during the mythic era, only to anger him and be cursed and cast from his forge, condemned to never again be able to properly apply the creativity he had given them, the end result is that Krynnish Tinker Gnomes are a race of bungling idiots who deliberately overcomplicate their machinery because they find the extremes of Rube Goldberg design to be more aesthetically pleasing and "scientific". Most gnome-fans hate them, as they are implicitly called out as being responsible for Krynn's Medieval Stasis. Even in The Complete Book of Gnomes & Halflings, there's quotes from "real" gnomes denying that Tinker Gnomes are any relation to them, showing that TSR itself may have been aware of what sort of hack writers they had behind them.
Perhaps fortunately, the tinker gnome phenomena has mostly become associated in the modern era with the gnomes of Warcraft, who are kooky and like to try the outrageous, but also prize functionality and safety (in contrast to goblins, who are happy to risk being blown to bits if it means they get it working faster).
Gnomes in 5e
Ha! Nope! No more faerie slaves for you! Back to the same old "Halflings, but more adventurous and more annoying" archetype for you! In reality, the forest gnome is basically the fairy-tale secretive gnomes in the forest, while Rock Gnomes are Tinker Gnomes, but less annoying. And of course, there's the Svirfneblin, or Deep Gnomes, in the Underdark, who aren't as happy and are more interested in stones than machines. But as a whole, gnomes are vibrant, cheery people (with, and I quote, "prodigious noses") who want to squeeze every ounce of fun and excitement out of their three to five centuries as they can. They also have a tendency to chatter, although they do actually listen, rather than being everyone's favorite ADD-riddled fuckwits (Kender, in case you couldn't tell). They also love playing pranks, but then, of course they do.
- Ability Score: +2 Intelligence.
- Typical Alignment: Any Good Alignment
- Size: Small. Between 3 and 4 feet tall, and clocking in at an average of 40 pounds.
- Speed: Base walking speed of 25 feet.
- Darkvision
- Gnome Cunning: Advantage on all mental (Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma) saving throws against magic.
- Languages: Common, Gnomish
Forest Gnomes
- Ability Score: +1 Dexterity
- Natural Illusionist: Free Minor Illusion Cantrip, with Intelligence as the modifier.
- Speak with Small Beasts: You can communicate simple ideas with Small or smaller beasts through sounds and gestures. Be prepared for your party to ask if you're having a stroke if you use this.
Rock Gnome
- Ability Score: +1 Constitution
- Artificer's Lore: Double Proficiency bonus when making History checks related to magic items, alchemical objects, or technological devices.
- Tinker: Proficiency with Tinker's Tools. Using the tools, you can spend an hour and 10 gp worth of materials to construct a Tiny clockwork device. It ceases to function after 24 hours unless you spend 1 hour repairing it, or you use an action to dismantle it. At that time, you can reclaim the materials used to create it. You can only have three active at one time.
* Clockwork Toy: The toy is a clockwork animal, monster, or person. When activated and placed on the ground, they toy moves five feet in a random direction. It makes noises appropriate to the creature it represents. * Fire Starter: It's a lighter. Use requires an action. * Music Box: When opened, the box plays a single song at a moderate volume. The box stops playing upon reaching the songs end or when it's closed.
Deep Gnome (Svirfneblin)
- Ability Score: +1 Dex
- Actually have shorter lives. Only 200-250 years, and consequently, are considered full grown adults by 25.
- Typical Alignment: Any Neutral Alignment.
- Superior Darkvision
- Stone Camouflage: Advantage on Stealth checks to hide in rocky terrain.
- Languages: Common, Gnomish, Undercommon
- Optional Feat: Svirfneblin Magic. While the other members of the Underdark Crew automatically get their magic, the svirf's have to waste an ASI to get a feat to get theirs. That said, it includes:
* Nondetection (at-will, self only) * Blindness/Deafness (once-a-day, long rest recharge) * Blur (once-a-day, long rest recharge) * Disguise Self (once-a-day, long rest recharge) * Intelligence is their modifier for all spells.
Famous Gnomes
- The only Gnome who has left a written record of his travels is Dimkin of the Stump, whose journal makes reference to a mysterious land with a vast plain of turnips and enormous landmarks that seem almost like constructions.
- High Tinker Gelbin Mekkatorque
- Informally known as King of the Gnomes (in exile), he is actually an elected leader, holding the position for an indefinite term. He and a substantial fraction of the total gnome population fled from their homes in Gnomeregan after an environm*BLAM* World of Warcraft shit is HERESY!
- Underpants Gnomes
- ... those little shits stole my boxers.
- David the Gnome
- He will slap your shit.
- Tinker, tailor, wizard, turnip. He seems stupid, until his army of knife-wielding gibbon commandos invades your house, saves his childhood sweetheart, and assassinates you. Anything is possible with that many heavily-armed apes.
Gallery
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He's a monster, rawr.
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What gnomes look like in 2e.
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5e really plays up their elven ancestry.
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Being Small means you can ride animals that Medium-sized humanoids cannot, like DIRE WEASLES.
External links
| Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition Races | |
|---|---|
| Basic Set | Dwarf • Elf • Hobbit • Human |
| Creature Crucible 1 | Brownie • Centaur • Dryad • Faun • Hsiao • Leprechaun • Pixie • Pooka • Redcap • Sidhe • Sprite • Treant • Wood Imp • Wooddrake |
| Creature Crucible 2 | Faenare • Gnome • Gremlin • Harpy • Nagpa • Pegataur • Sphinx • Tabi |
| Creature Crucible 3 | Kna • Kopru • Merrow • Nixie • Sea Giant • Shark-kin • Triton |
| Dragon Magazine | Cayma • Gatorman • Lupin • N'djatwa • Phanaton • Rakasta • Shazak • Wallara |
| Hollow World | Beastman • Brute-Man • Hutaakan • Krugel Orc • Kubitt • Malpheggi Lizard Man |
| Known World | Bugbear • Goblin • Gnoll • Hobgoblin • Kobold • Ogre • Troll |
| Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Races | |
|---|---|
| Core | Dwarf • Elf • Gnome • Half-Elf • Half-Orc • Halfling • Human |
| Dark Sun | Aarakocra • Half-Giant • Mul • Pterran • Thri-kreen |
| Dragonlance | Draconian • Irda • Kender • Minotaur |
| Mystara | Aranea • Ee'ar • Enduk • Lizardfolk (Cayma • Gurrash • Shazak) • Lupin • Manscorpion • Phanaton • Rakasta • Tortle • Wallara |
| Oriental Adventures | Korobokuru • Hengeyokai • Spirit Folk |
| Planescape | Aasimar • Bariaur • Genasi • Githyanki • Githzerai • Modron • Tiefling |
| Spelljammer | Dracon • Giff • Grommam • Hadozee • Hurwaeti • Rastipede • Scro • Xixchil |
| Ravenloft: | Broken One • Flesh Golem • Half-Vistani • Therianthrope |
| Complete Book Series | Alaghi • Beastman • Bugbear • Bullywug • Centaur • Duergar • Fremlin • Firbolg • Flind • Gnoll • Goblin • Half-Ogre • Hobgoblin • Kobold • Mongrelfolk • Ogre • Ogre Mage • Orc • Pixie • Satyr • Saurial • Svirfneblin • Swanmay • Voadkyn • Wemic |
| Dragon Magazine | Half-Dryad • Half-Satyr • Uldra • Xvart |
| Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Races | |
|---|---|
| Player's Handbook 1 | Dragonborn • Dwarf • Eladrin • Elf • Half-Elf • Halfling • Human • Tiefling |
| Player's Handbook 2 | Deva • Gnome • Goliath • Half-Orc • Shifter |
| Player's Handbook 3 | Githzerai • Minotaur • Shardmind • Wilden |
| Monster Manual 1: | Bugbear • Doppelganger • Githyanki • Goblin • Hobgoblin • Kobold • Orc |
| Monster Manual 2 | Bullywug • Duergar • Kenku |
| Dragon Magazine | Gnoll • Shadar-kai |
| Heroes of Shadow | Revenant • Shade • Vryloka |
| Heroes of the Feywild | Hamadryad • Pixie • Satyr |
| Eberron's Player's Guide | Changeling • Kalashtar • Warforged |
| The Manual of the Planes | Bladeling |
| Dark Sun Campaign Setting | Mul • Thri-kreen |
| Forgotten Realms Player's Guide | Drow • Genasi |
| The Races of Pathfinder | |
|---|---|
| Player's Handbook: | Dwarf - Elf - Gnome - Half-Elf - Half-Orc - Halfling - Human |
| Advanced Race Guide: |
Aasimar - Catfolk - Changeling - Dhampir - Duergar Drow - Fetchling - Gillman - Goblin - Grippli - Hobgoblin Ifrit - Kitsune - Kobold - Merfolk - Nagaji - Orc - Oread Ratfolk - Samsaran - Strix - Suli - Svirfneblin - Sylph Tengu - Tiefling - Undine - Vanara - Vishkanya - Wayang |
| Bestiaries: | Android - Astomoi - Caligni - Deep One Hybrid - Gathlain Gnoll - Kasatha - Munavri - Naiad - Orang-Pendak Reptoid - Rougarou - Shabti - Trox - Yaddithian |
| Adventure Paths: | Being of Ib - Kuru |
| Inner Sea Races: | Ghoran - Monkey Goblin - Lashunta - Skinwalker Syrinx - Triaxian - Wyrwood - Wyvaran |
| Ultimate Wilderness: | Vine Leshy |
| Blood of the Sea: | Adaro - Cecaelia - Grindylow - Locathah - Sahuagin - Triton |
| Planar Adventures: | Aphorite - Duskwalker - Ganzi |