So the new adventure book has rules for a conversion of older Dragonlance editions to 5e, but there are no updated rules for Tinker Gnomes. I need to come up with a solid homebrew for my players, one of which wants to play a tinker. I had him write up a critical failure table, and I am considering using the complexity table in the 1e Book, but I want to simplify it and try to limit the tables.
What I am leaning towards is. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Tinker Gnomes special abilities.
-Must choose a life quest. This is a scientific discovery that has been passed down from generation to generation in your family. This life quest should be something that can forever be improved upon. To complete this life quest where there is no discovery left to be made or improved upon, will bring great shame on your family, making them outcast in Gnomish society as they will no longer have a place. Examples: Build a submersible. A comfortable chair. A super sonic horse. Interdimensional travel. A scientific explanation for magic. Obtain the greygem. A single strike hammer. A scuba suit/habitat. Build an intelligent humanoid. Write a scientific record of all dreams.
-Proficiency in tinker tools.
-Advantage to Investigation checks to determine how any mechanism/object works (does not mean you can use it). May spend 5 minutes to take an automatic 10 without rolling.
-May spend an action to repair any object without need of skill proficiency.
-Receives advantage on any check related to your life quest.
-Power of Invention. See rules.
1. Starting stats of inventions are increments of 10, or 1d6 or a feature. So it would be 1d6 damage, or 10ft, depending what the invention does.
2. Each increment adds 1 to the complexity with a minimum 1 hour to construct, assuming all the resources are available.
3. Base savings throw is 10+ complexity.
4. To make the invention, you roll an Intelligence Check. A failure increases the complexity, but not the stats.
5. You may reroll the Check until you pass.
6. On a pass the invention works, but you can continue to roll to improve it by adding more complexity.
7. Whenever the invention is activated, you have to roll Intelligence savings against its complexity.
8. On a pass, the invention works as intended.
9. On a failure it breaks and requires one round to fix. (no rolls required)
10. On a failure greater than 5, the invention does 1d6 damage per complexity in a 10ft radius per complexity, Dex save vs complexity for half damage.
I hate to burst your bubble, but the PHB explicitly says Krynn’s Tinker Gnomes are rock gnomes. Just use the rock gnome stats rather than reinventing the wheel*.
*Yes, I’m aware of the irony of that statement given tinker gnomes’ proclivities for doing just that.
Tinker Gnomes in taladas are rock gnomes. PHB rocks gnomes are not Ansalon tinker gnomes. Tinker gnomes on Ansalon are cursed by the gods.. They need rules for their curse. For instance, PHB rock gnomes don't have life quests. Playing a tinker gnome that makes pocket lighters isn't any fun and isn't accurate. No tinker gnomes would ever build a simple pocket lighter. A tinker gnome would make a pocket lighter with a nose trimmer, adjustable flame out to 5 feet and jet propulsion that can melt steel.
I promised my player they'd be able to play a tinker gnome, not some shoe horned race from the PHB. I am not going to tell my player that this very exciting race that only exists on Krynn isn't available to them, and they have to play a rock gnome, which they could have played anytime before. I plan to deliver Dragonlance, not Dragonlance Light.
Prior editions managed to deliver tinker gnome mechanic without telling people to play a generic gnome. There is no reason why 5e shouldn't either.
DanDwiki is the worst possible source for homebrew, being notorious for broken content, both in the “overpowered” sense and the ”does not actually work” sense.
Make your solutions to fit your problems, folks. If you have one single player in one single game who wants to play a tinker gnome and you feel all tinker gnomes need to have life quests, you don't need to homebrew a whole new race that has a life quest. Just give that player a life quest in the game. I don't know why baking it into a race would make it any more necessary or official when you're making it up either way.
As a gnome, you might be a tinker pursuing some niche scientific endeavor, coaxed from Mount Nevermind to conduct research or to seek inspiration beyond the mountain. Alternatively, you might be a forest gnome, exploring the wonders of the world or seeking to heal the lands of the Cataclysm’s scars.
The tinker gnomes of Mount Nevermind are the best-known gnome community on Krynn. Despite living in a world steeped in magical forces, many of these rock gnomes indulge in specialized scientific pursuits and create complicated inventions.
As a gnome, you might be a tinker pursuing some niche scientific endeavor, coaxed from Mount Nevermind to conduct research or to seek inspiration beyond the mountain. Alternatively, you might be a forest gnome, exploring the wonders of the world or seeking to heal the lands of the Cataclysm’s scars.
The tinker gnomes of Mount Nevermind are the best-known gnome community on Krynn. Despite living in a world steeped in magical forces, many of these rock gnomes indulge in specialized scientific pursuits and create complicated inventions.
That’s the point I made, but OP got miffed when I brought that up, wanting to mechanize the Life Quest aspect of Tinker Gnome lore (never mind that the D&D zeitgeist is moving away from cultural species traits).
The OP has a valid point, tinker gnome was a CLASS, not a subrace. I also consider this oversight unfortunate. Also, Dragonlance should have had more restrictions imposed on magic as part of their Magic Police, where if you're not part of their Robed Order, you're actively hunted down... but that's off topic. As for an actual Tinker Class... You know how they did the non-magic ranger... Maybe a non-magic artificer would be a good place to start. The wild surge table might provide some good mishap results.
The OP has a valid point, tinker gnome was a CLASS, not a subrace. I also consider this oversight unfortunate. Also, Dragonlance should have had more restrictions imposed on magic as part of their Magic Police, where if you're not part of their Robed Order, you're actively hunted down... but that's off topic. As for an actual Tinker Class... You know how they did the non-magic ranger... Maybe a non-magic artificer would be a good place to start. The wild surge table might provide some good mishap results.
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So the new adventure book has rules for a conversion of older Dragonlance editions to 5e, but there are no updated rules for Tinker Gnomes. I need to come up with a solid homebrew for my players, one of which wants to play a tinker. I had him write up a critical failure table, and I am considering using the complexity table in the 1e Book, but I want to simplify it and try to limit the tables.
What I am leaning towards is. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Tinker Gnomes special abilities.
-Must choose a life quest. This is a scientific discovery that has been passed down from generation to generation in your family. This life quest should be something that can forever be improved upon. To complete this life quest where there is no discovery left to be made or improved upon, will bring great shame on your family, making them outcast in Gnomish society as they will no longer have a place. Examples: Build a submersible. A comfortable chair. A super sonic horse. Interdimensional travel. A scientific explanation for magic. Obtain the greygem. A single strike hammer. A scuba suit/habitat. Build an intelligent humanoid. Write a scientific record of all dreams.
-Proficiency in tinker tools.
-Advantage to Investigation checks to determine how any mechanism/object works (does not mean you can use it). May spend 5 minutes to take an automatic 10 without rolling.
-May spend an action to repair any object without need of skill proficiency.
-Receives advantage on any check related to your life quest.
-Power of Invention. See rules.
1. Starting stats of inventions are increments of 10, or 1d6 or a feature. So it would be 1d6 damage, or 10ft, depending what the invention does.
2. Each increment adds 1 to the complexity with a minimum 1 hour to construct, assuming all the resources are available.
3. Base savings throw is 10+ complexity.
4. To make the invention, you roll an Intelligence Check. A failure increases the complexity, but not the stats.
5. You may reroll the Check until you pass.
6. On a pass the invention works, but you can continue to roll to improve it by adding more complexity.
7. Whenever the invention is activated, you have to roll Intelligence savings against its complexity.
8. On a pass, the invention works as intended.
9. On a failure it breaks and requires one round to fix. (no rolls required)
10. On a failure greater than 5, the invention does 1d6 damage per complexity in a 10ft radius per complexity, Dex save vs complexity for half damage.
11. On a 1, it does critical damage.
I hate to burst your bubble, but the PHB explicitly says Krynn’s Tinker Gnomes are rock gnomes. Just use the rock gnome stats rather than reinventing the wheel*.
*Yes, I’m aware of the irony of that statement given tinker gnomes’ proclivities for doing just that.
Tinker Gnomes in taladas are rock gnomes. PHB rocks gnomes are not Ansalon tinker gnomes. Tinker gnomes on Ansalon are cursed by the gods.. They need rules for their curse. For instance, PHB rock gnomes don't have life quests. Playing a tinker gnome that makes pocket lighters isn't any fun and isn't accurate. No tinker gnomes would ever build a simple pocket lighter. A tinker gnome would make a pocket lighter with a nose trimmer, adjustable flame out to 5 feet and jet propulsion that can melt steel.
I promised my player they'd be able to play a tinker gnome, not some shoe horned race from the PHB. I am not going to tell my player that this very exciting race that only exists on Krynn isn't available to them, and they have to play a rock gnome, which they could have played anytime before. I plan to deliver Dragonlance, not Dragonlance Light.
Prior editions managed to deliver tinker gnome mechanic without telling people to play a generic gnome. There is no reason why 5e shouldn't either.
This showed up in a search: https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Tinker_Gnome_Projects_(5e_Other)
DanDwiki is the worst possible source for homebrew, being notorious for broken content, both in the “overpowered” sense and the ”does not actually work” sense.
Make your solutions to fit your problems, folks. If you have one single player in one single game who wants to play a tinker gnome and you feel all tinker gnomes need to have life quests, you don't need to homebrew a whole new race that has a life quest. Just give that player a life quest in the game. I don't know why baking it into a race would make it any more necessary or official when you're making it up either way.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I mean it doesnt matter f its "known" for anything. Each thing on its own merits. A solution is better than...none.
Considering that this excerpt is directly from the official Dragonlance book, we have our official answer:
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
That’s the point I made, but OP got miffed when I brought that up, wanting to mechanize the Life Quest aspect of Tinker Gnome lore (never mind that the D&D zeitgeist is moving away from cultural species traits).
The OP has a valid point, tinker gnome was a CLASS, not a subrace. I also consider this oversight unfortunate. Also, Dragonlance should have had more restrictions imposed on magic as part of their Magic Police, where if you're not part of their Robed Order, you're actively hunted down... but that's off topic. As for an actual Tinker Class... You know how they did the non-magic ranger... Maybe a non-magic artificer would be a good place to start. The wild surge table might provide some good mishap results.
The OP has a valid point, tinker gnome was a CLASS, not a subrace. I also consider this oversight unfortunate. Also, Dragonlance should have had more restrictions imposed on magic as part of their Magic Police, where if you're not part of their Robed Order, you're actively hunted down... but that's off topic. As for an actual Tinker Class... You know how they did the non-magic ranger... Maybe a non-magic artificer would be a good place to start. The wild surge table might provide some good mishap results.