Just a place to talk about gnomes. Because gnomes.
As a basic conversation-starter, I know that gnomes are usually played as wizards or artificers (heck, I'm playing a Rock Gnome Artificer (Artillerist) right now), but what else have you done with gnomes? Could an Eldritch Knight gnome potentially work?
I generally don't play a gnome as a martial character. In an Underdark campaign a while back one of my players played as a Gnome Paladin with a Greatsword, because, why not?
I do have a gnome character, Orryn Boondiggles, an abjuration rock gnome wizard, who was an archmage who focused on conjuration magic with a wife and daughter, but then the Spellplague caused his wife to disappear forever, his home to erupt into blue flames, his magic items and spellbooks to burn, and his spells to be lost for a hundred years.
He eventually was able to learn spellcasting again, and had retrieved a spellbook before it was completely burned (though all the spells were erased, and the binding and pages were mostly burned).
I love gnomes. They are my favorite player races in the PHB.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
I'll be honest, I don't like what Eberron did to gnomes. I get that it's trying to make gnomes more than just the whimsical fairy tale thing in the base books, but that's their appeal. Reading Eberron, I loved the reinterpretations of all the races and I thought they were great, and then I got to the ShadyGnomes (TM) and I was like... isn't this the exact opposite of what gnomes are supposed to be? I get that that's the point of Eberron races, but this is the one case where they really should have just stuck to the original.
I'll be honest, I don't like what Eberron did to gnomes. I get that it's trying to make gnomes more than just the whimsical fairy tale thing in the base books, but that's their appeal. Reading Eberron, I loved the reinterpretations of all the races and I thought they were great, and then I got to the ShadyGnomes (TM) and I was like... isn't this the exact opposite of what gnomes are supposed to be? I get that that's the point of Eberron races, but this is the one case where they really should have just stuck to the original.
I quite like the Eberron gnomes actually. Eberron is all about what the races would be like if the Forgotten Realms gods didn't meddle with them. Elves worship their ancestors and are good at magic, Dwarves are connected to alien magic from digging too deep, Orcs are connected with nature. These all are different spins on what characteristics the races have that benefit them as a race.
Gnomes are no different.
What traits do gnomes have?
All gnomes are intelligent, have darkvision, and can resist magic better than other races.
Well, Rock Gnomes are good with magic items, great at inventing, and are more resilient than other gnomes. Forest Gnomes are sneaky, great at illusions, and can talk with small creatures.
Rock Gnomes in Eberron are great at elemental binding. Forest Gnomes are great assassins, as they can use small creatures, mice, bats, weasels, rats, so on, to navigate places for them, and then illusion magic to manipulate the world around them, and they are great at sneaking through small places, making them great at assassinating.
Is it weird for the happy-go-lucky Forgotten Realms gnomes to be the same physically, but completely different socially from the murderous mafia Eberron gnomes? Yes. Does it make sense? Yes, it does as well.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
I agree, this is a great way of making up Gnome names. If I were to play in Dragonlance, I'd make a name that explains my family history back hundreds of generations.
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I understand why. The happy-go-lucky gnomes wouldn't really make sense in Eberron, and your analysis makes a lot of sense. I just personally prefer whimsical gnomes, and the idea of Shady Gnomes is kind of hilarious to me. If it makes any sense, I like Eberron gnomes as a race, I just don't like them as gnomes.
Edit: As an example, I really, really like Eberron's Orcs and Half-elves, and most of the other race backstories are fascinating to me. I just think that the personality jump for gnomes was a little too far. I think the difference for me is that what Eberron did for orcs and Half-elves fixes my minor complaints with the races (inherently evil with a flimsy justification, torn between two worlds that hate them and thus almost required to have a certain amount of edge to them) whereas Eberron gnomes subvert the thing I love most about gnomes. Still like the concept as long as I view it as a separate race, though.)
i am playing a rock gnome barbarian, and he dual wields short swords and his favoured attack method is cutting down bigger foes by cutting their legs out from under them
I used to play a Forest gnome Ranger/blood hunter named Eldon Nimblefeet. Obviously not optimal, but after taking sharpshooter and alert feats, he was able to finish a lot of fights before they really got started, so it worked out enough to get him up to lvl 7 before the campaign ended. He was definitely on the light hearted side when not fighting, loved playing pranks on the folks in the villages, and always enjoyed a good drinking contest with some of the more hearty NPCs at the tavern (none of which he ever won).
I agree, this is a great way of making up Gnome names. If I were to play in Dragonlance, I'd make a name that explains my family history back hundreds of generations.
Humpybong Pulyapantsup*
EDIT: *Latter name is a video game reference of a fictional Australian village. Former is a real place in QLD.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I suspect that this may in fact be the method that the parents of Benedict Cumberbatch used to pick his name.
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Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
I briefly played a rock gnome thief rogue with the guild artisan background; he was a professional locksmith/security expert who specialized in spotting and bypassing dungeon traps. I RPed his low charisma as him being constantly overlooked due to his size and overcompensating with shouted threats and insults that nobody takes seriously. Might hopefully get the chance to play him again one day.
I had a Forest Gnome Bear/Eagle totem Barbarian. He was almost Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. His rage was him being feral.
With DM permission, he started out with a necklace that summoned a large Capybara. I could ride it if I rolled well enough. 10 or above and it would listen to me. Less and it just wandered off or laid down. Once it got hit or wandered more than 5 ft. away from me, it disappeared.
We rolled for our stats. After racial adjustments, I had 15, 16, 16, 13, 14, 11. I played him tanky and picked up Sentinel at level 4. My DM hated him because he couldn't kill him. Was running sword and board. With the stats I had and being Forest gnome, I accidentally made myself resistant to a lot of magical effects, or at least just as tough as a regular character would be.
He died at level 15 to Tiamat. Took 4 level 4 fireballs, 4 level 3, 2 breath attacks from Tiamat, and 2-3 bites to kill him. Plus assorted light attacks before that.
I had a Forest Gnome Bear/Eagle totem Barbarian. He was almost Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. His rage was him being feral.
With DM permission, he started out with a necklace that summoned a large Capybara. I could ride it if I rolled well enough. 10 or above and it would listen to me. Less and it just wandered off or laid down. Once it got hit or wandered more than 5 ft. away from me, it disappeared.
We rolled for our stats. After racial adjustments, I had 15, 16, 16, 13, 14, 11. I played him tanky and picked up Sentinel at level 4. My DM hated him because he couldn't kill him. Was running sword and board. With the stats I had and being Forest gnome, I accidentally made myself resistant to a lot of magical effects, or at least just as tough as a regular character would be.
He died at level 15 to Tiamat. Took 4 level 4 fireballs, 4 level 3, 2 breath attacks from Tiamat, and 2-3 bites to kill him. Plus assorted light attacks before that.
Miss the little guy.
Gnomes, the ultimate foe of kobolds and kobold gods.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
There's a joke in my campaign that all gnomes are gay and have rhyming names. So far the party has encountered Oryyn and Worryn as well as Jorg and Borg and a few others. The joke started with G-nay G-nomes and proceeded from there so that now when i introduce a gnome NPC they'll ask where their rhyming counterpart is.
I have some cross-campaign NPC's who are gnome artificers named Blid and Blad Humblebumble. They're twin brothers, and they run a spelljamming organization called GUNS (Gnomish Unity Navy of Space). Blid is an alchemist, Blad is a gunsmith.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Just a place to talk about gnomes. Because gnomes.
As a basic conversation-starter, I know that gnomes are usually played as wizards or artificers (heck, I'm playing a Rock Gnome Artificer (Artillerist) right now), but what else have you done with gnomes? Could an Eldritch Knight gnome potentially work?
I generally don't play a gnome as a martial character. In an Underdark campaign a while back one of my players played as a Gnome Paladin with a Greatsword, because, why not?
I do have a gnome character, Orryn Boondiggles, an abjuration rock gnome wizard, who was an archmage who focused on conjuration magic with a wife and daughter, but then the Spellplague caused his wife to disappear forever, his home to erupt into blue flames, his magic items and spellbooks to burn, and his spells to be lost for a hundred years.
He eventually was able to learn spellcasting again, and had retrieved a spellbook before it was completely burned (though all the spells were erased, and the binding and pages were mostly burned).
I love gnomes. They are my favorite player races in the PHB.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
My 2 copper pieces:
If you need a name for your gnome character, just throw two darts at a map of Australia.
Airlie Middlemount. . . Winton Finke. . . Little Sandy Warburton. . . Belladonia Cocklebiddy. . . Pannawonica Wyndham. . . Tindal Mooroongga. . . Wagga Wagga Ballarat. . .
Seriously. it works.
Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
Anzio Faro. Lvl 5 Prot. Aasimar Light Cleric.
I'll be honest, I don't like what Eberron did to gnomes. I get that it's trying to make gnomes more than just the whimsical fairy tale thing in the base books, but that's their appeal. Reading Eberron, I loved the reinterpretations of all the races and I thought they were great, and then I got to the ShadyGnomes (TM) and I was like... isn't this the exact opposite of what gnomes are supposed to be? I get that that's the point of Eberron races, but this is the one case where they really should have just stuck to the original.
That is fantastic!
I quite like the Eberron gnomes actually. Eberron is all about what the races would be like if the Forgotten Realms gods didn't meddle with them. Elves worship their ancestors and are good at magic, Dwarves are connected to alien magic from digging too deep, Orcs are connected with nature. These all are different spins on what characteristics the races have that benefit them as a race.
Gnomes are no different.
What traits do gnomes have?
All gnomes are intelligent, have darkvision, and can resist magic better than other races.
Well, Rock Gnomes are good with magic items, great at inventing, and are more resilient than other gnomes. Forest Gnomes are sneaky, great at illusions, and can talk with small creatures.
Rock Gnomes in Eberron are great at elemental binding. Forest Gnomes are great assassins, as they can use small creatures, mice, bats, weasels, rats, so on, to navigate places for them, and then illusion magic to manipulate the world around them, and they are great at sneaking through small places, making them great at assassinating.
Is it weird for the happy-go-lucky Forgotten Realms gnomes to be the same physically, but completely different socially from the murderous mafia Eberron gnomes? Yes. Does it make sense? Yes, it does as well.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I agree, this is a great way of making up Gnome names. If I were to play in Dragonlance, I'd make a name that explains my family history back hundreds of generations.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I understand why. The happy-go-lucky gnomes wouldn't really make sense in Eberron, and your analysis makes a lot of sense. I just personally prefer whimsical gnomes, and the idea of Shady Gnomes is kind of hilarious to me. If it makes any sense, I like Eberron gnomes as a race, I just don't like them as gnomes.
Edit: As an example, I really, really like Eberron's Orcs and Half-elves, and most of the other race backstories are fascinating to me. I just think that the personality jump for gnomes was a little too far. I think the difference for me is that what Eberron did for orcs and Half-elves fixes my minor complaints with the races (inherently evil with a flimsy justification, torn between two worlds that hate them and thus almost required to have a certain amount of edge to them) whereas Eberron gnomes subvert the thing I love most about gnomes. Still like the concept as long as I view it as a separate race, though.)
i am playing a rock gnome barbarian, and he dual wields short swords and his favoured attack method is cutting down bigger foes by cutting their legs out from under them
I used to play a Forest gnome Ranger/blood hunter named Eldon Nimblefeet. Obviously not optimal, but after taking sharpshooter and alert feats, he was able to finish a lot of fights before they really got started, so it worked out enough to get him up to lvl 7 before the campaign ended. He was definitely on the light hearted side when not fighting, loved playing pranks on the folks in the villages, and always enjoyed a good drinking contest with some of the more hearty NPCs at the tavern (none of which he ever won).
Humpybong Pulyapantsup*
EDIT: *Latter name is a video game reference of a fictional Australian village. Former is a real place in QLD.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I suspect that this may in fact be the method that the parents of Benedict Cumberbatch used to pick his name.
Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
Anzio Faro. Lvl 5 Prot. Aasimar Light Cleric.
I briefly played a rock gnome thief rogue with the guild artisan background; he was a professional locksmith/security expert who specialized in spotting and bypassing dungeon traps. I RPed his low charisma as him being constantly overlooked due to his size and overcompensating with shouted threats and insults that nobody takes seriously. Might hopefully get the chance to play him again one day.
I had a Forest Gnome Bear/Eagle totem Barbarian. He was almost Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. His rage was him being feral.
With DM permission, he started out with a necklace that summoned a large Capybara. I could ride it if I rolled well enough. 10 or above and it would listen to me. Less and it just wandered off or laid down. Once it got hit or wandered more than 5 ft. away from me, it disappeared.
We rolled for our stats. After racial adjustments, I had 15, 16, 16, 13, 14, 11. I played him tanky and picked up Sentinel at level 4. My DM hated him because he couldn't kill him. Was running sword and board. With the stats I had and being Forest gnome, I accidentally made myself resistant to a lot of magical effects, or at least just as tough as a regular character would be.
He died at level 15 to Tiamat. Took 4 level 4 fireballs, 4 level 3, 2 breath attacks from Tiamat, and 2-3 bites to kill him. Plus assorted light attacks before that.
Miss the little guy.
Gnomes, the ultimate foe of kobolds and kobold gods.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I'm not a fan of gnomes. They have their place, I guess, but I like my small races hairy-footed and Tolkienesque.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
HEATHEN!
Points finger
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
There's a joke in my campaign that all gnomes are gay and have rhyming names. So far the party has encountered Oryyn and Worryn as well as Jorg and Borg and a few others. The joke started with G-nay G-nomes and proceeded from there so that now when i introduce a gnome NPC they'll ask where their rhyming counterpart is.
I have some cross-campaign NPC's who are gnome artificers named Blid and Blad Humblebumble. They're twin brothers, and they run a spelljamming organization called GUNS (Gnomish Unity Navy of Space). Blid is an alchemist, Blad is a gunsmith.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Let's see...Adelaide Brisbane Rockhampton...
Yup, it works.