Hacking 2e: Gnomes

The Gnome is an odd addition. Prior to 1e AD&D, they only appear as a monster, but in 1978 they suddenly show up as playable. As far as I can tell, this occurred only because Gygax was tired of seeing the other demihumans all the time and he liked Gnomes. Fair enough. Based on this alone, they’ve remained in the PHB of every edition up to the present day (excluding 4e, because of course it was different).

Personally, I’m not a fan of the little buggers. They’re mechanically derivative, and (at least in base 2e) they are not the tinker/inventor-type weirdos which makes them so unique in other media. By the book, they’re just weaker Dwarves with limited magical ability. As such, this should be fairly short work (that pun just showed up, I had nothing to do with it).

 

1. Infravision

As with the Dwarf, they’ll get Darkvision.

 

2. Saving Throw Bonuses

They get the bonus to Rod, Staff, or Wand, and Spells, but not Poison, using the same tortured fractional math.

This translates to just the Saving Throw bonus to Magic. I can then point to the Con Bonus table, which will also be true of the Halfling.

 

3. Magical Item Failure

Again, the same feature as the Dwarf, with the exact same percentages. The only changes are the excluded items, which removes girdles, gauntlets, and Cleric items, in favor of Illusionist items and “items that duplicate thieving abilities” if the Gnome is a Thief.

I’ll use the same solution of a Magic Malfunction score, and smooth out the exclusions.

 

 4. Ancestral Enemies

Again, we get the same feature. Again, I’ll use the same solution, with the appropriate enemies listed.

 

5. Tunneler Skills

The Gnome gets the Dwarf’s stonework feature with some slightly modified chances and the addition of being able to detect their ‘direction underground’. Interestingly, the PHB notes that they need to spend a round to gain this knowledge, which is not required of the Dwarf, at least per the text.

For simplicity’s sake, I don’t see a reason to make this an entirely different skill. The differences aren’t enough to justify it. They’ll get the Dungeon Sense skill, and I can extend the ability to detect direction to the Dwarf.

 

6. Animal Speech

Gnomes do have a unique trait (outside of their ability to use illusion magic) that separates them from Dwarves, but it’s buried in the note about which languages they can speak (which I have purposely avoided in these entries).

Gnomes can choose to speak “the simple common speech of burrowing mammals.” This is an adorable trait, and it characterizes the Gnome in a way that nothing else here does. I’d say it should be provided as a freebie that doesn’t need to be chosen over speaking Kobold or whatever.

 

7. The Hacked Gnome

Gnomes are short, playful, curious, and sly. They value living things and precious stones. They live in mines and burrows, preferring wooded, rocky hills far from human civilization.

Gnomes have the following traits:

Darkvision: Can see in darkness as though it were light, up to 60 ft

Animal Speech: Can speak the simple language of burrowing mammals, such as moles, badgers, and weasels, in addition to the number of languages provided by Intelligence.

Mostly Nonmagical: Bonus to Magic Saving Throw score as shown in the Constitution Saving Throw Bonus table. Can cast Spells, but only as an Illusionist. Gains Magic Malfunction with a score of 16, which must be tested whenever using a magical item (except weapons, armor, shields, Illusionist items and Thief items); failure means the item does not work as intended. Cursed items reveal their nature when malfunctioning.

Ancestral Enemies: +1 ATTAC (Addition to Target AC) against kobolds and goblins. –4 AC against gnolls, bugbears, ogres, trolls, giants, and titans.

Underground Native: Gains Dungeon Sense skill with a score of 16, which can be tested to gain information about stonework and subterranean areas, including floor slope, shifting architecture, and age of construction. Can be tested to find stonework traps and depth or direction underground with a –6 penalty to the score.

 

8. Final Note

Well, it’s done, but I’m not entirely happy with this copy job. I’d prefer to offer the Gnome as a type of kit: add this, remove that, and there’s your Gnome. However, the Gnome is just different enough that this would be more confusing than just offering the five traits. Perhaps I’ll come back to it. Perhaps the 4e DM in me will win out and I'll simply remove the Gnome entirely.

Alphabetically, we should be moving on to the Half-elf, but they need a bit more work before I propose anything. Instead, let’s continue on to the Halfling.