Forest Gnome

The forest gnomes prefer a life in which no one knows who they are or where they live. They dwell in large swaths of woodland, and—unlike the other gnomish subraces—prefer to dwell in houses that are at least partially above ground. They are creatures of nature far more than any of their cousins, and to those rare folks who meet them and manage to pass through the walls of initial shyness, they can prove to be steadfast allies and delightful companions.
However, this subrace has not totally abandoned the love of gemstones that is so inherent to all gnomes. The emerald is the favored gem of the forest gnomes, no doubt because it most accurately reflects the healthy colors of their verdant homelands. While these gnomes can make excellent gem smiths and jewelers, their work tends to be reverent images of the flowers, leaves, butterflies, and birds that are such a key part of the forest gnome’s environment.
These are the smallest of the gnomish subraces, averaging from just above 2’ to just under 3’. They share the stocky physique of the rock and tinker gnomes and the bulbous nose which is so characteristic of the race in general. They are the only gnomes, save for ice gnomes, inclined to wear beards and hair very long, and an older male is likely to have a beard that extends to within a few inches of the ground and hair that, when unbound, falls all the way to his waist. These beards are a source of great pride to the venerable males, and they often trim them to a fine point or curl them into hornlike spikes that extend to either side.
The skin of a forest gnome tends toward a greenish cast of tan rather like bark, although often darkened and ruddy from exposure to dirt and weather. Their eyes are generally brown to blue, but green eyes are not unheard of and are considered very attractive and the omen of a good life for their owner. Their hair color is brown or black, often becoming gray or white in old age.
The forest gnomes are a very long-lives people, with an average life expectancy approaching 500 years. Childhood and adolescence blend together in the growing process. Since these gnomes do not generally embark upon a craft or apprenticeship as a life specialty, there is no need to differentiate a carefree youngster from an equally happy-go-lucky youth. Adulthood is granted upon the hundredth birthday, and this anniversary is a cause for great celebration.
Shy and timid when it comes to relations with other intelligent races, forest gnomes are very determined caretakers of their wooded domains. They are viewed with friendship by the animals of the forest and have developed a limited language of signs and sounds, similar to the rock gnome’s speech that allows communication with burrowing mammals, that allow them to communicate with these creatures, though without a great deal of detail. Thus a squirrel might chatter something about an intruder in the forest and even indicate the general direction of the trespasser, but it can provide no numbers of the possible enemy. As a general rule of thumb, all communications consist of a single word only such as “danger!”, “food”, “happy”, and the like.
Forest gnomes are also very adept at protecting and caring for the plant life of their woods. They gather the nuts, fruit, and other bounty of the woods for sustenance, taking meat only infrequently—and always with a reverent ceremony to the spirit of the animal slain by the gnomish hunter. They despise the use of traps, never employing snares, pitfalls, or such traps themselves. When they encounter such devices set by humans or others, the forest gnomes have been known to rig the traps so that they capture, as with a snare, or injure, as with a deadfall or pit fall trap, the trapper when he or she comes along to check for game. Generally, the trapper receives the same effect that his or her trap would have inflicted upon an animal.
Aside from meat, forest gnomes eat their food raw, though with a great deal of ceremony and politeness. Even a nut or a verry is only consumed after the tree or bush that gave it life has been properly, albeit silently, thanked. Needless to say, meals among the forest gnomes are very long, quiet affairs.
These diminutive beings are exceptional woodcarvers, far more skilled than any other subrace at the working of this natural material. They can also be skilled carpenters, and their skills lean heavily toward natural-looking renditions of their structures. A storage shed, for example, might be built to resemble a clump of tightly-clustered pine trees, concealing the fact that there is any kind of structure there at all.
Priests have a higher status in this society than in any other gnomish culture. Voli Thickettamer is the patron deity of most of these clerics and has blessed them with a number of duties and tasks, most of which involved the protection and preservation of the forests and the wild creatures found there.
The most hated enemies of the forest gnomes are orcs, with troglodytes and lizard men close behind. These creatures will be ruthlessly attacked and ambushed whenever they are encountered. Despite their shyness, forest gnomes have made friends with elves and halflings, though they tend to distrust humans and dwarves who in their experience all-too-often view trees only as so much firewood.
Occasionally, with great courage, one of these smallest of gnomes will venture out of his or her forest domain in a quest to see the world, though he or she will usually try to return after a few years and will never be entirely too comfortable in a place that has no trees.
The gnomes of this subrace tend to live in smaller communities than do their kin, largely because their numbers are so much fewer. A forest gnome village will average less than a hundred residents, and the family homes that make up the “village” may be hundreds of feet apart. They are always located in a dense woods and are virtually invisible to anyone who happens to wander through—even a veteran woodsman might stroll down the main street of a forest gnome village without knowing he or she was in anything other than trackless wood. In part, this is because the forest gnomes disdain the use of tracks and trails—they are adept at moving through the underbrush while dwellings tend to be concealed within the trunks of large, hollow trees and sometimes, into burrows that extend below the surface of the ground.
The preferred house of a forest gnomes, however, is above the ground and within the comfortable wooden enclosure of a tree trunk. These creatures prefer lairs of many different levels since, even to these small gnomes, most hollow trees don’t provide a lot of floor space. Instead, the house will be a network of cylindrical rooms, usually no more than four feet from floor to ceiling, connected to the floors above and below by tiny trapdoors and rope ladders or, sometimes, spiraling stairways carved into the wood of the tree. Each floor will have a few windows opening to the outside, but these will be so cleverly camouflaged on the outside by bark or limbs as to be virtually invisible.
Excavated chambers are used for the common areas of the forest gnomes, so that when a whole community gathers they can do so in large, earthen caverns concealed underground. These chambers are connected by dirt tunnels and are often quite large, with forest gnomes having no interest in excavating through stone, and though they will occupy a natural cave if they find one conveniently located, they will never dig into bedrock to expand or shape their surroundings.
A village of forest gnomes is organized very much like a large family, with the oldest patriarch or matriarch in the community generally revered as the venerable leader. As far as an actual societal organization, there is very little—when forest gnomes act as a group they do so because the necessity of actions is obvious to every member of the clan.
Forest gnomes are sometimes mistaken for brownies by those humans who catch a rare glimpse of them, but the two races are not related. For one thing, brownies prefer rural settings—farms or other small human and halfling villages; the very environments forest gnomes go out of their way to avoid—to the forest. Despite their size, brownies are more closely related to elves than any of the other demihuman races. Also, brownies are highly magical, while forest gnomes tend to distrust magic and make less use of it in their daily lives than any other gnomish subrace. The two races are friendly, but their paths seldom cross.

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Table of Contents

Game Statistics

Custom System

Ability Score Adjustment

+1 Dexterity, -1 Intelligence

Pass without Trace

You can innately cast the pass without trace spell as an innate Arcane spell-like ability as a Free Action.

Ancestral Combat

You gain a +1 Racial bonus to attack rolls against creatures with the Orc, Goblinoid, or Reptilian subtype.

Racial Skills

You gain a +4 Racial bonus to Hide, which improves to a +8 Racial bonus while in a densely wooded area.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Forest Gnomish.

5th Edition

To Be Made

4th Edition

To Be Made

3.5th Edition

To Be Made

2nd Edition

Ability Score Adjustment. The initial ability scores are modified by a +1 to Dexterity and Wisdom, but a -1 to Strength and Intelligence

Ability	Minimum	Maximum
Strength	3	17
Dexterity	8	19
Constitution	8	18
Intelligence	3	17
Wisdom	6	18
Charisma	3	18

Class	Maximum
Fighter	11
‎ ‎ ‎Paladin	—
‎ ‎ ‎Ranger	6
‎ ‎ ‎Barbarian	—
Mage	10
‎ ‎ ‎Specialist	151
‎ ‎ ‎Warlock	9
Cleric	10
‎ ‎ ‎Druid	6
‎ ‎ ‎Monk	—
‎ ‎ ‎Shaman	13
Thief	13
‎ ‎ ‎Assassin	9
‎ ‎ ‎Bard	—
Psionicist	9

¹Forest Gnomes can be Illusionists of up to 15th level

Special Advantages

Forest gnomes add +1 to their dice rolls to hit and to damage orcs, lizard men, or troglodytes, or any creature which they have directly observed damaging woodlands.

A forest gnome can innately cast the invisibility spell once per day as though a mage of their current level, but only while in wooded areas. Leaving a wooded area ends the spell prematurely. This spell has no components when cast this way.

A forest gnome can pass through any kind of wooded terrain without leaving any sign of his or her passage.

Special Hindrances

None

Role-Playing Suggestions

Forest gnomes are highly distrustful of other intelligent humanoids, and especially those that would harm or damage the woodlands that they love. Chief amongst these are orcs and lizard men, though humans and dwarves are also highly distrusted when around woods.

Forest gnomes are not as big into parties as other gnomish subraces, though still do get together quite often compared to other races.

Of all the gnomish subraces, forest gnomes are the least likely to leave their homes to see the world, but even they occasionally have difficulty ignoring the wanderlust of their race.

Languages

forest gnome, gnomish, common, elvish, treant, forest mammal

Pathfinder 2e

To Be Made

Encompassed species

• Gnome