Gnome

Kin to dwarves, gnomes are noticeably smaller than their distant cousins. Gnomes, as they proudly maintain, are also less rotund than dwarves. Their noses, however, are significantly larger. The big schnozzola is an important status symbol among all of the gnome subraces. Parents proudly point out the size of their children’s noses and make enthusiastic prognostications about future growth. While the practical applications of such a facial features are admittedly limited, gnomes will frequently embark on size contests, with heavy wagers, between members of rival clans. Deep gnomes go so far as to make this a primary determinant factor in the selection of a new ruler.
The gnomes are significantly worse at adapting to different environments compared to dwarves and tend to prefer the same sorts of places to live—quiet burrows in the ground in the groves, woodlands, and deep hills of Elaris. They enjoy having running water near their homes both for a source of drinkable water as well as simply enjoying the sound of it, and some gnomes even make their livelihoods within the rivers or in small villages beside them. Gnomes are far less reclusive than dwarves, but still dislike having numerous visitors at once, enjoying their privacy and time alone. They are especially fond of other races that respect the landscape around them, and so get along well with elves and half-elves but have some tensions with their dwarvish cousins as well as with the expansionist humans. Many gnomes are friends and allies of the druids and rangers that live with or around them, and a rare few gnomes take up these professions themselves.
There are six types of gnomes spread throughout the world, with the most prevalent of them being the rock gnomes and forest gnomes. Each type of gnome is closely related to each other unlike the widespread groups of dwarves. Should they meet, they tend to welcome each other in with open arms as one would a family member or old friend. Gnomish culture is typically inviting to one another, so long as they weren’t surprised about the visit.
Gnomes are very emotional creatures, given to laughter and joy, weeping and sorrow, in loud and affectionate displays. This applies to both work and play. Despite their physical resemblance to dwarves, a group of gnomish miners can easily be distinguished not only by their smaller size but by the laughter and song that accompanies them on their task.
When given cause for sorrow, such as the death of a friend or relative, gnomes grieve openly and loudly. Natural disasters or malicious acts from enemies are likewise cause for wailing and crying—so much so that an observer might assume that an entire community has just received a sentence of painful doom. However, these moods pass quickly and many a boisterous party has resulted from what began as a funeral observance.
Very unlike dwarves, gnomes are open in displays of affection and love. Hugs are frequent whenever friends, spouses, and relatives meet. Parents cuddle children, and the youngsters accept the attention with no self-consciousness. While romantic couples are private with their intimacy, husbands and wives will loudly and publicly profess their affection and love.
Gnomes have lively and sly senses of humor, especially for practical jokes. Gnomes are famous, or perhaps infamous, for their sardonic sense of humor. All gnomes love practical jokes, the more elaborate the better. This can be very disconcerting when a gnome decides to express friendship or affection to a non-gnome by making that individual a special target for a string of practical jokes. As a rule, it’s considered bad form to devise a joke which actually hurts somebody; the art comes from surprising the victim and making him or her look ridiculous. In a way, practical joking takes the place filled by violence in many human cultures: two gnomes who have a heated argument are more likely to launch a feud of booby-traps to prove who is the cleverest of the two than come to blows. Taking their cue from their gods, gnomes extend this attitude to their military endeavors; it’s considered a more courageous act to make an enemy look foolish in the eyes of his or her allies or followers than it is to kill the same enemy.
A warren of gnomes will typically be guarded by several watchful mammals. In the case of forest or rock gnomes, these will be woods-dwelling or burrowing creatures. Among the most popular companions are badgers, wolverines, and weasels—in mundane as well as giant sizes. Deep gnomes sometimes gain similar companionship from moles, shrews, bats, and giant rats. In return for kind treatment from the gnomes, these creatures often take up residence nearby gnome dwellings.
These creatures are not domesticated as humans understand the word; they are allies, not pets. Still, they provide useful service as sentinels, quickly bringing word of any strangers in the area, and if the community is attacked, the animal guardians will always fight savagely in defense of their friends. Many villages have tales of youngsters who have fallen into a stream only to be plucked forth and saved by the jaws of a giant weasel, for example, or of inexperienced climbers who have gotten into trouble on the steep and rocky slopes so common in gnomish habitat only to be carried to safety on the sturdy back of a climbing badger.
They have a great love of living things and finely wrought items, particularly gems and jewelry. Gnomes love all sorts of precious stones and are masters of gem polishing and cutting. A gnome who lacks the skills of a gem cutter is seen by society much in the same way as a dwarf that cannot work a forge to save their own life. More than a medium of wealth, gems are cherished to a degree difficult for non-gnomes to comprehend. Every gnome has a small gem he or she will carry at all times, often feeling or stroking it when thoughtful or troubled. Every gnomish village will have a few particularly splendid stones that belong to the community as a whole, each with an accompanying legend, and enchanted gems are the favorite magical items of gnomish spellcasters.
Gnomes of all sorts tend to have bright, luminous, jewel colored eyes, particularly blues, greens, and whites. Their skin and hair colors vary with the specific type of gnome, but typically all gnomes have tanned to fair skin. Their hair tends to be primarily black, rich brown, scarlet, or gold, but some have odd colors, such as the darker skin and green hair of the forest gnomes.
Gnomish males tend to keep their hair short and tidy, and they often grow long beards like their dwarvish cousins. Unlike the dwarves, they have no cultural stigma of shaving, and female gnomes never grow beards. Female gnomes prefer to wear their hair loose and free flowing, though when they marry, they do bind it. This is done using a personalized clasp made from precious metals and gemstones and given to the female when the male proposes in place of the rings humans use. If a gnome is currently courting another, they will weave gemstones or beads into their hair if female, or their beard if male as a sign of devotion to their partner.
Weddings, perhaps surprisingly, are not big social occasions. Instead, they are private ceremonies attended by the immediate families of the young couple—and even these guests soon depart to leave the newlyweds with a chance to get to know each other privately. Bride and groom have generally been friends since childhood and have made the match of their own free will. Marriage commonly occurs during the decades immediately following the coming of age period for members of that specific subrace, though gnomes who choose not to wed are not ostracized or even considered odd. Gnomes marry for companionship as much as procreation, and a couple will almost always remain happily married until one of them passes away. Remarriage is rare, although it has been known to occur unlike divorce which has never been catalogued in gnomish society.
Gnomish couples rarely have the numerous broods familiar to halflings and humans. A family with three children is considered large, and only sizable clans will have five or six children dwelling in the warren at any one time. Even in adulthood, gnomes retain deep bonds of friendship with their siblings and parents. It is very common for brothers and sisters to join together in business endeavors, for example.
Second only to dwarves and even surpassing them occasionally, gnomes chase their professions and arts with large amounts of tenacity and care. They see the things a person makes as their own sort of legacy, that which they will pass down to their families and people. Due to this, they excel as craftsmen of all sorts. Regardless of what this profession or craft may be—as simple as a farmer or tender, as detailed as an artisan or scholar, or as potentially dangerous as a wandering priest or warrior—gnomes seek to become the best they can without delay. A gnome’s life is filled with dedication and hard work, and they believe the harder the task laid before them, the greater the reward will be once they finish and return home.
The single most artistic endeavor of the gnomish craftsman is, of course, the carving and mounting of precious gems. These little folk are adept at every aspect of the jeweler’s trade, including the smelting and finishing of precious metals. While each subrace has a special affinity to a certain type of stone, their gem carvers are capable of working with virtually any type of stone. This artisanship goes beyond mere routine skill. Gnomish jewelers are capable of very creative designs and have developed the most elegant royal crowns, scepters, and decorative sculptures known to demihuman-kind.
Stonecarving is another skill at which gnomes excel, and in those caverns where they have dwelt for many centuries, intricate patterns have been scrolled into many of the walls and ceilings, enhancing the natural beauty of the rock. Their special affinity to stone makes gnomes exceptional excavators, miners, and tunnelers. Those gnomes who seek employment among other cultures might work as gemsmiths if sufficiently skilled but are far more likely to find work in the mines of humankind. Even dwarves, grudgingly, admit that gnomes are almost as good at digging as themselves. This is, in fact, an ungenerous assessment—rock gnomes in particular are every bit the equal of dwarves in this profession.
Beyond the working of stone, however, the gnomes are somewhat limited in the tooling of materials into useful products. As a general rule, gnomes find it hard to produce raw materials but easy to shape it. For example, they do not weave, so all their clothing is either made of leather or of materials bartered from other folk. However, given the right fabrics, a gnomish tailor can create almost any kind of garment, often with elaborate stitching and similar attention to detail characteristic of all gnomish work.
Carpentry is another skill that demonstrates the gnomish penchant for elaboration. Whereas dwarves will hew timbers to shore up a mine shaft and at need can make rough tables, beds, and chairs for their own use, gnomes have a compulsion to cover every available inch with decoration which goes far beyond utility. Thus, gnome miners will often use their breaks to carve delicate patterns into the support timbers, taking care not to weaken the beams, and they will often have friendly contests between different shifts as each continues the other’s work. Gnomish furniture is a marvel of fine woodcarving, with a multitude of baroque detail.
That said, a gnome’s life is not only about hard work as a dwarf’s often is. Gnomes enjoy and cherish their free time almost as much as a halfling would, typically spending it with their families and closest friends, sharing food and drink, and listening to tales and stories of the world around them. Gnomes rarely care much about a story being entirely true, preferring them for their entertainment factor far more than their ability to inform. Gnomes enjoy feasting and drinking, but their diet and beverage selection reflects far less variety than does that of the halflings or even most communities of humankind. Gnomes do not use yeast for baking or brewing, nor do they keep cows or make cheese or butter. Sugar is unknown in their diet, and gnomes tend to avoid sweets even when they travel to places where cakes or candies are available. Spices are not often made use of in gnomish cuisine, though they make heavy use of different sorts of sauces and gravies.
Despite this, the foods that gnomes do cook they cook extremely well. They are excellent at preparing wild game and in using the natural products of their surrounding areas for salads and hot dishes. All gnomes like salt, though the deep gnomes carry this to the greatest extremes. They cook their meat until it’s very well done. This tendency, coupled with the liberal use of salt, ensures that the food keeps for a long time without spoiling. The rare times that gnomes do make use of spices, they are entirely prepared from scratch, whether from wild or farmed herbs, peppers, fruits, or vegetables.
The brewing skills of the gnomes are effective, even if the results are not exactly tempting to humans and other demihumans. Heavy meads and ales are favored, and this is one of the rare times that gnomes will partake in sweet things. They greatly enjoy fruit juices, whether mixed into alcohol or on their own, and they will often make exquisite wines alongside their stronger liquors. These winds are the only use of sugars that the gnomes allow to touch their cuisine. In areas where these fruits can be readily harvested—with a preference to apples and cherries—gnomes make passable, if somewhat astringent, cordials.
Gnomes have moderate faith amongst their demihuman companions, not near the piousness of the dwarves, but far from the divine apathy of the elves. Gnomes believe their lives are enriched through their own work, not through the work of the gods, and to truly enjoy one’s self, one cannot heavily rely on the strength of a greater power.
Unlike the halflings and dwarves, gnomes are often possessed by a strong desire to wander. Their natural curiosity leads them to constantly wonder what’s beyond the next hill, or across that sea…or even down that dark hole in the mountainside. A major compulsion for this wandering among all gnomes is the desire to find the perfect gem. Tales of rich veins of rubies, or a wealth of diamonds or emeralds, will often draw an entire party of gnomes onto a long and dangerous quest. Whether or not they’ve seen evidence of the find, their belief in its existence will be strong, even unshakeable, and determined gnomes will tolerate no diversion in their pursuit of this ultimate treasure.
Despite their reticent nature and the care with which they conceal their communities’ exact locations, gnomes are quite willing to make friends with those visitors who prove themselves worthy of that friendship. Many a wide-eyed gnomish youngster has listened to a human knight tell of great castles or a merchant describe the wonders of a large city market. These gnomes typically grow up with the desire to see these places, and so no one thinks it odd when, after reaching adulthood, they pack up their belongings and head down the road.
Another strain of this honest friendliness is a deep-running loyalty to those the gnomes consider friends. The suggestion that one of these kindred spirits is in trouble will also prove a strong motivation to bring a gnome onto the adventuring road.
The primary stock-in-trade of the gnomish folk, whether on the surface or under the ground, is naturally the gem work that is such a trademark of the race. The urge to create is so strong that gnomes regularly trade finished jewelry for uncut gems, and gnomish gem traders will sometimes travel great distances in the course of their labors.
However, gems aren’t the only thing gnomish communities seek in trade. Salt is a necessity to the gnomish diet, and if there is no natural source available, gnomish traders will go to great lengths to acquire it. Weapons, fabric, and raw metals—particularly steel—are generally not made by gnomes but needed by the community. Delicacies, such as tender meat, dark flour, and strong liquor, are other items sometimes gained through trade. Since these folk have little interest or capability in freight-hauling, those who would sell such bulk goods to them generally have to take responsibility for delivery as well. Human and demihuman traders know this, and many a human and halfling merchant has gotten rich simply by carting loads of textiles or steel to the vicinity of a gnomish village. Often, the trader will sell cart and pony at the same time—after all, he or she doesn’t need much space to haul away a fortune in finely-cut gems.
Gnomes are a fun-loving society, with a great emphasis on personal freedom. However, a cornerstone for this freedom is a respect for the rights of others—and those who tromp on those rights are considered to have committed a grave breach of gnomish etiquette. This cornerstone of individual responsibility is the key to understanding the gnomish culture.
Some of the worst infractions of this personal code that a gnome can commit involve the performance of his or her work. It is, however, a rare circumstance for a gnome to shirk a duty or to perform it at anything less than his or her highest level of ability. Those few gnomes who refuse to work are generally, after many chances to reform, cast out from their communities. They don’t usually live too long on their own with their lack of work ethic.
It is a little more common for offending behavior to occur in social settings, often accompanied by the consumption of alcohol. Virtually all gnomes enjoy drinking, and ale and mead are important features of gnomish festivals and clan gatherings. In most cases, gnomes become quite jolly and carefree when they drink, singing, laughing, and joking—the “mean drunk” is not a familiar character in gnomish society.
However, strong liquor is not a customary drink among gnomes—their ales and fruit wines, while strong-tasting by human standards, are not the match of brandy or whisky in potency. When a gnome gets hold of something stronger, trouble has been known to result. When it does, the malefactor is subjected to stern criticism from the bulk of the community—usually when he or she is in the throes of the worst hangover of their life. One such experience is generally enough to bring about a lifelong reform.
The contests that are an integral part of every gnomish festival are another source of pride to these small demihumans, and the honor of the participants is accepted and, for the most part, taken for granted. Wagering is a common practice, but one is not expected to bet more than he or she is prepared to lose. Welching on a bet is a gross affront to a gnomish sense of right and wrong. Similarly, a trader who cheats gnomish clients by substituting inferior goods for those promised will be marked for life; no gnome will ever trade with that individual again.
Finally, while friendly insults are commonly and frequently exchanged among gnomes, one is expected never to criticize lack of nose size. Those gnomes who have been cursed with small noses—especially those shorter than four inches—are assumed to suffer the curse of their shame inwardly. It is nothing more than needless cruelty to ridicule this unfortunate lack of endowment.

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Table of Contents

Game Statistics

5th Edition

Ability Score Adjustment. Your Intelligence score increases by 2, but your Wisdom score is reduced by 2.
Size. Your size is Small.
Speed. Your base land speed is 25 feet.
Low-Light Vision. You can see in dim light as though it were bright light.
Gnome Cunning. You have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against magic.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Gnomish.

4th Edition

Ability Scores: +2 bonus to Intelligence, and +2 to your choice of Dexterity or Charisma.
Size. Small
Speed. 5 squares
Vision. Low-Light

Languages. Common, Gnomish
Skill Bonuses. +2 Arcana, +2 Stealth
Master Trickster. Once per encounter, you can use the wizard cantrip ghost sound as a minor action.
Reactive Stealth. If you have any cover or concealment when you make an initiative check, you can make a Stealth check.
Fade Away. You have the fade away power.

3.5th Edition

Ability Score Adjustment. +2 Constitution, -2 Strength
Size. Small. Small creatures gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus on attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, -4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits ¾ those of Medium characters.
Speed. A gnome's base land speed is 20 feet.
Low-Light Vision. Gnomes can see twice as far as normal in dim light. Low-light vision is color vision. A spellcaster with low-light vision can read a scroll as long as even the tiniest candle flame is next to him or her as a source of light.
Characters with low-light vision can see outdoors on a moonlit night as well as they can during the day.
Weapon Familiarity. Gnomes may treat gnome hooked hammers as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
Truth-Seer. Gnomes receive a +2 Racial bonus on saving throws against illusions.
Trickster. Gnomes add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against illusion spells they cast. This adjustment stacks with those from similar effects, such as the Spell Focus feat.
Gnome Combat. Gnomes receive a +1 Racial bonus on attack rolls against goblinoids (including goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears).
Giant Dodger. Gnomes receive a +4 Dodge bonus to Armor Class against creatures of the giant type (such as ogres, trolls, and hill giants).
Racial Skills. Gnomes receive a +2 Racial bonus on Listen and Craft (Alchemy) checks.
Languages. Automatic Languages: Common, Gnomish; Bonus Languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Elvish, Giant, Goblin, Orcish.
Spell-Like Abilities. 1/day—speak with animals (burrowing mammal only, duration 1 minute). A gnome with a Charisma score of at least 10 also has the following spell-like abilities: 1/day—dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation. Caster level 1st; save DC 10 + gnome's Cha modifier + spell level.
Favored Class. Bard

2nd Edition

When ogres, trolls, ogre magi, or giants attack gnomes, these monsters must subtract 4 from their attack rolls because of the gnome’s small size and combat agility against these much bigger creatures.
Like their cousins the dwarves, gnomes are highly resistant to magic of all kinds. A gnome gains a bonus of +1 for every 3½ points of Constituion score. This bonus applies to saving throws against magical wands, staves, rods, and spells. The bonuses are summarized on the table below.

Constitution Score	Saving Throw Bonus
4-6	+1
7-10	+2
11-13	+3
14-17	+4
18-19	+5

Pathfinder 2e

Hit Points. 8
Size. Small
Speed. 25 Feet
Ability Boosts. Constitution, Charisma, Free
Ability Flaw. Strength
Languages. Common, Gnomish, Gnomish Dialect (Based on your Heritage), Additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier (if it's positive). Choose from Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Goblin, Jotun, Orcish, and any other languages to which you have access (such as the languages prevalent in your region).
Low-Light Vision. You can see in dim light as though it were bright light, so you ignore the concealed condition due to dim light.

Genetic Descendants

• Deep Gnome

Related Ethnicities

• Dawn Gnome
• Deep Gnome
• Dusk Gnome
• Forest Gnome
• Ice Gnome
• River Gnome
• Rock Gnome
• Tinker Gnome
• Wild Gnome

Related Historical Events

• 1433 BCR
  Awakening
• 1741 BCR
  Homefounding
• 1895 BCR
  The Grand Upheaval