Ice Gnome

The rarest of the gnomish subraces in terms of population, the ice gnomes live near the poles of the world. They dwell in small villages carved from the stone and ice of the far north and south, building complicated structures under the snow where none would ever expect something to be living. Like the rock gnomes, the ice gnomes prefer to dwell below ground but this is primarily for warmth above all else. They are creatures of the snow and ice beyond almost all others and are not horribly bothered by the cold so long as they are able to retreat to a more comfortable area each day. Unlike the forest gnomes, the ice gnomes tend to be rather outgoing and friendly, helping out all they meet. As such, they are often found as companions to tundra felarids, working as a “face” for the felarid that prefers not to directly interact with others.
Moonstone is the favored gemstone of the ice gnomes, incorporating the beautiful stone into much of their construction and clothing. They believe the moonstones were originally a gift from Gralen Gemheart, and indeed the gems seem to appear near ice gnomes much more commonly than areas without them—though whether this is due to the gnomes themselves being skilled at plotting land where the gems are naturally numerous or not is often debated. Indeed, the ice gnomes not only pull moonstone from the earth, but create the beautiful gemstone through magic. With a special spell developed by a ice gnome mage by the name of Grayur Whitecloak, ice gnomes are capable of turning the light of a full moon itself into moonstone gems, provided the surrounding air is cold enough, by freezing the light into a solid form thus giving the stones their name. Grayur claims to have been given a vision of this spell in a dream, only further lending to the belief of a divine gift. With little to do during the coldest of days, the ice gnomes have become exceptional gemsmiths, often carving these stones into snowflakes or specialized lenses to concentrate sunlight into the warrens in order to light fires.
The ice gnomes stand only just taller than forest gnomes, averaging from about 2½’ to about 3½’. Despite this, they are quite a bit wider, carrying more fat than any other gnome on their bodies and often being confused with their wider cousins—the frost dwarves. Unfortunately for them, their gnomes are much smaller than other subraces of gnomes which causes some confusion amongst them when meeting other gnomish subraces, but amongst each other they tend to compare based on width more than length. They wear long beards, often tying them up and around their necks as a sort of natural scarf. Moonstone clasps and pendants are often used to adorn the beards and are a favored gift from a female to a male when courting.
The skin of an ice gnome tends to bear a soft blue color and otherwise be very pale, like that of snow-dusted ocean ice. Their eyes tend to be shades of bright blue or white, though a few rare ice gnomes are born with iridescent eyes that shine with a multitude of colors and are considered to be both lucky and highly attractive amongst their people. Their hair often ends up white, though black, brown, and even green is not unheard of for them. Despite the original color, almost all ice gnomes’ hair becomes white by the end of their first century.
The ice gnomes live a shorter time than many other gnomes, but still boast a highly respectable 300 year average life expectancy. The childhood of an ice gnome is much more serious than that of other gnomes, teaching them the important lessons of survival. Upon their 50th year, however, they are considered adolescents are expected to be given as much time as they need for ‘finding themnselves’, both for doing as they wish and finding a trade with which they will follow. Adulthood is granted upon the hundreth birthday much like other gnomes, and this anniversary is a cause for great celebration, for above all other gnomes, ice gnomes struggle to survive in their homeland.
Outgoing and helpful when it comes to relations with other intelligent races, ice gnomes are very kindly when it comes to aiding people they find in the wilderness, though they rarely if ever bring them back to their own homes, preferring instead to lead them to the nearest settlement of humans or other tundra-dwelling races that are welcoming. They are viewed with friendship by the small creatures of the wilderness and have developed a limited language of signs an sounds, similar to the rock gnome’s speech that allows communication with burrowing mammals, that allows them to communicate with these creatures. Thus an owl might screech a warning call about someone needing aid, but it couldn’t describe who or what they were. As a general rule of thumb, all communications consist of a single word only such as “help”, “food”, “lost” and the like.
Ice gnomes are also very adept at natural gathering in their wasteland home. They gather buried herbs and nuts, as well as growing mushrooms in special chambers under their villages. They eat far more meat than other gnomes, using the bones and tendons of the animals as building materials. Unlike forest gnomes, they often use traps but only traps that kill the prey quickly as to avoid causing suffering to the animal. They always mark the traps with writing as to avoid intelligent species walking into them on accident.
Similarly to the forest gnomes, ice gnome priests are very well received within their communities. While all gnomes pray to Gralen Gemheart, the primary patron deity of the ice gnomes is Ronryn Frostwalker who blesses them with the power to withstand the cold as well as guide the lost to safety. Many of the priests of Ronryn Frostwalker are druids rather than standard clerics.
The most hated enemies of the ice gnomes are by far the orcs and frost giants of the polar mountains which cause them no end of grief when they come down from their high homes. The ice gnomes’ generally kindly and carefree demeanor turns harshly sour and aggressive when sighting these creatures, and they rush into combat with them, seeking to cut them down before they can harm the peaceful folk of the tundra. Due to this, the gnomes are often seen as protectors and are trusted almost universally throughout the arctic regions of the world.
Rarely, an ice gnome will seek to explore more than the bleak whiteness of their homeland, setting out into the warmer lands of the world to see who else is in need of aid, though they tend to return to their lands and families after only a few years, often feeling uncomfortable in areas with above freezing temperatures.
Excluding rock and tinker gnomes, the ice gnomes have the largest villages of all gnomes, often huddling together under the thick sheets of ice for protection, warmth, and companionship. Whenever two villages of ice gnomes end up expanding into each other’s territory, they typically end up expanding more, connecting the two villages together rather than keeping among their own. An ice gnome village is ‘ruled’ much like a family, with the eldest making important decisions but no true ruler. Rather, if someone is an expert they are often asked by the elders for their opinions before a decision is made. Experience is seem as more valuable than all perhaps save moonstone among the ice gnomes, for only through experience being passed down can they continue to live safely and happily.

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Table of Contents

Game Statistics

Custom System

Ability Score Adjustment

+1 Constitution

Cold Resistance

You gain resistance to Cold damage equal to 5 + half your level.

Cold Striker

You gain a +1 Racial bonus to damage rolls whenever dealing Cold damage.

Languages

you can speak, read, and write Ice 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 Constitution and Wisdom, but a -2 to Dexterity.

Ability	Minimum	Maximum
Strength	6	18
Dexterity	3	17
Constitution	8	19
Intelligence	7	18
Wisdom	6	18
Charisma	3	18

Class	Maximum
Fighter	11
‎ ‎ ‎Paladin	—
‎ ‎ ‎Ranger	—
‎ ‎ ‎Barbarian	—
Mage	10
‎ ‎ ‎Specialist	151
‎ ‎ ‎Warlock	9
Cleric	12
‎ ‎ ‎Druid	—
‎ ‎ ‎Monk	—
‎ ‎ ‎Shaman	8
Thief	13
‎ ‎ ‎Assassin	10
‎ ‎ ‎Bard	—
Psionicist	9

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

Special Advantages

In melee, ice gnomes add +1 to their rolls to hit and damage bears, wolves, foxes, orcs, or frost giants.

Whenever an ice gnome would deal cold damage, they deal 1 additional damage.

Ice gnomes have infravision to a range of 60 feet.

Ice gnomes have a thick layer of fat to help protect them from the cold. As a result, they take only half as much damage from cold-based attacks, such as a cone of cold. Additionally, they take no damage from weather as cold as -30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Special Hindrances

None.

Role-Playing Suggestions

Ice gnomes are highly trusting of other intelligent humanoids outside of orcs, half-orcs, giants, and titanforged. They seek to protect others when they can, though avoid bringing them to their own homes which they prefer to keep private from non-gnomes.

Ice gnomes, like other gnomes, enjoy celebrations and often seek to hold celebrations outside of their own villages. They have the entirety of the village head to anearby society of other intelligent humanoids to party alongside the, trying to keep morale and happiness high in the otherwise depressing wasteland.

Languages

Ice Gnome, Gnomish, Polar Halfling, Fahryte, Frost Dwarf, Common

Pathfinder 2e

To Be Made

Encompassed species

• Gnome