Gnome

Gnomes, or the Forgotten Folk as they are sometimes known, are small humanoids known for their eccentric sense of humor, inquisitiveness, and engineering prowess. Having had few overt influences on the world's history but many small and unseen ones, gnomes are often overlooked by the powers that be, despite their craftiness and affinity for illusion magic. Gnomes are present in nearly every human city and most caravan-stop villages where other cultures and non-human races are at least tolerated.
Gnomes are very small compared to most other races and, with an average height ranging between 90-120cm and a weight range of 18‒20 kg, gnomes are generally larger and heavier than halflings, though forest gnomes – ranging between 63‒85cm in height and 10‒16 kg in weight – tend to be smaller than halflings, leading some scholars to erroneously classify all gnomish races as "smaller than the Hin".
While halflings are commonly said to resemble short humans, gnomes are more comparable with elves, with whom they share pointed ears and high cheekbones, or even dwarves, due to their tendency to grow beards and live underground. Many gnomes have a more feral appearance than either, however, with hair that often sprout from their heads in odd directions.
The skin of gnomes runs in hue from reddish tans to earthy browns or even shades of gray, with exact hue somewhat dependent upon the ethnic origin of a gnome. Similarly, gnomish hair varies wildly in color from blond and brown to more exotic colors like white, orange, or even green. Gnomish eyes are often—particularly in individuals who are native to the Feywild—glittering black or blue, although more natural eye colors are also known to the race.
In terms of clothing, gnomes often preferr those with earthen tones or made of leather. They similarly prefer jewelry with earthen tones.
Gnomes are an intelligent and innately curious race. Gnomes might lack the drive and ambition of other races, particularly humans, but their creativity gives them a strong ability for ingenuity. Most gnomes are content to live simple lives, acquiring knowledge merely as a hobby but others explore lost ruins, delve deep into the heart of the world, and conduct dangerous research in their unquenchable thirst for knowledge, leading more than a few to an untimely demise.
Gnomes are naturally witty and jovial, and they prefer to overcome obstacles through cunning and innovation rather than the obvious way. Ever curious, gnomes are drawn to adventure more often by a desire to see the world than out of greed or the hope of fame. It is this curiosity, along with their cunning and witty repartee, that make gnomes both entertaining friends and adept arcane spellcasters or scholars.
Most gnomes love gems, particularly rubies, but they are not avaricious. The gnomes that most people encounter are content to raise goats, grow potatoes, and live a life of honest hard work.
Gnomes who leave home to seek an adventurer's life are rare, given the race's famed shyness and lack of ambition. Those that do are motivated by a number of factors, but the impulsive race is often driven by curiosity more than anything else. Many gnomes feel no more rationale for adventuring than simply to explore the world that surrounded them. A few, the more orderly ones that is, seek out adventure for more innately noble purposes, such as to help others, but these gnomes are rare. Other gnomes are driven to become adventurers by little more than simple avarice, as adventuring is often seen as a quick, if unsafe, avenue for wealth. Adventuring is not necessarily a welcomed lifestyle among gnomes, despite the curiosity that fills the whole race, and sometimes is, in fact, seen as a betrayal of sorts to a gnome's clan.
Many gnomes are weak compared to other humanoids, though this is far from a universal trait for the race. Like elves, gnomes have sensitive hearing and are often capable of hearing things that other races might miss. Gnomish eyes are also suited for seeing in low-light conditions, to a degree comparable with elves or eladrin.
Gnomes are also very long-lived, often living as long as elves, which meant living over three centuries is not uncommonly rare and five centuries is not unheard of. Generally, gnomes are considered to reach maturity at forty years of age. However, unlike elves or eladrin, gnomes show a greater degree of aging as they grow older and once a gnome has passed his or her first century, their hair begins to gray, if it is not already white, and their skin begins to wrinkle as in humans or dwarves. However, even the oldest gnome retains a vitality that would be extraordinarily unusual among many of the younger races.
Gnomes are a naturally intelligent and creative race, with a charm about them unusual for other humanoids. Gnomes also have a natural affinity for stealth, an affinity they could sometimes pass on to others, and illusion, both for the purpose of using it for themselves as well as seeing through other attempts at it.
Gnomes are known to wear a wide range of armor and shield types into combat, including leather, studded leather, ring mail, and chainmail. In terms of weapons they most commonly fight with clubs, short bows, short swords, slings, and spears.