Tinker Gnomes {Minoi}
"They're not real gnomes, of course--don't know how anyone could think that they are! 'Course, they might look like us, and sound like us--but that's as far as it goes. There's not an illusionist among 'em, nor anyone else who's got a useful skill to his name, far as I can tell. Fact is, they're a menace! "As for getting into space, that must have been luck. One of 'em invented something that actually worked--a fluke, I assure you--and launched 'em into the stars. The only reason they're still up here is they haven't figured out how to get back down again. "And if you ever see one of those ships of theirs, you'd know what I mean. It's got catapults that shoot nothing but air, gears and propellers that spin to no good purpose, and if you get close to it a blast of steam is liable to shoot out and barbecue you before you can say 'get me outta here!'"
Tinker Gnome (Minoi) Ability Scores
| Ability | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 6 | 18 |
| Dexterity | 8 | 18 |
| Constitution | 8 | 18 |
| Intelligence | 8 | 18 |
| Wisdom | 3 | 12 |
| Charisma | 3 | 18 |
Ability Score Adjustments: +2 to Dexterity; -1 to Strength; -1 to Wisdom
Recommended Languages: Tinker Gnome, Gnome Common, various human tongues
Infravision: Yes (60')
Special Abilities: Tinker Gnomes share many of the same special abilities as their Rock Gnome cousins, a fact which has led some sages to argue that Tinker Gnomedom is a culture rather than a true subrace. Whatever the truth, all Tinkers have the following innate abilities:
Detect Underground Features-- Tinker Gnomes can identify sloping passages (1-5 on 1d6), flawed stonework (1-7 on 1d10), and approximate depth (1-4 on 1d6) and direction (1-3 on 1d6) underground.
Magic Resistance-- The Tinker Gnome gains a +1 bonus to his or her saving throws versus spell for every 3.5 points of Constitution.
Combat Bonuses-- Tinker Gnomes receive a -4 bonus to their Armor Class when attacked by giant class creatures.
These unique creatures, native to the DRAGONLANCE® world of Krynn, are among the most technologically . . . er, perhaps we should say 'innovative' creatures among the known worlds. Unfortunately, their keen and inventive motivation is not matched by any particular talent--thus, a Tinker invention is at least as likely to cause harmful or fatal damage (probably to its creator) as it is to do what it's supposed to do. In spite of this, Tinkers are a thriving subrace that have even managed to spread beyond their native world.
Tinker Gnome Advancement Table
| Level | XP | HD (d4) | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,250 | 2 | Aide 5th |
| 2 | 2,500 | 3 | Aide 4th |
| 3 | 5,000 | 4 | Aide 3rd |
| 4 | 10,000 | 5 | Aide 2nd |
| 5 | 20,000 | 6 | Aide 1st |
| 6 | 40,000 | 7 | Mate 2nd |
| 7 | 60,000 | 8 | Mate 1st |
| 8 | 100,000 | 9 | Tinker |
| 9 | 140,000 | 10 | Master Tinker |
| 10 | 270,000 | 10 + 2 | Craftsgnome |
| 11 | 450,000 | 10 + 4 | Craft Master |
| 12 | 600,000 | 10 + 6 | Head Tinker |
| 13 | 800,000 | 10 + 8 | |
| 14 | 1,000,000 | 10 + 10 | |
| 15 | 1,500,000 | 10 + 12 | Master Craftsgnome* |
| 16 | 2,500,000 | 10 + 14 | |
| 17 | 4,000,000 | 10 + 16 | |
| 18 | 10,000,000 | 10 + 18 |
The Tinkers are a very courageous and curious bunch of gnomes, and Gladdensnoot is no doubt exaggerating when he suggests that their attainment of Spelljamming travel is accidental. Nevertheless, he provides a good example of the attitude held by those few other gnomes who've encountered the Tinkers. Of course, it's not likely that the Tinker would stop and take notice--he or she is probably too busy working on the finishing touches of his or her newest invention (in fact, many Tinkers spend the bulk of their lives working on a few such 'finishing touches')!
In one respect the Tinkers resemble the rest of gnomedom--in the fact that they do value various types of stones, attributing to them great and supernatural powers. However, whereas the other subraces seek gems, the Tinkers hold a different substance as the grandest rock of all: coal. The Tinkers hold that coal (also known as the "Father of Steam") is the most valuable substance of the world, and those places where it can be mined quickly become Tinker Gnome warrens.
In size and stature, the Tinkers resemble Rock Gnomes Gnomes--so much so that the difference is not immediately apparent, at least when based only upon appearance. Perhaps because their numbers are fewer, there is not such a variety of hair and skin color among Tinkers as is found in their more common cousins: their hair is almost always white or a slightly colored shade that is nearly white. Their skin tends toward brown, in ruddy and earthen shades. Their eyes are blue or, less frequently, violet, but the noses are every bit as prominent as those of any other gnomish subrace.
Use the height, weight, and age tables of Rock Gnomes.
The clothing of a Tinker is likely to be representative of his or her travels and background--i.e., it will have parts of all kinds of things somehow attached together and providing a modicum of covering. As a rule, the more exotic the better, though the Tinker Gnomes tend to be fastidious about cleanliness.
Tinkers who live out their lives can attain an age of 250 or 300 years, but it must be noted that this is a rare occurrence among the members of this subrace. If one of his or her own inventions doesn't do a Tinker in, chances are good that one of his or her neighbor's gadgets will. Even in childhood, Tinkers are encouraged to experiment with gadgets and gimmicks, trying different means of making things to perform tasks that could otherwise be easily done by hand. The Tinker reaches adulthood at about the age of fifty (by which time perhaps 10-15% of them have already succumbed to the common fate of their kind). Despite this high attrition, it's not until maturity that a Tinker Gnome's activities begin to get really dangerous.
Upon reaching adulthood, the Tinker Gnome must select a guild for himself or herself. The number of guilds available varies by location, but in Mount Nevermind on Krynn--which is the center of Tinker civilization and by far the largest community of these inventive creatures anywhere--there are more than 150 active guilds. These include virtually all areas of practical endeavor, and quite a few impractical ones as well: Weaponry, Steam Power, Hydraulics, Mathematics, Agriculture, Warmaking, Animal Taming, Brewing, Carpentry, Astronomy, Ceramics (Rockmaking), Air Utilization, Historians, Coalmining, Rockcarving, Vehicle Design, and Music.
Once a tinker gnome selects a guild, the experience table on the left comes into play for advancement throiugh the guild. For purposes of this experience table, experience is awarded only for those things the tinker gnomes works on to advance the knowledge and prestige of that guild. In this way, tinker gnomes can be multiclassed by default, but often, the advancement in these levels is at a rate much slower than other classes. There are no hit dice associated with those levels.
These guilds are not like the guilds common in many human and dwarven societies, however; in the latter cases, the guild's purpose is generally to impart the knowledge of the masters to a steadily growing crop of apprentices and journeymen. The Tinker guilds have a different philosophy dedicated to a righteously-held belief, to wit: whatever has been done before can be done better with a new and improved invention. Consequently, a Tinker Gnome who enters the Music Guild, for example, will spend the bulk of his or her life trying to design a musical instrument with at least one more moving part than the last instrument designed by a guildmaster (it is not advisable to ask the guild for a performance--whole audiences have been scalded by ruptured steam pipes or deafened by ultrasonic waves of crushing sound).
A good example of the Tinker Gnome tendency of not knowing when to stop is the infamous Giant Space Hamster. Not content with this remarkable achievement, the Animal Breeders' Guild that created the creature promptly began working on developing new strains. The result include such monstrosities as the sabre-toothed giant space hamster, the carnivorous flying giant space hamster ("a regrettable if understandable line of inquiry"), the fire-breathing phase doppleganger giant space hamster, and the miniature giant space hamster (a dwarf variant the exact same size as the ordinary rodent).
However, Tinkers are nothing if not tenacious. After selecting a guild, each member of the subrace settles upon a Life-quest. The actual choice of the quest may take several decades, but once it has been decided, it becomes the reason behind that Tinker's existence. The Lifequest is an attempt to reach a perfect understanding of some device (anything from a spelljamming helm to a screw), a task at which the Tinker very rarely succeeds. Indeed, the best estimate is that less than 1% of these gnomes ever do fully grasp the nature of the object that has occupied their attention for so much of their adult lives; the rest of these easily-distracted gnomes get hopelessly sidetracked somewhere along the way.
Despite the vagaries of their existence, the Tinkers are a fun-loving and generally sociable race. Their speech is unique in both its speed and complexity. Two Tinkers can rattle off information and opinion to each other in a succession of thousand-word sentences, speaking simultaneously and yet listening and understanding (as much as is possible, given the esoteric nature of many discussions) each other even as they voice their own points of view. Those Tinkers who have had some experience interacting with other races have learned to slow the pace of their communication but never quite overcome their frustration with those who can't talk and listen at the same time.
Despite the chaotic impression given by an initial encounter with the Tinkers, these gnomes have a highly-organized societal structure. Their culture is unusual, for gnomes, in that guilds are more important to most Tinkers than their clans; the typical Tinker identifies himself or herself not by the family he or she was born into but the guild he or she joined upon reaching adulthood. The community is ruled by a council made up of the masters of the various guilds and the patriarchs of the various clans. The result is a paralyzed bureaucracy that nevertheless keeps itself going with debate, argument, near resolution, and subsequent disagreement. Following long and careful consideration (sometimes lasting for years, even decades) the various concerned parties go off and do whatever they wanted to from the beginning.
However, the debates themselves can be well-reasoned, extremely polite, and quite extensive. Just the recital of names at the beginning of a presentation can often take weeks, since the full and formal title of each gnome involved is used--and remember, this is despite the fact that Tinker Gnomes speak very rapidly indeed! For those Tinkers who come from extensive and well-documented ancestry and have themselves lived long and eventful lives, the formal introduction can last the better part of two days. Because of this inconvenience, an abbreviated form of a gnome's name (usually taking less than a minute to recite) is used in daily life.
Tinker Gnomes have the least involved family life of any of the subraces, since all adults are too involved with their Lifequests to devote much time to the raising of their children. The youngsters learn mostly by example, and of course are possessed of that insatiable curiosity that seems to take the place of so many other emotions in the lives of a Tinker. Tinker males and females accept their Lifequests with equal obsession; there is no difference between the sexes in level of recognition and attainment. For example, guildmasters and clan leaders are as likely to be female as male.
Their communities are located underground, but always close to the surface, with plenty of access to fresh air. Their penchant for burning coal to achieve steam makes good ventilation necessary--we needn't dwell on the unfortunate results of those experiments in deep subterranean quarters amid caverns warmed by vast, oxygen-devouring furnaces.
The various chambers of a Tinker community will be connected by various means of transport, powered by steam, spring-power, wind, water, gravity, and any other means available. Types include cars that run along rails or are suspended from cables and pulleys, soaring gliders, gnomeflingers' (i.e., catapults), elevators that run up and down through shafts bored through rock, and independently-steered carts and cycles propelled by various means. Needless to say, there is a high rate of attrition on gnomish transport--generally a character stands about a 3% chance per trip of suffering grievous injury (usually about 1-12 hit points of damage).
For private living quarters, Tinkers are inclined to settle for any old niche in the wall that can be closed off for a little privacy. They like to sleep in absolute darkness but have absolutely no trouble slumbering amid a thunderous cacophony of noise.
Far more important than his or her bedroom, to a Tinker, is his or her workshop. This area will be a private chamber, if the gnome is influential enough to warrant such a luxury, or if he or she inherits it from a deceased parent (for obvious reasons, Tinkers tend to gain their inheritance at a far younger age than do any other gnomish subrace). The shop should ideally be well-lit, by candle, coal-oil lantern, or natural light. One of the more successful gnome inventions is a network of mirrors aligned to reflect sunlight through long tunnels so that it reaches caverns far underground. Despite its utility, this invention is considered an abysmal failure by most Tinkers, due to its utter lack of moving parts.
Tinker Gnomes do not worship the usual gnomish pantheon, instead venerating the Krynnish god Reorx, patron of blacksmiths, crafters, and inventors. One of the oft-repeated pieces of evidence Rock Gnomes are wont to put forward in their neverending attempts to prove that Tinkers aren't "real" gnomes is that "they haven't even heard of Garl Glittergold!"
Tinker gnomes are constantly designing, building, and testing devices for a variety of applications, but their innate incompetence is such that anything their technology can do, magic can usually do more quickly and efficiently.
Tinker gnomes average three feet tall and weigh 45-50 pounds. Females are as large as males. Though short and stocky, tinker gnomes move gracefully, and their hands are deft and sure. They have rich brown skin, curly or straight white hair, china-blue or violet eyes, and straight, cavity-free teeth. Males have soft, curly white beards and moustaches. Both sexes have rounded ears and large noses; they develop facial wrinkles after age 50.
The voice of a tinker gnome resembles that of a human, except the timbre is more nasal. Tinker gnomes speak intensely and rapidly, running their words together in unending sentences. They are capable of listening carefully and speaking at the same time. When two gnomes meet, they babble away, answering questions asked by the other as part of the same continuous sentence. Gnomes have learned to speak slowly and distinctly to other races. If frightened or depressed, a gnome may speak in much shorter sentences than usual.
Tinker gnomes are second only to gully dwarves and goblins as the worst dressers on Ansalon. They wear almost anything that is relatively clean. They especially enjoy scarves, shawls, and hard leather footwear. In their research areas, they wear easily cleaned smocks and coats.
Combat
Unless they are adventurers, gnomes rarely carry weapons, although some of their tools can be used as weapons. Strange weapons of dubious utility are always being invented. Some, like the three-barrel water blaster, are all but useless, while others, like the multiple spear flinger, show promise.
Hand-held and light crossbows, slings, short bows, darts, and melee weapons that can be hurled, such as hammers and hand axes, are the gnomes' preferred weapons. Squads of gnomes sometimes operate elaborate catapult-type devices to fire boulders, water bags, or garbage at their enemies. Gnomes wear all types of armor, but typically outfit themselves in a variety of mismatched pieces giving them an effective AC of 5.
Habitat/Society
Tinker gnomes establish colonies consisting of immense tunnel complexes in secluded mountain ranges. The largest gnome settlement in Ansalon is beneath Mount Nevermind. Other gnome colonies are scattered throughout Krynn in mountainous or rough, hilly regions, but their populations seldom exceed 200-400.
Mount Nevermind is a scene of nonstop activity and noise. Gnomes scurry from place to place while steam blasts, whistles shriek, gears grind, and lights flash. Hundreds of staircases, ramps, pulley elevators, and ladders cross from level to level.
Catapults called gnomeflingers serve as rapid transport, as do steam-powered cars mounted on rails. Beneath the city is a complex network of tunnels and mines that spreads in all directions. This ancient tunnel system, also known as the Undercity, contams the lairs of dangerous monsters and pockets of hostile subterranean races. The gnomes use some of the tunnels as dump sites for hazardous wastes.
All tinker gnomes belong to a guild. There are perhaps 50 major guilds and a host of minor ones. Hydraulics, Chemistry, Architecture, Hydrodynamics, Kinetics, Mathematics, Weapons, Mechanical Engineering, and Education are among the more popular guilds. Only the Agricultural and Medical Guilds are concerned with life sciences. Scientific guilds without immediate application, such as Astronomy, are usually small and have little influence. Clerical gnomes originally belonged to the Priests Guild, which was the first and only guild to become extinct. Their functions were eventually absorbed by the Medical and Philosophers Guilds.
All gnomes have a Lifequest: to attain perfect understanding of a single device. Since few have attained this goal, the tinker gnomes are perpetually unfulfilled.
The gnomes are governed by an elected Grand Council of clan leaders and guild masters The council members serve for life. Methods of election vary from guild to guild and from clan to clan. The government is so heavily laden with bureaucracy that few major decisions are actually rendered by the Grand Council. Most decisions are made by guilds and clans who have their own agendas, regardless of the wishes of the rest of the community. Everyone insists on strict adherence to regulations, but this process is so time-consuming that even gnomes lack the necessary patience.
A gnome has three different names. One is the gnome's true name, which is actually an extensive history of the gnome's entire family tree. Though gnomes can easily remember at least the first few thousand letters of their true names, they use a shorter name for routine communication. This name is a simple listing of the highlights of the gnome’s ancestry, requiring only half a minute or so to recite. Humans and other races who deal with gnomes have developed even shorter names for them, consisting of the first one or two syllables of their true names. Gnomes consider these abbreviated names undignified, but have learned to live with them. Common to any gnomish colony are the sages who record endless volumes of information, guesses, facts, figures, speculations and philosophical doodles detailing their guild committees various concerns. These records are seldom meaningful to anyone except the authors.
Reorx is the only deity recognized by the tinker gnomes. Though they have no formal religious services, the gnomes have a healthy respect for their god. Reorx is thought of as an unusually large gnome who epitomizes the gnomish love of creating and tinkering, as evidenced by such inventions as the sun and the moons.
Though most gnomes are content to stay home and tinker with their projects, there are some who can be as adventurous as members of any other race. Adventuring gnomes are generally unable to learn from previous experience and repeat the same mistakes, yet they are often successful in developing quirky solutions to save the day for their companions. Adventurer gnomes are general handymen and jacks-of-all-trades; anything and everything draws their attention, causing them to reach for their notebooks or tool belts.
But the vast majority of gnomes are devoted to creating new devices. Gnomish inventions are almost exclusively driven by basic mechanical devices, such as gears, windmills, waterwheels, pulleys, and screws, in unnecessarily complicated arrangements. Their sheer love of technology is their downfall, for they improve their inventions to death. Simple solutions are rejected in favor of redundant and ultimately unworkable complications. Needless to say, gnomish technology has had little impact on the cultures of Ansalon.
Ecology
In general, tinker gnomes are not well-liked by other races. Their technological bent makes them quite alien to those accustomed to magic, and their poor understanding of social relations puts off most potential friends. The Agricultural Guild looks after the gnomes' nutritional needs, maintaining fungigrowth farms and herds of cave-dwelling sheep. Research into the creation of artificial foods continues, but so far has produced nothing edible.
Mad Gnomes
Mad gnomes look like normal tinker gnomes and have similar abilities, but they have no talent for technology. They are almost always from lands far away from Ansalon. The few mad gnomes who have learned technological skills never do their work properly as far as normal gnomes are concerned--their devices work too well.
All off-world gnomes are considered to be mad gnomes. Krynn gnomes get a yearly dice roll to see if they become mad gnomes. If a 100 is rolled on 1d100, 1d100 is rolled again. If a 100 result occurs again, the gnome becomes a mad gnome. Mad gnomes from Krynn start out with the gnomish technological skills. Off-world mad gnomes have a 1% chance of learning gnomish technological skills during any six-month period spent with normal gnomes; the roll is not cumulative and can be checked only once every six months. Unlike normal tinker gnomes, mad gnomes with technological skills create devices that are elegant and efficient. type.
Mad gnomes who can use technology get a +3 bonus to any success roll involved in creating a device. Also, the device is automatically 1d6 sizes smaller than a regular gnomish device of this type.
Gnomes in Krynn can only be of the tinker class. Initially, they have one weapon proficiency and five nonweapon proficiencies. They gain one weapon and three nonweapon proficiencies for every two additional levels.
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