Where do Gnomes go?

[Windrammer]

I'm happily building this cool little world and I've never really been able to figure out how gnomes fit into everything. They're such an awkward little race and it's hard to find a place for them in a serious setting. What areas do they occupy? Should there be gnomish cities, kingdoms? Should I lump them in with the dwarves? How should they impact lore? What have you guys done with gnomes in your settings

[Jendekit]

If I remembered where I read about it I'd provide a link, but I do remember reading about one person's setting where gnomes were the rulers of an island nation modeled after the dinotopia books.

[ThePurple]

I'm happily building this cool little world and I've never really been able to figure out how gnomes fit into everything.

The problem is that, unlike most of the other D&D races, gnomes haven't really had a consistent "theme" going for them throughout their run. About the only thing that *has* gone for them is the gnome illusionist being a common stereotype, but that doesn't really say much about their culture and place in the world as it does about providing a given mindset.


What areas do they occupy?

Halflings in my campaigns tend to be nomadic wanderers, kind of like Romani/gypsies in real life, which leaves the traditional Tolkien-esque Shire environs (e.g. small but cozy homes dug into hills amidst idyllic surroundings) for gnomes, who are supposed to be much more sedentary. The gnomish penchant for illusion and trickery is then executed as their "defense" against invasion and discovery by outsiders so that they can maintain their idyllic lifestyle.


Should there be gnomish cities, kingdoms?

It depends pretty heavily on how you see gnomes operating. I actually see gnomes as being one of the races most likely to use actual democracy to run their cities because they're not a race that really attempts to consolidate power. If they were to have a strong central ruler, I would expect it to be a meritocracy of some sort.


Should I lump them in with the dwarves?

It's possible, but I think that's just a cheap cop out that turns gnomes into short, immature dwarves. If you were contemplating doing that, I would probably just not include gnomes in the campaign setting.


How should they impact lore?

Once again, this is based upon my conceptualization of gnomes, but I wouldn't really have gnomes as a whole influencing the lore of the campaign setting to any major degree. Any major gnomish intervention in the campaign setting would be due to significant individuals rather than gnomish organizations, which fits with the idea that most gnomes aren't driven to do anything but live happy and peaceful lives (and those individuals that do have a significant impact probably had it thrust upon them rather than actually going out to look for it).

[Aedilred]

I'm happily building this cool little world and I've never really been able to figure out how gnomes fit into everything. They're such an awkward little race and it's hard to find a place for them in a serious setting. What areas do they occupy? Should there be gnomish cities, kingdoms? Should I lump them in with the dwarves? How should they impact lore? What have you guys done with gnomes in your settings

I don't use them. Like you, I never had any ideas for how to use them that weren't already "taken" by the other races, so I just leave them out any time I design a setting. Unless you have any players who are insistent on playing gnomes, the chances are they won't even notice, especially if it helps you build a better setting otherwise.

[Max_Killjoy]

All gnomes go to heaven.

[Mechalich]

I don't use them. Like you, I never had any ideas for how to use them that weren't already "taken" by the other races, so I just leave them out any time I design a setting. Unless you have any players who are insistent on playing gnomes, the chances are they won't even notice, especially if it helps you build a better setting otherwise.

I'm in this camp. You only need feel obligated to include gnomes if you're building a setting intended to be published as OGL compatible - and only then because people who buy such things expect the core races to be available in all such settings as part of the experience, not because there's any good reason why the setting needs to include them.

In all honesty, there are really too many D&D/Pathfinder races to include them all in a setting effectively. Exiling rare races to isolated parts of your planet, which is a common trick, is effectively the same as not including them in a setting.

[Vrock_Summoner]

So, one of my main goals in the Incarnum setting was to take all the major races from typical D&D and deconstruct/justify their racial traits and stereotypes so that they stand as distinct entities rather than "humans but X", and gnomes were one of the races I did this with, but to be honest, what I ended up with wouldn't even be considered gnomes anymore by many people. In effect, they're short, totally hairless humanoids with wide, nubby bone structure with a supernatural aptitude for fixing and modifying ("tinkering with") physical contraptions, be they broken weapons, ancient constructs, or run-down magical apparatuses. This is because they're less so humanoids and more so bone elementals which originally animated naturally from the chopped-off hand of a godlike entity known as the Fixer before reproducing and spreading out, losing the memory of their heritage over time.

So gnomes in that setting occupy a wide variety of lifestyles, but typically try to stay near things they can tinker with or restore. They'll either form loose living arrangements in the dangerous areas near ancient ruins, or camp out in cities selling their services... Assuming they don't simply integrate with other communities and take up more normal jobs. They're not very plentiful, not particularly inclined towards xenophobia, and extremely convenient to have around, so they're almost never segregated from the other races.

I hope this helps at least a little, even though my gnomes are so out there that it probably won't. *sheepish chuckle*

[quinron]

In my (currently only 5e-adapted) setting, forest gnomes are powerful illusionists who hide their cities in the harshest wilderness. They're dedicated to studying the history and inner workings of magic, sort of the "theoretical physicists" to the elves' experimental physicists and the humans' mechanical engineers. There's some sinister goings-on in their culture, though - gnomes are almost always born in pairs of twins, and one of every pair disappears on their 23th birthday; nobody understands why this happens.

The rock gnomes are the young gnomes who left the cities thinking they could escape the curse, and they've actually been right - so long as they're not around more than a few other gnomes, they make it to 23 perfectly fine. They're not really concerned with the curse, preferring to just send any pair of twins away for a week or so when their 23rd draws near.

Regardless of the subject, gnomes are super-invested in anything they do, especially if it involves secret or undiscovered knowledge. This is why they make such great magical researchers, and why the city-dwelling rock gnomes are so obsessed with new technology.

[Everyl]

I've seen several ways to integrate gnomes into settings besides just assuming that they must belong because they're in D&D.

Many DMs just leave them out because they don't fit very well. Others have discussed their reasons for that option already.

One friend of mine decided that gnomes are people of mixed halfling/dwarf ancestry, much the way that half-elves and half-orcs are considered their own "races." Thus, gnomes were rare in most areas and didn't have much of their own racial culture. As the setting timeline advanced and more modern of technology became available (this DM would re-use the same setting with multi-century jumps between campaigns), I do seem to remember a gnome-majority nation either being discovered or arising out of political and demographic changes, but I don't remember the details beyond that it was more of a modern, racially-diverse democratic nation than a fantasy kingdom.

Many of the core D&D races are at least loosely territory-bound. Elves generally live in forests, dwarves stereotypically live in or under mountainous regions, etc. Gnomes don't fit well into this pattern, though, leading a lifestyle that overlaps with that of several other races. That's not necessarily a bad thing, depending on your setting, but it can leave them feeling muddled and indistinct in comparison. One solution I have used is to make their ancestral homeland an archipelago, since island territory is neglected in the core racial homeland lists. In that setting, gnomes are mostly known for being fishermen, sailors, navigators, and traders, mainly because their homelands encouraged the development of those skills. Elements of tinker gnomes slip in with the inclusion of mechanical navigational equipment, invented by gnomes. While many gnomes who live on larger islands follow core lifestyle assumptions, the ones most commonly seen among other races are the sailors, who tend to communicate with aquatic animals rather than burrowing ones.

I never detailed the gnomish homelands enough to set a game there, but I had decided they weren't a monoculture - there would be different gnomish cultures from different island regions. From a game-building perspective, it made it easy to have a gnomish minority population in just about any country with a significant port, enough to work in gnome PCs and NPCs pretty easily.

[Yora]

I have a race that started out as gnomes and are still pretty similar to them in many ways.

And my opinion is that gnomes are one alternative option to either assume a role often taken by halflings, or a role often taken by dwarves.
Gnomes are a very interesting race to have, but there's no place for them in a world that already has halflings and dwarves. If you want to have gnomes, it's best to remove one of these two races and give the position to the gnomes.

[AtlasSniperman]

My gnomes have ended up being a race of near-lobotomised, blood generating nutrition packs for the Hungry Modern Vampire on the go.

I never really liked gnomes and always used them as such as a gag, but now it's kind of become a canon I really enjoy.

[VoxRationis]

What I tend to do in my settings is play up the "sage" aspect of the gnomes. It's easy to work in isolated gnome NPCs who know a lot about one subject or another. In particular, I could see their curiosity working well in "stamp collecting" fields that an elf might disdain for perceived lack of artistic merit or magical potential. A gnome might study cultures that haven't done anything noteworthy, on account of interest in their minutiae, or catalogue all the flora and fauna from an unpleasant, out-of-the-way area.

Frankly, I prefer gnomes to halflings and prefer to edge out halflings first, given the opportunity. In one of my settings, halflings are predominantly still around in their own societies because (and only because) they are under the protection of a wood elven kingdom.

@Everyl: Regarding terrain, gnomes are often fond of forests, but build underground halls. This makes them actually really great for a terrain type abundant where I grew up: wooded subalpine hills. Lots of little nooks and crannies for them to hide in, lots of trees to enjoy, lots of cliffs and canyons to use as a starting point for a mine or hall.

[Max_Killjoy]

OK -- serious answer is, I've never had or read an answer for this that satisfied me. There just doesn't seem to be a reason or a place for gnomes.

[sktarq]

As a "core" race but with little definition what you do with Gnomes is generally a good way to pitch your world away from "classic" Greyhawk-ish worlds. They are an undefined variable because they lack consistency in previous works so take advantage of that.

A settled version of nomadic halflings?

Arcane researchers in a low magic world?

Warriors of words, secrets, and oaths over blades?

Mortals connected to the fey realm? Perhaps instead of the divine?

So the real question is what is your world like not what are gnomes like.

[Thunderfist12]

I usually just replace them with kobalds or goblins, but I'll try to give some ideas.

To start, gnomes might do well with a gypsy culture, especially if you replaced their ability to speak to burrowing animals with an ability to speak to spirits, and added similar changes to their other abilities. You may also want to change their cantrips if you do this.

Other than that, they may even have two cultures - one as a feral, savage people on the outskirts of the world, and another as slaves to a dwarvish empire. In these cases, I'd go with two subraces - feral gnome, which involves wild-based abilities and favors the druid or barbarian class, and iron gnome, which is focused more on craft and favors the rogue or wizard class.

If this idea still isn't for you, perhaps gnomes could exist as a half-breed between dwarf and halfling. I know that sounds like the lazy way out, but hey, if humans can mix with elves, why can't dwarves mix with halflings?

[Winter_Wolf]

All gnomes go to heaven.

I was thinking of a different destination. Never been a fan of em.

[Max_Killjoy]

I was thinking of a different destination. Never been a fan of em.

You're going to make me feel old (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Dogs_Go_to_Heaven).

[sktarq]

Well in that case all gnomes go to brunch. They seem like the type

[Winter_Wolf]

You're going to make me feel old (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Dogs_Go_to_Heaven).

I got the reference. I feel old at least daily myself. Gnomes seem more like the type to keep platypuses as pets.

[JoeJ]

I got the reference. I feel old at least daily myself. Gnomes seem more like the type to keep platypuses as pets.

Nah, they just keep hamsters.

[Grim Portent]

My favorite version of gnomes, and the one I usually adapt to any setting where I include them, is the depiction from the Majesty computer game. None of the stuff in that had a whole lot of backstory, but I did like what they did with the little they had for them.

Gnomes in Majesty lived in hovels built on the outskirts of human towns out of scrap they stole from other building sites and wore crude clothing. Along with the other non-humans they did not pay taxes, and were viewed with contempt and revulsion by both elves and dwarves, as well as most humans. Other than being generally optimistic they had few redeeming features, they were agile and good at avoiding things like arrows and dragonfire and would help construct buildings. Against anything, even a giant rat, there was a good chance a gnome would be killed in moments, so the only real use for them was to spam them on levels with stuff like dragons to make a cheap meat wall that dragons had a hard time hitting, though if they leveled up enough they became decent warriors and got a skin change.

Translated into RPG settings I usually make gnomes a short lived but fast breeding species, much like goblins though with mildly less distasteful habits. In general they're friendly, grubby, good at making things fast but not good at making them well, frail as a result of their diminutive size and general malnutrition, but quite brave and willing to fight to the death to protect their decrepit hovels or the town they've attached themselves to, as well as helping fight fires and help mend things like walls and roofs. They die in droves to various things like disease (which is rife in their shanty towns) large animals and basically anything they can't gang up on effectively, but a rare few become stalwart champions of their kind, able to hold their own in battle against most enemies through a combination of their small size, agility and combat experience, but a similarly skilled warrior of any larger race will slaughter even champions of the gnomish race.

Obviously in a D&D setting this means changing the rules for Gnomes to better reflect this concept, but to my mind that's no real loss.

[RazDelacroix]

Gnomes are the sovereign glue that holds the various kingdoms & nations of the world together.

Got some halfling farm county near a forest infested with elves? There's sensible squirrel-chatting' forest gnomes residing between them facilitating trade and understanding.

Is there a mountain hold where dwarves mine the bones of their ancestors looming over a city of paranoid humans? There's sensible rock gnomes on the mountain-side and hills helping the two civilizations stay civilized while using their new-fangled clockwork contraptions to send trade goods between the two otherwise standoffish nutcases.

Got some drow needing free labor to mine poisonous rocks that will go towards fueling the nuclear spider golem? Sviferneblin are the answer!!!


Gnomes, the under-rated sovereign glue holding the world together! They even come with lairs and axes that their mothers make for them! Buy now and we'll throw in a free axe cozy personally knitted and annagrammed by the gnome's delightfully charming mother!

[lsfreak]

For starters, I need to clarify that the setting I've spent the most time working on involves a far smaller area than most settings (a peninsula of roughly Korea or Italy size, that like them are largely cut off by a mountain range), and that while it started out with the typical fantasy races, at this point for the most part they're different ethnicities of humans. I'll just refer to them as the original fantasy races, even though at this point they've diverged quite a bit.

So the gnomes in this setting are a minority culture that represents a population predating the migration of the two majority cultures (human and orc) in the region. They were contemporaries of the dwarves, who had a single kingdom that spanned all of the eastern half of the peninsula and beyond, with historical records unclear about their relationship. The migration of humans into the region coincided with the collapse of the dwarven kingdom and a replacement by many clan-based petty kingdoms that forms a mess of fragmented ethnic boundaries a bit like northern Laos and Vietnam, and Yunnan province (https://ireneses.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/languages-of-southeast-asia.jpg), though gnome clans are still more prevalent in the west (the dwarves, meanwhile, where entirely absorbed into human culture).

Most of the area was briefly united under a single human king several centuries before modern times, under threat of an orc invasion from the south. During this time gnome religion and magic were forbidden, sending it underground into "cults." This is no longer legally enforced (for one, the united human kingdom broke apart in under a century), but gnomes gained a reputation for secret knowledge. As a result, while elves have a privileged position for advising on most topics, gnomes are considered the best to consult for things like magic, the ethereal/shadow plane, and dealing with fae/undead.

[Arkhios]

What have you guys done with gnomes in your settings

Gnomes are my personal pet peeve, for obvious(?) reasons.

In my homebrew campaigns gnomes are introduced to trash-can immediately. :P

[Stan]

Dump any race you don't have a good idea for. It's better to have 5 well developed races/species than 15 with one line descriptions and bad stereotypes. If that's too extreme, assign them to the periphery with a small population, so they've had little effect on world events.

Lately, I really like gnomes. They're a lot like dwarves from Germanic and Norse tales - physically weak, full of magic, possibly crazy, with secrets underground. Think of the dwarves who made most of the magic items in Norse mythology. D&D dwarves are modeled almost entirely on LOTR - dour, great at physical combat more than magic. As with any D&D race, be wary of including any Dragonlance influence as it made gnomes too much of a joke race.


For the last two settings, I've dumped halflings. To me, they always feel like either Hobbit ripoffs which limits their range of personality/behavior or are Kender clones which makes them annoying.

(I don't hate LOTR but I've grown tired of worlds overly influenced by it - fantasy encompasses so much more.)

[JoeJ]

Lately, I really like gnomes. They're a lot like dwarves from Germanic and Norse tales - physically weak, full of magic, possibly crazy, with secrets underground. Think of the dwarves who made most of the magic items in Norse mythology. D&D dwarves are modeled almost entirely on LOTR - dour, great at physical combat more than magic.

This. I'm having a lot harder time fitting dwarves into my setting than gnomes. In fact, I'm seriously considering dumping the D&D dwarves entirely and renaming gnomes as dwarves. Of the two basic subraces, rock gnomes would work as the dwarves who mine gemstones and craft wonderous devices, and forest gnomes work as the magical tricksters who can spin straw into gold (or at least appear to).

[thorr-kan]

Once upon a time, I was noodling around with a 2ED setting of just the little people. I drew heavily on Tolkien, Dragonlance, Al-Qadim, and the Complete Books of Dwarves and Gnomes and Halflings.

Halflings were the pastoralists. They usually lived in rural areas, serving as farmers and ranchers. Favored sites were rolling hills and fertile valleys, similar to Lower Michigan, middle Kentucky/Tennessee, etc. Very much informed by the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Gnomes were traders and craftsmen. They usually lived in village and towns, with some light engineering, mining, and lots of detail work. Clockwork was a specialty. Usually lived in hilly areas, near sources of water, mining, and trade routes, similar to the Black Hills, foothills of the Rockies, or Appalachia. Based on Krynn’s tinker gnomes, but curious not *insane.*

Dwarves were miners and manufacturers. They had towns and cities, heavy into mining, construction, and manufacturing. These guys liked to build *big.* Or solid. Or both. Lived in the mountains, like the Rockies, the Sierra Madre, or Grand Tetons; go where the minerals are. Based on Tolkien and generic DnD fantasy.

Notes are long gone, but they color my perception of every dwarf, gnome, or halfling character I create.

[@DasBridges]

Gnomes in my world live on their pontoon boats 60% of the year diving for shellfish in a shallow tidal coral reef area and the rest of the time on the Sun Whales, which are massive whales with islands on their backs that take them out to the open ocean somewhere.

Gnomes are my favorite race and I don't think they get a fair shake in most worlds. The interesting thing about the small races is always figuring out how they exist in a context where they are at a distinct physical disadvantage. Gnomes are ingenious problem solvers, naturally friendly, inquisitive, and community oriented because that's how one survives at that size.

But then, some friends and I are co-building a world and I was, of course, tasked with the gnomes. My friend Justin said "I challenge you to make them different from your average friendly tinkers". So these gnomes are going to be a ruthless technocracy pragmatists and beareaucrats. Closest comparison I can make is the Goblins in Harry Potter, but less unfortunate to look at and less overtly "greedy" and more "cold, mathematical efficiency".

[DeadpanSal]

Well, after they turn 400 years old all gnomes have to make the trek up the mountain where they get their final rest. And then they say Shilitz Veit one last time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUGHevBPpOE

[kraftcheese]

I guess you could make the gnomes malevolent, child-snatching faerie creatures?

Live in the woods or under hills, cast glamors and enchantments, steal children to transform into the Gnome King/Queen...

[Carl]

I might just steal that idea.

[Celcey]

Personally, I love gnomes. I generally characterize them as firmly good. I like their spunkiness, and I think it adds a lot of character because to me, halflings are the generically good folk. (Which is not to say that I don't love halflings, who I see as friendly and BAMF, a la Landon Porter's Rune Breaker (http://www.descendantsserial.paradoxomni.net/rune-breaker-chapter-1-%E2%80%93-the-bargain-is-struck/) novels.) In my world, gnomes are actually the most technologically advanced, and theirs is probably best society to live in because their societal norms are focused towards things that improve your quality of life, like laughter and family.

The Gnomelands (and island in the north-ish west) are run by a triumvirate of deep, forrest, and rock gnomes. The deep gnomes live in a semi-isolated part of the underdark where they're the only (or at least the main) sapient species. They're miners craftsmen and such, but they also, hunt, gather, fish, and farm things native to the underdark and live in fortified underground citadels. Forrest gnomes live on the ground level, and generally live in smaller towns, either as farmers or small, socialist communities (like kibbutzs' in Israel). Rock gnomes live either in/on mountains, or flying platforms in the sky. Also they have airships.

TL;DR: Gnomes can be very awesome.

[Sylverlokk]

In my game the Earth mother birthed two elemental based races, the Gnomes are tenders of rivers, streams and wetlands, and of course illusion magic. Their brothers are the Halflings who are in charge of forests, jungles and prairies.

Gnomes look like traditional gnomes to most people due to an semi-instinctive illusion making them look less threatening. Without the Illusion they look exactly like the Japanese folklore beast, the Kappa, which is a turtle man. Only among truly trusted comrades can they relax enough to lose their illusions. Due to the Earth Mother being asleep/wounded atm they have some free will when young before their calling manifests (Think Amish going on Rumspringga). They can never use fire or ice magic or use fire otherwise, even a torch, but can grow luminescent moss on their shells which they can use in place. At any point where they find a threatened or unprotected river, stream, lake or wetland, they must make a will check with increasing penalties the higher level (older) they are. If they fail they become bound to that water body and the character retires.

[341gerbig]

Ive tried to differ my halflings and gnomes as much as possible.

Halflings- Rustic, live off the land farmers. Living in tight knit communities. Their ability to brew alcohol, farm, and cook is legendary. They are overly charming creatures, seeming to make people their friends with a single conversation. They do not seek to adventure, but will not hesitate to rise to bravery if the calling comes. They are the least cowardly race, including dwarves and orcs, if they have a duty or task that needs to be completed, they will not cease or stop until it is done. Their greatest strength is their self reliance. They are not much interested in magic, gaining power, or technology. They only use these things if the need arises.

Gnomes- Very loose communities, often mixed with other races, or living among other races. Gnome only town and cities are rare. They have a natural selfishness about them, their default attitude towards most people is to find a way that person can help them or benefit them. They are also one of the only races who has a big interest in technology. Humans and dwarves have a quasi interest in technology, but only gnomes have a futurist mindset where they see where the world may be heading. They have invented trains, blimps, trains which are incredible to the other races, but less so than the main attraction, magic. Basically, the gnomes see the rising tide of people being too reliant on magic, and are actively trying to develop tech to make civilization keep going when, not if, magic disappears.

[Mjolnirbear]

I had a couple thoughts while reading this:

1) gnomes are Elemental invaders/refugees/immigrants. They come from the Fey wild, much like elves did. In the Fey wild, they served a similar function as dwarves do on the material plane, but more exploratory and curious. Their niche may be technomancy.

2) gnomes are of dwarven stock. Dwarves have a latent magic that makes their creations strong and durable. Gnomes splintered off some time ago by accident, either before or after discovering how to unlock their magic. In this respect they are kin with the derro, who are also magical dwarven stock but twisted by the illithid.

2b) dwarven magic flares when the mother is pregnant. Instead of being an offshoot, they are literally born either dwarf or gnome. They can interbreed, and the kids of such a union can be either... While a kid born to two dwarves has a latent 10% chance to have the magic genes active (and be born a gnome) whereas a kid born to gnomes has the same chance to be magically inactive. The two groups are kin and are close together, but oddball kids often get sent to foster parents so the kid can learn that side of their nature.



Neither of those two options really explain how they fit in now. I like the water option others have mentioned. My personal twist would be while dwarves find safety in mountains, elves in forest, humans in numbers and halflings in wandering, gnomes isolate themselves on islands.

[NothingButCake]

I agree with others that you should just ditch gnomes if they don't have a great place in your setting. I left them out of my big setting until they had a place and even then, I was removing them almost entirely as a PC race to be the playful, forthright liars to the serious, deceptively honest high elves.

[Digitalfruitz]

I've made two worlds, both of which just so happen to have gnomes. The first one was a pathfinder spelljammer crossover. In that world the gnomes were not a "naturally occurring" race. They were biologically created from a fusion of dwarves (for magical resistance and general hardiness), Elves (for magical aptitude), and goblins (for technological aptitude). They were created by the Mercane (Arcane for Dnd folks) to be used as a slave race who were used to enchant items, be used as intermediaries, and as pets for Mercane children. The second world was a fairy tales in modern day setting. The gnomes were the brokers between the fey and humans who are curious about magic. They were a lot like the people from Pawn stars, they brokered in just about anything. Stolen children, pirate gold, or angel souls.