Gnome

Gnomes are welcome everywhere as technicians, alchemists, and inventors. Despite the demand for their skills, most gnomes prefer to remain among their own kind, living in comfortable burrows beneath rolling, wooded hills where animals abound.

There are two races of gnomes: the rock gnome and far less common deep gnome (also known as svirfneblin).

Rock gnomes are small but hardy, with +2 Constitution and -2 Strength. The deep gnomes are equally small but lack the hardiness of other gnomes. Instead, they have heightened agility and wisdom at the expense of stunted social skills.

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Deep Gnome

Hidden in the depths of the Underdark live the svirfneblin, or deep gnomes. Reclusive, suspicious, and resentful of intrusion into their cavern homes, the deep gnomes share little of the humor or openness of their surface cousins. The deep gnomes may be the world's stealthiest and most elusive folk. Centuries upon centuries of surviving the deadly perils of the Underdark have bred in this race an amazing gift for avoiding attention.

Racial Traits:

- Ability Adjustments: +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength, -4 Charisma.

- Small: As a Small creature, a gnome gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.

- Darkvision: Deep gnomes can see in the dark up to 120 feet.

- Stonecunning: +2 bonus to Search checks when inside.

- Illusion Affinity: Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against illusion spells cast by gnomes. This adjustment stacks with those from similar effects, such as the Spell Focus feat.

- Battle Training vs. Goblinoids: +1 racial bonus to attack rolls against goblinoids (including goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears).

- Battle Training vs. Reptilians: +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against kobolds.

- Slippery Defense: +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against all opponents.

- Durability: +2 racial bonus to all saving throws.

- Keen Hearing: +2 racial bonus to Listen checks.

- Keen Smell: +2 racial bonus to Craft Alchemy checks.

- Spell-Like Abilities:

1/day - Blindness as sorcerer of equal level.

1/day - Entropic Shield as sorcerer of equal level.

1/day - Invisibility as sorcerer of equal level.

- Spell Resistant: Spell resistance of 11 + character level.

- Favored Class: Rogue. A multiclass deep gnome's rogue class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty.

- Level Adjustment +3: Deep gnomes are more powerful and gain levels more slowly than other races. It will take much more experience for a deep gnome to reach level 2 than it would for normal races, for example.

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Rock Gnome

Rock gnomes are the most common type of gnomes in the region, and are usually just called gnomes, since they are the only sort that surface dwellers ever see. Equipped by nature with keen curiousity and a knack for mechanical workings, gnomes excel at intricate crafts such as gemcutting, toy making, and clockwork engineering.

Racial Traits:

- Ability Adjustments: +2 Constitution, -2 Strength.

- Small: As a Small creature, a gnome gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.

- Low-Light Vision: A gnome can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination.

- Hardiness vs. Illusions: +2 racial bonus to saving throws against illusions.

- Illusions Affinity: +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against illusion spells cast by gnomes. This adjustment stacks with those from similar effects, such as the Spell Focus feat.

- Battle Training vs. Goblinoids: +1 racial bonus to attack rolls against goblinoids (including goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears).

- Battle Training vs. Reptilians: +1 racial bonus to attack rolls against kobolds.

- Battle Training vs. Giants: +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type (such as ogres, trolls, and hill giants).

- Keen Hearing: +2 racial bonus to Listen checks.

- Keen Smell: +2 racial bonus to Craft Alchemy checks.

- Favored Class: Bard. A multiclass gnome's bard class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty.