Gnomes - Are they a Core Race?
I love Twitter. You get into some great discussions, often thought provoking and or memory jarring.
Recently Twitter user @RPGMatch ran a survey regarding the removal of a core race. In the discussion, another user (@TheRedcapsNet) stated that Gnomes are not a Core Race, and therefore could “Go”.
Since Gnomes have been in ODD since the core books, including Blackmore - I of course thought “Of course they are Core” - but I wanted to be sure. So lets turn on the wayback machine and do a little research……(Editors note - this is no way an exhaustive search for Gnomes in D&D, but instead a quick illustration of where/when they are referenced in Core Books and any nuances that jumped out at me)
1974 Basic Set 1st Edition - Early on, Gnomes were not a playable race. Instead Gnome is a very basic listing in the Monsters section.
The Gnome Monster Entry from 1st Edition Basic Set
1977 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual – Gnomes make an appearance here as a monster on page 46. What I find interesting about the description is that Gnomes get so many bonuses – from +1 to hit Kobolds and Goblins, being well armed and magic resistance saves that are 4 levels higher than their actual level.
1978 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook – The first appearance of Gnomes as a playable race, although restricted to Fighter, Illusionist, Thief or Assasin. Gnomes characters lost the Magic Resistance from the Monster Manual, instead gaining the same Magic Resistance as Dwarves. Of note – The picture of playable races on page 18 did NOT include Gnomes.
Page 18 of the PHB - Where is the Gnome?
1985 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Unearthed Arcana - The add-on book brought us the Svirfneblin (Deep Gnome) – a playable race with natural spell abilities (Blindness, Blur and Change Self) that was restricted to being male – “Player character deep gnomes must be male, since no females of this sub-race have ever been known to take up adventuring careers.”
1987 Dragon Lance Adventures – Entering the world of Krynn, we learn that Gnomes are the Tinkerers, designing grand machines for every imaginable task.
Tinker Gnomes at work
1989 Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition Players Handbook - Gnomes, as PCs, are now limited to Fighter, Thief, Cleric or Illusionist (dropping Assasin) and have kept their magic resistance. It should be noted, now Gnomes have a 20% chance of a Magic Item failure if it is not a weapon, armor/shield or Illusionist items. They also suffer a -1 Wis Bonus.
1989 Dungeon and Dragon 2nd Edition Monsterous Compendium Volume One and Volume Two - Basically the same as 1st Edition - the only new ability is to communicate with all burrowing mammals. Volume Two was Dragon Lance specific and included the Tinker Gnome.
2000 Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition Players Handbook – Gnomes (and all other playable races) got a substantial expansion in 3rd edition, with a page dedicated to describing the race and its abilities. Spell like abilities for Gnomes now were Speak with Animals, Dancing Lights, Ghost Sound and Prestidigitation. Their favored class was Illusionist.
2003 Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Edition Players Handbook– A slight modification now changed the favored class from Illusionist to a Bard
2003 Races of Faerun – This fantastic 3.5 supplement expanded on all the races of Faerun (The Forgotten Realms), providing a lot of background and related lore. With Gnomes, the Svirfneblin get a much needed revamp, and we are introduced to Forest and Rock Gnomes.
Forest Gnome Rock Gnome
2004 Races of Stone – Gnomes continued to get more source material with Races of Stone, this time with an entire chapter dedicated to the Psychology, Life, Religion, Folklore, Language and Day to Day Life. What I like about this particular book was it showed (with maps) what each races’ society looked like, and there were special rules for creating characters of these races – often showing how you could min/max various abilities and skills.
Map of the Gnomish town of Kibosh from Races of Stone
2008 Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Monster Manual - The Gnome continues to appear in the Monster Manual with two entries (Skulk and Arcanist), exemplifying everything wrong with 4th Edition. I also like that there are there is an entry for Gnomish lore with the following two DC results.
DC 15: Gnomes dwell in homes burrowed under the roots of trees. Their homes are easily overlooked by untrained eyes.
DC 20: When they feel threatened, gnomes use illusions to steer foes away from their homes or lure them into traps or ambushes.
Really? A DC 15 and DC 20 tells you those common knowledge items. UUUUGH - I hated 4E.
2009 Dungeon and Dragons 4th Edition Players Handbook 2 - For the first time, Gnomes are not included as a Core Race since AD&D. Instead, they are included in the Players Handbook 2 with a very lackluster entry tying them the the Feywild and providing a snippet on “Being Small”. The examples for Gnome Adventures focus again on a Gnome Bard and also include a Fey Pact Warlock. In research this - Seeing the page layouts again make me wonder how D&D survived 4th Edition.
2014 Dungeon and Dragon s 5th Edition Players Handbook – The current edition of Dungeons and Dragon, we have now established Deep Gnomes, Forest Gnomes (natural illusionists who gain Minor Illusion Cantrip at will) and Rock Gnomes. Rock Gnomes are now considered the core Gnome race, and they specifically include Tinker Gnomes from Dragonlance under that subset (to include the Tinkerer proficiency).
2014 Dungeon and Dragons 5th Edition Monster Manual – The standard Gnome is no longer a monster in 5E, although the subrace Deep Gnomes (Svirfneblin) is - with the Innate Spellcasting Ability of Nondection, Blindness/Deafness, Blur and Disguise Self.
5E Deep Gnome
So this brings to me to my conclusion - are Gnomes a “Core Race”? I cannot imagine them not being considered. They have literally been in the game since inception - and playable since AD&D began, an edition that the closest to form of D&D that we play today. Are they my favorite race to play? Not even close. Do I think there are flaws in their design? Absolutely (Gnome Bard…..really???). But without question Gnomes are race that (some) players like, have had game longevity….and even EGG included them when laying out the framework of the game that we so love today.
IMO - a CORE Race. Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Cheers - Ed
