Racial Bigotry

Quest Master · Post by **Quest Master** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 5:03 pm

Alright, call me bigoted, but why are Gnomes so damnably pervasive in modern roleplaying? What do they offer?!?

WHY BE A GNOME? Someone come up with a good reason beside their stat increase.

*muttering* gnomes suck.

reedimus · Post by **reedimus** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 5:20 pm

you said it. their stat increase. reason enough for me.

Path of Wind · Post by **Path of Wind** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 5:22 pm

Originally posted by reedimus:
you said it. their stat increase. reason enough for me.

What do you mean their stats increase?

Mr. Sprinkles · Post by **Mr. Sprinkles** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 6:32 pm

I think gnomes get a bonus to their intelligence.

ThorinOakensfield · Post by **ThorinOakensfield** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 6:35 pm

and a minus to wisdom.

Path of Wind · Post by **Path of Wind** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 6:36 pm

Originally posted by Mr. Sprinkles:
I think gnomes get a bonus to their intelligence.

Yeah, and lose point on Wisdom. It is not an increase, rather trade-off.

reedimus · Post by **reedimus** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 7:02 pm

yeah, that's what I meant, the increase in intelligence. not total increase.

Meerlight · Post by **Meerlight** » Thu Aug 16, 2001 7:05 pm

All races that have a stat increase have a stat decrease too...

Gnomes are good for this: They can be Illusionist/(other class) Multiclass. This is better than Mage/(other class) because they get bonus specialist spells. Gnomes also make OK thieves. They get other bonuses in PnP too, like the ability to talk to digging creatures...

[ 08-16-2001: Message edited by: Meerlight ]

Astafas · Post by **Astafas** » Fri Aug 17, 2001 4:00 am

Originally posted by Meerlight:
Gnomes are good for this: They can be Illusionist/(other class) Multiclass. This is better than Mage/(other class) because they get bonus specialist spells. Gnomes also make OK thieves
[ 08-16-2001: Message edited by: Meerlight ]

They are especially good as Thief/Illusionist as the minimum reguirement for an Illusionist is to have a Dexterity of 16. A thief would want a high Dex anyway, so there is no loss here.

Sabre · Post by **Sabre** » Fri Aug 17, 2001 5:00 am

Gnome gets a +1 bonus saving throws versus spells and wands for every every 3.5 constitution: +1 at 4, +2 at 7, +3 at 11, +4 at 14 and +5 at 18.

Halfling also gets the same bonus, but they also gets it for Deaths as well.

Raphtyr · Post by **Raphtyr** » Fri Aug 17, 2001 5:02 am

I like gnomes!
They're just bizarre
Cleric/theifs and Barbarians amongst my fave classes.
Praytell, why do you beleive gnomes are more pervasive than the other races?

Raphtyr · Post by **Raphtyr** » Fri Aug 17, 2001 5:03 am

Why be any class? Gnomes are fun. As Kalah said, a gnome is a spectacle. Especially when he's beserking and coming at you with a vorpal halberd.

Xyx · Post by **Xyx** » Fri Aug 17, 2001 10:29 am

I always wondered how Gnomes ever made it into AD&D myself. They're not in D&D, and seem totally redundant if you already have Halflings and Dwarves (which both really add something). Gnomes are the only race in AD&D that's not directly ripped off from Lord of the Rings. I cannot help but imagine them to be some Halfling/Dwarf crossbreed...

Quest Master · Post by **Quest Master** » Fri Aug 17, 2001 10:33 am

I even think the stat increase is worthless, at least in BG. 19 int? So what. All that enables you to do is have an unlimited number of spells in your spellbook, and that can be gained by drinking potions of genius.

Path of Wind · Post by **Path of Wind** » Fri Aug 17, 2001 10:50 am

Originally posted by Quest Master:
I even think the stat increase is worthless, at least in BG. 19 int? So what. All that enables you to do is have an unlimited number of spells in your spellbook, and that can be gained by drinking potions of genius.

Int also affects the percentage of successfully learning the spell. So, if you do not reload game every time you failed to learn spell, Int 19 relly helps.

Shark · Post by **Shark** » Fri Aug 17, 2001 1:02 pm

Anyone tried a gnome illusionist/cleric? With an intelligence of 19 and wisdom of 17, it should have access to quite a lot of spells, even if he couldn't get 18 in wisdom, but clerics have enough spells. To me a gnome seems much better as a mage/cleric than Aerie. Wasn't Quale(BG1) an illusionist/cleric?

Anyone tried this character?

Quest Master · Post by **Quest Master** » Fri Aug 17, 2001 1:45 pm

About that percent increase in learning spells: also useless if you mem spells in large groups with potions of genius. Besides, its equal to or less than a 4% increase for the extra point of int.

Besides all of this, gnomes don't have the personality that the other classes do. What's their 'character'? Crazy tinker. Weee, that's maleable. At least 'grumpy' allows for a wide variety of character types. Crazy tinker basically limits it. What do you think of when you think of Gnome? Jan is archtypical. But Dwarves can be berserkers, mechanical thieves, fervent clerics, drunkards, beligerant, aged and wise, etc, etc...

Gnomes? Crazy tinkerer. They ALL surround themselves with gadgets and act like Jan.

Their specialist mage class illusionist is weak. Their trinkets don't work. Everybody has infravision (almost). And they smell bad.

Don't get me wrong, Jan is funnier than anything else in the whole game, but as a PC? I think very limited.

Quest Master · Post by **Quest Master** » Fri Aug 17, 2001 1:52 pm

DOWN WITH GNOMES!!!!!!!

ThorinOakensfield · Post by **ThorinOakensfield** » Fri Aug 17, 2001 3:29 pm

Originally posted by Xyx:
I always wondered how Gnomes ever made it into AD&D myself. They're not in D&D, and seem totally redundant if you already have Halflings and Dwarves (which both really add something). Gnomes are the only race in AD&D that's not directly ripped off from Lord of the Rings. I cannot help but imagine them to be some Halfling/Dwarf crossbreed...

Basically they're dwarves that like to use magic.

I think they were just TSR's(or whoever made them up) attempt to make an original race.