Gnome

Gnomes stand 3 to 3-1/2 feet tall and weigh 40 to 45 pounds. Their skin color ranges from dark tan to woody brown, their hair is fair, and their eyes can be any shade of blue. Gnome males prefer short, carefully trimmed beards. Gnomes generally wear leather or earth tones, though they decorate their clothes with intricate stitching or fine jewelry. Gnomes reach adulthood at about age 40, and they live about 350 years, though some can live almost 500 years.

Gnomes speak their own language, Gnome. Most gnomes who travel outside gnome lands (as traders, tinkers, or adventurers) know Common, while warriors in gnome settlements usually learn Goblin.

Most gnomes encountered outside their home are warriors; the information in the statistics block is for one of 1st level.

Combat

Gnomes prefer misdirection and deception over direct confrontation.

They would rather befuddle or embarrass foes (other than goblinoids or kobolds) than kill them.

Gnomes make heavy use of illusion magic and carefully prepared ambushes and traps whenever they can.

Gnome Traits (Ex): Gnomes possess the following racial traits.

• +2 Constitution, –2 Strength.
• Small size. +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus on attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, –4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits 3/4 those of Medium characters.
• A gnome’s base land speed is 20 feet.
• Low-light vision.
• Weapon Familiarity: Gnomes may treat gnome hooked hammers as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
• +2 racial bonus on saving throws against illusions.
• 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.
• +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against kobolds and goblinoids (including goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears).
• +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against creatures of the giant type (such as ogres, trolls, and hill giants).
• +2 racial bonus on Listen checks.
• +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks.
• Automatic Languages: Common, Gnome. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Orc.
• Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day—speak with animals (burrowing mammal only, duration 1 minute). A gnome with a Charisma score of at least 10 also has the following spell-like abilities: 1/day—dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation. Caster level 1st; save DC 10 + gnome’s Cha modifier + spell level.
• Favored Class: Bard.

The gnome warrior presented here had the following ability scores before racial adjustments: Str 13, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 8.

Subraces

The information above is for rock gnomes, the most common variety.

There are two other major gnome subraces, which differ from rock gnomes as follows.

• Svirfneblin
• Forest Gnome

This material is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.