Gnome
General Appearance
A gnome’s energy and enthusiasm for living shines through every inch of his or her tiny body. Their tan or brown faces are usually adorned with broad smiles (beneath their prodigious noses), and their bright eyes shine with excitement. Their fair hair has a tendency to stick out in every direction, as if expressing the gnome’s insatiable interest in everything around.
A gnome’s personality is writ large in his or her appearance. A male gnome’s beard, in contrast to his wild hair, is kept carefully trimmed but often styled into curious forks or neat points. A gnome’s clothing, though usually made in modest earth tones, is elaborately decorated with embroidery, embossing, or gleaming jewels.
Racial Attributes
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 2.
Age. Gnomes mature at the same rate as humans, and most are expected to settle into adult life around the age of 40. They can live to 350 years on average, but it's not too uncommon for them to reach 500 years of age.
Size. Gnomes are between 3 and 4 feet tall and weigh around 40 pounds. Your size is Small.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Trade Basic, Dwarvish and Gnomish. Dwarvish is full of hard consonants and guttural sounds, and those characteristics spill over into whatever other language a dwarf might speak. Gnomish can only really be described as talking without breathing. Information is very densely packed in Gnomish and the language flows effortlessly from one word to the other so much so that it is sometimes impossible to know when even a full sentence ends and a new one begins, Gnomes do not believe in punctuation or explaining slowly.
Gnomish Ethnic Groups
Forest
As a forest gnome, you have a natural knack for illusion and inherent quickness and stealth. These gnomes also befriend small forest animals and rely on them for information about threats that might prowl their lands. Forest Gnomes are incredibly rare and come from carefully hidden villages in the foothills and forests of Khalan
- Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
- Natural Illusionist. You know the Minor Illusion cantrip. Intelligence is your spellcasting modifier for it.
- Speak with Small Beasts. Through sound and gestures, you may communicate simple ideas with Small or smaller beasts.
Rock
As a rock gnome, you have a natural inventiveness and hardiness beyond that of other gnomes. Almost every Gnome you'll ever meet will be a Rock Gnome.
- Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1.
- Artificer's Lore. Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to magical, alchemical, or technological items, you can add twice your proficiency bonus instead of any other proficiency bonus that may apply.
- Tinker. You have proficiency with artisan tools (tinker's tools). Using those tools, you can spend 1 hour and 10 gp worth of materials to construct a Tiny clockwork device (AC 5, 1 hp). The device ceases to function after 24 hours (unless you spend 1 hour repairing it to keep the device functioning), or when you use your action to dismantle it; at that time, you can reclaim the materials used to create it. You can have up to three such devices active at a time. When you create a device, choose one of the following options:
- Clockwork Toy. This toy is a clockwork animal, monster, or person, such as a frog, mouse, bird, dragon, or soldier. When placed on the ground, the toy moves 5 feet across the ground on each of your turns in a random direction. It makes noises as appropriate to the creature it represents.
- Fire Starter. The device produces a miniature flame, which you can use to light a candle, torch, or campfire. Using the device requires your action.
- Music Box. When opened, this music box plays a single song at a moderate volume. The box stops playing when it reaches the song's end or when it is closed.
- At your DM's discretion, you may make other objects with effects similar in power to these. The Prestidigitation cantrip is a good baseline for such effects.
Gnomish Society
Broad Overview
Don't let anyone fool you, Gnomes are the true backbone of Dwarvenkind society. They live in sprawling cities built into the rock of the world, digging deeper and further for good stone, good ore and fine gems. From these they provide all the materials needed to drive the whole of Khalan forward. The iron for shovels and hoes, the stone for shoring up the homes and the gems ... well, the Gnomes have good uses for those. Gnomes have long dug into the mountains surrounding Khalan and have successfully built out all over Western Kahlens in the Inner Lands. Gnomes live in large extended families that are based upon the settlement they reside in, as such Gnomes do not have family or last names, they take the name of their city or village as a last name. It's very easy to tell where a Gnome comes from because he'll tell you.
Make It Better
One of the big drivers of Gnomish society is the constant drive to improve things, be this the tools they are using, the methods by which they do things or what the exact angle of a corner of a house needs to be so that it is perfectly stable. As such Gnomish cities are an unmappable mess of strangely built homes, forges and workshops, pipes and cogs everywhere. One cannot argue with the results though and nearly all innovations in Dwarvenkind have come from the hard work of Gnomes trying to one up the last Gnomish invention.
Let Not Perfect be the Enemy of Good
Despite their eccentric natures and drive to improve, what you won't find is many Gnomes striving for perfection the first time around. There is a saying in Gnomish society, "I hit it with a hammer and it didn't explode, good enough". Gnomes believe in practicality to a fault and will ensure that they build something that works, it might not work perfectly, but it'll be good enough for most people.
The Effects of The Return
Of all of the races in Dwarvenkind, Gnomes weathered the The Return best of all. Aside from some loss when being returned to collapsed buildings or mines, Gnomes very quickly got their operations back under way, mining, tinkering and inventing in no time at all. To help with the food shortages, Gnomish farmers popped up with mushroom and other fungi farms, it wasn't enough to completely stave off the famine but likely shortened the time it would take to return to normal.
Gnomes have largely stayed in Khalan following The Return, though some have followed their brethren to wider lands in the search of new inventions and things to tinker with.
The discovery of Mechanomancy has invigorated Gnomish society to strive even harder to improve things.