Gnomes

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.

Gnomes are inquisitive. They love to find things out by personal experience. At times they're even reckless, always trying out new ways to do something. They also have a great sense of humor, and while they love puns, jokes, and games, they also relish tricks - the more intricate the better. Sometimes a gnome pulls a prank just to see how the people involved will react.

Gnomes are most often good. Those who tend toward law are sages, engineers, researchers, scholars, investigators, or consultants. Those who tend toward chaos are minstrels, tricksters, wanderers, or fanciful jewelers. Gnomes are goodhearted, and even the tricksters among them are more playful than vicious. Evil gnomes are as rare as they are frightening.

Svirfneblin, Oerth

Also called deep gnomes, svirfneblin are said to dwell in great cities deep underground., but little else is known of them. Some are rumored to magically comamand creatures made of living earth and rock. Svirfneblin are believed to be among the few good underground races.

A svirfneblin has wiry, rock-colored skin usually medium brown to brownish gray. The males are bald, and the females have stringy gray hair. They stand between 3 and 3'6" tall on average. They are thinner than their surface cousins, but they weigh just as much - about 40 to 45 pounds - due to the density of their muscles. They are little more than wiry sinews and rocklike bones.

Svirfneblin, Faerun

Dour and cynical, svirfneblin are resigned to their lot in life. They spend their days scratching out a living in the subterranean passages near their home. The males mostly mine for precious gems, while the females gather food, care for their children, and keep house. Few aspire to do anything other than lives as quietly as they can. The svirfneblin are just as good-hearted as their sunnier kin, they are distrustful of outsiders. To a svirfneblin, the only people you can trust are other deep gnomes from your village, preferably from your family. All others are to be avoided.

Svirfneblin are gnarled and calloused folk, with little fat at all on their wiry bodies. Their skin is the color of the rocks among which they live, almost as if they sprang directly from the stone themelves. They have dark gray eyes, tending toward black. Their hair is of a similar color, although it's only seen on the women, as the men are entirely bald and beardless. They stand between 3 and 3'6" tall on average. They are thinner than their surface cousins, but they weigh just as much - about 40 to 45 pounds - due to the density of their muscles. They are little more than wiry sinews and rocklike bones.

Racial Traits

• +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength, -4 Charisma
• Small Size: +1 size modifier to attack rolls and AC, +4 size bonus to hide and move silently skills.
• Hardiness: +2 racial bonus on all saving throws
• Darkvision: svirfneblin can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and svirfneblin function just fine with no light at all.
• Stonecunning: +2 racial bonus on Search checks made in subterranean areas
• Skill Affinity: A svirfneblin receives a +2 racial bonus to the Listen skill
• Skill Affinity: A svirfneblin receives a +2 racial bonus to the Concentration skill
• Skill Affinity: A svirfneblin receives a +2 racial bonus to the Hide skill
• Spell Focus Illusion: svirfneblin receive the feat Spell Focus (Illusion) for free at first level.
• Offensive Training vs. Reptilians: +1 racial bones on attack rolls against reptilian humanoids
• Offensive Training vs. Goblinoids: +1 racial bonus on attack roles against goblinoids (goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears)
• Defensive Training vs. Giants: +4 racial bonus to AC against giants
• Nondetection: A svirfneblin has a continuous nondetection ability as the spell (caster level equal to class level)
• Spell-like Abilities: Blindness/Deafness, Blur, and Disguise Self 1x/day
• Spell Resistance: 11 + the svirfneblin's character level
• Level Adjustment +2

• Create your character with the Gnome race, and use the Subrace Setter in the start area.
• This race will require a DM to modify your ability scores.
• The ability score modifications, compared to the standard Gnome, are: +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Constitution, -4 Charisma