Race: Gnome

Gnomes.

These aren't your dad's gnomes.

Gnomes

"Greetings! Don't worry about an introduction, I already know your name."

Quiet, reserved, and studious - these are the traits most exemplified by the race known as the gnomes. A short-statured race, they have mostly kept to themselves through the history of the world, occasionally venturing out into the world when something new surfaces (though as an old gnome saying goes, there is nothing new under the moons). In particular, technology intrigues them, as it often finds ways to present something new despite gnomes' insistence that most things have been done or tried before; this led to a division in their race, during the time of the Ronkan Empire, though that rift has since been repaired.

Gnomes have a natural affinity for memory, and are well-known for their logic puzzles and similar mental exercises they use to keep their wits sharp. They will often share their latest exercise with fresh acquaintances, to better understand how they think and to determine their mental fortitude. Due to this particular trait, some races envision gnomes as enigmatic tricksters and pranksters, though this is far from the truth.

Personality: Gnomes tend towards a studious nature, acquiring habits and traits that often rarely reflect their very active mental life. Most gnomes maintain a leisurely pace, and tend to be overly patient and tolerable of setbacks: most spend such moments of downtime dealing with some puzzling thought or working through a problem. Though they may not show it, they make the most of every waking moment.

Vital Statistics
		Starting Age			Aging Effects
	Adulthood	Simple	Moderate	Complex	Middle Age	Old	Venerable	Max Age
Age	40 years	+4d6	+6d6	+9d6	100 years	150 years	200 years	+3d%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	Base Height		Height Modifier		Base Weight		Weight Modifier
Male	3' 0"		+2d4"		40 lbs.		x1 lbs.
Female	2' 10"		+2d4"		35 lbs.		x1 lbs.

Physical Description: Gnomes are relatively short, their average being around three feet tall, and weighing about forty pounds. Their skin is often fair to ruddy, and hair and eye coloration both tend towards the darker end of the spectrum, though gnomes often sport unusual hair colors (such as green or blue), though typically in subdued hues. Some gnomes will specifically lighten their hair for sheer shock value: it is not unheard of among young gnomes to dye their hair bright greens, pinks, and blues.

Ethos: Gnomes, as a whole, tend towards keeping a balance between Blue and Red virtues - they know enough to have common sense and follow logic most of the time, but they have a nearly-racial rash streak that makes them try things that they most certainly know better than to try, simply to see what would happen. The ideological split of the past was largely an ethical one, between those that were too strongly Blue and too strongly Red.

Gnomish Lands: If a gnome were to be asked where their homeland was, they would all point to one place: the Blue Hills, in southwestern Sarteri. Gnomes travel far afield, however, and can be found almost anywhere: their innate affinity for the Blue makes them excellent candidates for positions in communications, and their technical expertise makes them natural choices for work aboard ships, both aerial and spatial.

Gnomes are also a common sight in halfling caravans, often acting in an advisory or educational role; this relationship was the origin of the trainer and learner classes, in modern Trinity.

Religion: Gnomes have no particular predisposition towards any religion. Some gnomes are old enough to recall the religious aspects of the Ronkan Empire, and so very intentionally became atheists: the general feeling in gnomish society is that the downfall of the Ronkan Empire was not due to their foolish combination of Magic and Technology (though the gnomes warned against that, as well), but instead can be blamed on the schism between the Naturalism of the elves and Gaeli and the Glabados Church of the Ronkans.

Language: Gnomes speak Lynaen, the common language amongst the descendants of the Lynae. Gnomes are adept at learning new languages, though not nearly as much as vesuvans.

Male Names: Ampholm, Bixwell, Caliper, Grabert, Jamison, Milbin, Luby, Tigli, Tilbert, Wilvin, Zedale, Zodnik.

Female Names: Caminella, Elby, Kalimma, Laralia, Lorilbi, Ninabolt, Tarammy, Tinanora, Relena, Rotari, Sharadette, Vemmy.

Family Names: Augerspan, Braverivet, Darkwhistle, Frostberry, Geotorque, Goldenspring, Leygear, Polyjammer, Prismbit, Shadowchrome, Shimmercam, Thunderbooster, Titanpiston.

Gnome Culture

The following is a rough overview of some of the highlights of gnome culture.

• Information is Power: For gnomes, knowledge is a measure of both power and currency. While they truck in the standard coinage and paper currencies used by other cultures, amongst themselves, gnomes trade information amongst each other. Gnomes in foreign lands often set themselves up as information brokers, historians, and detectives, leveraging their natural tendency towards the Blue to their advantage.
• Two:
• Three:

Gnomes Are Responsible For...

...the flying city of Urilaulri, and its conceptual descendants, the Urilaulri space stations. While other races devised flight, it was the gnomes who took the concept and scaled it up significantly.

...information storage methods. Prior to gnomes and their significant investigation into the nature of the Blue, most cultures and regions used animal skins or various other physical medium for recording information. Gnomes, with their devising of the akashic stones, made these methods almost universally obsolete.

...spreading of the Blue. Over the course of history, gnomes have spread knowledge of the Blue to other races, which eventually led to the development of alternate means of utilizing world memory.

Gnome Racial Prestige Classes

• Gnome Sage: Gnomes have a natural inclination towards both the Blue and Technology, and some gnomes have a knack for combining the two in interesting and unusual ways.

Gnome Racial Traits (d20)

• -2 Strength, +2 Intelligence. Gnomes are not physically impressive, but their minds and memories are expansive.
• Small. +1 bonus to Armor Class, +1 bonus on attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, -4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits ¾ those of Medium characters.
• A gnome’s base land speed is 20 feet.
• Gnomes have low-light vision, with a base multiplier of x2.
• +2 racial bonus on saving throws against illusions or similar deceptions: gnomes tend to over-analyze their surroundings, but this trait comes in handy when determining reality from fiction.
• Well-Learned: Gnomes gain a +2 racial bonus to any Knowledge skill in which they have ranks. Gnome society encourages a broad education, and gnomes have a tendency to remember almost any stray bit of knowledge they come across.
• Delve Into Blue (Bl): Gnomes can use the akashic delve into blue ability, with a bonus equal to one-half character level + Intelligence modifier. If the gnome has akashic levels, he instead can use delve into blue with a bonus equal to his akashic level + one-half his total levels in other classes + his Intelligence modifier.
• Loresight (Me): Gnomes can use the object loresight, creature loresight, and location loresight memes at-will, with no memory invested. A gnome who uses these innate abilities can only learn a number of facts about their targets up to his Intelligence modifier. If a gnome takes a level in akashic, he automatically learns these memes, but can only invest memory in them if they are chosen as active memes (in which case the restriction on facts learned is also lifted).
• Multitrack Mind (Ex): When a gnome must spend an action to concentrate on an action, such as maintaining a spell effect, the action required is reduced by one step (so if the action normally requires a standard, the gnome can use a move). A gnome can maintain concentration on a number of actions that require free actions equal to his Intelligence modifier, minimum 1.
• Automatic Languages: One Common language, one Trade language, Lynaen. Bonus Languages: Any.
• Favored Class: Choose one - akashic, inventor.

Gnome Paragon (d20 Class)

Gnome Paragon
						Technology	Blue
Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	Student Level	Memeticist Level
1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Delve Into Blue	+1 level of existing student class	+1 level of existing memeticist class
2	+1	+0	+0	+3	Gnomish Recollection	Choose one: +1 level of existing student class or memeticist class
3	+2	+1	+1	+3	Ability Boost (Int +2), Gnomish Apotheosis	Choose one: +1 level of existing student class or memeticist class

 

There was a period in gnomish history, during the time of the Ronkan Empire, where the pursuit of ancient knowledge - the purview of the Blue - and the pursuit of new knowledge - that of Technology - nearly tore gnomish culture asunder. The resulting feud led to a division among their people, but gnomes are patient, and knew that, eventually, the two halves would come to peace.

No one had foreseen, however, that instead of choosing one path or the other, the gnomes would instead fuse the two into a single discipline, using memory to fuel their machines and their machines to assist them in the search for ancient knowledge. Nowhere is this culmination as obvious as the once-flying city of Urilaulri, held aloft by technological engines fueled not by oil or steam, by but the memory of flight itself.

Gnome paragons seek to walk that path, combining the two disjoint fields into a singular whole, hoping to unlock both the secrets of the past and of the future.

Game Rule Information

Gnome paragons have the following game statistics.

Force Alignment: Technology and Blue.

Force Resistances: SR 5 + level, PR 5 + level, IO 5 + level, CO 5 + level.

Abilities: Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are of paramount importance to the gnome paragon, as these are the abilities most commonly called upon by both Forces.

Hit Die: d6.

Class Skills: The gnome paragon's class skills are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Memecraft (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Pilot (Int/Dex), Profession (Wis), Reason (Int), Repair (Int), and Techcraft (Int).

Skill Points: 4 + Int modifier.

Alignment: Any.

Starting Age: Simple.

Starting Gold: 4d4 x 10 gp.

Class Features

The following are the class features of the gnome paragon class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Gnome paragons are proficient with all simple weapons and with light armor, and all martial weapons with "Gnomish" in their name.

Memeticist Level: At 1st level, a gnome paragon gains new memes known, memory, and active meme slots as if he had also gained a level in a previous memeticist class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (such as other class features).

If a gnome paragon has no levels in an appropriate class, he instead chooses a single Blue-using class at first level. He gains active meme slots, memory, belief-space, and memes known as if he had gained levels in that class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus metamagic feats, and so on).

Exception: A gnome paragon who chooses to become a Trainer still gains a memento.

Student Level: At 1st level, a gnome paragon gains new devices known, device slots, and device charges as if he had also gained a level in a previous student class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (such as other class features).

If a gnome paragon has no levels in an appropriate class, he instead chooses a single Technology-using class at first level. He gains device slots, devices known, and device charges as if he had gained levels in that class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus metamagic feats, and so on).

Exception: A gnome paragon who chooses to become a Greasemonkey still gains a vehicle.

A gnome paragon can choose to increase either his effective student level or his effective memeticist level at 2nd and 3rd levels.

Delve Into Blue (Bl): The gnome paragon treats his class level as akashic levels for purposes of his racial delve into blue ability.

Gnomish Recollection: At 2nd level, the gnome paragon can take 10 on any Knowledge skill in which he has ranks, even if he would be in a situation in which he could not take 10 on checks.

Gnomish Apotheosis: At 3rd level, a gnome paragon automatically qualifies to take levels in the Gnome Sage prestige class, even if it does not meet the class's prerequisites.

Add your gnome paragon levels to your gnome sage levels for all calculations that involve your gnome sage level, including abilities from that prestige class that are reliant on class level as opposed to character level.