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Gnomes
Gnomes, or the Forgotten Folk as they are sometimes known, are small fey humanoids known for their eccentric sense of humor, inquisitiveness and engineering prowess. Having had few overt influences on the world’s history but many small and unseen ones, gnomes are often overlooked by the powers that be despite their craftiness and affinity for illusion magic.
Physical Characteristics
Gnomes are very small compared to most other races and, with an average height ranging between 3'4" and 3'8" and a comparable weight range of 50 to 75 lbs gnomes are smaller even than halflings. However, while halflings are commonly said to resemble short humans, gnomes are more comparable with Tel-quessir, with whom they share pointed ears and high cheekbones, or even dwarves, who they are compared to due to their tendency to grow beards and live underground. Many gnomes have a more feral appearance than either, however, with hair that often sprouts from their heads in odd directions.
The skin of gnomes runs in hue from reddish tans to earthy browns or even shades of gray, with exact hue somewhat dependent upon the ethnic origin of a gnome. Similarly, gnomish hair varies wildly in color from blond and brown to more exotic colors like white, orange, or even green. Gnomish eyes are often, particularly in individuals who are native to the Feywild, glittering black or blue[4] although more natural eye colors are also known to the race.
Gnomes are very long-lived, often living as long as Tel-quessir, which means living over three centuries is not uncommonly rare and five centuries is not unheard of. Generally, gnome are considered to reach maturity at forty years of age. However, unlike elves or eladrin, gnomes show a greater degree of aging as they grow older and once a gnome has passed his or her first century, their hair begins to gray, if it was not already white, and their skin begins to wrinkle as in humans or dwarves. However, even the oldest gnome retains a vitality that would be extraordinarily unusual amongst many of the younger races.
Abilities
Gnomes are a naturally intelligent and creative race, with a charm about them unusual for other humanoids. Gnomes also have a natural grasp of the arcane, innately possessing the ability to cast the cantrip ghost sound and some possess the ability to cast prestidigitation and mage hand as well. Gnomes also have a natural affinity for stealth, an affinity they can sometimes pass on to others, and illusion, both for the purpose of using it for themselves as well as seeing through other attempts at it. All gnomes innately are able to use the fade away power to disappear temporarily from sight and additionally have a reflexive tendency to take cover and hide when suddenly endangered. Some gnomes learn also to combine their fade away ability with teleportation like that of an eladrin. Other gnomes are capable of casting dancing lights.
Many gnomes are weak compared to other humanoids, though this is far from a universal trait for the race. Like the Tel-quessir, gnomes have sensitive hearing and are often capable of hearing things that other races might miss. Gnomish eyes are also suited for seeing in low-light conditions, to a degree comparable with elves.
Psychology
Gnomes are an intelligent and innately curious race and have a strong affinity for all thing magical, particularly the arcane. Gnomes may lack the drive and ambition of other races, particularly humans, but their creativity gives them a strong ability for ingenuity. Most gnomes are content to live simple lives, acquiring knowledge merely as a hobby but others explore lost ruins, delve deep into the heart of the world, and conduct dangerous research in their unquenchable thirst for knowledge, leading more than a few to an untimely demise.
Gnomes are naturally witty and jovial, and they prefer to overcome obstacles through cunning and innovation rather than the obvious way. Ever curious, gnomes are drawn to adventure more often by a desire to see the world than out of greed or the hope of fame. It is this curiosity, along with their cunning and witty repartee that makes gnomes both entertaining friends and adept mages or scholars.
In their original home of the Feywild as well as some places on Airth gnomes live in burrows and dug-out homes akin to those used by badgers, foxes, or rabbits and as such are fond of these small animals, feeling a sense of natural kinship with them. And, like these animals, gnomes have an aversion to danger they can avoid that makes gnomes naturally inclined to hide away if they are able and many gnomish homes are carefully hidden by magic or other methods.
Culture
Like other races, gnomish culture varies based on region and ethnicity, but a few characteristics are common to most gnomes. Amongst virtually all gnomes, great value is placed on one’s ability to avoid trouble and stay out of the way of others. Children’s games often involve elements of stealth and amongst adults drawing attention to one’s self is considered a breach of etiquette. The few legends of gnomish heroes are not of powerful warriors but of subtle tricksters, who sneak past or trick their opponents rather than vanquishing them in combat. This in part comes from the long-standing issues gnomes have faced, which is their miniscule size compared to larger predators or enemies such as the fomorians of the Feywild, whom few gnomes could hope to stand toe to toe with in a fair fight.
Gnomes have an intricate society based on their love of all kinds of arts, pranks, and their long lives. Gnomes love indulgence, and they make most celebrations on a grander scale. Gnome weddings last for a week, even though gnomes don't view love the same way humans do. If love begins to go wrong between a couple they may break up, believing it was a prank by Garl Glittergold. Their society is based on art; all gnomes must take up some form of art whether music, painting, cooking, building, or any other form that is considered creative by the time they come of age.
Gnomes who leave their home to seek an adventurer’s life are rare, given the race's famed shyness and lack of ambition. Those that do are motivated by a number of factors, but the impulsive race is often driven by curiosity more than anything else. Many gnomes feel no more rationale for adventuring than simply to explore the world that surrounds them. A few, the more orderly ones that is, seek out adventure for more innately noble purposes, such as to help others, but these gnomes are rare. Other gnomes are driven on to become adventurers by little more than simple avarice, as adventuring is often seen as a quick, if unsafe, avenue for wealth. Adventuring is not necessarily a welcomed lifestyle amongst gnomes, in spite of the curiosity that fills the whole race, and sometimes is, in fact, seen as a betrayal of sorts to a gnome’s clan.
Magic and Religion
Gnomes are talented illusionists, with a natural grasp of the arcane. Regardless of their other talents, all gnomes are capable of casting cantrip or two and have the capacity to disappear from sight if they wish. Gnomes are well-suited for all forms of arcane training, particularly that of a bard, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard.
The primary gnome deity of the gnomish pantheon is Garl Glittergold. Among other deities of the pantheon are Baervan Wildwanderer, Gaerdal Ironhand, and Urdlen. These gods are all themselves, at least since the Spellplague members of the Seldarine, the fey pantheon headed by Corellon Larethian.
Relations with other races
Gnomes, in general, are a reclusive people who'd rather stay out of others' affairs. Though some races interpret this as cowardice, it's more the case that gnomes simply have nothing at stake in the conflicts between most other races and after centuries of being ignored or stomped on, are not particularly eager to fight someone else's fight. In fact, generally speaking, gnomes are a very courageous and good-hearted race, who frequently use their neutrality as a way to negotiate disputes. Of all the races in Airth it's fair to say that gnomes have the fewest enemies, although they have very few friends as well.
Gnomes rarely intentionally invoke ire in any group, but at times circumstances have made conflict with other races unavoidable. In the Feywild gnomes are particularly wary of the fomorians that sometimes enslave them, regarding them with fear and caution. In the Prime, gnomes are most often at odds with goblins and kobolds, whom share their underground homes and often war with them for territory or wealth. In these cases gnomes are rarely the aggressors, due to their tendency to avoid trouble rather than cause it.
Gnomes are on fairly good terms with other fey, being particularly fond of elves. Gnomes also have sympathy for the fey commonly enslaved by fomorians, feeling empathy for creatures that share the fate many of their forbearers have suffered. Gnomes also get along well enough with halflings.
Among those gnomes who live in the caverns of the Prime, dwarves are often counted as friends, due in part to the two races’ physical and cultural similarities. Additionally, dwarves and gnomes both count goblins and giants as enemies and can often be found working together against them. Gnome are generally suspicious of other races, however.
Subraces
Forest Gnomes
Forest gnomes are among the least commonly seen gnomes on Airth, far shier than even their deep gnome cousins. Small and reclusive, forest gnomes are so unknown to most non-gnomes that they have repeatedly been "discovered" by wandering outsiders who happen into their villages. Timid to an extreme, forest gnomes almost never leave their hidden homes.
Physical Characteristics
Compared with other gnomes, forest gnomes are even more diminutive than is typical of the stunted race, rarely growing taller than 2½ feet in height or weighing in over 30 lbs. Typically, males are slightly larger than females, at the most by four inches or five pounds. Unlike other gnomes, forest gnomes generally grow their hair long and free, feeling neither the need nor desire to shave or trim their hair substantially, though males often do take careful care of their beards, trimming them to a fine point or curling them into hornlike spikes. Forest gnome skin is an earthy color and looks, in many ways, like wood, although it is not particularly tough. Forest gnome hair is brown or black, though it grays with age, sometimes to a pure white. Like other gnomes, forest gnomes generally live for centuries, although their life expectancy is a bit longer than is the case for either rock or deep gnomes; 400 is the average life expectancy of a forest gnome.
Abilities
Forest gnomes differ from the more common rock gnomes and deep gnomes in a number of ways. Forest gnomes, like halflings, are adept at obscuring their presence and slipping into places unseen, particularly when in the familiar terrain of their forest homes. In addition to the cantrip-like abilities typical of gnomes, forest gnomes also possess supernatural abilities similar to the spells pass without a trace or speak with animals, although they can use these abilities at will.
Psychology
Forest gnomes are painfully shy creatures who neither feel the need nor want to interact with other races. For the most part forest gnomes would simply like to be ignored as they have been for millennia. Unlike deep gnomes this comes less out of a general mistrust of outsiders and more out of an extreme sense of privacy and affinity for the natural world, combined with a general ambivalence about things that are outside of their experience. Among their own kind, deep gnomes are quite friendly, if not particularly lively.
Like deep gnomes, forest gnomes rarely leave their remote homes. As a general rule, forest gnomes lack the curiosity that is typical of most gnomes and will only leave their homelands under intense pressure, such as a threat that they alone cannot overcome. For the most part, forest gnomes prefer to stick to what they know, caring for the wood around them.
Culture
Forest gnomes live in an extreme state of primitivism, though their lives are generally comfortable and idyllic. Forest gnomes are largely hunter-gatherers, harvesting their food from wild fruits, nuts, and berries, and supplementing their diet with a little meat. Forest gnome villages are usually composed of less than a hundred members, who are often all a part of an extended family. Forest gnome homes are generally small, reclusive, and so well-hidden that a human might well walk within a few feet of a gnome and home and not even realize it. Part of this is because of the unique manner in which forest gnomes construct their homes, which are typically located within trees.
Forest gnomes spend the majority of their day tending to the forest and gathering food to feed the rest of the village though a few, like their kin, search underground for gems in a manner unusual for most hunter-gatherers. Forest gnome children who are too young to contribute are generally allowed to do as they like, although they are prevented from wandering far from their protective parents. These children learn how to behave primarily by example, watching their elders, acquiring a reverence for the forest and appreciation for their society gradually. Forest gnomes are generally organized in a loose gerontocracy, with the eldest member of the community serving an advisorial role to the rest of the community, who generally only make decisions by consensus. Outside of their homes, this ethic carries on, though gnomes rarely gather in groups of more than two or three beyond their secluded villages.
Forest gnomes only rarely become adventurers, usually due to some kind of threat to their home or other need that requires them to leave their reclusive hovels. Most gnomes are instead craftsmen or experts of various kinds. Those who do leave take on a variety of different roles. The forest gnome love of music makes many excellent, if somewhat shy, bards. Other forest gnomes become clerics or druids, who often play important roles in forest gnome society upon their returns. Very few forest gnomes would consider themselves proper warriors and forest gnome fighters are next to unheard of. On the other hand, many forest gnomes are well-suited for the life of a rogue, given their small size and stealthy natures. Some forest gnomes also show a propensity for the arcane arts and become, like so many of their kin, illusionists. Because of their historical conflict with the races, forest gnomes often have defensive training against kobolds, orcs, goblinoids, and reptilian humanoids, which serves adventurers well in their travels.
Art and Leisure
Forest gnome society, like that of most hunter-gatherers, is a curious mix of luxury and hard work. Forest gnomes spend most of their days working for the benefit of the community but after returning home from the forest, they are usually treated to a relaxed lifestyle with few causes of stress. During such times, forest gnomes devote themselves to a variety of humble but impressive artistic practices. Among these are gemcutting and jewelry-making, which forest gnomes, unlike the similarly primitive wild elves, the forest gnomes have a deep fondness for. Typically, however, these beautiful designs reflect the natural world in a way uncommon to most civilized peoples.[4] Forest gnomes also forge a wide variety of tools but have a notable taboo on axes, due to their common use in woodcutting by other races.
Forest gnome architecture is also unique. Like many of the Tel-quessir, forest gnomes make their homes in such a way as to disturb the local environment as little as possible. However, unlike elves, who often live in the branches of trees, weaving their architecture into the surrounding structures, forest gnomes build their homes within trees, carving them in a careful manner devised by druids that does as little harm to the living plant as possible. Each tree hovel is usually a few hundred feet away from every other one, allowing each family the privacy that forest gnomes as a whole crave. The homes themselves are usually made of several tiny rooms stacked on top of one another, with trapdoors and ladders connecting them. Each room is about four feet tall and line with windows to let in the sun.
Because of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle forest gnomes neither keep livestock nor pets. However, forest gnomes are fond of wild animals and will sometimes forge bonds with them. Of the forest's wildlife, forest gnomes most prefer the company of creatures close to their own size, such as foxes and squirrels.[6]
Magic and Religion
Like most gnomes, forest gnomes prefer the use of illusion to other schools of magic, which they embrace as a way to protect them from harm. Frequently, forest gnome illusionists use their talents in concert with the more naturalistic camouflage that is a part of forest gnome architecture to hide their homes from outsiders. When forest gnomes are forced to deal with outsiders, they often delegate illusionists, who will conjure an image of the intruders' own race as a form of communication that distances the gnomes from their potential attackers.
Unlike other gnome peoples, forest gnomes also have a strong tradition of divine and primal magic. Clerics are well-respected among forest gnomes and typically offer their healing powers to help animals who've been injured by hunters or traps. Druids are also respected among forest gnomes, though forest gnomes are so shy that they rarely join larger druidic circles. Those that do, however, find their extroversion is well-rewarded, with the addition power gained from such association helping to protect their forest homes.
Forest gnomes have a stronger sense of faith than any other gnome subrace, although it is often very different from that of the typical gnome, incorporating into it animistic traditions and a reverence for the natural world. Priests are often communal leaders, who help to keep distant villages in touch. When large numbers of forest gnomes gather priests of various types are usually there to bless the meeting.
Of all the gods, forest gnomes feel the closest to Baervan Wildwanderer, who is often associated with the wild places where forest gnomes reside. According to forest gnome tradition, Baervan has personally entrusted the care of the wilderness to his followers, a burden the forest gnomes are happy to accept, and clerics of the god often serve as caretakers of the forest. Segojan Earthcaller is another popular, who venerate his teachings to treat with respect and friendship the animals of the wild. As a way of showing their veneration for the god, the few forest gnome warriors often wear grass and roots as part of their armor. Like most gnomes, forest gnomes fear the influence of Urdlen, who represents unknown threats, though, for the large part, the god has ignored the gnomes, who he seems to unusually appreciate.
Relations with other Races
Although forest gnomes are a shy and reclusive people they are not particularly resentful or untrusting of outsiders. Usually, it's more the case that forest gnomes simply don't care about other races and, when they meet outsiders they're often friendly, if painfully timid. When given the chance, forest gnomes can be close and loyal friends.
Of the other humanoid races, forest gnomes are most fond of rock gnomes, elves, and halflings of all types, with ghostwise halflings preferred among the latter. Forest gnomes get along particularly well with elves and ghostwise, thanks to both races sharing similar homes to the forest gnomes. In regards to other races, forest gnomes usually do not care about them, although an exception is made for orcs, kobolds, and lizardfolk, whose harsh treatment of forests make them natural enemies of the forest gnomes. Forest gnomes have a similar, but more amiable opinion of humans, thanks to loggers, trappers, and hunters of human civilization.
Rock GNome
Rock gnomes are a capricious, childlike race very much unlike their cousins, the svirfneblin or deep gnomes and the forest gnomes. When most people think of gnomes, they are thinking of the rock gnome. Rock gnomes embody the characteristics of their creator and patron deity, Garl Glittergold, choosing to spend their long lives by filling each day with as much fun and enjoyment as possible.
Physical characteristics
Rock gnomes are typically between 3 to 3½ feet tall and weigh anywhere from 40 to 45 lbs. They possess a natural brownish tint to their skin; the presence or absence of light has little effect upon it. Young rock gnomes possess any of a large number of hair colors that fades to gray or white upon reaching adulthood. Male gnomes typically keep beards groomed in a neat manner.
Psychology
Rock gnomes possess many of the traits other races, particularly humans, attribute to children. Most rock gnomes enjoy life to their very fullest; asking questions endlessly, playing pranks on friends and strangers, and finding new and interesting hobbies are just a few of the countless chores that rock gnomes burden each day with. Much like a child, a rock gnome possesses very little tolerance for long term mental focus unless the task as hand is of notable interest.
While their joyful, child-like viewpoint of life gives the impression that a rock gnome would be incapable of achieving something as mundane as physical labor, rock gnomes manage to use their keen intelligences to turn something as generally unexciting as work into a fun and enjoyable expenditure of their time and energy.
Culture
Rock gnomes gather in small towns, rarely reaching 500 adults. They consider large cities to be uncomfortable, partially because of the great amount of demand the Big Folk have for their skills. Rock gnomes are comfortable deep underground almost as much as on the surface world, possessing skill in ore and gemcutting that surpasses that of the dwarves, along with notable skills in toymaking and clockwork engineering. Rock gnomes are also the finest producers of the new weapons known as "guns."
Rock gnome homes are burrows, small but clean cave-like carvings into stone and hillsides. Married gnome couples have rooms for each to use, though rock gnome children generally sleep together in a single room. Rock gnome burrows are constructed by clan, allowing underground tunnels to conjoin one another for defense and other purposes.
Although rock gnomes can theoretically be of any alignment, the majority of rock gnomes, as a culture, lean towards neutral good. Rock gnomes will aid someone in need and oppose all who would impose their will upon those weaker than them.
Religion
Rock gnomes typically possess a nonchalant reverence of their chosen deity, bringing up the name of their god in any form of conversation as if they were refering to a friend. Rock gnomes rarely go to church and possess no particularly great amount of zeal towards the worship of their pantheon of gods. In typical gnomish manner, the gnomish gods require no particularly impressive display of faith, being more interested in following their own admittably mundane agendas.
Most rock gnomes worship the head of the gnomish pantheon, Garl Glittergold, considering him to be the idealized gnome, personifying mischief and merry-making.
Relations with other races
Rock gnomes are especially easy going with dwarves and halflings, especially those who appreciate a good joke. They are typically more cautious and subdued around the Big Folk (humans, elves and the other medium size humanoids), taking a considerably longer time (a day longer, perhaps) to consider them a friend and ally. They consider all forms of goblinkin to be extremely untrustworthy and give them a very wide berth if possible.
Deep Gnome
Deep gnomes, called svirfneblin in their own language, are a gnome subrace that live in the Underdark. While their surface cousins are known for their boundless optimism and cheerful mischief, the svirfneblin are serious and suspicious creatures. They survive in the Underdark by maintaining wariness of others and working hard to keep their underground society secret.
Physical description
Deep gnomes are wiry and lean with a body as hard as a slab of rock. Males are completely bald and beardless, while the females sport hair. Ranging from 3' to 3'6" (107 cm) in height and weighing between 40 and 45 lbs (20.4 kg), the deep gnomes are small enough to give them a size advantage when battling larger opponents. Deep gnome complexions are sometimes described as "gnarled" and, like drow and duergar, are commonly dark in hue, with most deep gnomes demonstrating brown or gray skin, with dark gray eyes, as well as gray hair if female. Deep gnomes do not live quite as long as their kin, with a life expectancy just under two centuries. Due to this and a number of cultural affectations, deep gnome children are considered adults at roughly twenty years of age.
Abilities
Deep gnome are better adapted for underground living than either rock gnomes or forest gnomes, with darkvision to help them see where there is no light. Similarly, deep gnomes have a dwarven-like affinity for stone and innately understand it on a level few other races can appreciate. Deep gnomes also lack most gnomes' predilection for cantrip like abilities but can instead blind other beings, obscure their own presence, or shapeshift. Deep gnomes also have a great deal of resistance to magic of any kind, and can go undetected as if they were using the nondetection spell, alongside their natural affinity for avoiding danger or hiding.
Psychology
Deep gnomes are a surly and cynical people, who fatalistically expect little more from life than what they have.[2] Keeping themselves to themselves, being cautious when contacting other races and eying strangers with suspicion,[3] it is hard to befriend a deep gnome, even if one is another deep gnome,[2] but when taking considerable effort to befriend a svirfneblin, one can find a loyal friend who will not easily misplace one's trust.
Sullen and hard-working, deep gnomes are wholly dedicated to any task they set themselves on, typically mining for males and housekeeping for females. Although outsiders find deep gnomes' overly serious attitude to make for sour company, those qualities make them tireless pursuers of excellence in their metalworkings and weapon forging. These attitudes are also justified in part by the harsh environs the deep gnomes inhabit, which require a degree of stoicism and quiet suffering in order to save the greatest number. Any sounds, including voices, can attract danger to deep gnome homes and for their own sakes deep gnomes have learned to keep a grim demeanor and low profile. Their seriousness and pessimism fades when admiring the gems which fascinate them so much.
Although far more serious than most gnomes, deep gnomes nonetheless exhibit the same insatiable curiosity and craftiness if put under the right circumstances. It is this trait, more than any other, which leads deep gnomes to abandon their cautious upbringing and explore the world around them. Some of these wandering deep gnomes turn upwards, investigating the surface world from which their ancestors came, particularly the case for deep gnome illusionists who hope to find further instruction in the Art that can be obtained in their reclusive homes. Others become prospectors, searching for new veins of gems or ore to mine.
Culture
Deep gnome culture is largely defined by the environment in which they live. Deep gnome cities are usually centered in a single large cavern, surrounded by an interlocking set of tunnels and other caverns into which the city spreads. These cities are usually large, but not particularly so, often around one thousand gnomes in number. Frequently cut off from all outside contact, even from other deep gnome cities, the inhabitants of these communities may never venture out of their havens, instead crowding together for protection. Population density is extremely high and most families share a single, small room for their living space, with children living with their parents until they themselves marry and have children.
Deep gnomes rarely wander far beyond their hidden cities but when they do it is usually as bold prospectors, youthful illusionists, or exploring warriors. All deep gnomes who wander beyond their cities share the deep curiosity that allows them to overcome their hard-bred caution and shyness, although other motives such as economic drive or a desire to find aid to fight a threat the deep gnomes cannot conquer on their own may also play into their departure. Those deep gnomes who do become adventurers most frequently are fighters, rangers, rogues, or wizards, particularly of the illusionist variety. Although deep gnomes are well suited to the arcane arts like other gnomes, they are also particularly well suited to becoming rangers or rogues, adapted as they are to hiding and navigating the labyrinthine caverns of the Underdark. Deep gnomes who survive their adventures to grow in experience and power might, if particularly durable, become breachgnomes, elite warriors trained to defend the hidden deep gnome cities from enemy attack.[6]
Art and leisure
As a whole deep gnomes are a hard-working and deeply sullen people, but even the hardest-hearted deep gnome requires time to relax and let off steam. Deep gnomes' intense dedication and ability to survive under harsh conditions often shows up in such activities. Deep gnome architecture, for instance, is shaped largely by the conditions deep gnomes live in, with the oldest homes often carved directly out of the surrounding rock, the highest-ranking members of any one clan usually inhabiting large stalagmites while the lower-classed inhabit the surrounding cavern floors or walls.
Deep gnome cuisine is also a reflection of their livelihood, with the common staples made up of a variety of exotic fungi found only in the Underdark. Other common foods include blind fish or occasionally a deep roast made of rothé, goat, or sheep. Perhaps because fire produces unwanted light and smoke, deep gnomes generally prefer to salt their food instead of cooking it, which makes most svirfneblin food practically inedible to outsiders. For drink, most deep gnomes drink a salty spirit made of fermented fish, which, like svirfneblin food, is an acquired taste. On occasion, deep gnomes might drink a more tolerable drink called Gogondy, said to contained powdered ruby and grant powerful visions to those who drink it.
Artistically, deep gnomes prefer to use lots of gemstones, which are relatively common in svirfneblin communities, mined out of the veins along which deep gnome cities are built and deep gnomes are some of the best jewelers in the Underdark. Deep gnomes have also turned their cultivation of mushrooms for food into a wider industry, developing fungi not only for food but for textiles and wood as well. For their defense, deep gnomes most often design weapons that can be used for non-violent tools as well, with svirfneblin largely favoring the use of light picks, darts, or crossbows. Deep gnomes also often use specialized items as defensive weapons, such as poison darts, caltrops, or flash grenades.
Deep gnomes do not generally keep pets, though a few keep small blind fish in a bowl. However, deep gnomes have no particular aversion to animals and often cultivate herds of rothé, goats, or sheep somewhere on the edge of their towns, doing their best to keep the herds quiet and uninteresting to potential attackers. Deep gnomes have also been known to grow fond of small animals such as moles, shrews, bats, dire rats, or cavvekans, although these could be more accurately called animal acquaintances than actual pets.
Magic and religion
Like other gnomes, deep gnomes prefer the use of illusion to other schools of magic. However, while this is simply a cultural preference among rock gnomes, it is a method of survival for deep gnomes. In addition to knowing the relatively simple invisibility spell, most gnome illusionists are familiar with a great wealth of ancient and forgotten lore, recovered from the ancient ruins that scatter the Underdark. Deep gnomes rarely understand this knowledge fully, but that hardly matters, and they are willing to use it in anyway they can. Deep gnome wizards who aren't illusionists are frequently diviners, using their spells to locate and find materials essential to survival. Most magic items forged by deep gnomes are disguised as jewelry, which is relatively common among the svirfneblin.
Like their surface cousins, deep gnomes worship the gnome pantheon. Although deep gnomes are not particularly devout, clerics and other religious figures serve an important role in svirfneblin society as guardians of the public morale, keeping spirits up in spite of hardships. Unlike other gnomes, deep gnomes do not feel a particularly strong bond to Garl Glittergold, who some svirfneblin feel as abandoned them for the more cheery rock gnomes and forest gnomes. Deep gnomes feel closer by far to Segojan Earthcaller, particularly by deep gnomes who keep pets, are rangers, or who otherwise work with domesticated animals. Deep gnomes fear Urdlen, however, who they believe attacks particularly greedy svirfneblin, luring them with precious jewels. These fears may reflect, as much any divine intervention, the very real unknown dangers that lurk in the Underdark and while deep gnomes fear Urdlen, they respect him for reminding them to stay alert.
Of all the Lords of the Golden Hills, deep gnomes feel the strong ties to Callarduran Smoothhands, the Master of Stone, who deep gnomes generally see as their protector and divine benefactor. According to svirfneblin myths, it was Callarduran who taught the deep gnomes to summon and befriend earth elementals and the deep gnomes honor him by carving his holy symbol into their art, with the exception of golden rings, which is seen as taboo. Only two holidays are commonly celebrated amongst deep gnomes, the rest created on a whim by local priests, and both are in honor of Callarduran. The first, the Festival of the Ruby, celebrates the myth that Callarduran hid the rubies of the world in the earth for the deep gnomes to find and is considered a day where searches rarely come up empty. The second holiday, the Festival of the Star, honors the Master of Stone as a continuing protector of the deep gnomes. As part of the festival rites, deep gnomes gather along the shores of subterranean lakes to watch small, phosphorescent fungi light up across the cavern ceilings in a visage similar to that of a night sky reflecting in the water. As much as this is in honor of Callarduran, whose symbol is a star, it is a constant reminder to the deep gnomes of their origins on the surface world and that they are not alone.
Social structure
The harsh conditions of life in the Underdark shape gnome society in a number of unusual ways. Children are an extremely important part of deep gnome society, in part due to low birthrates - relative to the dangers of the Underdark - among the deep gnomes, who usually have fewer than four children and rarely more than six. Deep gnome mothers dote on their children obsessively, but not in such a way that inhibits their growth, and when they reach adolescence deep gnome children are immediately apprenticed to masters in whatever trade they are expected to take on. Adulthood is less defined amongst deep gnomes than among their kin, with maturity commonly agreed upon to be the time at which a deep gnome starts working full time. Most male gnomes are miners or gemcutters, while females are the masters of the home, birthing and raising children while keeping the house tidy and meals prepared.
It's important to note that male and female deep gnomes are not considered unequal - rather males are masters outside of the home and females are masters within. This concept of equal labor for either sex carries on all the way to the top of svirfneblin society, with each city governed by a king and queen who rule as co-equals. The king is often the head of the community's mining operations an defenses, while the queen is tasked with ensuring that the community has enough food and water to survive, while also handling the day in and day out bureaucracy. Significantly, the king and queen are rarely married to one another, but instead come into their positions independently, elected for life upon the death of their predecessor. Regardless of gender, there is no true conception of retirement among deep gnomes, who work until they can physically work no more.
Relations with other races
Deep gnome relations with other races are colored by the impression of most surface-dwelling races that deep gnomes, like the duergar or drow, are a cruel and vindictive relative of their surface cousins. This is, in fact, untrue, and while often suspicious and sullen, deep gnomes are a largely agreeable people. Deep gnomes, for their part, are not particularly eager to correct outsiders of their error and for the most part would rather be left alone. As a rule, deep gnomes are deeply suspicious of all other races,[2] though they hold a special enmity for the drow and the duergar, whose violent ways often interfere with the svirfneblin wish for isolation.[8] Deep gnomes are most accepting of gloamings and slyths, since these folks rarely threaten them. They deal very cautiously with grimlocks and orogs since they have proven too willing to plunder weaker races like the deep gnomes.
If forced to deal with surface-dwellers, a deep gnome is most likely to find forest gnomes agreeable, who, like the deep gnomes and unlike the rock gnomes, are a reclusive, withdrawn folk. If compelled to seek out companions who are not gnomes, deep gnomes are open, if not friendly, towards gold dwarves, shield dwarves, and some of the Tel-quessir. Beyond that, deep gnomes have few opinions other than a general distrust.
While making a living by selling the gems, weapons and metalwork they so masterfully produce, they have to rely on dealing with only trusted merchants in neutral caves, trying to avoid danger altogether.
Gnomes
Gnomes, or the Forgotten Folk as they are sometimes known, are small fey humanoids known for their eccentric sense of humor, inquisitiveness and engineering prowess. Having had few overt influences on the world’s history but many small and unseen ones, gnomes are often overlooked by the powers that be despite their craftiness and affinity for illusion magic.
Physical Characteristics
Gnomes are very small compared to most other races and, with an average height ranging between 3'4" and 3'8" and a comparable weight range of 50 to 75 lbs gnomes are smaller even than halflings. However, while halflings are commonly said to resemble short humans, gnomes are more comparable with Tel-quessir, with whom they share pointed ears and high cheekbones, or even dwarves, who they are compared to due to their tendency to grow beards and live underground. Many gnomes have a more feral appearance than either, however, with hair that often sprouts from their heads in odd directions.
The skin of gnomes runs in hue from reddish tans to earthy browns or even shades of gray, with exact hue somewhat dependent upon the ethnic origin of a gnome. Similarly, gnomish hair varies wildly in color from blond and brown to more exotic colors like white, orange, or even green. Gnomish eyes are often, particularly in individuals who are native to the Feywild, glittering black or blue[4] although more natural eye colors are also known to the race.
Gnomes are very long-lived, often living as long as Tel-quessir, which means living over three centuries is not uncommonly rare and five centuries is not unheard of. Generally, gnome are considered to reach maturity at forty years of age. However, unlike elves or eladrin, gnomes show a greater degree of aging as they grow older and once a gnome has passed his or her first century, their hair begins to gray, if it was not already white, and their skin begins to wrinkle as in humans or dwarves. However, even the oldest gnome retains a vitality that would be extraordinarily unusual amongst many of the younger races.
Abilities
Gnomes are a naturally intelligent and creative race, with a charm about them unusual for other humanoids. Gnomes also have a natural grasp of the arcane, innately possessing the ability to cast the cantrip ghost sound and some possess the ability to cast prestidigitation and mage hand as well. Gnomes also have a natural affinity for stealth, an affinity they can sometimes pass on to others, and illusion, both for the purpose of using it for themselves as well as seeing through other attempts at it. All gnomes innately are able to use the fade away power to disappear temporarily from sight and additionally have a reflexive tendency to take cover and hide when suddenly endangered. Some gnomes learn also to combine their fade away ability with teleportation like that of an eladrin. Other gnomes are capable of casting dancing lights.
Many gnomes are weak compared to other humanoids, though this is far from a universal trait for the race. Like the Tel-quessir, gnomes have sensitive hearing and are often capable of hearing things that other races might miss. Gnomish eyes are also suited for seeing in low-light conditions, to a degree comparable with elves.
Psychology
Gnomes are an intelligent and innately curious race and have a strong affinity for all thing magical, particularly the arcane. Gnomes may lack the drive and ambition of other races, particularly humans, but their creativity gives them a strong ability for ingenuity. Most gnomes are content to live simple lives, acquiring knowledge merely as a hobby but others explore lost ruins, delve deep into the heart of the world, and conduct dangerous research in their unquenchable thirst for knowledge, leading more than a few to an untimely demise.
Gnomes are naturally witty and jovial, and they prefer to overcome obstacles through cunning and innovation rather than the obvious way. Ever curious, gnomes are drawn to adventure more often by a desire to see the world than out of greed or the hope of fame. It is this curiosity, along with their cunning and witty repartee that makes gnomes both entertaining friends and adept mages or scholars.
In their original home of the Feywild as well as some places on Airth gnomes live in burrows and dug-out homes akin to those used by badgers, foxes, or rabbits and as such are fond of these small animals, feeling a sense of natural kinship with them. And, like these animals, gnomes have an aversion to danger they can avoid that makes gnomes naturally inclined to hide away if they are able and many gnomish homes are carefully hidden by magic or other methods.
Culture
Like other races, gnomish culture varies based on region and ethnicity, but a few characteristics are common to most gnomes. Amongst virtually all gnomes, great value is placed on one’s ability to avoid trouble and stay out of the way of others. Children’s games often involve elements of stealth and amongst adults drawing attention to one’s self is considered a breach of etiquette. The few legends of gnomish heroes are not of powerful warriors but of subtle tricksters, who sneak past or trick their opponents rather than vanquishing them in combat. This in part comes from the long-standing issues gnomes have faced, which is their miniscule size compared to larger predators or enemies such as the fomorians of the Feywild, whom few gnomes could hope to stand toe to toe with in a fair fight.
Gnomes have an intricate society based on their love of all kinds of arts, pranks, and their long lives. Gnomes love indulgence, and they make most celebrations on a grander scale. Gnome weddings last for a week, even though gnomes don't view love the same way humans do. If love begins to go wrong between a couple they may break up, believing it was a prank by Garl Glittergold. Their society is based on art; all gnomes must take up some form of art whether music, painting, cooking, building, or any other form that is considered creative by the time they come of age.
Gnomes who leave their home to seek an adventurer’s life are rare, given the race's famed shyness and lack of ambition. Those that do are motivated by a number of factors, but the impulsive race is often driven by curiosity more than anything else. Many gnomes feel no more rationale for adventuring than simply to explore the world that surrounds them. A few, the more orderly ones that is, seek out adventure for more innately noble purposes, such as to help others, but these gnomes are rare. Other gnomes are driven on to become adventurers by little more than simple avarice, as adventuring is often seen as a quick, if unsafe, avenue for wealth. Adventuring is not necessarily a welcomed lifestyle amongst gnomes, in spite of the curiosity that fills the whole race, and sometimes is, in fact, seen as a betrayal of sorts to a gnome’s clan.
Magic and Religion
Gnomes are talented illusionists, with a natural grasp of the arcane. Regardless of their other talents, all gnomes are capable of casting cantrip or two and have the capacity to disappear from sight if they wish. Gnomes are well-suited for all forms of arcane training, particularly that of a bard, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard.
The primary gnome deity of the gnomish pantheon is Garl Glittergold. Among other deities of the pantheon are Baervan Wildwanderer, Gaerdal Ironhand, and Urdlen. These gods are all themselves, at least since the Spellplague members of the Seldarine, the fey pantheon headed by Corellon Larethian.
Relations with other races
Gnomes, in general, are a reclusive people who'd rather stay out of others' affairs. Though some races interpret this as cowardice, it's more the case that gnomes simply have nothing at stake in the conflicts between most other races and after centuries of being ignored or stomped on, are not particularly eager to fight someone else's fight. In fact, generally speaking, gnomes are a very courageous and good-hearted race, who frequently use their neutrality as a way to negotiate disputes. Of all the races in Airth it's fair to say that gnomes have the fewest enemies, although they have very few friends as well.
Gnomes rarely intentionally invoke ire in any group, but at times circumstances have made conflict with other races unavoidable. In the Feywild gnomes are particularly wary of the fomorians that sometimes enslave them, regarding them with fear and caution. In the Prime, gnomes are most often at odds with goblins and kobolds, whom share their underground homes and often war with them for territory or wealth. In these cases gnomes are rarely the aggressors, due to their tendency to avoid trouble rather than cause it.
Gnomes are on fairly good terms with other fey, being particularly fond of elves. Gnomes also have sympathy for the fey commonly enslaved by fomorians, feeling empathy for creatures that share the fate many of their forbearers have suffered. Gnomes also get along well enough with halflings.
Among those gnomes who live in the caverns of the Prime, dwarves are often counted as friends, due in part to the two races’ physical and cultural similarities. Additionally, dwarves and gnomes both count goblins and giants as enemies and can often be found working together against them. Gnome are generally suspicious of other races, however.
Subraces
Forest Gnomes
Forest gnomes are among the least commonly seen gnomes on Airth, far shier than even their deep gnome cousins. Small and reclusive, forest gnomes are so unknown to most non-gnomes that they have repeatedly been "discovered" by wandering outsiders who happen into their villages. Timid to an extreme, forest gnomes almost never leave their hidden homes.
Physical Characteristics
Compared with other gnomes, forest gnomes are even more diminutive than is typical of the stunted race, rarely growing taller than 2½ feet in height or weighing in over 30 lbs. Typically, males are slightly larger than females, at the most by four inches or five pounds. Unlike other gnomes, forest gnomes generally grow their hair long and free, feeling neither the need nor desire to shave or trim their hair substantially, though males often do take careful care of their beards, trimming them to a fine point or curling them into hornlike spikes. Forest gnome skin is an earthy color and looks, in many ways, like wood, although it is not particularly tough. Forest gnome hair is brown or black, though it grays with age, sometimes to a pure white. Like other gnomes, forest gnomes generally live for centuries, although their life expectancy is a bit longer than is the case for either rock or deep gnomes; 400 is the average life expectancy of a forest gnome.
Abilities
Forest gnomes differ from the more common rock gnomes and deep gnomes in a number of ways. Forest gnomes, like halflings, are adept at obscuring their presence and slipping into places unseen, particularly when in the familiar terrain of their forest homes. In addition to the cantrip-like abilities typical of gnomes, forest gnomes also possess supernatural abilities similar to the spells pass without a trace or speak with animals, although they can use these abilities at will.
Psychology
Forest gnomes are painfully shy creatures who neither feel the need nor want to interact with other races. For the most part forest gnomes would simply like to be ignored as they have been for millennia. Unlike deep gnomes this comes less out of a general mistrust of outsiders and more out of an extreme sense of privacy and affinity for the natural world, combined with a general ambivalence about things that are outside of their experience. Among their own kind, deep gnomes are quite friendly, if not particularly lively.
Like deep gnomes, forest gnomes rarely leave their remote homes. As a general rule, forest gnomes lack the curiosity that is typical of most gnomes and will only leave their homelands under intense pressure, such as a threat that they alone cannot overcome. For the most part, forest gnomes prefer to stick to what they know, caring for the wood around them.
Culture
Forest gnomes live in an extreme state of primitivism, though their lives are generally comfortable and idyllic. Forest gnomes are largely hunter-gatherers, harvesting their food from wild fruits, nuts, and berries, and supplementing their diet with a little meat. Forest gnome villages are usually composed of less than a hundred members, who are often all a part of an extended family. Forest gnome homes are generally small, reclusive, and so well-hidden that a human might well walk within a few feet of a gnome and home and not even realize it. Part of this is because of the unique manner in which forest gnomes construct their homes, which are typically located within trees.
Forest gnomes spend the majority of their day tending to the forest and gathering food to feed the rest of the village though a few, like their kin, search underground for gems in a manner unusual for most hunter-gatherers. Forest gnome children who are too young to contribute are generally allowed to do as they like, although they are prevented from wandering far from their protective parents. These children learn how to behave primarily by example, watching their elders, acquiring a reverence for the forest and appreciation for their society gradually. Forest gnomes are generally organized in a loose gerontocracy, with the eldest member of the community serving an advisorial role to the rest of the community, who generally only make decisions by consensus. Outside of their homes, this ethic carries on, though gnomes rarely gather in groups of more than two or three beyond their secluded villages.
Forest gnomes only rarely become adventurers, usually due to some kind of threat to their home or other need that requires them to leave their reclusive hovels. Most gnomes are instead craftsmen or experts of various kinds. Those who do leave take on a variety of different roles. The forest gnome love of music makes many excellent, if somewhat shy, bards. Other forest gnomes become clerics or druids, who often play important roles in forest gnome society upon their returns. Very few forest gnomes would consider themselves proper warriors and forest gnome fighters are next to unheard of. On the other hand, many forest gnomes are well-suited for the life of a rogue, given their small size and stealthy natures. Some forest gnomes also show a propensity for the arcane arts and become, like so many of their kin, illusionists. Because of their historical conflict with the races, forest gnomes often have defensive training against kobolds, orcs, goblinoids, and reptilian humanoids, which serves adventurers well in their travels.
Art and Leisure
Forest gnome society, like that of most hunter-gatherers, is a curious mix of luxury and hard work. Forest gnomes spend most of their days working for the benefit of the community but after returning home from the forest, they are usually treated to a relaxed lifestyle with few causes of stress. During such times, forest gnomes devote themselves to a variety of humble but impressive artistic practices. Among these are gemcutting and jewelry-making, which forest gnomes, unlike the similarly primitive wild elves, the forest gnomes have a deep fondness for. Typically, however, these beautiful designs reflect the natural world in a way uncommon to most civilized peoples.[4] Forest gnomes also forge a wide variety of tools but have a notable taboo on axes, due to their common use in woodcutting by other races.
Forest gnome architecture is also unique. Like many of the Tel-quessir, forest gnomes make their homes in such a way as to disturb the local environment as little as possible. However, unlike elves, who often live in the branches of trees, weaving their architecture into the surrounding structures, forest gnomes build their homes within trees, carving them in a careful manner devised by druids that does as little harm to the living plant as possible. Each tree hovel is usually a few hundred feet away from every other one, allowing each family the privacy that forest gnomes as a whole crave. The homes themselves are usually made of several tiny rooms stacked on top of one another, with trapdoors and ladders connecting them. Each room is about four feet tall and line with windows to let in the sun.
Because of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle forest gnomes neither keep livestock nor pets. However, forest gnomes are fond of wild animals and will sometimes forge bonds with them. Of the forest's wildlife, forest gnomes most prefer the company of creatures close to their own size, such as foxes and squirrels.[6]
Magic and Religion
Like most gnomes, forest gnomes prefer the use of illusion to other schools of magic, which they embrace as a way to protect them from harm. Frequently, forest gnome illusionists use their talents in concert with the more naturalistic camouflage that is a part of forest gnome architecture to hide their homes from outsiders. When forest gnomes are forced to deal with outsiders, they often delegate illusionists, who will conjure an image of the intruders' own race as a form of communication that distances the gnomes from their potential attackers.
Unlike other gnome peoples, forest gnomes also have a strong tradition of divine and primal magic. Clerics are well-respected among forest gnomes and typically offer their healing powers to help animals who've been injured by hunters or traps. Druids are also respected among forest gnomes, though forest gnomes are so shy that they rarely join larger druidic circles. Those that do, however, find their extroversion is well-rewarded, with the addition power gained from such association helping to protect their forest homes.
Forest gnomes have a stronger sense of faith than any other gnome subrace, although it is often very different from that of the typical gnome, incorporating into it animistic traditions and a reverence for the natural world. Priests are often communal leaders, who help to keep distant villages in touch. When large numbers of forest gnomes gather priests of various types are usually there to bless the meeting.
Of all the gods, forest gnomes feel the closest to Baervan Wildwanderer, who is often associated with the wild places where forest gnomes reside. According to forest gnome tradition, Baervan has personally entrusted the care of the wilderness to his followers, a burden the forest gnomes are happy to accept, and clerics of the god often serve as caretakers of the forest. Segojan Earthcaller is another popular, who venerate his teachings to treat with respect and friendship the animals of the wild. As a way of showing their veneration for the god, the few forest gnome warriors often wear grass and roots as part of their armor. Like most gnomes, forest gnomes fear the influence of Urdlen, who represents unknown threats, though, for the large part, the god has ignored the gnomes, who he seems to unusually appreciate.
Relations with other Races
Although forest gnomes are a shy and reclusive people they are not particularly resentful or untrusting of outsiders. Usually, it's more the case that forest gnomes simply don't care about other races and, when they meet outsiders they're often friendly, if painfully timid. When given the chance, forest gnomes can be close and loyal friends.
Of the other humanoid races, forest gnomes are most fond of rock gnomes, elves, and halflings of all types, with ghostwise halflings preferred among the latter. Forest gnomes get along particularly well with elves and ghostwise, thanks to both races sharing similar homes to the forest gnomes. In regards to other races, forest gnomes usually do not care about them, although an exception is made for orcs, kobolds, and lizardfolk, whose harsh treatment of forests make them natural enemies of the forest gnomes. Forest gnomes have a similar, but more amiable opinion of humans, thanks to loggers, trappers, and hunters of human civilization.
Rock GNome
Rock gnomes are a capricious, childlike race very much unlike their cousins, the svirfneblin or deep gnomes and the forest gnomes. When most people think of gnomes, they are thinking of the rock gnome. Rock gnomes embody the characteristics of their creator and patron deity, Garl Glittergold, choosing to spend their long lives by filling each day with as much fun and enjoyment as possible.
Physical characteristics
Rock gnomes are typically between 3 to 3½ feet tall and weigh anywhere from 40 to 45 lbs. They possess a natural brownish tint to their skin; the presence or absence of light has little effect upon it. Young rock gnomes possess any of a large number of hair colors that fades to gray or white upon reaching adulthood. Male gnomes typically keep beards groomed in a neat manner.
Psychology
Rock gnomes possess many of the traits other races, particularly humans, attribute to children. Most rock gnomes enjoy life to their very fullest; asking questions endlessly, playing pranks on friends and strangers, and finding new and interesting hobbies are just a few of the countless chores that rock gnomes burden each day with. Much like a child, a rock gnome possesses very little tolerance for long term mental focus unless the task as hand is of notable interest.
While their joyful, child-like viewpoint of life gives the impression that a rock gnome would be incapable of achieving something as mundane as physical labor, rock gnomes manage to use their keen intelligences to turn something as generally unexciting as work into a fun and enjoyable expenditure of their time and energy.
Culture
Rock gnomes gather in small towns, rarely reaching 500 adults. They consider large cities to be uncomfortable, partially because of the great amount of demand the Big Folk have for their skills. Rock gnomes are comfortable deep underground almost as much as on the surface world, possessing skill in ore and gemcutting that surpasses that of the dwarves, along with notable skills in toymaking and clockwork engineering. Rock gnomes are also the finest producers of the new weapons known as "guns."
Rock gnome homes are burrows, small but clean cave-like carvings into stone and hillsides. Married gnome couples have rooms for each to use, though rock gnome children generally sleep together in a single room. Rock gnome burrows are constructed by clan, allowing underground tunnels to conjoin one another for defense and other purposes.
Although rock gnomes can theoretically be of any alignment, the majority of rock gnomes, as a culture, lean towards neutral good. Rock gnomes will aid someone in need and oppose all who would impose their will upon those weaker than them.
Religion
Rock gnomes typically possess a nonchalant reverence of their chosen deity, bringing up the name of their god in any form of conversation as if they were refering to a friend. Rock gnomes rarely go to church and possess no particularly great amount of zeal towards the worship of their pantheon of gods. In typical gnomish manner, the gnomish gods require no particularly impressive display of faith, being more interested in following their own admittably mundane agendas.
Most rock gnomes worship the head of the gnomish pantheon, Garl Glittergold, considering him to be the idealized gnome, personifying mischief and merry-making.
Relations with other races
Rock gnomes are especially easy going with dwarves and halflings, especially those who appreciate a good joke. They are typically more cautious and subdued around the Big Folk (humans, elves and the other medium size humanoids), taking a considerably longer time (a day longer, perhaps) to consider them a friend and ally. They consider all forms of goblinkin to be extremely untrustworthy and give them a very wide berth if possible.
Deep Gnome
Deep gnomes, called svirfneblin in their own language, are a gnome subrace that live in the Underdark. While their surface cousins are known for their boundless optimism and cheerful mischief, the svirfneblin are serious and suspicious creatures. They survive in the Underdark by maintaining wariness of others and working hard to keep their underground society secret.
Physical description
Deep gnomes are wiry and lean with a body as hard as a slab of rock. Males are completely bald and beardless, while the females sport hair. Ranging from 3' to 3'6" (107 cm) in height and weighing between 40 and 45 lbs (20.4 kg), the deep gnomes are small enough to give them a size advantage when battling larger opponents. Deep gnome complexions are sometimes described as "gnarled" and, like drow and duergar, are commonly dark in hue, with most deep gnomes demonstrating brown or gray skin, with dark gray eyes, as well as gray hair if female. Deep gnomes do not live quite as long as their kin, with a life expectancy just under two centuries. Due to this and a number of cultural affectations, deep gnome children are considered adults at roughly twenty years of age.
Abilities
Deep gnome are better adapted for underground living than either rock gnomes or forest gnomes, with darkvision to help them see where there is no light. Similarly, deep gnomes have a dwarven-like affinity for stone and innately understand it on a level few other races can appreciate. Deep gnomes also lack most gnomes' predilection for cantrip like abilities but can instead blind other beings, obscure their own presence, or shapeshift. Deep gnomes also have a great deal of resistance to magic of any kind, and can go undetected as if they were using the nondetection spell, alongside their natural affinity for avoiding danger or hiding.
Psychology
Deep gnomes are a surly and cynical people, who fatalistically expect little more from life than what they have.[2] Keeping themselves to themselves, being cautious when contacting other races and eying strangers with suspicion,[3] it is hard to befriend a deep gnome, even if one is another deep gnome,[2] but when taking considerable effort to befriend a svirfneblin, one can find a loyal friend who will not easily misplace one's trust.
Sullen and hard-working, deep gnomes are wholly dedicated to any task they set themselves on, typically mining for males and housekeeping for females. Although outsiders find deep gnomes' overly serious attitude to make for sour company, those qualities make them tireless pursuers of excellence in their metalworkings and weapon forging. These attitudes are also justified in part by the harsh environs the deep gnomes inhabit, which require a degree of stoicism and quiet suffering in order to save the greatest number. Any sounds, including voices, can attract danger to deep gnome homes and for their own sakes deep gnomes have learned to keep a grim demeanor and low profile. Their seriousness and pessimism fades when admiring the gems which fascinate them so much.
Although far more serious than most gnomes, deep gnomes nonetheless exhibit the same insatiable curiosity and craftiness if put under the right circumstances. It is this trait, more than any other, which leads deep gnomes to abandon their cautious upbringing and explore the world around them. Some of these wandering deep gnomes turn upwards, investigating the surface world from which their ancestors came, particularly the case for deep gnome illusionists who hope to find further instruction in the Art that can be obtained in their reclusive homes. Others become prospectors, searching for new veins of gems or ore to mine.
Culture
Deep gnome culture is largely defined by the environment in which they live. Deep gnome cities are usually centered in a single large cavern, surrounded by an interlocking set of tunnels and other caverns into which the city spreads. These cities are usually large, but not particularly so, often around one thousand gnomes in number. Frequently cut off from all outside contact, even from other deep gnome cities, the inhabitants of these communities may never venture out of their havens, instead crowding together for protection. Population density is extremely high and most families share a single, small room for their living space, with children living with their parents until they themselves marry and have children.
Deep gnomes rarely wander far beyond their hidden cities but when they do it is usually as bold prospectors, youthful illusionists, or exploring warriors. All deep gnomes who wander beyond their cities share the deep curiosity that allows them to overcome their hard-bred caution and shyness, although other motives such as economic drive or a desire to find aid to fight a threat the deep gnomes cannot conquer on their own may also play into their departure. Those deep gnomes who do become adventurers most frequently are fighters, rangers, rogues, or wizards, particularly of the illusionist variety. Although deep gnomes are well suited to the arcane arts like other gnomes, they are also particularly well suited to becoming rangers or rogues, adapted as they are to hiding and navigating the labyrinthine caverns of the Underdark. Deep gnomes who survive their adventures to grow in experience and power might, if particularly durable, become breachgnomes, elite warriors trained to defend the hidden deep gnome cities from enemy attack.[6]
Art and leisure
As a whole deep gnomes are a hard-working and deeply sullen people, but even the hardest-hearted deep gnome requires time to relax and let off steam. Deep gnomes' intense dedication and ability to survive under harsh conditions often shows up in such activities. Deep gnome architecture, for instance, is shaped largely by the conditions deep gnomes live in, with the oldest homes often carved directly out of the surrounding rock, the highest-ranking members of any one clan usually inhabiting large stalagmites while the lower-classed inhabit the surrounding cavern floors or walls.
Deep gnome cuisine is also a reflection of their livelihood, with the common staples made up of a variety of exotic fungi found only in the Underdark. Other common foods include blind fish or occasionally a deep roast made of rothé, goat, or sheep. Perhaps because fire produces unwanted light and smoke, deep gnomes generally prefer to salt their food instead of cooking it, which makes most svirfneblin food practically inedible to outsiders. For drink, most deep gnomes drink a salty spirit made of fermented fish, which, like svirfneblin food, is an acquired taste. On occasion, deep gnomes might drink a more tolerable drink called Gogondy, said to contained powdered ruby and grant powerful visions to those who drink it.
Artistically, deep gnomes prefer to use lots of gemstones, which are relatively common in svirfneblin communities, mined out of the veins along which deep gnome cities are built and deep gnomes are some of the best jewelers in the Underdark. Deep gnomes have also turned their cultivation of mushrooms for food into a wider industry, developing fungi not only for food but for textiles and wood as well. For their defense, deep gnomes most often design weapons that can be used for non-violent tools as well, with svirfneblin largely favoring the use of light picks, darts, or crossbows. Deep gnomes also often use specialized items as defensive weapons, such as poison darts, caltrops, or flash grenades.
Deep gnomes do not generally keep pets, though a few keep small blind fish in a bowl. However, deep gnomes have no particular aversion to animals and often cultivate herds of rothé, goats, or sheep somewhere on the edge of their towns, doing their best to keep the herds quiet and uninteresting to potential attackers. Deep gnomes have also been known to grow fond of small animals such as moles, shrews, bats, dire rats, or cavvekans, although these could be more accurately called animal acquaintances than actual pets.
Magic and religion
Like other gnomes, deep gnomes prefer the use of illusion to other schools of magic. However, while this is simply a cultural preference among rock gnomes, it is a method of survival for deep gnomes. In addition to knowing the relatively simple invisibility spell, most gnome illusionists are familiar with a great wealth of ancient and forgotten lore, recovered from the ancient ruins that scatter the Underdark. Deep gnomes rarely understand this knowledge fully, but that hardly matters, and they are willing to use it in anyway they can. Deep gnome wizards who aren't illusionists are frequently diviners, using their spells to locate and find materials essential to survival. Most magic items forged by deep gnomes are disguised as jewelry, which is relatively common among the svirfneblin.
Like their surface cousins, deep gnomes worship the gnome pantheon. Although deep gnomes are not particularly devout, clerics and other religious figures serve an important role in svirfneblin society as guardians of the public morale, keeping spirits up in spite of hardships. Unlike other gnomes, deep gnomes do not feel a particularly strong bond to Garl Glittergold, who some svirfneblin feel as abandoned them for the more cheery rock gnomes and forest gnomes. Deep gnomes feel closer by far to Segojan Earthcaller, particularly by deep gnomes who keep pets, are rangers, or who otherwise work with domesticated animals. Deep gnomes fear Urdlen, however, who they believe attacks particularly greedy svirfneblin, luring them with precious jewels. These fears may reflect, as much any divine intervention, the very real unknown dangers that lurk in the Underdark and while deep gnomes fear Urdlen, they respect him for reminding them to stay alert.
Of all the Lords of the Golden Hills, deep gnomes feel the strong ties to Callarduran Smoothhands, the Master of Stone, who deep gnomes generally see as their protector and divine benefactor. According to svirfneblin myths, it was Callarduran who taught the deep gnomes to summon and befriend earth elementals and the deep gnomes honor him by carving his holy symbol into their art, with the exception of golden rings, which is seen as taboo. Only two holidays are commonly celebrated amongst deep gnomes, the rest created on a whim by local priests, and both are in honor of Callarduran. The first, the Festival of the Ruby, celebrates the myth that Callarduran hid the rubies of the world in the earth for the deep gnomes to find and is considered a day where searches rarely come up empty. The second holiday, the Festival of the Star, honors the Master of Stone as a continuing protector of the deep gnomes. As part of the festival rites, deep gnomes gather along the shores of subterranean lakes to watch small, phosphorescent fungi light up across the cavern ceilings in a visage similar to that of a night sky reflecting in the water. As much as this is in honor of Callarduran, whose symbol is a star, it is a constant reminder to the deep gnomes of their origins on the surface world and that they are not alone.
Social structure
The harsh conditions of life in the Underdark shape gnome society in a number of unusual ways. Children are an extremely important part of deep gnome society, in part due to low birthrates - relative to the dangers of the Underdark - among the deep gnomes, who usually have fewer than four children and rarely more than six. Deep gnome mothers dote on their children obsessively, but not in such a way that inhibits their growth, and when they reach adolescence deep gnome children are immediately apprenticed to masters in whatever trade they are expected to take on. Adulthood is less defined amongst deep gnomes than among their kin, with maturity commonly agreed upon to be the time at which a deep gnome starts working full time. Most male gnomes are miners or gemcutters, while females are the masters of the home, birthing and raising children while keeping the house tidy and meals prepared.
It's important to note that male and female deep gnomes are not considered unequal - rather males are masters outside of the home and females are masters within. This concept of equal labor for either sex carries on all the way to the top of svirfneblin society, with each city governed by a king and queen who rule as co-equals. The king is often the head of the community's mining operations an defenses, while the queen is tasked with ensuring that the community has enough food and water to survive, while also handling the day in and day out bureaucracy. Significantly, the king and queen are rarely married to one another, but instead come into their positions independently, elected for life upon the death of their predecessor. Regardless of gender, there is no true conception of retirement among deep gnomes, who work until they can physically work no more.
Relations with other races
Deep gnome relations with other races are colored by the impression of most surface-dwelling races that deep gnomes, like the duergar or drow, are a cruel and vindictive relative of their surface cousins. This is, in fact, untrue, and while often suspicious and sullen, deep gnomes are a largely agreeable people. Deep gnomes, for their part, are not particularly eager to correct outsiders of their error and for the most part would rather be left alone. As a rule, deep gnomes are deeply suspicious of all other races,[2] though they hold a special enmity for the drow and the duergar, whose violent ways often interfere with the svirfneblin wish for isolation.[8] Deep gnomes are most accepting of gloamings and slyths, since these folks rarely threaten them. They deal very cautiously with grimlocks and orogs since they have proven too willing to plunder weaker races like the deep gnomes.
If forced to deal with surface-dwellers, a deep gnome is most likely to find forest gnomes agreeable, who, like the deep gnomes and unlike the rock gnomes, are a reclusive, withdrawn folk. If compelled to seek out companions who are not gnomes, deep gnomes are open, if not friendly, towards gold dwarves, shield dwarves, and some of the Tel-quessir. Beyond that, deep gnomes have few opinions other than a general distrust.
While making a living by selling the gems, weapons and metalwork they so masterfully produce, they have to rely on dealing with only trusted merchants in neutral caves, trying to avoid danger altogether.