# Gnome Art Preview



## Falling Icicle (Apr 25, 2008)

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/artpreview

That's a gnome? He doesn't look anything like the gnome from the interview video. Looks more like an elf.


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## Family (Apr 25, 2008)

From the GAMA trade show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU&

They had the CARTOON gnome on a poster! When I saw the MM pic I was irked.


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## muffin_of_chaos (Apr 25, 2008)

Unicorn killer!!


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## Moon-Lancer (Apr 25, 2008)

Family said:
			
		

> From the GAMA trade show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU&
> 
> They had the CARTOON gnome on a poster! When I saw the MM pic I was irked.



 I fall for it every time... its so sad.


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## JesterOC (Apr 25, 2008)

Family said:
			
		

> From the GAMA trade show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU&
> 
> They had the CARTOON gnome on a poster! When I saw the MM pic I was irked.




Damn! D'oh!


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## Incenjucar (Apr 25, 2008)

I'm... really not interested in the MM pic.

It looks like he is a Sorcerer of the Corn.

Also, where the heck is Francis?  Where is the Lair?  Hrmph.


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## Falling Icicle (Apr 25, 2008)

Francis got punted by an evil, emo tiefling.


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## Destil (Apr 25, 2008)

*Don't cross the streams....*

You know... that looks *nothing* at all like the elves in the most recent magic sets...

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/arcana/1517

... nothing at all.


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## Relique du Madde (Apr 25, 2008)

That gnome makes me want to committee genocidal acts.


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## Jdvn1 (Apr 25, 2008)

I'm not used to the much of the new art yet.


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## Snarls-at-Fleas (Apr 25, 2008)

First reactions: a bit of shock.
Second reaction: Damn! I like him!!!


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## wedgeski (Apr 25, 2008)

Very cool, if you ask me. The age of plump short-asses is finally over!


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## Kzach (Apr 25, 2008)

Gnomes deserve to die, horribly.

The only thing they're good for is getting punted by The Beast.

I mean, really, who's dumb idea was it to breed halflings and dwarves?

I've never allowed anyone to play a gnome in my games as they've never been a character race option in my games. My gnomes are evil, vicious, nature spirits that look like Chucky dolls.

4e finally got it right and eliminated them. Good riddance.


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## Leatherhead (Apr 25, 2008)

Falling Icicle said:
			
		

> http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/artpreview
> 
> That's a gnome? He doesn't look anything like the gnome from the interview video. Looks more like an elf.




Black eyes, spiked hair, pointed ears. I think the only difference other than clothing is this gnome looks serious where the cartoon was comical.


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## Guild Goodknife (Apr 25, 2008)

I really like the new fey'ish, pointy ears, black-eyed Gnome - i just wish he wasn't such a cross dresser


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## LowSpine (Apr 25, 2008)

Gnomes need solving. A solution for gnomes. A final solution. Oh, I don't like where that went. Oh screw them they're gnomes.


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## Staffan (Apr 25, 2008)

LowSpine said:
			
		

> Gnomes need solving. A solution for gnomes. A final solution. Oh, I don't like where that went. Oh screw them they're gnomes.



You should take that up with Nibenay.


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## Wormwood (Apr 25, 2008)

wedgeski said:
			
		

> Very cool, if you ask me. The age of plump short-asses is finally over!



Exactly.


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## Voss (Apr 25, 2008)

Falling Icicle said:
			
		

> Francis got punted by an evil, emo tiefling.




He does look a bit like a tiefling.  I can't tell if thats really supposed to be hair, or if gnomes have been crossbreeding with satyrs.


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## Clavis (Apr 25, 2008)

Ugh! Every time I think I'm starting to like some things about 4th Edition (such as the sane stat-blocks, the way Demons and Devils are treated), WOTC comes out with boneheaded crap like the new Gnome. What, did they just tell the artist to paint a thin Halfling? Oh, I forgot, Halflings are now bayou-dwelling creoles. And Dryads are trees with breasts...


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## pukunui (Apr 25, 2008)

Voss said:
			
		

> He does look a bit like a tiefling.  I can't tell if thats really supposed to be hair, or if gnomes have been crossbreeding with satyrs.



 Yeah, at first glance I thought those were horns. I had to look a bit more closely to see that he'd spiked his hair up. Aside from that, I quite like it. I enjoyed the gnome from the cartoon, especially since he looked like something straight out of a Gorillaz music video, but this guy is cool too.

I still think gnomes should be more like what everyone thinks of as garden gnomes but which are, in actual fact, an old northern European mythological creature ... even Terry Pratchett's parody of the gnome would be cool. At least it's different (a tiny ball of pent-up rage). But I can understand that a Tiny PC base race would have a number of mechanical issues and wouldn't necessarily be all that practical or playable.


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## med stud (Apr 25, 2008)

pukunui said:
			
		

> I still think gnomes should be more like what everyone thinks of as garden gnomes but which are, in actual fact, an old northern European mythological creature ...



You mean that gnomes should milk your cows and help you with the farm in exchange for porradge? That's what our closest gnome- equivalent did


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## lukelightning (Apr 25, 2008)

med stud said:
			
		

> You mean that gnomes should milk your cows and help you with the farm in exchange for porradge? That's what our closest gnome- equivalent did




That's covered by racial feats. 

Milkthief: You have +4 to thievery skill checks pertaining to dairy products.



			
				Family said:
			
		

> From the GAMA trade show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU&
> 
> They had the CARTOON gnome on a poster! When I saw the MM pic I was irked.




Bah. Everyone should know by now that Youtube = Rickroll.


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## Nightchilde-2 (Apr 25, 2008)

wedgeski said:
			
		

> Very cool, if you ask me. The age of plump short-asses is finally over!




Yeah.  Finally a gnome that doesn't make me want to vomit upon seeing it.


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## Klaus (Apr 25, 2008)

wedgeski said:
			
		

> Very cool, if you ask me. The age of plump short-asses is finally over!




And it has been for a long, long, long time.


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## DandD (Apr 25, 2008)

To be honest, Klaus, they simply look like Halflings to me. Or skinnier dwarves with shorter beards.


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## rhm001 (Apr 25, 2008)

Relique du Madde said:
			
		

> That gnome makes me want to committee genocidal acts.




Who will sit on this committee? Are there open seats?!?


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## olshanski (Apr 25, 2008)

I was hoping they'd finally get rid of tatoos, but I guess not.


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## I'm A Banana (Apr 25, 2008)

This gnome hate baffles me.

The guy looks fine. He looks 300,000,000 times better than the mesh-shirt gangster cambion that is the _deserving_ target of all the hate. 

Everyone expecting to see a cartoon in the MM is smoking up something strong. He's a fey creature, he _looks_ like a fey creature, 90% of fey creatures bear some similarity to elves (who also happen to be fey creatures), the black eyes are alien enough, and he's surrounded by nature and magic, two things that gnomes have always been mythically into.

I can't believe that this could be hated by anyone who didn't have unreasonable expectations? I mean, not being a fan of the artwork I guess I can kind of empathize with (subjectivity and all), but a cartoon and a MM entry are going to have different needs, guys.


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## Khairn (Apr 25, 2008)

In a word ... ugh.

I definitely agree with Relique.  Looks like the Gnome gene pool has undergone some serious tampering.


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## am181d (Apr 25, 2008)

Rawr the Might and his minion Francis = AWESOME

Generic the Bedressed and his pointy stick = LESS SO


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## Wormwood (Apr 25, 2008)

Devyn said:
			
		

> In a word ... ugh.
> 
> I definitely agree with Relique.  Looks like the Gnome gene pool has undergone some serious tampering.








That tampering was loooooong overdue.


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## Klaus (Apr 25, 2008)

Kamikaze Midget said:
			
		

> This gnome hate baffles me.
> 
> The guy looks fine. He looks 300,000,000 times better than the mesh-shirt gangster cambion that is the _deserving_ target of all the hate.
> 
> ...



 No one is asking for the cartoon to be in the MM, just the cartoon's design for the gnome.


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## Mustrum_Ridcully (Apr 25, 2008)

Kamikaze Midget said:
			
		

> This gnome hate baffles me.
> 
> The guy looks fine. He looks 300,000,000 times better than the mesh-shirt gangster cambion that is the _deserving_ target of all the hate.



Gangsters? I thought Klingons? The Duras sisters, to be more precise. (Lursa and B'tor?). 
Having no idea how a Cambion is supposed to look like, it looks okay to me.

The Gnome. It doesn't look like a Halfling to me. That's worth a lot to me. I don't think this Gnome looks particularly... good, but only in a beauty contest sense (if I was mad enough to try to vote on a male demihuman beauty contest)


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## Wormwood (Apr 25, 2008)

Kamikaze Midget said:
			
		

> I can't believe that this could be hated by anyone who didn't have unreasonable expectations?



Asked and answered, I'd say.


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## I'm A Banana (Apr 25, 2008)

> Gangsters? I thought Klingons? The Duras sisters, to be more precise. (Lursa and B'tor?).
> Having no idea how a Cambion is supposed to look like, it looks okay to me.




Well, my problem is MORE with the mesh shirt. I get the weirdness when my D&D monsters resemble goth kids in halloween costumes.  



			
				Klaus said:
			
		

> No one is asking for the cartoon to be in the MM, just the cartoon's design for the gnome.




Keeps the wierd black eyes and the pale skin...the MM gnome just looks less like a rustic badger-farmer, more like an underhill sprite, IMO.


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## Zamkaizer (Apr 25, 2008)

I really need to stop looking at picture, because I'm disliking it more and more. Seriously, it looks like Ian Holm made a disastrous visit to the salon and was so distressed by the results that he couldn't hold a proper pose at his 3 o'clock photo shoot.

How is it that Wayne Reynolds's gnome illustration for Pathfinder was closer to the breath of fresh air previewed in the cartoons? I don't care if it has ailerons for eyebrows, it has a minion.



​

And the era of short, plump gnomes has been over for a long time. Since Nebin appeared in the Player's Handbook, in fact.


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## I'm A Banana (Apr 25, 2008)

I like the gnome just fine, but I DO like the Pathfinder gnome a bit better. I don't mind stylized characters very much.


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## DandD (Apr 25, 2008)

Zamkaizer said:
			
		

> ​



That looks like jail-bait. Or a magical girl redone. 
For D&D 4th edition, now they only need to give her beedy black eyes, and it would be perfect.


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## lutecius (Apr 25, 2008)

Leatherhead said:
			
		

> Black eyes, spiked hair, pointed ears. I think the only difference other than clothing is this gnome looks serious where the cartoon was comical.



but how can he keep a straight face in that outfit?



			
				Voss said:
			
		

> He does look a bit like a tiefling.  I can't tell if thats really supposed to be hair, or if gnomes have been crossbreeding with satyrs.



and that gnome is looking for his daddy...[sblock][
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




[/sblock]

I generally like Mimura's art, but this one is a miss for me. 
And I don't know if he has been in the woods a lot but walking around in flowing gowns doesn’t strike me as a good idea.
... unless it’s just the gnome’s maho-shojo uniform and he uses that unwieldy ribboned stick to transform.

Really, I didn't like the cartoon's halfling/alien/werewolf crossbreed but this is ridiculous.
why not keep the hobbit/tinker/leprechaun look, now that halflings are dreadlocked swamp rats?


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## Korgoth (Apr 25, 2008)

Falling Icicle said:
			
		

> http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/artpreview
> 
> That's a gnome? He doesn't look anything like the gnome from the interview video. Looks more like an elf.




Wow, that's a kickazz-looking minotaur.  I'm glad the days of minotaurs being big dudes with bull's heads ia finally over.  I don't even know where that idea came from in the first place.

I mean, I know it's not a gnome because it's not a short guy with a beard.  Which. Is. What. Gnomes. Are.


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## Clavis (Apr 25, 2008)

Zamkaizer said:
			
		

> And the era of short, plump gnomes has been over for a long time. Since Nebin appeared in the Player's Handbook, in fact.




If I say "Gnome" to the average person, they think a short, heavy-set little person with a big nose and a white beard. That's what Gnomes are, and that's what new players will expect them to be.  If you want to create a fantasy race that doesn't look like that, don't call them Gnomes. Above all, Gnomes are not sexy magic girls - that's the Elves' thing. Gnomes are magical, but in the Yoda kind of way.


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## I'm A Banana (Apr 25, 2008)

> That's what Gnomes are, and that's what new players will expect them to be. If you want to create a fantasy race that doesn't look like that, don't call them Gnomes.




In a game with Emerald Frost and White Raven Onslaughts and Golden Wyvern Adepts and Fuscia Monkey Explosions, I don't think "make it recognizable to other people" was exactly a Tier 1 design goal...


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## hong (Apr 25, 2008)

Korgoth said:
			
		

> Wow, that's a kickazz-looking minotaur.  I'm glad the days of minotaurs being big dudes with bull's heads ia finally over.  I don't even know where that idea came from in the first place.
> 
> I mean, I know it's not a gnome because it's not a short guy with a beard.  Which. Is. What. Gnomes. Are.



 Regdar is a gnome?


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## DandD (Apr 25, 2008)

Mialee for sure was.


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## MaelStorm (Apr 25, 2008)

The pointed ears and the face is ok, plus the nature/feywild link is cool. But the body looks too effeminate/transgender. On a lesser note, I think the hairstyle is a little bit too much to my taste.


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## ImperialParadox (Apr 25, 2008)

If I saw the WoTC gnome art without a caption I would assume it was some kind of elf.

I don't like the WoTC alien-fey cartoon character as a gnome either (though I would love it as a new type of fey, just not a gnome).

The Pathfinder gnome is closer in the right direction to me, though I can see that as being easily mistaken for a halfling. Though I suppose if all gnomes had nature-colored hair and greenish tinged skin I could see that is becoming a readily identifiable marker for a gnome, as opposed to a halfling, who would look more 'normal'. If I had to pick which of the three images would represent the new gnome, the Pathfinder one would be it for me.

Though honestly in my mind I still picture gnomes as your short, plump, bearded folk in funny clothes and big noses, sometimes with a scholarly or tinker motif. An image that I suppose isn't 'cool' enough anymore, but the image that springs to my mind nonetheless.


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## tsadkiel (Apr 25, 2008)

hong said:
			
		

> Regdar is a gnome?




So am I, apparently.  Rawr, I'm a monster!


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## Mustrum_Ridcully (Apr 25, 2008)

Kamikaze Midget said:
			
		

> In a game with Emerald Frost and White Raven Onslaughts and Golden Wyvern Adepts and Fuscia Monkey Explosions, I don't think "make it recognizable to other people" was exactly a Tier 1 design goal...



Ah, that's just hyperbole. Something as ridiculous as Golden Wyvern Adapts would never get into the actual Core Rules, would it?


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## Zamkaizer (Apr 25, 2008)

Clavis said:
			
		

> If I say "Gnome" to the average person, they think a short, heavy-set little person with a big nose and a white beard. That's what Gnomes are, and that's what new players will expect them to be.  If you want to create a fantasy race that doesn't look like that, don't call them Gnomes. Above all, Gnomes are not sexy magic girls - that's the Elves' thing. Gnomes are magical, but in the Yoda kind of way.



If I say "elf" and "dwarf" to the average person, they think of toy-makers and midgets. That's what elves and dwarves are, and that's what new players will expect them to be. If you want to create a fantasy race that doesn't look like that, don't call them elves or dwarves.

And excuse me for being dense, but I'm not familiar with the magical girl show featuring Sailor Sickle-Wielding Savage Clad In Leather Armor With A Battle-Scarred Panther Companion. I'm more of a seinan kind of guy, so that territory is largely unknown to me.


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## MaelStorm (Apr 25, 2008)

ImperialParadox said:
			
		

> If I saw the WoTC gnome art without a caption I would assume it was some kind of elf.
> 
> I don't like the WoTC alien-fey cartoon character as a gnome either (though I would love it as a new type of fey, just not a gnome).
> 
> ...



THIS. I completely agree.


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## Zamkaizer (Apr 25, 2008)

ImperialParadox said:
			
		

> If The Pathfinder gnome is closer in the right direction to me, though I can see that as being easily mistaken for a halfling. Though I suppose if all gnomes had nature-colored hair and greenish tinged skin I could see that is becoming a readily identifiable marker for a gnome, as opposed to a halfling, who would look more 'normal'. If I had to pick which of the three images would represent the new gnome, the Pathfinder one would be it for me.



 This is a Pathfinder halfling. The differences are apparent.



​


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## DandD (Apr 25, 2008)

Jailbaits and midgets... Now, if they showed a picture of a female halfling with hairy feet, then I'm going to be able to differentiate Pathfinder halflings from Pathfinder gnomes. But right now, Pathfinder Gnomes just look like Pseudo-Magical Girl Sammie/Pixie Misa/Kuriri/Whateverthereis.


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## Drkfathr1 (Apr 25, 2008)

Looks fine to me! 

I'm not much into Gnomes myself, but yeah, I don't understand all the Gnome hate.


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## Wormwood (Apr 25, 2008)

Mustrum_Ridcully said:
			
		

> Something as ridiculous as Golden Wyvern Adapts would never get into the actual Core Rules, would it?



With the departure of gnomes, there simply wasn't enough _Ridiculous_ remaining in the core rules. The void needed to be filled.


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Apr 25, 2008)

Relique du Madde said:
			
		

> That gnome makes me want to committee genocidal acts.



Genocide is one thing, but _committee_? Have you no decency, sir?

The gnome is fine, other than his inexplicable fashion faux pas. Get that boy some lederhosen and a cap with a feather in it!


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## Dr. Strangemonkey (Apr 25, 2008)

Don't like his outfit or his ears, but otherwise I like the look of him.

The eyes and the proportions work for me.

My only concern is that the gnome looks too human.


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Apr 25, 2008)

med stud said:
			
		

> You mean that gnomes should milk your cows and help you with the farm in exchange for porradge? That's what our closest gnome- equivalent did



We are stupid for porridge, it's true.


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Apr 25, 2008)

DandD said:
			
		

> To be honest, Klaus, they simply look like Halflings to me. Or skinnier dwarves with shorter beards.



In Ptolus, gnomes and halflings are practically the same race, and both are a branch of the elf family tree. Although, like all right thinking people, I'm way tired of elves, it's a pretty good set-up, IMO. (It makes silliness like the whisper gnome unnecessary, for instance: You're just a halfling who just hangs out with your more distant relations.)


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Apr 25, 2008)

Clavis said:
			
		

> If I say "Gnome" to the average person, they think a short, heavy-set little person with a big nose and a white beard. That's what Gnomes are, and that's what new players will expect them to be.  If you want to create a fantasy race that doesn't look like that, don't call them Gnomes.



Boy, are you going to be upset when you see the 3E and 4E halflings.


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## Arrive (Apr 25, 2008)

that's a great looking gnome!

 i've often thought that a possible evolution for gnomes in the game would be to make them more of an elvish halfling... historically they're more related to dwarfs but somehow that just doesn't do it for them


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## MaelStorm (Apr 25, 2008)

This is what a Gnome should look like:


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## frankthedm (Apr 25, 2008)

Ther 4E MM gnome is one of the few gnomes I don't feel need killing. Maybe because it is a gnome in gname only. Still, being a member of _The Cult of the Anti-Gnome_, I wait patiently for the day D&D is gnome free.


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## Leatherhead (Apr 25, 2008)

I have never liked fey, and I rarely use them in DnD. I do not see this changing because of 4th edition.


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## Carnivorous_Bean (Apr 25, 2008)

Well, whatever the heck that thing is, it sure isn't a gnome.

Nor is that abomination that Wayne Reynolds afflicted the world with a gnome -- its species name is "Kill On Sight."


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## Carnivorous_Bean (Apr 25, 2008)

Oh, yes, and while we're on the subject of the art previews, does anyone else think that the female cambion resembles Aunt Jemima?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aunt_Jemima


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## Falling Icicle (Apr 25, 2008)

Voss said:
			
		

> He does look a bit like a tiefling.  I can't tell if thats really supposed to be hair, or if gnomes have been crossbreeding with satyrs.




LOL. I was referring to the Tiefling and Gnome interview, where at the end the Tiefling kicks the Gnome's pet Francis off the screen.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/toon/20071219a


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## Belorin (Apr 25, 2008)

I like it!
My gnomes are going to receive a makeover, real soon now. Very fey looking, not wild about the Harry Potter wand, tho.

Bel


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## Storm-Bringer (Apr 25, 2008)

lutecius said:
			
		

> I generally like Mimura's art, but this one is a miss for me.



Hey, I didn't know he was doing some of the art.  I haven't been keeping up on the previews clearly.

Either way, he signed my GWB, so I'm good.


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## Klaus (Apr 25, 2008)

I took the picture and slapped a few pixels about to make it not only closer to the cartoon gnome (pale greenish skin), but maily to make the figure composition a bit more solid.

[sblock]
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




[/sblock]


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## Deekin (Apr 25, 2008)

Destil said:
			
		

> You know... that looks *nothing* at all like the elves in the most recent magic sets...
> 
> http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/arcana/1517
> 
> ... nothing at all.




It might explain where all the awesome art if coming from, though. I, for one, welcome our _Magic_ illustrated rulebooks


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## RPG_Tweaker (Apr 25, 2008)

I really dig Mimura's stuff, but this "gnome" is not very inspiring at all.

Apparently I've been too tainted by the clever and endearing cartoon character.


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## Oni (Apr 26, 2008)

With the way the media is shaping the image of the gnome and halfling soon their won't be any room left for average folk, grey hairs, wrinkes, or potbellies.  I figure there will be a rise in depression as it becomes harder and harder for the self-image of these wee folk to compete against unrealistic standards set by WotC.  



or something like that. 

I can understand WotC wanting to differentiate between halflings and hobbits, I can understand wanting to make gnomes more appealing by doing away with the chubby little greybeards.  Nebin was cool, though different he still seemed gnomish.  The most important feature of the race, their defining characteristic, and why it's such as shame they're not in the PHB is they were the quirky race.  Gnomes should be quirky and eccentric and look the part IMO.  Nebin = pass, new gnome = fail.


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## JohnSnow (Apr 26, 2008)

Oni said:
			
		

> I can understand WotC wanting to differentiate between halflings and hobbits, I can understand wanting to make gnomes more appealing by doing away with the chubby little greybeards.  *Nebbin was cool*, though different he still seemed gnomish.  The most important feature of the race, their defining characteristic, and why it's such as shame they're not in the PHB is they were the quirky race.  Gnomes should be quirky and eccentric and look the part IMO.  Nebin = pass, new gnome = fail.




"I don't think that word means what you think it means."

Gimble was (kinda) cool - and very gnomish. Nebbin was most decidedly _not_ cool.


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## Oni (Apr 26, 2008)

JohnSnow said:
			
		

> "I don't think that word means what you think it means."
> 
> Gimble was (kinda) cool - and very gnomish. Nebbin was most decidedly _not_ cool.





I guess it's just a matter of taste.  To me Gimble was ok, but I liked Nebbin's look better.  Three good illustrations immediately come to mind when I think of Nebbin, the first one from the 3e PHB, the cover of Tome and Blood, and the illustration for the split ray feat.  It's almost enough to get me to play a gnome.  Gimble....less inspiring. 

The new gnome causes me vague feelings of illness and makes me not want to play a gnome at all.  icky.


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## DandD (Apr 26, 2008)

Which would be okay, as gnomes aren't a PHB 1-race.


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## Kishin (Apr 26, 2008)

MaelStorm said:
			
		

> This is what a Gnome should look like




A thousand times no.

No. More. Tinker. Gnomes.

Please.



			
				Destil said:
			
		

> You know... that looks nothing at all like the elves in the most recent magic sets...




It doesn't, to me. Lorwyn Elves have much more angular faces, and horns.



			
				Klaus said:
			
		

> I took the picture and slapped a few pixels about to make it not only closer to the cartoon gnome (pale greenish skin), but maily to make the figure composition a bit more solid.




I actually like those changes a lot, Claudio. The pale green skin really fits. You really accentuated the fey side even further, and fixed up the anatomical issues. 

If only you could smuggle it into the PHB.


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## MaelStorm (Apr 26, 2008)

Kishin said:
			
		

> A thousand times no.
> 
> No. More. Tinker. Gnomes.
> 
> Please.



I prefer the classic look/archetype of the Gnome. At least, they were not looking transgendered back then. To each their own.


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## Kzach (Apr 26, 2008)

frankthedm said:
			
		

> Ther 4E MM gnome is one of the few gnomes I don't feel need killing. Maybe because it is a gnome in gname only. Still, being a member of _The Cult of the Anti-Gnome_, I wait patiently for the day D&D is gnome free.



Right-on, brutha!

My gnome hate began as a child when a nasty little gnome stole me from my comfy crib and hung me from a tree like a pinata with a sign on me that said, "Smack me, I'm a cry-baby!"

And throughout my life they've plagued me ever since with annoying illusions, terrible poems, awful singing, Grobnar and then those horrid little Arcane mages with their slow spell and pink pig-tails.

All. Gnomes. Must. Die.


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## lutecius (Apr 26, 2008)

Klaus said:
			
		

> I took the picture and slapped a few pixels about to make it not only closer to the cartoon gnome (pale greenish skin), but maily to make the figure composition a bit more solid.
> 
> [sblock]
> 
> ...



But he's still wearing a dress  ...in the woods!!! 

Except for the wand, which is somewhat less silly, this version combines the worst of both worlds.

The hair spikes actually bothered me less than the dirty yellow skin and bare feet from the cartoon... and the dress!!!


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## drjones (Apr 26, 2008)

In my world the gnomes will all have white beards and conical red hats.


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## Mad Mac (Apr 26, 2008)

> At least, they were not looking transgendered back then




  I'm not getting the transgendered complaint. The gnome in the pic has very strongly masculine features and build. He's just not wearing pants. Were all Romans transgendered?


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## MaelStorm (Apr 26, 2008)

Mad Mac said:
			
		

> I'm not getting the transgendered complaint. The gnome in the pic has very strongly masculine features and build. He's just not wearing pants. Were all Romans transgendered?



Compare the new art with the magic card a posted above. Both are wearing some kind of dress. In the new art, the gnome is tall and have slender body feature, no beard, no body hair. Man, just look at its hand. The Gnomes on the magic card have muscles and a beard.


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## Mad Mac (Apr 26, 2008)

> Compare the new art with the magic card a posted above. Both are wearing some kind of dress. In the new art, the gnome is tall and have slender body feature, no beard, no body hair. Man, just look at its hand. The Gnomes on the magic card have muscles and a beard.




  Hmm...no I'm not seeing it. He's not stumpy, hairy, and dwarflike, that's true. That doesn't make his proportions especially willowy or girly.


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## MaelStorm (Apr 26, 2008)

Mad Mac said:
			
		

> Hmm...no I'm not seeing it. He's not stumpy, hairy, and dwarflike, that's true. That doesn't make his proportions especially willowy or girly.



Put a female head instead, and it looks like a woman. Anyway, its an Elf crossed with a Satyr, not a Gnome.


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## lutecius (Apr 26, 2008)

Mad Mac said:
			
		

> I'm not getting the transgendered complaint. The gnome in the pic has very strongly masculine features and build. He's just not wearing pants. Were all Romans transgendered?



 this doesn't look like a toga or a cassock.
Male vs female garments is really a cultural thing, but by most standards, this one is a female's dress. Look at those slit sleeves and sashes... there's even a hint of breast.
If you hide the head, I think many people will think it's a female gnome.


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## Jack Colby (Apr 26, 2008)

It's a surprising look, and that's great.  Gnomes have never really fit in well, and I don't expect they will, but this will work as a monster in the MM.  I love that 4E is revitalizing D&D by changing things that have been stagnant for so long they have grown boring.  They are restoring the sense of wonder to a game that hasn't really had it for a long time.  

I admit, 4E is basically nothing like the original game as far as rules go, but I am getting that vibe of "newness" from it that I got when I first played the game.  Players won't know what to expect from creatures like this new gnome, and that's a very good thing!  They will be learning about the D&D world as their PCs do.

I realize some people like it the way it was, but no edition will please everyone.  I'm pretty sure 5E will be marketed as "restoring the traditional elements of D&D" though, so it all balances out in the end.


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## Ktulu (Apr 26, 2008)

I like it.  Took me a minute, but I totally dig the new gnome.  BTW, I really can't stand Wayne Reynolds art.  Waaaaaay too much....stuff in the picture.  Back off the over-abundance of everything, dude.

Ktulu


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## pukunui (Apr 26, 2008)

Am I the only one who thought the gnome from the cartoon looked like he'd stepped straight out of a Gorillaz music video?


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## FitzTheRuke (Apr 26, 2008)

Everyone does realize that this is pretty clearly a Gnome Warlock with a Fey Pact and that YOUR gnome (should you play one) can look as different from this guy as I look from Michael Clarke Duncan, right? (I'm a medium-sized white guy)

Fitz


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## Kishin (Apr 26, 2008)

MaelStorm said:
			
		

> Put a female head instead, and it looks like a woman. Anyway, its an Elf crossed with a Satyr, not a Gnome.




Do you want him rippling with muscles then? Does being smallish and not particularly built make you a woman? Does wearing a robe? I don't see what makes his body womanish, other than he's not bulky. Additionally the face is extremely masculine.

The gnome in that MtG picture might as well be a dwarf if you remove the pointy hat and the large nose. WoTC deliberately wanted to distinguish them as a race, hence the change.


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## MaelStorm (Apr 26, 2008)

Kishin said:
			
		

> Do you want him rippling with muscles then? Does being smallish and not particularly built make you a woman? Does wearing a robe? I don't see what makes his body womanish, other than he's not bulky. Additionally the face is extremely masculine.
> 
> The gnome in that MtG picture might as well be a dwarf if you remove the pointy hat and the large nose. WoTC deliberately wanted to distinguish them as a race, hence the change.



This Gnome looks like a 3.5 Elf with a stupid hairstyle, this is how WotC want to differentiate feywild races? You got the choice tall elf Elf/Eladrin and the short elf Gnome.


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## Kishin (Apr 26, 2008)

MaelStorm said:
			
		

> This Gnome looks like a 3.5 Elf with a stupid hairstyle, this is how WotC want to differentiate feywild races? You got the choice tall elf Elf/Eladrin and the short elf Gnome.




Their composition and facial structure look nothing alike to me. I don't know what to tell you.


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## hong (Apr 26, 2008)

MaelStorm said:
			
		

> This Gnome looks like a 3.5 Elf with a stupid hairstyle, this is how WotC want to differentiate feywild races? You got the choice tall elf Elf/Eladrin and the short elf Gnome.



 Better than short dwarf and shorter dwarf....


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## MaelStorm (Apr 26, 2008)

Kishin said:
			
		

> Their composition and facial structure look nothing alike to me. I don't know what to tell you.



What makes a Gnome IMO: recognizable nose and beard.


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## MaelStorm (Apr 26, 2008)

hong said:
			
		

> Better than short dwarf and shorter dwarf....



How switching between one archetype and another is better? It's still an archetype from a different race.


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## Fallen Seraph (Apr 26, 2008)

For me personally, I am probably going to be going with the cartoon look for the Gnome. But normal mortals will never see that form, since Gnomes will be always surrounded by illusions and trickery they always appear different or don't appear at all around mortals.

I think the official one is fine though for a Gnome. He looks feyish, he doesn't look human beyond first glance and he doesn't look like a garden gnome, which in my books is a big plus. 

Though would have been interesting to see a original kind of gnome, going all the way back to mythology. Where they are deformed, goblin/earth spirit.


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## Dark Mistress (Apr 26, 2008)

I like the idea of fey gnomes myself, i think they fit better there. But I didn't care for the pic very much.


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## MaelStorm (Apr 26, 2008)

Fallen Seraph said:
			
		

> Though would have been interesting to see a original kind of gnome, going all the way back to mythology. Where they are deformed, goblin/earth spirit.



Definitely.


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## Saitou (Apr 26, 2008)

Holy , I just noticed the Rakshasa has two left hands! wtf


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## Ulthwithian (Apr 26, 2008)

Well, I can tell you that I have a masculine facial structure and use masculine speech patterns, but since I am light, not muscularly developed, have long hair, and have a high-pitched voice, I am naturally assumed to be female.  I once even had someone commiserate with me over my name (which is male), and how I must have had horrible parents for giving me a male name.

People will see what they want to see.


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## Shroomy (Apr 26, 2008)

My rankings of the various new gnome drawings:

4e cartoon for the win...seriously, I think in the future, WoTC will use him more or less as the basis for later artwork.

4e MM...nothing in particular is wrong with it, but it doesn't grab me.  Meh I guess.

Pathfinder gnome....when I first saw it on the Paizo blog I thought "ghastly."  My opinion has not changed over the intervening time.  Its way too cartoonish for my tastes, and I generally like WAR's artwork.


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## Dragonhelm (Apr 27, 2008)

I'm sorry, but this has to be the worst picture (and depiction!) of a gnome that I've ever seen.  It just isn't for me.

I prefer most of the AD&D gnome artwork.  I couldn't find any examples online, but basically, I like the short, squat guys with big noses and pointy hats who look like they're having fun.

I kind of also like this guy:








I'm just praying at this point that they actually feed the displacer beast this edition.  *sigh*

All in my opinion, of course.  YMMV.


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## Jhaelen (Apr 27, 2008)

For some reason, my mental image of gnomes has always been similar to the way kobolds are depicted in the German "Das Schwarze Auge" RPG. They look kind of like an evil, wizened smurf: small, wrinkled, blue-skinned, hairless, with blazing eyes.

Their role is also similar. They're somewhat mischievious tricksters and they've got their own form of magic which centers around making others look foolish. Their magic is very hard to resist and would be very powerful if they didn't just use it get a laugh out of it.


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## Lurks-no-More (Apr 27, 2008)

Saitou said:
			
		

> Holy , I just noticed the Rakshasa has two left hands! wtf



Nope; it just has hands that are backwards on its wrists. That's been a Rakshasa trait as long as they've existed in (A)D&D.

Also, I find the complaints about "transgendered" gnome both nonsensical - I mean, he's obviously male, just wearing a robe - and more than a bit offensive.


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## Protagonist (Apr 27, 2008)

Lurks-no-More said:
			
		

> and more than a bit offensive.




Agreed. A lot people have gotten used to crass gender stereotypes or LGBT-insensitive statements on the internet, especially in (video-)gaming communities.


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## Starbuck_II (Apr 27, 2008)

DandD said:
			
		

> Mialee for sure was.



She was a mutant Cricket. Get it right or you get the hose.   


Pathfinder Gnome is too magical girl anime for me. I mean, I like magical girl, but  I'd perfer it not as basis for a D&D race. If a player wants to change is different than base flavor.


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## Dragonhelm (Apr 27, 2008)

Starbuck_II said:
			
		

> She was a mutant Cricket. Get it right or you get the hose.




Hey, no need to insult the mutant crickets!  It's not their fault that they have a higher Comeliness score than Mialee (single digit, folks  ).




> Pathfinder Gnome is too magical girl anime for me. I mean, I like magical girl, but  I'd perfer it not as basis for a D&D race. If a player wants to change is different than base flavor.




At least she's better looking than the 4e gnome (*shudders*).  I have to wonder if the hair is a druid thing or a gnome thing.  Either way, I'm good.


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## DandD (Apr 27, 2008)

It's better to call magical girls magical girls, and not gnomes. 
Also, Pathfinder need male gnomes, and female Halflings. I wonder how many people will like them if the male gnome is practically undistinguishable from the male halfling, and if midget girls with HAIRY feet will still be taken seriously.


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## Brennin Magalus (Apr 28, 2008)

Do not like. I like the one from the cartoon, though.

Incidentally, this particular gnome looks like he lives in Golden Gate Park.


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