Gnomes

Gnomes are diminutive humanoids, typically standing just over 3 feet tall, with slender but lively frames. Their features are expressive and animated: wide eyes, long ears that sweep back or curl slightly, and an ever-present spark of amusement or curiosity in their expressions.

Hair and eye colors often defy typical expectations—ranging from earthy browns and reds to more vibrant hues like copper, green, or violet. Some gnomes even sport brightly dyed hair or elaborate styles as a form of personal expression. Their skin tones can range from tan to peach, olive, or dusky brown, depending on lineage and environment.

They age more slowly than humans and often retain a youthful appearance well into their second century. Gnomes may live 300 to 500 years, with many using their long lives to master multiple disciplines or pursue decades-long personal projects.

Gnomish culture is eclectic and varied, often shaped by their environment, interests, and particular subgroups. What unites gnomes across all regions is a shared reverence for discovery, cleverness, and joy in creation. Their communities are vibrant places filled with music, color, and invention.

Gnome homes are typically hidden or subtly blended into natural surroundings, often underground, beneath hills, or within tree-covered glades. Despite this discretion, the interiors are usually a riot of personality—full of mechanisms, books, alchemical supplies, clockwork toys, and curios collected from afar.

Gnomes value friendship, cleverness, and freedom of thought. While they enjoy company, many are content to pursue solitary projects for days or weeks at a time—emerging only to share their latest discovery or invention with the nearest listener (willing or not).

Gnomes generally take a lighthearted view of life, believing that joy, laughter, and ingenuity are vital parts of existence. This doesn't mean they are flippant—quite the contrary. Many gnomes possess a deeply philosophical understanding of the world, often hidden behind layers of jokes, riddles, or metaphor.

They often revere the forces of nature, magic, invention, or ancestral wisdom. Religion, when practiced, tends to be highly personal and idiosyncratic—more a celebration of life’s wonder than dogmatic observance. Many gnomes find meaning through creation: art, song, machines, gardens, or magical experiments.

Gnomes possess a natural inclination toward magic, particularly illusion, enchantment, and minor alchemical arts. Even those who do not study magic formally often incorporate it into their daily lives through small enchantments or trick devices.

Rock gnomes especially are known for crafting complex tools and mechanisms—clocks, animated toys, spring-loaded gadgets, or potion dispensers. Forest gnomes, on the other hand, often rely on subtle illusion and deep empathy with animals and plants.

In gnomish hands, magic and invention are not merely practical—they are playful, beautiful, and deeply personal.

Gnomes are often categorized by their cultural traditions or the environments they inhabit. Some common varieties include:

• Forest Gnomes – Reclusive, attuned to nature and illusion magic, often acting as guardians of wild places and communicating with animals.
• Rock Gnomes – Inventive and mechanical, fascinated by gears, gadgets, alchemy, and arcane engineering.
• Deep Gnomes (also known as svirfneblin) – Reclusive and hardy gnomes who dwell in the depths of the earth, known for their gray skin, stoic demeanor, and mastery of stealth and stonecraft.

These divisions are not rigid, and many gnomes defy classification—mixing traits freely or creating entirely new traditions from whole cloth.

Gnomes are generally friendly and curious toward other peoples. They enjoy conversation, especially with those who offer new perspectives or ideas. However, they are also wary of dullness, cruelty, or inflexible thinking, and may quietly distance themselves from those who embody such traits.

Because of their size and eccentricities, gnomes are sometimes overlooked or dismissed by larger folk—a mistake few repeat after seeing a gnome outwit a warlord, disable a deathtrap, or vanish in a flash of glittering light.

Gnomes thrive in roles that reward creativity, attention to detail, and adaptability. They make exceptional alchemists, illusionists, tinkers, musicians, scouts, and lorekeepers. Some wander the world in search of inspiration, while others prefer to stay in hidden communities where they can work undisturbed—until curiosity or chaos lures them out again.

Though rarely driven by ambition or conquest, gnomes can have an outsized impact on the world through invention, discovery, and the joy they bring to those around them.