Dungeons and Dragons has influenced countless franchises in a variety of mediums since its release in 1974. Its character class and racial selections have essentially been standard fare for RPGs of all stripes ever since. Among the most diminutive (in stature, obviously, and not importance) of those races wou꧂ld be🌊 the gnomes.
The origi🌠nal gnomes from the first iteration of D&D have gone through revisions and changes over the years — not to mention the backstory and history they're received — so there are lots of nuggets of wisdom for players who don't have hours to read D&D lore. These are a few of the best.
10 ﷺ 💯 Some Gnomes Work As Tutors For Humans
Ever since the third edition of Dungeons and Dragons, it's been noted that gnomes are highly valued by humans as tutors and teachers. Not many gnomes choose to settle in human-populated regions, but those who do can almost always find work. Their cheerful, mischievous dispღosition means that they are perfectly suited to keep their (often young) pupils engaged through a lesson. Since gnomes live for so long, they can end up teaching two, three, or even four generations of a single family over the years.
9 🐭 Gnomes Have💎 Lots Of Names
The gnom♛es are said to love names. As a result, it's not unusual to meet a gnome with six or more. At birth, they get๊ a different name from their mother, father, aunt(s), uncle(s), and clan elder. And that's just to start! After that, they begin to accrue nicknames or accomplishments over their life that stick to their ever-growing full name. When interacting with other gnomes, they love to introduce themselves with every name — but they've learned that this habit bothers humans, so with them, gnomes just stick to three.
8 🍌 They Live𒁏 To 500, But Mature At A Human Rate
A gnome's estimated lifespan depends on its subrace. Your average gnome lives at least 3🐠50 years. Occasionally. they can grow as old as 500. These gnomes are considered to be fully mature at the age of 40. Deep gnomes are short-lived by com♔parison, and only live 200 to 250 years at most. Thus, they're considered to be fully matured at the younger age of 25.
It's noted that gnomes of all types generally mature at the same rate as humans. This seems to imply that a 30-year-old human and a 30-year-old gnome would be at the same level of intelligence, and the difference is purely a social thing. A 30-year-old human would be considered a full adult, whereas that mig🤡ht not be the case for a gnome.
7 Unꦚlike Other Long-Living Races, They Show Their A🎃ge
Elves, along with many other long-lived races, are often described as having a youthful appearance even when they age into their first century and beyond. This is not the case with gnomes. Though they might not go grey as eaౠrly as humans do, gnomes certainly show wrinkles, grey hairs, and other signs of age as they get on in years. The maturation of a gnome also sets them apart from other long-lived races, since a 100-year-old elf might be considered young and inexperienced, but a gnome of the same age is a full adult.
6 They've Never Created An Empire Or S🐷tarted A War
The lore for Dungeons and Dragons makes it c⛎lear that just about every other race has formed some kind of centralized government, built cities, and gone to war with their neighbors over land or power — except for the gnomes. Gnomes are unconcerned with forming a particular society, especially because of their nomadic nature. They'd rather go where their impulses take them than be held down by a community. Of course, gnomes do occasionally form small groups, clans, tribes, or whatever else they might call themselves, but they don't usually take these very seriously or actively antagonize their neighbors.
5 Their Homes Are Like Raꩲbbits' ꦐ
Gnomes live in burrows, particularly in hilly, slightly wooded land where they can stretch their legs and get some sunshine (though they live underground like dwarves, they get outside much more often). These houses are small, and you might trip over them or walk right past unless you knew what to look for — ဣ🅰they hide them purposefully.
People who visit have likened these little burrows to the ki🃏nds dug by rabbits, foxes, badgers, and other similar creatures. The hospitality of gnomes is outstanding, but so is their silent treatment if you irk them.
4 🍌 They Travel Because Of Their Natural C🎶uriosity
Gnomes feel that humans are silly to waste so much time doing nothing and that elves are too s💮tuck up to enjoy everything that life has to offer. Gnomes ache to see everything, try anything, and explore as far and wide as they can manage. This disposition leads to gnomes occasionally seeming constantly energetic, fast-talking, and exhausting to the other races. Gnomes love to smile and laugh; they toss aside anything that makes them unhappy without a second thought and they adore telling jokes and riddles.
3 Over The Editions, Gnomes Have Become Less Adept At Magic And More Adept At Engineering and Tinkering ꧃
In the original D&D and some of the earliest content that followed it, gnomes were said to be adept magicians, especially when it came to illusion magic (a powerful skill for hiding one's burrow). However, ever since, their descriptions and abilities have been adapted to portray gnomes as tinkerers, engineers, and craftsmen rather than spell-casters. At least their small size lends itsel🔥f to sneaky tasksཧ they might need to take on in a party. Perhaps the people behind the decision felꩲt that too many of the races in D&D were centered around magic, or they were influenced by World of Warcraft's steampun꧅k gnome aesthetic. It's hard to say for sure.
2 ꦐ They Were Created From Gems
Gnomi𒐪sꩲh history tells fans a little more about how they came into being. It holds that gnomes were created in -24,500 DR by the god Garl Glittergold out of gemstones. More specifically, they were gemstones hidden in caverns deep below a hefty mountain called Netheril.
This origin story has influenced gnomish spirituality in the modern day. . They a☂lso say that diamonds became the rock gnomes, rubies became the deep gnomes, and emeralds became the forest gnomes.
1 They Usღed To Be Slaves To Kobolds
Soon after their creation, gnomes were enslaved by Kobolds, a small, aggressive species distantly related to dragons. Gnomish lore tells how one of their gods, Garl Glittergold, saved them from slavery by destroying the mountain and crushing their Kobold masters. Unfortunately, many gnomes were also enslaved again. The stories say that most of these slaves were able to escape. Since gnome🌞s have not created empires, nor fought terrible wars with other races, the stories of slavery are 🅘almost all that is known about their history in the world.