- Creature Type Humanoid
- Size Small
- Speed 30 feet
- Alignment Lawful
- Age Maturing around 40 years of age, living up to 200 years.
- Racial Features
- 1+1 ASI Choose one ability score to increase by 1. Choose a different ability score to increase by 1.
- Darkvision. Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of grey.
- Tinker’s Expertise. You gain proficiency with Tinker’s Tools. Additionally, whenever you make an ability check using Tinker’s Tools or an Intelligence check regarding constructs or mechanical traps, you can treat a d20 roll of 7 or lower as an 8.
- Scrapwork. You create a small, handheld contraption with an effect chosen from the list below. It takes 5 minutes to prepare a contraption and you can create one contraption per long rest if you have materials to do so. At maximum, the number of contraptions that you have currently created is equivalent to your proficiency bonus. After using the contraption, it is destroyed.
- Smoke bomb. As an action, you or your ally can throw it (range 30 ft.). Contraption deploys a smoke in a 20-foot radius centered on the contraption lightly obscured for 1 round.
- Flashbang. As an action, you or your ally can throw it (range 30 ft.). Each creature within 20 feet of an exploding stun grenade must make a Dexterity saving throw (equal to 8 + Intelligence + Proficiency bonus) or become blinded and deafened until the end of its next turn.
- Crude explosive. As an action, you or your ally can throw it (range 30 ft.). Creatures within 5 feet must make a Dexterity saving throw (equal to 8 + Intelligence + Proficiency bonus) or take 2d6 fire damage (half on success).
- Improvised trap. As an action you can place an improvised trap such as trip wire, trapped door, pressure plate or other. The check for someone else’s attempt to discover or disable the trap is equal to 8 + Intelligence + Proficiency bonus. Upon activation a loud ringing noise is heard within 60 feet or another trap is activated.
- Society and culture While originating from subterranean dwellings, these gnomes have largely transitioned to surface life over generations. Though their eyes retain a sensitivity that makes direct sunlight uncomfortable, they have adapted and thrived.
Lacking brutal strength or quick reflexes, their survival in the underground was facilitated by their innovative minds. First creating traps and primitive weapons, later ingenious fortifications and automatons, they managed not only to fend off the dark but also thrive.
Their society is now centered around the establishment and administration of the world’s most prestigious universities. These sprawling complexes are beacons of learning, open to all species seeking mastery not only in the engineering or arcane but also in military or various crafts. Gnomish culture values knowledge, science, and order above all else.
- Physiology Gnomes are short and lean humanoids with surprisingly strong hands and nimble fingers. Their most striking feature is their large eyes, adapted for the low light of their subterranean homes. Hair is typically dark (black, deep brown, grey), often kept practically short or intricately braided and pinned with mechanical clasps.
- Religion Gnomish faith mirrors their societal values, focusing on deities that embody creation, craftsmanship, knowledge, the earth, and order (The Scholar, The Artisan).
- Language Gnomes speak Orynthian, necessary for trade and interaction with surface dwellers. They also have their own language, Gnomish, which shares script with the Dwarven language.
- Relevant questlines Living Machine, Calling of the Deep, Orbis Imperialis