Gnomes

Gnomes

''Gnomes stand about as tall as halflings, but are somewhat slimmer and less human-like in appearance; they can have very irregular features and often look prematurely wizened. Humans have sometimes taken stranger-looking gnomes for some kind of goblin and chased them out of town; many gnomes adopt cheerful, harmless demeanours while travelling to avoid situations like this. Most gnomes have tan or reddish-brown skin, but some have pale skin tinged with grey.''

''Gnomes emerged from the deep about a thousand years ago. They speak a dialect of Undercommon, the lingua franca of the underground world. Surface gnomes are few in number and fairly obscure; most of the standard books of learning in Common predate the emergence of gnomes, so many people have never heard of them or consider them a myth.''

''Gnomes are inquisitive and love magical and mechanical things. They have no aptitude whatever for surface farming, and prefer to make a living plying some trade in the cities of other humanoids. Gnomes get along well with most other races, particularly dwarves, but often have animosity with halflings for some reason.''