The Gnome
To play a gnome you need to have both Int and Con of at least 9. You use d6 for hit dice and use the halfling chart for XP. Like halflings, you are limited to 8th level (suck it up, that's how BX rolls). Your initial saves are as an Elf 1. You can wear any armor and there's a 50% chance that magic armor sized for halflings or dwarves will fit you. Weapons allowed: hand axe, shortbow, light crossbow, dagger, shortsword, club, sling, spear, warhammer. You speak gnomish and common initially, can listen at doors on a 2 in 6, and have 60' infravision. If you can get your sorry gnomish butt past first level then each time you level up you may roll d6 more hit points and make two throws on this chart:
01 Roll on the Elf chart instead. If you get the "gain a spell slot" result, treat it as 26-40 below.
02-18 You get more fighty, +1 to-hits.
19-23 You gain +1 to all saves.
24 You gain d4 more hit points.
25 Gain a language, roll d6: 1) dwarf, 2) elvish, 3) goblin, 4) hafling, 5) orc, 6) svirfneblin. If you end up here again and roll the same language you are now so eloquent in that tongue that all reaction rolls are +1 when using it with native speakers. Reroll subsequent rolls of the same language. Reroll if you collect all six twice.
26-40 You gain a random 1st illusionist spell as a daily power. On subsequent rolls you get a second level spell, then a third, etc. (For a source of illusionist spells, I like the 1st edition
Player's Handbook &
Unearthed Arcana or
Best of Dragon vol. 1) Reroll this result if you actually gain one spell of each level through 7th.
41-50 The first time you roll this you gain all the skills of a first level thief. Ever subsequent roll advances your thievery by one level. Note that you can only sneak and climb while wearing no armor, leather, studded leather, or ring mail.
51-52 You get additional training with a traditional gnomish weapon. Roll d8 for weapon type.
- warhammer - If you roll maximum damage against a foe with platemail, a shield, or a chitinous shell, you then also reduce their AC by d3 points as you bust up their armor.
- crossbow - Your crit range improves by one.
- shortsword - Your ability to parry grants you +2 ac versus melee opponents of man size or smaller
- spear - +1 to hit and damage
- shortbow - You may fire two arrows per round of combat.
- club - Thanks to secret Gnome Fu you can hurt creatures normally only struck by magic weapons.
- sling - You do triple damage against ogres, trolls, giants, and titans.
- gnome hooked hammer - You can make one bludgeon attack for d6 and one piercing attack for d4 each round or a single trip attack at +2 to-hit. (One of these babies costs 20gp new, by the way)
If you roll this result again, you can collect additional weapons training, but reroll the d8 if you get the same result a second time. Reroll this result after you have all 8.
53-55 You've got the tinker gnome thing going. You adventure with half a backpack full of gears and springs and steampunk nonsense and a bunch of tools on your belt. Once per session you can build a contraption of some sorts to solve a problem (open a door or chest, set up a diversion for an ambush, or darn near anything that a smallish machine might be able to accomplish). It will generally do its job but there is a 1 in 6 chance that it goes horribly awry. Reroll if you get this result again.
56 You can't kid a kidder, as my uncle Jim used to say. Once per session you can attempt to disbelieve an illusion so hard that it is completely dispelled, no roll required. However, if you try to disbelieve something that is real, you must save versus paralyzation or be stunned d3 rounds.
57-58 +1 Intelligence. If you already have max Int, gain +1 Wis instead. If you have max Wis as well, then you get nothing. Do not reroll.
59-60 Stone Lore. Underground you can detect slanting passages, traps, shifting walls, and new construction 2 in 6. Subsequent rolls of this item increases it to 3 in 6, then 4 in 6, finally 5 in 6. Reroll after that.
61 Goblin Loathing. You are +2 to hit against goblins and +1 versus other goblinoid creatures (hobgoblins and bugbears, for instance). If you roll this again you also gain +2/+1 damage. Reroll the third and subsequent rolls of this item.
62 That big nose ain't just for show. You're only surprised 1 in 6 thanks to your advanced sense of smell. Does not help against noncorporeal undead, ethereal or astral monsters, and other immaterial foes. If you roll this a second time, you can now smell those jerks as well. Reroll after that.
63-66 Giant Fighter. Against any anthropomorphic foe of at least gnoll or bugbear size you are +4 AC. If you roll this again you gain the ability to knock such foes prone anytime you get the maximum result on your damage dice. Reroll this result after that.
67 Once per session you can get out your gemcutting tools (cost 100gp, takes up half a backpack) and re-cut a gem to attempt to improve it's value. Roll a d12. If you get a 1-2 you succeed. If you get a 12 you shatter the gem. 3-11 no effect. Upon a successful roll a gem of 10gp value or less becomes worth 50gp. A gem of up to 50gp value becomes worth 100gp. Up to 100gp become 500gp. Up to 500gp becomes 1,000gp. Up to 1,000gp becomes 5,000gp. You cannot attempt to improve a gem worth more than 1,000gp. If you roll this a second time your success rate improve to 1-3 on d12. If you roll a third time you now roll a d20, 1-5 improves but you only shatter the gem on a 20. This is all about resale value, you do
not get more XP for the improved gem.
68-70 You gain the knowledge of d6 arcane cantrips of your choice (I recommend using either the 1st edition
Unearthed Arcana or Uncle Gary's original cantrips articles in
Dragon #59 and #60.) You can cast 3 cantrips per day, no memorization required. On subsequent rolls of this item you gain d6 more cantrips to choose from, but do not get more uses per day.
71-73 You can speak to normal, giant sized, and enchanted burrowing mammals (such as badgers and rabbits). If you roll this a second time you gain the ability to speak to any mammal. Reroll this result after that.
74 Your infravision increases to 90'. Reroll if this result comes up again.
75-77 Kobold Hate. +1 to-hit, +1 damage, and one additional melee attack when fighting kobolds. Also, you get double XP for kobolds slain (but not captured or routed). Each subsequent roll of this grants you +1 to-hit, damage, and another attack, but the XP multiplier increases to triple, then quadruple, etc.
78 If you don't already, you start wearing one of those pointy red hats (10gp new). Here's why (roll
d6):
- Once per session, when you need a piece of standard dungeoneering equipment you don't have, you just happen to have one under your hat. Even something that doesn't fit, like a 10' pole.
- Once per session you can pull a random 1st level wandering monster out of your hat. They will obey you for d6 turns, even doing wildly suicidal things if you so command them. Upon death or the d6 turns elapsing they disappear in a poof of smoke.
- Once per session you can take off the hat and use it to negate an incoming spell attack. The target must be you personally, an adjacent ally, or you must be standing in the area of effect. The hat ingests the spell effect then lets out a small burp. Touch spells are unaffected.
- Once per session you can fill the hat with 100 coins (no more, no less) of the same type, hold it closed, and give it a good shake. When you pour them out, d100 of the coins will have transformed into the next most valuable currency (copper become silver, silver become gold, gold becomes platinum, platinum becomes 10gp gems). If you take 1 turn on the second or lower level of a dungeon to do this, the transformation will affect the XP earned from the session. However, there is a 1 in 6 chance that the hat eats the coins instead.
- Once per session if you face a creature with a gaze attack, the hat suddenly grows two sizes and falls over your eyes. You do not need to save to avoid the gaze, but you are blind and can't remove the hat until the encounter is over, at which time it returns to normal size.
- Once per session you can avoid some sort of instadeath situation by sacrificing the hat. You avoid the dragons breath but the hat is incinerated, the assassins poisoned crossbow bolt nails the hat to the wall, etc.
Each time you roll this item you may collect a new hat effect, but you may not duplicate the d6 results. Reroll this item if you somehow collect all six and end up here again.
79 Hench-illusion. You gain a henchman of random type (Seriously, go wild. Work with your DM to bust out something really ridiculous.) who is completely loyal. However, if they are ever subject to a dispel magic, dispel illusion, or are successfully disbelieved by a foe they evaporate instantaneously, for they never actually existed.
80-82 You gain +2 saves versus any magical effect. On subsequent roll this becomes +4, +6, etc.
83 Peacemaker. According to legend it was the gnomes who first got the dwarves and elves to sit down and hash out their differences. Assuming you have a means of communication with both parties, you may hash out a fair and honorable peace between any two warring parties, from squabbling spouses up to feuding intergalactic civilizations. Except kobolds, because fuck those guys. If you can get both parties in a room together, this process takes d6 hours. Otherwise, the limits of local communications technologies become a factor. The peace will hold for d100 years. You may do this only once.
84-86 You get a pet. Roll d4.
- Badger. Ac 4, Move 60' (swim 30'), HD 1+2, claw/claw/bite d2/d2/d3
- Giant badger. Same as above but man-sized. HD 3, d3/d3/d6
- Wolverine. Ac 5, Move 120', HD 3, d4/d4/d4+1, +4 to-hit due to surliness, if anyone attacks its rear they get a skunk-like musk attack, save or be blinded d8 hours, even if saved they are 50% Str and Dex for 2d4 turns
- Vorpal Bunny. Ac 0, Mv leap 120', HD 3, damage d6, crits on 18+
If you roll this a second time and your prior pet(s) is still alive, then you get another of the same. Otherwise reroll if this result comes up again.
87-88 You're a bit of a tinker gnome back home in your workshop. You've devised some sort of fairly reliable device that you carry with you on adventures. Work with your DM to figure out what it is and how it works. Whatever other details you arrive at, every time you use it there is a flat 1 in 6 chance of catastrophic failure.
89-90 Gain a 1st level Illusionist spell of your choice as a daily power. On subsequent rolls you get a second level spell, then a third, etc. (For a source of illusionist spells, I like the 1st edition
Player's Handbook &
Unearthed Arcana or
Best of Dragon vol. 1) Reroll if you actually gain one spell of each level through 7th.
90-91 If you attempt to put on, use, or otherwise activate a cursed item, you get a save versus Magic to avoid the curse, as you get a tingling sensation just before you fall for it.
92-93 In any situation where the floor, wall, or ceiling of an underground location is unsafe, you have a 4 in 6 chance of detecting the problem in time to give you an action to save yourself and any other gnomes in the party. If you roll a 1 you can warn non-gnomes in time as well. Reroll if this result comes up again.
94-95 Amateur Alchemist. You start each new adventure with a homemade potion of random type. However, when they are used (not tested) there is a 1 in 6 chance the recipe isn't quite right. Roll on the Potion Miscibility Table (1s edition DMG page 199) to see what happens, rolling another random potion if necessarily to adjudicate the miscibility results. If you roll this result again you start with an additional random potion.
96 You have built a good ol' fashioned Gnomish Battle Harness. It's like that thing Ripley fights the Alien queen with, but all steampunky. While using it you are effectively human-sized, wearing platemail, have an 18 Str, and 5x current level additional hit points. You also halve your dexterity while wearing/using it. You can pop out of it in one round, but it takes a whole turn to strap yourself back in. The extra hitpoints cannot be healed, but you can repair d6 points with a day of work and at a cost of d100gp in materials.
97-98 If you find a magic item that is a gem or has a gem set in it and the provenance of the item is unknown, you may declare it to be/contain one of the Lost Gnomish Gems of Power. The item is now usable by any gnome (Unless it's like a two-handed sword of something. Don't be a clod about this.) and it has additional powers only usable by gnomes. Roll d4 spells of level d6, generated from any spell list handy. If the spell is 3rd level or lower, it is a 3x a day power. Higher level spells become daily powers. (You can and should ask the DM if any encountered magic item has a gem set in it. If the DM doesn't know, they should give a flat 1 in 6 chance of it being so, except for potions and scrolls and other wildly inappropriate items to bejewel. Again, don't be a clod.) You may do this only once.
99 +1 Constitution. If you already have max Con, gain +1 Dex as well. If you already have max Dex too then you get nothing.
00 Roll on the Dwarf chart instead.
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