Bards and Barrels
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Bards and Barrels
S4 Ep. 2: Species Review - Gnome
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Short episode incoming! (See what we did there?) Get ready to go off the rails with as we discuss the Gnome species.
Welcome to another episode of Bards and Barrels. Today we're coming at you with a review of the gnome species. Oh, there's the opening crack. Damn, Brett. Such a lady. It is time for another episode of Bards and Barrels. Phil here in the saddle today with Brett and Ross. How are we doing tonight, guys? Much better now.
SPEAKER_02Well primed for this one.
SPEAKER_01We have a species review this evening, and we are gonna hit you with the gnome. It's gonna be a short episode. Yeah. I like what you did there.
SPEAKER_00I'll go stand myself out in the yard. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Initial thoughts. Tell me about a gnome. What do we gnome about them?
SPEAKER_02That Jesus guys.
SPEAKER_01I'm done.
SPEAKER_02Peace out, boys.
SPEAKER_00Uh I would say they're growing on me, but just a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Nope. Numb I'm really dumb. Okay. Nope.
unknownI'm out.
SPEAKER_00Ross is walking out of the room. All right. Uh gnoms. They are a species. You can play one.
SPEAKER_02There are any more damn damn jokes. That's what you come for, right?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm sorry, my temper's a little short tonight. That might be the best we've ever done. That's pretty good. I'm impressed.
SPEAKER_01Oh god. All right.
SPEAKER_00You know, before we started, I pulled up AI. I'm like, give me a list of gnome puns for DD. Did you hear that? Oh Jesus. It's right here. They're all terrible. I didn't use a single one.
SPEAKER_01Oh man. Yeah, that list is way too long.
SPEAKER_02Okay. I thought the list was going to be short. But it wasn't. Hey, oh.
SPEAKER_01No initial thoughts.
unknownShh. Hey.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so here's the thing. So 2014 to 2024, they have like slimmed this down. I know there was the whole change between from races to species, but like they have stripped it down, like way down. We're talking like three pages in the 2014 handbook to two paragraphs and two lineages in the new players' handbook for 2024. So it's like they gutted it.
SPEAKER_00Species is really just flavor at this point.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it is. And I I started out just reading 2024 because I was curious. And I will say, just in reading that alone, though, my initial thought was that I should be playing gnomes more often. Like they're magical, like innately magical, they're secretive, they're clever, uh, they have deities with the best names.
SPEAKER_00They're super smart. Yep. Very intelligent creatures.
SPEAKER_01Who doesn't want to serve Garl Glittergold?
SPEAKER_02Like, come on. I was just gonna say, spoiler alert, uh, Phil can turn it into a good rogue, so he's obviously bored with that.
SPEAKER_00Of course.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Of course, and it's fun to have a a little character. Like when you have all these like giant humans and elves and everything else is just like six, seven feet tall.
SPEAKER_02Like it's nice to mix it up. I don't know if it's because I've had a few beers, but like when you said a little character, I was like, like, because they lack character or because they're little. I was like, wait a minute. I get it now. I told you I had to think a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Okay. It's fun to just mix it up with this, with a gnome. Like, because it's so different, because like elves, humans, orcs, like any all of the other ones, pretty much, other than halflings, gnomes, and kind of uh dwarves. Dwarves are kind of in the middle.
SPEAKER_02I feel like gnomes get lost amongst them. Because like a lot of people think of dwarves and halflings, and and rightfully so, because like hobbits and then dwarves from Lord of the Rings, things like that. Like it's they come to mind a lot quicker than examples of gnomes, really.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, that's kind of one of the other things on here, right? Is what are some examples of gnomes? Like, did you guys have much?
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_02Well, you and I were talking earlier, like you only came up with a couple.
SPEAKER_01I got a few. Like, there's some kids' movies out there, right? Like Gnome Alone has some gnomes in it, and uh Gnomeo and Juliet. Thank you guys.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Dreamworks.
SPEAKER_01Did you watch Gravity Falls? No, a little bit. I didn't either, but I guess there's a gnome character in that series, supposedly, at some point. Um Travelocity commercials have the traveling garden gnome.
SPEAKER_02Is he the one that talks with like the He just kind of stands there? The high-pitched British accent. It's like travelocities. Oh, yes. Yes, yes, that's it. Okay.
SPEAKER_01And then next I just put gardens dot dot dot. Because I guess I kind of ran out of ideas.
SPEAKER_02My favorite garden gnomes are the ones that are mooning the street that have their like pants down around their ankles. Who the hell thought that was a good idea?
SPEAKER_01Okay, deep lore pull for you. Did you know that Snap, Crackle, and Pop, the original characters, were designed as gnomes?
unknownWhat?
SPEAKER_02What are they now? Elves?
SPEAKER_01They've taken on a more Elvis Elvish Elvis.
SPEAKER_02Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_01Uh they've taken on more Elvish features over time. Snap first appeared on the side of a serial box in 1933, and if you go back and you look at his kind of character back then, he had a much rounder nose, his ears weren't pointed, he was older in age, and then they've undergone like multiple makeovers and made him look more elvish. More like Fay Touch.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, you're right. Interesting.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You know, there are some good examples that are in actual DD, though. Like Scanlan, Scanlon and Pike from Critical Rolls, um, main original campaign. Those are two um gnomes. Also, oh, what is his name? Marleman from the Dungeons and Dragons Honor Amongst Honor Among Thieves movie, the one that Bradley Cooper plays.
SPEAKER_02That's a gnome. Oh, I forgot about him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I kind of forgot he was in that movie. He was so little. It was a tiny part. Sorry, okay, I'm dead. I'm so sorry. It was a short scene.
SPEAKER_00I warned you. I warned you. As long as you don't turn off the recording, we're good. You walk out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's like you know I'm coming back.
SPEAKER_01Oh man. No, those are good. I guess I didn't think about it in that realm.
SPEAKER_00So there are some, but it's it's kind of niche.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I would agree with that for sure. Sounds like we need to create a great gnome that could be a pop culture icon. Like Yostix.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01I'm just saying.
SPEAKER_02Well, when bars and barrels hits it big, we're gonna take Yostix, and Yostix is gonna be like our mascot.
SPEAKER_00Yostix needs to have his own campaign.
SPEAKER_01Little do you know.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to the Feywild. Alright, let's have his own line of products for the first time.
SPEAKER_01Let's bring this back under the rails here for a minute. Um okay, looking at the general traits of a gnome, the stripped down 2024 version, they are humanoid. They are small, three to four feet, and they can waddle 30 feet. I mean, run.
SPEAKER_02We determine they're skinny though, right? So this is like 30 pounds. So 30, 40 pounds. I think watt waddle might be a little much, but yeah. Skitter?
SPEAKER_00It's a lot of steps.
SPEAKER_02Toddle.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_02There's a gnome in the house.
SPEAKER_01Um they scurried.
SPEAKER_02Scurried.
SPEAKER_01Yes, that's the word. Yes. So mean. Uh special traits though. So um looking at the 2024 version, right? Most recent rules that have been released. So they have Dark Vision out to 60 feet. Perfect. Which is always handy. Which is mainly based on like the lore that gnomes live in the forest or sometimes underground, right? Like that's kind of where that comes from. Sure. Um, they have a trait called gnomish cunning. So they have advantage on intelligence, wisdom, and charisma saving throws. Pretty good.
SPEAKER_02Pretty good, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then there is this uh gnomish lineage. And we kind of looked at this a little bit before we hopped on because in the 2024, only two options are listed initially. So we've got the forest gnome and the rock gnome, right? Most common. But we knew that there had been some other version of this in older rules. And I think Brett, you had found this, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it used to have the deep gnome or the Sverf Neblin. Ooh, that's a fun word. Sverf Sverf Neblin.
SPEAKER_01Surfneblin.
SPEAKER_00Uh which it was kind of a like an underdark type of gnome, where it was originally introduced in Mordecan's Presents Monsters of the Multiverse. But it actually, I think actually before that, it was in the basic rules as a monster.
SPEAKER_01It was. 2014, I think it was a monster, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So they expanded that out and added it as a playable species um in the Mordecan's Presents Monsters of the Multiverse. Um, and then in that one, they get a couple spells at third level, they get disguised self, fifth level, they get non-detection. Um, and then they also get Sferf Neville and Camouflage. So advantage on stealth checks, um, a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I haven't seen them, I guess, re-release that in the 2024 kind of rules package because like looking back to the forest gnome and the rock gnome today, they kind of took away the like level pieces of their spells. So your forest gnome right now just gets like minor illusion and speak with animals, and your rock gnome gets mending and press a digitation. So I'm not sure like what the deep gnome will potentially look like if they bring it back as a playable species, if you'll just get disguised self and non-detection right out of the gate, or how that'll kind of differ.
SPEAKER_00Uh, I could see probably one of those, probably not both.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think disguised self would make sense. Non-detection being like fifth level potentially a little pushing it for right off the bat. Agreed, but I still think they should get the camouflage. Like, yeah. I feel like that's appropriate.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it feels a little much considering that like the slimmed down version of 2024 feels like they push a lot of those higher level things off to classes and other ways that you can attain those for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, have you guys uh played this species before?
SPEAKER_02Zero gnomes.
SPEAKER_01Zero gnomes.
SPEAKER_02Zero gnomes.
SPEAKER_00My very first character was a gnome. I did not play it correctly by any means at all. I had made a a druid, but it was a rock gnome, which doesn't really fit. Probably should have been a forest gnome, but I didn't know any better at the time. That's fair. Sure. What was this character's name? Body knock. Body knock. I remember Body Knock.
SPEAKER_01What campaign was that in?
SPEAKER_00That was uh That was in the that was the first time. That was our first straw run through. Yeah, but it didn't make it to the end. Yep. Okay. Once in a while I would wild shape.
SPEAKER_02I vaguely remember you.
SPEAKER_00Snuck into a snuck into a uh a trailer at one point.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I do remember that vaguely.
SPEAKER_01But as a squirrel?
SPEAKER_02Um It might have been. Something small.
SPEAKER_01Or as yourself.
SPEAKER_02Either way, small enough to go through the hole in the trailer.
SPEAKER_01Uh I had to consult Beyond on this one to figure out if I've ever played a gnome or not. Um as a player, no. As a DM, yes. Our beloved Yosticks Fapple stamp.
SPEAKER_00Yosticks is a gnome.
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_00And I will say we are doing a spin-off to our main campaign and doing a little side quest with some alternate characters. And I'm that in that side campaign, I'm gonna have a gnome. Excellent. So in that one, I'm gonna be a gnome artificer.
SPEAKER_01I like that.
SPEAKER_00Which should be pretty strong because gnomes get the the boost to intelligence, as I I think it was a plus two.
SPEAKER_01Well, because we're still playing 2014 rules. Oh, that's right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so 2014 rules, we get plus two to intelligence, uh, which fits really well with artificers abilities, too.
SPEAKER_01That makes sense. I want to say so. Yo Sticks is a forest gnome in the trickery domain as a cleric, and I don't remember specifically why I did that. Well, I know why I did cleric, it's because you guys were gonna die in the furnace, but I don't remember specifically why he was a forest gnome. There was some reason, but and he'll be back.
SPEAKER_00Oh maybe.
SPEAKER_02Like the end of a Marvel movie, and it's Yo Sticks will return. Or has, and you may not know.
SPEAKER_01Oh I know come on, I know the possibilities are endless.
SPEAKER_02You can't be dropping things like that, right?
SPEAKER_01Anyway. So I I would say think of this through the 2024 lens if you can, right? What classes do you feel like if you played this species you would be drawn towards? What do you think kind of makes sense? Just kind of thinking through either their traits or even just their origin, or what seems to make sense. Actually, you know what? That's what it was for Yo Sticks. I wanted Yo Stix to follow Garl Glittergold, so I made him a gnome so he could follow Garl Glittergold as his cleric. That's right. Yeah, I do remember.
SPEAKER_02That's what it was about.
SPEAKER_01Yep, that's what it was about.
SPEAKER_02Um, I I I think there's two that make a lot. I I think forest gnome makes sense for a druid potentially, just because it speak with animals sets things up well there. And then the mending impressed digitation sets a rock gnome up well for like an artificer or something like that. So I think your tinkerers and your no or your druids make a lot of sense.
SPEAKER_00Um kicking it back to our wizard class review, I made a uh a rock gnome wizard for that one.
SPEAKER_01That makes sense too, though, because gnomes are like they're innately magical.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, sure. And if you're using the 2014, you get that boost to intelligence, which pays off for the wizard. So blip nibleton, if you want to go back and listen to that episode. That's right.
SPEAKER_01I love that.
SPEAKER_02And that that vibes too, because uh uh a mage is gonna be a type of caster where it's more like learning the magic, it's not like a deity dependent like a warlock or a sorcerer or a sorcerer would be. So I think that fits a gnome well. So I could see a mage being that way too. I don't really see them being a fighting class. I feel like they're too small. Like they could be, like, it'd be fun to roleplay, but like you're not gonna gravitate toward the some sort of support.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I definitely wrote down rogue as my first choice. Because they're sneaky and clever, and like forest gnome can cast minor illusion, speak with animals, like send in the rats as a diversion. The deep tiny little assassin.
SPEAKER_00Surf neblin as a rogue.
SPEAKER_01You could as a yeah, Swurf Neblin if it was playable, yes, absolutely. I think would be the best. But even if not, I think a forest gnome could make a good rogue. I I mean, let's be honest. Every any class can make a great rogue.
SPEAKER_02Go back grind and listen to all of our class reviews, and you'll find Phil making a uh a rogue out of literally everything.
SPEAKER_01I mean, what could I say? Uh I've been typecasted.
SPEAKER_02You've been typecast? No, you've typecast yourself, my friend. The shoe fits.
SPEAKER_01I have. And I am. It's not typecasting if you keep choosing the roles. Uh any final thoughts on a gnome?
SPEAKER_02I I think I haven't given them enough credit. Uh, I probably should pay more attention to them, but I also don't typically play any of the classes that we talked about. So I'm not gravitating toward an artificer, a druid, or a mage. And so probably because of that, at least in part, it's not gonna be a a species that I gravitate to.
SPEAKER_00It has to be the right character to make sense. Um, I think if you're trying to look for a like some sort of smaller character, a lot of times I would lean towards halflings over gnomes. Sure. Uh especially because of halfling luck. Like I think that ability is just so strong that gnomes can't really keep up with it as well currently.
SPEAKER_02I should say I do like the fact in the gnomish lineage that you can choose charisma as your as your spellcasting ability, which bodes well for most characters that I play.
SPEAKER_01So I think I could make it work. I think too, depending on it definitely comes down to what type of a character, what what class are you really gonna head into? Because if you are thinking spellcasting, right, having that advantage on intelligence, wisdom, charisma saving throws is pretty big. Yes. So as long as you could pick something that like could you pick up a constitution save somewhere, right? Like, then you'd be golden.
SPEAKER_00But but on the flip side of all this, if you're playing a one-shot and you want to make a rock gnome barbarian, hell yeah. That would be so much fun. A little battering ram.
SPEAKER_02That would be sweet. Boy, I think you make an excellent point because general, like, if we well, it with our side quest that we're doing now and making new characters, we tend to do more role-playing type matches now. We don't care about the min-maxing and creating the most efficient character anymore. So if you want to be that gnome barbarian brett, you shimmy up somebody's leg and beat the crap out of them. More power to you.
SPEAKER_00Somebody makes a height joke. You enter rage.
SPEAKER_02Any dad joke. Jesus. Rage.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think that's gonna do it for this episode of Bards and Barrels. You can listen to past episodes of the show anywhere podcast can be found. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky Social, and YouTube at Bards and Barrels. We'll see you soon.
