Fire Gnome
Fire Gnomes are a minor planar race hailing from Dungeons & Dragons, and one of several such races included in the Planar Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition. This obscure gnomish subrace evolved on the Twin Paradises of Bytopia, specifically in the deepest mines of Dothion, where portals to the Plane of Fire contaminated planar gnome communities and caused them to give birth to a race that has an elemental affinity for fire, much like how the svirfneblin are attuned to elemental earth, but more strongly.
Fire gnomes are exceptionally resistant to heat and especially vulnerable to cold, and though they share some of the same interests as their cousins the svirfneblin, fire gnomes are nowhere near as insular and paranoid.
Fire gnomes do not have the innate illusion powers of their cousins, but they are capable of impressive effects with fire. They frequently give ground, only to devise elaborate schemes and return later. And also unlike rock gnomes, fire gnomes have no compunctions about killing - especially in defense of their mines and tunnels. Adept at spotting incendiaries and explosives carried by opponents, fire gnomes are all too happy to start fires (which have no effect on them, of course) in hopes of setting off an opponent's own supply of explosives - and thus letting the fire gnomes defeat their foes with only minimal effort.
Like the Frost Dwarves, fire gnomes are such a minor planar race that they were featured in the Monsters section of the book, and not the Races section.
PC Stats[edit | edit source]
- +2 Constitution, -2 Strength.
- Humanoid (Extraplanar, Fire, Gnome): Fire gnomes are native to both the Twin Paradises of Bytopia and the Elemental Plane of Fire. They gain the extraplanar subtype when not in those Planes.
- Small: As Small creatures, fire gnomes have a +1 bonus to Armor Class, a +1 bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 bonus on Hide checks. They use smaller weapons than Medium characters use, and their lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
- A fire gnome's base land speed is 20 feet..
- Darkvision out to 60 feet.
- Stonecunning: This ability grants fire gnomes a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework. A fire gnome who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as though actively searching, and can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A fire gnome can also intuit depth, sensing the approximate distance underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up.
- +2 bonus to caster level when casting spells or using spell-like abilities with the fire descriptor.
- Fire Subtype: A fire gnome has immunity to fire. It has vulnerability to cold, which means it takes half again as much (+50%) damage as normal from cold, regardless of whether or not a saving throw is allowed, or if the save is a success or a failure.
- +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against kobolds and goblin oids (including goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears).
- +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against creatures of the giant type (such as ogres, trolls, and hill giants).
- Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day - heat metal, produce flame. Caster level equals the fire gnome's character level +2 (including the caster level bonus mentioned above).
- Automatic Languages: Common, Gnome, Ignan. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Orc, Terran.
- Favored Class: Sorcerer.
- Level adjustment +1.