Player > Ancestry > Gnome
8
Small
25 feet
Constitution
Charisma
Free
Strength
Common
Gnomish
Sylvan
Additional languages equal to your Intelligence
modifier (if it’s positive). Choose from Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Goblin,
Jotun, Orcish, and any other languages to which you have access (such as
the languages prevalent in your region).
Gnome
Humanoid
You can see in dim light as though it were bright light, and you ignore the concealed condition due to dim light.
Long ago, early gnome ancestors emigrated from the First World, realm of the fey. While it’s unclear why the first gnomes wandered to Golarion, this lineage manifests in modern gnomes as bizarre reasoning, eccentricity, obsessive tendencies, and what some see as naivete. These qualities are further reflected in their physical characteristics, such as spindly limbs, brightly colored hair, and childlike and extremely expressive facial features that further reflect their otherworldly origins.
Always hungry for new experiences, gnomes constantly wander both mentally
and physically, attempting to stave off a terrible ailment that threatens all
of their people. This affliction—the Bleaching—strikes gnomes who fail to dream,
innovate, and take in new experiences, in the gnomes’ absence of crucial magical
essence from the First World. Gnomes latch onto a source of localized magic
where they live, typically primal magic, as befits their fey lineage, but this
isn’t enough to avoid the Bleaching unless they supplement this magic with new
experiences. The Bleaching slowly drains the color—literally—from gnomes, and
it plunges those affected into states of deep depression that eventually claim
their lives. Very few gnomes survive this scourge, becoming deeply morose and
wise survivors known as bleachlings.
If you want a character with boundless
enthusiasm and an alien, fey outlook on morality and life, you should play a
gnome.
Most gnomes stand just over 3 feet in height and weigh little more than a
human child. They exhibit a wide range of natural skin, hair, and eye colors.
For gnomes that haven’t begun the Bleaching, nearly any hair and eye color other
than white is possible, with vibrant colors most frequent, while skin tones
span a slightly narrower spectrum and tend toward earthy tones and pinkish hues,
though occasionally green, black, or pale blue. Gnomes’ large eyes and dense
facial muscles allow them to be particularly expressive in their emotions.
Gnomes typically reach physical maturity at the age of 18, though many gnomes
maintain a childlike curiosity about the world even into adulthood. A gnome
can theoretically live to any age if she can stave off the Bleaching indefinitely,
but in practice gnomes rarely live longer than around 400 years.
While most gnomes adopt some of the cultural practices of the region in which
they live, they tend to pick and choose, adjusting their communities to fit
their own fey logic. This often leads to majority gnome communities eventually
consisting almost entirely of gnomes, as other people, bewildered by gnomish
political decisions, choose to move elsewhere. Gnomes have little culture that
they would consider entirely their own. No gnome kingdoms or nations exist on
the surface of Golarion, and gnomes wouldn’t know what to do with such a state
if they had one.
By necessity, few gnomes marry for life, instead allowing
relationships to run their course before amicably moving on, the better to stave
off the Bleaching with new experiences. Though gnome families tend to be small,
many gnome communities raise children communally, with fluid family boundaries.
As adults depart the settlement, unrelated adolescents sometimes tag along,
creating adopted families to journey together.
Though gnomes are impulsive tricksters with inscrutable motives and confusing methods, many at least attempt to make the world a better place. They are prone to fits of powerful emotion, and they are often good but rarely lawful. Gnomes most commonly worship deities that value individuality and nature, such as Cayden Cailean, Desna, Gozreh, and Shelyn.
Gnome names can get quite complex and polysyllabic. They have little interest in familial names, and most children receive their names purely on a parent’s whim. Gnomes rarely concern themselves with how easy their names are to pronounce, and they often go by shorter nicknames. Some even collect and chronicle these nicknames. Among gnomes, the shorter the name, the more feminine it’s considered to be.
Abroshtor, Bastargre, Besh, Fijit, Halungalom, Krolmnite, Neji, Majet, Pai, Poshment, Queck, Trig, Zarzuket, Zatqualmie
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