Today I got inspired to write up tinker gnomes. Despite the general gnomish decline in 4e, one of my players loves tinker gnomes and I have a soft spot in my heart for them thanks to Dragonlance. In my next campaign tinkers will be the artificers of the world, responsible for both firearms and warforged. (Will have to think of a more gnomish name for sentient golems...) Without further ado, please tell me what you think:
Tinker Gnome
Racial Traits
Average Height: 3’ 4”-3’ 8”
Average Weight: 50-75 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom
Size: Small
Speed: 5 squares
Vision: Low-Light
Languages: Common, Dwarven
Skill Bonuses: +2 Arcana, +2 Thievery
Alchemy: You gain the Alchemist feat.
Gnomish Resilience: You can use your second wind as a move action instead of as a standard action.
Prestidigitation: You can use this power at will. If you can already use it by some other means, you can have as many as six prestidigitation effects active at one time.
Inane Babble: You have the inane babble power.
Inane Babble Tinker Gnome Racial Power
Encounter
Minor Action Close blast 3
Targets: All creatures in area
Attack: Intelligence +2, Wisdom +2, or Charisma +2 vs. Will
Hit: The target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls until the end of your next turn.
Increase to +4 bonus at 11th level, and to +6 bonus at 21st level.
Special: Deaf creatures are immune to this power.
Heroic Feats
Arcane Talent [Tinker Gnome]
Prerequisites: Tinker Gnome
Benefit: You gain training in Arcana and Ritual Caster. If you are already trained in Arcana, you gain Skill Focus: Arcana. If you already have Ritual Caster, you gain Expert Ritualist (PHB 2).
Special: If you gain training in Arcana and/or Ritual Caster after taking this feat, its benefits improve retroactively.
Firearm Talent [Tinker Gnome]
Prerequisites: Tinker Gnome
Benefit: You gain proficiency with all firearms.
Loud Babble [Tinker Gnome]
Prerequisites: Tinker Gnome, inane babble racial power
Benefit: When you use your inane babble power, you can choose to make it blast 5 instead of blast 3.
Paragon Feats
Infuriating Babble [Tinker Gnome]
Prerequisites: Tinker Gnome, inane babble racial power
Benefit: Targets hit by your inane babble power take a -2 penalty to all defenses until the end of your next turn.
Jan Jansens FTW
"Well, this is quite obviously the hydrolostatic conversion battery, and therefore we need to connect the flux capacitor to the steam-generating liponospheric catalyx - thingy..."
Seriously, I also have a thing in my campaign where the warforged owe their genesis to gnomes - well, one gnome. These guys approximate him much better than the PHB2 gnomes did... yoinked.
Also I'm a bit leery of the alchemy feat as a racial feature don't artificers already get it? and if so then wouldn't that reduce the appeal of the tinker gnome/artificer combo?
@ Fungal_Vampire: Yoinked your gnome quote!
Why would Dragonlance gnomes get a wis boost? Con seems a better choice here.
Also I'm a bit leery of the alchemy feat as a racial feature don't artificers already get it? and if so then wouldn't that reduce the appeal of the tinker gnome/artificer combo?
You'd think artificers would get alchemy wouldn't ya? But they don't for some reason.
Krynnish tinkers aren't wise, but Wisdom fits the tinker artificer build. I'm thinking of gnomish wisdom as will power and mechanical intuition.
@ Qube: Who's Jan Jansens?
SACRELIDGE!
Jan Jansen is a character from Balder's Gate II (AD&D fearun computer game). He's both a comic relief, the best rogue and an not too shabby wizard.
From Wikipedia: Like most gnomes, he is very eccentric, and loves to ramble on with stories that never get to the point (unless the point happens to be turnips). He makes a point of ensuring that everyone knows his name is pronounced "yawn". He wants to steal Boo from Minsc*, and it is likely that if he ever succeeded, he wouldn't live long afterwards. Jan can be found in the 'Government District' peddling his wares, which in actuality are dangerous weapons in their own right. An expert in crossbows, Jan is capable of fashioning his own unique ammunition. His own weapon, a special crossbow entitled the "Flasher Master Bruiser" is, according to the item description, so complicated that only he can use it, as are most of Jan's custom items. Jan is the most proficient thief the party can get a hold of after Yoshimo
*: Minsc is a ranger who got hit on the head. from then on he walks around with a hamster, claiming that it is an intelligent minature giant space hamster
stories
interaction
All and all tho. I love the build. I will be using it!!!!