Tinker gnomes in Krynn

Today’s post looks at Tinker Gnomes in first and second edition.  Another either really popular or really despised idea from D&D is that of the Tinker Gnomes.  In Krynn, gnomes are hapless inventors who make inventions that are large, impractical, and seldom work.  They feature prominently in the Chronicles Trilogy.  (Highly recommended reading).  In Taladas there are not one but two gnomish cultures set closely in the Tinker Gnome mold.  The hardcover Dragonlance Adventures provides rules for adventuring in Krynn and includes the Tinker Gnomes as a character class.  It includes about 5 pages of rules and charts for constructing inventions.  Most inventions are probably only going to work about 20% of the time and generally have destructive misfires about 80% of the time.  Tinkers have a rapid experience table very similar to the rogue table.  Tinkers get better at inventing as they get higher in levels.  High level tinkers are necessary to build devices that actually stand a reasonable chance of working.  They gain lots of non-weapon proficiencies but have a -5 penalty to them.

They are fun and more so if you have read the Chronicles Trilogy.  Having a Tinker Gnome with the party would probably be fairly amusing yet hazardous.

Taladas (which uses 2nd edition rules including the reduction of power from barbarians) keeps the Tinker gnomes from 1st edition (the rules are not reprinted in Taladas so you need Dragonlance Adventures to run Tinker gnomes).

However when the Tales of the Lance boxed set was produced (1992) Tinker gnomes lost their inventive rules.  5+ pages became less than a page explaining that Tinker gnome inventions do not work.  However, new equipment for Tinker gnomes included several different types of grenades and an arquebus-type firearm.  These inventions are in direct conflict with what was published in Dragonlance Adventures explaining that gnomes are not good chemists.  (It also conflicts with Tales of the Lance which includes a similar statement).  I think the Tales of the Lance decision was a bad one regarding Tinker gnomes.  In defense of Tales of the Lance, these changes make it easier to play tinkers as characters, they are going to be back row gunners.

Tinker gnomes (First edition or Taladas) are throwbacks to an era when role-playing had equal consideration with character class strengths.  A player choosing a tinker is choosing him for the fun story opportunities and role-playing challenge, not for the opportunity to be the most powerful character.  Since tinkers only start with 1 weapon proficiency (although they gain another one at 3rd) it probably makes the most sense for them to have a sling or a crossbow to start with.  Dragonlance Adventures is unclear what tinkers fight or save as.  Generally they are back row non-combatants.  Playing a tinker properly would be quite a challenge.

In conclusion, Tinker gnomes are a lot of fun and part of what make Dragonlance unique.  If you feel that your characters are getting dull and that you spend too much time min/maxing them, playing a tinker in a Dragonlance campaign might be the solution to get you thinking about role-playing again.