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.
