Svirfneblin
Clever denizens of the Underdark who survive through skill, stealth, and cunning.
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 3’0” to 3’6”
Average Weight: 50 – 80 lbs.
Ability Scores: +2 DEX, +2 to CON or WIS
Size: Small
Speed: 5 squares
Vision: Darkvision
Languages: Common, Deep Speech
Skill Bonuses: +2 to Dungeoneering, +2 to Stealth
Pick Proficiency: You gain proficiency with the War Pick and Light War Pick.
Fey Origin: Your ancestors were native to the Feywild, so you are considered a fey creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin.
Stone Cunning: When underground, you can use Dungeoneering instead of Perception to make Perception checks.
Earthwalk: You ignore difficult terrain that is rubble, uneven stone, or an earthen construction.
Merge with Stone: You can use Merge with Stone as an encounter power.
Merge with Stone Svirfneblin Racial Power
Encounter +
Minor Action Personal
Effect: You move 3 squares or shift 1 square and can pass into and through squares occupied by obstacles made of stone, including surrounding stone walls and floors. This effect lasts until the end of your next turn. If the obstacle that you move into is larger than you are, you can end your movement inside the obstacle. If you do, you remain alive and aware of your surroundings, but you cannot be seen or attacked. The only actions you can take are to make Perception checks or to shift into an unoccupied square as a move action. When this effect ends, you must shift into an unoccupied square at the start of your next turn.
The Underdark is a wild and unforgiving place, filled with a host of comparatively large and powerful enemies. Svifneblin, or deep gnomes as they are also called, survive by being clever, subtle, and often invisible to their enemies. They are at home amidst the horrors of the underworld, building strong communities tied together by a sense of civic commitment and joy-in-life. As such, deep gnomes have become deeply tied to the earth in which they live. They are unparalleled stone workers, with a natural affinity for the earth that surpasses even that of the dwarves.
Play a Svirfneblin if you want...
to be stealthy, clever, and curious.
to be more at home in the wilds of the Underdark than in the forests of the world above.
to be a member of a race that favors the ranger, seeker, tempest-fighter, and cleric classes.
PHYSICAL QUALITIES
Deep gnomes are smaller than halflings, smaller even than their surface world cousins. They rarely exceeding 3 ½ feet in height but can vary widely in girth and musculature. Apart from their size, svirfneblin are grey-skinned and almost hairless. Some svirfneblin have a shock of white hair atop their heads; others are bald. Their eyes are white with neither iris nor pupil.
Like most fey creatures, deep gnomes are typically long-lived, living over 300 years. As they age, they can become wizened and bent, but even the most ancient svirfneblin retain their native subtlety, agility, and cunning.
PLAYING A SVIRFNEBLIN
Deep gnomes dwell in small town-like communities called burrows located deep in the Underdark. Their governments tend to be republican, with elected officials known as Burrow Wardens serving both as civic leader and military defender. A council of burrow wardens rule a svirfneblin burrow, acting in service to the greater good of the community.
Svirfneblin are wary of outsides, but they can be friendly and even approachable if met under circumstances they deem to be safe and appropriate.
Like their surface cousins, unobtrusiveness is a virtue among svirfneblin. Svirfneblin prize cleverness and the ability to stay hidden, but they are far more civic-minded than their surface cousins and more willing to fight to defend their homes and their society’s place in the greater community in which they are located. Svirfneblin aggressively patrol the tunnels around their burrows, ambushing their enemies in tight spaces where small size and the ability to Merge with Stone are prime assets. A svirfneblin patrol is fully capable of beating off a drow raid if it can strike from ambush.
Deep gnomes are adept, enthusiastic artisans and traders. Though it is nigh unheard of to see a svirfneblin in the World Above, deep gnome traders travel the length and breadth of the Underdark, trading gems, bulk ore, and precious metals in return for rothe and other foodstuffs as well as information and basic protection from other Underdark communities. Though svirfneblin can be capable combatants, they often find it easier wiser in the long term to befriend potential enemies through trade.
Svirfneblin Characteristics: Clever, community-minded, loyal, guarded, inconspicuous, inventive, sly, and hard-working.
Male Names: Belwar, Brocc, Eldon, Guliver, Orryn, Peck, Sidari, Warryn.
Female Names: Breena, Carlin, Donella, Ella, Lilli, Lorilla, Nissa, Nyx, Oda, Orla, Roswyn, Tana, Zanna.
Not published. This is Homebrew.
Svirfneblin Feats
Deadly Darkvision
Prerequisite: Darkvision, training in dungeoneering.
Effect: You gain a +1 feat bonus to damage rolls when you are in areas of low-light or darkness.
At 11th level, this bonus increases to +2. At 21st level, it increases to +3.
Deep Gnome of the Feywild
Prerequisite: Svirfneblin
Effect: You gain the Gnome racial abilities Reactive Stealth and Fade Away. If you have cover or concealment at the start of an encounter, you can make a Stealth check. Also, during a given encounter, you can use either Fade Away or Merge with Stone as your racial encounter power.
Earthwalker
Prerequisite: Svirfneblin
When you use your Merge with Stone racial ability, you can move your speed through squares filled with rock or stone. When you shift out of the stone, you can shift a number of squares equal to your Wisdom modifier.
Stone Sense
Prerequisite: Svirfneblin
Effect: You do not grant combat advantage to adjacent enemies that you cannot see when both you and your enemy are underground and standing on rock, stone, or earth. When you are underground, and you target an adjacent enemy that you cannot see, and both you and your enemy are standing on rock, stone, or earth, you take a -3 penalty to your attack roll instead of -5.
Svirfneblin Warrior Training
Prerequisite: Svirfneblin
Effect: You gain proficiency with the Light War Hammer, can treat the Light War Pick as a Light Blade, and treat the Gnome Hook Hammer as a Martial Weapon. Additionally, you gain a +2 feat bonus to damage rolls with all picks and hammers.
Svirfneblin Superior Weapons
Gnome Hook-Hammer
Superior double melee weapon
Cost: 15 gp
Damage: d8 (main end), d6 (off-hand end)
Proficiency: +2/+2
Range: melee
Weight: 4 lbs.
The gnome hook-hammer is a double weapon sized for small creatures. The main end is a War Hammer (sized for a small creature, dealing d8 damage). The off-hand end is a Light War Pick (sized normally, dealing d6 damage).
Properties:
Hammer End
- Defensive (A defensive weapon grants you a +1 bonus to AC while you wield the defensive weapon in one hand and wield another melee weapon in your other hand. Wielding more than one defensive weapon does not increase this bonus. To gain this benefit, you need not attack with the defensive weapon, but you must be proficient with it.)
Pick End
- High Crit (A high crit weapon deals more damage when you score a critical hit with it. A critical hit deals maximum weapon damage and an extra 1[W] at 1st–10th levels, an extra 2[W] at 11th–20th levels, and an extra 3[W] at 21st–30th levels. This extra damage is in addition to any critical damage the weapon supplies if it is a magic weapon.).
- Off-Hand (An off-hand weapon is light enough that you can hold it and attack effectively with it while holding a weapon in your main hand. You can’t attack with both weapons in the same turn, unless you have a power that lets you do so, but you can attack with either weapon.).
Svirfneblin Paragon Paths
Burrow Warden
“To arms! There are intruders in the tunnels!”
Prerequisite: Svirfneblin
Burrow Wardens are the elected leaders of svirfneblin communities. Part ruler, part noble, part knight-errant, the burrow warden is both defender of the community and arbiter of internal community disputes. They are powerful warriors who succeed by stealth, cunning, and force-of-arms amidst the dangerous world of Underdark.
BURROW WARDEN PATH FEATURES
Warden’s Action (11th level): When you spend an action point, you regain the use of your Merge with Stone racial power or any power that you can use in place of Merge with Stone.
Svirfneblin Weapons Expert (11th level): When wielding a pick or a hammer, you can score a critical hit on a roll of either 19 or 20.
Gnomish Stealth Adept (16th level): You gain the use of the gnome racial power Fade Away. You can use both Fade Away and Merge with Stone during the same encounter.
Grasping Earth Burrow Warden Attack 11
You slam your weapon into your foe, knocking him to the ground. The earth itself then rises up to hold him down.
Encounter + Arcane, Weapon
Standard Action Melee Weapon
Attack: Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1[W] + Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution modifier damage, and you knock the target prone. The target is then immobilized and cannot stand up until the end of your next turn.
Earthsense Burrow Warden Utility 12
Your connection to the earth allows you to turn the tables. Instead of being ambushed, you become the ambusher.
Encounter + Arcane
Minor Action Personal
Effect: You gain blindsight to the end of your next turn. If you would have granted combat advantage to an enemy that you could not see, that enemy now grants combat advantage to you instead.
Grasping Earth Burrow Warden Attack 20
You strike and dance away, eluding a foe’s counterattacks even as you set up your next strike.
Daily + Illusion, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution modifier damage, and you become invisible to the target (save ends).
Miss: Half damage.
Effect: You can shift 1 square. For this shift, you can shift into an adjacent square that is filled with stone, per your Merge with Stone power. Until the end of the encounter, whenever the target moves or shifts into a square that is adjacent to you, you can shift 1 square as an Immediate Reaction, either into an adjacent empty square or into an adjacent square that is filled with stone, per your Merge with Stone power. Whenever you shift into stone, you must shift into an empty square at the start of your next turn.
Earthmage
“The earth is my ally.”
Prerequisite: Svirfneblin, any Controller or Leader class
With their close ties to the earth, svirfneblin mages, clerics, and shamans can learn to manipulate stone and rock in ways that other races simply cannot understand. Earthmages serve as the heavy-hitters in svirfneblin combat patrols, using their powers to shape the battlefield in ways that benefit their allies and summoning powerful earth elementals to aid the deep gnomes in battle.
In their burrows, earthmages typically serve as svirfneblin religious or spiritual leaders.
EARTHMAGE PATH FEATURES
Earthwalker (11th level): You gain the Earthwalker feat.
Earthmage’s Action (11th level): When you spend an action point, you can shift a number of squares equal to your Wisdom modifier, and each ally within 5 squares of you can shift 1 square..
Rocky Ground (16th level): At the start of each encounter, choose one ally you can see within 5 squares. Enemies treat squares adjacent to that ally as difficult terrain.
Earthblast Earthmage Attack 11
The earth explodes amidst your enemies, sowing confusion and disarray.
Encounter + Varies, Implement, Thunder
Standard Action Ranged 10
Attack: Intelligence or Wisdom vs. Fortitude
Hit: 2d8 + Intelligence or Wisdom modifier damage. Make a secondary attack that is an area burst 1 centered on the primary target.
Secondary Target: Each enemy in burst other than the primary target
Secondary Attack: Wisdom vs. Fortitude
Hit: You push the secondary target 1 square and knock it prone.
Capturing Landscape Earthmage Utility 12
The very earth rises up to aid your cause.
Encounter + Varies, Zone
Minor Action Close burst 3
Effect: The burst creates a zone of blasted, rocky nightmare terrain that lasts until the end of the encounter. Enemies treat squares within the zone as difficult terrain, and allies within the zone gain partial cover.
Summon Earth Elemental Earthmage Attack 20
You strike and dance away, eluding a foe’s counterattacks even as you set up your next strike.
Daily + Implement, Summoning
Standard Action Ranged 5
Effect: You summon a Large Earth Elemental in an unoccupied space within range. The earth elemental has speed 5 and ignores difficult terrain. You and your allies gain a +2 power bonus to AC while within 2 squares of the earth elemental. You can give the elemental the following special command:
Standard Action: Melee 2; targets one creature; Intelligence or Wisdom vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d8 + Intelligence or Wisdom modifier damage.
Instinctive Effect: If you haven’t given the earth elemental any commands by the end of your turn, it attacks an enemy within 2 squares of it if it can. This attack deals 1d8 + Intelligence or Wisdom modifier damage. If the earth elemental cannot make an attack without moving, it moves its speed to a square where it is within 2 squares of as many allies as possible.
Deep Trader
“I go where the money is.”
Prerequisite: Any Underdark-based background, training in Stealth or Dungeoneering
Despite its dangers, trade is an essential part of life in the Underdark. You are a deep trader, one of the courageous adventurers who ties the disparate communities of the underworld together. But the Underdark is a dangerous place, and you know that you’ll not long survive without stealth and cunning and wealth useful survival tricks.
DEEP TRADER PATH FEATURES
Underworld Expert (11th level): You gain training in one of the following skills: Stealth, Dungeoneering, Perception, or Streetwise. In addition, you gain fluency in Deep Speech. If you are already fluent in Deep Speech, you gain fluency in another language: Dwarven, Goblin, or Giant.
Vanishing Action (11th level): When you are underground and spend an action point to take an extra action, you can shift 3 squares either before or after you take the extra action. If you end your shift with any cover or concealment, even partial cover provided by an ally, you can make a Stealth check. You can use your Dungeoneering score instead of your Stealth score for the purposes of this check.
Blindsense (16th level): You have blindsight out to a distance of 2 squares + your Wisdom modifier, meaning you can clearly see creatures or objects within the range and within line of effect, even if they are invisible or obscured.
Darkside Ambush Deep Trader Attack 11
You hide in the shadows and strike when it’s least expected.
Encounter + Varies
Standard Action Melee or Ranged
Requirement: You must be hidden from the target.
Attack: You make a basic attack. On a hit, your attack deals +1[W] or 1 extra die of damage.
Effect: You can shift 3 squares either before or after the attack. If you end your shift with any cover or concealment, even partial cover provided by an ally, you can make a Stealth check. You can use your Dungeoneering score instead of your Stealth score for the purposes of this check.
Cloaked in Shadow Deep Trader Utility 12
You vanish into the shadowy clefts of the natural rock and stone around you
Encounter + Varies
Minor Action Personal
Requirement: You must be adjacent to a wall or other large stone feature, such as a column, boulder, or stalagmite.
Effect: You are hidden to any enemies that aren’t adjacent to you. You remain hidden until you move or attack.
Concealing Shot Deep Trader Attack 20
You strike hard and disappear, leaving your enemy guessing.
Daily + Varies
Standard Action Melee or Ranged
Attack: You use an at-will attack power.
Hit: Your attack deals +2[W] or 2 extra die of damage.
Miss: Half damage.
Effect: You become invisible to the target until the end of your next turn. In addition, whenever you hit the target before the end of the encounter, you become invisible to it until the end of your next turn.
So yeah, I've been biking back-and-forth from the train station at 125th Street to my office on West 66th, for maybe 6 weeks now. It's 4.7-miles one way, about 20 minutes of riding through Harlem and Upper West Side traffic, giving me a total of a little more than 10-miles of riding every day. Which is awesome. Often, it's the best part of my day. I use a folding bike, a Dahon Speed 8. It's not the world's greatest bike, but it's not bad, and I've been digging it. Mostly. Sometimes people suck. But what are you gonna do? It's New York. That shit is gonna happen.
