Gnome Nightbane: Gnomebanes or Nightgnomes ?

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Tor
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Gnome Nightbane: Gnomebanes or Nightgnomes ?

Unread post by Tor »

Between the Shadows page 142 mentions under Rifts Rule Adjustments' "Nightbanes and Other Races" that the facade can be any non-supernatural humanoid (and human-sized) race. We are told this includes Elves (who are taller than humans) and Dwarves (who are shorter than humans) but nothing beyond that...

I guess the question is... how low can you go? Do you think Dwarf is the minimum size, or could the Facade take the shape of a Gnome as well? Dwarves are 3-4 while Gnomes are 2-2 1/2 so there isn't any size overlap. A neat bit since Morphus size can be based on Facade size is 24 inches (Gnome-min) minus a max of 22 inches from Doll-like appearance (think garden gnome) could mean you have a 2-inch tall facade. If the GM does not allow a Gnome, that's still a 14-inch Facade for a Dwarf which is still pretty tiny.

Looking at the new features in the Nightbane Survival Guide, you can also get size reduction from page 100's "Child" under the "Victim" table. It does not provide a static reduction, it says height/weight are reduced per age, but since that is fixed and Gnomes and Dwarves age slower, that means they would be at a much earlier life stage than a human of that many years, so while the table gives humans 10-16 that's probably more like a 5 year old in Dwarf or Gnome lifespan, so you'd probably be less than half your height! Picking 'Frail' on top of this would also be good for further weight reduction so people can carry you around easily.

"Wee Folk" on page 91's fantasy table also seems to serve on these lines but while it gives a 'pounds per foot of height' guide it doesn't actually say how tall you become...

"Roswell Gray" on page 89's Extraterrestrial Table also gives a handy size reduction, in case your gnome was not creepy enough.

Oddly on page 88's "Disproportionate Legs and Feet" table, while having "long, thin legs" increases your height, there is no mention of height reduction with "short legs" so all I can figure is that causes your torso to grow to compensate.
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Re: Gnome Nightbane: Gnomebanes or Nightgnomes ?

Unread post by eliakon »

Tor wrote:Between the Shadows page 142 mentions under Rifts Rule Adjustments' "Nightbanes and Other Races" that the facade can be any non-supernatural humanoid (and human-sized) race. We are told this includes Elves (who are taller than humans) and Dwarves (who are shorter than humans) but nothing beyond that...

I guess the question is... how low can you go? Do you think Dwarf is the minimum size, or could the Facade take the shape of a Gnome as well? Dwarves are 3-4 while Gnomes are 2-2 1/2 so there isn't any size overlap. A neat bit since Morphus size can be based on Facade size is 24 inches (Gnome-min) minus a max of 22 inches from Doll-like appearance (think garden gnome) could mean you have a 2-inch tall facade. If the GM does not allow a Gnome, that's still a 14-inch Facade for a Dwarf which is still pretty tiny.

Looking at the new features in the Nightbane Survival Guide, you can also get size reduction from page 100's "Child" under the "Victim" table. It does not provide a static reduction, it says height/weight are reduced per age, but since that is fixed and Gnomes and Dwarves age slower, that means they would be at a much earlier life stage than a human of that many years, so while the table gives humans 10-16 that's probably more like a 5 year old in Dwarf or Gnome lifespan, so you'd probably be less than half your height! Picking 'Frail' on top of this would also be good for further weight reduction so people can carry you around easily.

"Wee Folk" on page 91's fantasy table also seems to serve on these lines but while it gives a 'pounds per foot of height' guide it doesn't actually say how tall you become...

"Roswell Gray" on page 89's Extraterrestrial Table also gives a handy size reduction, in case your gnome was not creepy enough.

Oddly on page 88's "Disproportionate Legs and Feet" table, while having "long, thin legs" increases your height, there is no mention of height reduction with "short legs" so all I can figure is that causes your torso to grow to compensate.

Me? I would pro-rate things
So if you want to play a gnome-bane fine. But your doll wont make you 2 inches tall. It can make you doll like, compared to other gnomes. Since a gnome is about a third the size of a human, then I would adjust the reduction to be a third as well.
But YMMV.
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Re: Gnome Nightbane: Gnomebanes or Nightgnomes ?

Unread post by Incriptus »

Gnomebanes are good
NightGnomes are evil

As for the particulars of playing with size I think I would make things proportional as well. Not certain on the exact numbers though, but they wouldn't be the same for a human base
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Re: Gnome Nightbane: Gnomebanes or Nightgnomes ?

Unread post by drewkitty ~..~ »

The size of the Facade and Morphus are not linked unless one of the features the NS directly links the two.

As a GM I would have the player Pro-Rate any "changes from a normal human sized form" to that of how they would scale to the frame of the really short person or really tall person. Or I might just toss out said changes and scale the morphus to fit the player's concept of what their morphus should look like.
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Re: Gnome Nightbane: Gnomebanes or Nightgnomes ?

Unread post by Niji »

Well regular humans come in Sub 3 feet high varieties. But aren't gnomes actually a supernatural race? (assuming you mean the European folk lore/fairy tale kind, not the world of warcraft kind)
Like Gnomes and Brownies, very similar in supernatural bodies and abilities to the gossamer winged type fairies. Pointy red hats, famous childrends/young adults cartoon series that ran for a decade/book series, etc, love of mushrooms and using forest animals (squirrels and rabbits and the like) as mounts, like to repair shoes and help out around the house, etc.
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Re: Gnome Nightbane: Gnomebanes or Nightgnomes ?

Unread post by eliakon »

Niji wrote:Well regular humans come in Sub 3 feet high varieties. But aren't gnomes actually a supernatural race? (assuming you mean the European folk lore/fairy tale kind, not the world of warcraft kind)
Like Gnomes and Brownies, very similar in supernatural bodies and abilities to the gossamer winged type fairies. Pointy red hats, famous childrends/young adults cartoon series that ran for a decade/book series, etc, love of mushrooms and using forest animals (squirrels and rabbits and the like) as mounts, like to repair shoes and help out around the house, etc.

Gnomes are a regular race in Palladium Games (They are in the Palladium Fantasy setting and Rifts settings actually)
The rules are not a bludgeon with which to hammer a character into a game. They are a guide to how a group of friends can get together to weave a collective story that entertains everyone involved. We forget that at our peril.

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Tor
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Re: Gnome Nightbane: Gnomebanes or Nightgnomes ?

Unread post by Tor »

I utterly forgot the Night Gnomes in TTGD when writing this, Gnomebanes it is!
drewkitty ~..~ wrote:The size of the Facade and Morphus are not linked unless one of the features the NS directly links the two.

If not the facade's height, what do you subtract the height from? It doesn't mention rerolling it anywhere.

If all you had to deal with was a minor change like stigmata wouldn't you otherwise look like yourself and be of your usual dimensions?
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