They live underground, surrounded by enemies far larger than themselves. Accustomed to the darkness, they use it as a tool to defend their homeland, cloaking themselves in the shadows to strike in silence then move on. Their magic is legendary, and they are masters of deception and trickery.
Fear them, for they are……..
The Gnome Ninjas!!!
The (likely) demotion of Gnomes from the next Edition of D&D to being little more than Monster Manual fodder prompted me to look again at what they offer. Now I’m not a Gnome fan, but the image of these little guys clad in black wielding Nunchaku with deadly precision just fills me with glee.
A quick perusal of the Complete Adventurer and he’s done. Here’s a 2nd level Gnome Ninja ready to serve. Fear his deadly Ninja skillz!
| STR | 12 +1 | HP | 13 |
| DEX | 16 +3 | AC | 16 |
| CON | 12 +1 | BAB | +1 |
| INT | 13 +1 | Fort | +1 |
| WIS | 15 +2 | Ref | +6 |
| CHA | 12 +1 | Will | +2 |
Masterwork hand crossbow +6, 1d3, 19-20
Masterwork nunchaku +6, 1d4+1
Gnome traits: Small; Low-light vision; +2 vs illusions; +1 vs kobolds & goblinoids; +4 AC vs Giants; speak with animals, dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation 1/day, DC11
WP: Simple, hand crossbow, kama, kukri, nunchaku, sai, shortbow, short sword, shuriken, siangham; Weapon finesse
AC Bonus, Ki power 3/day, Sudden strike +1d6, Trapfinding, Ghost step
Bluff 5 (+6), Craft (alchemy) (+3), Disguise 5 (+6), Hide 5 (+12), Listen 5 (+9),
Move Silently 5 (+8), Sense Motive 5 (+7), Tumble 5 (+8)
Languages: Common, Gnome, Goblin
Well, it made sense at the time.