Gnomes were introduced in the first Monster Manual, and you can see the post I did on them here. By the time the MM2 came out, they were already available as a playable option in the Player’s Handbook 2.

We get three new gnome stat blocks in this entry, but one of them (the Gnome Entropist) also appeared in the Monster Vault and so was covered in the original post. We’ll cover the other two here.

Gnome Mistwalker

Gnome Mistwalkers are like the triple-classed fighter/illusionist/thieves of yore. They’re skilled at illusion magic and melee combat, using those to ambush their targets. This sort of training is common among gnome brigands, who build elaborately disguised hideouts and strike at merchants passing along nearby trade routes.

Mistwalkers are Level 5 Lurkers with 51 HP and all standard gnome traits (including the Fade Away and Reactive Stealth powers described in the original post). They wear light armor and wield picks in combat.

The picks have the High-Crit property, and they deal extra damage to targets granting them combat advantage. Mistwalker’s Strike (recharge 4+) allows them to become invisible until the end of their next turn, shift 2 squares, and make a pick attack in that order. This means the attack will always benefit from the extra damage, and won’t disrupt the invisibility.

In addition to the two standard powers, they have a third defensive ability in the form of Blur of Movement, a reaction that allows them to teleport 1 square when hit by an enemy.

Gnome Entropist

Their mechanics were covered in the original post, but here we get a bit of extra lore on them. Entropists are magicians whose power flows from the Elemental Chaos. This tends to interfere with their natural link to the Feywild, so they’re not usually the most stable of gnomes.

Gnome Wolverine

This gnome is the best at what it does, and what it does ain’t pretty, bub. And that’s pretty much all you need to know to understand this short berserker.

Wolverine is a Level 9 Skirmisher with 95 HP, lightly armored and wielding an axe. His natural speed of 5 becomes 7 on a charge, and he has a +3 to AC against opportunity attacks plus the standard gnome powers.

That axe can be used for basic strikes and for an Unbalancing Swipe that does the same damage, slides the target 2 squares on a hit and knocks then prone on a critical. When the Wolverine drops an enemy to 0 HP, Vicious Fury allows him to shift 5 squares and gain a +3 bonus to damage rolls until the end of his next turn. Once per encounter, and once again after being bloodied, Wolverine can use a Shrieking Strike that’s much stronger than the basic attack and does a bit of splash damage to an enemy adjacent to the target. Hit or miss, it grants Wolverine a +3 bonus to all defenses until the end of his next turn. This can be used as part of a charge.

Despite my joking, this Wolverine doesn’t regenerate.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

We have two sample encounters:

  • Level 8: 1 entropist, 2 wolverines, 2 spriggan giantsouls.

  • Level 10: 3 entropists, 2 phase spiders, 1 satyr piper, and 1 will-o’-wisp.

All seem to be the sort of gnome who’s up to no good, since they include the dodgier sort of fey (spriggans/redcaps and the wisp).

I like 4e gnomes, so I liked seeing more of them. The wolverine is particularly fun, because it goes so hard against type.