Introducing the Winter Gnome

The Winter Gnomes are a rare subrace of Gnome from the cold southern regions of the New Kingdoms, particularly the icy archipelagos of the far southern seas and the fjords and mountains south of Daen and Hardesh. East of the Sea of Light, these lands have been colonized, or 're-occupied'by various nations of the New Kingdoms, their own civilisations having mostly died out in the wake of Shroudfall. 
Winter Gnomes are slightly smaller than regular Gnomes, and generally more aggressive, due to the fact that they live in a constant state of warfare with every manner of foe: Frost Giants, goblinoids, Vulfen and Winter Wolves, among many others. Unlike other Gnomes, they tend to favour the path of the warrior,although they still share a Gnome's interest in magic, and even the most dedicated warrior might know a spell or two, or have a passion for magical lore.

Winter Gnome Cultural Package

Body Development 2, Caving 2, any one Craft skill 1, Faerie Lore 2, Foraging 3, one Melee Weapon 1, one Missile Weapon 1, Perception 3, Region Lore (homeland) 3, Stalk & Hide 3, Tracking 1, Weather-watching 1.

Free talents:

Icerunner: +20 to Moving Maneuvers in snow and ice

Canny: +10 to Perception

Eldritch Awareness: as the spell Detect Magic ^B. May be used up to 3/day at a cost of 1d10 Exhaustion Points.

Optional talents (Cost 1 BGO unless noted):

Winter Magic: Reduce ESF by 20 for all Cold and by 10 for Earth-related spells

Crafter: +15 to any one Craft

Skilful: 5 ranks in Artifact Lore, Attunement, one Craft skill, Faerie Lore, Fauna Lore, Flora Lore, Frenzy, History, Magical Languages (Chaos, Iruaric, Purosis), Planar Lore (Ice or Earth), Religion, Runes, Stone Lore or Weather-watching* (may be selected multiple times, each time for a different skill)

Heirloom: Daily III item (Essence only)* Cost: 2

Racial Foes: +20 to OB & DB when engaged with Giants, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Orcs, Kobolds, Gargoyles, Harpies, Winter Wolves and Vulfen.

Gift of Magic: 5 ranks in one of the following spells Compass, Detect Fey, Detect Illusion, Earth Sense ^B, Endurance I ^B , Elemental Veil ^B, Freeze Water ^B , Ice Touch I ^B, Locate Minerals,  Minor Vibration , Resist Cold  ^B, Torch Fire, Skeins of Ice (see below), Ventriloquism* (option may be selected more than once, selecting a different spell each time).

Blood Hatred: +15 on rolls to enter Frenzy when engaging Kobolds and Vulfen.

Mana-Rich: Power Point Development cost reduced to 3. Cost 2

Fey-Friend: +20 to all Influence/Interaction rolls when dealing with Fey creatures*

Guard Against The Fey: +20 to RRs vs Fey powers and spells*

Winter-Trained: +20 to Navigation, Weather-watching and Foraging in cold climates only.

Options marked ‘*’ may only be selected at level one.

Spells marked ‘^B’ are from the Project BASiL spell lists.

Unique Winter Gnome Spell:

Skeins of Ice (Essence, level 1)

Caster is able to abstract 6 cubic inches of ice from the air and weave it into one of the following shapes: Knife, Two Arrows, Dart, Sling Stones, Pitons, Target Shield, Snowshoes, Staying Wedge, Mirror or Horn. The temperature must be below 2°C (35.6°F) in order to create sufficient ice.  The ice takes 3 rounds to appear and it takes a further round to mould the ice into the required shape(s).  The Knife may be used as a -10 Dagger. The Arrows, Sling Bullets and Dart have a 20% reduction in range, and have a -15 penalty. All items have a Strength of 20 (+5/PP invested). Damage done by weaponised ice counts as Cold damage against those creatures that have a susceptibility.

Duration: 1 minute/PP expended, Range: 10’, Target: - , Type: F.

A little baffled by the above? It looks a bit like RM and a bit like other systems. This is somewhat of an experiment, more fully explained here. I hope to make Pathfinder and OSR versions of the Winter Gnome available shortly (more on the to-do list!)