Are gnomes made from lead?

[Anders]

I just checked and they are 4' tall and weigh on average 150 lbs. They can weigh as much as 250 lbs. Is this a misprint or are gnomes made from lead?

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Anders

I just checked and they are 4' tall and weigh on average 150 lbs. They can weigh as much as 250 lbs. Is this a misprint or are gnomes made from lead?

Nah. If they were made of lead, they'd weigh more like 800 lbs. They're around a density of 3, so they're probably made of rocks. As appropriate for something sharing a name with a common term for earth elementals.

[Anthony]

Heck, gnomes weigh less than dwarves; a dwarf is the same height but 120-350 lb.

[Black Leviathan]

I think you may have D&D shorty skinny Gnomes in mind. GURPS Gnomes have some meat on them. They're basically a human without all that height.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Black Leviathan

I think you may have D&D shorty skinny Gnomes in mind. GURPS Gnomes have some meat on them. They're basically a human without all that height.

Just take a picture of a human and rescale it to 67% height/120% width.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Black Leviathan

I think you may have D&D shorty skinny Gnomes in mind. GURPS Gnomes have some meat on them. They're basically a human without all that height.

Allometric scaling for 2/3 height gives about 30% weight. I realize that realism and Dungeon Fantasy are not natural companions, but still... :)

[Black Leviathan]

Originally Posted by Anders

Allometric scaling for 2/3 height gives about 30% weight. I realize that realism and Dungeon Fantasy are not natural companions, but still... :)

Squishing, not scaling. You're not making a human-proportioned small person with inexplicable strength. You're in effect making a dwarf without the beard and Klingon honor (Scottish Accent optional).

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Anders

Allometric scaling for 2/3 height gives about 30% weight.

Halflings are basically Allometricly scaled humans - and it shows in their weight.

Gnomes and dwarves however are not, the same way that an elephant is not an allometrically scaled up horse. Typically these would have heads more like humans with gigantism (everyone seems to draw them with heavy brows and jaws), stout large, almost-human-sized torsos for gnomes (or even more-massive-than for Dwarves), and stout, strong limbs. These are digger people - and they have rather mole-like proportions. I'd even bet they have stiff spines, like other tunneling mammals.

[Kromm]

Gnomes and dwarves aren't just scaled-down humans! They're as big as extra-stocky humans above the waist, and have shorter but much thicker legs below.

For humans, legs count for 40-50% of height. Thus, humans who "have heights between 4'10" and 6'11"" are 2'10" to 3'6" torso and 2' to 3'5" leg. For gnomes and dwarves, legs count for 15-25% of height. Thus, gnomes and dwarves who are "between 3'3" and 4'8" tall" are 2'9" to 3'6" torso, and 6" to 1'2" leg.

But wait, there's more! A dwarf's torso is heavier than a human's because of larger heart and lungs (FP+3), an overdeveloped liver (Resistant to Poison 6), and significant thicker fat and muscle (Tough Skin 1 and Lifting ST 2). A gnome is built similarly, but with a bit less fat and muscle (no Tough Skin or Lifting ST). Those extra FP probably imply wider airways, too, meaning a thick neck, big nose, etc. . . . the head won't be tiny.

In both cases, the legs are overdeveloped as well. Again, this is most prominent for dwarves with their Lifting ST, but both races have "just" Basic Move-1 despite having around 1/4 to 1/3 human stride length. They're taking two or three strides per human stride to manage this, yet moving as much or more weight with each stride. Thus, they have remarkably powerful legs, far thicker than a human's . . .

The net result? Human-sized head, neck, and arms; larger-than-human-sized torso; and shorter-but-thicker legs that weigh almost as much as a human's. Thus, no part is likely to weigh less than for a human, and many significant parts are likely to weigh more. That's why where humans weigh "between 90 lbs. and 300 lbs.," gnomes weigh "from 90 to 250 lbs." (about as much as a human if small to slightly less if large), and dwarves weigh "120 lbs. at the short end to well over 350 lbs." (a bit more than a human across the board, thanks to that ox-like torso).

Is this realistic? I have no idea! But the takeaway message is that gnomes and dwarves aren't just scaled-down humans.

[Bruno]

I like to think of dwarves as being fundamentally cubic. Not two cubes stacked on top of each other, just one cube.