Deep gnomes,

also known as svirfneblin, are members of a breed of
gnome that lives deep beneath the surface of the earth. They can be
of any class or combination of classes that is permitted to surface-dwelling
gnomes. Deep gnomes who are not illusionists gain special
abilities at high levels. Deep gnomes are more muscular than their
above-ground cousins, their gnarled skin ranging from medium
brown to grayish brown in color. They have gray eyes.

Deep gnomes have the standard gnomish abilities with regard to detection
of slopes and unsafe walls, and determining depth and direction
underground. 

In addition, they have a 60% chance of being able
to camouflage themselves against surrounding natural rock deep underground,
remaining effectively invisible until they move, attack, or
take some other action which negates invisibility.

PC deep gnomes must be male, since no females of this
sub-race have ever been known to take up adventuring careers.
PC deep gnomes do not possess the innate magic resistance
of NPC svirfneblin, but do gain a + 2 bonus
on saving throws versus poison and a + 3 bonus on all other saving
throws. 

Just as others of this sub-race, the deep gnome PC
is immune to the effects of illusions and phantasms.

Unlike NPCs of this sub-race,
PC svirfneblin do not automatically improve in natural AC as they progress in
levels. The reasons why PC deep gnomes lose certain
abilities may be similar to why this happens to dark elves (see above).

Deep gnomes speak their own tongue, which is related to the gnomish
tongue spoken by surface dwellers of the race. They can know
other languages depending on intelligence, with emphasis on
tongues spoken beneath the earth. PC deep gnomes
cannot converse with creatures from the Elemental Plane of Earth,
unless the character has such a language as one of the tongues that
he or she has specifically learned, and player characters are just as
likely to be attacked by creatures from the Plane of Earth as are members
of any other race.

When a deep gnome becomes a PC, he or she forfeits
some of the benefits that derive from close association with the Elemental
Plane of Earth, as described above. However, deep gnomes
who are not illusionists do retain the innate ability of svirfneblin to
summon an earth elemental once per day. When a non-illusionist
reaches 6th level in any class, he or she can perform this feat in a
fashion similar to the magic-user spell conjure elemental. The type of
creature summoned, if any, is determined by rolling d20 and referring
to the following table:
 

Die Roll	Result
1	24 HD earth elemental
2-6	16 HD earth elemental
7-10	12 HD earth elemental
11-15	8 HD earth elemental
16-18	xorn
19-20	summoning fails, may not be attempted again that day

PC deep gnomes may use the following spell-like abilities
once per day: blindness, blur and change self, as if cast by an illusionist
of the same level as the character’s highest level. 

A deep
gnome also radiates non-detection as the spell, though this applies
only to the individual alone and does not affect an area.

Svirfneblin have infravision out to a range of 12”, but ultravision of
only a 3” range. In bright light their vision (of all sorts) is reduced to 3”,
and they must take a penalty of -1 “to hit” when fighting opponents in
such illuminated conditions, 

PC deep gnomes can be
surprised only on a 1 in 12 chance, and can surprise others on a 9 in
10 chance if they are alone or in the company of other deep gnomes
and not wearing bulky armor. PC deep gnomes do not
have psionic abilities.

In melee combat, deep gnomes gain a bonus of + 1 on rolls “to hit”
and damage when attacking drow and kuo-toa, which are enemies of
their race just as goblins and kobolds are enemies of surface
gnomes. The deep gnomes gain the same benefits as surface
gnomes when attacked by giants, bugbears, ogre magi, ogres, trolls,
or titans.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gray Mouser

Heh, enter the svirfneblin! Now those are some gnomes that can give a party some major headaches, what with their elemental summoning abilities and all!

I got tired of having only basically good gnomes hanging around. I thought that the svirfneblin would add some spice to the otherwise dull race. Of course my gnome illusionist/thief PC was always trying to do much the same...