Gnome: “Tinker” : This manual ability allows gnomes to make improvements to objects they have. By continuing to tinker with an object, eventually a gnome may create an item of much greater power than he had before. Each time the Gnome “tinkered” with an item, the item would gain a counter, and the gnome would have to wait before tinkering again. As the item began to gain tinker counters, the item would have a chance of gaining a more and more powerful abilities. It would be important to make the timer long enough between tinkerings so as to allow the higher power abilities only if the gnome was able to hold onto a piece of equipment for a substantial portion of his life. Also, make the chance of the tinker counter being applied a function of the level of the gnome vs. the level of the item. This would make low level items more desirable, since the gnome would have a better chance of improving it. Some ideas for these abilities (any new ability would replace the old ones):

1-10 counters (+1 hit, dam, or +5 hp)
10-20 counters (+2 hit, dam, or +10 hp)
20-30 counters (+3 hit, dam, or +15 hp)
30-40 counters (mini-stone launcher built into the device, fires a stone in combat)
40-50 counters (a flame thrower is attached, fires fire in combat)
50-60 counters (a mini-mechanical arm is attached that has a thread and needle, and stitches wounds)

...Rome...