Q240: Question about the original melee killer gnome. You use Confound the Big Folk/Underfoot Combat to enter the space of somebody 2 sizes bigger than you. But, what's to stop them from just 5-foot stepping away from you on their turn, ruining the tactical feat set-ups from Confound the Big Folk? Is there any other answer to that besides Thicket of Blades? And, unless you have Stand Still, too, and now we're talking about a big commitment, they will probably just suck the attack of opportunity rather than have you do your hellaecious confounding of them.
Q240b: Any good suggestions for how to do credible damage as a melee tanking gnome? The build right now is just Titan Fighting + Dodge + Midnight Dodge. I'd love to use Iron Guard's Glare to encourage them to attack me, too. I could go Knight, but that takes a lot of (kinda sucky) levels to keep the challenge up. There's also Goad, which isn't a bad use of a move action, but then I'd need good standard action attacks, aka, ToB.
Things that have occurred to me are: sneak attack (which I don't love, since I use it a lot), skirmish (seems kind of out of place), dragonfire inspiration (combined w/ Song of the White Raven or Initiate of Milil, a lot of feat investment, but the best option I've thought of so far), or ToB strikes (which I've done a few times and has a little bit of the limited use problem b/c you'd have to recharge them).
Thanks.