Short People

Pour

First Post

• Nov 7, 2012

• #41

Does anyone remember the illustration from I think it was the 3e BoVD or maybe some Vile content in one of the Dragons, the one that shows a dungeon entrance in four different boxes. One was kid friendly, one was what I guess people call 'normal', the other was rated PG-13 edging on R, and the last was supposedly metal/XXX?

These Halflings really remind me of the kid friendly, light-side of that spectrum. I've sort of found all of this concept art a bit cartoonish starting with the orc, but these guys more so than the rest. Any possible way we could get something like light, medium, and hardcore designs in the PHB for each race, or maybe DMG?

No, it's not very feasible, it sends mixed messages about the brand, yada yada, but I like my D&D grubbier, uglier, and grittier than this. That said, I'm not looking to invalidate someone who wants a more storybook or moderate approach (it's all completely valid). Suppose my larger musing is, just like modularity of rules, is there any attempt at modularity of art?

 

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Mattachine

Adventurer

• Nov 8, 2012

• #42

They look like cartoon characters. No thanks.

 

A

adamc

First Post

• Nov 8, 2012

• #43

I don't like the tiny feet -- looks weird.

 

J

Jhaelen

First Post

• Nov 8, 2012

• #44

Hautamaki said:

What I'd like to see for halflings is a much more radical stat block for them; balanced, but a lot more radical. Something like cutting their str and con nearly in half, but a huge boost to dex, plus a bunch of other special abilities.

Click to expand...

Yup. That's what they should do for every race that is significantly smaller than a human.

I think the Earthdawn RPG did a good job of balancing its player races which cover the size range from trolls (about 9 feet) to windlings (about 1.5 feet). What makes it work is the Karma-Pool available to every character which varies in number of dice / cost / dice-type according to race. Without recalling the exact numbers it's similar to this:
- for trolls a karma die is a d4, costs 20xp to replenish, and the pool is limited to 10 dice.
- for windlings a karma die is a d12, costs 5xp to replenish, and the pool is limited to 40 dice.
Basically you can add a Karma die to checks made for signature powers.

Aren't halflings known to be lucky? Then introducing a 'Luck-Pool' could be the solution.

 

avin

First Post

• Nov 8, 2012

• #45

I don't get the complaing about "cartoon" or "chibi"... halflings are just plain silly in every incarnation I know and deserve that or worse

DIE HOBBITS

 

delericho

Legend

• Nov 8, 2012

• #46

It occurs to me that since "halfling" is clearly not the name of the race, nor indeed would be the name they chose for themselves, but rather a name that they were given by others, that means that there is no particular reason there should be one consistent look to them. And anyway, elves are allowed all manner of racial diversity (through a hundred and one subraces), so why not halflings?

And that fits with the sources, too. After all, there are many different interpretations to cover:

Hobbits/Hairfeets - LotR/Classic D&D (plus Regis from the Drizzt stories... although he seems to morph across the editions!)
Stouts - Classic D&D
Tallfellows - Classic D&D
Riverfolk - LotR (Gollum's people)
Kender - Dragonlance
Nelwyn - Willow (much like hobbits, but they wear shoes)
Savage Halflings - Dark Sun, Eberron
"Mafia" Halflings - WFRP
3e Halflings
4e Halflings

Now, I don't think the game necessarily needs to differentiate any of these mechanically - I think I'd be quite happy reskinned the basic 3e halfling for any of them (in my 3e game, of course!). So it just becomes a matter of flavour text and illustration.

Basically, I don't understand why there must be one single, consistent look... especially if doing that is inevitably going to unnecessarily annoy a bunch of people.

 

Li Shenron

Legend

• Nov 8, 2012

• #47

I think the best would be just to have pure Tolkien Hobbits in D&D.

And then release a fatwa on each and every lawyer who dares to speak about it.

 

Kaodi

Hero

• Nov 8, 2012

• #48

I suppose it is not a mistake that I really like the cartoons in these articles. Drew Sheneman is an editorial cartoonist with several awards under his belt. Though they apparently misspell his name in all of the credits...

 

Hussar

Legend

• Nov 9, 2012

• #49

Yeah, definitely getting a Disney/Pixar vibe from these images. Not sure about the Chibi thing though. Smacks a lot of the whole "D&D is anime" crap that we put up with for years.

Not hating it though. It's at least distinctive.

 

avin

First Post

• Nov 9, 2012

• #50

Li Shenron said:

I think the best would be just to have pure Tolkien Hobbits in D&D.

Click to expand...

I would rather have Half-Tarrasque/Half-Purple Elder Dragon Vampire Liches as a playable race... BURN THE HOBBITS!!!