RPG Evolution: The Trouble with Halflings

Over the decades I've developed my campaign world to match the archetypes my players wanted to play. In all those years, nobody's ever played a halfling.

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.​

So What's the Problem?​

Halflings, derived from hobbits, have been a curious nod to Tolkien's influence on fantasy. While dwarves and elves have deep mythological roots, hobbits are more modern inventions. And their inclusion was very much a response to the adventurous life that the agrarian homebodies considered an aberration. In short, most hobbits didn't want to be adventurers, and Bilbo, Frodo, and the others were forever changed by their experiences, such that it was difficult for them to reintegrate when they returned home. You don't hear much about elves and dwarves having difficulty returning home after being adventurers, and for good reason. Tolkien was making a point about the human condition and the nature of war by using hobbits as proxies.

As a literary construct, hobbits serve a specific purpose. In The Hobbit, they are proxies for children. In The Lord of the Rings, they are proxies for farmers and other folk who were thrust into the industrialized nightmare of mass warfare. In both cases, hobbits were a positioned in contrast to the violent lifestyle of adventurers who live and die by the sword.

Which is at least in part why they're challenging to integrate into a campaign world. And yet, we have strong hobbit archetypes in Dungeons & Dragons, thanks to Dragonlance.

Kender. Kender Are the Problem​

I did know one player who loved to play kender. We never played together in a campaign, at least in part because kender are an integral part of the Dragonlance setting and we weren't playing in Dragonlance. But he would play a kender in every game he played, including in massive multiplayers like Ultima Online. And he was eye-rollingly aggravating, as he loved "borrowing" things from everyone (a trait established by Tasselhoff Burrfoot).

Part of the issue with kender is that they aren't thieves, per se, but have a child-like curiosity that causes them to "borrow" things without understanding that borrowing said things without permission is tantamount to stealing in most cultures. In essence, it results in a character who steals but doesn't admit to stealing, which can be problematic for inter-party harmony. Worse, kender have a very broad idea of what to "borrow" (which is not limited to just valuables) and have always been positioned as being offended by accusations of thievery. It sets up a scenario where either the party is very tolerant of the kender or conflict ensues. This aspect of kender has been significantly minimized in the latest draft for Unearthed Arcana.

Big Heads, Little Bodies​

The latest incarnation of halflings brings them back to the fun-loving roots. Their appearance is decidedly not "little children" or "overweight short people." Rather, they appear more like political cartoons of eras past, where exaggerated features were used as caricatures, adding further to their comical qualities. But this doesn't solve the outstanding problem that, for a game that is often about conflict, the original prototypes for halflings avoided it. They were heroes precisely because they were thrust into difficult situations and had to rise to the challenge. That requires significant work in a campaign to encourage a player to play a halfling character who would rather just stay home.

There's also the simple matter of integrating halflings into societies where they aren't necessarily living apart. Presumably, most human campaigns have farmers; dwarves and elves occupy less civilized niches, where halflings are a working class who lives right alongside the rest of humanity in plain sight. Figuring out how to accommodate them matters a lot. Do humans just treat them like children? Would halflings want to be anywhere near a larger humanoids' dwellings as a result? Or are halflings given mythical status like fey? Or are they more like inveterate pranksters and tricksters, treating them more like gnomes? And if halflings are more like gnomes, then why have gnomes?

There are opportunities to integrate halflings into a world, but they aren't quite so easy to plop down into a setting as dwarves and elves. I still haven't quite figured out how to make them work in my campaign that doesn't feel like a one-off rather than a separate species. But I did finally find a space for gnomes, which I'll discuss in another article.

Your Turn: How have you integrated halflings into your campaign world?

 

[Micah Sweet]

One D&D has subraces for elves and the weird celestials and dragonborn. Current D&D has more subraces, sure

One D&D has separate races for subraces with physical differences, like the drow.

 

[Clint_L]

Most of these suggestions seem to rely on very specific beliefs about Halfings, mostly derived from Tolkien. But I'm not running a campaign set on Middle Earth. I think that racial features should be minimal and confined to physical characteristics or maybe magical abilities, with an eye to balance. There absolutely should not be race-based skills in the PHB because every D&D world is its own thing, and what might be true in my world might not be true in yours. Leave all that stuff to the DM and player.

I like the Tolkien stereotype that Hobbits are big into food. I think it's entertaining. So I keep that for some Halflings in my world, but it certainly isn't automatically true of all of them, and if a player wants their Halfling to be a skinny vegan, well then more power to 'em. I don't need WotC prescribing what Halfing culture must be, though if they want to offer a few examples from different settings, well, it's always good to share ideas.

 

[bedir than]

One D&D has separate races for subraces with physical differences, like the drow.

This is untrue

 

[James Gasik]

Most of these suggestions seem to rely on very specific beliefs about Halfings, mostly derived from Tolkien. But I'm not running a campaign set on Middle Earth. I think that racial features should be minimal and confined to physical characteristics or maybe magical abilities, with an eye to balance. There absolutely should not be race-based skills in the PHB because every D&D world is its own thing, and what might be true in my world might not be true in yours. Leave all that stuff to the DM and player.

I like the Tolkien stereotype that Hobbits are big into food. I think it's entertaining. So I keep that for some Halflings in my world, but it certainly isn't automatically true of all of them, and if a player wants their Halfling to be a skinny vegan, well then more power to 'em. I don't need WotC prescribing what Halfing culture must be, though if they want to offer a few examples from different settings, well, it's always good to share ideas.

Fantasy Craft had an interesting idea that you could craft consumable meals, that granted a temporary buff when you ate them. And their Halflings could eat two such meals a day, as I recall.

 

[Scribe]

And their inclusion was very much a response to the adventurous life that the agrarian homebodies considered an aberration. In short, most hobbits didn't want to be adventurers, and Bilbo, Frodo, and the others were forever changed by their experiences, such that it was difficult for them to reintegrate when they returned home. You don't hear much about elves and dwarves having difficulty returning home after being adventurers, and for good reason. Tolkien was making a point about the human condition and the nature of war by using hobbits as proxies.

In The Lord of the Rings, they are proxies for farmers and other folk who were thrust into the industrialized nightmare of mass warfare. In both cases, hobbits were a positioned in contrast to the violent lifestyle of adventurers who live and die by the sword.

These 2 segments, are enough for me. Its the point to me of what Halflings (as stand in's for Hobbits) should be.

Part of the issue with kender is that they aren't thieves, per se, but have a child-like curiosity that causes them to "borrow" things without understanding that borrowing said things without permission is tantamount to stealing in most cultures.

I know I'm in (here anyway) a dramatic minority, but I also have zero issue with Kender, so sue me.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Most of these suggestions seem to rely on very specific beliefs about Halfings, mostly derived from Tolkien. But I'm not running a campaign set on Middle Earth. I think that racial features should be minimal and confined to physical characteristics or maybe magical abilities, with an eye to balance. There absolutely should not be race-based skills in the PHB because every D&D world is its own thing, and what might be true in my world might not be true in yours. Leave all that stuff to the DM and player.

I like the Tolkien stereotype that Hobbits are big into food. I think it's entertaining. So I keep that for some Halflings in my world, but it certainly isn't automatically true of all of them, and if a player wants their Halfling to be a skinny vegan, well then more power to 'em. I don't need WotC prescribing what Halfing culture must be, though if they want to offer a few examples from different settings, well, it's always good to share ideas.

I think this is a big point for me. Tolkien's Hobbits are very specific to Middle Earth, and he wrote them consistently to be the stand-ins for pastoral englishmen. If you aren't running a campaign in Middle Earth, they just don't fit well.

Like, @Scribe just points out that part of the thing Tolkien wanted was that Bilbo and Frodo were scarred by their experiences and had a hard time integrating back into society. Which fits when you are alluding to the horrors of the World Wars, but it actually is rather awkward to try to do for DnD.

Firstly, because DnD is a much more violent "setting". You can actually count very very few times that Bilbo or Frodo drew their weapons and fought. Most of the time they were in a dangerous situation they didn't fight, and they rarely killed. You might be able to find something like six times per each of them that they actually engaged in combat. For a DnD character that is a single day's worth of conflict. Secondly, most players don't want to engage with the idea of their characters having or developing PTSD or even dealing with their character's retirement very much. Which goes into the Third Point, which is if the player's DO want that sort of stuff... they probably don't want it to be only the Hobbits that deal with it, but everyone. And an addendum that waiting until the end of the campaign for something that defines your character isn't great.


I'm not sure I agree with racial abilities being minimal though. I think they should have a significant impact. You should KNOW that you are dealing with someone with unique capabilities when you are dealing with a specific race. I actually was just running a group of bandits who I made mixed races (all short) and just their racial abilities alone suddenly changed a lot about how I thought of them and how they were going to act. The Harengon was able to reposition quickly, the dwarves were super tough, the tiefling used magic instead of a ranged weapon, the Earth Genasi was able to deflect blows from the weapons of the players, the leader was a Deep Gnome and was able to stealth and retreat because of the gnome traits. It took a group of generic bandits and added an entire level of complexity to them that altered how they approached the fight.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Why do you always do this? Why do you think that because I express a well-researched and well-founded opinion I must be "I AM THE SINGLE ARBITER OF TRUTH ACROSS ALL THINGS!!!!" about it? Like, you realize that instead of trying to make this position sound like it is insane, implying I must somehow require everyone to have read all of DnD and reference some weighted formula, you could just... give examples of why I'm wrong about humans.

I mean, despite your cussing and theatrics, I'm not discounting the Designers of DnD at all, nor am I discounting the rulebooks. I am in fact referencing those materials. So, since I'm referencing those materials, instead of just trying to make the PHB the only possible thing that can define DnD (which would also apply and discount Dark Sun Halflings) you could reference some official world where DnD humans aren't as I describe.

Except... you can't. Can you? See, this is the trick about your whole show here. You have never once actually said I am wrong about humans. You declared that the PHB was accurately described, but you've never provided evidence that the settings 100% follow the PHB and have no humans who are kind, content, small-time villagers who don't want anything to do with adventure. You declare my position ridiculous... but you don't actually refute my position.

And before you once more start in on Dungeon Masters, I again must remind you, Dungeon Masters do not write official DnD content for WoTC. Just because little Timmy made a world where every human grows spikes and breathes fire, doesn't mean that is official DnD content from WoTC.

So, how about it? Instead of writhing around trying to make me seem unreasonable or out-of-touch or trolling or whichever flavor you have today, can you actually disprove what I am saying about humanity in DnD? Do you have a counter-argument, or is it just more attacks attempting to discredit me?

Hmm..how to respond to a post that begins with "why do you always do this"

I feel no need to prove what humans are in D&D. The designers have already done so in the section labeled 'Races' in the PHB.

I feel no need to prove what halflings are in D&D. The designers have already done so in the section labeled 'Races' in the PHB.

As far as your "Well-researched, well-founded opinion"..

I find your research silly from end to end..

I find the exercise silly.
I find the chosen "evidence" silly.
I find the interpretations of that evidence silly.
I find the conclusions that you are willing to draw from it silly.

As such I choose not to engage with it.

I do apologize for "all my cussing". I did not anticipate the level of offense that could be taken from the one-time use of a word that appears in the King James Bible. I will strive to do better.

 

[CreamCloud0]

halflings could probably have something like this and really benefit from it

Halfling small weapon mastery: you have proficiency with daggers, handaxes, lighthammers, javelins and slings, when attacking with any one of these weapons you deal a crit on an 18 or above, the range you can make ranged attacks at without disadvantage is increased by 50%(20/60 becomes 30/60, 30/120 becomes 45/120), additionally you can load your sling as part of any attack made with it and make as many attacks as you are able to.

I don’t think this is excessive really, none of these weapons are over a d6 and considering halflings cant use heavy weapons without disadvantage i think it balances out all things considered, plus it’s nonmagical.

Edit: would the spear be too much to add to the list of weapons there?

 

[James Gasik]

halflings could probably have something like this and really benefit from it

Halfling small weapon mastery: you have proficiency with daggers, handaxes, lighthammers, javelins and slings, when attacking with any one of these weapons you deal a crit on an 18 or above, the range you can make ranged attacks at without disadvantage is increased by 50%(20/60 becomes 30/60, 30/120 becomes 45/120), additionally you can load your sling as part of any attack made with it and make as many attacks as you are able to.

I don’t think this is excessive really, none of these weapons are over a d6 and considering halflings cant use heavy weapons without disadvantage i think it balances out all things considered, plus it’s nonmagical.

Edit: would the spear be too much to add to the list of weapons there?

I don't think the spear would be problematic, but some people might, because of Polearm Master (though we don't yet know what the future holds for that Feat). This would make Halflings quite nice as Paladins or Rogues (at least, with the current critical hit rules), and be pretty decent with the proposed upgrade to two weapon fighting.

That having been said, I'm sure someone would say this is too strong because it would make Halflings "the best" at certain builds, no matter how niche. I think that's a little silly, because you can't make all races equal at everything, so someone has to be the best choice, but I suppose the logic comes from the optimizer mindset, where you can feel "forced" to play something you don't want to, because the other choices are a complete downgrade.

I don't personally mind, because I like playing Halflings, but YMMV.

 

[Oofta]

I don't think the spear would be problematic, but some people might, because of Polearm Master (though we don't yet know what the future holds for that Feat). This would make Halflings quite nice as Paladins or Rogues (at least, with the current critical hit rules), and be pretty decent with the proposed upgrade to two weapon fighting.

That having been said, I'm sure someone would say this is too strong because it would make Halflings "the best" at certain builds, no matter how niche. I think that's a little silly, because you can't make all races equal at everything, so someone has to be the best choice, but I suppose the logic comes from the optimizer mindset, where you can feel "forced" to play something you don't want to, because the other choices are a complete downgrade.

I don't personally mind, because I like playing Halflings, but YMMV.

In the playtest, pole arm master requires a heavy reach weapon. Seems like they don't care for the 1-handed spear/quarterstaff exploit either.

I don't have problems with creating niches for different races, there are only so many ways to distinguish them. Unless you pick your race which gives you nothing that has direct impact on the game and then pick from a menu of options there's are always going to be a bit of a mono-culture per race.