D&D 4E 4E Halflings unrecognizable from Tolkien hobbits

[Panamon Creel]

Having just finished reading Races and Classes, I can say that I generally enjoyed it. I have hopes for the new streamlined rules and classes, and I can live with dragonborn and tieflings (although I think they would fit better in a supplement), and I like the references to the POL setting. However, one thing and one thing alone in R&C really irritated me - the new swamprat, dreadlocked halflings.

Even though I am familiar with the Lidda-type halflings, I would not have even recognized any of the artwork in R&C depicting halflings as "halflings", if it was not for the caption! Not one! They all look like slim dreadlocked humans. (I think the slimness makes them look tall, if they are not in some crouching position). (And I'm not certainly not racist, but what is with the "black halfling cleric"?)

As Dave Noonan explains in a side-bar, WOTC / TSR has been moving away from Tolkien hobbits ever since they re-named them halflings from the original game in the late 70s. Then with Dragonlance in the 80s came the obnoxious Kender full of wanderlust. The advent of 3E continued to de-Tolkienize halflings with the leather-clad, Trinity-esq Lidda, and then moved even further in 3.5 with the Eberron dragon-riding barbarian halflings. So now Races & Classes presents halflings as slightly taller with the "lithe physique of gymasts" who rule the waterways, who definitely don't have hairy feet and need shoes, and who from the art work apparently all have dreadlocks.

Although I can and will change this fluff easily enough (if I am the DM), I think it is a mistake for the game as a whole. Would you take away beards from dwarfs or pointy ears from elves? No. Then why drastically change halflings to make them unrecognizable from the dominant fantasy archetype? Millions of people are introduced to fantasy through Tolkien's books (and now Peter Jackson's movies) and would easily recognize halflings as "hobbits." Now I don't think any newbie to the hobby will pick up the book and recognize this distorted fantasy archetype.

That is exactly how I got into the game when I was 6 yrs old- by playing a halfling who I creatively named "Bilbo Baggins" and killed a giant rat with my dagger "Sting". (I guess this would still be possible for this generation's kids, although their "Bilbos" will have boots, tight leather pants, a riverboat and dreads). (Sorry to keep harping on the dreads, but man is that irritating - just as bad as pictures as Tieflings on every other page).

The core rules and setting should reflect a generic fantasy setting. Therefore, I wish that WOTC would keep kender/ Eberron/ non-Tolkien halflings out of the core setting!

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Conversely, I couldn't be happier that Tolkien's hobbits are dead and buried. They are the one thing more than anything else that feels like an unexcusable ripoff from Middle-Earth, and they simply do not belong in Dungeons & Dragons.

 

[Wolfspider]

The dreads bother you too? Heh. They annoy the heck out of me.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

(And I'm not certainly not racist, but what is with the "black halfling cleric"?)

And if you're not racist, what exactly is the problem with halflings having dark skin and dreadlocks or cornrows? Hmm? Why does that bother you so damn much?

 

[Wolfspider]

Conversely, I couldn't be happier that Tolkien's hobbits are dead and buried. They are the one thing more than anything else that feels like an unexcusable ripoff from Middle-Earth, and they simply do not belong in Dungeons & Dragons.

Then how do you feel about the elves being even more Tolkienized with the division between elves and eladrin?

 

[Wolfspider]

And if you're not racist, what exactly is the problem with halflings having dark skin and dreadlocks or cornrows? Hmm? Why does that bother you so damn much?

I have no problems with any of the races having dark skin or whatnot. The dreads bother me because they are very common...too common...among the characters in the book. It's overdone, in my opinion. I would have the same reaction if too many characters weilded katanas or wore trenchcoats, really. It's so cool it's totally lame.

 

[Hejdun]

Erm, hate to break it to you, but 3e killed the Tolkein halflings. 3e Gnomes adopted a lot of Hobbit characteristics (live in holes underground, good Constitution, bard favored class), but now those are gone too.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Then how do you feel about the elves being even more Tolkienized with the division between elves and eladrin?

I don't think it's particularly Tolkienised. Dungeons & Dragons has had "high" and "wood" elves for a long time, but the eladrin's strong association with arcane magic and the faerie realms of the Feywild is a far cry in practical terms from Tolkien's perfected humanity. They don't even live in the mortal world, as a general rule, and there's nothing Tolkienesque about eladrin lords declaring the Wild Hunt!

Likewise Fourth Edition elves - while clearly closer to the Middle-Earth standard - seem to me to be a great deal less civilised than the elves of Mirkwood or whatever. Maybe it's my mistaken impression, but in any event, Tolkienesque or not, they're a lot more useful to me as a setting designer and player than hobbits ever could be.

 

[The Human Target]

Out of the races of Middle Earth, hobbits are by far the least used in general fantasy and are in no way a dominant fantasy archtype.

As written, they stand out like a sore thumb in DnD and make generally crappy adventurers.

I do hate the dreads though, simply because I hate races having a defacto easily changeable physical characteristic (hairstyles, weight, clothing, etc.)

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I have no problems with any of the races having dark skin or whatnot. The dreads bother me because they are very common...too common...among the characters in the book. It's overdone, in my opinion. I would have the same reaction if too many characters weilded katanas or wore trenchcoats, really. It's so cool it's totally lame.

It seems to me that all the halflings have dreadlocks or cornrows, but then so too do all the male dwarves have neatly gathered beards contained and separated by rings and other jewelry . . . and the artist's notes make it clear that all of this art deliberately contains identifiable commonalities, like the tieflings' melted and twisted blades, mismatched human armour, dragonborn weapons made of bone, you name it.

So yeah, all the halflings have tightly-braided hair. All the dwarven beards are neatly contained and adorned with metal, too. Does it just bother you because you associate cornrows and dreadlocks with contemporary black Americans, or something? That would seem a failure of imagination on your part, if you ask me.