D&D Beyond: Halflings

[Sunseeker]

The core books have a lot of core metasetting material, from race description to the Planes.

Yeah, it's more than I would like.

 

[Azzy]

Yeah, it's more than I would like.

While I don't share that opinion, I can dig that—there some of the current fluff I don't like, either.

 

[Charlaquin]

Well sure any old goat can do that. But my point was more that, the more these guys come out and "talk about D&D" the more they're setting expectations for people of what they might find at a table, which places more work on me to explain that no, wanderlust is a natural element of humanoids, you Mr Halfling just happen to have a stronger sense of it than others of your people.

This is why I tend to lean towards deconstructions of the Tolkien-derived tropes they recycle in my homebrew. Instead of fighting those expecations of what might be found, I make them work to my advantage. "Why yes, your character probably does think of halflings as simple farmers, dwarves as beer loving beard growing miners, elves as exotic noble savages, etc. Those are very common misconceptions, though the reality is much more complex than the sterotypes."

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Maybe all you guys who are upset about "all the gods in D&D" can set up a kickstarter to get enough money to hire WotC to write up something for you. It certainly can't be less effective than complaining about it on Enworld.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Ironically, the opposite is also true. Attributing flavor to the gods, makes the role of the gods feel more mechanical and feel less divine. There is no difference between Mordin making a metal dwarf statue come to life versus a mortal wizard who created a golem or an owlbear. They are simply powerful wizards, both. This is fine for a setting, but it makes less sense to call them ‘gods’ and much less sense to ‘worship’ them. They are powerful. So what.

Wait, how, what now?

The wizard isn’t creating a sentient race of people who will go forth and excercise free will, grow and evolve, reproduce without any further interference, etc. and the wizard can never become an actual greater god just by learning more magic. They can become something that the weak might worship, but they can’t become a font of divine power, answering prayers, creating a divine realm on the astral plane, influencing broad categories of mortal life, etc.

There is an enormous gulf between wizard and god.

Right I mean, this whole description of them being "quaintly rural" for "no apparent reason" and "oh yeah the reason is divine protection" is just...annoying. I mean, they're short, sure, but that won't stop a driven and creative race from conquering the world, developing incredible technology or an incredible culture.

Now I'm tempted to include a halfling empire in my world. Conquering the world to make it safe for short races everywhere! They'd be allied with the Gnomes of course. The Halflings would be the brutal might and the Gnomes would be the mad scientists. Hmmm...I like this idea.

Yeah, the idea that halflings are particularly vulnerable because they are small and don’t have innate magic is just weird, and always has been.

They’re stealthy, very agile, and fully capable of making stabby things. They don’t need divine intervention to survive.

 

[Yaarel]

Wait, how, what now?

The wizard isn’t creating a sentient race of people who will go forth and excercise free will, grow and evolve, reproduce without any further interference, etc. and the wizard can never become an actual greater god just by learning more magic. ... There is an enormous gulf between wizard and god.

Wait. Are you suggesting that wizards lack the Awaken spell?

Wizards can create sentient (sapient) beings just fine. And at mid tier levels.

If I remember correctly, human wizards created the warforged sentient living constructs.

Humans can create life.



[Clarification. Awaken is on the druid spell list, but the wizard can access it via Wish.]

 

[Charlaquin]

Maybe all you guys who are upset about "all the gods in D&D" can set up a kickstarter to get enough money to hire WotC to write up something for you. It certainly can't be less effective than complaining about it on Enworld.

The purpose of a forum is to share opinions and engage in discussion.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Wait. Are you suggesting that wizards lack the Awaken spell?

Wizards can create sentient (sapient) beings just fine. And at mid tier levels.

If I remember correctly, human wizards created the warforged sentient living constructs.

Humans can create life.

Awaken doesn’t let you create a living race of flesh and bone people that can reproduce and evolve on their own.

Warforged can’t reproduce, and humans required creation forges (which they don’t fully understand) to make Warforged. Further, the Warforged being sapient was a shocking development that no one expected or wanted. In canon Eberron, how the Warforged even came to be sentient is a mystery. For all we know it was divine intervention.

Wizards can do what gods do is an enormous stretch.

 

[Yaarel]

The ‘gods’ learn the same magic by the same means that humans do. D&D ‘gods’ are nothing except powerful wizards of various disciplines.

If you want to exaggerate the potency of their ‘portfolios’, well, humans can acquire those same portfolios from them.

Humans do what the ‘gods’ do. The ‘gods’ do what humans do.

 

[Charlaquin]

The ‘gods’ learn the same magic by the same means that humans do. D&D ‘gods’ are nothing except powerful wizards of various disciplines.

If you want to exaggerate the potency of their ‘portfolios’, well, humans can acquire those same portfolios from them.

Humans do what the ‘gods’ do. The ‘gods’ do what humans do.

Which is not that atypical of actual mythological deities. The idea of gods as omnipotent beings, infinitely beyond the reach of mortal ken is mostly seen in mono-theistic religions. In poly-theistic religions, it’s far more common for “Gods” to be, for all intents and purposes, magically powerful people. Their powers are limited in both scope and scale, they are often effectively mortal (or at least capable of dying under particular circumstances), and there is often very little distinction drawn between them and other magical beings, beyond “these are the ones we pray to.” And frequently you pray to them only because they have a particularly dangerous combination of power and pettiness. You sacrifice your cattle to Zeus not because he loves you and you want to return that love. You do it because you don’t want to get struck by lightning, and he’s not above chucking a bolt at you if he doesn’t get his tithe.

I’d actually like to see a lot more of that in D&D. In a world where the Gods objectively, demonstrably exist, it makes much more sense for these “Gods” to be monsters you kneel to than for them to be anything approaching omnipotent.