Why do Halflings get damage bonuses?

[Ramaster]

I once read somewhere (an article about 4e before the game got released, perhaps?) that stated that WotC was making Halfling systematically "Taller" with each new edition. Their reasoning was that someone that is half the size of a human CANNOT realistically engage in melee combat with a human and win. This makes perfect sense, of course.

It might help to imagine the Half-lings as Three-quarter-lings; they are short, but no THAT short, or something, to compensate (a bit shorter than Dwarves if you will, but much slimmer).

I agree that giving Halflings a bonus to damage with their racial weapons is cool (same thing goes for Elves, Dwarves, etc...). The "Perfect Wording" would be, in my opinion: Halflings gain proficiency with short swords, daggers, slings, etc. If they were already proficient with any of these weapons, they instead deal damage with a dice one step bigger.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

It. Is the carrot
Haunts use small weapons in general, and if you play that way you get x bonus(die code)

 

[TrippyHippy]

Well, maybe in the interests of 'balance' we should also have Humans being able to step up damage on dice type in all weapons, with a double step up in a weapon of their choice?

Sorry, but it's a ridiculous rule that Halflings are able to inflict greater damage with any weapon. They are not a warrior race, so it's unrealistic to have them all trained in set classes of weapons. It's stereotyping that they (and Dwarves and Elves) are weighted towards particular weapons - what if someone wanted to play a rapier-wielding dwarf? Is it not a disadvantage that they miss out on the benefits of using an axe becausethey want to play something unusual too?

Moreover, it's just an unnecessary bonus.

 

[BobTheNob]

I dont see a massive issue. Is there really going to result in slews of halfling killing machines? At best, this puts them on par (damage wise) with medium sized races.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Halflings: an entire race of hoodie ninjas. All my halflings will be rogues dual-wielding short swords.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Also, we're not playing halflings from fantasy literature. We're playing halflings from Dungeons & Dragons. And the two are by no means the same.

So using one to deny the abilities of the other is kind of pointless.

 

[Remathilis]

Well, maybe in the interests of 'balance' we should also have Humans being able to step up damage on dice type in all weapons, with a double step up in a weapon of their choice?

Sorry, but it's a ridiculous rule that Halflings are able to inflict greater damage with any weapon. They are not a warrior race, so it's unrealistic to have them all trained in set classes of weapons. It's stereotyping that they (and Dwarves and Elves) are weighted towards particular weapons - what if someone wanted to play a rapier-wielding dwarf? Is it not a disadvantage that they miss out on the benefits of using an axe becausethey want to play something unusual too?

Moreover, it's just an unnecessary bonus.

They turn a 1d4 weapon (ave 2.5) into a 1d6 (ave 3.5) or a 1d6 to a 1d8 (ave 4.5) Its the Next way of giving them a +1 to damage.

And I LIKE that they reinforce the racial stereotypes. Good on them! Every fantasy game and novel almost anywhere has dwarves with axes, elves with bows, and halflings with daggers. Ergo, those are their racial weapons and your rewarded to go to theme. Dwarves, for example, were better served with a greatsword than a greataxe in 3e. Now, they are rewarded to keeping to racial type.

 

[adamc]

Sorry, but it's a ridiculous rule that Halflings are able to inflict greater damage with any weapon. They are not a warrior race, so it's unrealistic to have them all trained in set classes of weapons. It's stereotyping that they (and Dwarves and Elves) are weighted towards particular weapons - what if someone wanted to play a rapier-wielding dwarf? Is it not a disadvantage that they miss out on the benefits of using an axe becausethey want to play something unusual too?

Moreover, it's just an unnecessary bonus.

This whole thing strikes me as a non-issue. Halflings need to be competitive to be a viable playable race. Having these rules lets them be competitive while using appropriately sized weapons.

All the arguments about it not being realistic seem wildly out-of-place in a fantasy roleplaying game. If your point is that halflings shouldn't be a playable race, house-rule it in your campaign or something.

If your goal is to play a perfectly-balanced combat sim, I think D&D is not the right choice for you... but again, house rules would seem like a viable solution. It doesn't bother me, and I like having more options for player choices (although I think 4e went a little overboard).

 

[BobTheNob]

This whole thing strikes me as a non-issue. Halflings need to be competitive to be a viable playable race. Having these rules lets them be competitive while using appropriately sized weapons.

All the arguments about it not being realistic seem wildly out-of-place in a fantasy roleplaying game. If your point is that halflings shouldn't be a playable race, house-rule it in your campaign or something.

If your goal is to play a perfectly-balanced combat sim, I think D&D is not the right choice for you... but again, house rules would seem like a viable solution. It doesn't bother me, and I like having more options for player choices (although I think 4e went a little overboard).

Agreed. This whole thread is one of the biggest storm-in-a-teacups so far. Really, in terms of things we could focus our efforts on trying to provide feedback on, this one is nothing...they get a d8 where they would have got a d6? Well Whoopdy-do.

 

[ferratus]

I thought it was to represent the bonuses halflings have gotten to slings and thrown weapons since 2e.

Oh, and this strip: