D&D 5E What is the appeal of the weird fantasy races?

[doctorbadwolf]

he whole "it's a magic game where characters have magic" kinda admits to a complete lack of realism

lol wat.

No, it doesn't. At all. By any stretch of the imagination.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I don't think it should be particularly controversial observation that the 'traditional' fantasy species are basically just 'short humans', 'pointy-eared humans' etc. This makes them easier for some people to accept than more 'exotic' looking species, whilst the same time making them boring to others. It's just a matter of preference.

 

[Dausuul]

Now, if you think that the Hobbits were non-combatants who just needed protecting...are you sure you read the books? Because you're objectively wrong about that.

I'd have to agree. Once the Fellowship was broken and they had to fend for themselves, they did all right. They benefited from a generous supply of magic items, from ent-draughts to Galadriel's phial and assorted magic swords; even so, Pippin killed a troll-chief, Merry provided an assist against the Witch-King, and Sam beat Shelob in a straight-up fight, all by himself. They also dealt quite efficiently with Saruman's bandits in the Scouring of the Shire.

One could say Tolkien was really stretching plausibility in some of those fights, and I wouldn't argue with that. Shelob should have hung Sam out to dry. However, that doesn't change the fact that canonically, the hobbits did a fair bit of fighting and acquitted themselves pretty well.

 

[Minigiant]

Umm... This is not at all how halflings are described in 5e. Is it possible that your grievances with them are holdovers from previous editions?

https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/halfling

Yes it does.

Halflings are an affable and cheerful people. They cherish the bonds of family and friendship as well as the comforts of hearth and home, harboring few dreams of gold or glory. Even adventurers among them usually venture into the world for reasons of community, friendship, wanderlust, or curiosity. They love discovering new things, even simple things, such as an exotic food or an unfamiliar style of clothing.

It practically says halflings adventurers occur because a particular curious halfling is extra curious or they are defending their home. As described, a halfling adventurer would not delve into a dungeon unless desiring to stop something in it from geting out an hurting friend and family.

As described, halfling would be an NPC race.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think the reason people point to chimpanzees is not to suggest that halflings are built like chimpanzees, but to point out that they don’t have to be built like humans. The idea of a species that is physically smaller than humans but with comparable strength is really not that outlandish. Though, even if it was, I don’t think that would matter much. It’s fantasy. Suspension of disbelief is a necessary part of the buy-in.

Yep, and chimps are much, much, stronger than humans. A species that is instead just not meaningfully weaker than humans is downright pedestrian.

Compare that to a dragon person? Who is for some reason bipedal? And breaths lightning? And is incredibly dense compared to a human but only decently stronger, and yet has just as much energy to get through the day as a human? That's more believable? lol no.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I'd have to agree. Once the Fellowship was broken and they had to fend for themselves, they did all right. They benefited from a generous supply of magic items, from ent-draughts to Galadriel's phial and assorted magic swords; even so, Pippin killed a troll-chief, Merry provided an assist against the Witch-King, and Sam beat Shelob in a straight-up fight, all by himself. They also dealt quite efficiently with Saruman's bandits in the Scouring of the Shire.

One could say Tolkien was really stretching plausibility in some of those fights, and I wouldn't argue with that. Shelob should have hung Sam out to dry. However, that doesn't change the fact that canonically, the hobbits did a fair bit of fighting and acquitted themselves pretty well.

I mean, they weren't exactly useless from the jump in the books. It's one of my few real gripes with the movies.

Disagree about Shelob, though. What happened is hardly outside the realm of luck and courage and Sam not being blinded while Shelob was.

 

[Minigiant]

Nope. A halfling adventurer is, nearly always and by definition, one of the small percentage of halflings who experience a wanderlust and feel a call to leave home and find adventure.

That's the point.

Halfling adventurers would be the smallest percentage of the race compared to almost every other intelligent race.

The fact that people accept them as adventurers more than orcs or cat people is illogical. It's a preference out of familiarity or nostalgia and not reason. As described Halfling don't belong in the Player's Handbook because they are so rare. They belong in the DMG, MM, MTOF, or something.

 

[Charlaquin]

It practically says halflings adventurers occur because a particular curious halfling is extra curious or they are defending their home. As described, a halfling adenturer would not delve into a dungeon unless desiring to stop something in it from geting out an hurting friend and family.

That is a pretty tortured interpretation of the text if you ask me, and it’s still a far cry from how you characterized them in your previous post.

Halflings are a race of small humaniods who look like humans but (1) prefer to stay home.

Arguably supported in the text, though exceptions to this trend are common enough that the text considers them worth pointing out, and it’s safe to assume adventuring halflings will be among such exceptions.

Only a few even like leaving home and it's only via curiosity. But even THEN halflings don't act, they watch in amusement

The idea that halfling adventurers don’t act but watch in amusement is not supported by the text.

(2), And even then, halflings don mess with stuff, they don't conquer or hunt or build or destroy

As a general trend, sure. They are more likely to adventure out of curiosity, wanderlust, or bonds of friendship with their fellow adventurers, rather than desire for conquest. I fail to see how this is a problem, unless your D&D is pure colonialist wish fulfillment, rather than heroic questing.

(3). Oh and they suck at fighting fair

Where on earth do you get this idea from?

(4) and have no magical history in their culture, arcane, clerical, or otherwise

Sure. Is that a problem?

 

[Maxperson]

The Halfling Race for Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Fifth Edition (5e) - D&D Beyond

Regis the halfling, the only one of his kind for hundreds of miles in any direction, locked his fingers behind his head and leaned back against the mossy blanket of the tree trunk. Regis was short, even by the standards of his diminutive race, with the fluff of his curly brown...

www.dndbeyond.com

Yes it does.


It practically says halflings adventurers occur because a particular curious halfling is extra curious or they are defending their home. As described, a halfling adventurer would not delve into a dungeon unless desiring to stop something in it from geting out an hurting friend and family.

As described, halfling would be an NPC race.

That's not entirely accurate. This quote is from the 5e PHB Halfling section.

"Even adventurers among them usually venture into the world for reasons of community, friendship, wanderlust, or curiosity. They love discovering new things, even simple things, such as an exotic food or an unfamiliar style of clothing."

They could go into the dungeon for no other reason than curiosity and a desire to discover something new. No need for there to be some threat to hearth and home.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The Halfling Race for Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Fifth Edition (5e) - D&D Beyond

Regis the halfling, the only one of his kind for hundreds of miles in any direction, locked his fingers behind his head and leaned back against the mossy blanket of the tree trunk. Regis was short, even by the standards of his diminutive race, with the fluff of his curly brown...

www.dndbeyond.com

Yes it does.


It practically says halflings adventurers occur because a particular curious halfling is extra curious or they are defending their home. As described, a halfling adventurer would not delve into a dungeon unless desiring to stop something in it from geting out an hurting friend and family.

As described, halfling would be an NPC race.

This is the greatest leap of logic I've seen on this site in months.

It literally says that halflings adventure for several reasons, including curiosity and wanderlust. As described, a halfling adventurer would delve into a dungeon because it looks awful interesting in there, and "who knows if any creature with a language has been down there in the last few hundred years! Anything could be down there!"

Why are you trying to twist the text of the game to make a false point about halflings? Just approach the topic as it is.