D&D General why do we have halflings and gnomes?

[Charlaquin]

* For ecological reasons, I combine halflings and gnomes into one species and call the split rules 'representative of the diversity within the race'. It just doesn't make sense that they would be two different kinds of creatures, even if it does make sense that one creature would have dozens of different cultures.

I see the appeal of combining halflings and gnomes into one race with many cultures, but I don’t think it’s any weirder that two humanoid species of very small stature would evolve independently than that, what, several dozen species, many of them seemingly from different taxonomic classes, would all evolve the same basic body structure, type of intelligence, and form of communication. You kinda have to handwave such weirdness for fantasy settings to work. The various humanoid Folk were created directly by the gods, or at least by the gods’ designs, so it makes enough sense to me that two gods (and really, a lot more than that if we get into atypical PC races like goblins and Kobolds) wanted to make small races.

 

[Charlaquin]

elves and dwarves for some reason capture more auther imagination thus players had more to rip from, the small folk far less so for some reason.

I disagree. Maybe they capture more of your and your players’ imagination, but I and plenty of other folks I know are plenty inspired by halflings and gnomes.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

You've just divided all PCs into "90%" and "the other 90%" - I don't think that's how math works!

Johnathan

Overlap.

80% of PCs are both.

 

[Richards]

Ah, so we're not talking percentages so much as Venn diagrams, then.

Johnathan

 

[Mind of tempest]

I disagree. Maybe they capture more of your and your players’ imagination, but I and plenty of other folks I know are plenty inspired by halflings and gnomes.

I mean in media in general even very d&D inspired fantasy the halfling and gnomes get left out alot.
plus the more realitic takes on them are identical to yours the small folk hid or get used as slaves.

no great cultures to call on for them nothing like a history of months.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

It is only my take on it, and I have a few more bits and pieces, since I wrote a whole Genesis for them, but it makes them infinitely interesting to me, because so many races have this instinctual "perfect heaven" that we have created for them, but the Gnomes are like "are you kidding? This place is amazing, why would we want to go somewhere else?"

I love this. This is amazing. I'm going to steal this and change it a bit for my world, if that's okay with you.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I'm not saying halflings can't become adventurers. I'm saying that halfling culture actively discourages leaving home and disruption. Most halflings adventurers would be the weird kids and disaster survivors.

Halflings are more like a monster race with PC stats. Many of the other monstrous races of have cultures that would pump out more tomb raiders, door kickers, and murderhobos.

What an incredible leap.

Every single culture actively discourages adventuring. It's an insanely dangerous thing to do. It's always been for mavericks, those with little to lose, or those who have a huge point to prove.

Yep. Even cultures that encourage going out into the world don’t encourage making that your life’s work.

If the only adventurer option are Rebellious Punk, Disaster Survivors, and Street Urchins... is that race complete as an adventurer option.

Can you even play a halfling adventurer straight?

Every Halfling I’ve ever seen played says yes. And also that none of those are even common backgrounds for Halflings.

D&D's would be much lower. A lot lower.

You’ve presented nothing remotely compelling to support that claim.

no grant ambition and a vague curiosity to see stuff but no drive to do anything big

What’s that got to do with adventuring?

Because, well, if you are holding ideal farmlands, someone is either taking it, or you are fighting them off.

No one but a damn fool tries to go to war with halflings.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I mean in media in general even very d&D inspired fantasy the halfling and gnomes get left out alot.
plus the more realitic takes on them are identical to yours the small folk hid or get used as slaves.

no great cultures to call on for them nothing like a history of months.

It’s very hard to parse most of your post, but what on Earth does empire building, “great cultures”, etc, have to do with whether a race has a compelling place in the world?

The 4e Dragonborn writeup would have been utterly useless if it had stopped at “they had a great empire that fought endless wars with the tiefling empire”, because that doesn’t tell me anything about their place in the world now.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

no great cultures to call on for them nothing like a history of months.

Do yourself (and us) a favor, and please go look up what Halflings and Gnomes are like in Eberron. Prepare to be inspired.

What does it matter if main fantasy settings' gnomes and halflings don't inspire you? If you're the DM, you can make changes to them anyway you want.

Example from my worlds:
Halflings in my world worship the world's Sun and are pretty much all Life Clerics, Divine Soul Sorcerers, and Oath of Devotion Paladins who have shields shaped like the Sun.

Gnomes are master code-breakers and linguists, creating their own language filled with simplified language and slang (it's a weird mix of Common, Gnomish, Dwarven, and Modron). They venerate a demigod-like entity known as The Cypher, who sends them cryptic omens and guidance through technology, helping them make the world a better place.

You don't have to keep gnomes and halflings (or any other race for that matter) the same in your world. It's your world. Do what you want with it. Its only limit is your imagination.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

It also helps me with the whole "We don't empire build" thing. Because, well, if you are holding ideal farmlands, someone is either taking it, or you are fighting them off.

I now want to make a world that has an empire run by halflings. The big races could be their slaves, seen as inferior because they're big and clumsy, and thus easy to keep track of.