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

[DND_Reborn]

Because we live in homes and "gnalflings" sounds silly?

 

[Oofta]

What happens, like in many D&D campaigns, when the wilderness comes to you and you have no military?



Well we are talking about a fantasy game ABOUT scary monsters and evil humanoids living out there.

I can get such a fantasy in a kids Saturday morning cartoon show.

But halflings having no army, no magic, tons of food, and staying out of politics seems a bit weird in a world of dark lords, drow, and dragons.

Why are you assuming they have no military or defenses? They aren't typically bent on conquest, there's nothing that says they don't defend themselves. It's not like the structure of military or defenses is spelled out for other races unless they are specifically militaristic like hobgoblins.

It's going to be campaign dependent. Some halflings may live in a dangerous area, others are going to be settled in a peaceful community.

 

[Minigiant]

Why are you assuming they have no military or defenses? They aren't typically bent on conquest, there's nothing that says they don't defend themselves. It's not like the structure of military or defenses is spelled out for other races unless they are specifically militaristic like hobgoblins.

It's going to be campaign dependent. Some halflings may live in a dangerous area, others are going to be settled in a peaceful community.

The game implies that halflings don't have much of a military and are very reliant on other races for defence.

 

[Oofta]

The game implies that halflings don't have much of a military and are very reliant on other races for defence.

It says nothing about their military. Same with vast majority of races in the book. Why would halflings be any different? Yes, they can fit into other people's communities easily, they aren't interested in conquest, when they do form their own communities those communities are peaceful. Peaceful does not mean not having defenses against outsiders, just that there's not a lot of internal strife.

You seem to be reading between the lines a lot and bringing in your own preconceived notions. Unless of course there's some entry somewhere I'm not aware of.

 

[Minigiant]

It says nothing about their military. Same with vast majority of races in the book. Why would halflings be any different? Yes, they can fit into other people's communities easily, they aren't interested in conquest, when they do form their own communities those communities are peaceful. Peaceful does not mean not having defenses against outsiders, just that there's not a lot of internal strife.

You seem to be reading between the lines a lot and bringing in your own preconceived notions. Unless of course there's some entry somewhere I'm not aware of.

The game talks about dwarven, Elven, human, orc, and hobgoblin military a lot

 

[Oofta]

The game talks about dwarven, Elven, human, orc, and hobgoblin military a lot

Off the top of my head hobgoblins and bugbears talk about it but they are the exception to the rule. The others? Where does it ever discuss their military? Why do you keep pushing this claim?

The books label and describe where the different races live a bit differently, that's about it. I also don't see why it matters. There's still plenty of motivation for halflings to adventure that have been pointed out repeatedly by multiple posters.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Off the top of my head hobgoblins and bugbears talk about it but they are the exception to the rule. The others? Where does it ever discuss their military? Why do you keep pushing this claim?

The books label and describe where the different races live a bit differently, that's about it. I also don't see why it matters. There's still plenty of motivation for halflings to adventure that have been pointed out repeatedly by multiple posters.

I suppose you could make the case that the weapon trainings might suggest something like that, but you could probably make a similar case for 'brave'.

 

[Michael Linke]

It says nothing about their military. Same with vast majority of races in the book. Why would halflings be any different? Yes, they can fit into other people's communities easily, they aren't interested in conquest, when they do form their own communities those communities are peaceful. Peaceful does not mean not having defenses against outsiders, just that there's not a lot of internal strife.

You seem to be reading between the lines a lot and bringing in your own preconceived notions. Unless of course there's some entry somewhere I'm not aware of.

I just realized this is a D&D General thread, and not an OSR or OD&D, so this may seem out of place, but in BECMI (or at least in my copy of the Rules Compendium), halflings don't even seem to have their own LANGUAGE. Elves and Dwarves are called out as speaking their own language, plus a few other racial languages. Halflings don't seem to have a culture that's distinct from humans. They have their racial artifact, sure, but they seem to be a subset of human society, not a seperate society with their own culture, governments and language like the Elves and Dwarves.

Plus, in that era of gaming, level limits was how they expressed how much they didn't want you to play a given class, and halflings had the lowest level limit of any class.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I just realized this is a D&D General thread, and not an OSR or OD&D, so this may seem out of place, but in BECMI (or at least in my copy of the Rules Compendium), halflings don't even seem to have their own LANGUAGE. Elves and Dwarves are called out as speaking their own language, plus a few other racial languages. Halflings don't seem to have a culture that's distinct from humans. They have their racial artifact, sure, but they seem to be a subset of human society, not a seperate society with their own culture, governments and language like the Elves and Dwarves.

Plus, in that era of gaming, level limits was how they expressed how much they didn't want you to play a given class, and halflings had the lowest level limit of any class.

that is an interesting observation.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

But halflings having no army, no magic, tons of food, and staying out of politics seems a bit weird in a world of dark lords, drow, and dragons.

The game doesn't say that they have no army or magic, and again politics are irrelevant to the topic of discussion. Nothing about it seems odd to, far as I can tell, anyone but you.