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

[Oofta]

It had more than minor issues. I have covered this. Repeatedly.

Just because one person had died so far doesn't mean that the Cragmaw tribe, the Red Brands, The Drow, the Undead, The Orcs, The dragon, and the Blights were not serious threats that would have ended the town if not addressed.

Heck, the fact that the Red Brands and the Cragmaw were working together under the Drow were probably the only reason that the Goblins didn't attack the town directly. The Drow wanted to keep the town seemingly okay, because they wanted to hide the fact that they were going to be using the Magical Forge to increase their own military power. Likely for a massive attack on the surface.

Goblins aren't going to tell the scary drow wizard no, so they don't go and wreck the town. Orcs are still scouting, ect. But that doesn't mean that if things had gone on another year things wouldn't have turned absolutely bloody. Or that the town wouldn't have been under the thumb of the Drow Empire, via proxies.

I'm just pointing out that you are making assumptions on the level of danger in most communities. The maps and lore of published materials, much less individual home campaigns, does not support that assumption.

Your campaign world does not dictate every campaign world.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Not really. Some people assume all halflings would be eaten by ogres because they aren't described as a military minded race based on conquest and glory while ignoring the lore about halflings finding out of they way places that are easy to miss. Oh, and for some reason they need exotic spices in order to enjoy food.

"Not a military minded race based on conquest and glory" is very different from "We use sticks and rocks to defend out homes, because no one in our community seems to have access to real weapons, even though there are farming implements that could clearly be used as weapons.

Also, one of those things is the thing I keep referring to, and the other is, as Max likes to accuse, a Straw Man.

 

[Oofta]

"Not a military minded race based on conquest and glory" is very different from "We use sticks and rocks to defend out homes, because no one in our community seems to have access to real weapons, even though there are farming implements that could clearly be used as weapons.

Also, one of those things is the thing I keep referring to, and the other is, as Max likes to accuse, a Straw Man.

Why would commoners have access to advanced weaponry? Commoners use clubs, aka sticks.

 

[Vaalingrade]

"We use sticks and rocks to defend out homes, because no one in our community seems to have access to real weapons, even though there are farming implements that could clearly be used as weapons.

Are you still pretending this is a thing?

 

[Bedrockgames]

I sort of understanding not getting gnomes (they do occupy an odd space in D&D). But halflings have always been pretty popular and the Halfling thief is definitely a go to favorite for many people.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I just make all gnomes in my games Tinker Gnomes

 

[Chaosmancer]

Also, while not mindlessly self-indulgent grimdark, WoW has an apocalypse every year or so.

So does DnD.

Or are we going to ignore just what has been happening in Faerun? DR is around 1493 currently.

1494 -> Descent into Avernus, one of the major cities of the setting is being overrun by a lair of Hell

1491 -> Princes of the Apocalypse, an evil cult tries unleashing the four princes of elemental evil and destroy the world.
Tomb of Annhiliation, Acerak unleashes his plot, making it so revival magic doesn't work, fueling the birth of an evil god

1490 -> Storm King's Thunder, massive upheaval in the giants, causing destruction and war across the realms as Giants fight for supremacy

1489 -> Rime of the Frostmaiden, an entire section of the North is held under eternal winter by an evil goddess
Rise of Tiamat, The Evil Cult of the Dragon attempts to summon Tiamat into the world

1484 -> The Second Sundering kills gods, revives gods, and generally causes a massive upheaval in the normal working of the world

1451 -> Eruption of Mount Hotenow due to people messing with a bound Primordial destroys massive sections of one of the major cities, opening up a chasm that unleashes hordes of abominations led by Abolths into the city.

1385 -> Start of the Spell Plgue, and many many bad things. This lasted for 100 years, until 1480.

1384 -> Tyr kills Helm, deaths of gods tend to be major events. I'm not even getting all of the,.

1383 -> War in the Dwarven Pantheon, leading to the deaths of Gorm Glulthyn, Haela Brightaxe, Laduguer, and Deep Duerra

1373 -> Rage of Dragons, all the dragons go crazy and try to kill evereyone.

1372 -> Return of the Netheril from the Plane of Shadows

1369 -> A Wereshark Champion led a massive war against Waterdeep, involving the death of a 1,000 unhatched individuals, the entire population of island being turned to zombies, and devastation among various armies. (In one battle 3/4's of an army were destroyed)

1365 -> Another religious war featuring Talos

1364 -> The attempted Ressurection of the Shadowking. Few details, but sounds like your typical evil lord who takes over large parts of the world.

1363 -> Devils invade Dragonspear castle, gathering forces, and attempting to wage war on mortals. Stopped during the Battle of Daggerford

1361 -> Cyric launches a holy war

1359 -> Around this time the Grand Army of the Tuigan was active, no dates on some of this, but it does say "the Horde ranged over a considerable amount of territory including Semphar, Khazari, Shou Lung, and parts of Faerûn such as Thay, Thesk and Rashemen."

1358 -> Time of Troubles, Gods deposed from their realms and made mortal. All sorts of bad stuff


And I'm just summarizing. For an example, everything that happens in the realms in 3rd edition? That all happened between 1372 and 1376. Go and find the adventures that happen during that time and just imagine all of those events all of those potential world ending plots, happening in 4 years.

Here's a question though: I imagine, based on the constant appeals to traditional fantasy gaming tropes that you are familiar with the hero's journey and the attendant 'farmboy hero' tropes.

… where do you think all those farmboys come from? Were Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru packing blasters for imminent violence? And they lived on Tatooine! Within driving distance of Mos Eisely, the original hive of scum and villany; nearby to Tuskan Raider who have raiders in their name; in regular contact with thiefing, grifting Jawas ; a place that has an active slave trade run by the biggest gangster in the system. A bigger death world than D&D usually dreams to be is what I'm saying.

And if Leia hadn't been so lax in her garbage disposal duties, they would have been fine. Had been for at least 20 years.

Do you remember something Luke said in the movies? "I used to bull's-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home. They're not much bigger than two meters."

It appears to have been a small ship with a pnuematic cannon attached.

This was something that Luke and his friends used for fun. So yes, I imagine that Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru had something for personal defense considering their nephew owned a small airship with its own built in guns

T-16 skyhopper

T-16 skyhoppers, also known as the T-16 airspeeders, were Skyhoppers, that were personal repulsorlift airspeeders manufactured by Incom Corporation, recognizable by its distinctive tri-wing design. It was a popular, high-performance airspeeder due to its stable and reliable transportation on...

starwars.fandom.com

 

[Maxperson]

Why would commoners have access to advanced weaponry? Commoners use clubs, aka sticks.

They also would have access to spears, axes, short bows, daggers, perhaps longbows, and some others.

 

[Maxperson]

Are you still pretending this is a thing?

He's too invested in that position to let it go.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

You know, I tend not to include halflings in my campaigns, but this thread has made think about how I would incorporate them into a setting without falling on hobbit tropes that don't make much sense outside Middle-Earth.

Looking at the stats, the main thing they have going for them is Luck. Mechanically this isn't so much drawing a good result but averting a bad one. So, what if halflings had a relationship to apotropaic magic in the way that gnomes do to illusion?

Every halfling barn has a prominent hex sign painted on it, halfling ladies wearing nazar earrings, and halfling gents sporting shiny coppers in their loafers. Some halflings take this warding magic to the next level and initiate into the School of Abjuration. These Abjurers may appear as simple trinket makers to outsiders, but it is their magics that make the halflings' bucolic lifestyle possible.