D&D General My Problem(s) With Halflings, and How To Create Engaging/Interesting Fantasy Races

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

-They're the good-aligned mirror of Kobolds. If cruel Orcs are twisted Elves, martial Hobgoblins are monstrous humans, and tunnel-dwelling Goblins the rivals of Dwarves, perhaps the small and mischievous Kobolds have their equivalent in the more sedentary Halflings. This might not jibe with the current thinking of not making entire races evil, but if their creator gods or rulers are, and their function is to provide slayable opponents, they should at least fit into some sort of cosmology and ecosystem.

I had previously pondered creating a series of Fantasy Heartbreaker games based on 3E and BD&D. Each book would be a standalone (think the second editions of the Chronicles of Darkness), where each book would be about one race, with specially tweaked classes, magic, monsters, a starting village and nearby low level adventure. Basically a dramatically expanded Point of View series from the Dragon, designed to be the basis of a single-race campaign, on the theory that an all-dwarf campaign should be different than an all-elf campaign, but they each have compelling stories to tell.

One of the things I ran up against was that the halfling and gnome books would, historically, use kobolds as their opposite numbers as a rival race in their same ecological niche. But kobolds are a better match for gnomes, as they live in hills and some versions of D&D talked about them living in the darkest of woods, which moves them away from halflings. My plan was to create a halfling-specific group of rivals, probably rabbitfolk, who would pillage farms and food stores, as they don't have an agrarian culture, but one based on hunting/gathering/raiding. (Peter Rabbit as a villainous intruder.)

 

[Mort]

I myself want to know how to build better races that can be both widely interpreted but have a core that inspires things, halflings lack both can you even imagine what a society of evil halflings would be like?

Really easily actually!

Just ratchet up the desire for comfort and safety into a xenophobic paranoia that everyone not "of the tribe" is out to destroy that comfort and safety and build from there.

 

[Tonguez]

Really easily actually!

Just ratchet up the desire for comfort and safety into a xenophobic paranoia that everyone not "of the tribe" is out to destroy that comfort and safety and build from there.

And then what? They become Amish?

 

[Cadence]

I myself want to know how to build better races that can be both widely interpreted but have a core that inspires things, halflings lack both can you even imagine what a society of evil halflings would be like?

Greed feels the obvious route (Sackville Baginses, but steps on classical Dwarves, but the classical Dwarf greed has been noted as being problematic).

Being small and sneaky and sticking to the shadows, preying on the big folks who have trouble looking down.

I always thought the Ewoks should have been shown to either be cannibals or (more clearly?) eating storm troopers in episode IV. A society of hole dwelling humanoid killers waylaying travellers.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Really easily actually!

Just ratchet up the desire for comfort and safety into a xenophobic paranoia that everyone not "of the tribe" is out to destroy that comfort and safety and build from there.

It's certainly not hard to find historical real world analogues. There are and were plenty of societies that mostly wanted to be left alone and enforced that with polite requests, followed by increasingly less polite violence.

 

[bedir than]

they are defined as not caring about such things so they have no wizards or monks, rangers or barbarians are unlikely.
certainly no warlocks or most rogue subclasses as why would they want to assassinate people?

Quick and dirty halflings I have created and played within the classes you insist are unplayable as halflings.

Wizards - in this case he sought knowledge to make his life around hearth and home easier. He was lazy as all could be. Now, he's a master abjurer who loves to cook and clean safely.
Monk - this was a sheriff build who defended the home town through non-lethal violence
Ranger - an herb collector with a dog companion. Also a badger riding warrior that defended the steadiing.
Barbarian - you ever take a man's cheese? He gets angry.
Warlock - I haven't made this yet, but would probably look at connecting to a patron because he never wants to suffer from the death of his family again.
Rogue - I have literally made every single Rogue/Thief in 1e,2e, and 5e with a halfling. The most famous halfling in literature is a rogue.

 

[Minigiant]

Almost all of that has no mechanical basis in the game. It's fluff, just like the fluff around halflings. You can take a human, give them the appropriate background (Miner feels like it ought to be a background, generally speaking), prioritize Constitution, Strength and Wisdom

Dwarves can see in the dark, indentify masonry, and have various resistances depending on edition that displays them being a complete race of stoney folk who live underground or in mountains, like it, and won't move by choice.

A human miner lacks these races because the mountain or hill dwarves culture is reflected in the race's very being.

Being a dwarf is telling the DM "But I have darkvision" or "Oh but I am resistant to that."

The redundant feeling some have of Halfling is that their race feels just like a culture and one that a human or gnome can easily replicate.

 

[billd91]

Quick and dirty halflings I have created and played within the classes you insist are unplayable as halflings.

Wizards - in this case he sought knowledge to make his life around heart and home easier. He was lazy as all could be. Now, he's a master abjurer who loves to cook and clean safely.
Monk - this was a sheriff build who defended the home town through non-lethal violence
Ranger - an herb collector with a dog companion. Also a badger riding warrior that defended the steadiing.
Barbarian - you ever take a man's cheese? He gets angry.
Warlock - I haven't made this yet, but would probably look at connecting to a patron because he never wants to suffer from the death of his family again.
Rogue - I have literally made every single Rogue/Thief in 1e,2e, and 5e with a halfling. The most famous halfling in literature is a rogue.

And in earlier drafts, Strider was going to be a hobbit.

 

[BrokenTwin]

As a frequent halfling/hobbit/pech player, I've looked at them primarily as filling the niche of being over their head (literally), but surviving due to preserverance and luck. They're the underdog ancestry.

I find the niche difference between goblins and kobolds to be just as miniscule as gnomes and halflings. I'd feel no strong loss if gnomes and kobolds disappeared entirely.

 

[Mercurius]

first I see what you're going for but lizardmen fit better in that than small plump Englishmen so why halflings specifically?

we know it is a toolbox that much is not being questioned but why the prevalence of the halfling implement it some unnecessary for the general use toolbox called the phb, they seem super limited to a certain setting which is not one wotc owns?

so again can you justify the halfling in most dnd settings?

Sure. It is a classic D&D trope, going back to Tolkien. People like playing halflings. I don't think it needs more justification than that, at least as far as the core rulebooks are concerned. To put it another way, there's more reason to keep it in there than to leave it out, and there's nothing wrong with maintaining tradition - especially when it serves what people want.

Each setting might have their own reasons or takes on halflings, but most simply go by "because it is in the core rules."

As for my setting, halflings aren't "small plump Englishmen." They're more river-faring gypsy-nomads.

Oh yeah, the toolbox thing. I don't think it is being explicitly questioned, but these conversations tend to have an underlying current that goes in that direction, especially with the usage of "we." "Do we need halflings?" Even your phrasing: "we know it is..." Who is this we? Evidently some who question the necessity of halflings in the core rules. But why is that a thing? There's really no reason to take them out - just leave them in the toolbox, and do with it what you please. Even if you're not homebrewing, you can say to your group, "I'm running the Realms as-is, but without halflings. Instead you can play X, Y, or Z for weefolk options."