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

[Cadence]

find a role or move them down a place.

Down a place would be to the less common races but still in the PhB?

they clearly had someone with the ability to see what players like.

Keeping everything in that that made the cut before so you can have a big tent?

 

[Vaalingrade]

because one went from nothing to the top five even with bad stats and people not having much lore for them clearly they have things going for them, possibly furry but that is unknown they still should have a tail and maybe something on the back for where wings should be.
halflings have been slowly going down per edition or something like that, they lack a compelling concept that can be put in most worlds and they do not have cool look or mechanics they just do not need to be.

Dragonborn went to top 5 because 'half dragon' is what everyone wanted and Dragonborn are as close as they'll give us, cruelly withholding tails and wings for no reason.

how, npc humans are definitely human and pc humans are just protagonists and thus fairly standard for that role.

The past three editions made humans super 'the special' and nothing like H. sapiens sapiens as we know them. Not the NPCS, that entire species.

 

[Fanaelialae]

I don't think I ever noticed that the 2e race book series combined Gnomes and Halflings.


I'm really not a fan of Dragonborn or Tieflings being core personally, but I think whoever made that decision should be applauded.

Those were core in the 4e PHB, which is presumably why they ended up core in 5e.

 

[Greg K]

I suspect no is arguing for no halflings forever but moving them out of the big major book and down to where they fit better, ideally we put in something that people would like more, something inspiring.

Can we also move Dragonborn and Tieflings out of the main book and into a supplement that focuses on material influenced/inspired by Warcraft, Everquest, etc? Then, have WOTC print a supplement that focuses on Anime influences and inspiration. I'd buy the latter.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Can we also move Dragonborn and Tieflings out of the main book and into a supplement that focuses on influences such as Warcraft, Everquest, etc?

Merlin, Planescape and 2000+ years of folkloric tradition would like to have a word.

 

[Cadence]

Those were core in the 4e PHB, which is presumably why they ended up core in 5e.

Yup. And so even though I personally hated them being there in 4e, I'm glad they were kept in 5e to keep those who loved them feeling wanted.

 

[Yaarel]

Halfling is not a human any more than a dwarf is. Sure, they are obviously hominids, and dragonborn are not, but a lot of fantasy creatures look like hominids.

To be fair, personally, I am less into the Dwarf too.

I am familiar with the Norse Dvergar who is a tall rock spirit that personfies magic and curses, the German Twerg who is a short nightmare spirit, the French Oberon who is a Faerie cursed to be short, and the Anglo-Saxon Dwarf who is a short bad-fate spirit.

When I look at Tolkien making the Dwarf a grumpy short Human, it has less appeal. When D&D emulates Tolkien, it has even less appeal. Nevertheless, the D&D Dwarf evolved as a concept informed by toughness and religiosity, and beer, with an isolationist but strong military tradition, and a rivalry with the Elf. Also, there is a Druid thing going on that links it moreso as a nature spirit, and now a Wizard thing going on that allows it moreso to identify with magic.

The Dwarf is still too Human for my taste, but seems popular enough, and has a meaningful contribution to the FR setting.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Agreed, although I don't see how getting rid of halfings serves the goal of bringing in the maximum number of customers. It is not as if under 20-somethings will open the book and see, "Gross, halflings! I'm out of here."

The big tent keeps everyone involved, but--at worse--is only neutral to newbies.

If they saw the 3E selection of races, I can assure you that's exactly what they'd say.

Tieflings and Dragonborn probably save matters, but it's unhelpful to have halflings and not, say, kobolds.

 

[Greg K]

Merlin, Planescape and 2000+ years of folkloric tradition would like to have a word.

Merlin was a cambion in some accounts (not all) and most did not have him with demonic features as far as I can recall (I think I recall one story of him having a tail, but I might be wrong). As for Planescape influences, they should, in my opinon, be moved back to a Planescape book (and Spelljammer material should be kept in a Spelljamne supplement)

 

[Vaalingrade]

Actually there's an idea. Let's give halflings exactly as much of a niche as dwarves.

They already yammer about food and home as much as dwarves do crafting and rock. Let's give them Swedish accents and sweet moustaches.

Boom! Dwarf-level racial niche, more of a niche than humans.