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

[bedir than]

The number three character name being "Cleric" suggests there's a lot of non-played characters in the data set.

Or that their filter thinks that people putting a title like Cleric, Brother, Sir, etc is a name.

 

[Faolyn]

I'm not really into 5e, but do they still do that stupid thing where Small races have to use suckier versions of weapons and thus have most martial classes but rogue backdoor barred to them?

No. Small races get disad when using Heavy weapons, but Heavy weapons are things like polearms, greatswords, and battleaxes. A halfing can use a longsword no problem.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

The number three character name being "Cleric" suggests there's a lot of non-played characters in the data set.

This is a smaller quote to jump on to make a similar point ....

There is a big difference between popularity of a choice for mechanical reasons and the same popularity of choice for narrative ones.

My WoodElf Monk was a WoodElf first and foremost because of the things it let me do rulewise, then I weaved the character into the story using generic elf narrative. If there was a halfling or human with half as many useful abilities as a WoodElf I just as easily would have chose those.

There is no exploration on haughtiness, long life or any other such normal elf concepts. I was exploring the narrative of how a true native of Chult would react to the goings on there, and also a driving goal to free the other native people's from the slavery (literal and figurative) of the mainlands incursion in the city of Port Nyanzaru.

In summary ... the Big 3 are Humans, Elves, and Dwarves because those are the first three seats filled at the table of many many fantasy settings.

 

[Yaarel]

Dwarf?
• Hill Dwarf (Material) (Hill Dwarf, Medium 4.5 feet)
• Mountain Dwarf (Elemental)
• Duergar/Dvergar (Primal/Psionic) (more Norse, Medium tall 6 feet, stone, mud, prescient, curse, shapeshift, strong but like Immovable Rod)
• Hin (Material) (Halfling, Small)
• Gnome (Fey)
• Goblin (Fey)

 

[Yaarel]

Humans, half-elves, and dragonborn as the big three? And demote elves, dwarves, and gnomes to the "legacy" second tier options?

If going this route, rename Half-Elf, "Elf", and make it the default, then High, Wood, etcetera become variants of it.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Gnomes IMC use clever landscaping to guide outsiders past their enclaves, without ever knowing there was anything "hidden." It's a nicely low-magic way for halflings and other hidden races to stay that way without having to drag in a high level druid or illusionist into the mix.

Yep. Same. I love stuff like that.

 

[Older Beholder]

innocence of what crime? what evil did everyone else commit? do you mean a society with the innocence of children? those are called Eloi.

do you know what your friend likes about halflings as that would be really useful?

Halflings in my world have never been to war with anyone, and were the only race not involved in a great conflict that resulted in the island nation being dragged into the abyss.

As for my friends preference for playing halflings, he likes the hairy feet and re-rolling 1’s

 

[doctorbadwolf]

several of those highlights the problem I have with them interesting stuff happens to them they would otherwise never go out of their lane for anything.
.

That isn’t even true. Read their actual lore. They literally go on adventures out of curiosity. It’s a common thing for young halflings to adventure.

the big game hunter makes no sense, halflings do not care for the thrill of the hunt so they would never become one.

Says who? Where?

It seems like your issue with halflings is largely with things you decided about them that aren’t even true.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The number three character name being "Cleric" suggests there's a lot of non-played characters in the data set.

Absolutely. I know that I have 5 fully developed but unplayed characters on D&D Beyond. 3 are characters I would like to play if I ever get the opportunity. Two are NPCs with class levels, and are therefore 3rd level and 7th level, without ever having been PCs.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Yes, but I get the feeling you're looking down on that option. Because it's the easy way out.


I mean "flaw" in the sense of "barrier to personal satisfaction in the game," which is particular to the player. It doesn't mean there's a design problem; it means there's a mismatch with the individual.

I'll get a little personal here. I work with a DM who absolutely loves doing the detailed worldbuilding thing. We've been playtesting a sci-fi setting he's written, where the species include various really alien options, like blobs and floating brains, and even the more humanesque species have very detailed cultures a la the Star Trek examples. I can tell he loves thinking up this stuff and that he's very proud of the diversity in his setting. And I do my best to make characters that will fit into those games--but I just can't ever seem to connect with them. It feels like too much space has already been filled in for me. The characters turn out lifeless and cardboard, and I don't enjoy playing them very much. They feel like all gimmick and no substance.

And I feel guilty as heck because the DM put in so much work, because I want to make characters that fit his world, and because in theory, I'm fully on board with the idea of limitations sparking creativity. It's not that I don't understand the principle or the appeal; it just doesn't lead to me creating characters that I consider to be successful. For me. For the DM himself, and players like him, it's probably glorious and stimulating.

so you can see how I pitcher halfling all cardboard, I would like to know what makes a thing move beyond a gimmick race and into something more as that would be nice and make people better at crafting something.

Yeah absolutely. No reason the forest gnome doesn’t fit in the Gnomish culture described in the 3.5 Races of Stone, and those gnomes could talk to animals!

I think the Shire is said, in te Hobbit IIRC, to be so cleverly built that the occasional tall folk that bumbles through often doesn’t realize they have walked through a civilized place!

I honestly see no way to do that, halfling eat nearly the same as humans out of preference how they could hide the fields and chickens defy the rules of nature, unless halflings all have high-level wizards doing it but that makes them gnomes.

Yeah I agree. My forest gnome rogue is also a tinker, though, so I am biased lol.

yeah, the halfling and dwarven subraces aside from the evil ones tend to be super similar and this seems wrong to me.

I understated. It's 6% compared to the 4.5% of gnomes. Roll the gnomes into the halflings and you've enough weight for a PHB race to stand on a level with the others.

Then find this "group of frames". Because the idea halflings "care only for comfort" is ridiculous and stands in direct contradiction to halfling lore in any edition. They enjoy their comforts, sure. But there's more to them than that.

Halflings are noted by Tolkien as being extremely good at hiding. They didn't need to in The Shire - but even in Tolkien they didn't just live in The Shire. In more dangerous environments they'd play up their stealth skills - remember that Bilbo was hired as a burglar despite no experience.

So the PHB gnomes are "halfling with magic" and something entirely disconnected.

And yet in 2020 both half-races were in the five most popular. The thing is that I think that half-orcs could easily be replaced; their niche is that of the strong beefy guys and either orcs or goliaths could cover that role neatly.

I'm not sure that dragonborn and tieflings aren't making their case to turn things into an iconic 5. The most recent information I can find has both of them as more popular than either elves or dwarves.
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Humans, half-elves, and dragonborn as the big three? And demote elves, dwarves, and gnomes to the "legacy" second tier options?

Because like it or not dragonborn and tieflings are here to stay and are core.

There is that.

on the half-orc it is the cost to orc most can get with one book and it is super tankie, half-elf is just one of the most overpowered race in the PHB so that happily explains it.

Or that their filter thinks that people putting a title like Cleric, Brother, Sir, etc is a name.

that is highly likely or they are simply making a template to copy for home games?

Halflings in my world have never been to war with anyone, and were the only race not involved in a great conflict that resulted in the island nation being dragged into the abyss.

As for my friends preference for playing halflings, he likes the hairy feet and re-rolling 1’s

but did no one what that they had? not declaring war is easy not have war declared on you is hard.
the feet seems just random but the luck mechanic I can see as a reason.

That isn’t even true. Read their actual lore. They literally go on adventures out of curiosity. It’s a common thing for young halflings to adventure.

Says who? Where?

It seems like your issue with halflings is largely with things you decided about them that aren’t even true.

no one marches into the tomb of horrors out of curiosity, even people with foolhardy courage would not really want to go there, plus we all know that was added in because they could not figure out how to make a halfling naturally want to go on an adventure.
ripe them back to a basic series of reasons of why we need such a race and build something iconic.