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

[FrozenNorth]

Either remove the penalty against Small races wielding weapons with the Heavy tag, or remove the Heavy tag requirement from Great Weapon Master and allow the -5/+10 to be applied to any melee weapon wielded with two hands. Versatile weapons certainly could use the buff; as it is they don't really have a niche.

Is the issue with Halfling fighters the fact that they can’t use Heavy weapons? I would have thought that most halfling fighters were Dex-based, and therefore less likely to use Heavy weapons, and Str-based Halfling fighters could always go sword and board.

I thought the issue was more narrative-based, with a subset of the player base unwilling to accept that a 3’ halfling is a better melee fighter than the 9’ goliath ranger. If so, changing the rules for Small characters is unlikely to have much of an effect.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Tangentially, I'm wondering what percentage of people on earth play D&D and if it's less than the percentage of D&D players playing halflings at any given time.

Less than 10%.

Time to get rid of D&D.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Is the issue with Halfling fighters the fact that they can’t use Heavy weapons? I would have thought that most halfling fighters were Dex-based, and therefore less likely to use Heavy weapons, and Str-based Halfling fighters could always go sword and board.

I thought the issue was more narrative-based, with a subset of the player base unwilling to accept that a 3’ halfling is a better melee fighter than the 9’ goliath ranger. If so, changing the rules for Small characters is unlikely to have much of an effect.

Yeah, you can absolutely make an effective halfling fighter, and it is likely be dex-based. And to me that is a feature, not a bug. I want halflings to be able to be good fighters if they want to, but I also want them to do it in their own way, leaning to their strengths. So fighters from three-feet tall species choosing fighting techniques which rely more on agility and nimbleness and fighters from a eight-feet tall species relying on techniques that take advantage of their size and strength is a desirable state of affairs to me.

 

[jayoungr]

In any case, a "hole-dweller" suggests a land sprite.

Tolkien came up with the word first and then came up with its derivation, probably for his own amusement. (As @pemerton says, it's an invented etymology--or at best, JRRT's subconscious was at work transforming Old English for him.) But he never made a link with "hob" as in house-spirit.

Before Tolkien, James Hardy wrote in his 1895 The Denham Tracts 2, about British folklore: "The whole earth was overrun with ghosts, boggles ... hobbits, hobgoblins."

There is no evidence that Tolkien ever read Hardy's work, however.

Where Does The Word "Hobbit" Come From?

We all know J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about a fictional race in his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series of books. But was he the first to use the word "hobbit"?

www.dictionary.com

 

[Yaarel]

Tolkien came up with the word first and then came up with its derivation, probably for his own amusement.


There is no evidence that Tolkien ever read Hardy's work, however.

Where Does The Word "Hobbit" Come From?

We all know J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about a fictional race in his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series of books. But was he the first to use the word "hobbit"?

www.dictionary.com

Given the fact Tolkien studied British fairytales extensively − and academically via academic resources − I assume he did read The Denhan Tracts.

In any case, The Denham Tracts evidence that the word "hobbit" was already part of the English language. Whether Tolkien read the Tracts or came across the word "hobbit" elsewhere, it is unlikely Tolkien coincidentally and independently invent the word. Especially, his hobbit means the same thing as the hobbit in the Tracts. It is the same word.

 

[PsyzhranV2]

Is the issue with Halfling fighters the fact that they can’t use Heavy weapons? I would have thought that most halfling fighters were Dex-based, and therefore less likely to use Heavy weapons, and Str-based Halfling fighters could always go sword and board.

I thought the issue was more narrative-based, with a subset of the player base unwilling to accept that a 3’ halfling is a better melee fighter than the 9’ goliath ranger. If so, changing the rules for Small characters is unlikely to have much of an effect.

Maybe it was the crowd I ran with back before the pandemic, but I've never seen a Dex fighter in play that wasn't primarily an archer (which halflings are also at a disadvantage at because they can't use longbows well). Sword and board fighters were also really rare, that was more of a paladin thing in my experience. All the fighters I've seen were going for one of the meta feats, or at least using the meta weapons (longbow, hand crossbow, halberd, or greatsword).

 

[FrozenNorth]

According to this article which gives us the top 5 races in DndBeyond from 2020, neither dwarves nor elves are all that popular either. Guess we might as well get rid of them as well.

Top 5 races:

1. Human
2. Half-Elf
3. Dragonborn
4. Tiefling
5. Half-Orc

Glad to see Half-orcs made the top 5. I’d be curious to see what the next 5 were. Based on previous rankings, I suspect that Elves and dwarves came before halflings.

There is another reason why halflings may seem somewhat redundant in the PHB. In the PHB, you get:

• Humans;
• Elves (+2 Dex)

-Dwarves (+2 Con)

• Half-Orcs (+2 Str)
• Gnomes (+2 Int);
• Tieflings (+2 Cha)
• Half-Elves (+2 Cha)
• Dragonborn (+2 Str)
• Halflings (+2 Dex)

We seem to be missing a (+2 Wis race), and we seem to have too many Cha, Str and Dex races. Of the Dex races, Elves are much more popular than Halflings.

 

[Oofta]

Maybe it was the crowd I ran with back before the pandemic, but I've never seen a Dex fighter in play that wasn't primarily an archer (which halflings are also at a disadvantage at because they can't use longbows well). Sword and board fighters were also really rare, that was more of a paladin thing in my experience. All the fighters I've seen were going for one of the meta feats, or at least using the meta weapons (longbow, halberd, or greatsword).

We have a dex based paladin in my current campaign. Primarily melee based since so much of their damage potential comes from smites they don't really need a big weapon.

I know a lot of people focus on damage, but I think a lot of people overestimate the extra point of damage versus the benefit of at least a +2 to AC from using a shield.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Maybe it was the crowd I ran with back before the pandemic, but I've never seen a Dex fighter in play that wasn't primarily an archer (which halflings are also at a disadvantage at because they can't use longbows well). Sword and board fighters were also really rare, that was more of a paladin thing in my experience. All the fighters I've seen were going for one of the meta feats, or at least using the meta weapons (longbow, hand crossbow, halberd, or greatsword).

I’m glad to hear that. My experience is many fighters going Dex because of Init and the more useful skills.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Glad to see Half-orcs made the top 5. I’d be curious to see what the next 5 were. Based on previous rankings, I suspect that Elves and dwarves came before halflings.

There is another reason why halflings may seem somewhat redundant in the PHB. In the PHB, you get:

• Humans;
• Elves (+2 Dex)

-Dwarves (+2 Con)

• Half-Orcs (+2 Str)
• Gnomes (+2 Int);
• Tieflings (+2 Cha)
• Half-Elves (+2 Cha)
• Dragonborn (+2 Str)
• Halflings (+2 Dex)

We seem to be missing a (+2 Wis race), and we seem to have too many Cha, Str and Dex races. Of the Dex races, Elves are much more popular than Halflings.

the lack of a wis race is noted and angers me.