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

[Bardic Dave]

See, this right here is why this thread has gone around in circles over and over again.

It's not about how I or @Chaosmancer or anyone else feel about halflings. That's not the issue. That has never been the issue. Because, if you flip it around, you're basically saying, "Well, I like halflings, therefore that's enough justification to keep them in the PHB." Really? Do you actually feel this way? Is that at all accurate?

Presumably not.

It's never been, "Well, I don't like halflings, so they should be changed". It's always been, "Halflings have pretty much zero traction. Despite 50 years in the game, they have extremely little presence in the game, unlike the other 3 "main" races." Heck, they have less presence in the game than many of the newer races. They aren't being utilized in the game. Like, barely at all.

Honestly? I don’t buy this for a second. The game has a tonne of different races. Except for Dwarves and Elves, ALL of them have extremely little presence in the game. That’s not a Halfling specific issue. Nor is it really an issue at all IMO. Not every race needs more than a brief spotlight once in a blue moon.

If the standard for inclusion in the PHB is “traction” as you define it, almost none of the PC lineages have “earned” their place. Thankfully, that’s not actually a standard.

Anyway, I think Halflings have plenty of traction, by a slightly different defintion. They’ve been around for ages, they’ve been in every PHB, and they’re a reasonably popular choice among players to this day. That’s sll the traction they need IMO.

 

[Bardic Dave]

.

 

[Hussar]

Honestly? I don’t buy this for a second. The game has a tonne of different races. Except for Dwarves and Elves, ALL of them have extremely little presence in the game. That’s not a Halfling specific issue. Nor is it really an issue at all IMO. Not every race needs more than a brief spotlight once in a blue moon.

If the standard for inclusion in the PHB is “traction” as you define it, almost none of the PC lineages have “earned” their place. Thankfully, that’s not actually a standard.

Anyway, I think Halflings have plenty of traction, by a slightly different defintion. They’ve been around for ages, they’ve been in every PHB, and they’re a reasonably popular choice among players to this day. That’s sll the traction they need IMO.

See, I think the sticking point is "reasonably popular". To me, they just aren't. They aren't played that much (and I suspect that the amount is shrinking by percentage daily) and never have been. They don't appear in adventures and barely appear in setting guides. Take a guess how many times the word halfling appears in the 5e DMG?

Spoiler

4 - the word halfling appears four times in the entire DMG, by comparison, dwarf/ves appears 26 times. Heck, the word "elven" appears 14 times (never minding how often elf or elves might appear)

Folks keep talking about how we dislike halflings. I certainly don't. What's to dislike? Something would have to actually appear anywhere in the game to engender some sort of feeling.

I would say that both Dragonborn and Tielfings have certainly "earned" their inclusion. They are two of the most commonly played races in the game according to the information we have.

It's half-orc, gnome and halfling that have been included mostly for nostalgia reasons and nothing else. If you play a halfling in a WotC game - presuming the DM is using a WotC adventure - odds are you will be the only halfling in that entire campaign. There will be no halfling NPC's, no halfling references, nothing. You might as well be playing a goblin or a tabaxi for all the connection your lineage choice will have to the adventure you are playing.

Which, to me, is pretty damning of what is supposed to be 1 of the 4 most common PC's lineage choices. If I play a human, elf or dwarf, it is pretty much guaranteed that I will meet NPC humans, elves or dwarves in a WotC adventure. It is virtually guaranteed that I will run into lore elements of my lineage in those adventures. There are very few times when there is nothing connecting my lineage to the adventure. Half-orcs are going to run into orcs pretty commonly and obviously the human side of things speaks to their lineage as well, so, they're taken care of. To be fair, dragonborn and tieflings are very absent in the adventures, but, it does appear that that is shifting with more appearances occuring in later books. I mean, it should come as no surprise that dragonborn only appear twice in Ghosts of Saltmarsh - they weren't even in the game when all the adventures in that adventure were first written. But halflings WERE part of the game when all those adventures were written and, despite being in the PHB, they only make 8 appearances in the entire module - and one of those (I just looked) is a language spoken by a human.

It's not about preference. It's about actual presence. If halflings are going to be presented as one of the four main choices for PC's, then they should appear in the supplements too. But, they don't. They barely appear anywhere in the game. So, either use them or make room for something that will be used.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

"Well, I like halflings, therefore that's enough justification to keep them in the PHB."

That's the only reason any race is in the PHB.

 

[Zardnaar]

Dragonborn kinda beat me. I suppose people think they're cool, mechanically they suck.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Dragon kinda beat me. I suppose people think they're cool, mechanically they suck.

As I said earlier, I find the statistics really surprising, I don't think anyone in my circle thinks they are cool! And they are more interested in the UA rabbitfolk lineages than the UA improved dragonborn lineages.

 

[Don Durito]

I've yet to actually see a Dragonborn being played (and that included 4e).

Not that it means anything.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I've yet to actually see a Dragonborn being played (and that included 4e).

Not that it means anything.

I think what you see are groups of similarly minded people who like and dislike similar things gravitating to gather. So when people come together on a forum you get "everyone I know likes X and hates Y" "but that can't be true, everyone I know likes Y and hates X!".

 

[Zardnaar]

I've yet to actually see a Dragonborn being played (and that included 4e).

Not that it means anything.

I allow them or the Midgard Dragonkin. Same concept.

The two I've seen switch to Dragonkin. They get +2 Cha, +1 whatever based on subtype, a resistance based on subtype and a cantrip.

Least popular races I've seen are those two, half Orcs and halflings. Probably Dwarves as well.

Humans, Elves, Half Elves are popular, Tieflings in the other groups. Mordenkainen and/or Tashas Tieflings are decent and the get the edgelord appeal. They're the new Drow.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I allow them or the Midgard Dragonkin.

I've never disallowed them, I've just never had anyone want to play one, or even wish they were mechanically better.