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

[Oofta]

you find it such a good thing it makes no sense it breaks the suspension of disbelief.

Okely dokely. You're entitled to your opinion.

 

[Cadence]

you find it such a good thing it makes no sense it breaks the suspension of disbelief.

Of all the things in D&D that might break one's immersion

 

[Oofta]

Of all the things in D&D that might break one's immersion

Yeah, in a world where you have giant flying lizards that breath fire and races that are basically anthropomorphic ravens that only mimic what they hear, a race that just want to be left alone most of the time doesn't seem like that big of a stretch.

 

[Faolyn]

You’re coming across as very obtuse, again.

Also stop changing what I’ve said. Respond to the actual words I say, or don’t reply to me.

Halflings avoid being the center or focus of major world events. That doesn’t mean they avoid helping when the demon lords attack.

Or to put it another way: Halflings, as a people, avoid being the center or focus of major world events. Some plucky and brave halfling individuals are willing to help out when the demon lords attack.

Chaosmancer has an unfortunate tendency to assume that either every single halfling has to act in the exact same way or absolutely none of of them act that way, when I doubt they'd require humans, elves, or dwarfs to be like that.

What they aren’t, is the focus of the event. Because the great cities that get attacked are human cities, the forest enclave that gets targeted by a demon is an elven enclave and the demon hates elves, etc. The other races seek out glory, power, legacy, and actively make enemies. They’re “proud nails”. The halfling communities aren’t, they don’t seek that stuff out.

Now I want to see an adventure where it was all the halfling villages that got attacked first and nobody else realized until it was too late.

 

[Faolyn]

you can't make a race of perpetual nobodies who never matter it defies the laws of nature in ways far more fundamental than the way magic does.

you find it such a good thing it makes no sense it breaks the suspension of disbelief.

How does it not make sense? It's a scary, scary world out there, filled with horrible monsters that want to eat you, sacrifice you to evil gods, duplicate you and take over your life, mind-control you, or lay their eggs in you if you go too far away from civilization. Wouldn't most people want to hide away? Wouldn't only a relatively few people be willing to take the risk of going out and trying to make a difference?

 

[Chaosmancer]

First level PCs are hardly powerhouses. But, yes, halflings as a group generally do the best they can to emulate Switzerland and not get involved. You may not be able to "wrap your head" around the concept of the quiet race that nobody expects much from having the rare few heroes rise up, and that's fine. Don't use them, but leave the archetype for those that want to roleplay the PC no one would expect. Not because their dark or edgy, not because there's prejudice against them because people fear them, but just because it's the quiet guy who up until that point was happy being a dishwasher.

Different strokes for different folks and all.

So, to look towards the actual question I was asking, halflings are overlooked because no one expects anything from them?

Again, why? What makes you quiet guy who was happy to be a dishwasher more underestimated because he was a halfling instead of a Genasi? Or a human, or a half-elf?

And, you gave a sort of answer to that, halflings "act like Switzerland" they don't get involved... but look at the type of things we are talking about getting involved in. We are talking about things like being attacked by raiders who may want to kill everyone. About Giants rampaging over the countryside. About Dark Gods being summoned to destroy the world. You can't just "act like Switzerland and not get involved" with stuff like that. But those are exactly the scenarios where we are pointing to and asking "where are the halflings?"

And if halfling adventurers are out there dealing with these problems... who is going to underestimate and overlook the halfling people? There is no reason for them to be less important than humans, unless you are only looking at humans who go looking for trouble. Because when trouble comes looking, there should be a fair number of halflings stepping up like you say the fantasy is, and they don't. Unless it is the PC.


I get that I don't need to understand it to hear you saying you like it, but you don't seem to understand why I am confused. And you have no interest in trying to do anything to make sense of this, you are just presenting it as true even though it doesn't match up to the reality of the game.

 

[Vaalingrade]

you find it such a good thing it makes no sense it breaks the suspension of disbelief.

Personally, as much damage as people using their suspension of disbelief as a weapon against fun in D&D, I find it a huge benefit to shatter inflexible suspensions of disbelief into tiny pieces and dance on the shards until they are naught by dust in the wind.

 

[Chaosmancer]

You’re coming across as very obtuse, again.

Also stop changing what I’ve said. Respond to the actual words I say, or don’t reply to me.

Halflings avoid being the center or focus of major world events. That doesn’t mean they avoid helping when the demon lords attack. Those are, again, two separate ideas. If Neverwinter or Waterdeep or Baldur’s Gate or the Ten Towns or Cormyr are attacked, there are Halflings amongst the defenders, the farmers running to hole up in the local lords castle or within the city walls, the guild leaders pooling resources or bickering about who needs to do what, and the adventurers who try and fix the problem.

What they aren’t, is the focus of the event. Because the great cities that get attacked are human cities, the forest enclave that gets targeted by a demon is an elven enclave and the demon hates elves, etc. The other races seek out glory, power, legacy, and actively make enemies. They’re “proud nails”. The halfling communities aren’t, they don’t seek that stuff out.

Again, “focus” is not the same concept as “involved”.

But the things we were talking about? The Adventure Paths and modules? Those the demon lord attacks, the disasters, the things I keep talking about while you keep saying that they aren't the focus of "major world events"

If you mean they aren't the focus of a trade deal between the Zhentarim and Silvery Moon... okay, cool. But that literally has nothing to do with the types of events we've been highlighting.

And you started making claims. They are among the defenders, they are guild leaders pooling resources, they are the adventurers...

Well the Adventurers are modular, can't comment on that. But I've never once seen mention that. A friend of mine has Descent into Avernus on DnD Beyond, so I took the opportunity to CTRL+F it to see how many halflings are involved in the defense of Baldur's gate.

First mention is Lala Stout a halfling rogue and Willow Brownbug a halfling druid who are two of the few "noteworthy NPCs, who play no part in the adventure but can be brought into the story as you see fit". Well... not a great start. They exist, but they play no part in the story unless the DM puts them in.

Next is a halfling cook in the same tavern, who is helped by two human cooks. They seem to have the same level of importance. I guess if people are going into the kitchen of the tavern.

Prynn Derringwhistle is in a different tavern. Same deal, he is there but no importance unless the players interact with him or the DM forces him to be important.

OH! Here is an interesting one. A Halfling Adventurer killed by an Ogre, who got a headband of intellect and changed his ways. A halfling actually effecting the story... by being killed off-screen. He doesn't even get a name or anything else.

Oooh, an actually important one. A halfling named Pilster Pebblehuck who was going to sell his soul to an imp for a month's worth of food (guessing the city has been hit by the disaster at this point)

So, for the entire actual adventure, we have four halflings that can be completely ignored because they do nothing unless the DM forces it. A dead halfling. And a single starving baker about to sell his soul for food.

No halfling guards, no guild leaders, nothing of them really stepping up and doing anything when disaster strikes.

Now, the Gazetteer has a few more halflings. A Brother Hodges runs a shrine to Ilmater along with his two children. That is a interesting location for a Baldur's Gate adventure.

Jentha Allinamuch of the Smilin' Boar is a halfling innleep, who can hire adventurers for a side-quest involving murdered bodies showing up next to her inn.

Wyrm's Crossing is an area that mentions they have a tight-knit halfling community. That is all it says. Oh, wait, the last mention is Sweetjen’s Spices, a place run by a halfling that sells the best drugs and poisons in the city.


Now, looking back at Hussar's numbers, Descent was a bit average for mentions. But, it involves a city in danger with a major halfling population. And the halflings... don't step up and do anything. There are zero halfling guards or any sort of authority. The most important halflings in the entire adventure are in the Gazetteer, and one of them is a no-named criminal. Actually affecting the adventure, we have a poor saps who was going to sell his soul for bread.

That was the extent of their involvement in a major threat to their city. The thing people keep claiming makes halflings special is that they step up when the going gets rough, they are simple folk who will come to the defense of their homes, but otherwise not seek glory... and there is nothing here to show that.

How hard would it have been to have that baker not on the verge of selling his soul, but denying the imp because the halflings have been banding together and sharing food to combat this disaster? But what you guys are selling? That isn't what WoTC is selling. WoTC seems to be great at the "they are unimportant and not involved" aspect of halfling lore, but never seem to turn that around into them stepping up later.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Or to put it another way: Halflings, as a people, avoid being the center or focus of major world events. Some plucky and brave halfling individuals are willing to help out when the demon lords attack.

Chaosmancer has an unfortunate tendency to assume that either every single halfling has to act in the exact same way or absolutely none of of them act that way, when I doubt they'd require humans, elves, or dwarfs to be like that.

I have yet to see a one halfling act like that. Sure, maybe the halfling PC is doing that, but they are the PCs, they don't really count.

It isn't that I'm expecting every single halfling to act like that. But we don't see pretty much ANY halflings act like people say they should.

 

[Chaosmancer]

How does it not make sense? It's a scary, scary world out there, filled with horrible monsters that want to eat you, sacrifice you to evil gods, duplicate you and take over your life, mind-control you, or lay their eggs in you if you go too far away from civilization. Wouldn't most people want to hide away? Wouldn't only a relatively few people be willing to take the risk of going out and trying to make a difference?

Seems like the answer is no. Humans, Elves, and Dwarves are going out there getting involved in "world altering events" and building cities capable of holding back that evil and scary darkness. So, it seems like it isn't relatively few people. Seems like it is most people except for halflings.