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

[doctorbadwolf]

If a passing grade for origin story is "they went underground....then got all spidery and learned to see in the dark" or "long ago they were fey, so when they went underground they got all spidery and learned to fart darkness spells" then I figure WoTC could tweet something official to tide everyone over for halflings.

The world spirit appreciated someone who didn't exploit her so the halflings started to get lucky as she protected them. That should do the trick.

I….am stealing that. Islands World has primal spirits, and creatures like domestic spirits, spirits of place, etc, are in the center of a Fey-Primal Spirit Venn diagram, so the idea that such spirits just plain like Halflings is totally cromulent.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

That they aren't all identical to each other, and that they have different desires at different times of their life.

Yeah…

It’s odd, because like…several of us, and the books IIRC, have said that Halflings often adventure a bit in their youth, and then settle down. The books also says that they tend to adventure out of curiosity or a sense of community. I take the sense of community to mean that they see their neighbors in trouble, or see trouble coming, and seek out a way to help.

Someone sarcastically and somewhat melodramatically challenged the notion that they adventure to protect their communities, because of the (pretty dumb IMO) MToF lore that says that their towns are supernaturally protected by the gods. Most of the PC race lore in that book makes me cringe, though. I think gnomes are the only ones that got out unscathed from that book. Maybe the Gith? I guess the Tiefling stuff was inoffensive?

Anyway, even if we take that lore at face value, it doesn’t mean their communities aren’t threatened when the Lich King’s army is rolling up on the Free Lands or whatever.

Also I don’t go around harping on the fact that MToF makes Moradin and Corellon look like absolute a-holes that no one should ever worship, every time dwarves or elves come up!

But yeah, there isn’t any contradiction at all in “many Halflings have wanderlust, especially in their youth, and some communities take to the roads and rivers, making their homes in cozy wagons and riverboats” and “Halflings generally love comfort and stuff”.

Hell, it’s a good idea to have your youth go out and travel, potentially finding a home in other halfling communities. Not only does it tie the various communities in a region together in a ton of different ways, it ensures that skills, and gene pools, get spread around and diversified, rather than having a big risk of stagnation.

I think it’s about time to make a +thread about Halflings, and talk about the really interesting stuff that is implied by their lore, and how we can expand on it in our own games.

I mean maybe Halflings are often running postal guilds, and your letter home is actually very likely to get there because a halfling post-runner and his goat are taking it, and “The Lightfoot Post Never Fails”.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

But yeah, there isn’t any contradiction at all in “many Halflings have wanderlust, especially in their youth, and some communities take to the roads and rivers, making their homes in cozy wagons and riverboats” and “Halflings generally love comfort and stuff”.

Hell, it’s a good idea to have your youth go out and travel, potentially finding a home in other halfling communities. Not only does it tie the various communities in a region together in a ton of different ways, it ensures that skills, and gene pools, get spread around and diversified, rather than having a big risk of stagnation.

If it helps, look at it as a cultural- as opposed to religious- Rumspringa or Mormon mission.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I….am stealing that. Islands World has primal spirits, and creatures like domestic spirits, spirits of place, etc, are in the center of a Fey-Primal Spirit Venn diagram, so the idea that such spirits just plain like Halflings is totally cromulent.

Im glad something productive resulted from this mess! And also now I know I'm playing Spirit Island at boardgame night tonight.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

If it helps, look at it as a cultural- as opposed to religious- Rumspringa or Mormon mission.

Hell yeah. Go visit the towns, travel with the Travelers, see the cities with their Hin Districts, and come home with new stories.

And because they are Lucky and Brave, these travels tend not to end badly or be recalled unfondly. Halflings who go on walkabout don’t tend to come to bad ends, or spend much time afraid.

Which, oh hey, speaks to their mechanics helping to define their culture! Win!

Im glad something productive resulted from this mess! And also now I know I'm playing Spirit Island at boardgame night tonight.

Oooo what’s that!?

 

[Don Durito]

If it helps, look at it as a cultural- as opposed to religious- Rumspringa or Mormon mission.

Actually that works really well as something to do with halflings.

Forget the halfling gods (because like all demi-human gods they're boring and make fantasy religion more boring) have the halflings be recent converts to some kind of new religion. Perhaps their whole farming schtick is actually fairly new, a kind of religious return to the land sort of like the Armish. This explains why they're so prosperous. They used to own a lot of property in cities, but have built this new religious community called "The Shire". Young halflings are sent out from this community to proselytise.

40 years ago none around these parts had ever heard of the little buggers. Then they arrived by ship and bought out the local lord. Gave him a big pile of money to give up his ancestral lands and move to the big city. Me Grandaddy use to labour on those lands, but after that he had to go off and fight in the wars to earn a crust an' it cost him an arm and 'is right eye. Them little half-folk don't hire labourers, they do their own work, fancy that huh? Rich little buggers they is, but they go digging around in the dirt like you or I. No one dares try and rob em though. Word is their new god is the vengeful sort.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Well, as we keep showing, and you keep ignoring, there actually is quite a bit of lore on halflings, there's quite a bit of guidance given as to how to play them, quite a bit of info on how to play one, and quite a presence in published adventures.

What they don't have are ridiculous uber-plots, meddling gods, super-powerful spellcasters or warlords who left artifacts behind, or their hand in world-shaking events.

I fail to see how that's an issue (especially since you can say the same thing about nearly any other race out there), and you have failed to show it is beyond you saying so.


Well, if you spend about six seconds thinking, you'd realize that if something isn't magical, then it's mundane, and mundane things need a logical, physics-following explanation. So, does your halfling have wings, a jetpack, or a flying steed? No? Then they can't fly.


Because I saw pictures of (Icelandic) sod houses and I thought they were really cool looking. Example. (square doors.)

If I had to justify it in-game, then I'd say that those houses were built by the original halfling druidic settlers, many generations ago, using magic that let them shape the earth without harming trees. Because with magic, you can build sod houses even when there are trees around and you don't have to deal with any of the negative issues that they normally cause.

When other halflings moved in later, they used other materials.

Again: not a drop of Tolkien. And, of course, I could describe halfling villages in dozens of different ways, so the next one would likely be completely different. Sprawling ranch-homes. Clapboard houses. A repurposed orc fortress. A tent (or yurt) city. Round beehive houses. A flotilla of halfling-piloted houseboats. A halfling tree-village. Neat little country cottages. A village built into the ruins of a human town.

It's really, really easy to describe halflings and the things they do without referencing JRRT. I'm sorry you can't do it, but maybe you should try practicing instead of just insisting that it's impossible.

so they lack any plot points, you cant have them be the focus without it breaking down as they have nothing to work with.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Hell yeah. Go visit the towns, travel with the Travelers, see the cities with their Hin Districts, and come home with new stories.

And because they are Lucky and Brave, these travels tend not to end badly or be recalled unfondly. Halflings who go on walkabout don’t tend to come to bad ends, or spend much time afraid.

Which, oh hey, speaks to their mechanics helping to define their culture! Win!

Oooo what’s that!?

Spirit Island is a cooperative boardgame (It may have an electronic version out too, we play in person with actual pieces.

From the manufacturers site...

In Spirit Island, powerful spirits have existed on this isolated Island for time immemorial. They are both part of the natural world and - at the same time - something beyond nature. Native Islanders, known as the dahan, have learned how to co-exist with the spirits, but with a healthy dose of fear and reverence. However, now, the Island has been "discovered" by invaders from a far-off land. These would-be colonists are taking over the land and upsetting the natural balance, destroying the presence of spirits as they go. As spirits, you must grow in power and work together to drive the invaders from your Island before it's too late!

 

[lingual]

I'm not seeing a percentage guess here from you....

Nothing less than 128 percent

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Actually that works really well as something to do with halflings.

Forget the halfling gods (because like all demi-human gods they're boring and make fantasy religion more boring) have the halflings be recent converts to some kind of new religion. Perhaps their whole farming schtick is actually fairly new, a kind of religious return to the land sort of like the Armish. This explains why they're so prosperous. They used to own a lot of property in cities, but have built this new religious community called "The Shire". Young halflings are sent out from this community to proselytise.

40 years ago none around these parts had ever heard of the little buggers. Then they arrived by ship and bought out the local lord. Gave him a big pile of money to give up his ancestral lands and move to the big city. Me Grandaddy use to labour on those lands, but after that he had to go off and fight in the wars to earn a crust an' it cost him an arm and 'is right eye. Them little half-folk don't hire labourers, they do their own work, fancy that huh? Rich little buggers they is, but they go digging around in the dirt like you or I. No one dares try and rob em though. Word is their new god is the vengeful sort.

Not my cuppa, but it certainly has flavor!

Spirit Island is a cooperative boardgame (It may have an electronic version out too, we play in person with actual pieces.

From the manufacturers site...

In Spirit Island, powerful spirits have existed on this isolated Island for time immemorial. They are both part of the natural world and - at the same time - something beyond nature. Native Islanders, known as the dahan, have learned how to co-exist with the spirits, but with a healthy dose of fear and reverence. However, now, the Island has been "discovered" by invaders from a far-off land. These would-be colonists are taking over the land and upsetting the natural balance, destroying the presence of spirits as they go. As spirits, you must grow in power and work together to drive the invaders from your Island before it's too late!

Hell yeah! That sounds awesome!