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

[Crimson Longinus]

1. I'm not about to start buying Eberron books just for halfling lore. That's not a reasonable to think that I should. So, regardless of how good that lore is, loads of people will never see it because, well, as popular as Eberron is, it's not Forgotten Realms and it's not part of the core D&D materials. I remember Erik Mona talking about this sort of thing in Dungeon magazine (back in the print days) where adding a specific setting to any Dungeon magazine basically halfed sales.

FR is not really part of core setting materials. There are some vague snippets, but you still need to buy the setting book to actually run it. You're free to buy any setting you want. But if you choose to buy FR instead of Eberron, that's on you. I think FR lore is bland and stupid, so don't buy that setting. Simple.

2. How setting specific is that lore? I honestly don't know. Halflings in Eberron are the dino riders right? That's a pretty specific bit of lore to add to a setting. Very cool, sure, but, not exactly the easiest thing to transplant.

Dino riders are just one group of halflings, there are others. And it is not inherently any more or less easy to transplant somewhere than some specific bit of FR lore.

 

[bedir than]

removed as a mod has asked that we drop this

 

[Gnarlo]

I've made it through a little over a hundred pages of this so far and basically, it boils down to the Players Handbook has Dwarves as Gryffindor, Elves as Ravenclaw, Humans as Slytherin, and Halflings as Hufflepuff. And everyone mocks and rolls their eyes and thinks Hufflepuffs are boring and useless. Until someone like Nymphadora or Scamander comes along

Would I be averse to seeing the basic PHB halfling differentiate itself a bit more from the Tolkien Hobbit? Not at all, and this is coming from someone who has played the Lord of the Rings Online for 14 years... But I'm also ok with their description as it is. We know what humans are, we all have a picture in our heads for better or worse about what dwarves and elves are in fantasy worlds. Perhaps we need a bland race of non-human everypersons whose purpose is to allow DMs to muck about with and create a set of lore for and make uniquely their own without the stretching involved in the other races (Look! I've got Dwarves in my world, but they live in trees! and wear their shoes on their hands!)

Note: opinions above may change as I make it through the next 50 or so pages. Damn, some of you have a lot more time on your hands than I do

 

[Faolyn]

But lycanthropes are a lot more powerful and a lot less common than PC races. If their weakness is too common, it’s debilitating.

But silver is common. Unless you mean, weakness to silvered weapons is/shouldn't be common. In that case, devils and at least some other shapechangers are also damage by silvered weapons.

 

[Chaosmancer]

But it means that people who are unable or don't want to come up with their own lore still have an official setting with decent halfling lore. I still feel that most of the complaints are effectively about Forgotten Realms being bland and not about halflings in general.

Yes, if people buy the Player's Handbook, then buy Eberron. Then research Eberron beyond what the book provides. Then they can have an official setting with more lore for halfings.

If they buy Mordenkainen's where Halfling lore is officially expanded... they don't. If they just buy the PHB, then they have no idea Eberron even exists, unless they go to the back of the book and see the Eberron Pantheon.

Again, I don't deny that Eberron is great, but Eberron being great doesn't really excuse other things being poorly handled. And yes, in official 5e material, FR is the "generic" option, because Greyhawk doesn't exist. But "generic option" is what we are talking about, and not everything in the PHB is referencing only FR, but also Greyhawk and rarely Dragonlance.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Personally I find the basic lore for all races as listed in the PHB to be pretty bland and boring. Tieflings have next to nothing, other than "infernal heritage" and "tend to be criminals". Dragonborn are "born of dragons". Going beyond the PHB, genasi are when a daddy genie and a mama human love each other very much ... on and on.

If we were to base removing races based on generic lore provided we wouldn't have many races at all. Why single out halflings? At least we get more than tabaxi who's lore is that they're from someplace mysterious and they're anthropomorphic cats.

And Teiflings, Genasi, and Aasimar are plane-touched, meaning they steal lore from the parent race, usually human who are the exception to the lore discussion because they are humans. Tielfling gets away with "infernal heritage" because that heritage is an abberation on top of the lore of their parent race. An Elven Tiefling would be very different from a Dwarven Tielfing.

Dragonborn? I'll grant you. But they lost all their lore from 4e, and they didn't exist before that. Comparing a practically brand new race to a race with 50 yrs of history, and finding them nearly identical in terms of integration into the game? That's a potential warning sign.

 

[Faolyn]

Except for the small feet (which make sense physiologically and I like), the halfling is otherwise human in every way, especially culturally.

Same goes for every other race. Because no matter how alien you write them, gamers are not super-actors who can play them as alien.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Yes, if people buy the Player's Handbook, then buy Eberron. Then research Eberron beyond what the book provides. Then they can have an official setting with more lore for halfings.

Good. Problem solved.

If they buy Mordenkainen's where Halfling lore is officially expanded... they don't.

Eberron is just as official.

Buy books that have stuff you like, don't buy books that don't. Not difficult.

 

[Chaosmancer]

FR is not really part of core setting materials. There are some vague snippets, but you still need to buy the setting book to actually run it. You're free to buy any setting you want. But if you choose to buy FR instead of Eberron, that's on you. I think FR lore is bland and stupid, so don't buy that setting. Simple.

And if you choose to buy no setting books... you get nothing either.

Dino riders are just one group of halflings, there are others. And it is not inherently any more or less easy to transplant somewhere than some specific bit of FR lore.

The other groups of halflings are either an Eberron specific magic-mega-corp or... halflings who live in the city and are basically human. In fact, they are quite specifically called out as having adopted human customs, clothes, and values.

So... dino-riders is kind of it.

 

[Oofta]

And Teiflings, Genasi, and Aasimar are plane-touched, meaning they steal lore from the parent race, usually human who are the exception to the lore discussion because they are humans. Tielfling gets away with "infernal heritage" because that heritage is an abberation on top of the lore of their parent race. An Elven Tiefling would be very different from a Dwarven Tielfing.

Dragonborn? I'll grant you. But they lost all their lore from 4e, and they didn't exist before that. Comparing a practically brand new race to a race with 50 yrs of history, and finding them nearly identical in terms of integration into the game? That's a potential warning sign.

That assumes you know the lore of the other planes since it's not in the PHB and there's not really a ton in MM. Which tends to be fairly campaign setting specific. The book doesn't distinguish the mortal half of tieflings, I've never seen anything other than tieflings born to humans. Probably one of the things I'd change, make it more like the lineages from the Ravenloft book.

Dragonborn, based on the lore we're given shouldn't even be adventurers.