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

[carkl3000]

You are right. It doesn't make for interesting storytelling, that why I've been trying to push for some latitude. But I've been told, unequivocally, that the draw of halflings is that they are never the important people, that they are always overlooked.

And you didn't present an individual, you presented a family. A group of people who are important, supported by the Kingdom and known throughout the region. Exactly the types of things I've been told halflings never do. Exactly the sort of things I WANT halflings to be able to do.



Then I'd say you missed quite a few posts. Because it has come up. They are content with what they have, to the point of never looking beyond their Shires. There is almost no way to thrust greatness upon them, because they are so disconnected from the world that they might as well not exist. You say they are everywhere... but whereever they are they aren't important, they are painted over.



Well, if you don't think that halflings mooch of humans for protection, you haven't read the PHB. "Humans are a lot like us, really. At least some of them are. Step out of the castles and keeps, go talk to the farmers and herders and you’ll find good, solid folk. Not that there’s anything wrong with the barons and soldiers — you have to admire their conviction. And by protecting their own lands, they protect us as well.”

And guess what, even that entry states that if you are looking beyond the castles, lords and soldiers, you find farmers, herders, shopkeepers, craftspeople, traders, tinkers, and good solid folk. Just like with every single other race.

Do you think that there are no elven or dwarven shopkeepers? No Dragonborn Traders? This is what I don't get, every single race has commoners, common people with no aspirations for greatness who may have greatness thrust upon them.... so why am I constantly being told that the only way to truly express that story is through halflings?

I played a Tielfling Storm Sorcerer who all he wanted in life was to live a quite life as a jeweler, who was literally forced by the Gods to go on an adventure (friend of mine's first ever campaign).

I'll let you have your gish gallop and I'll just say that I feel that the halfling race is presented as the distillation of the ideal of the commoner. In general, they want for nothing more than comfort, friends, family, and food.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Heh, apparently you dont know the people who I know.

Even hippies and folksingers and peacenicks are humans.

Perhaps a bit of nitpicking but hippies, folksingers and peaceniks don't fit particularly well into the 5e PHB description of humans who "strive to achieve as much as they can in the years they are given."

 

[Yaarel]

None of that is in the PHB. Maybe for specific campaign setting, it's not the default.

You need me to quote the Players Handbook?

Dragonborn: "Born of dragons. ... Shaped by ... the dragons themselves, dragonborn originally hatched from dragon eggs, ... combining the best attributes of dragons and humanoids."

Tiefling: "Their appearance and their nature are not their fault but the result of an ancient sin. ... Tieflings are derived from human bloodlines. ... However, their infernal heritage has left a clear imprint on their appearance."

Elf: "Elves are a magical people of otherworldly grace, living in the world but not entirely part of it. They live in places of ethereal beauty, in ancient forests ... with faerie light. ... Most elves dwell in ... forest villages hidden among the trees. ... Elves encountered outside their own lands are commonly traveling [Bards?] minstrels, artists, or sages. ... Fey ancestry."

Halfling: "Diminutive. ... A place to settle in peace and quite ... in remote agricultural communities. ... Even wanderers love ... food. Wonderlust."



Same as I said it said.

 

[Yaarel]

Well then, it's nice to have a race that's a change of pace, isn't it?

But the Halfling isnt a change of pace. It is just a Human accidentally listed twice.

(Also, what about aarakocra, bugbears, centaurs, dwarfs, firbolg, goliaths, gnomes, goblins, grung, hobgoblins, humans, kobolds, leonin, minotaurs, orcs, satyrs, tabaxi, and tritons?)

None of these are in the featured core-four lineages. Besides the Human, of course. The Human is listed in the core-four with a reasonable entry.

 

[carkl3000]

Elves come from an alternate dimension to meld with the natural world, born from powerful magics.

Warforged is artificially engineered to be a weapon of war, who (accidentally?) came to life.

Tiefling transmogrified from trafficking with fiends, and the descendants bear the mark of ancient transgression.

Dragonborn were hatched from magically transformed dragon eggs.

Genasi were mutated by mystical elemental energies.

Halflings hang out with humans at the local pub in the farming hamlet.

I think the answer is probably to contrive some way to give halflings eye lasers. Then they would be distinctive.

 

[Yaarel]

Perhaps a bit of nitpicking but hippies, folksingers and peaceniks don't fit particularly well into the 5e PHB description of humans who "strive to achieve as much as they can in the years they are given."

Humans are diverse. Some human communities strive to achieve as much peace and quiet as they can.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

That chart is Youtube VOD views, not live

Ah, you’re right. It’s still a sliver of total consumption, though, so my criticism of the argument presented, and my counterpoint, stands.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Humans are diverse. Some human communities strive to achieve as much peace and quiet as they can.

That is not a description well captured in the PHB entry for humans. There is not a hint of passivity or contentment to be found in there.

It's all about ambition, achievement, conquest, legacy, etc.

 

[Hussar]

Yeah, standing on the boat, looking at the sky through the mists. The sun turning into a multitude of suns because of air so full of water.
Yes, very yes.

Again, having stood exactly where you are talking about, many, many times, there are many fantastic words for it.

Ethereal is not one of them. As was said, it's like calling a moose "dainty".

 

[Faolyn]

But the Halfling isnt a change of pace. It is just a Human accidentally listed twice.

Except, of course, that halflings are actually quite different from humans in ways that we have discussed multiple times over the past 170+ pages.

None of these are in the featured core-four lineages. Besides the Human, of course. The Human is listed in the core-four with a reasonable entry.

Neither are tieflings, dragonborn, warforged, or genasi, but you compared them to halflings anyway.