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

[Oofta]

There are no uniquely non-human races in D&D. Even if there were, we would still describe them in human terms because that's what we do with everything. We think of cats and dogs in human terms because we don't really have any other way of framing the description.

Even truly alien outsiders just get "they're wacky" then they're attributed more-or-less human motivations and emotions in play. All races in the PHB are just an extreme take on some aspect of humanity because we can't really understand how a species thinks.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Has anyone ever encountered a plucky half-ogre or half-giant?

I guess your ogre could have been considered plucky by other members of his family…

 

[FrozenNorth]

I disagree. They are the simple, fulfilled, happy side of humanity. The rare side that doesn't need to conquer and lacks ambition... for the most part. They are the heightenned chill of not wanting to go to a party on sundays hahah

Can you heighten chill? The moment you heighten chill, are you not trying too hard and therefore no longer chill? It is these questions that bedevil the unchill, but not the chill, for asking them would itself be unchill.

 

[carkl3000]

There are no uniquely non-human races in D&D. Even if there were, we would still describe them in human terms because that's what we do with everything. We think of cats and dogs in human terms because we don't really have any other way of framing the description.

Even truly alien outsiders just get "they're wacky" then they're attributed more-or-less human motivations and emotions in play. All races in the PHB are just an extreme take on some aspect of humanity because we can't really understand how a species thinks.

I was thinking about writing something a lot like this. If there were any truly non-human races in the game, they would have to be inscrutable.

Aasimar, tiefling, elf, dwarf, dragonborn, animal people, whatever are all just some gimmicky, superficial mechanics and fluff tacked on to a basically human personality type. Not saying that they can't be fun to play, but when I'm making a character, I really do like to start with a basic story and a personality and then look at whether I'm going to pick a race that plays to that type or plays against that type.

The game mechanics associated with races, to me, are just things that the character can do, not so much who the character is. I think the designers do a decent job of attaching mechanics that work well with the character types, but I still think that part is kind of superficial. By the time the character gets to 5th level or so, the things they can do because of their race will be pretty much swamped by the things they can do because of their class levels.

I completely respect anyone who approaches their character creation differently.

 

[Bolares]

I completely respect anyone who approaches their character creation differently.

What is this absurd?! This kind of take has no place here!

 

[carkl3000]

Can you heighten chill? ...

 

[Mind of tempest]

Hmm, I think I get you now. But I don't know how WotC could fix it without changing the expectation we have with halflings. Halflings are just hobbits that don't get you sued by the Tolkien estate, so the base race kind of has to have that description...

that is part of the point they do not work so something must be done to make them work or move something else into their place.

Can you heighten chill? The moment you heighten chill, are you not trying too hard and therefore no longer chill? It is these questions that bedevil the unchill, but not the chill, for asking them would itself be unchill.

they are pure refined chill as opposed to only sort of chill.

I was thinking about writing something a lot like this. If there were any truly non-human races in the game, they would have to be inscrutable.

Aasimar, tiefling, elf, dwarf, dragonborn, animal people, whatever are all just some gimmicky, superficial mechanics and fluff tacked on to a basically human personality type. Not saying that they can't be fun to play, but when I'm making a character, I really do like to start with a basic story and a personality and then look at whether I'm going to pick a race that plays to that type or plays against that type.

The game mechanics associated with races, to me, are just things that the character can do, not so much who the character is. I think the designers do a decent job of attaching mechanics that work well with the character types, but I still think that part is kind of superficial. By the time the character gets to 5th level or so, the things they can do because of their race will be pretty much swamped by the things they can do because of their class levels.

I completely respect anyone who approaches their character creation differently.

okay, so we should just get rid of all races?
look the list of things so far found in nature that are inscrutable are things like quantum physics or the point of reality nothing has been found that we can't comprehend how it works however we have found endless numbers of complete weirdos thus a dnd race is one of them as the base line instead of the anomaly.

 

[Bolares]

okay, so we should just get rid of all races?

What if we don't get rid of any races? Halflings work as is for a lot of people. All we are discussing here is a matter of taste and opinion. You like it? Great! You don't like it? Change it to fit your expectations.

 

[carkl3000]

Sorry, but, how did I not just do that? I took the word for word description of halflings in the PHB and simply substituted humans. It worked perfectly fine. Since the argument is that halflings are just short humans, well, that is pretty strong evidence no? The counter argument that all the races are just (Insert trait here) humans doesn't hold much water when you cannot actually substitute human for those other races.

I wonder how far you could take this.

In the reckonings of most worlds, halflings are the
youngest of the common races, late to arrive on the
world scene and short-lived in comparison to dwarves,
elves, and dragons.

Okay...

Perhaps it is because of their shorter
lives that they strive to achieve as much as they can in
the years they are given. Or maybe they feel they have
something to prove to the elder races, and that's why
they build their mighty empires on the foundation of
conquest and trade. Whatever drives them, halflings
are the innovators, the achievers, and the pioneers
of the worlds.

Oops! Nope!

 

[pemerton]

There are no uniquely non-human races in D&D.

I don't quite know what work "uniquely" is doing here, but setting that to one side I don't think this is true. Elves are non-human - we're told that they are a magical people of otherworldly grace and not entirely of the material world. (@Neonchameleon has shown that this can be treated as a metaphor for some humans; but literally it does not describe any humans. That's the difference from the Halfling description, as @Hussar and @Yaarel have pointed out.)