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

[Faolyn]

Isn’t @Hussar the only poster who is arguing that they shouldn’t be in the PHB?

A few others have said so, I believe.

 

[bedir than]

what makes them "the perfect commoner" that simply isn't possible to do with the other races.

because the other races aren't a whole society of perfect commoners. For them the perfect commoner is an outlier, because they are defined by amplifying other human traits than those amplified by halflings.

 

[Faolyn]

People are telling me that they are playing their halfling to type.

Where are people saying that they only play halflings to type or that everyone only plays halflings to type?

Three halflings in my party. None of them heard the call to adventure. They adventure for completely different reasons.

I'm going to guess that when people "told you" that they played halflings to type, they were talking about specific characters, not every member of that race.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Not really, as every poster that has argued that their lore should change dramatically is effectively removing halflings from the PHB.

Making them all 100% magical makes them not halflings. Creating lore that takes away they're norm-core tales, removes halflings.

This is why there is pushback. We are being told our stories are invalid and should no longer exist.

No, you aren't.

 

[Chaosmancer]

because the other races aren't a whole society of perfect commoners. For them the perfect commoner is an outlier, because they are defined by amplifying other human traits than those amplified by halflings.

So, halflings are a monolithic race who are all the "perfect commoner" but for other races, they are diverse enough to have perfect commoners and other stories.

Just going to let that simmer

 

[bedir than]

No, you aren't.

You, yourself, quite literally told me all of my halfling stories were just human stories.

 

[bedir than]

So, halflings are a monolithic race who are all the "perfect commoner" but for other races, they are diverse enough to have perfect commoners and other stories.

A continual refusal to understand the differences between individuals and societies.

 

[Faolyn]

Again, framing it as "currently cool" isn't really accurate either. Halflings have had a LONG time to gain sufficient traction in the game. As have gnomes. And neither have particularly done so.

They're in the top 9 races, out of 40ish races, 55+ subraces, and and hundreds upon hundreds of third-party and homebrew races. They have gained sufficient traction. You need to stop pretending they haven't.

My question is why? Why are Tieflings and Dragonborn THAT popular. To the point where they are absolutely crushing it. For me, I think the answer if obvious - the only reason for the popularity of some of the PHB races is because they are in the PHB. ANY race you put in the PHB will hit that 1 in 4 tables mark. There's nothing particularly compelling or interesting about halflings - they just get played because, well, there's only so many choices in the PHB. I could replace halflings with Bullywugs and they'd be played just as often.

Tieflings are popular because they are edgy and cool-looking and because many people remember when they could have vastly different appearances, like snakes for eyes.

Dragonborn are popular because they're playable dragons. It's possible to imagine that your parents were actually dragons. I know I'd prefer it if they were literally born from dragons, like some eggs produced a couple of dragonborn instead of an actual dragon.

You don't find halflings compelling. There are nearly 200 pages here of posts filled with reasons why other people find them compelling. Perhaps you should realize that your opinions are opinions and not facts.

By the way, you must be very muscular, with all the exercise you get in moving goalposts around. First halflings are only found in 25% in games, now any race can be found in 25% of games.

My preference is to shunt the bottom feeding races into the DMG and open up the space for new ideas.

They're player info. Player info shouldn't be in the DMG.

I'm not really sure why that's so contentious. But, apparently it is. Apparently wanting to see the PHB actually be more relevant at the table is a bad thing.

Halflings, by your admission, are played at 25% of tables and are in the top 9 races. I've asked you before: what more do you need for you to admit that they are relevant?

 

[Mind of tempest]

They still fill a specific niche that I happen to enjoy once in a while. Who knows what ranking they'd have if all races were freely available, I certainly don't.

Part of it is tradition. If I were to describe D&D to someone I'd probably describe something like "LOTR with a bit more magic and monsters, with ideas from several different fantasy tropes thrown in."

That description probably works for most people because of the books and a certain set of blockbuster movies. Then I'd go on to explain that, yes, you can play a cat person or maybe a fantasy version of a robot depending on the setting.

I don't see anything wrong with that, because it's only one of the reasons to keep halflings around. If we were slavishly devoted to Tolkien wizards would overall be far less powerful and extremely rare, elves would be effectively immortal and only "move on" to another place (as they were in the first editions of D&D).

There has to be some grounding, some common framework for a fantasy game. But even with that, I feel that halflings offer something unique and different than other races.

what niche is that as I have likely forgotten, I know it is small and dex but is it any more than that?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

In my case, several of my ideas- halflings as Fremen analogues who take “spice(s)” and become bulettes/wurms; “second breakfast is made of people”; halflings engaging in Wicker Man-esque burnt offerings- while cool, stray far from Tolkien and/or probably would only work for certain halfling communities, not the species as a whole.

And to clarify: the reason most such changes wouldn’t work as well for the species as for a few communities is that they somewhat subvert the bucolic nature of halflings. You NEED those ”mostly harmless” halflings as described in the PHB in order for the changes to have the proper narrative effect. You have to have the mundane & expected in order for the plot twist to have any impact.