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

[bedir than]

Name three things about the Halfling that are definitely not Human.

Or even one thing.

Just use EN's search function.
Making this demand of me after I've spent the effort already is embarrassing.

 

[pemerton]

You know...I have never had "Dwarf" as the name that the Dwarves use among themselves either.

For obvious reasons.

The obvious reason being that they call themselves Khazad?

 

[Yaarel]

Just use EN's search function.
Making this demand of me after I've spent the effort already is embarrassing.

Wait. Halfling is one of your favorite races?

And you cant think of three nonhuman aspects about the Halfling off of the top of your head?

Or even one?

Really?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Their preference for semi-subterranean architecture.
Their de-emphasis of monetary value.
Their metabolism that allows for consumption of food comparable or exceeding that of larger species.
An inhuman strength to mass ratio.
Agility and dexterity in excess of RW adult humans of similar stature.

 

[bedir than]

Their preference for semi-subterranean architecture.
Their de-emphasis of monetary value.
Their metabolism that allows for consumption of food comparable or exceeding that of larger species.
An inhuman strength to mass ratio.
Agility and dexterity in excess of RW adult humans of similar stature.

Danny, I appreciate this, but it's completely unnecessary. It's been stated dozens of times in this very thread. An individual who has refused the reading to this point and who intentionally misrepresents my passion for the race isn't going to read your words either.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Danny, I appreciate this, but it's completely unnecessary. It's been stated dozens of times in this very thread. An individual who has refused the reading to this point and who intentionally misrepresents my passion for the race isn't going to read your words either.

I understand, but as one who has been slightly pro-Halfling in this thread, the fact that I can come up with that- and quickly- should be illustrative.

I mean, if I gave it some thought, I could probably find more.

 

[Yaarel]

Their preference for semi-subterranean architecture.

Some humans live in caves.

Many reallife human cities have an "underground level", to avoid snow etcetera.

Disney World is an underground city.

Many reallife military complexes are partly underground.

Their de-emphasis of monetary value.

Some reallife cultures de-emphasize monetary value.

Sentimental value is a reallife human factor.

(Heh, ironically, reallife human sentimentality appears to be one of the factors for keeping the Halfling around.)

Their metabolism that allows for consumption of food comparable or exceeding that of larger species.

Not sure how official that "metabolism" flavor is.

At the same time, some human children love to eat, and it is a common trope in kids shows.

An inhuman strength to mass ratio.

Some of the reallife champion weightlifters are below average height.

Agility and dexterity in excess of RW adult humans of similar stature.

Reallife Olympic gymnasts are noticeably smaller than average.



Not one thing so far is definitely nonhuman.

 

[lingual]

Pretty much all the races are some form of human. If some of you think they are too human, then that's fine. Some of us don't feel that way. There is little chance they are going to be just folded as a human subrace. WOTC has a lot of different customer bases to appear and traditionalists are a large base.

No one is gonna begrudge anyone if anyone has them as just "short humans" in their campaign. I don't know if even in LOTR, hobbits and humans can cross breed. Humans can obviously cross breed with Elves. I suppose hobbits are just "short humans" and elves are just "perfect humans".

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Their preference for semi-subterranean architecture.

Isn't that gnomes? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Forest Gnomes are the ones in the PHB that are described to be the race that makes burrows, not Halflings.

Their de-emphasis of monetary value.

I agree that this is a cool/interesting cultural trait . . . but why halflings? Other races already have this (like Lizardfolk, Orcs, and Gnomes), and it actually makes sense for the races that care about how an item works instead of how much it's worth. Halflings don't have anything that would make them more inclined to this lifestyle than any other human-ish race, IMO. Lizardfolk don't care about monetary value because they just need items that help them get food, Orcs are typically raiders so they don't care about monetary value because they can't trade with other races, and Gnomes just care if something looks cool or acts in cool ways, not if it's pricy because of their otherworldly adoration of the Material Plane.

I just never understood how this fit halflings, other than the Tolkien "pure farm-folk" angle.

Their metabolism that allows for consumption of food comparable or exceeding that of larger species.

I like this . . . but D&D 5e never says this. Second Breakfast is cool and all, but that's not how halflings are described in the books.

An inhuman strength to mass ratio.

Is this ever given?

Agility and dexterity in excess of RW adult humans of similar stature.

This fits, but I think Halflings are better if compared to Homo Floresiensis than to Homo Sapiens with dwarfism, who likely would have traits that would let them be fairly stealthy (that is a main reason why evolution causes certain creatures to become smaller. Mainly so they eat less, but also so they take up less space and are harder to find). Dwarfism in Homo Sapiens is a genetic mutation that doesn't consider any evolutionary advantage, while Halflings likely would have that.

(I'm rambling a bit here, and in retrospect I'm not entirely sure what my intended point was. However, I do think that it's worth bringing up/discussing.)

 

[Yaarel]

Apparently in the Dragonlance setting, Human with Gnome can produce a child. Assume with Halfling too?

If the Halfling is of Gnome-Human parentage that can make sense.