RPG Evolution: The Trouble with Halflings

Over the decades I've developed my campaign world to match the archetypes my players wanted to play. In all those years, nobody's ever played a halfling.

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.​

So What's the Problem?​

Halflings, derived from hobbits, have been a curious nod to Tolkien's influence on fantasy. While dwarves and elves have deep mythological roots, hobbits are more modern inventions. And their inclusion was very much a response to the adventurous life that the agrarian homebodies considered an aberration. In short, most hobbits didn't want to be adventurers, and Bilbo, Frodo, and the others were forever changed by their experiences, such that it was difficult for them to reintegrate when they returned home. You don't hear much about elves and dwarves having difficulty returning home after being adventurers, and for good reason. Tolkien was making a point about the human condition and the nature of war by using hobbits as proxies.

As a literary construct, hobbits serve a specific purpose. In The Hobbit, they are proxies for children. In The Lord of the Rings, they are proxies for farmers and other folk who were thrust into the industrialized nightmare of mass warfare. In both cases, hobbits were a positioned in contrast to the violent lifestyle of adventurers who live and die by the sword.

Which is at least in part why they're challenging to integrate into a campaign world. And yet, we have strong hobbit archetypes in Dungeons & Dragons, thanks to Dragonlance.

Kender. Kender Are the Problem​

I did know one player who loved to play kender. We never played together in a campaign, at least in part because kender are an integral part of the Dragonlance setting and we weren't playing in Dragonlance. But he would play a kender in every game he played, including in massive multiplayers like Ultima Online. And he was eye-rollingly aggravating, as he loved "borrowing" things from everyone (a trait established by Tasselhoff Burrfoot).

Part of the issue with kender is that they aren't thieves, per se, but have a child-like curiosity that causes them to "borrow" things without understanding that borrowing said things without permission is tantamount to stealing in most cultures. In essence, it results in a character who steals but doesn't admit to stealing, which can be problematic for inter-party harmony. Worse, kender have a very broad idea of what to "borrow" (which is not limited to just valuables) and have always been positioned as being offended by accusations of thievery. It sets up a scenario where either the party is very tolerant of the kender or conflict ensues. This aspect of kender has been significantly minimized in the latest draft for Unearthed Arcana.

Big Heads, Little Bodies​

The latest incarnation of halflings brings them back to the fun-loving roots. Their appearance is decidedly not "little children" or "overweight short people." Rather, they appear more like political cartoons of eras past, where exaggerated features were used as caricatures, adding further to their comical qualities. But this doesn't solve the outstanding problem that, for a game that is often about conflict, the original prototypes for halflings avoided it. They were heroes precisely because they were thrust into difficult situations and had to rise to the challenge. That requires significant work in a campaign to encourage a player to play a halfling character who would rather just stay home.

There's also the simple matter of integrating halflings into societies where they aren't necessarily living apart. Presumably, most human campaigns have farmers; dwarves and elves occupy less civilized niches, where halflings are a working class who lives right alongside the rest of humanity in plain sight. Figuring out how to accommodate them matters a lot. Do humans just treat them like children? Would halflings want to be anywhere near a larger humanoids' dwellings as a result? Or are halflings given mythical status like fey? Or are they more like inveterate pranksters and tricksters, treating them more like gnomes? And if halflings are more like gnomes, then why have gnomes?

There are opportunities to integrate halflings into a world, but they aren't quite so easy to plop down into a setting as dwarves and elves. I still haven't quite figured out how to make them work in my campaign that doesn't feel like a one-off rather than a separate species. But I did finally find a space for gnomes, which I'll discuss in another article.

Your Turn: How have you integrated halflings into your campaign world?

 

[Minigiant]

You're making a False Equivalence here. A mafia Don =/= Noble. A mafia Don = CEO of crime business. Made man = other chief under the CEO. Nothing in the lore implies that halflings can't or won't run businesses.

I'm not making equivalence of dons to kings.

My main premise is that the base lore lore states that halflings rarely venture out of the local level and typically not out of halflinh affairs.

It is hard to make a large enterprise when you rarely own land, rarely create kingdoms, stay out of global politics, avoid interstate diplomacy, stay out the limelight, avoid being noticed, defer to other races for planar affairs, and typical only go to the family level for halfling leadership.

The 5e lore predispose halflings to "sidekicks"

The 5e lore goes out its way to push the idea that halflings don't act unless in defence, obligation to a friend or friendly race, or wonderlust.

This is because halflimg is written to support the beloved idea of an unexpected unsuspected underdog while being a race available and promoted to a world changing active adventurer.

Hence my point that halfling can be local crime but rarely Intercity international or interplanal crime. Because halflings are unnoticed and family level. The crimeboss running schemes in 4 towns wouldn't be a halfling most level. The organization would hire halflings but would likely be mostly another race.

 

[lingual]

I'm not making equivalence of dons to kings.

My main premise is that the base lore lore states that halflings rarely venture out of the local level and typically not out of halflinh affairs.

It is hard to make a large enterprise when you rarely own land, rarely create kingdoms, stay out of global politics, avoid interstate diplomacy, stay out the limelight, avoid being noticed, defer to other races for planar affairs, and typical only go to the family level for halfling leadership.

The 5e lore predispose halflings to "sidekicks"

The 5e lore goes out its way to push the idea that halflings don't act unless in defence, obligation to a friend or friendly race, or wonderlust.

This is because halflimg is written to support the beloved idea of an unexpected unsuspected underdog while being a race available and promoted to a world changing active adventurer.

Hence my point that halfling can be local crime but rarely Intercity international or interplanal crime. Because halflings are unnoticed and family level. The crimeboss running schemes in 4 towns wouldn't be a halfling most level. The organization would hire halflings but would likely be mostly another race.

People of most races are rarely international crime lords or great warriors, etc.

You probably would never find a imperial army.of halflings too. But that has no bearing on them as PCs. PCs are exceptional by definition already and don't have to confirm to stereotypes.

I'm not even sure what this argument is about at this point so I may be totally off base here on what you are trying to argue.

 

[Gammadoodler]

I'm not making equivalence of dons to kings.

My main premise is that the base lore lore states that halflings rarely venture out of the local level and typically not out of halflinh affairs.

It is hard to make a large enterprise when you rarely own land, rarely create kingdoms, stay out of global politics, avoid interstate diplomacy, stay out the limelight, avoid being noticed, defer to other races for planar affairs, and typical only go to the family level for halfling leadership.

The 5e lore predispose halflings to "sidekicks"

The 5e lore goes out its way to push the idea that halflings don't act unless in defence, obligation to a friend or friendly race, or wonderlust.

This is because halflimg is written to support the beloved idea of an unexpected unsuspected underdog while being a race available and promoted to a world changing active adventurer.

Hence my point that halfling can be local crime but rarely Intercity international or interplanal crime. Because halflings are unnoticed and family level. The crimeboss running schemes in 4 towns wouldn't be a halfling most level. The organization would hire halflings but would likely be mostly another race.

Ennh.. I'd argue that most crime families aren't founded with the intent to get huge.

It's just a family business that grows with the family and the business. People marry in have kids, kids marry, etc. At some point the family becomes one of the local businesses folks go to for a job. Jobs get bigger, "family work" becomes more attractive, etc.

Scale starts being a problem only when you start to get in competition with other criminal enterprises or have to deal with more aggressive law enforcement. Maybe you can argue that halflings don't have the level of ruthlessness necessary to compete in that environment, but they are noted for being practical and ferocious in defense of their family.

It doesn't seem like that big of a stretch for such an organization to gain considerable influence almost by accident.

 

[Maxperson]

I'm not making equivalence of dons to kings.

No. You made it to noble, which they aren't. They're heads of a business.

My main premise is that the base lore lore states that halflings rarely venture out of the local level and typically not out of halflinh affairs.

The lore says there are halfling adventurers and that bad apples get sent out into the world. That means many halflings wander out of the local level. Why wouldn't some of them create an organized underworld organization? Nothing in the lore suggests that they wouldn't.

It is hard to make a large enterprise when you rarely own land, rarely create kingdoms, stay out of global politics, avoid interstate diplomacy, stay out the limelight, avoid being noticed, defer to other races for planar affairs, and typical only go to the family level for halfling leadership.

A large enterprise isn't anywhere near the same as creating a kingdom or getting into global politics, etc. Further, a mafia is also on the family level. That's literally what they were. Crime families.

The 5e lore predispose halflings to "sidekicks"

Adventurers are not "sidekicks." The 5e lore predisposes them to being adventurers. Hell, they have a god of adventure. It's an important enough aspect of their society that they have a god for it.

The 5e lore goes out its way to push the idea that halflings don't act unless in defence, obligation to a friend or friendly race, or wonderlust.

And yet they have a god of war and vigilance.

 

[Chaosmancer]

So what you're getting to is that your Dwarves have unlimited time, resources and attention. There is no circumstance in which they would have any priorities which compete, no time where a sacrifice must be made...

..and nicer, more people-focused halflings are unvelievable??

No. I'm not saying that. Like, in any way shape or form.

It's basic economics man. When you run out of resources, you have to stop making or buying stuff. If you do not have time to do something, you cannot do it. If you invest your attention in one thing, you are not investing it in another..This is how resource allocation has worked kind of everywhere since kind of always.

In that light, Dwarves are going to prioritize hammers and helmets. Halflings are going to prioritize bread and circuses. Dwarves can still have circuses and halflings can still have hammers. But those circuses and hammers will be fewer and worse.

Funny thing about economies, we have one. And interestingly, since about the dawn of writing, it has been able to support industry AND circuses. I mean, I'm not exactly an expert, but I'm pretty sure the greeks had metallurgy, theater, writing, farming and construction. They must have had unlimited time, resources and attention!

Or... they didn't have unlimited resources, and had to allocate them. See, dwarves dig a new mine and start mining ore. That takes time, yes, but the dwarves who built the tunnel aren't mining the ore. They need to do something else, like maybe take that stone and build houses. And dwarves build houses, while building mines and dwarven construction lasts. You don't have to rebuild very often, so after you've spent a few decades building everything else... you build a theater. Now, maybe it wasn't the first thing they built, but kind of funny thing, dwarves live a long time. Like, a couple hundred years minimum. And they build to last, so every building they build, unless damaged by outside forces lasts... a couple hundred years. That is, to put it mildly, a lot of time. And, with that time not building buildings that have already been built, those dwarven engineers have the attention to put on other buildings.

Honestly, you act like dwarves make helmets and hammers that they need to replace every month. And that they are so busy making mines that they never use all that stone they quarried to make buildings. Why do you think Dwarve's get Masonry tools except to indicate that they use masonry to make buildings out of stone? And all a theater is, is a building. And since dwarves are not only incredibly tied to their clans, but to their history, just like the Greeks and shakespeare, they'd have oral poetry and plays tying to that history. Which would need a theater.

This isn't 3-D chess with the economy, it the basics.

As far as niceness/morality being a racial trait, call it cultural instead (which honestly just makes sense considering things like racial weapon proficiencies). You don't think it's reasonable for the people in one culture to be nicer on average than people in another?

Not that long ago you pointed toward a Southern/Midwestern mindset coloring how you view your fantasy characters likely behaviors. Why would you think geography would have any bearing on your personal worldview? Do you think its substantially different than what I'm suggesting for halflings (which BTW, is consistent with what is printed in the PHB).

Just make it a cultural traits that all halflings share, regardless of where they live. How is that any different?

And, real quick, I want to bring up something that I often see in these discussions. There is a difference between IRL Stereotypes and this sort of presentation in game texts. See, IRL, being Southern/Midwestern US is stereotypically associated with being polite and nice to people. Same with being Canadian. But, I have met utter naughty words (and am related to more than one) because as we all know, stereotypes aren't all true.

But, see, when a game text says something like "halflings are all X" then we generally accept it as a true fact. Because the game is a simplified version of reality, and the nuance isn't present. But also, these aren't humans, so we are forced to confront the fact that all of them being X could very well be true. And that is what is significantly different.

And actually, hmm, let me break this off.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Thinking about our discussion, I think I do have to thank you @Gammadoodler , because you've really highlighted my biggest problem with halflings. Something I don't know if I fully realized, but which perfectly explains why so much of this bothers me.

Halflings are Mary Sues.

Every single trait they have, every single "flaw" they have, is built around them being idealized. The issue isn't really that they are just short humans, because they are idealized humans. Think about it.

Halflings are short because they are the underdog, that way their inevitable victory is more rewarding because they had to overcome a challenge. But they are incredibly good at fighting because they are always underestimated and they are incredibly brave. Oh, you're brave? Well, the halfling is braver than you. And they are lucky too, so everything just tends to go their way, and they are just the nicest and kindest people you've ever met. Very caring and humble. See, they don't have that greed and ambition that the other races have, they are just simple, good folk who care about other folk and build their communities. Oh, you are a kind good person too? Well, halflings are just kinder and more better than you. Really, that's their biggest flaw, they just care too much about other people, and so they don't look at the big picture. Their hearts are just too big for those little bodies.

They are like every single hallmark small town ever written.

And no, before I get accused of it, I don't have some deep-seated hatred of nice people, or want my world super grim-dark where kindness doesn't exist. That's not the point. The point is when you take an entire race of people and just make them better than everyone else, it is boring and it irritates people because we know that this idea of being innately better than others just isn't true. This was the problem with the elves for the longest time. They were the race of "I'm just better than you". They were stronger than you, prettier than you, wiser than you, smarter than you. That's where elven arrogance comes from, from the audience basically going "yeah, elves think that, but they aren't right". And sure, maybe halflings aren't the prettiest or the most intelligent, but they are that idyllic pastoral, hallmark fantasy perfection. And that means it is far too easy for the message to come across as "Humans are adaptable and ambitious, dwarves are gruff and focused on craftsmanship, elves are ethereal and magical, and halflings are just better people than you are."

And that is a problem. And before you end up declaring me wrong, what was the first flaw you came up with for halflings in this discussion? Your first response to me saying they were too good and too caring and too kind?

It doesn't make them angels. You could make the argument that putting people first in this way is short-sighted and ignores the possible benefits of technology or magic or abstract economic growth. You can also make the argument that by focusing so completely in their own communities, they are failing the broader world around them.

That they simply care too much for other people. That classic "non-flaw" from every job interview, "I think my biggest weakness is that I simply care too much."

 

[Chaosmancer]

People of most races are rarely international crime lords or great warriors, etc.

You probably would never find a imperial army.of halflings too. But that has no bearing on them as PCs. PCs are exceptional by definition already and don't have to confirm to stereotypes.

I'm not even sure what this argument is about at this point so I may be totally off base here on what you are trying to argue.

No, I really think you hit the nail on the head. The thing that supposedly defines halflings is the thing that defines the vast majority of people of the other races. It is literally that they are unremarkable commoners, which every single race has, because otherwise the PCs wouldn't be the PCs

 

[Gammadoodler]

No. I'm not saying that. Like, in any way shape or form.



Funny thing about economies, we have one. And interestingly, since about the dawn of writing, it has been able to support industry AND circuses. I mean, I'm not exactly an expert, but I'm pretty sure the greeks had metallurgy, theater, writing, farming and construction. They must have had unlimited time, resources and attention!

Or... they didn't have unlimited resources, and had to allocate them. See, dwarves dig a new mine and start mining ore. That takes time, yes, but the dwarves who built the tunnel aren't mining the ore. They need to do something else, like maybe take that stone and build houses. And dwarves build houses, while building mines and dwarven construction lasts. You don't have to rebuild very often, so after you've spent a few decades building everything else... you build a theater. Now, maybe it wasn't the first thing they built, but kind of funny thing, dwarves live a long time. Like, a couple hundred years minimum. And they build to last, so every building they build, unless damaged by outside forces lasts... a couple hundred years. That is, to put it mildly, a lot of time. And, with that time not building buildings that have already been built, those dwarven engineers have the attention to put on other buildings.

Honestly, you act like dwarves make helmets and hammers that they need to replace every month. And that they are so busy making mines that they never use all that stone they quarried to make buildings. Why do you think Dwarve's get Masonry tools except to indicate that they use masonry to make buildings out of stone? And all a theater is, is a building. And since dwarves are not only incredibly tied to their clans, but to their history, just like the Greeks and shakespeare, they'd have oral poetry and plays tying to that history. Which would need a theater.

This isn't 3-D chess with the economy, it the basics.



Just make it a cultural traits that all halflings share, regardless of where they live. How is that any different?

And, real quick, I want to bring up something that I often see in these discussions. There is a difference between IRL Stereotypes and this sort of presentation in game texts. See, IRL, being Southern/Midwestern US is stereotypically associated with being polite and nice to people. Same with being Canadian. But, I have met utter naughty words (and am related to more than one) because as we all know, stereotypes aren't all true.

But, see, when a game text says something like "halflings are all X" then we generally accept it as a true fact. Because the game is a simplified version of reality, and the nuance isn't present. But also, these aren't humans, so we are forced to confront the fact that all of them being X could very well be true. And that is what is significantly different.

And actually, hmm, let me break this off.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Thinking about our discussion, I think I do have to thank you @Gammadoodler , because you've really highlighted my biggest problem with halflings. Something I don't know if I fully realized, but which perfectly explains why so much of this bothers me.

Halflings are Mary Sues.

Every single trait they have, every single "flaw" they have, is built around them being idealized. The issue isn't really that they are just short humans, because they are idealized humans. Think about it.

Halflings are short because they are the underdog, that way their inevitable victory is more rewarding because they had to overcome a challenge. But they are incredibly good at fighting because they are always underestimated and they are incredibly brave. Oh, you're brave? Well, the halfling is braver than you. And they are lucky too, so everything just tends to go their way, and they are just the nicest and kindest people you've ever met. Very caring and humble. See, they don't have that greed and ambition that the other races have, they are just simple, good folk who care about other folk and build their communities. Oh, you are a kind good person too? Well, halflings are just kinder and more better than you. Really, that's their biggest flaw, they just care too much about other people, and so they don't look at the big picture. Their hearts are just too big for those little bodies.

They are like every single hallmark small town ever written.

And no, before I get accused of it, I don't have some deep-seated hatred of nice people, or want my world super grim-dark where kindness doesn't exist. That's not the point. The point is when you take an entire race of people and just make them better than everyone else, it is boring and it irritates people because we know that this idea of being innately better than others just isn't true. This was the problem with the elves for the longest time. They were the race of "I'm just better than you". They were stronger than you, prettier than you, wiser than you, smarter than you. That's where elven arrogance comes from, from the audience basically going "yeah, elves think that, but they aren't right". And sure, maybe halflings aren't the prettiest or the most intelligent, but they are that idyllic pastoral, hallmark fantasy perfection. And that means it is far too easy for the message to come across as "Humans are adaptable and ambitious, dwarves are gruff and focused on craftsmanship, elves are ethereal and magical, and halflings are just better people than you are."

And that is a problem. And before you end up declaring me wrong, what was the first flaw you came up with for halflings in this discussion? Your first response to me saying they were too good and too caring and too kind?



That they simply care too much for other people. That classic "non-flaw" from every job interview, "I think my biggest weakness is that I simply care too much."

1. You absolutely are saying that your Dwarves get to do everything at maximum quality with zero sacrifices. Your Dwarves get a mining tradition, a theatrical tradition, a crafting tradition, a martial tradition. You know, they live a long time, they probably have a magical tradition, a gardening tradition, and a culinary tradition too. They get to do everything. Your Dwarves have zero flaws (and halflings are Mary Sues..the hypocrisy is strong with this one)

2. We do have an economy, and you know what the biggest point of conflict has always been, resource allocation. This is true at both the macro and micro levels. How much money goes to NASA vs. how much goes to the Department of Education vs. How much goes to the Department of Health and Human Services. In our homes, how much do we spend on housing vs. food vs. video games vs the charities we support.

You have a household budget, right? And a job, some hobbies? Have you noticed that you can't buy everything you want? Or that when you're working at your job, you aren't participating in your hobbies? Have you ever noticed that someone who spends less time at work can spend more time on their hobbies/family? Or that people who spend less on video games can spend more on miniatures (holding income equal)?

I like that you brought up the Greeks. You know that there are some very different resource allocation choices made between city states..see Sparta vs. Athens. They were known for different things as a result. Athens had marginally more boats and theater, Sparta had more elite warriors. I wonder I there could be any parallels we could learn from here?

And then there's the rest of your post...you know..the part where you spill so much digital ink putting words in my mouth and misinterpreting them.

Let's be clear, in the same way that say Canadians as a nationality are seen as nicer without every individual being an angel, Halflings as a race/culture can be nicer/kinder without every individual being an angel. Maybe, like Canada, they might invest more resources, as a culture in programs or institutions that benefit their people than some of the other races/culture.

Anything about Mary Sue-ism is just nonsense. Your problem with halflings is bias. You are willing to extend unlimited benefits and extrapolation to other races that you are not willing to extend to halflings. And you are willing to spill thousands of words to justify this behavior(inadequately). You just don't like them.

That's fine, you don't have to, but it's not a problem for the game or any setting. It's a problem specifically for you.

This will probably be the last reply to you on this topic. I don't have the energy to continue to respond to long-winded baseless accusations/manifestos. Have a great day though.

 

[Mind of tempest]

1. You absolutely are saying that your Dwarves get to do everything at maximum quality with zero sacrifices. Your Dwarves get a mining tradition, a theatrical tradition, a crafting tradition, a martial tradition. You know, they live a long time, they probably have a magical tradition, a gardening tradition, and a culinary tradition too. They get to do everything. Your Dwarves have zero flaws (and halflings are Mary Sues..the hypocrisy is strong with this one)

2. We do have an economy, and you know what the biggest point of conflict has always been, resource allocation. This is true at both the macro and micro levels. How much money goes to NASA vs. how much goes to the Department of Education vs. How much goes to the Department of Health and Human Services. In our homes, how much do we spend on housing vs. food vs. video games vs the charities we support.

You have a household budget, right? And a job, some hobbies? Have you noticed that you can't buy everything you want? Or that when you're working at your job, you aren't participating in your hobbies? Have you ever noticed that someone who spends less time at work can spend more time on their hobbies/family? Or that people who spend less on video games can spend more on miniatures (holding income equal)?

I like that you brought up the Greeks. You know that there are some very different resource allocation choices made between city states..see Sparta vs. Athens. They were known for different things as a result. Athens had marginally more boats and theater, Sparta had more elite warriors. I wonder I there could be any parallels we could learn from here?

And then there's the rest of your post...you know..the part where you spill so much digital ink putting words in my mouth and misinterpreting them.

Let's be clear, in the same way that say Canadians as a nationality are seen as nicer without every individual being an angel, Halflings as a race/culture can be nicer/kinder without every individual being an angel. Maybe, like Canada, they might invest more resources, as a culture in programs or institutions that benefit their people than some of the other races/culture.

Anything about Mary Sue-ism is just nonsense. Your problem with halflings is bias. You are willing to extend unlimited benefits and extrapolation to other races that you are not willing to extend to halflings. And you are willing to spill thousands of words to justify this behavior(inadequately). You just don't like them.

That's fine, you don't have to, but it's not a problem for the game or any setting. It's a problem specifically for you.

This will probably be the last reply to you on this topic. I don't have the energy to continue to respond to long-winded baseless accusations/manifestos. Have a great day though.

Given that dwarves would mine and craft regardless of pay you seem to be conflicting the small-scale stuff of household budgets with the city scale at the smallest, as the entertainers are not working the mines.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Given that dwarves would mine and craft regardless of pay you seem to be conflicting the small-scale stuff of household budgets with the city scale at the smallest, as the entertainers are not working the mines.

It's all resource constraints. Housholds have budgets. Businesses have budgets. Cities have budgets. Nations have budgets.

Pretty much anywhere resources are limited, folks will have choices to make regarding how they use those resources. These choices reflect the priorities of the people/groups who make them.

Resources include time, attention, materials, etc. They are always limited.

 

[Mind of tempest]

It's all resource constraints. Housholds have budgets. Businesses have budgets. Cities have budgets. Nations have budgets.

Pretty much anywhere resources are limited, folks will have choices to make regarding how they use those resources. These choices reflect the priorities of the people/groups who make them.

Resources include time, attention, materials, etc. They are always limited.

it is not quite as simple, it does not run on command and conquer economy, for starters both mining and theatre are businesses and once built a theatre can stay in operation for a great deal of time, the globe is four hundred years old and still in use in our would so what might be a choice one year may not matter in ten and when you have lives in the three hundreds that adds up rapidly plus you do not need a theatre for performances to be put on.

you act as if dwarves never trade or interact with the outside world other than in war or adventure.