D&D 5E Halflings are the 7th most popular 5e race

[Lanefan]

I love playing sub-optimal characters.

I once played a dwarf bard (under 3.5E rules, no less) who was a metal enthusiast in every sense of the word.

I did much the same, long ago: a Dwarf Bard whose instruments were drums, voice, and (heavily amplified if possible) lute. The biggest problem in his life was trying to figure out how to play the drums and "lute" both at the same time so he could be a true one-man metal band.

He also had problems with narrow passages as between himself and the drum kit strapped to his hips he was about seven feet wide.

And stealth was right out.

 

[MGibster]

And a lair!

Rawr!

In the group I run with, there is invariably a halfling in the group. Sometimes it's a Fighter, a Barbarian, or a Rogue, but rarely a caster of any kind. I wonder why? In my homebrew, I made halfings semi-nomadic folk without a permanent home of their own. They were offically under the protection of the big bad evil empire which meant most people wouldn't mess with them.

 

[MGibster]

Way back when 3rd edition was new, a friend and I made halfling characters, Hurly and Burly, who were adventuring brothers. I played Burly, a halfling Fighter, and my friend was Hurly, a halfling Rogue who threw a lot of daggers. I think that was the last time I played a halfling.

I haven't played a gnome since Thief/Illusionist were a thing. So it's been a while.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Halfings are still gonna a core race no matter how low their Beyond numbers are. 4E removed Halfings from the first PHB due to "low approval numbers" and we all know how well that was received.

It only seemed like 4E removed halflings, since they turned them into dreadlocked riverfolk. Which is a pretty cool schtick, but not what traditional halfling fans were expecting, to put it mildly.

Ah, how quickly the tides wash away memory. Halflings are a PHB1 race in 4e. Gnomes were the race that was held for PHB2. Which came out a whopping nine months after PHB1. Waiting nine whole months to get a race only used by ~3.5% of characters today. But because that one race wasn't included immediately, it became the rallying cry for how dumb-bad-awful 4e was.

Seems like this was a recurring theme with that edition.

Nah. Beyond the explicit incorrect remembrance noted above, people just really liked finding reasons to get mad at 4e.

Hardly. People exaggerate the differences.

Indeed--and the present tense is the correct one to use here, too.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'm amused that Halfkijg Barbarians are more common than Elf Barbarians.

I wonder how many of these Halfling Barbs have the Eberron Content switch turned on? Because the Talenta Halflings are perhaps the most likely scenario and reason of there being a larger swathe of Hafling Barbs.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Halfling barbarians can have some cool concepts:

I have in mind a Fox (wolf) Totem barbarian, with Second Chance, Bountiful Luck and Lucky.

Grant Advantage and Rerolls like there's no tomorrow!

 

[Krachek]

There are some 1 like the only one Rogue-Minotaur.
that would be an ingesting case to study!

 

[Oofta]

Gnome Bear totem barbarians are pretty great.

• Resistance to physical and most magical damage
• Advantage on Dex, Wis, Int, Cha against spells + Str when raging
• Can still use versatile weapons, so it's not that big a drop when it comes to damage.

Maybe my next PC should be Taz...

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Maybe my next PC should be Taz...

Honnestly, when I designed this character as a pre-gen, the ''bear'' part of the totem was switched to ''badger''.

I guess Tasmanian devil are kinda close to the badger?

 

[Oofta]

Honnestly, when I designed this character as a pre-gen, the ''bear'' part of the totem was switched to ''badger''.

I guess Tasmanian devil are kinda close to the badger?

So you're saying they'd want this?

I have no clue what it does but much like the honey badger, I don't care.