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

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well I hope the person who hated the Commoner class is happy with themselves. D:

Oh, man, the very idea of a serious commoner class is a whole other thread to get into.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

This feels like a leap and an uncharitable one at that.

I noped out of 4E and was saddened by the exclusion of gnomes from the 4E PHB, but I absolutely don't want people to not enjoy the things that they do. (That's why I was largely absent from these boards during the 4E vs. Pathfinder era -- neither of those games were mine and I didn't want to be that person who showed up in every thread to express disapproval of stuff other people like.)

Removing gnomes -- and every spell effect that didn't fit into a very simple framework of predefined ability effects -- was a signal that with 4E, WotC wasn't making a game that appealed to me. It appealed to a lot of people -- I know a ton of video game designers on games everyone here definitely knows -- and they adore 4E, even today. (Maybe it's huge with bus drivers, too, but game designers are the industry group I know that seems to have really embraced 4E.) And I'm happy for them, including for the games many of them still have going today.

But I am a color outside the lines guy and tricksy little dudes with niche appeal who cast illusions that require a ton of DM adjudication (as opposed to 4E's later-on stab at illusions that were basically just reskinning pre-existing ability effects) are my jam. (I've been playing the same gnome illusionist since the 3E era, through to the current day.)

It wouldn't have occurred to me to have viewed replacing dragonborn with gnomes as some sort of zero-sum game. WotC can add a lot more pages to a book than they currently do.

The sorcerer issue didn't occur to me to worry about, partly because I've never played a sorcerer, but partly because it was already clear that 4E was a different game than the kind I wanted to play, and had already left the party. Me stomping back in to find more things to be unhappy about would have been weird and unproductive, and needlessly crapping on a game that other people were happily playing.

TL;DR: People can be want different stuff than you without being bad guys because of it.

I can only tell you what I saw in the lead up to 5e. People openly campaigning against dragonborn being in the 5e PHB for literally no reason other than "because they're badwrongfun."

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I can only tell you what I saw in the lead up to 5e. People openly campaigning against dragonborn being in the 5e PHB for literally no reason other than "because they're badwrongfun."

Your post was referencing this thread, though.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Your post was referencing this thread, though.

It was not. It was speaking broadly about the topic in general, starting from this thread, and then moving more broadly. Hence why I spoke about the responses to 4e, and (obliquely, I admit) referenced the creation of 5e, where people (as I said) openly fought to exclude dragonborn solely because dragonborn aren't D&D enough for them.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

One could - and some would - argue that's the direction in which WotC are incrementally going, whether intentionally or otherwise.

And those folks would simply be wrong. But that's an argument for another thread. Several, in fact, and I'd rather not drag them into here as well.

Biological essentialism be controversial, yo.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The gnome is obviously a monster

See they made that cool gnome and then made me wait a year (many people cannot buy things when they release) to use it!?

I was mad.

Didn’t help that rogue and ranger are the only classes in the phb I’ve ever liked, and halfling is pretty much the only phb race I liked.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

See they made that cool gnome and then made me wait a year (many people cannot buy things when they release) to use it!?

I was mad.

Didn’t help that rogue and ranger are the only classes in the phb I’ve ever liked, and halfling is pretty much the only phb race I liked.

You may be the first person I've ever seen to respond to that video with "that gnome is so COOL though!" Which is honestly very refreshing.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

My point is that anything after the core three should be my decision/option as to whether to buy and-or to add in to my game, rather than being marketed as "you have to have this or else you're not playing it right"

Anything INCLUDING the core three is an option. The core three spell that out. If you think "you have to have this or else you're not playing it right" you are not playing it right, because that is not what the rules say.

 

[greg kaye]

Because they (I had just mentioned small creatures) are based on folk form Tolkien who are more interested in food and drink than gymnastics (I also mentioned mobility).

If a creature has "half" (by dimension) size, it may have a quarter strength (by cross-section) but will also have an eighth weight (by volume). Why not enable some form of mobility. We fairly say small creatures have disadvantage with heavy weapons. Why not make it more difficult for others to shoot them?
On food and drink (I'd also suggest homemaking) why not add a halfling tool proficiency option from cook's utensils, caligrapher's supplies, herbalism kit or weaver's tools (things not even directly given to the hospitality halfling.

Since the Tolkien lawsuit D&D halflings do not have big feet..

Since introduction, halflings had been presented as stealthy but, even with "lightfoot" varieties, apparently not with stealth other than hiding!?

Why would they? There is nothing in the lore to indicate halflings are particularly diplomatic..

Really? They always seem to get the jobs working bar.
Why give halflings passive (let's see if you remember to check your rolls) luck and not something more interactive?

 

[Hussar]

Because frankly you could give them laser beams for eyes and no one would care.