D&D (2024) No Dwarf, Halfling, and Orc suborgins, lineages, and legacies

[Mind of tempest]

But don’t you understand?! The part of halflings that’s interesting is that they’re not interesting! That’s why should totally get to be their race, instead of just a subtype of Gnomes or Humans.

If you were to combine Halflings and Gnomes into a single race, according to the data, it would actually be one of the more popular races. The problem is that we have two pretty similar small races with identity crises.

halflings and gnomes or mirror images of each other

 

[Yaarel]

given you seem to know them better than us would you kindly elaborate?

The D&D Dwarf shares almost zero in common with the various mentions of Dvergar across Norse texts.

In the Norse texts, the Dvergar are:
• Normal human size
• Personify the fates (nornir), especially a fate of failure and curses
• Powerful mages and makers of magic items
• Dvergar are highly knowledgeable and value knowledge (víss)
• Personify the patterns, rock shapes and mineral artwork, in rocks and mud
• Petrify into rock in direct sunlight − whence some of the rock shapes

The Dvergr is normal human size, in Norse texts and in Viking Period artwork that depict a human and a dvergar as the same size. One text even mentions a Dvergr having the height of a giant, "the body of a Thurs", tho the Norse giants themselves also are usually humansize despite the possibility of family members who reach extreme heights. Note, the Saxon Dwarf (British and German) is characteristically short, about half the size of a typical human. There is even a later Norse (Old Icelandic) translation of a German text in the 1400s, that mentions that this particular German Dwarf is unusually short, compared to the Norse Dvergar. If the D&D Dwarf is "Medium or Small", like the Human is, it is easy enough to mention that Dvergar can be any height, with various regional averages.

The famous three nornir are jǫtnar, who immigrated to become æsir sky beings relating to the cosmic tree. But there are masses of nornir, who determine the fates of individual humans. These many thousands of fate-speakers are Alfar and Dvergar. The Alfar correspond with speaking success, while the Dvergar with speaking the lack of it. But both Alfar and Dvergar are masters of any kind of magic. Sometimes the bad-luck Dvergr is referred to by the ironic nickname of a good-luck "Alfr". The Dvergar can grant helpful luck by means of cursing ones enemies.

For the D&D Dwarf to lack magic is non-Norse. There are Norse texts that explicitly identify Reginn as a Dvergr, such as the Dvergatal in the Vǫluspá. This is enough to establish that the concepts relating to Reginn correlate with concepts relating to the Dvergar. We see he masters shamanic magic, including shapeshifting into a dragon, and comes from a shamanic family who are also shapeshifters, such as into an otter and so on. The D&D Druid with its Earth elementalism and wildshape is appropriate for some Dvergr concepts. Various personal names relating to death and corpses refer to the deathlike trance of a shamanic who travels outofbody.

Also, Reginn repairs a broken magic sword. Dwarves elsewhere are also famous for creating some of the most powerful weapons in the cosmos, such as the hammer of Thórr, because of the fateful failure magic against the resistance to the weapon. So while Thórr is the son of the most powerful jótunn in the cosmos, his mother, and already has giant strength, his belt makes him effectively stronger than every other giant. In D&D, the Wizard with high Intelligence, expert knowledge, and making magic items can also apply to some Dvergar concepts. But a "spellbook" is never Norse. When later Norse texts refer to the magic grimoires from foreign nations, Norse uses its term "enchantment" galdr, from shamanic chanting, but reusing this term to cover generic magic including foreign magical methods. The Dvergar express kinds of magic that can be more powerful than the æsir. The æsir fear the dvergar and need the dvergar as allies.

The Dvergar across Norse texts relate to stone and mud (aurr). By definition the Dvergr live underground "in stones" away from direct sunlight.

The Dvergar petrify into stone while in direct sunlight, relates to the many humanlike patterns in rocks and mud. (In D&D terms, they take Radiant damage in direct sunlight, and when failing death saves at zero hit points, the corpse becomes stone.) Dvalinn is an ancestor of all Dvergar, whence the Dvergs need to avoid direct sunlight is poetically called "the game of Dvalinn" (dvalins leika). When the Dvergr Álvíss asks to marry the daughter of Thórr, implying her being buried alive, Thórr resolves the diplomatic consequences of spurning this Dvergr by distracting him with questions until the sun rises and petrifies the Dvergr into rock. The Reginn family mention shapeshifting into watery swimming creatures, whence humanlike and animallike shapes in river bed rock and mud.

 

[Scribe]

I know I keep getting in trouble for taking this position, but, at what point do we try something new?

No matter what has been tried, halflings and gnomes are not very popular.

Relative.

They are popular, just not as popular as options X, Y, Z.

That doesnt mean they have a problem, there is no need for a 100% balanced split between every option.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Ok, so now you have city halflings, rural halflings, samurai halflings, sailor halflings, dark halflings, and lives-in-a-hole-in-the-ground halflings. And they all have done nothing in Greyhawk of importance. They still have no cities, no monuments, no place in the story. That's the problem.

Then find/make a new setting where they have those things, because WotC won't be doing that for you.

This is no different from all the other things people lament WotC not doing with the game.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I think you are reading yourself into the halfling and gnome, if you see their potential forge them into it as clear many of us can't see it at all.

I suspect “reading yourself into” is why most people pick a species. I haven’t noticed players paying much attention to the lore in the PHB, and often species are refluffed.

As for halflings, players tend to do what WotC can’t because of the historical lawsuit, and make them hobbits, hairy feat and all.

 

[jmartkdr2]

elves have all three.
tieflings have a place in the world that is not easy to explain.

Tieflings have a distinct, fundamental, and thematic lack of place in the world; it's one of the things that makes them so appealing to various players who don't feel like they really fit in the real world (a common feeling).

 

[Mecheon]

No matter what has been tried, halflings and gnomes are not very popular. They just aren't. And it's not just from the player side of things. They aren't popular on the other side of the DM's screen either. Several of the 5e adventure paths had flying castles and flying ships. Yet, not a gnome to be found. The flying real estate is always "a wizard did it". ((Or a giant )) There are tons of dwarven ruins that are now dungeons. Elves are used in a number of adventures as background elements - history, culture, etc. Heck, the entire Spelljammer AP is based around elves.

The thing is though, while they're the least popular of the PHB races, in being PHB races they're still absolute miles ahead of all of the other options out there. Someone's gotta be the least popular out of any selection, its incredibly unlikely everything would hit the same popularity. I don't see a need to push or merge them

Aarakocra, Goblins and Tabaxi are probably the only non-PHB ones able to put a dent in their numbers due to being the very simple and noted RPG stereotypes of bird-people, goblins, and cat-people, but either way they're absolutely eclipsing stuff like yuan-ti or satyrs

 

[Remathilis]

Tieflings have a distinct, fundamental, and thematic lack of place in the world; it's one of the things that makes them so appealing to various players who don't feel like they really fit in the real world (a common feeling).

A lack of a place can still be a place. The problem of course is there are so many other misfit races (half-elves, half-orcs, aasimar, etc) that they kinda get lost among the "not quite humans living in human lands" crowd.

 

[Remathilis]

Aarakocra, Goblins and Tabaxi are probably the only non-PHB ones able to put a dent in their numbers due to being the very simple and noted RPG stereotypes of bird-people, goblins, and cat-people, but either way they're absolutely eclipsing stuff like yuan-ti or satyrs

Aasimar (half-angels) and goliaths (big brute/mini giant) are fairly popular as well.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Aasimar (half-angels) and goliaths (big brute/mini giant) are fairly popular as well.

Neither of whom have much of a setting presence in WotC circles.