D&D General Short folk appreciation thread – what do you play?

I realized some time ago that one of my favorite archetypes is the small-sized character who makes giant explosions, either with tech or magic.

In D&D, my go-to small folk are halflings. I tend to like them as savvy city-dwellers rather than bucolic hobbit types.

At this stage in my life, I've been playing a lot of halflings alongside my humans. When I was younger, it was elves, then half-orcs, then dwarves, now it's halflings. And my halflings are hobbity - they're barefoot and they like their food/beer, comfortable surroundings, and a good pipe.

I’m working on a 5e-adjacent setting and ended up building several Small PC species that fill the same niche as halflings/gnomes/goblins, but with a post-apocalyptic flavor. In alphabetical order:

• Beaverfolk — Lodge-based water engineers whose constructions reshape local ecology; currently caught in outside conflict due to the rise of the Cult of Beaver Lodge. They have a paramilitary mindset and raise geese for security
• Bogeys — Extended-family con artists and deal-makers; competitive, covetous, and fiercely loyal once you’re “in.” Inspired by GURPS Goblins (Banestorm ones) with a healthy dose of the movie Labyrinth.
• Feylin — Winged fae fueled by pop-culture obsession; scouts, distractions, and chaos gremlins (including the infamous Cult of Bruce). This is easily the most popular species I made and has been used by faerie-winged, Rambo, and Conan cosplayers, for example. Even have one feylin gunsligner nicknamed "Dirty Debbi" Harry
• Garterfolk — Gregarious snake-people with seasonal mass gatherings and a pheromone-based language; oddly great diplomats and infiltrators. Essentially, a subversion of the snake people being villains and more like hippies. Based on the most social of snakes, the humble Garter Snake.
• Harvesters — Uncanny plant-humanoids from biotech farming communes; outwardly quaint, inwardly methodical and unsettling. Instead of Mind Flayers, we have these guys and they usually end up making killer psychic plant monsters. Not technically evil, but definitely dangerous.
• Little Bears — Teddy-bear-meets-bear-cub folk, possibly born from lost human souls; polite, sweet-toothed, and capable of sudden primal chaos. These burly little folk were inspired by the multitude of half-sized bears in 80s media. There is even a Gish order known as the TEDI

Curious reactions:

• Which of these feels like something you’d play?
• Do you like shortfolk cozy, scrappy, weird, or a little unsettling?

I like kobolds and goblins, have played Dwarves on occasion (especially when filling in as a rock-solid veteran in a newbie group), and can wrap my head around a hobbit on infrequent occasions. With my kobolds and goblins I may lean into some humor, some "get underestimated and prove them wrong", and some just plain bein'-a-sneaky-git.

Gnomes are my favorite dnd species, and i have gone back and forth with regard to halflings.

My favorite two long time characters are:

Dresden Nuada Diarmuid Creidne Odhrain Darkblade Owlfeather Woodsheart ap Frostburrow èn Caer Dannan. Gnome Rogue turned Wizard, Alchemist, Inventor, Hunter of Necromancers.

And Finnan O'Foalan. Halfling Assassin and revolutionary in Shadovar controlled Sembia. Farmer's son, college dropout, Chosen of Mask. (Also known as The Shadow's Left Hand by the small folk of Sembia and the Dragon Coast and Inner Sea)

ETA I dont play short folk as cute or silly, but as proud and clever and very very foolish to underestimate.

Dromites, fraal, and goblins... but I don't play Small races very often.

In Star Wars, though, I will play an ewok any chance I get.

a question, when playing small species, do you ever find yourself wishing that their size category played more distinctly? rather than functionally being the same as a medium creature most of the time? not saying there aren't differences but, it's something that i feel you can end up forgetting for the most part.

As one might have guessed based on my title, I freaking love goblins. I love funny little guys in general, really, but goblins are my favorite variety of funny little guy. From the list in the OP, halflings are probably my second-favorite, followed by kobolds, then gnomes, and autognomes would be last. But I like them all.

CreamCloud0 said:

a question, when playing small species, do you ever find yourself wishing that their size category played more distinctly? rather than functionally being the same as a medium creature most of the time? not saying there aren't differences but, it's something that i feel you can end up forgetting for the most part.

Click to expand...

Yes and no. I’d like if there was a bit more mechanical distinction that wasn’t just drawbacks, but through most of the game’s history Small size mechanical distinctions have mostly been negative, with only a few positives. It has generally felt unbalanced in favor of Medium, so I’m ok with it now mostly being the same as Medium instead.

Forest Gnomes - specifically Forest not Tinkers, I like that they are a clever magically inclined species who are not optimised for combat. I imagine them as fey-[ike combination of Smurfs and the Nac Mac Feegle of Discworld and as fey I do like tying them to Spriggans, Jermlaines, Brownies, Leprechauns, Redcaps and Xvarts. I just wish they were Tiny! (IMC gnomes are under 2ft tall).

Goblins - a snivelling, scampering species of scavengers out to a survive in a world that despises and underestimates them. Their nimble escape is a key feature that makes them perfect for hit and run thieves and backstabbers (also Fey!)

Dromites - Ant-people are my favourite psychic type

I want to play a Plasmoid Slime one day, but haven't yet

CreamCloud0 said:

a question, when playing small species, do you ever find yourself wishing that their size category played more distinctly? rather than functionally being the same as a medium creature most of the time? not saying there aren't differences but, it's something that i feel you can end up forgetting for the most part.

Click to expand...

As I stated re gnomes I'd prefer that they are not combat optimised and I liked that about 3e (irc small gave a AC boost but str penalty). Things like goblin Nimbility are great too