D&D 4E 4E Halflings unrecognizable from Tolkien hobbits

[The Ubbergeek]

this new look for halflings reminds me of Jar-Jr Binks

Lucas (BTW, a proof that corporations are not the only things that can in theory 'ruin' a license... bu the creators themselves also) based him on a vague caraiban look, are you really surprised with all the racism accusation conroversy some years ago?

 

[Dormammu]

How so?

Maybe he thinks they're terrible. That could remind him of Jar-Jar.

 

[Jhulae]

I don't think the pictures look like dreadlocks, honestly. It looks more like braids to me.

And, as has been pointed out, even Tolkien halflings were closer to 4 feet tall. They were half the height of one of the old human races that were about 8' tall (name escapes me), which is why they had a nickname of 'halflings' (being half the height of that race).

 

[Wolfspider]

Since I've only looked at the book in passing, I wasn't aware that halflings now have a racial tendancy toward having dreads. That's even more dreadful, if you ask me.

I also saw dwarves with dreads, elves with dreads, tieflings with dreads, and, yes, even a dragonborn with dreads.

Dread, mon. Truly dread.

Hmm...would the Isle of Dread be a Points-of-Light setting?

 

[Lalato]

I'm not sure where people are seeing dreadlocks. i see curly hair. I've known several people with that type of curly hair.

As for the skin color... why should humans be the only ones with variations in skin color? It's just skin for Pete's sake. Might as well complain about eye color.

--sam

 

[Steely Dan]

The only thing that bothers me is that they are still called hobbi…halflings.

Even though I am a huge fan, every time I hear the word orc, or hobbit or halfling I think of Tolkien, even half-elf I sometimes have a hard time with being too campaign specific (Middle-Earth) as well.

…Thank Predator for the dreadlock obsession.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I'll note that this change is the biggest objection my wife has to the new edition. She hates both 3e and 4e halflings with a doughty passion.

KidCthulhu, how I marvel at your perspicacity!

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I like em.

And frankly I'm just glad to have a riverine / swamp race.

I like the Swamp Arabs as a culture and I like Tom and Huck as heroic archetypes. The new halflings are a one stop shopping experience.

 

[Dausuul]

Tolkien's high elves were those that visited the Shining Lands, a realm to the West beyond the mortal realm. His wood elves were those who remained in the mortal lands and never saw the sea.

The Feywild is soooooo not Valinor.

Yes, there is Tolkien influence at work in the eladrin/elf distinction, but I think that influence comes mostly by way of previous editions of D&D. (The eladrin are obviously a replacement for high and grey elves, while the elves are replacements for wild and wood elves.) The Feywild is meant to represent the mythic realm of Faerie, not Tolkien's quasi-Heaven.

As far as halflings go, I never liked having Tolkien-style hobbits in D&D. I loved what Dark Sun did with them (feral cannibal halflings FTW!), and was quite happy with the 3E version. I do agree that their artwork should do more to suggest "small," but otherwise I have no complaints about the 4E halfling.

 

[Robert Ranting]

My taste in halfling appearance leans much more towards Lidda and the illustration from PHB2 that Zamkaizer posted. As a Monte Cook fan, I tend to go with the idea presented in Ptolus that halfings are just a subrace of elves anyway, the saelas faen (which he latter spun out into the faen races of Arcana Evolved).

Of all the halfling changes, I think the one that I like the least is that halflings are riverfolk while humans are associated with the plains. Sure, humans have gotten a lot of use out of horses, but most of our cities are on rivers or sea shores where we can use boats for trade, fishing, and dumping our waste. The Nile, the Thames, the Ganges, the Yangtze, and the Hudson are all rivers which have fed some of the world's most influential real-world cities, and I can't imagine fantasy humans not doing the same. Halflings might very well thrive trading with humans down the river, but I think they would be much better suited to living in wild places, using their size to sneak about and living in small burrows or hollow trees with entrances that can be easily defended from mundane predators. Whether you live in a castle or treehouse, burrow or dwarven hold, if a dragon wants to tear open your house and eat you, it will, but most of these will keep you safe from wolves.

Robert "Gotta Go" Ranting