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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 4582162" data-attributes="member: 19675">I fall solidly into the 2nd category.  By and large, most small creatures aren't as good in melee as larger ones.Equalizers exist, though.1) Chimps, for instance, are inordinately strong for their size, relative to humans.  A Small race, therefore, could have an unusually high Str mod and be very stocky...you know, like extra short dwarves, only moreso.  Or perhaps they're stocky cusses who have Powerful Build.2) The "jujitsu" option is valid.  Halflings are a decent example of this.  They're weak in melee, to be sure, but they get bonuses to Dex AND with thrown objects.  Coupled with bonuses to hide and the like, and a small race could be quite nasty.3) Poison, especially inherent to the species, makes many small RW creatures inordinately dangerous.  That could be a touch toxins (like certain frogs and toads), bite-delivered venom (spiders and snakes) or biotoxins (dirty-mouth lizards), nauseating smells (skunks and other rodents), irritants (bombardier beetles), sting delivered venoms (scorpions, anemones and jellyfish) and so forth.Despite their actual efficacy in nature, I'd advise against both neurotoxins (because they're so deadly) and any delivery system that depends on a critter being eaten (pufferfish).4) Inherent mastery of some kind of magic.  In most RW legends, the Fey are generally smaller than humans, but have innate magics that make them formidable foes.  IMHO, gnomes should have been made Fey and given this option at some point (moreso than they were, that is)- either of nature-related magic (like the red-hatted garden gnomes) or crafting magic (like the dwarves/gnomes of Norse legend).  Other Small (or smaller) Fey would be powerful Enchanters or Illusionists...or both.5) RW animal tricks.  Sometimes, small creatures just want to get away and have evolved ways to make predators just let go- slimy excretions that make them hard to grasp, unpleasant scents or irritants to make a foe let go reflexively, or just surprises that startle the foe for a second or 2- puffing up in size, squirts of blood to the face, or even the ability to detatch (and later regrow) limbs.6) Tough as nails.  A small race evolved from fish, reptiles or insects might have a lot of natural armor.7)  Just because you're small doesn't mean you're slow. Many RPGs make the assumption that smaller humanoids would be slower than their larger counterparts.  This is understandable since it seems to map closely to reality.However, it need not be this way.  Perhaps the race is inordinately fast and nimble for its size...more like a small cat or dog that can flat outrun a human.</blockquote>

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