Design & Development: Halflings [merged]

[Steely Dan]

Hmm. Interesting, then, that halflings have existed for so long in D&D as basically hobbit-clones then, ain't it?

…I can think of another word for it.

 

[Wormwood]

Hmm. Interesting, then, that halflings have existed for so long in D&D as basically hobbit-clones then, ain't it?

Not for the last 7 years and counting.

 

[sckeener]

The real reason that gnomes and half-orcs were axed

Gnomes were just too friendly with the half-orcs. (the gnomes hands)

 

[Lizard]

Or, given the choice between playing Conan or Arthur Dent, people are just lining up to play gormless, feckless, useless individuals.

After 30 years of RPing, playing Arthur Dent is FAR more interesting than playing Conan.

Playing a character who learns how to be a hero, because he has to, is much more enjoyable than playing Thrud Nounverb, whose entire personal story arc is "When I was young, I killed one hit die monsters. Now I kill 20 hit die monsters. That's character development!"

One of my favorite characters was a rogue in a Testament game. Strength 6. Constitution 6. "Coward" flaw. "Run" feat. When trouble beckoned, you could be sure he'd be over the next hill, returning only when it was time to pick some locks and grab some gold.

 

[ashockney]

[steps on soapbox]

I can't begin to describe my disappointment and frustration with the poor handling of presenting information as it relates to the 4e game. The coverage has been horrible, and today's halfling article was downright eye-rolling. I've been conditioned for 20+ years to get gaming books with fluff and crunch. Being out of a game right now, my only outlet for my gaming fix is to read about the potentially exciting game that is to come. I hope to raise awareness and interest among my gaming friends in an effort to start an online/skype game with the release of 4e. Instead, I continue to get things that are not only pretty uninteresting and not different, but it gives me very little if nothing to discuss in terms of the "game". And yet, here I sit, captive to their poorly executed marketing machine. I only hope that this game can deliver on it's promise, or I'm going to be hopping off this ride and going back to World of Warcraft.

[steps off soapbox]

 

[Lizard]

I think the choice should be, would you rather play Aunt May or Iceman?

Well...if we all got the same number of pionts to spend on the final build...

 

[GoLu]

I personally prefer no negatives simply because since the base-stat: 8 is for your average person and the races closer in size, then it be weird that there would be such a HUGE discrepancy between the strength of a human and a halfling. Now this would make sense for a Minotaur but then they would have a natural strength bonus.

Yes. It's silly that chimpanzees are roughly 4 times stronger than an average human as well.

Huh. I guess the two of you have mental images of halflings that don't match mine...

edit: That sounded snarkier than I had intended. Sorry about that. Basically, if halflings are roughly equivalent to a 11 year old kid (as I imagine them in 4E; they are smaller in 3E), I'd expect a large discrepancy between their strength and the strength of a human. Not as big as a human and a minotaur, and I'll credit halflings with being more athletic and having a bit more muscle definition than a 11 year old human, but still... I don't think of them as being built like chimps or anything like that.

...although that would make them very much not-Hobbits. Maybe it's only a matter of time.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

This is something that I really didn't understand, especially with 3e. LoTR was coming out and they decide to remove "chubby" and "hairy feet" as descriptors for halflings.

Probably because hobbits are boring and lame? Wow... I'm a typical human farmer, only fun-sized. Whee!

 

[Cam Banks]

Halflings are now more like afflicted kender, which rules, because afflicted kender are awesome. Bad-ass little guys.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Steely Dan]

I say ditch these Tolkien hanger-ons!

…I am pleased they scrapped half-orcs, but while they were at it they should have sent the halfing packing as well.

All of this is in my opinion, of course, no offense to the hobbit/Halfling lovers.


P.S. But the lusting after Lidda things was a bit creepy, if you know what I mean…?