Do We Need Gnomes, Halflings AND Dwarves?

[Buttercup]

I decided that by cutting down on the number of races, it'd help answer the question "Wouldn't all the stronger and more numerous races have killed the wimpier ones off in the dawn of prehistory?"

This has always bugged me too. In answer to the question posed in the title of this thread: "Do we need Gnomes, Halflings and Dwarves?" I'd add, "For that matter, do we need elves?" And my answer would be a resounding NO!

I can just barely accept that there is an antagonist race like goblins, orcs, kobolds, lizardmen or what have you. I can better accept this if the antagonist race occupies a different ecological niche, as would be the case with lizardmen. In the interest of The Plot, I can even go so far as to accept two antagonist races, say goblins and lizardmen. Put the goblins under the mountains and the lizardmen in the swamps. Then all the rest of the planet belongs to humans.

Have I ever done this? Not yet. But I sure do want to. I think that there are plenty of ways to make a small palate of base monsters into a never ending supply of interesting and challenging encounters, regardless of the level of the PCs. Templates and class levels are the DM's best friends.

But back to the issue of playable races, my previous campaign offered only humans, dwarves and halflings. Elves, orcs and goblins were antagonist races, with the elves as blood drinking puppet masters. (Can you tell I despise elves? Irritating bunch of tree-hugging pansies, that's what I say.) I agree that halflings, gnomes and dwarves are too similar. The idea of having geographical variations is excellent, so I'm yoinking it. I've been mulling over ideas for a new homebrew, and this might be just what I'm looking for. You see, my players aren't all that enthusiastic about having human be their only choice for playable race. If I could limit protagonist races to two, but give perhaps three regional variations for each, I think they'd be satisfied.

Thanks for starting this thread! I eagerly await the other good ideas I know others will have.

 

[el-remmen]

Yes. We need them all, so we can pick and choose which ones to include. . .

As for gnomes, they are the second most populous race in Aquerra and my second favorite race to play (both after human).

 

[DMH]

they're like a half-dwarf, half-halfling race.

The problem is that, in 1e, they were dirt dwellers like dwarves and had some aspects of elves in terms of magic. When the 2e forest gnomes were created that provided a very different culture that allowed gnomes to be something different.

I like the idea of a hidden little people who talk to the plants and animals. They make the best druids. I would drop dwarves and halflings long before gnomes. Humans can be miners and pastorialists, but they can't speak to the forest.

 

[Turanil]

My suggestions:

1) PC races: Dump elves, gnomes and halflings, and keep dwarves. But now dwarves are the descendant of humans who were altered into a race of slaves destined to toil in mines and work hard. Today they are free, but have remained a separate race of shorter men with different racial traits. Then, among humans are some variations. At least half-elves (who may get a few additional elven traits) are but humans with some faery blood in them. Then half-orcs do exist but are in fact half-hobgoblins.

2) Enemies: Goblinoids (include goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, ogres, and trolls, as well as he rare ogre-mage) dwell in the mountains. Reptilians (include lizardfolk, yuan-ti, etc. all of which only needs the excellent Serpent Kingdom book) are found in jungles, swamps, etc.

The purpose is to have variety of creatures but only a few strains of races.

 

[diaglo]

Original D&D gnomes, before they became a PC race, were dwarves.

but they were "Special" dwarves. they had more affinity to magic and were less friendly/civilized to humans.



in my campaign... halflings are the race of hobbits living in harmony with humans.
dwarves are the race of gnomes living in harmony/understanding with humans
elves are the race of faeries in contact with humans.

hobbits, gnomes, and faeries are similar to their brethren but also very, very different. they haven't been corrupted by the taint of human magic/civilization.

 

[francisca]

In my recently retired homebrew, there we no gnomes, halflings, half-orcs, or half-elves. In addition, elves and dwarves were incredibly rare, and only saw time as a PC right at the end.

Also, there were no Orcs. There were no Goblins/Hobgoblins/Bugbears, per se. I just had Goblins, and some of them were bigger (bugbears). There was one offshoot group who had civilized a bit, and started to breed true (hobgoblins). No giants, just ogres (no ogre magi, either), compartively few classic D&D monsters (no Rust monsters, Gelatinous Cubes, Flumphs, Drow, Beholders). I did have Owlbears guarding the borders of the Goldenwood, abode of the Elves, however, and had some Griffons flitting about. And nary a Dragon was to be found. They never found them, but there was also a race/civilization of Minotaurs, as well. By far, the most dangerous opponenents were evil humans, the Order of Nerull, in particular.

So nope. Don't need them little races for a fun game.

Having said that, in my new game, they are all there.

If it really bugs you, and your players agree, drop whatever you want, it will still be D&D. Just make sure everyone is on the same page before you roll up characters.

Heck, if I remember correctly, Gygax himself stated somewhere that Greyhawk itself was actually very human-centric, with the Elves, etc.. added in later to broaden the appeal to more than just wargamers. (Don't quote me on that, as I can't find the reference, but that is the gist of it.)

 

[RFisher]

Well, I'd be happy with only humans...

My preference is to "merge" gnomes & halflings. (Or drop halflings, depending on how you look at it.) I think of gnomes as a sort of low/common elf. (Standard elves being a high/aristocratic variety.) They prefer to live in woodland & other rural settings. They may choose to build underground habitations, but they aren't delvers like dwarves.

 

[Remathilis]

I thought Nodwick Readers knew that dwarves, gnomes and halfling are all the same ra...

Ugh....

 

[ptolemy18]

You don't need more than one sapient race in a game world. However, each of the three can have its own "ecological niche" in a setting without being redundant....With Urbis, I went back to the basics:

- Dwarves are the master craftsmen for whom Tradition has become so important that it has almost become a physical force. They do things a certain way because they Always Have Done Things This Way. They never complain about hardships and show their feelings only to their closest friends and their family. Even in humans, they often wall themselves off into their own ghettos - usually by choice.

- Gnomes are the innovators - they usually pick a "field of expertise" early on, and then set out to learn everything about it and related fields. They like to try out and learn new things, but often get bored with repetetive work.

- Halflings, are the simple (but not stupid!), down-to-earth people who tend to fade into the background. They prefer the simple pleasures in life as opposed to luxury, and would mostly just rather be left alone. In human cities, they work in all sorts of services - such as washing, brewing, baking - that are rarely considered noteworthy, but nonetheless important for the running of a community. However, I also based them somewhat on the Swiss, and while their home country seems harmless enough at the surface, the halflings and their allies are better prepared for enemies than most people realize...

Yeah, but my point is... all of the stuff you've described is *cultural* differences, not *racial* differences. Imagine saying "Humans are the simple, but not stupid, down-to-earth people who tend to fade into the background." :/

I'm trying to run a campaign where gnomes are no more easy to pigeonhole than humans are. Therefore, I'm giving 'em the cultural traits of dwarves and halflings as well. (In addition to all the different 'subraces' of gnomes, dwarves and halflings that already exist.) I could really choose to call the race anything, since it's a conglomeration of all three races... but I'm inclined more towards gnomes than to the others, because (1) Halflings are too Tolkienesque and (2) Rules-wise, Dwarves are Medium-sized and I wanted this race to be a "Small" race.

Of course, it's true that *most* D&D humanoid and monster races have only one "culture." Separating each race into a couple of different cultures is beyond the needs of most campaigns.... but that doesn't mean it's not fun and, just maybe, adds a certain amount of realism. I'm looking forward to having my players encounter a race of friendly peaceful gnolls living on an island somewhere, after the current adventure where they've been fighting armies of evil desert gnolls who keep human-headed dogs for pets...

Jason

 

[ptolemy18]

You don't need more than one sapient race in a game world. However, each of the three can have its own "ecological niche" in a setting without being redundant....With Urbis, I went back to the basics:

- Dwarves are the master craftsmen for whom Tradition has become so important that it has almost become a physical force. They do things a certain way because they Always Have Done Things This Way. They never complain about hardships and show their feelings only to their closest friends and their family. Even in humans, they often wall themselves off into their own ghettos - usually by choice.

- Gnomes are the innovators - they usually pick a "field of expertise" early on, and then set out to learn everything about it and related fields. They like to try out and learn new things, but often get bored with repetetive work.

- Halflings, are the simple (but not stupid!), down-to-earth people who tend to fade into the background. They prefer the simple pleasures in life as opposed to luxury, and would mostly just rather be left alone. In human cities, they work in all sorts of services - such as washing, brewing, baking - that are rarely considered noteworthy, but nonetheless important for the running of a community. However, I also based them somewhat on the Swiss, and while their home country seems harmless enough at the surface, the halflings and their allies are better prepared for enemies than most people realize...

Yeah, but my point is... all of the stuff you've described is *cultural* differences, not *racial* differences. Imagine saying "Humans are the simple, but not stupid, down-to-earth people who tend to fade into the background." :/

I'm trying to run a campaign where gnomes are no more easy to pigeonhole than humans are. Therefore, I'm giving 'em the cultural traits of dwarves and halflings as well. (In addition to all the different 'subraces' of gnomes, dwarves and halflings that already exist.) I could really choose to call the race anything, since it's a conglomeration of all three races... but I'm inclined more towards gnomes than to the others, because (1) Halflings are too Tolkienesque and (2) Rules-wise, Dwarves are Medium-sized and I wanted this race to be a "Small" race.

Of course, it's true that *most* D&D humanoid and monster races have only one "culture." Separating each race into a couple of different cultures is beyond the needs of most campaigns.... but that doesn't mean it's not fun and, just maybe, adds a certain amount of realism. I'm looking forward to having my players encounter a race of friendly peaceful gnolls living on an island somewhere, after the current adventure where they've been fighting armies of evil desert gnolls who keep human-headed dogs for pets...

Jason

P.S. For that matter, has anyone's campaign ever included "gnaflings"? Obviously it's a completely friggin' terrible idea but I love the name.

P.P.S. If you want to get incredibly technical and unnecessarily realistic, since elves and orcs can breed with humans, doesn't that mean they're all the same "race"? Of course, for my campaign, I'm operating on the not-necessarily-true assumption that "species" even *exists* in D&D-land. It's already established that dragons and fiends and celestials can breed with anything...