Do you realize how small a halfling/gnome is?

[VirgilCaine]

Thanks for opening my eyes. THATS getting house ruled.

 

[DarkMaster]

I did the same once with a 3 meter stick in the gaming room. Showing with red lines the individual heights of sprites, halflings, dwarves, humans and large creatures like ogres. It was surely an eye opener, and I use it now as a visual aid.

I'd like to try it with a stick with which I can show the size difference between a human and a colossal dragon, but the darn thing wouldn't fit in the room

Good point. Everybody complains about halfling being able to fight like humans, but when they are faced to a collossal dragon the difference becomes insignifiant

 

[JoeGKushner]

Well, I've been listening to too much Sam Kinison lately. The first thing I thought of when I saw this thread is that certain hill giants must have an awful lot of duck tape.

 

[RobertHead]

At least Tolkein put them at the size of about 9 year olds, which makes much more sense.

Uh, where did you read that?

If I recall correctly, Tolkein discribed Hobbits as between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 feet tall. Which puts them somewhere between about an 18-month-old to about a 5-year-old in size. Almost absurdly small on the low end.

Of course, I'm probably wrong, and the Tolkien scholars here in the office are schooling me as I type. Anyway, I think the point is... D&D halflings are reeeeeally small.

Doesn't mean they're weak like a 5-year-old, though. Think Yoda is a wimp? "Size matters not". : )

 

[Piratecat]

it is really amazing how children can help out in gaming....

We used to use Silver Moon's youngest daughter as a scrubbot in our Paranoia games.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

Aside from all that, Lidda's still pretty hot.

Uhm.

I mean.

Nevermind.

 

[Quasqueton]

10.0 Ogre
9.5
9.0
8.5
8.0
7.5 [Gnoll]
7.0 Bugbear
6.5 [Gnoll], Hobgoblin, Orc
6.0 Human
5.5 Elf
5.0
4.5 Dwarf
4.0
3.5 Gnome, Goblin
3.0 Halfling
2.5 Kobold
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0______________________________________

But still, seeing it in the flesh is more revealing.

Quasqueton

 

[Vlos]

One thing that I always consider that, yes a Halfling is as small as a 2-4yr old, though their muscles are probably developed much more efficient, they are after all a different species or even genus, than humans, they are humanoids, not humans.

Now look how other creatures can do more than a human.

For example, monkeys have very strong grips and are very small. They can also jump and climb better than almost any human, yet are built very similar to humans.

So I have no problem having halflings.

 

[Mythtify]

Helps me to see that the 3.5 weapon size rules are a good thing. Though it helps to keep in mind that, though they are the size of a child, they are as capable as adult humans.

 

[Henry]

I don't see a problem with it, myself - call it Hong's Rule if you like*, but I think it's a pretty fascinating thing to have a character who is that small, but that strong.

Even though a halfling would be as small as a 2-year-old child, they are more DEVELOPED than a 2-year old. A 2-yr child is still growing and developing - they are proportionately VERY light on muscle mass.

In order for a child to have an 8 strength, it would need to be able to bench-press twice its own weight; this points to MUCH stronger musculature than a human being. Think instead this way: if an average halfling were 6 feet tall, it would possess the equivalent of 16 strength or higher. If a 16 STR halfling (darned strong!) were 6 feet tall, it would be almost as strong as a fire giant!

(Actually, the square-cubed rule would technically apply, but then there goes that "thinking about it too hard," again.)

A halfling may not be realistic, but it's certainly not implausible.

*thinking on fantastic elements too much is bad.