D&D 5E Halfling Barbarians-Finally a edition that lets the monster out of it's cage.

[TrippyHippy]

I prefer to cap Halflings’ and Gnomes’ Strength (I ask players to put their lowest stat into Strength) because of the tendency towards cartoon physics. Obviously this limits certain aspects of a Barbarian’s effectiveness as a Class choice, though the use of finesse weapons doesn’t make it impossible, and in fact all the heavy weapons would have disadvantage to use anyway.

 

[ranger69]

In 3.5 Eberron you could be a dinosaur riding Halfling. A 5E barbarian Halfling riding into battle on the back of a carnivorous dinosaur could cause morale failures in their opponents. Better still a horde of them.

 

[Leugren]

I prefer to cap Halflings’ and Gnomes’ Strength (I ask players to put their lowest stat into Strength) because of the tendency towards cartoon physics. Obviously this limits certain aspects of a Barbarian’s effectiveness as a Class choice, though the use of finesse weapons doesn’t make it impossible, and in fact all the heavy weapons would have disadvantage to use anyway.

I explain my halfling barbarian's great Strength by stating that it come from his bear totem spirit. I don't see any problem with this, given that an eagle totem spirit eventually grants you the ability to fly! Also, isn't it cartoon physics that a human barbarian might eventually have a higher natural Strength than a Frost Giant? What about female characters or elves? Are you applying caps across the board, or just against halflings and gnomes?

 

[Henry]

Also, isn't it cartoon physics that a human barbarian might eventually have a higher natural Strength than a Frost Giant? What about female characters or elves?

Yeah, i try not to look too hard at physics, or else humans would not be able to do a damn thing to any creature larger than a grizzly unless they had siege engines. I rather like my fighters taking down dragons with swords and arrows instead of trebuchets.

 

[BryonD]

Yeah, i try not to look too hard at physics, or else humans would not be able to do a damn thing to any creature larger than a grizzly unless they had siege engines. I rather like my fighters taking down dragons with swords and arrows instead of trebuchets.

True. But there is still so matter of relative scale. The storm giant vs the dragon has a different feel to it than the human vs the dragon. The human vs grizzly should be different than halfling vs grizzly in the same way.

5E fails to deliver that.

But, to be clear, this is on my minor quibbles list.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I explain my halfling barbarian's great Strength by stating that it come from his bear totem spirit. I don't see any problem with this, given that an eagle totem spirit eventually grants you the ability to fly! Also, isn't it cartoon physics that a human barbarian might eventually have a higher natural Strength than a Frost Giant? What about female characters or elves? Are you applying caps across the board, or just against targeting halflings and gnomes?

I saw his/her post and wondered how long it would take for someone to reply with an implication that he/she was not fair to women PCs. It's a tired old argument that has been going on since 1e. I think there are many reasons why one can ignore "realism" when dealing with strength values, some of which you just mentioned. I myself don't use strength limitation anymore because it's really not that big of a deal. That said, I can easily see how someone would like to cap STR for halflings or gnomes without them also being unfair to any particular gender. An adult male and female are a lot more similar in size than an adult and a 6 year old. Not sure why you are thinking that by applying that limit to halflings and gnomes, they have to apply "realism" to everything. Maybe that's just how they like to run their campaign world. Nothing wrong with that, and they certainly don't need to make extra justifications beyond what they already gave.

I.e., "men vs. women? Meh, close enough in size so no reason to have a different. Adult vs. a 40lb 3 ft tall person? That's much bigger of a difference. Barbarians ending up with super strength? Class feature, not a natural born trait."

 

[Mirtek]

Finally after all these years the Halfling barbarian is a valid character concept

Actually they were already perfectly fine in 4e. Even pixie barbarians or fighters were a thing in 4e, sporting exactly the same Str and bonuses as a goliath barbarian as silly as it might be.

 

[GameOgre]

I saw his/her post and wondered how long it would take for someone to reply with an implication that he/she was not fair to women PCs. It's a tired old argument that has been going on since 1e. I think there are many reasons why one can ignore "realism" when dealing with strength values, some of which you just mentioned. I myself don't use strength limitation anymore because it's really not that big of a deal. That said, I can easily see how someone would like to cap STR for halflings or gnomes without them also being unfair to any particular gender. An adult male and female are a lot more similar in size than an adult and a 6 year old. Not sure why you are thinking that by applying that limit to halflings and gnomes, they have to apply "realism" to everything. Maybe that's just how they like to run their campaign world. Nothing wrong with that, and they certainly don't need to make extra justifications beyond what they already gave.

I.e., "men vs. women? Meh, close enough in size so no reason to have a different. Adult vs. a 40lb 3 ft tall person? That's much bigger of a difference. Barbarians ending up with super strength? Class feature, not a natural born trait."

To each his own and I certainly don't meant to imply that his way is wrong for him or anything.

With that said I always want to look at what a house rule will do. If you make some races significantly better than others (all together or for certain class's ect) don't be surprised when the players choose race and class based on that.

If you make Halfling substandard barbarians or fighters then you will simply find no Halfling barbarians and fighters. to a large extent you might as well just cut those races off from being them.Now as with any blanket statements there will be exceptions but for myself I prefer not to restrict player choices.

Also once you start down that road of thought I have always found it lead towards other thought.....well obviously if there strength is limited by size what about hit points? You mean to tell me that three foot tall fellow can take a giants club to the head as well as a seven foot tall half orc?

Bah! For myself I enjoy halflings running around with a 20 strength just as much as I do Elves running around with them. Those slight and slender pointy eared dandies can outlift a ogre? Shrug..why not,in a world with magic and four ton flying lizards who spit fire and lightning they fit right in.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Oh, I totally get what you're saying, and don't disagree

 

[TrippyHippy]

I do recognise that the Strength score is an abstract in D&D, but in the case of Men/Women the distinction is negligible and non-player monsters aren’t really under scrutiny as PCs in the same way either. All that is really noted is the attack and damage amounts - which in the case of Giants are suitably strong anyway.

However, Strength in the game does denote specifically measured features like weight capacity and the like. So when a 3’ tall, 40lb Halfling sakes a score that allows him/her to lift more than 10 times his/her own body weight - to me, that is cartoon physics.

The cap I use isn’t that much of a penalty, insofar that no actual score is penalised (they’d still have to put that score on another Ability if it wasn’t Strength) and the use of Finesse weapons makes STR a bit of a dump stat if you don’t want it. Athletics can be boosted by proficiency, and it’s really just the lifting and carrying that is left. Moreover, Halflings and Gnomes as Small sized classes are penalised (disadvantaged) from using Heavy weapons anyway, so in a sense they are already restricted in their use of weapons.

Still, if you want to play ‘Mighty Mouse’ in your game, no-one’s stopping you - not even the official rules.