Halflings: An Identity Crisis

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In the real world, people are widely judged on their looks. So most D&D players are concerned about the looks of their characters. They don't always want to look attractive, although a lot do, but very few want to look... well, hobbity. Appearance-wise, hobbits are the antithesis of impressive and cool. They're short and they're fat and they have hairy feet. It's hard to envision a mighty warrior, or a wizard of terrifying power, or a silent and deadly rogue, or a holy priest wielding the power of the gods, who's short and fat and hairy-footed.

You may call it shallow if you like. I disagree; I think a character's appearance is an integral part of the character concept, and there's nothing particularly shallow about preferring a suitably impressive appearance to go with the concept. The "short fat guy who's actually a great archmage" can be a fun gimmick, but it gets old fast.

I disagree. There's a pretty sizable minority who like this style of play, and they should have their choices supported.

Supporting halflings, gnomes and half-orcs is supporting a much larger audience than some of the truly obscure races that are sometimes played (I suspect the 3E tiefling and dragonborn fall into this camp, ironically) and isn't a huge imposition, IMO.

But yes, you can't support all legacy material and still move the game forward. I just don't think that wanting to play someone other than Kewly McCool, the Lord of Cooldom is really particularly aberrant behavior.

 

[med stud]

I disagree. There's a pretty sizable minority who like this style of play, and they should have their choices supported.

Supporting halflings, gnomes and half-orcs is supporting a much larger audience than some of the truly obscure races that are sometimes played (I suspect the 3E tiefling and dragonborn fall into this camp, ironically) and isn't a huge imposition, IMO.

But yes, you can't support all legacy material and still move the game forward. I just don't think that wanting to play someone other than Kewly McCool, the Lord of Cooldom is really particularly aberrant behavior.

Defenitly not aberrant. In a world without page counts everyone would get to play what they wanted.

Besides, there are other reasons for liking the new races besides them being Kewly McCool. I think tieflings and dragonborn are plainly more interesting than small, semi-comical races, nothing to do with coolness.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I disagree. There's a pretty sizable minority who like this style of play, and they should have their choices supported.

Supporting halflings, gnomes and half-orcs is supporting a much larger audience than some of the truly obscure races that are sometimes played (I suspect the 3E tiefling and dragonborn fall into this camp, ironically) and isn't a huge imposition, IMO.

But yes, you can't support all legacy material and still move the game forward. I just don't think that wanting to play someone other than Kewly McCool, the Lord of Cooldom is really particularly aberrant behavior.

Sizable minority... halflings and gnomes... <giggle>

Aaaaaanyway.

I think you're a bit "out-of-touch" if you really think Tieflings aren't popular in 3E (the only bar to their popularity is that they inexplicably screwed their stats - I mean, CHA penalty, c'mon... - and made them +1 LA, but I've still seen a hell of a lot more Tieflings played than Halflings in 3E, and more of either than the precisely zero gnomes). Semi-demonic characters have been very popular with people since 1E, and games with "demonic" races always find that race played plenty.

Dragonborn, well, they're clearly not going on 3E popularity of the specific Dragonborn race, but rather on the general popularity of Dragons, and dragon-themed races, which is pretty significant (and something that's been around since at least early-mid 2E). I do agree that replacing Half-Orcs with them may be a mistake.

As for "slightly outnumbered", in MMORPGs, nah, seriously outnumbered. Just look at the popularity of various races in WoW. Humans and Night Elves (the prettiest Alliance races) are the most popular, closely followed by Blood Elves, who, despite all being new, are now in third place. Aside from the undead, popular for their goth-ness and PvP-oriented racials, the rest of the races are all pretty much equally unpopular. This despite those "popular" races generally having "less good" racials than the others.

I've never seen this pattern fail to be repeated in MMORPGs. Humans and Elves are always the most popular races by a large margin, with the least popular races almost always being the most ugly (you can see this in EQ2, if you fiddle around with their profiler deal).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think you're a bit "out-of-touch" if you really think Tieflings aren't popular in 3E (the only bar to their popularity is that they inexplicably screwed their stats - I mean, CHA penalty, c'mon... - and made them +1 LA, but I've still seen a hell of a lot more Tieflings played than Halflings in 3E, and more of either than the precisely zero gnomes). Semi-demonic characters have been very popular with people since 1E, and games with "demonic" races always find that race played plenty.

Do you see the logical fallacy here?

Your experience with your groups is no more likely to be representative of the whole of RPGdom than my experience. My experience, incidentally, directly contradicts yours: I've been playing since 1979, and I've never seen anyone play a tiefling or anything of the sort. In contrast, I've seen dozens of halflings played and more than a half-dozen gnomes (including two I'm DMing currently).

As for "slightly outnumbered", in MMORPGs, nah, seriously outnumbered. Just look at the popularity of various races in WoW. Humans and Night Elves (the prettiest Alliance races) are the most popular, closely followed by Blood Elves, who, despite all being new, are now in third place. Aside from the undead, popular for their goth-ness and PvP-oriented racials, the rest of the races are all pretty much equally unpopular. This despite those "popular" races generally having "less good" racials than the others.

Er, Will of the Forsaken is arguably the best racial ability in WoW. That's a real factor in the race's popularity. Shadowmelding for night elves is also pretty great, particularly in PVP and on PVP servers.

But the point isn't what race is most popular. Of course it's human and elves. The question is what other races are worth including. Since the audience for niche races, by definition, isn't the same as the folks who just want to play humans and elves, it's not particularly informative to say "yep, humans and elves are the most popular."

Would people prefer a PHB with just humans and several flavors of elf, or would they prefer humans, elves and a number of niche races? Even if I never play most of the niche races, I'd definitely prefer the latter. The question is just which to include.

 

[The Human Target]

Its important to note something here.

Most players want to be cool looking.

Sure sometimes that does mean a pretty elf maiden or a handsome human fighter.

But it also means a battle scarred half orc or a 3E gypsy (excuse the term) halfling cloaked in silks.

Hobbits can only really do the "uncool" looking characters. You can ugly up and de-cool any of the other races easily.

Having a Hobbit shave his feet, and jump on a treadmill would probably maek him more appealing, but it would also pretty much defeat the point of having Hobbits at all.

 

[cthulhu_duck]

If having hobbits in the game were so important to those gamers, it would show up in WotC's surveys.

Well, they are important to me. However, I wasn't surveyed, and that's my problem and where my concern with the surveys and market research explanation for some of the changes comes from.

I don't know how wide their market research went. Was it limited to the US? Was it limited to some states in the US? It would be nice to actually know something about how the market research was conducted.

 

[Voss]

Well, they are important to me. However, I wasn't surveyed, and that's my problem and where my concern with the surveys and market research explanation for some of the changes comes from.

I don't know how wide their market research went. Was it limited to the US? Was it limited to some states in the US? It would be nice to actually know something about how the market research was conducted.

its market research. Assume the two following properties:
it was done badly, and it was specifically designed not to include you or anyone you know.

 

[LoneWolf23]

Its important to note something here.

Most players want to be cool looking.

Sure sometimes that does mean a pretty elf maiden or a handsome human fighter.

But it also means a battle scarred half orc or a 3E gypsy (excuse the term) halfling cloaked in silks.

Hobbits can only really do the "uncool" looking characters. You can ugly up and de-cool any of the other races easily.

Having a Hobbit shave his feet, and jump on a treadmill would probably maek him more appealing, but it would also pretty much defeat the point of having Hobbits at all.

Halflings, and their inspiration the Hobbit, have always been representations of the common folk; the peasant farmers, the humble domestics, the inn keepers. In shorts, Ordinary Folks. The idea that some of them like Frodo, Samwise, Merry and Pippin arise to become mighty adventurers equal to guys like Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas, only makes them seem even cooler, because don't have the same "head start" as the taller folks.

I've seen a lot of good-looking "Hobbit" style Halflings all over the net. So really the "cool" bit is a matter of subjective opinion. 4e Halflings, to me, just don't exude as cool a flavor as a hobbit who's playing against type, displaying badassness with his daggers and his rogue's cloak as he stands with one blood-covered hairy feet over a fallen orc's face.

Cool and Badassness are what you make of it.

Edit: Case in point.. This artist can make Ewoks, of all things, look fierce and badass:
http://kkatman.deviantart.com/art/Tulgah-Hunter-67767628
http://kkatman.deviantart.com/art/Bad-Ewoks-Sheelya-65490914
http://kkatman.deviantart.com/art/Bad-Ewoks-Wartak-66047829
http://kkatman.deviantart.com/art/Bad-Ewoks-Tameran-66623635
http://kkatman.deviantart.com/art/Bad-Ewoks-Xorak-66623788

If Ewoks can be made to look badass, why can't Hobbits?

 

[Dragonhelm]

Cool and Badassness are what you make of it.

Edit: Case in point.. This artist can make Ewoks, of all things, look fierce and badass:
http://kkatman.deviantart.com/art/Tulgah-Hunter-67767628
http://kkatman.deviantart.com/art/Bad-Ewoks-Sheelya-65490914
http://kkatman.deviantart.com/art/Bad-Ewoks-Wartak-66047829
http://kkatman.deviantart.com/art/Bad-Ewoks-Tameran-66623635
http://kkatman.deviantart.com/art/Bad-Ewoks-Xorak-66623788

If Ewoks can be made to look badass, why can't Hobbits?

Have you guys seen the iconic Pathfinder halfling? He's definitely got the hobbit vibe on, including some wickedly cool hairy feet. With his cool background and nifty visual design, he's awesome.

Lem, Halfling Bard

Click on the pic for a larger-sized version. It's a bit too big to post here.

I have to agree, though. Cool and Badassness (is that a word? ) are what you make of it. I think, also, we get into an either/or mentality with halflings. Either they have to be hobbits, or they have to be anti-hobbits. Why can't we have both? Then everybody wins.

 

[Klaus]

Have you guys seen the iconic Pathfinder halfling? He's definitely got the hobbit vibe on, including some wickedly cool hairy feet. With his cool background and nifty visual design, he's awesome.

Lem, Halfling Bard

Click on the pic for a larger-sized version. It's a bit too big to post here.

I have to agree, though. Cool and Badassness (is that a word? ) are what you make of it. I think, also, we get into an either/or mentality with halflings. Either they have to be hobbits, or they have to be anti-hobbits. Why can't we have both? Then everybody wins.

I think this is my cue to post the some pictures I did of Halflings for the 30th Anniversary Edition of Tunnels & Trolls:

I purposefully tried to keep them closer to hobbits without making them pot-belied, balding types, like they were usually portrayed in 1e/2e.