Pathfinder 2E Halflings & Gnomes: More Pathfinder 2nd Edition Races; Plus Ability Boosts & Flaws Explained

Ancalagon · Apr 15, 2018

That 5e hafling picture is a ... disaster. I'm sorry, I'm sure the artist has done some great images, but this one is just is horrid.

I would look at the one in the backgrounds section instead, or maybe the one in the skill check section (where she's pick-pocketing someone leaning over her)

What did folks think about the partial reveal of the ability score generation system?

Morrus · Apr 15, 2018

Halflings & Gnomes: More Pathfinder 2nd Edition Races; Plus Ability Boosts & Flaws Explained

We've seen goblins, elves and dwarves; now it's time to take a peek at Pathfinder 2nd Edition's small folk - the halflings and gnomes! All to be added, of course, to the Pathfinder 2nd Edition Compiled Info Page!

View attachment 96491

Halflings --
- 8 racial hit points
- Size small; speed 20 feet
- Dexterity and Charisma boost, plus one flexible boost; Strength flaw
- Ancestry feats --
  - Distracting Shadows (sneak using large creatures as cover)
  - Plucky (overcome fear)
  - Titan Slinger (damage bonus with slings vs. large creatures); also the sling does more damage than in PF1
  - Lucky Halfling (reroll one skill check or save you critically fail per day)
Gnomes --
- 8 racial hit points
- Con and Cha boosts, plus one flexible boost; Str flaw
- Low light vision
- Ancestry feats --
  - Fey Fellowship (more charismatic when dealing with fey)
  - First World Magic (bonus cantrip with various options)
  - Discerning Smell (find invisible creatures)
  - Animal Speaker (talk to animals)
What do ability boosts and flaws do? "We've mentioned ability boosts and flaws a few times now, so let's go into more detail about how those work! At 1st level, your ability scores all start at 10. Your ancestry then gives you ability boosts, each of which increases the score by 2. Most ancestries get three ability boosts, two of which have to go into specific scores. The remaining free ability boost can go into any score except the two set ones. Most ancestries also get a flaw, which decreases a designated score by 2. You can put your free ability boost in the same score as your flaw if you want to get back to 10."

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Morrus · Apr 15, 2018

Hmm. Tried merging the two threads but it got all screwed up. Ah well.

Shasarak · Apr 15, 2018

My first impression is "why do artists always have to make big head Halflings?"

Kaodi · Apr 15, 2018

I guess that rounds out the races for the stature challenged party. Dwarven Fighter, Gnome Druid, Halfling Rogue, and a Goblin Alchemist to round it out.

Charlaquin · Apr 15, 2018

Shasarak said:
My first impression is "why do artists always have to make big head Halflings?"

They need to be proportioned differently in order to differentiate them visually from humans without something else in the picture for size reference. Otherwise you end up with Lidda from 3e.

Sunseeker · Apr 15, 2018

Charlaquin said:
They need to be proportioned differently in order to differentiate them visually from humans without something else in the picture for size reference. Otherwise you end up with Lidda from 3e.

First: Size references in images are rather important.
Second: I quite liked the whole "halflings are essentially small humans" and "Gnomes are small elves" from 4E.

I don't mind that PF wants to have a particular visual style but if you start, for a moment, delving into anything more than superficial fantasy, the anatomy of small humanoids gets tricky real fast, especially when that anatomy is disproportionate body parts. In the same way that animals with disproportionate body parts are often prone to medical issues, the same would be true of humanoids. HOWEVER, there are plenty of proportionate short humans (as opposed to people with dwarfism) who are perfectly healthy.

I dunno, call it a pet peeve if you will but disproportionate fantasy humanoids bug me.

Also: I googled Lidda from 3E, yep, no problems there, but yeah, some of the images could use some scale references.

Charlaquin · Apr 15, 2018

shidaku said:
First: Size references in images are rather important.
Second: I quite liked the whole "halflings are essentially small humans" and "Gnomes are small elves" from 4E.

Interesting. I felt that 4e halflings and gnomes had very distinct visual identities - you could always tell one from a human or an elf at a glance, with or without a size reference. Though I suppose it could be a little trickier to tell with Halflings, and in both cases proportions were not the indicator. So I’ll revise my statement: Halflings and Gnomes need to be easily discernible from humans and elves with or without a size reference. Proportions are one way to achieve this, but not the only way.

shidaku said:
I don't mind that PF wants to have a particular visual style but if you start, for a moment, delving into anything more than superficial fantasy, the anatomy of small humanoids gets tricky real fast, especially when that anatomy is disproportionate body parts. In the same way that animals with disproportionate body parts are often prone to medical issues, the same would be true of humanoids. HOWEVER, there are plenty of proportionate short humans (as opposed to people with dwarfism) who are perfectly healthy.

I dunno, call it a pet peeve if you will but disproportionate fantasy humanoids bug me.

That’s understandable. Personally this doesn’t bug me. It’s just not a place where my suspension of disbelief is strained, unless the proportions are real messed up like in 5e. But big heads aren’t generally a problem for me.. But everyone has different thresholds for such things, and I can see why this would bother some folks.

shidaku said:
Also: I googled Lidda from 3E, yep, no problems there, but yeah, some of the images could use some scale references.

She was 3e’s iconic rogue. I liked her design, but she might as well be a human in a huge amount of the art for her. The artists either had to put an oversized object in the picture with her, or just kind of hope that you already knew she was a halfling. I’ll agree that proportions aren’t the only way, or even the best way to achieve a clear visual identity for small races, but it is a common way to do it, and I don’t see a problem with that.

Peraonally, I’m partial to halflings having big hairy feet and no shoes. I remember thinking it was cool how Khajit and Argonians couldn’t equip footwear in Morrowind, and I always thought that would be a neat feature to give Halflings use in a D&D or Tolkien-esque game that had a sectional armor system.

Shasarak · Apr 15, 2018

Charlaquin said:
They need to be proportioned differently in order to differentiate them visually from humans without something else in the picture for size reference. Otherwise you end up with Lidda from 3e.

Interestingly I would have given Lidda as an example of Halflings done correctly. Well except for that nose thing of course.