Halflings Need a Brand New Bag

[Rechan]

I've seen two really great fluff examples on these boards.

One is turning halflings into rednecks. Like, stereotypical rednecks. Twelve kids living in a shack, barefoot and pregnant all the time, their religion resembles revivals under tents where the cleric speaks about Jerebus, etc.

The second I think fits really well with 4e: Halflings are packaged as "The Little Folk" (i.e. pixies, brownies, and gnomes like the shoemaker gnomes). Halfling villages were always in the wood, concealed well. Communities near halfling villages would leave butter, cream or cheese outside their doors at night (because halflings were not pastoral farmers). The halflings would return by leaving game at the edge of the human settlement, and keep the forest clear of unnecessary predators. But to anger a halfling village meant that children would go missing in the human communities.

The above is the spin I would put on them, if I ever really wanted to use halflings (I don't). However, here's another one. It takes some from the gnome bag of "comedic relief" and the Eberron gnome of "being talky and neutral":

Halflings as a race of diplomats and entertainers. They are naturally gregarious, sociable, and charismatic. So they are a culture of talking things out, and one that celebrates creativity and performance. They are a race that puts lots of stock in persuasion of argument, and performance (particularly comedians, actors, and poetry, although music is certainly approved of). To the many races, having halflings to perform at your gala is the thing to do, or to hire a halfling negotiator as your diplomatic envoy. Halflings are the "likeable" people, and often get others to do their fighting, or protect them because they are "weak".

 

[Chaoszero]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I especially enjoyed the idea of halflings as gunslingers. Thats just bad ass!

I decided to go the pirate route and this is what I ended up with:

Halflings are a small sea fairing race, but they are fierce warriors, typically fighting with small sabers. The halflings (also known as ara) live in separated family units called Guani. In most places, a halfling guan is led by a Tiburon, a title which may or may not be followed by the halfling's first name. Tiburons are wielders of wild magic and, though they tend to be calmer than an average ara, when in battle they are uncontrolled fury. The halflings tend to have a very communist society and view of the rest of the world. Halflings tend to be very argumentative. They maintained a neutral outlook, truly caring only about themselves and their own.


Usually styling their hair in their notable dreadlocks or tight braids to keep out moisture from the sea air, the halflings sail through the seas and up the rivers playing their ocarinas and painting their bodies with red dye called bija to seek plunder. They are rebellious, clever teams who operate outside the restricting bureaucracy of modern life.


During the Age of War, bands of halflings fought a fairly successful guerrilla war against the rise of undead known as the Onslaught, and they formed small units and rowed swift boats. The halflings began a strong bardic tradition as they had no means for libraries aboard their sea vessels.
Many halflings hire themselves as mercenaries. At the Battle of Crying Waves in 3 PI, for example, an Aran fleet assisted the League of Free Peoples to defeat Elknor's navy.

I used the uskoci pirates (and the Shrews of redwall of course) for inspiration and the Taino language for the Aran language. The write-up isn't perfect yet, but I'll get there.

I appreciate everyone's help!

 

[I'm A Banana]

Halflings in my world are distinctly urban.

This is linked to their fairly recent history: Halflings were the victims of a massive genocide, the creatures being "kill on sight," even worse than goblins and the like. They were pushed into ghettoes in more "accepting" towns, where they lived a kind of third-world existence of poverty and violence, glorifying cults of the gods of death and wealth (think Pluto in his role as a god of gold and metal as well as the Underworld). Though the outright genocide has stopped, they have a legacy not only of being persecuted, but also having a violent, intimidating reaction to that persecution (halfling organizations that wind through the ghettoes, killing people in their sleep).

Halflings IMC are wicked little critters: assassins, thieves, thugs, the embodiment of the underworld. Violence is how they communicate -- murders and mobs. Their pursuit of wealth is legendary and gaudy: halflings spend ludicrously on opulent luxuries that fill their dirty inner-city hovels. Some try to be "classy and smooth," some try to be "brutal and intimidating," and everywhere they are met with thinly-veiled persecution ("I thought we got rid of your type, little thing.")

I use a lot of rap and old "outlaw country" music as inspiration, as well as images of shanty-towns in places like India (Slumdog Millionaire, fer instance). My halflings are something of a mix between Ol' Dirty Bastard, Johnny Cash, and the cult of Kali (or how the Romans thought of early Christians). Sometimes they might have a little bit of Sean Combs or Mafia in them: something smooth and clever as a shell concealing a predatory mind beneath.

I completely abandoned the "hobbit" image, and just threw them full force into the cultural and social idea of what the archetypal "thief" character is. They cheat, steal, and kill, and they do it as much because it became a way of life for their ancestors, and is now tradition. They're dangerous.

FWIW, I think D&D has kind of had an uphill battle with halflings. 3e and 4e have both tried to reform them, but there's a strong pull with old ideas of Tolkeinish homebodies that is difficult to go against too drastically.

I figured....screw it...I want halflings to be scary.

 

[JackSmithIV]

I just look to core. Oftentimes, Wizards will offer good ideas but offer little in the way of that extra step, in my own opinion. For example, if you read in-depth about halflings in "Wizards Presents: Races & Classes", they intended halflings to be thrifty riverboat folk. Always traveling, always selling, always on the move. They're the nomads, going from place to place. Fast talking, wheeling and dealing, thieving...

Sometimes, you can take a more simple idea and run with it by providing your own inspiration. A lot of the ideas in this thread though are very good, and well thought-out.

Hope that helped!

 

[Asmor]

I don't remember where I saw it, but my favorite Halfling flavor ever is rednecks. Deliverance-style inbred hicks.

Then again, I don't care much for halflings in the first place.

 

[Clavis]

I don't remember where I saw it, but my favorite Halfling flavor ever is rednecks. Deliverance-style inbred hicks.

I think that was me. Unwary PCs in my campaign learn to rue the day they decided to visit a Halfling community uninvited. The players who have played Halfling PCs so far have had great fun.

 

[TheWyrd]

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."

What is a hobbit? Its something that lives in a hole.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

How about going back to the hobbit roots of pastoral farmers, but with greater emphasis on the aspects of civilization, co-operation and protection? Such halflings would gravitate to the Leader and Defender roles and the worship of Erathis.

Which is how my Five Shires campaign worked.

In my Ptolus campaigns, springboarding off of Monte Cook's treatment of them in the setting, they're nomads who have escaped from something awful in the Distant West, along with their cousins the gnomes. While the gnomes have vanished into the woodwork, the halflings don't stop moving. The ones who live in cities tend to have very insular communities where they watch outsiders for signs that they're representatives of whatever chased them out of the west in prehistory.

 

[SHARK]

Greetings!

In my campaigns, I tend to have three different cultures of halflings;

Urban

The Urban Halflings are typically prostitutes, entertainers, thieves, criminals--a general assortment of greedy, lascivious, opportunistic, urban scum.

River Nomads

The River Nomad Halflings travel up and down the many rivers, living on their riverboats. They are typically a strange blend of merchants, pirates, rum-runners, jazz musicians, and other assorted entertainers, gamblers and prostitutes. They are usually more classy than their urban cousins, and are famous for their distinctive cuisine and cooking skills, among other things.

Redneck Country Halflings

These Halflings live in rural towns and villages, often having whole settlements of impoverished shacks. They are typically farmers and shepherds, and have tent-revival meetings celebrating their religion. While the Country Halflings are not as criminally-inclined as the Urban Halflings, or as sophisticated as the River Halflings--they are particularly religious, and embrace a whole range of weird customs, from being diligent workaholics and often strictly law-abiding and xenophobic on one hand--to celebrating their skills in whiskey distillaries, baking fine goods of breads, biscuits and deserts, rural outlaw bands, and strange sexual habits. The Country Halflings are also known for being lascivious, and dedicated hedonists--and young Country Halfling women breed like rabits, often breeding 6 or more children, and having 10 or more is not uncommon.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't remember where I saw it, but my favorite Halfling flavor ever is rednecks. Deliverance-style inbred hicks.

I have Appalachian dwarves. My urban halflings tend to be Irish immigrants, so you've got the food, the dance, the drink and the slurs about them being thieves.