Halflings Need a Brand New Bag

[Rechan]

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.

That is cool. I don't get why the halflings are even tolerated to survive (i.e. why the genocide stopped/they aren't ran out of town), but I do just want to say your idea is very cool.

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

agricultural slaves

I played in a campaign once where there was a monotheistic human empire much like Rome. Halflings were enslaved... since they eat less than a human but can pick cotton and other crops just as well, they were the perfect agricultural workers, allowing the empire to sustain a far larger population than it would otherwise have.

Ken

 

[I'm A Banana]

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.

That resonates with me a lot. Maybe the whole "all halflings are Pippin" angle. I like! I think this could even work well enough for "core" D&D, honestly.

I don't get why the halflings are even tolerated to survive (i.e. why the genocide stopped/they aren't ran out of town), but I do just want to say your idea is very cool.

The genocide stopped basically for the same reason most genocides stop: outside forces intervened and crushed the evil things perpetrating it (DM notes say Rakshasa maharaja or tiefling warlock), the halflings ceased to be such a major problem/convenient scapegoat as their numbers dwindled (other things rose to take their place, such as tieflings), and it's really pretty hard to commit a successful genocide, especially when your target is known for being sneaky and tough to find.

The halflings aren't the same creatures they were when the genocide began -- basically, being victims of this kind of intense persecution turned them into cutthroat little menaces as a way of survival, and when your history has been systematically blotted from reality so persistently, it's hard to get a sense of what the halflings were before they were victims, and why they might have become victims in the first place. Halflings are a people "Lost by Vecna, forgotten by Ioun." Their language, for instance, is entirely lost to them (there was once a Halfling tongue; and even the name "halfling" is something that others called them that they adapted because they didn't remember what they called themselves anymore -- the elders and their parents died too fast to pass on a tradition). The way they are now came out of their survival, and their disconnect with the past.

They aren't ran out of town partially because of pervasive sort of "genocide guilt," but also because the enclaves are now so entrenched and intractable that kicking them out would be a lot more hassle than just not patrolling that region of town with the watch -- kind of the same reason a culture of gang violence persists in a lot of modern inner cities: you're going to kill more innocent people if you try to force it to stop than would die if you left it alone and sort of just make sure it keeps to itself. You have to try to fight it indirectly, which is more difficult, less successful, and marred by sympathy for the oppressed.

There's also the fact that there's no race IMC with a squeaky-clean history or image. Dragonborn are barbaric cannibals. Warforged are always SOMEONE's property. Elves are guerilla warriors who bomb marketplaces. The design goal I had was to turn the 4e idea of "everyone gets along!" inside out and make a setting where no one REALLY gets along, but they work together anyway, because as bad as ritualistic drugged-up halfling murderers sacrificing nobles to the Raven Queen is, it's not as bad as getting entirely wiped off the map by Orcus, Demorgorgon, Juiblex, Kyuss, or any of the other Elder Evils that swiss-cheese this setting.

4e wants dark? I'll give it some DARK. The world is on the verge of collapse, and the evils of the world are far too numerous to personally fight them all, so you just need to fight the biggest one you can.

Lucky for them, the PC's are better equipped than most to beat up the bad things in the world....but like the halfling example shows, bad things don't stop happening just because you kill a monster.

And, of course, the sort of gaudy death cultist "gangsta's paradise" is an heroic archetype: most of the halflings are just poor and abused and willing to do an honest day's work for anyone who will pay them. The vast majority are just unfortunate souls forced into a horrible situation by a past they couldn't control, and seeking a way out. The "successful" way out just tends to be violent, physically and economically.

 

[Merkuri]

Halflings were enslaved... since they eat less than a human but can pick cotton and other crops just as well, they were the perfect agricultural workers, allowing the empire to sustain a far larger population than it would otherwise have.

This reminded me of another halfling-related idea I had, though I don't think it's enough to base the whole race on.

In the real world, the dwelling places of the rich often had hallways and passages made exclusively so that servants could move from place to play without being seen.

In my idea, Halflings are commonly employed by the wealthy as servants. Because of this, many manors and castles had their servants' hallways built halfling-sized. Where they intersected with the main hallways they'd probably look like large doggy-doors (covered with a tapestry or something). The areas of the manor that were usually exclusively visited by servants (the kitchen, for example) would also be halfling-sized.

 

[Wik]

My halflings are gypsies, much like another poster said. They are sea-faring gypsies who live in small fleets of patched-together catamarans, and have great knowledge of the dangerous reefs and shoals of the Shattered Isles. They are (second to the orcs) the best sailors in the setting, and often sell their services as deliverymen for small cargoes.

They are also well known as black marketeers and thieves, and often move small cargoes from one trading enclave to another.

Halflings do not believe in "Names" in the same way as other races do, believing it is more important to preserve the meaning of the name, as opposed to the exact vowel sound. Because of this, halflings almost always translate their name into the local language (even the name of their language, "Wavespeak", follows this pattern). Halflings are almost always named after natural phenomena - Griffin, Orca, Lion, Badger, Lily, Rose, Seahorse... all are halfling names. Some halfling names are comparitively ugly in human terms - in our campaign, PCs have met halflings with such lovely names as Krill, Goat, Squirrel, and Duck.

Halflings live in small tribes that often violently clash with one another over trade disputes. However, they have a barren island (Called "The Meet"), on which halfling tribes observe a rigid code of peace.