Halflings -- should they die?

[CRGreathouse]

the new Halflings are kender. just look at the pics.

why give them +2 vs fear otherwise.

The DLCS, as I recall, gives kender a +20 bonus on saves vs. fear... quite a bit higher than halflings, no?

 

[Turanil]

Let us vote. And may the vote declare them dead.

I am okay to get rid not only of halflings, but more importantly, of Gnomes.

I remember Dark Sun, how cool it was they had gotten rid of gnomes. Even halflings had gotten a fair treatment in becoming savage pygmies cannibals assassins.

 

[The Lemon Merchant]

In general I don't like halflings and they don't exist in the campaign world I use. That being said, I do like some of the artwork of halflings, Lidda to name one, but there was also that Dragon cover by Elmore of the halfling climbing down a rope....yummy.

 

[Janx]

Well , in our 2e campaign, the BBEG's earliest act was the genocide of the Halfling race. That was before the game started, thus no halflings...

In my current campaign, the halflings are like gutter slugs, ravenous little bums living in squalid corners. nasty little things.

And the gnomes....well, they once enslaved the dwarven race, and decimated thousands in herd cullings. As the joke goes, how many gnomes does it take to change a lantern. One. But in the days of the old Republic, thousands of servants would change thousands of lanterns at the Emperor's command.

 

[diaglo]

In general I don't like halflings and they don't exist in the campaign world I use. That being said, I do like some of the artwork of halflings, Lidda to name one, but there was also that Dragon cover by Elmore of the halfling climbing down a rope....yummy.

goto one of my favorite site.

www.hothalflings.com

 

[Taluron]

I like the new halflings.

And I love them as mask-wearing barbarians on dinosaurs. Yay Eberron!

Halfling barbarians don't Rage - they get into a Snit.

 

[The Shaman]

None of the above?

My halflings range from jungle canopy-dwelling cannibals to catamaran-sailing sea-people to cave-dwelling baby-stealers.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

"Kinder" means "children" in german, BTW.
The DL half-thingies are Kender, tho.

In the Annotated Chronicles, it explains that they wanted to call them kinder (kin-der), but they were afraid people would read it as kinder (kind-er).

IMC, halflings are nomadic gypsies that'll lay a devilish curse-y smackdown on ya if you mess with them. Gnomes are evil, stunted, immensely strong creatures that live deep underground.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

As the joke goes, how many gnomes does it take to change a lantern. One. But in the days of the old Republic, thousands of servants would change thousands of lanterns at the Emperor's command.

Thank you Londo the Gnome

 

[ivocaliban]

I'll never understand the hate for the little people. Races, just like classes are options. If you don't need or like a particular option then don't include it. To me, however, halflings are as much a part of D&D as dwarves, bards, and magic weapons. Also, I knew when I saw the title that this thread was going to end up being a "Down With Gnomes!" rally. I think all the races are fine, depending on what a DM does with them.

I've still to hear a solid reason why halflings or gnomes don't work while dwarves are almost universally accepted. I can understand those who only want humans in their campaigns for the sake of realism, but I can't wrap my mind around this pointed hatred of particular races. While it's nowhere near as serious, it seems as empty and unrewarding to me as disliking or disregarding any race in the real world. In short, races are as diffuse and complex or as rigidly simple as the DM chooses to portray them. I don't see what can be gained from removing any of the core races.