Halflings - What's the Attraction?

[pukunui]

Hi all,

I'm just reading through the halfling entry and I'm wondering why anyone would want to play them. They get the usual +2 to two stats and two skills, two situational bonuses (one on saves vs fear and one against opportunity attacks) and the usual racial encounter power. That's it. And I don't see any advantages to being Small. Only disadvantages (what's with the weapon thing? Why Small-sized armor but not Small-sized weapons?)

Why would anyone choose to play a halfling? Am I just missing something? Or do halflings suck worse than the half-elf?


Grumble grumble.

Cheers,
Jonathan

 

[charlesatan]

Mechanics-wise, they make great Rogues, whose primary stats are Dex and Charisma. Their AC bonus to Opportunity Attacks and the prevalence of Daggers as Rogue weapons also doesn't hurt the Halfling.

 

[Pistonrager]

why would anyone choose to play any of the medium races?

being small has only one real side effect, you can't use 2handed weapons.

I don't really consider that a problem as anything smaller than normal. I don't normally think of wielding 4-6 feet of steel. as there is no real penalty there is no need for a bonus.

heck... aside from being pushed around and grappled in 3.5 being small was a good thing, too good.

 

[Oompa]

An small longsword would be the same as an short sword, an small short sword would be same as an dagger.. it wouldnt make sense.. so keep the short sword an short sword, and the dagger an dagger.. Just face it, an greatsword is just to big for an halfling to use..

If my daughter had an greatsword, she couldnt use it, she is to small, but if i give her an longsword, or shortsword, she could handle that much better..

Common sense

 

[pukunui]

Fair enough about the weapons. But it still seems like halflings get the short end of the stick when it comes to racial abilities. Just look at all the stuff the eladrin gets. It just feels like the halfling should get at least one more racial ability and preferably one that's not conditional/situational.

 

[Oompa]

I think they designed the halfling for the rogue class.. just as dragonborn for paladin

 

[mach1.9pants]

They do seem to make awesome rogues (rangers too I suppose) and their feats appear good for melee types.
But the races (after having read a lot but not played a lot) seem quite unbalanced. Dragonborn breath is an awesome minion killer giving a bit of controller to melee types. Eladrin's fey step has a heap of flexibility and uses. humans extra at will and feat is also pretty cool. Dwarves are OK(esp clerics) but elves seem a bit weak. Tieflings good racial power but halfling and half elves seem really sucky.

 

[Gloombunny]

I would rate the halflings' encounter power quite a bit higher than the rather crappy tiefling one.

 

[pukunui]

I would rate the halflings' encounter power quite a bit higher than the rather crappy tiefling one.

Yeah, second chance is pretty decent. I guess WotC's thinking was that it makes up for not having as many things as some of the other races have.

@Machpants: I'm planning on dumping the elves' group perception bonus and replacing it with a +5 saving throw bonus or something. I'm not sure what it would be for, though. Their flavor says they're supposed to be swift and silent ... but they don't seem to have any mechanics that reflect the silent bit. Maybe they could get +2 to Stealth as well? Or would that be too much? Anyway, I digress ...

Halflings. I still think they should get one other little thing. Something not situational. But now I'm just repeating myself. And I have no idea what to give them. I need to read more of the rules ...


EDIT: Perhaps they could use Acrobatics to reduce falling damage even if untrained because they're naturally nimble and don't weigh as much ... and if they are trained, they can reduce damage by a further 10 feet or something (so no damage if 20 ft or less). Just the first thing that jumped into my head.

 

[Gort]

but they don't seem to have any mechanics that reflect the silent bit.

+2 dex.

The elf encounter power is pretty good once you realise that the way to use it is to reroll missed daily abilities.