Help me make halflings cool!
- Thread starter jdrakeh
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Serendipity
Explorer
The halflings in my homebrew are the world's consumate traders - in a more than a little Ferengi direction. Having a prodigiously high birth rate and originating from an island chain, they're an aggresively gregarious folk who control several large trading consortiums.
Maybe if I salt that with a little 'fox rider' influence from Dennis L. McKiernan. . . hmm. . .Another option, which takes Halflings in an entirely different direction, is to view them as a race made for a symbiotic social relationship. They survive because they integrate into another group and handle the things that group needs done. Servants or farmers, artisans or crafters, bureaucrats or civil servants, etc.
By glomming onto a role the community may need but doesn't care for or doesn't have an abundance for, the halflings carve out a niche that makes them important. Therefore they are accepted and protected.
So each halfling community has the potential to be very different from the next because of the needs of their host community may be different.
Furthermore, the halfling persuasion is to keep your nose clean. Appear likable, agreeable, and willing to help. So that no oen suspects you. And if they Do threaten you, your neighbors will come to your defense because you're the lovable halfling everyone likes.
By glomming onto a role the community may need but doesn't care for or doesn't have an abundance for, the halflings carve out a niche that makes them important. Therefore they are accepted and protected.
So each halfling community has the potential to be very different from the next because of the needs of their host community may be different.
Furthermore, the halfling persuasion is to keep your nose clean. Appear likable, agreeable, and willing to help. So that no oen suspects you. And if they Do threaten you, your neighbors will come to your defense because you're the lovable halfling everyone likes.
Raven Crowking
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Teemu
Hero
JohnSnow
Hero
There's plenty of ways to make halflings cool. The trick is to avoid using the "annoying aspects" (Kender) as species-defining characteristics. Also, understand that an adventuring halfling isn't the same as a stay-at-home halfling, so "stay-at-home" is a bad racial stereotype because it provides nothing for the adventuring halfling, who's obviously an exception.
There's a few alternative racial traits you can play up to create "cool" halflings. Mostly, it involves just thinking about what it would be like to be a halfling in a D&D world. In other words, you've got to look both at places where their size is actually an asset, and things they might do to compensate for their small size.
Against larger opponents, it's natural (and smart!) to rely on ranged weapons, rather than going toe-to-toe. So, halflings might be have a cultural predisposition to ranged weapons - being natural archers, slingers or whatever. In addition, since they're small, they might have a relatively easy time in forests, being able to move through them more easily than a larger race. Large mounts, which halflings also use very little, are less useful in the woods, making that a natural place for the wee folk to hide. George Martin plays this up (though none have yet been shown) with the "Children of the Forest" in A Song of Ice & Fire. He also gives them jet-black skin of the drow. However, IF you like ranger elves, this puts the two on common ground, not a good idea. If you want forest halflings, I suggest sea elves.
When dealing with magic, "size matters not." So halflings might have a strong cultural bias towards using enchantments. As a result, magic might be lot more common in halfling society than it is in those of the "big folk." Personally, I like using this for gnomes. If I'm going to use both, I personally like gnomes as the fey trickster race, and their racials (in 4e) support them as good wizards. Of course, halflings can be good sorcerers and bards, so magic isn't out of the question - but playing it up too much makes them and gnomes too similar.
One of the most natural things is what 4e does. If elves have the forests, and dwarves the mountains, then what is left for halflings? Well, if you think about it, a small race has a good incentive to be both gregarious and nomadic. And in more "civilized" setting, your travelers tend to be merchants. But given their size, halflings might have a rough time transporting goods overland. But on water, it's less of an issue. That gets me to halflings as sailors and river traders. That works for me, and it's got a fair amount of flexibility.
One can also play up halflings as a relative of humans. Under this theory, halflings are actually not as distinct from humans as, say, elves and dwarves. Halfling society would tend to be very human-like, but with differences. Traditional differences are things like not buildling cities of their own, or being relatively more peaceful, or not being as "learned."
There's a few alternative racial traits you can play up to create "cool" halflings. Mostly, it involves just thinking about what it would be like to be a halfling in a D&D world. In other words, you've got to look both at places where their size is actually an asset, and things they might do to compensate for their small size.
Against larger opponents, it's natural (and smart!) to rely on ranged weapons, rather than going toe-to-toe. So, halflings might be have a cultural predisposition to ranged weapons - being natural archers, slingers or whatever. In addition, since they're small, they might have a relatively easy time in forests, being able to move through them more easily than a larger race. Large mounts, which halflings also use very little, are less useful in the woods, making that a natural place for the wee folk to hide. George Martin plays this up (though none have yet been shown) with the "Children of the Forest" in A Song of Ice & Fire. He also gives them jet-black skin of the drow. However, IF you like ranger elves, this puts the two on common ground, not a good idea. If you want forest halflings, I suggest sea elves.
When dealing with magic, "size matters not." So halflings might have a strong cultural bias towards using enchantments. As a result, magic might be lot more common in halfling society than it is in those of the "big folk." Personally, I like using this for gnomes. If I'm going to use both, I personally like gnomes as the fey trickster race, and their racials (in 4e) support them as good wizards. Of course, halflings can be good sorcerers and bards, so magic isn't out of the question - but playing it up too much makes them and gnomes too similar.
One of the most natural things is what 4e does. If elves have the forests, and dwarves the mountains, then what is left for halflings? Well, if you think about it, a small race has a good incentive to be both gregarious and nomadic. And in more "civilized" setting, your travelers tend to be merchants. But given their size, halflings might have a rough time transporting goods overland. But on water, it's less of an issue. That gets me to halflings as sailors and river traders. That works for me, and it's got a fair amount of flexibility.
One can also play up halflings as a relative of humans. Under this theory, halflings are actually not as distinct from humans as, say, elves and dwarves. Halfling society would tend to be very human-like, but with differences. Traditional differences are things like not buildling cities of their own, or being relatively more peaceful, or not being as "learned."
Starfox
Hero
I liked the Dragonstar take on halflings; they are the ultimate pilots and ship's crew. They only consume a fraction of the space, food and air of bigger races, Strength doesn't matter much in space (especially Zero-G) and they and goblins are rivals for best natural piloting skill. Awesome.
In fantasy, they make great crew on surface ships and explorers of all kinds. As well as an urban underclass - think Dickens and never growing up. Who sweeps chimneys? Who gets into the clockwork of Big Ben to clean out? Who waits at tables and quietly and efficiently takes notes of everything said? And for a rural setting, who plays "Cowboys and Indians", always picks Indians, and always wins?
In fantasy, they make great crew on surface ships and explorers of all kinds. As well as an urban underclass - think Dickens and never growing up. Who sweeps chimneys? Who gets into the clockwork of Big Ben to clean out? Who waits at tables and quietly and efficiently takes notes of everything said? And for a rural setting, who plays "Cowboys and Indians", always picks Indians, and always wins?
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