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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aldarc" data-source="post: 5127458" data-attributes="member: 5142">I have been working on this problem as well. There are a number of issues facing halflings in their reception history that makes them somewhat challenging to utilize: 1) Mini-Humans. Campaigns sometimes just relegate them to being miniature humans, so for the most part, they completely lack an identity. 2) Hobbits. People tend to use them as the hedonistic, pastoral hobbits of Lord of the Rings. Hardly interesting. 3) Kender. Dragonlance turned the halflings into kleptomaniacs. Many halflings from this point on would be played as annoying members of a party that will do intentionally stupid things to get the rest of the party killed. 4E Halflings turn them into a sort of Romanov-river folk people, which does provide something of a balance between the prior three. But it is still not all that interesting. When I looked at finding a place for halflings in my campaign world, one of my initial questions was, "How did a race like halflings possibly survive and proliferate as a successful race when competing with these other races of the world?" They are a diminutive race and their birth rate is not necessarily higher than other races. But there are safety in numbers. So my thought has been that halflings are a race that has successfully evolved, or simply exist, due to the sophistication of their social organization and commitment to the well-being of their affiliated groups. This frequently places halflings at the unofficial top of the cultural advancement totem pole. In order to ensure their own protection, they advance and protect the group. Any new advances such as writing, technology, or magic is shared with the family, clan, or tribe. Halfling feasts and festival that other races may deem frivolous may increase group cohesion. Also they are able to have these feasts due to the group's success. And while this originally included just other halflings in the periods of their racial isolation, it has expanded to include other affiliated groups with urbanization or globalization. But this also has solved another problem: the kleptomaniac halfling. A kleptomaniac halfling, or any halfling doing anything intentionally stupid, is liable to get the rest of their kin or group killed. This sort of reckless behavior is shunned in most halfling cultures. Their courage comes from their biological altruism. And their commitment to the group also may serve as a means of determining an appropriate mate. Any halfling in your group who feels any sense of loyalty or attachment to the party will fiercely fight to protect the well-being of the party with the understanding that the rest of the group will do the same for the halfling, which may or may not happen. From this premise, I will fit them into my campaign in different ways. In one campaign world, this evolutionary adaption has made them the most populous race the area. They outnumber even humans, who are more individually ambitious. But halflings are under the subjugation/protection of a dragonborn imperial state, which has proven to be a culturally advantageous move for both. The syncretism of their two cultures has also become the prevailing cultural spirit for other races in the empire. In another campaign world, the halflings are modeled closer to the gelflings of the Dark Crystal in demeanor and appearance (i.e. elfin with a tinge of animalistic). I changed the appearance primarily to further reinforce that halflings are not just mini-humans.</blockquote>

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