Hill Gnome (Hobbit) Race

[Camelot]

Sometimes, you just want to play a hobbit. But halflings in D&D, at least for me, don't cut it. Halflings are sly, dodgy, thieving, and charismatic, and while those are all things a hobbit CAN be, but it's not what a hobbit is most known for. They're relaxed, happy, somewhat chubby, and like to separate themselves from the rest of the world. This concept happens to fit perfectly into my homebrew world as the Hill Gnome, so I wrote up some stats that are ready for playtesting and critique!
Hill_Gnome_-_Race

 

[UnknownAtThisTime]

I appreciate work like this (gave you XP for it!) but I always wonder why don't folks just fluff their halfling in to the chunky reclusive hobbit they want to play. It goes the same for classes. Am I the grumpy guy that just thinks there's too may gizmos on these new fangled PCs that kids play these days?

 

[the Jester]

Uh... I don't recall hobbits healing people left and right.

I'm generally against adding more races unless there's a compelling reason to. When you can just add 20 lbs and some attitude to a halfling and have a hobbit, I just don't see the need for this.

That said, I'm quite aware that my attitude towards races isn't the only one, so I'll add that, mechanically, your hobbit looks fine (at a glance).

 

[Camelot]

Thanks to both of you, and I do understand the skepticism. But I like making stuff for the game, whether the game needs it or not.

I appreciate work like this (gave you XP for it!) but I always wonder why don't folks just fluff their halfling in to the chunky reclusive hobbit they want to play. It goes the same for classes. Am I the grumpy guy that just thinks there's too may gizmos on these new fangled PCs that kids play these days?

No, I defintely encourage my players to reflavor things to fit their concepts instead of coming up with characters based on the options. I actually am going to have someone playing a dwarf warlock simply because warlocks are the only strikers that use Con primarily, and he wants to be someone who kills things by flexing his muscles! So that's how most of the powers will likely be flavored.

Uh... I don't recall hobbits healing people left and right.

I'm generally against adding more races unless there's a compelling reason to. When you can just add 20 lbs and some attitude to a halfling and have a hobbit, I just don't see the need for this.

That said, I'm quite aware that my attitude towards races isn't the only one, so I'll add that, mechanically, your hobbit looks fine (at a glance).

Right, it's not exactly a hobbit, but it's closer in my opinion than the halfling or gnome stats can be. Reflavoring does only go so far; if you say he's fat and jolly but then all of a sudden he's gaining a +2 to AC against opportunity attacks and dodging attacks all the time, the mechanics clash with the concept. I like having this alternate option for those special cases.

Also, the mythology of my homebrew world calls for this race. The original 9 gods each created a race. The god of the wilderness created elves, the god of justice created dwarves, and so on. The god of hope and life created gnomes. Hill gnomes are the closest descendants of those original gnomes, who had mastery over healing and were mostly a kind race. Halfings fit into the mythos differently (created by the god of luck), and fey gnomes are a drastically different concept.