How about a survey on the 3E halfling?

[Nifft]

"All trees are felled at ground level."

I'm playing a new 3e Halfling Rogue. He kicks serious butt. I wouldn't want to play a chubby one -- he wouldn't kick nearly as much butt.

So I vote for the new kind.

-- Nifft

 

[Desdichado]

Heh
He most certainly did not invent the word Hobbit (though I would give him full credit for creating the 'race'). Michael Aislabie Denham (died in 1859) included the word in one of his lists of spirits and fairies (republished as the Denham Tracts in 1892 and 95) and though I have not verified this, it may have also been used by Reginald Scot (1535?-1599)in his Discovery of Witchcraft. Its use in the lists show that it was a word in use in the local dialect (of some region anyway) to describe a variation of the brownie. The Hobs (from whence we get both hobbit and hobgoblin) were brownie like creatures, normally good-natured, but a little shy of being seen. The opening paragraphs of The Hobbit in which Tolkien describes the relationship between hobbits and humans shows that he had this tradition in mind and most likely borrowed the word from the lists, thus adopting a rather obscure variation of the brownie and transforming it into a vibrant race.

I will agree however that it is perhaps better to say he 'coined' the term halfing rather than he invented the word.

Well, you learn something new every day. I had even looked at etymologies for that word, and had never heard of any other usage of the term until Tolkien. I wonder if Tolkien didn't "create" it independently, though, as his etymology from Old English hol-bytla -- which he even gives in The Two Towers is where he derived the word.

 

[Codragon]

I didn't vote. I like both sorts of halflings. The "change" to the skinny halfling didn't bother me, yet there's something still cool about the more pudgy, hairy-footed hobbit.

The thing is, this is a campaign issue. Don't let the pictures in the newest edition PH get you down. Use whatever halflings please you, or don't use them at all.

 

[Wicht]

I wonder if Tolkien didn't "create" it independently, though.

He could have. But then again, it seems more likely to me that he read the word (or heard it) and took a fancy to it and then worked back to derive its origins.

The term hob, as I mentioned, is fairly common in English folklore and is included not only in the term hobbit but also in
Hob (rustic brownie type fairie)
Hobthrust (perhaps derived from hobit-hurst)
Hobhole Hob (he cured whooping coughs)
Hob Headless (a haunt)
Hobgoblin (good-humoured fairy, later a wicked goblin)
hobmen (generic fairy name)
hobyahs (mean goblins that ate people)
hobhoulards
and hobby-lanthorns (hob and lanthorns, also hobledy's lantern, a version of the will-o-the-wisp)

 

[HellHound]

LOL

Remind me to read the whole thread first before voting on the poll.

I voted for the "Old" halfling. As an OD&D player, I consider the 3e halfling to be the "Old" halfling, as it is almost identical to the OD&D vision of the halfling as opposed to the "new" 1e and 2e AD&D halflings which were more Hobbitesque and far less appealing to me.

BTW: age 31.

 

[mooby]

I'm 26, and I feel that there's really something wrong with a Fantasy game that doesn't pay tribute to Tolkien's greatness by having hobbits in the game.

 

[Ermanaric]

WOTC changed the halflings to suit the newer players: end of story.

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

I hated the pre-3E halflings. What's supposed to be cool about a red cheeked, pot-bellied cherub who's afraid to leave its house, that enjoys nothing more than sitting on it's butt eating grotesque amounts of food?
Dare I start a brawl by suggesting a similarity between hobbits and some gamers?

I don't understand why people keep droning on and on about the kender. You do realize that many people were never introduced to the kender, and as such have no such prejudices, don't you? I never got any FR material before 3E, as a result, I never read about the kender. Now, you SHOW me where in 3E that it says halflings are unrepentant smiling kleptomaniacs? The only resemblance that halflings bear to the kender, it would seem, is physical. So much for that complaint. Get over it.

You know what I think? I think that fans of "true hobbits" got to have things the way they wanted them for a few decades. Keeping that in mind, and that 3E has only been out since q3 2000, don't the fans of 3E halflings deserve to enjoy them for a while? I had to look at those bloated hobbit toads since I started playing D&D, I'm glad they changed halflings to a race I would actually want to play as.
Let the 3E halfling have its day in the sun. Hobbits have had the spotlight long enough.

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

WOTC changed the halflings to suit the newer players: end of story.

Think for 5 whole seconds about what you just wrote.

The new halflings came about with 3E.
The newest D&D players presumably started playing with 3E. If they aren't playing 3E, then WotC isn't selling any of the new material to them, so there goes that argument.
So you tell me, did WotC travel to the future and discover what players would want in a halfling, then change it during the creation of 3E? Doesn't sound right to me. The new halflings were on the scene before people were actually playing 3E...

The 3E playtesters that helped create 3E weren't new players (they sure as heck shouldn't have been), so explain to me who these new players were that WotC placated with the creation of these new halflings?

You could try to say that the people who began playing during the decline of TSR (they would sort of be new players, in some peoples' opinions) liked Kender better and their opinions affected the creation of the 3E halfling, but since there is no similarity between kender and 3E halflings except, vaguely, their appearance, that argument holds no water either.

I take it you came to your conclusion on a whim?

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

Let's see .. 5.22 + 37.31 + 27.88 = 70.41% who prefer the sucky 3E halflings... *sigh* being right is so lonely sometimes

Shucks! It's so sad that you're stuck here with us cultural wastelands.

The fact is that whether you like the 3E Halfling or Pre-3E Hobbit is entirely based on personal preference. That's right! And as such there is no right answer. No Right Answer. It's a matter of taste.

And the first person to make a remark about good and bad taste wins my lame-o of the day award. It's easy to be insulting, it's harder to admit that there's more than one way to do things, and that maybe not everyone likes what you like.

Like I said, hobbit lovers have enjoyed their place in D&D for over 20 years. Maybe it's someone else's turn now? I like the new halflings, I like the artwork featuring them. There's a stockpile of hobbit stuff out there. Now a new idea is getting it's shot.

Bran Blackbyrd - Big hairy feet? No, that just doesn't scream epic hero to me.