Heh, going back to "biology" before the human sciences segue.
okay, but the thing is, when i talk about species and saying that i want them to have strong inherent flavour i am specifically talking about the biological aspects of them, if all the flavour for a species comes from their culture then that's not exactly anything to do with their species is it? if everything defining about them comes from a learned society
background and culture are additional ways to impart flavour to a character, not as a substitution for species flavour
i think that there should exist 'species stereotypes' because that means there is actually something that significantly stands out about them enough to be memorable, something that sets them apart from just being short or tall or scally or green humans
it is not 'racist' to say that a monkey is inherently more predisposed to being capable of climbing or that a boar is tougher and stronger, just because you've made them humanoid shape and given them some brains, the apefolk is lithe and long limbed, with narrow fingers that can find purchase in small cracks, the boarfolk has denser muscles, is stockier and a better centre of gravity.
I mention "biology" in scare-quotes because, of course, it refers to a fantasy setting that only uses the concept loosely, to include freewill magical self-transformations, and forms and characteristics that in reallife today seem impossible.
If the description says, Halflings can use oversized weapons "because magic", then that is a legitimate explanation. (I feel Gnomes should do so because magic, because the Norwegian gnome − tomte/tuft − is a superhumanly, immaterially strong force.)
The problem only happens if the goal is to assign a naturalistic nonmagical flavor to the Halfling.
As far as I can tell, if one forgives my generalization, the only hangup old schoolers really have is ... Size.
It cant be the Dexterity boost, because most "races" have a Dexterity boost. There is zero distinctive about a having a Dexterity boost.
"It isnt racist to say that a monkey is more predisposed to climbing." The same is still true for the UA 2024 Halfling Species that is predisposed to being "naturally stealthy", "nimble", and even "brave" perhaps having less of a flight-or-fight adrenaline response than the Human species has.
The "brave" personality gets murky into a racist stereotype but it is still there in the UA. Saying Halflings have "less adrenaline" sotospeak, and Orcs "more adrenaline" is anatomically conceivable.
I will deal with "luck" later since that is a magical nonanatomical characteristic. Flavorwise, this luck coheres the Astral realms, rather than the Fey realms that one might expect for a "hob" or "hobbit", house sprite.
Perhaps, when the Halfling wields an oversized greatsword, the Halfling appears as if clumsy and wobbly and lurching, yet somehow manages to land the blade precisely and devastatingly because of bizarre luck?