Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Is a halfling a half-gnome?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 8734843" data-attributes="member: 58172"><p>Is a halfling a half-gnome?</p><p></p><p>I am one of the D&D-ers who have difficulties with the halfling as a race. The halfling is too human. It seems like one of the human ethnicities that the Players Handbook lists. The idea of a small human no longer counting as a human, feels off to me.</p><p></p><p>Moreover, when Tolkien and Gygax use the term "race", they kinda did mean the term in a racist sense. Certainly D&D doesnt today: there is clearly only one human "race" in D&D. For us, "race" means species. But Gygax uses the term "race" to mean both the halfling "race", and for example the Suloise human ethnic group "race". Both Tolkien and Gygax interpreted various figures of folkbeliefs as if "exotic" human ethnicities of flesh and blood.</p><p></p><p>In any case, the halfling is too human.</p><p></p><p>In order for the halfling to merit the status of a D&D race − in the sense of a separate species − there must be something about the halfling, that is clearly, obviously, nonhuman.</p><p></p><p>To me, gnomes are nonhuman enough, but really, only if the gnomes are fey. If they are natives of an other dimension, an other level of existence, that is enough to at least nominally qualify as nonhuman.</p><p></p><p>If the halfling is the progeny of both a human and a gnome, the half-gnome origins might be enough to distinguish the halfling from other humans. The halfling can still strongly resemble the human because of partly human heritage. The human traits include material plane and typically martial power source cultures. Gnomes are magical, human-friendly, and experimental − pairing with a human is no obstacle. In several D&D settings, including Forgotten Realms, halfling communities are ancient, and continue to form families with other halflings. The ancestors include both gnome and human parentage.</p><p></p><p>Making halflings half-gnomes is one way to resolve the issue of halflings being too human.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 8734843, member: 58172"] Is a halfling a half-gnome? I am one of the D&D-ers who have difficulties with the halfling as a race. The halfling is too human. It seems like one of the human ethnicities that the Players Handbook lists. The idea of a small human no longer counting as a human, feels off to me. Moreover, when Tolkien and Gygax use the term "race", they kinda did mean the term in a racist sense. Certainly D&D doesnt today: there is clearly only one human "race" in D&D. For us, "race" means species. But Gygax uses the term "race" to mean both the halfling "race", and for example the Suloise human ethnic group "race". Both Tolkien and Gygax interpreted various figures of folkbeliefs as if "exotic" human ethnicities of flesh and blood. In any case, the halfling is too human. In order for the halfling to merit the status of a D&D race − in the sense of a separate species − there must be something about the halfling, that is clearly, obviously, nonhuman. To me, gnomes are nonhuman enough, but really, only if the gnomes are fey. If they are natives of an other dimension, an other level of existence, that is enough to at least nominally qualify as nonhuman. If the halfling is the progeny of both a human and a gnome, the half-gnome origins might be enough to distinguish the halfling from other humans. The halfling can still strongly resemble the human because of partly human heritage. The human traits include material plane and typically martial power source cultures. Gnomes are magical, human-friendly, and experimental − pairing with a human is no obstacle. In several D&D settings, including Forgotten Realms, halfling communities are ancient, and continue to form families with other halflings. The ancestors include both gnome and human parentage. Making halflings half-gnomes is one way to resolve the issue of halflings being too human. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Is a halfling a half-gnome?
Top