I certainly agree with you there. I prefer to get rid of halflings, elves, and dwarves altogether. Humans-only, or at least part-human (half-elf, half-orc, tiefling, etc.), is my preference. Even though I'm a Tolkien fan, I think "Lord of the Rings" has become a blight on the genre--not because of anything wrong with LotR itself, but because its assumptions have become so pervasive in certain areas that people lose sight of how narrow and idiosyncratic they are.
D&D 5E Middle-earth Hobbits and D&D Halflings in 5e
- Thread starter Dungeonosophy
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I certainly agree with you there. I prefer to get rid of halflings, elves, and dwarves altogether. Humans-only, or at least part-human (half-elf, half-orc, tiefling, etc.), is my preference. Even though I'm a Tolkien fan, I think "Lord of the Rings" has become a blight on the genre--not because of anything wrong with LotR itself, but because its assumptions have become so pervasive in certain areas that people lose sight of how narrow and idiosyncratic they are.
Doug McCrae
Legend
Aren't hobbits the rural English, and their adventures the two world wars?
Passed thru a Marvellous Land of the Snergs lens, anyway.
Passed thru a Marvellous Land of the Snergs lens, anyway.
S
Sunseeker
Guest
Well, aside from realizing I'm not as up on Tolkein lore as I wish I was, I imagine that it would look something like the Burning of the Shire.
To be honest, whenever I think of warrior short people, the Kithkin from Mtg's Lorwyn block come to mind. A rather creepy take on short folks if you ask me, but they'd certainly be an interesting shortfolk variant.
There's a high degree of overlap between the Tolkien hobbit characteristics you enumerated, and the 3e rules for halflings.
I ignored the illustrations and the fluff in 3e, and assumed halfling = hobbit. The rules work VERY well for that.
Let's compare 3e rules v. Tolkien characteristics, shall we?
3e characteristics of a halfling:
•+2 Dexterity, -2 Strength.
•Small: As a Small creature, a halfling gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
•Halfling base land speed is 20 feet.
•+2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, Listen, and Move Silently checks.
•+1 racial bonus on all saving throws.
•+2 morale bonus on saving throws against fear: This bonus stacks with the halfling’s +1 bonus on saving throws in general.
•+1 racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings.
•Automatic Languages: Common and Halfling. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, and Orc.
•Favored Class: Rogue. A multiclass halfling’s rogue class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
Tolkien halfling characteristics:
- In Touch with Nature; Close Friendship with the Earth (no)
- Skilled in Crafts and Tools (no)
- Quick of Hearing (+2 racial bonus to Listen)
- Sharp-eyed/Keen-eyed (not directly, but Rogue is the favored class)
- Difficult to Daunt (+2 morale bonus to save v. Fear, stacks with +1 racial bonus on all saves)
- Difficult to Kill (+1 size bonus to AC, +2 Dex (increases AC), +1 racial bonus on all saves)
- Curiously Tough; Tough as Old Tree-Roots; Survive Rough Handling by Grief, Foe, or Weather; Recover Wonderfully from Falls and Bruises (+1 racial bonus on all saves, but no Con bonus)
- Free from Ambition; Free from Greed of Wealth (no)
- Elusiveness; The Art of Disappearing; Hide Easily (+4 size bonus to Hide checks; Rogue is favored class)
- Move Very Quietly (+2 racial bonus on Move Silently; Rogue is favored class)
- Doughty at Bay; Amazing and Unexpected Heroism "At a Pinch" (+1 size bonus on attacks, +1 size bonus on AC, +2 morale bonus on saves v. fear, +1 racial bonus on all saves)
- Sure at the Mark - throwing and shooting. (+1 racial bonus on thrown weapons and slings)
- Sense of Direction Underground (no)
- Work Like Bees (no, though could be roleplayed this way if desired)
- Fund of Wisdom and Wise Sayings (no)
Halfling characteristics in 3e that don't come from Tolkien:
•+2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump
I ignored the illustrations and the fluff in 3e, and assumed halfling = hobbit. The rules work VERY well for that.
Let's compare 3e rules v. Tolkien characteristics, shall we?
3e characteristics of a halfling:
•+2 Dexterity, -2 Strength.
•Small: As a Small creature, a halfling gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
•Halfling base land speed is 20 feet.
•+2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, Listen, and Move Silently checks.
•+1 racial bonus on all saving throws.
•+2 morale bonus on saving throws against fear: This bonus stacks with the halfling’s +1 bonus on saving throws in general.
•+1 racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings.
•Automatic Languages: Common and Halfling. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, and Orc.
•Favored Class: Rogue. A multiclass halfling’s rogue class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
Tolkien halfling characteristics:
- In Touch with Nature; Close Friendship with the Earth (no)
- Skilled in Crafts and Tools (no)
- Quick of Hearing (+2 racial bonus to Listen)
- Sharp-eyed/Keen-eyed (not directly, but Rogue is the favored class)
- Difficult to Daunt (+2 morale bonus to save v. Fear, stacks with +1 racial bonus on all saves)
- Difficult to Kill (+1 size bonus to AC, +2 Dex (increases AC), +1 racial bonus on all saves)
- Curiously Tough; Tough as Old Tree-Roots; Survive Rough Handling by Grief, Foe, or Weather; Recover Wonderfully from Falls and Bruises (+1 racial bonus on all saves, but no Con bonus)
- Free from Ambition; Free from Greed of Wealth (no)
- Elusiveness; The Art of Disappearing; Hide Easily (+4 size bonus to Hide checks; Rogue is favored class)
- Move Very Quietly (+2 racial bonus on Move Silently; Rogue is favored class)
- Doughty at Bay; Amazing and Unexpected Heroism "At a Pinch" (+1 size bonus on attacks, +1 size bonus on AC, +2 morale bonus on saves v. fear, +1 racial bonus on all saves)
- Sure at the Mark - throwing and shooting. (+1 racial bonus on thrown weapons and slings)
- Sense of Direction Underground (no)
- Work Like Bees (no, though could be roleplayed this way if desired)
- Fund of Wisdom and Wise Sayings (no)
Halfling characteristics in 3e that don't come from Tolkien:
•+2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump
Dungeonosophy
Legend
Ability Modifiers
Great comparison. Yes, they do match well.
The ability score modifications are surprisingly apt:
-2 STR
"They are [...] creatures of very small physical power"
+2 DEX
"they are nonetheless nimble and deft in their movements."
Disregarding D&D game balance, I wondered whether Middle-earth Hobbits might also have a minus to INT since Tolkien says Stupidity (along with Sloth) is a characteristic vice of Hobbits:
Great comparison. Yes, they do match well.
The ability score modifications are surprisingly apt:
-2 STR
"They are [...] creatures of very small physical power"
+2 DEX
"they are nonetheless nimble and deft in their movements."
Disregarding D&D game balance, I wondered whether Middle-earth Hobbits might also have a minus to INT since Tolkien says Stupidity (along with Sloth) is a characteristic vice of Hobbits:
"That there is no allegory does not, of course, say there is no applicability. There always is. And since I have not made the struggle wholly unequivocal: sloth and stupidity among hobbits, pride and [illegible] among Elves, grudge and greed in Dwarf-hearts, and folly and wickedness among the 'Kings of Men', and treachery and power-lust even among the 'Wizards'"
Letter #45
But I think, given the intelligence of Bilbo, Frodo, and Merry, that Hobbits are not really less Intelligent than Men, but their insularity makes the average hobbit especially vulnerable to the vice of petty Stupidity. And in the Prologue of the LotR calls Men "stupid" in comparison to Hobbits:
"when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along, making a noise like elephants which they can hear a mile off."
Chapter 1, The Hobbit
So, it's fitting that Halflings don't have an INT penalty.
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Dungeonosophy
Legend
"The Shire' is based on rural England and not any other country in the world...The toponymy of The Shire...is a 'parody' of that of
rural England, in much the same sense as are its inhabitants: they go together and are meant to."
—A letter from 1956
"as an Englishman brought up in an 'almost rural' village of Warwickshire on the edge of the prosperous bourgeoisie of Birmingham (about the time of the Diamond Jubilee!) I take my models like anyone else – from such 'life' as I know."
—A letter from 1956
"It [the Shire] is in fact more or less a Warwickshire village of about the period of the Diamond Jubilee" [of Queen Victoria, in 1897]
—Letter from 1955
"I was born in 1892 and lived for my early years in 'the Shire' in a premechanical age."
—Letter from 1958
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
I'll take my halflings in any configuration that is crunchy and tastes good with ketchup, but I admit to favoring Tolkien's three flavors of hobbit.
trancejeremy
Adventurer
If you watch the British comedy, "Keeping Up Appearances" it's pretty much like watching Hobbits.
The main character in particular, she is exactly how I picture Lobelia Sackville-Baggins
The main character in particular, she is exactly how I picture Lobelia Sackville-Baggins
Baron Von Mandrick
First Post
I'll add my support to the Tolkienesque flavor of hobbits. I thought they were cool in AD&D, and didn't think they needed fixing. They got annoying in later editions, particularly 3e. Admittedly it might be because they weren't what I thought of traditionally as hbbits/halflings.
