D&D General My Problem(s) With Halflings, and How To Create Engaging/Interesting Fantasy Races

[Hussar]

What's funny is that the mods specifically call out halflings (and elves) as having villages in the surrounding hills. In the first chapter there are two halflings mentioned, second in number only to humans. Yep. No halflings here!

Really? There's a number of named dwarves in the first chapter. There's an entire crew of tieflings from Iuz. There is a half orc grave digger.

Of course, you kinda make my point. Two mentions of halflings in the first chapter of a ten chapter book. Yeah, that's totally a major presence.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Of course, you kinda make my point. Two mentions of halflings in the first chapter of a ten chapter book. Yeah, that's totally a major presence.

What IS your point? Number of named NPCs that are mentioned in an adventure has no effect on player characters.

If you actually look at the species of named NPCs what you will find is that it is humans who are very underrepresented in terms of proportion of the population. For example, of the "leaders" of the Ten Towns, only 50% are human, despite the population being supposedly 95% human. dwarves, dragonborn, halflings, half elves, tieflings and half orcs are equally represented at 8% each. There are no elves or gnomes in leadership positions (although there is a gnome who crops up elsewhere).

 

[Oofta]

Really? There's a number of named dwarves in the first chapter. There's an entire crew of tieflings from Iuz. There is a half orc grave digger.

Of course, you kinda make my point. Two mentions of halflings in the first chapter of a ten chapter book. Yeah, that's totally a major presence.

From the Saltmarsh Overview

Saltmarsh’s roughly five thousand residents are predominantly human, with the dwarven mining contingent of about two hundred workers the largest non-human faction in town. Elves and halflings draw no special notice, since the Silverstand hosts a wood elf enclave and a few halfling villages are tucked in the hills around town.​

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Out of the dozen or so named NPCs in "Locations in Saltmarsh" two are halflings. So yes, they are quite common in town. But again, the heck with facts, you have a narrative!

 

[Hussar]

From the Saltmarsh Overview

Saltmarsh’s roughly five thousand residents are predominantly human, with the dwarven mining contingent of about two hundred workers the largest non-human faction in town. Elves and halflings draw no special notice, since the Silverstand hosts a wood elf enclave and a few halfling villages are tucked in the hills around town.​

​

Out of the dozen or so named NPCs in "Locations in Saltmarsh" two are halflings. So yes, they are quite common in town. But again, the heck with facts, you have a narrative!

Yup, two locations in Saltmarsh - the priest of Obad Hai and the owner of the Winston Store. But, again, you're making my point for me. There's EIGHT CHAPTERS in this book. ONE chapter has a grand total of 2 halfling NPC's, and that's MORE than what you find in many other modules. There are a number of other towns and whatnot detailed in the module. Guess what, no halfling NPC's.

Oh, wait, I tell a lie. In single mention of the council in Tammarault's Fate of a cheese shop owner that there's pretty much no reason to interact with.

So, in a 250(ish) page module, halflings appear in a single section, and even then, it's mostly just throwaway elements. It's entirely left to the DM to actually detail any of these "halfling villages" which make no appearance anywhere in the module. They aren't even marked on a map. No locations, no NPC's. Nothing.

Which is still MORE than you see in many other modules.

So, if halflings are supposed to be "common in town", then, again, WHERE ARE THEY? What do they do? What role do they play? What do they add to the adventure or the setting?

I keep asking for examples of how halflings are being utilized in the adventures, and you guys just keep making my points for me.

 

[Oofta]

Yup, two locations in Saltmarsh - the priest of Obad Hai and the owner of the Winston Store. But, again, you're making my point for me. There's EIGHT CHAPTERS in this book. ONE chapter has a grand total of 2 halfling NPC's, and that's MORE than what you find in many other modules. There are a number of other towns and whatnot detailed in the module. Guess what, no halfling NPC's.

Oh, wait, I tell a lie. In single mention of the council in Tammarault's Fate of a cheese shop owner that there's pretty much no reason to interact with.

So, in a 250(ish) page module, halflings appear in a single section, and even then, it's mostly just throwaway elements. It's entirely left to the DM to actually detail any of these "halfling villages" which make no appearance anywhere in the module. They aren't even marked on a map. No locations, no NPC's. Nothing.

Which is still MORE than you see in many other modules.

So, if halflings are supposed to be "common in town", then, again, WHERE ARE THEY? What do they do? What role do they play? What do they add to the adventure or the setting?

I keep asking for examples of how halflings are being utilized in the adventures, and you guys just keep making my points for me.

Yep, stick to your narrative. I was just pointing out that when you said "Ghosts of Saltmarsh does not have a SINGLE halfling NPC. If they are common in the area, WHERE ARE THEY?" it's not true. It's a town dominated by humans but halflings are called out as being accepted as normal while other races "The residents react to other visitors, especially tieflings and dragonborn, with a mixture of curiosity and fear."

Someone else did a scan of the PDFs earlier in the thread and showed that halflings are mentioned quite frequently. But I'm sure you won't acknowledge that either since they don't make up the majority of NPCs. Have fun moving the goalposts.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

WHERE ARE THEY?

Where are the elves?

 

[Oofta]

Where are the elves?

They are only mentioned, but the villages are not mapped out so they don't exist.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

They are only mentioned, but the villages are not mapped out so they don't exist.

But where are the elven NPCs that play a key role in the story? They are listed 2nd in the PHB, so surely they must always have a key role!!!

 

[Faolyn]

You've never heard of goliaths?

Goliaths aren't giants.

I have no idea what a "Reborn" or a "VGR" is.

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. Reborn is one of the lineages. You might be undead, a construct, a living person brought back to life by arcane science, something like that.

 

[Faolyn]

You do realize you're saying the same thing I did. Ghosts of Saltmarsh does not have a SINGLE halfling NPC. If they are common in the area, WHERE ARE THEY?

"Ghosts of Saltmarsh: Notes that halflings are common in the area and that there are several halfling villages (25% chance that any village or manor found by the party is a halfling village or manor). A halfling bandit. A halfling druid. A halfling merchant. A halfling councilmember. a halfling veteran who's the agent of the town's bailiff."

That's four named halfling NPCs plus says that a quarter of all villages are halfling villages.

Winston, a halfling bandit who runs a store.

Ferrin Kastilar, a halfling druid who has a frog animal companion.

Bellis Bellweather, a halfling councilmember/cheese shop owner.

Merrick, a halfling veteran who works for the bailiff.

Do you have a copy of the book that doesn't include these characters? Did you just not read what I wrote?

In comparison, I counted six named elves, four named dwarfs, four named gnomes, two named half-elves, and zero tieflings or dragonborn, either named or unnamed. Everyone else is human.

So, in a 256-page module, halflings are equally as important as dwarfs and gnomes, more important than half-elves, and almost as important as elves.

So you were saying?