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

[Yaarel]

Note also the Geeknative article brought up previously which said the top 5 in 2020 (presumably top 5 most generated/played) were: Human, Half-Elf, Dragonborn, Tiefling, and Half-Orc (I have to suspect something went wrong with elfs that they got left out).

This shortlist by Geeknative is nonrepresentative because it is actually a list of subraces, without sharing the info for where a race is when combining the subraces.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

There's more to feel than purposefully making them objectively suck are half the classes.

Sure. They don't suck as half of the classes though. Not that I think every species need to necessarily be good for every class. Though in that case the book should probably just clearly say it. But one thing I agree with you is that being small is a net negative, and I don't think the rules take that into account. Like small species should get slightly more other traits and stuff to balance it and they don't.

 

[Cadence]

I now have this image of a video game where the halfling is in combat. As the halfling's sword swings it looks like there's a graphics glitch and a much bigger copy of the halfling sword appears a few feet above where the halfling was holding it, finishes the swing into the human opponent, and then returns to normal size and elevation as the attack ends. And then the return swing from the human goes a foot above the halflings, but leaves a scaled down gaping chest wound several feet lower on the halfling.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Agreed, although I don't see how getting rid of halfings serves the goal of bringing in the maximum number of customers. It is not as if under 20-somethings will open the book and see, "Gross, halflings! I'm out of here."

The big tent keeps everyone involved, but--at worse--is only neutral to newbies.

Yep. I favor keeping as many races as possible in the PHB. Among the non-PHB races, I'd like to see satyrs get promoted to the PHB next time around, for instance.

 

[Alzrius]

Yep. I favor keeping as many races as possible in the PHB. Among the non-PHB races, I'd like to see satyrs get promoted to the PHB next time around, for instance.

When Third Edition was being designed, there was one particular member of the team (I can't remember who) that kept the gnome from being axed. By the time Fourth Edition came around, they were gone, and that was why the gnome got bumped. I'm not sure who brought them back for Fifth Edition.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Sure. They don't suck as half of the classes though.

Note that my original post on this tangent was asking of 5e was will using 3.5's (specifically .5's) method of screwing with smallfolk. If 5e doesn't do that, the issue is moot.

 

[Yaarel]

I am super-curious what the fallout of Tashas will be. WotC as part of walking back potential racism, will make every player lineage without ability score improvement and alignment.

Each race might still have some mechanic that synergizes better or worse with certain classes. But it normally seems less important than the abilities mechanic.

The concept of each lineage must stand on its own merit.

Judging by other rankings in DnDBeyond (and some surveys results from WotC), it seems like most D&D players could care less about mechanics. (I find this mechanical ignorance horrifying!)

So the DnDBeyond rankings are probably predictive after Tashas.

The most important D&D 5e races are:

• Human
• Elf
• Tiefling
• Dragonborn
• Dwarf

In this order of rank.

 

[Vaalingrade]

When Third Edition was being designed, there was one particular member of the team (I can't remember who) that kept the gnome from being axed. By the time Fourth Edition came around, they were gone, and that was why the gnome got bumped. I'm not sure who brought them back for Fifth Edition.

The person who wrote the gnome who was excited to be the monster in that one video.

Also, gnomes came back in 4e's PHB2 the only black mark on that book.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

But it seems as if you literally dont know the history of the Hin in FR − because − the Hin are irrelevant to the FR setting.

I dont know their history either.

By contrast, I can tell you in detail the history of the Elf in the FR setting − because − they are central to the foreground of the FR setting, and contribute to the tone of the FR setting.

Still not willing to just read up on it, huh? I’ll give a small spoiler; they do in fact have nations and a long history.

Your whole foreground/background concept is irrelevant and arbitrary. It’s fine for your homebrew, but has nothing to do with the published game.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The person who wrote the gnome who was excited to be the monster in that one video.

Also, gnomes came back in 4e's PHB2 the only black mark on that book.

You mean the high point of that book.