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

[Don Durito]

Meld tabaxi and tieflings into one. Give them Mage Hand as a power.

Result: Part-fiendish cat people who love pushing things off of tables…and can do it from a distance.

So cats that have demons in their ancestry.

How would we tell them apart from normal cats?

 

[Neonchameleon]

How is the solution to fold them into a - by their standards (and, I mean let's be honest, objectively) - worse race?

I know it's a suggestion of mine to fold the two small races into one because their big gimmick of being small steps on each others' toes. And because forest gnomes and halflings are dex races, great at hiding, and move through forests quietly (and halflings are more popular as rangers). And putting them into one group gives extra nuances to all of them.

 

[Oofta]

So cats that have demons in their ancestry.

How would we tell them apart from normal cats?

They would likely be less evil.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

So cats that have demons in their ancestry.

How would we tell them apart from normal cats?

Immunity to catnip.

 

[Oofta]

I know it's a suggestion of mine to fold the two small races into one because their big gimmick of being small steps on each others' toes. And because forest gnomes and halflings are dex races, great at hiding, and move through forests quietly (and halflings are more popular as rangers). And putting them into one group gives extra nuances to all of them.

How is it that you reduce all the lore and descriptions of halflings and gnomes to size? Are all medium races all the same too?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

How is it that you reduce all the lore and descriptions of halflings and gnomes to size? Are all medium races all the same too?

It’s uhhh easy to overlook their differences.

 

[Minigiant]

Meld tabaxi and tieflings into one. Give them Mage Hand as a power.

Result: Part-fiendish cat people who love pushing things off of tables…and can do it from a distance.

I actually have those in my main setting.
They are small size though.

 

[Vaalingrade]

It'd be nice of Small wasn't nothing but a liability to force them out of certain options (like using polearms) for no good reason (no, verisimilitude is not a good reason. Like, ever.)

At least in 3.5 it gave you a bonus to hit and AC. In 5e, they get nothing to compensate.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Meld tabaxi and tieflings into one. Give them Mage Hand as a power.

Result: Part-fiendish cat people who love pushing things off of tables…and can do it from a distance.

Aren't cats already devils? How sure are we that they're not merged already?

Edit: @Don Durito beat me to it.

 

[Gammadoodler]

It’s uhhh easy to overlook their differences.

"Overlook.."

Of course a medium-sized creature would use that kind of language.

Size-ist.