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

[Gammadoodler]

Again, having stood exactly where you are talking about, many, many times, there are many fantastic words for it.

Ethereal is not one of them. As was said, it's like calling a moose "dainty".

Is there a reason for the need to gatekeep adjectives?

 

[bedir than]

Again, having stood exactly where you are talking about, many, many times, there are many fantastic words for it.

More than a half million websites have used "ethereal Niagara Falls."

Photogs use that phrase to get their photos seen by millions.

ethereal niagara falls - Google Search

www.google.com

 

[Yaarel]

That is not a description well captured in the PHB entry for humans. There is not a hint of passivity or contentment to be found in there. It's all about ambition, achievement, conquest, legacy, etc.

Fair enough.

Except, of course, that halflings are actually quite different from humans in ways that we have discussed multiple times over the past 170+ pages.

I agree with the idea that each lineage is a heightened way to be human. I even agree that being stoners or homemakers or farmers or kids-on-bikes could serve as a heightened mannerism.

The problem is, there is nothing nonhuman about the Halfling.

The Human is diverse, explicitly ethnically and physically diverse. If tomorrow the designers announced that the Halfling are a Human ethnicity, perhaps undergoing insular dwarfism, there is nothing in the Players Handbook description to contradict the concept that the Halfling is a Human.

Neither are tieflings, dragonborn, warforged, or genasi, but you compared them to halflings anyway.

This evidences how Tiefling and Dragonborn can work better as part of the core-fore, better than Halfling.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Fair enough.


I agree with the idea that each lineage is a heightened way to be human. I even agree that being stoners or homemakers or farmers or kids-on-bikes could serve as a heightened mannerism.

The problem is, there is nothing nonhuman about the Halfling.

The Human is diverse, explicitly ethnically and physically diverse. If tomorrow the designers announced that the Halfling are a Human ethnicity, perhaps undergoing insular dwarfism, there is nothing in the Players Handbook description to contradict the concept that the Halfling is a Human.


This evidences how Tiefling and Dragonborn can work better as part of the core-fore, better than Halfling.

I think I don't understand what you feel the qualifying bar is for "different enough" from human to be OK, especially in the context of the PHB.

You really don't think a race that utterly lacks the drive to get and wield power isn't sufficiently different from humans?

 

[carkl3000]

Fair enough.


I agree with the idea that each lineage is a heightened way to be human. I even agree that being stoners or homemakers or farmers or kids-on-bikes could serve as a heightened mannerism.

The problem is, there is nothing nonhuman about the Halfling.

The Human is diverse, explicitly ethnically and physically diverse. If tomorrow the designers announced that the Halfling are a Human ethnicity, perhaps undergoing insular dwarfism, there is nothing in the Players Handbook description to contradict the concept that the Halfling is a Human.


This evidences how Tiefling and Dragonborn can work better as part of the core-fore, better than Halfling.

If you can read the PHB descriptions for humans and halflings and not recognize that there are significant differences in the way their cultures are represented, I'm not sure what else to say about it.

If halflings and humans are the same except for stature, why are there no halfling cities, or kingdoms, or armies, or politics? Why do you think that this obvious difference is not a difference?

 

[Yaarel]

If you can read the PHB descriptions for humans and halflings and not recognize that there are significant differences in the way their cultures are represented, I'm not sure what else to say about it.

The Halfling liking home and safety, is an insufficient distinction from the Human.

If halflings and humans are the same except for stature, why are there no halfling cities, or kingdoms, or armies, or politics? Why do you think that this obvious difference is not a difference?

There are Halfling communities, such as nomadic communities, ... just like there are Human nomadic communities.

I think I don't understand what you feel the qualifying bar is for "different enough" from human to be OK, especially in the context of the PHB.

Heh, what I WANT is more design space for each lineage, so that the mechanics of the nonhuman lineages can be powerfully different from the Human. I didnt have this kind of problem in 4e because there was enough design space.

(I am actually ok with the Custom Lineage design space, if I homebrew the feat to focus on the salient distinctions. But the official restriction to only the current feats and qualified feats remains insufficent. Indeed, it is almost identical to the Feat Human.)

In the context of the Players Handbook, I want the Halfling to mention unambiguous nonhuman lore. Laser beam eyes? Heh, I dont care. Something. Anything!

Anything that is obviously not a Human.

Heh, to say that a short Human is a separate species, is almost an insult to reallife short people.

You really don't think a race that utterly lacks the drive to get and wield power isn't sufficiently different from humans?

Correct, the Halfling liking home and safety, is an insufficient distinction from the Human.

I dont mind the trope that Halfling lacks ambition to an unusual degree, if and only if, it is part of a larger package of traits and lore that are clearly nonhuman.

 

[Faolyn]

Halfling: "Diminutive. ... A place to settle in peace and quite ... in remote agricultural communities. ... Even wanderers love ... food. Wonderlust."

Funny how you missed this: "nomadic bands that travel constantly, lured by the open road and the wide horizon to discover the wonders of new lands and peoples ... a knack for finding the most straightforward solution to a problem ... venture into the world for reasons of community, friendship, wanderlust, or curiosity. They love discovering new things ... can display remarkable ferocity when their friends, families, or communities are threatened ... Halflings usually set out on the adventurer's path to defend their communities, support their friends, or explore a wide and wonder-filled world."

 

[Minigiant]

If halflings and humans are the same except for stature, why are there no halfling cities, or kingdoms, or armies, or politics? Why do you think that this obvious difference is not a difference?

As described inthe PHB and settings that copy the PHB, halflings are described as an aspect of humans spread over the whole race. A subrace of humans.

This is because Tolkien designed hobbits to basically be a culture of humans spread over a whole race of short people.

Elves are similiar but every elf isn't a noble so the same image doesn't show itself.

 

[Faolyn]

The Halfling liking home and safety, is an insufficient distinction from the Human.

Humans aren't described as liking home and safety in D&D.

There are Halfling communities, such as nomadic communities, ... just like there are Human nomadic communities.

...and orc nomadic communities, and wood elf nomadic communities, etc.

There's only so many ways to describe a culture in D&D-land. Are you surprised that there's overlap?

Anything that is obviously not a Human.

So, like halflings. Who have a rather different culture than typical D&D humans.

For those of us who have read their description, at least. Seriously, go back through the past 170+ pages.

 

[Hussar]

Is there a reason for the need to gatekeep adjectives?

@bedir than is insisting that ethereal applies to humans. Of course, ignoring the fifteen other adjectives that don't apply to humans, but, hey.

And, @bedir than, congratulations, you found half a million people that don't know what ethereal means. Well done you.

But, I would like to thank @bedir than for providing the perfect avenue to demonstrate how halflings aren't any different from humans. As I posted above, you can replace every instance of halfling with human in their description and it works perfectly fine. But, no, you cannot do that with elves. So, let's see if you can do it with other races. goes off to get his phb and start typing out the introduction to different races in the PHB