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

[Chaosmancer]

That quote is from the PHB friend.

Ah, with no context whatsoever, how could I have missed it.

You also didn't include the full quote.

"Elves hunt game, gather food, and grow vegetables, and their skill and magic allow them to support themselves without the need for clearing and plowing land."

Hmmm, growing vegetables? Looking at a picture of vegetables... many of those are farmed. And again, orchards and raising horses don't require clearing and plowing, and are still farming.

And I just realized I missed the last time that it is "skill" AND "magic". Skill huh?

Hmmm.... Wonder if they are referencing No-till farming and here is a BB article about farming in a forest without needing to clear the land. How farming in forests could sustain the planet

Sure, elves use magic too... but in the modern day we use technology, and I don't think a lot of "Country Boys" would appreciate being told they aren't real farmers.

So, yeah, elves farm.

 

[bedir than]

The discussion isn't removving the lore but adding to it.

For example, halflings in my Klassico setting are still 95% farmers. They trade grain to dwarves and human for metal, tools, and protection. Some halflings join the human and dwarven military as archers, slingers, and pitchforkmen. And since halfling don't care about making money, their stuff is very inexpensive. Even the most brutal orcs love halflings because they trade a bunch of wheat or potatoes for a few deer and rabbits. The Orc gods curse everyone but the halflings because food.

Going to a halfling village is great as you get tons of food and discounts on used dwarven and orc axes. That's where you get double weapons ironically.

I read this and see no expansion of halfling lore at all.

 

[Chaosmancer]

You're familiar that remaining in a quaint thorp is a valid story to tell right? The reason I keep pointing out your single sentences is because they are a presentation of the most absurd of your ideas -- that there are only certain valid stories to tell in D&D and that anyone who does so doesn't deserve to play those stories any more.

And by doing so you reveal that you have no idea what I am saying. I never said they weren't valid stories. I never said that people who tell those stories don't deserve to play DnD.

What I did say was that the halfling stories are all pretty much "farmboy from quaint home" stories. And that that narrative inflexibility isn't good. The fact that you focused on attacking the idea that I don't like those stories, as a way to defend halflings seems to reinforce my point... there is no other halfling stories without breaking halfling lore and dragging them kicking and screaming into the stories of humans.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Sure, but they are not likely to be measuring the value of their pay in terms of money, almost like...a halfling's idea of value has little if anything to do with monetary concerns.

In terms of possessions. Valuable possession.

You don't get to just take a sentence and ignore the context around it and make claims about how halflings don't use money.

 

[Minigiant]

I read this and see no expansion of halfling lore at all.

Halflings pay off bullies with food and buy protection from those who don't take the payoff with food.

It explicitly states why halflings have little to no military or craftsmen.

 

[bedir than]

And by doing so you reveal that you have no idea what I am saying. I never said they weren't valid stories. I never said that people who tell those stories don't deserve to play DnD.

What I did say was that the halfling stories are all pretty much "farmboy from quaint home" stories

You want to change their lore so they are no longer a society of those stories. Removing that lore removes those tales.

Do you, or do you not, want to remove current lore and turn halflings into something different -- a position you've held for 100s of posts in this very thread

 

[Gammadoodler]

In terms of possessions. Valuable possession.

You don't get to just take a sentence and ignore the context around it and make claims about how halflings don't use money.

I do when it explicitly references that the value is untethered to monetary value.

You don't get to just ignore the literal definition of words.

For reference:
Definitions of monetary value

1. noun
   the property of having material worth (often indicated by the amount of money something would bring if sold)

 

[Chaosmancer]

Its not that they are inhuman. None of the PHB races are... But as with other races they represent a sliver of the human experience. They are a representation of human ambition and engenuity

So... humans only represent human ambition and ingenuity?

I'm sorry, but that isn't supported by basically any human character put in a Good Aligned Religious leader role. I bet I could trivially find a human character in DnD who is known for their generosity or who got where they are through a sense of duty and honor and not ambition.

This position just... isn't supported by the types of characters we see.

 

[Bolares]

I'm sorry, but that isn't supported by basically any human character put in a Good Aligned Religious leader role. I bet I could trivially find a human character in DnD who is known for their generosity or who got where they are through a sense of duty and honor and not ambition.

I was clearly talking about the PHB description of the human...

 

[Chaosmancer]

You want to change their lore so they are no longer a society of those stories. Removing that lore removes those tales.

Do you, or do you not, want to remove current lore and turn halflings into something different -- a position you've held for 100s of posts in this very thread

I want to expand halfling lore, to give them something outside of the farms. I never once said I wanted to burn all the farms to the ground, salt the earth, and deny all halflings from ever setting foot on a farm again.