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

[carkl3000]

Deleted

 

[carkl3000]

5% of players who used D&D Beyond played a halfling when that survey came out. It's not that only 5% of people thought that halflings were a good idea and everyone else said they weren't or were meh on them. The poll wasn't "what races do you think are cool or that should be included," to which only 5% responded with halflings. It was a survey of who was playing what races and classes on D&D Beyond at that time. (And, it should be noted, D&D Beyond only accounts for a fraction of actual D&D players.)

... I'm not sure if anyone has pointed out yet that a large fraction of character builds on D&D beyond are likely optimizer builds that often begin with variant human. I wonder what will happen to the number of humans appearing there now that custom lineage is available. (but granted, behind the Tasha's paywall.)

 

[Don Durito]

... I'm not sure if anyone has pointed out yet that a large fraction of character builds on D&D beyond are likely optimizer builds that often begin with variant human. I wonder what will happen to the number of humans appearing there now that custom lineage is available. (but granted, behind the Tasha's paywall.)

That is supposed to be controlled for by only counting data for characters that are levelled up over time and whose hit point totals change.

Whether that is successful or not I have no particular opinion.

 

[bedir than]

Yeah, how could a game about making a fantasy world to adventure in involving making a simulated world?



Really? Huh. I was pretty sure that it was @Neonchameleon who insisted on giving the halflings a bonus to dexterity. That's the only aspect of the "racial make-up" being used in this thought experiment. Sorry for forcing you to use the Racial bonus to dexterity @Neonchameleon , we can go back to the commoner statblock in the monster manual that has all 10's and gets +0's to everything. That way we aren't doing things the wrong way, that I'm forcing you to do.

If my memory has served me correctly you've also insisted that every non-player elf uses magic every day, something that also isn't part of the NPC block

 

[Don Durito]

That is supposed to be controlled for by only counting data for characters that are levelled up over time and whose hit point totals change.

Whether that is successful or not I have no particular opinion.

If there is a distortion in the data it's more likely, I think, to be that the DnDBeyond users represent a more hardcore fanbase than the average user. They are after all willing to pay money for something that can very easily be done with pencil and paper.

This would possibly tend to bias the proportions toward a higher likelihood of the more exotic rather the more common PHB races. Although this may be pulled back somewhat by the fact that some things are free. In the case of things that are both free and exotic, like I believe Genasi are (based on a post earlier in this thread) the distortion could well be significant

 

[HomegrownHydra]

If there is a distortion in the data it's more likely, I think, to be that the DnDBeyond users represent a more hardcore fanbase than the average user. They are after all willing to pay money for something that can very easily be done with pencil and paper.

This would possibly tend to bias the proportions toward a higher likelihood of the more exotic rather the more common PHB races. Although this may be pulled back somewhat by the fact that some things are free. In the case of things that are both free and exotic, like I believe Genasi are (based on a post earlier in this thread) the distortion could well be significant

Another thing is that I think the data that gets released is from those people who have purchased access to all character options. If that's the case it isn't even representative of all D&DBeyond players let alone all D&D players in general. So the proportion of halflings players is likely greater than 5 or 6 percent.

 

[Hussar]

/snip​

So if you fold two races with skin and hair together you get scales? Interesting approach to biology there.

Whoosh, now there's a point sailing way over someone's head. Several points in fact. But, hey, that's been par for the course after all. I mean this last gem, that's just a perfect ecapsulation. Because, obviously, in context to what I was talking about, which, I believe, was your idea about mixing halflings and gnomes together, I mean in a biological sense.

You're not even trying to argue in good faith now. Yup. Time to unsubscribe from the thread. Just not worth it.

 

[Hussar]

Well, if you actually showed that you don't hate halflings instead of just claiming you don't but in all ways acting like you do, then maybe you wouldn't get so drunk.

/snip

I believe, I think, that I asked politely you not respond to my posts because you repeatedly ascribe motives to me. You apologized and stopped. Then, a little bit later, you right back to it. So, don't worry, I'm unsubbing the thread very soon, so, you are free to have the last word. But, you do realize the irony of your argument right? "You just hate halflings, so, that's why you want them gone" works exactly the same in reverse. "You only want halfings in the game because YOU like them and you feel it's perfectly fine to force your preferences onto other poeple." It's a ludicrous point to make, and it's pretty much identical to every single response you've made to me. It's dismissive and rude. Please stop.

 

[pemerton]

Do Halflings in 5e still often have dogs? (Didn't they in at least one edition?)

The AD&D MM. I never really tried to make sense of it, though. (I would have thought that for some of those fierce dogs Halfings would = food!)

 

[lingual]

But, you do realize the irony of your argument right? "You just hate halflings, so, that's why you want them gone" works exactly the same in reverse. "You only want halfings in the game because YOU like them and you feel it's perfectly fine to force your preferences onto other poeple."

This is the big disconnect. WOTC obviously wants halflings in the PHB. I know because they put halflings in the PHB. You feel very strongly about making changes to their game that they design and own the creative rights to so you really should be trying to convince them. The vast majority of tables that dislike halflings probably just don't include them in their own games. These tables are not trying to change the status quo and the enjoyment of other tables who do like halflings.