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

[Chaosmancer]

Slings are plenty deadly in 5e.

A PC that has managed to narrowly dodge and avoid the worst blows of a Greatsword repeatedly can suddenly be taken out with a single hit from a sling.

Or in other words, making conclusions about the physics of a D&D world on the basis of its combat system is beyond ludicrous.

Of course they are deadly. You realize you can kill someone with a stick right? Sticks are deadly as in they can cause death.

But, is a stick deadlier than a 50 caliber bullet fired from an anti-tank gun? No. So, both are deadly, one is deadlier than the other. And, DnD has created a tier system for which weapons are "deadlier" in DnDland. Which is where gnolls and halflings are.

 

[bedir than]

So, who’s asking you to “destroy your character sheets”? No one has asked you to do that.

There are people who have absolutely, 100% insisted that the stories at my table aren't about halflings. They are certain that I have never told a non-human tale.

We can stop pretending they aren't doing that. That's been the position of many here, and it's why this thread has gone on. While they claim they are being mispresented they then gaslight and ask for someone to finally share what's non-human about halflings, as if that hasn't occurred 100s of times.

My characters are halflings. Telling me they are human is an insistence that their stories do not exist.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

This is basic logic.

If A is an element of B

Then it is false to say: A isnt an element B.


Some humans are sentimental.

If halflings are sentimental, that trait doesnt make them nonhuman.

All DnD races have two arms...and humans have two arms...therefore all DnD races are human.

At least by your poorly applied logic.

Congratulations! We have now gone full circle and are back on page 20s discussion points.

 

[lingual]

All DnD races have two arms...and humans have two arms...therefore all DnD races are human.

At least by your poorly applied logic.

Congratulations! We have now gone full circle and are back on page 20s discussion points.

HEY RUBE (I think that's the translation)

 

[Chaosmancer]

I remain puzzled less by people's reaction to halflings then I am by the idea that there's something singular about halflings.

I remain puzzled by how people look at a thread titled about halflings, and then get confused why we want to talk about halflings instead of Tabaxi.

Like the idea expressed earlier about knowing what to do with all the other races except halflings. To me one of the biggest issues is that just about all the races are cardboard cutouts and stereotypes, and there isn't really anything to be done about it in the absence of a default setting.

I guess you could say the game tells you what to do about Dwarves, stick them in a mountain they mine gold and mithril and drink....what, you've fallen asleep, but I haven't said even said anything yet about elves and their homes in the treeto...Oh you've fallen asleep again.

Wow, the only thing about elves is that they live in trees? What about those elven cities then? The magical elven islands? The elves that live under the ground? The Elves named after stars? The elves living in the sea are stupid, but they do exist. Then you have the elven lack of sleep. If you are stopping at "they live in trees" then that's a you problem

Dwarves are also more than mining and drinking. There is actually a whole thread about working with them though, so maybe go bring your complaints about dwarves to the dwarf thread instead of the halfling thread?

Oh well. There's always the Tabaxi. They're cat, but walk like a human, but a cat, and they don't really have a firm place in any existing setting so no doubt they've wandered in from far away. Inspired!

I agree that it would be better to roll Tabaxi up into a larger "beastfolk" race that would probably be way too broad and include things like Minotaurs, shifters, loxodon, tortles, sheep-people, wolf-people, Leonin, ect ect.

Still has no bearing on halflings though.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Prove it.

Where does it say this? Cite the page.

“Humans are a lot like us, really. At least some of them are. Step out of the castles and keeps, go talk to the farmers and herders and you’ll find good, solid folk. Not that there’s anything wrong with the barons and soldiers — you have to admire their conviction. And by protecting their own lands, they protect us as well.”

pg 27, Player's Handbook, published August 2014

And, not only does it explicitly say humans and halflings are a lot alike, when asked what makes halflings appealing, people often say that they are farmer who are good solid folk... exactly how the halflings are describing the human farmers.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

HEY RUBE (I think that's the translation)

True that...although any adventurers stupid enough to listen to tavern gossip might think it meant "I surrender."

 

[Chaosmancer]

You or @Hussar appear to have cut content. Full quote below. Hard to imagine why the missing part was left out.

“Humans are a lot like us, really. At least some of them are. Step out of the castles and keeps, go talk to the farmers and herders and you’ll find good, solid folk. Not that there’s anything wrong with the barons and soldiers—you have to admire their conviction. And by protecting their own lands, they protect us as well.”

Because Barons and Soldiers aren't like halflings? I mean... that one is obvious right?

 

[Chaosmancer]

So not even most, right? Just some?

Some as in part... of humans.

Commoners are only part of humans. Are they the biggest part? Probably, but that doesn't make the statement wrong

 

[Chaosmancer]

You had to remove words in order to make your case. "At least some of them are." That's not a citation that all halfings are like all humans.

You are also quoting the portion where the in-world halfings are specifically talking about the other races. The halfling description of a dwarf, is also human, for those who are unable to see anything but humans.

"Dwarves make loyal friends, and you can count on them to keep their word. But would it hurt them to smile once in a while?”

In fact all the descriptions of the races by other races are basically human.

Seen plenty of humans smile all the time.

Pretty much never seen a smiling dwarf.