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

[FrozenNorth]

that was not the point those are all based on the unlikely hero archetype what else can you do with a halfling? what other than that one archetype do they have? they end up super similar as they would not make wizards or monks, they care for nothing but comfort they are just Eloi without the being food angle.

Speak for yourself! There’s good eatin’ on a halfling! Maybe that is the answer? Halflings were conceived as a food source in difficult times.

This opens up some interesting role-playing possibilities.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Looking at the numbers scree-plot wise, Humans and Elves certainly stood out, but then they started a slow gradual smear, with the aasimar falling off the end.

It's interesting that genasi are so popular (7th place). They're the only race in the top ten that have never appeared in a PHB.

 

[Cadence]

It's interesting that genasi are so popular (7th place). They're the only race in the top ten that have never appeared in a PHB.

Aasimar is the odd one out for the planetouched.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Named Trotter!

Thank the gods that Tolkien came up with Strider.

Honestly, they both sound like horses.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Heh heh... based upon the way I've seen almost every single player I've ever run a game for roleplay... EVERY race is merely a "variant human".

Quite frankly... NONE of the non-human races are "necessary" in the game, because nobody can roleplay them as anything more than just a human with a particular personality quirk anyway. "Humans in rubber masks" is a legitimate phrase of honesty.

 

[Yaarel]

How about centaurs, minotaurs, and half-ogres?

There is no official playable Large race in 5e.

The playable Centaur (Ravnica) is Medium size.
The playable Minotaur (Ravnica) is Medium size.

What Half-Ogre?

 

[Minigiant]

Halflings are fine, the endless amount of "the problem with halflings" threads on the other hand...

I find Halfling is to one generation to what high fantastical martial arts is to one generation

 

[Yaarel]

in DnD human is the perfect chameleon, and can decently mimic any race.
Halfling can be considered useless, but you will need an efficient lobby to pretend that Tolkien books and films never existed. Halfling race is backup by books and movies that assure them a place in fantasy game for ever.
But I agree that for a world building addict, halfling is not very glamour. You don’t build a fantasy world around halfling. Replicating the Shire thousand time, will create a nice place, with only cute gardens and farms. If you need drama, passion, betrayal, power, you go for human, elf, Tiefling.

I agree, D&D benefits from the popularity of Tolkien movies, where the Hobbit has a meaningful contribution to the Tolkien setting.

But. In the context of D&D settings, the Halfling Hobbit is too Human and contributes little or nothing to the design space.

It isnt that Halfling lacks glamor or weirdness. A cute lineage that likes coziness might be interesting in its own way. It is that the Halfling lineage is redundant with a cute Human that likes coziness.

 

[Greg K]

So human farmer? Gnome?
Pastoral is a social background not a race trait.

Yeah Halflings from their inception were set up as being just half-sized humans with nothing to define them beyond being simple pastoral folk. It works fine within Tolkiens story but as a race option in a broad menu of other races they are just a little too bland and fail to find a good niche of their own.
IMC I pushed them into the fey to become all those child-like fey trooping around behind Oberon and Titania

I'll take halflings over 90% + of the PC races that have been introduced to the game after 1e including Aasimir, Tieflings, Dragonborn, Genasai, Shadar-kai- all of which I find uninteresting. Then agai, if I had my way, most of my campaigns would be human only.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Eberron probably changes the most noticeably of any of these listed settings, as it has Talenta Plains, Dragonmarked, and House Boromar Halflings, but even then, you could just as easily replace all halflings with Gnomes (or possibly even Goblins) and get practically the same outcome.

You could just as easily reverse that, to be fair. What would change if Dakaan was an ancient Halfling empire?