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

[Mind of tempest]

Don't remind me. He was talking about 3E races, though, that would turn newbies off.

3e was what mostly tolkien stuff, right in phb1?

Kobolds? People like kobolds? They definitely are not an acceptable halfling replacement.

kobolds I have no idea about but I can get you a video for goblins which explains so much, it swears a lot so it might not be okay.

 

[Faolyn]

I honestly suspect halfings are kept around out of nostalgia more than need, gnomes fit better and you can Thanos gnomes and few would care.

I was in a game one with a DM who really hated gnomes. There were no gnomes in his world, and if one was somehow summoned into it, the DM claimed it would explode.

We decided that fireball was actually summon gnome and that meteor swarm was mass summon gnome.

 

[Vaalingrade]

3e was what mostly tolkien stuff, right in phb1?

Yup. Nothing but a bunch of humans of various size and hairiness.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I was in a game one with a DM who really hated gnomes. There were no gnomes in his world, and if one was somehow summoned into it, the DM claimed it would explode.

We decided that fireball was actually summon gnome and that meteor swarm was mass summon gnome.

what else happened?

 

[Mind of tempest]

Yup. Nothing but a bunch of humans of various size and hairiness.

now that is just dull not even a draconian or a gith?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't think I ever noticed that the 2e race book series combined Gnomes and Halflings.

I like both races, but that wasn't a book worth remembering. The lack of enthusiasm by the writers just poured off the page.

 

[Mercurius]

3e was what mostly tolkien stuff, right in phb1?

Yes, in the PHB. But there were tons of races in supplements - probably more than now, due to the Splatastic nature of the edition.

 

[Faolyn]

I find the thought of replacing (substituting?) goblins or kobolds for halflings really odd - the races just aren't equivalent.

Halflings (in most settings) are enjoyers of their comforts, fine things, usually the status quo. A halfling adventurer is one who is unusual because they are bored of such things (which would make them stand out) or because they were artificially thrust from their safe environment.

Goblins an kobolds are known to have brutal home lives where the focus is on survival (be it from external threats or that of other members of the tribe) rather than any kind of comfortable existence.

Now I'm tempted to try anyway.

Everyone is saying that halflings are pastoral, that they live in a bucolic bliss. Well, what if your goblins or kobolds are like that, but instead of getting the wonderful, temperate, rolling English-style countryside, they get the part of the Dustbowl part of the world, with droughts, locusts, tornadoes and that sort of stuff? That's a good way to combine the "brutal homes where the focus is on survival" with the "people who enjoy comfort and the status quo."

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The past three editions made humans super 'the special'

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Maybe I missed something, but why is that "truly vile?" I personally don't like the idea and think it is kind of silly (I think that's intentional), but don't see why it is "vile" - which is a very strong word.

I also don't see how it is "incredibly insulting," especially considering that D&D halflings aren't inherently British because they're not Tolkienian Hobbits. D&D halflings can be any number of things, and have been depicted as such.

They were jokes, son.