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

[Faolyn]

I think part of the reason for the increased elven page count is that they are lore vampires. They feed on ink that would be better used elsewhere.

You joke, but now I'm going to use this for a setting I've been working on that has NPC elves. Those elves are already weird and creepily magical. This would be icing on their cake.

 

[Faolyn]

You joke, but, honestly, why not? If those are the top 5 most chosen races, and that number is stable over time, why shouldn't they become the "standard" D&D races?

After all, if they are the most commonly played, doesn't that make them the standard races?

Except that the half-elf and half-orc should be ways to modify other races (why not a half-elf, half-orc?). What are the 6th and 7th most commonly-played races? Include those.

 

[Hussar]

I contend that they do not. Consider the character art, how many times have you seen a drop of perspiration on an elven character??

In fact, elven character art seems to come in only two categories:

"Menacingly" pose with bow drawn, and;
Twilight series casting headshot.

How have these abominations been allowed to continue for so long?

Heh, you'll get no argument from me. I've always thought Talislanta had the right idea from the get go. However, for most of the history of the game, elves were probably the second most played race after humans, so, perhaps not a bad idea to include them in the PHB. We'll see how things change now that there is such a huge influx of new gamers who haven't handcuffed themselves to Tolkien's desk.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I have spent almost fifteen years mocking the raptorians and their dumb foot bows and their even dumber ability to fly linked to character level.

One of the classic 1E Dragon articles that never made it into official D&D, along with the anti-paladin, witch and half-ogre, were the Winged Folk, who were literally just winged elves. (Which makes them dramatically more distinct than nearly every other elven subrace.)

3E overthinking what flying elves should be like was very, very 3E.

 

[Vaalingrade]

One of the classic 1E Dragon articles that never made it into official D&D, along with the anti-paladin, witch and half-ogre, were the Winged Folk, who were literally just winged elves. (Which makes them dramatically more distinct than nearly every other elven subrace.)

3E overthinking what flying elves should be like was very, very 3E.

We're just lucky that they never figured out how to model the fluid dynamics of air in the d20 system.

 

[Hussar]

I'm not against anything. There's really not much lore in the players handbook anyways. If someone wants to add lore or make them cannibals, go for it!

I think it's a bit nitpicky to complain about a race being in a core book and at the same time agreeing that they should be in a subsequent book. Like who cares?

It does actually matter. Whatever is in the core book, particularly the PHB, will become standard for all WotC settings. IOW, they won't put out a setting where you have no halflings (for example) if halflings are in the PHB. The same way that Dragonborn are now canon in Greyhawk (a change I don't oppose at all, but, I know has caused a fair degree of consternation in some circles) because of Ghosts of Saltmarsh including Dragonborn NPC's and Dragonborn in the art.

So, yes, it does matter. There's a very good reason WotC has dragged their feet so long on bringing out things like Dark Sun or Dragonlance. Yes, we're getting Magic the Gathering settings, but, that's mostly because they've done a lot of testing of the water first in order to try to bring in the MtG market. But, since there's no orcs in DL, and apparently half orcs are very popular as a PC race, that makes supporting a Dragonlance setting a problem for WotC.

I'm not sure how much it matters. But, it does matter. We now have Tieflings and Dragonborn in Greyhawk, where they were not there before. Heck, look at all the kvetching about Dragonborn in Forgotten Realms and the whole "Star Wars Cantina" complaint. What is in the PHB matters to a lot of people.

 

[Alzrius]

One of the classic 1E Dragon articles that never made it into official D&D, along with the anti-paladin, witch and half-ogre, were the Winged Folk, who were literally just winged elves. (Which makes them dramatically more distinct than nearly every other elven subrace.)

3E overthinking what flying elves should be like was very, very 3E.

Don't forget that winged elves (called "avariel") appeared in the oft-maligned PHBR8 The Complete Book of Elves (affiliate link).

 

[Oofta]

THis is interesting and I'm surprised it didn't receive much comment. This is a dramatic change from 2017! Elves use to be no. 2 and Dawaves number 4! Half-Orcs have leapt up from 9 to 5.

Perhaps this is generational change, with new players no longer having a particular attachment to the idea of the ubiquity of the Tolkien races, perhaps it is the impact of the rules changes in Tasha's. Perhaps it is both.

Maybe? Or maybe it's just the way the wind is blowing when they gather the numbers? I'd like to have seen a ranking of all races, I'm curious where genasi are now.

But you may be on to something, half-elf, tiefling and half-orcs are all to a certain degree outcasts that don't fit in anywhere. It's a pretty common sentiment for younger people.

 

[Oofta]

you assume elves sweat, they are far more likely to do temperature exchange by a sub subconscious magical process.

That would explain why so many people think they're the coolest race.

 

[Hussar]

I think part of the reason for the increased elven page count is that they are lore vampires. They feed on ink that would be better used elsewhere.

Consider the MToF entry for them. Until you get to about Drow, it's just a bunch of different ways of saying how elves are just so special because they're old. Then they spend several pages of ink on lore related to optional non-phb subraces (seriously..no one anywhere needs f-ing "sea elves"). Presumably, this was ink harvested from dwarves and halflings, which don't even receive discussion of the PHB subraces.

Lore vampires.

I SO want stats for this for my Candlekeep Mysteries book.

Elves sustain their long lives by devouring the histories of other races. I LOVE that idea.

Except that the half-elf and half-orc should be ways to modify other races (why not a half-elf, half-orc?). What are the 6th and 7th most commonly-played races? Include those.

I have no problems with that.

If it wasn't clear before, I have zero interest in "tradition". Changing things does not bother me in the slightest, usually. And certainly refusing to change things simply because that's the way it was done before is the bane of existence.

I would point out though that @Chaosmancer has claimed that I "went further". Not really. My point has always been that the PHB should reflect what people are actually playing, not what a handful of grognards think it should be. The fact that the newer races, like tiefling and dragonborn immediately shot to the top of the list is evidence, I believe, that people are not all that interested in the "Tolkien" races anymore. Folks are ready for D&D to embrace ALL fantasy, not just fantasy written the better part of a hundred years ago or more.

Yes, I accept that Tolkien and Howard and the greats of the genre are all owed a great debt of gratitude. I get that. Totally agree. We wouldn't be where we are today without them. But, that gratitude shouldn't mean that we must never change the game and must remain tied to the choices Gygax and Co made fifty years ago for what to include in the "standard races". The genre and the hobby has changed in the intervening 50 years. We cut our teeth on Tolkien and Howard. Todays gamer cut their teeth on Rawlings and Martin.