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

[jayoungr]

Halflings feel too human.

Because you refuse to acknowledge any differences as valid.

 

[Oofta]

Correct. Halflings are too human.

City halflings are too much like city humans. Nomadic halflings are too much like nomadic humans.

Halflings living among elves are too much like humans living among elves.

Halflings are too human.

Humans can be brave. Humans can be nimble. Humans can even be lucky.

Halflings feel too human.

Why does that not apply to other races?

 

[Yaarel]

Why does that not apply to other races?

It kinda does. In 5e. But halfling is the worst offender.

4e made the lineages very different, mechanically and according to the lore. Dwarves are elemental, relating to the giants. Elves are manifestations of the fey spirit realm. Etcetera. They feel nonhuman.

Even in 5e, the elves coming from fey spirits, with eladrin elves still in the spirit realm, helps them feel less human.

 

[Yaarel]

Because you refuse to acknowledge any differences as valid.

The differences feel insignificant.

The difference between a halfling and a human, feel far less than the difference between one human and an other human.

 

[Gammadoodler]

To me this is very odd. Elven cloaks and boots are taken straight from JRRT. And JRRT's Elves are great crafters - they forged the Silmarils and the Three Rings and many other powerful and important artefacts. Feanor pursued his passion, and so did Celebrimbor - that's part of the explanation of how they were able to achieve what they did in respect of crafting.

More generally, there's no contrast in standard fantasy tropes between being an individual who pursues his/her own passions and achieving greatness in one's endeavours.

Dedicated individual pursuit of individual passion can lead to improvement in whatever that field may be, but broadly that is not how a field advances.

As an example, I can work out and swing a baseball bat every day. I'll probably get stronger and faster as a result, but it doesn't mean that I will be a good baseball player. And further, there's even less likelihood that the sport of baseball will advance as a result of these efforts.

Moreover, in certain fields, it can be dangerous to try and innovate in a vacuum. A good example is chemistry. There is stuff that can kill you if you are exposed to it. If you are operating on your own and are unaware of this, you can just die, and all your passion dies with you.

To your point, exceptional individuals can overcome these obstacles to achieve remarkable things, but without institutions to collect and communicate the tools, processes, and reasoning to get there, the knowledge dies with that exception, and the craft does not advance.

To summarize, I don't have an issue with "there have been great elven craftsmen" but I do have an issue with "elves are great crafters" as I don't believe the lore supports that elves maintain the institutions and connections that would enable a culture of great crafting.

 

[Gammadoodler]

I don't see any reason why it's elitist or arragont, weirdly or otherwise. And given that D&D settings are intended to serve as shared fictions, literary criticism seems as good a lens to view them through as any other. It's certainly more profitable than wondering about where Elves get their metal from, or how Halfling possibly generate enough wealth to purchase all that metal found in their cosy holes!

And personally not only to I think it's a reason that is in the right domain, I think it's a good reason: but as I already posted, I think that ship has sailed. D&D is therefore stuck with having to fit a people whose principal literary purpose is to frame the contrast between (a stereotype of) English rural normalcy and fantastic adventures, into a game of fantastic adventure. For this very reason I've largely ignored Halflings in every Greyhawk and D&D game I've GMed in the past 30 years.

EDIT:
Here we disagree. Even for a RPG that does deal with the tropes and themes of LotR, I think Hobbits are superfluous as a player race. In a RPG, there are different ways whereby the everyday participants enter into the fantastic world.

I think it's a strength of Burning Wheel, for instance, that it has its amazingly Tolkien-esque Elves and Dwarves and Orcs, but no Halfling/Hobbits. (That said, I know a Hobbit has been played as an ad hoc PC in a playtest that was written up years ago by Luke Crane - "Biggie Smials".)

You think it's fine to apply a field predicated on subjective observations and evaluations as a source of objective truth?

Further you think it's appropriate to apply a singular subjective viewpoint to the whole universe of shared fictions that the larger population of D&D table groups represents.

You don't see how either of those in isolation, or (and especially) the combination of the two could be construed as arrogance?

Ok, but I disagree.

 

[Oofta]

It kinda does. In 5e. But halfling is the worst offender.

4e made the lineages very different, mechanically and according to the lore. Dwarves are elemental, relating to the giants. Elves are manifestations of the fey spirit realm. Etcetera. They feel nonhuman.

Even in 5e, the elves coming from fey spirits, with eladrin elves still in the spirit realm, helps them feel less human.

I simply disagree. Having fey origin doesn't really give me anything as a player or DM to latch on to. How does it affect their behavior or how they interact? I mean many of my ancestors are from Norway, but other than some interest in my heritage it doesn't really have any affect on who I am.

Halflings on the other hand? Lucky, brave and nimble help me build an image in my head along with the rest of their lore. I find halflings more evocative than elves.

But it's just like, an opinion, man.

 

[jayoungr]

The differences feel insignificant.

I understand that they feel insignificant to you. I accept that they feel insignificant to you.

Why can't you accept that they feel significant to (some) other people?

 

[jayoungr]

Dwarves are elemental, relating to the giants.

So why can't humans have a related race, like giants do?

 

[Jack Daniel]

the problem is they lack most lore and are badly used in any default lore.

"Default" lore!?!? Oh, my. What a sad notion.