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

[FrozenNorth]

No. I dunno about others. Personally, I just think it's silly to suggest that halfling get errata'ed out of the Players Handbook. Dunno if it was you who wanted that. But others here suggested it. Like they want to ruin the fun for others.

As far as I’ve seen, the only people suggesting to errata halflings out of the PHB were halfling fans doing so sarcastically.

If that isn’t the case, link the post.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Off topic but since you mentioned it, I had no idea you were new or younger. You post like a very experienced player who has a lot of knowledge and thoughtful opinions. I had assumed you were in your 40s and played many prior editions.

Heh. Thanks, I guess? You're not the first person to say that, and I'm still not sure what an appropriate response to this would be.

I blame it on my being autistic. ASD is a major reason why I'm so into D&D and know as much about it as I do, as when I start to like something I tend to fixate on that and learn as much about it as I can and do that thing as much as I can. It makes it easy to be a passionate nerd.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

When I mysteriously don't win the World's Best DM contest that WotC is running, I am thinking it's time for me to at least put out the big PDF of more "modern" influences (I'd go as far back as Zork and other videogames that followed D&D) up on DMs Guild. Harry Potter, Minecraft and everything else that says "fantasy" to audiences that started after Appendix N was published.

Don't forget to add Percy Jackson onto that list, too! It's not as big as Harry Potter (not a lot of things are), but it is a fairly big contributor to the modern fantasy genre.

Edit: Might also want to consider some video games, too. Maybe the more recent Elder Scrolls games (mainly Skyrim), Final Fantasy, and Witcher.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Heh. Thanks, I guess? You're not the first person to say that, and I'm still not sure what an appropriate response to this would be.

I blame it on my being autistic. ASD is a major reason why I'm so into D&D and know as much about it as I do, as when I start to like something I tend to fixate on that and learn as much about it as I can and do that thing as much as I can. It makes it easy to be a passionate nerd.

It's a good thing.

 

[Yaarel]

@Whizbang Dustyboots

I enjoy Christopher Stasheff.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

It's a good thing.

Agreed.

 

[pemerton]

Except it feels like in the beginning it was "Halflings are close to Humans, and Gnomes are close to Dwarves". The only thing it feels like Halflings and Gnomes have is size.

a bunch of previous posts seem to liken gnomes more to elves than dwarves. What edition brought that change?

You've probably had other replies by now. As far as I know, the change is found in 4e, where gnomes become fey creatures.

But there were always hints of it, because the illusion-magic of gnomes together with their small size makes them a bit pixie-like.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I am all over that for a however those things are funded drive to pre-buy.

Hard to think of it as new, but even the Black Company came out after Appendix N. (So here's a request for a Glen Cook line in your list for that, Dread Empire and Garrett PI). For video games, Ultima IV, Bard's Tale, and even Castle Telengard fall in the time range (although I never played that first one).

Loved the heck out of the Ultima series!

 

[pemerton]

One thing that humans aren't but halflings are is visibly overmatched - and unlike gnomes there's no expectation of magical might. When I see a human everyman character I often have expectations of either John McClane in the original Die Hard, or Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China if they aren't ultimately that competent. Halfling everyman characters don't have anything like such cultural expectations.

I think a halfling PC does generate a fairly strong expectation - in me, at least - of either a burglar or a surprisingly dangerous warrior. I wouldn't expect them to be overmatched, because they're a D&D character!

 

[pemerton]

I'm not precisely sure how we get to this as a modern or rationalist assumption. When, in all of human history has isolated individual effort been enough to literally single-handedly elevate a craft, study, or profession? Smiths take on and train apprentices, fathers train sons, discoveries are written down and shared, guilds organize for collaboration, training and preservation of knowledge. These practices are olllllld. More importantly they are practical. Practical steps a mortal takes when they're interest is advancing a collective cause rather than following a personal passion.

But you're providing rationalist analysis here - social history of the improvement of human technologies!

JRRT's elves aren't conceived of within that context - they're a combination of the mythical (to my knowledge at least Greek, Norse and Finnish stories/myths all feature brilliant, driven crafters) and the romantic (the lone genius).

A fantasy world that emulates JRRT is, to my taste at least, more pleasing than one which aims to replicate actual social processes of the development of technology. Hence why, as per my earlier post, I think there is no tension between elves' individualism and their great creative achievements.

I've not suggested that criticism is out of bounds. I've suggested that concluding that tables which include Hobbit-style halflings "simply don't work" based on a critical reading of Tolkien and "the D&D mythos" is pretty darn presumptuous.

I'll admit I haven't read all of @Chaosmancer's posts, which tend to be quite long, but I haven't noticed any claim that others' tables don't work. I've taken the criticism to be of the material published by WotC.