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

[lingual]

Maybe WOTC adds a subrace of halflings that are more martial or magical or xenophobic, etc.

They can have the cake and eat it too.

Come to think of it. An outcast counterpart like drow or duegar might be cool.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I do when it explicitly references that the value is untethered to monetary value.

You don't get to just ignore the literal definition of words.

Because possessions with monetary value (ie, that dress is super expensive) are different from possessions with value based on story (ie that dress was worn by your mother when she got married to your father).

But that has literally nothing to do with getting paid money for work.

 

[bedir than]

Elves caring for a fruit orchard makes perfect sense. Elves raising herds of horses or other swift animals also make sense. Actually, since elves are famous for Elven wine, I imagine elven grape and berry farmers are quite common.

I love this point.

Every thinking peoples in D&D have farms. How their farms vary is a combination of their race/subrace and of their culture. Those DMs who enjoy worldbuilding should think about this (so should the artists and mapmakers). In some ways this populates Heroes Feast, because the meals are based on the types of raw foods the peoples would use.

Various farms, ranches, orchards, etc should look different, be different - some might use magic (Move Earth is rather handy!), some might use animal companions.

I'm a huge fan of using flavor in storytelling

Turn flavors into the story you wish to tell

Empower flavor to empower the stories you tell.

fullmoonstorytelling.com

 

[Chaosmancer]

I was clearly talking about the PHB description of the human...

Yes, that is the description we were given (to a degree) but look at human characters. Most human characters in the game don't actually fit that description.

Humans are in a weird and unique place in the game, where you could get away entirely with never describing them, and it would be fine. Because "human" is the one thing we don't need context for.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Maybe WOTC adds a subrace of halflings that are more martial or magical or xenophobic, etc.

They can have the cake and eat it too.

Come to think of it. An outcast counterpart like drow or duegar might be cool.

And turns out we have two halfling subraces that are magical. That no one really knows or cares about. Mentioned both of them earlier in this thread and they've been in the game for years looking at the publication dates

 

[Bolares]

Yes, that is the description we were given (to a degree) but look at human characters. Most human characters in the game don't actually fit that description.

So, we need to change the description of humans bacause everyone is playing against type? Or we accept that the PHB description of races is just a small description to give you a base idea of the race and they don't need to be changed?

 

[carkl3000]

Go to an orchard farm, tell them you want to plow the land for them. See how well that goes.

And yes, the orchard would need to be cleared at some point, but they don't need magic to do that. In fact, no where in "orchards or raising horses" did I once mention magic at all. So, I'm not sure where you got magic from, but it is completely unnecessary. to the process.

Go to an orchard and tell them you don't think what they are doing is difficult back-breaking work...

 

[Gammadoodler]

Because possessions with monetary value (ie, that dress is super expensive) are different from possessions with value based on story (ie that dress was worn by your mother when she got married to your father).

But that has literally nothing to do with getting paid money for work.

Yes it does. Time and effort have value.

If you value stories and not money, what you want and expect in exchange for that time and effort would be related to the stories you can hear, witness, and retell, rather than the gold you expect to walk away with.

It's a fundamental difference in how you negotiate trade of goods and services. And it is an explicit reason to believe that halflings do not value money, since it is an explicit statement that they don't.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Removing all current lore, as the people who I've quoted wish to do would destroy what makes them enjoyable. It isn't hyperbole. It's the facts of their position.

Someone that wanted to change dragonborn so that they were no longer dragon people with an ancestry of dragons would be destroying dragonborn.

You're familiar that remaining in a quaint thorp is a valid story to tell right? The reason I keep pointing out your single sentences is because they are a presentation of the most absurd of your ideas -- that there are only certain valid stories to tell in D&D and that anyone who does so doesn't deserve to play those stories any more.

can you please define what is so likeable about halflings with bullet points please so we at least know what they are liked for?

 

[Bolares]

can you please define what is so likeable about halflings with bullet points please so we at least know what they are liked for?

I love that they are tiny humans