They didn't need to. They went to bed independently of the gnolls. In their homes, under the ground. Which are fortified. Some of then are up reading or arguing with people on the internet.
Nobody ever stays up past sundown huh? No one ever has to go and check the animals, or anything else.
I'll give it to you though, because this means that they are asleep and have no advanced warning at all.
Reinforced doors. And once broken then what? The gnolls start crawling? Because the ceilings are about 3'6" high.
And I guess the doors are always reinforced in this area. And in every halfling town. Funny how these laid-back people have fortresses for homes, with iron-banded doors and thick bars to lock the,
But, once the door is broken, the gnoll stoops in and starts going through the house, yes. Squeezing rules allow an 8ft creature to move through a 2.5 ft space (that's when the space is considered small) so nearly 4ft is an imediment, but not to the point of a belly crawl.
Let's set the earth on fire. Great plan there.
Oh, so the entire interior of a halfling home is dirt? Man, I thought they were creatures of comfort like hobbits, whose inside of their homes were wooden. And that they'd have wooden furniture, and clothe drapes.
Good to know they have nothing flammable in their homes and it is all dirt.
If living in hostile country and expecting raiders of course. They're solid and reinforced. You think they wouldn't reinforce their doors if expecting gnolls?
I see. So halflings would prepare defenses in case of an attack. They might plan for an attack, train a little, maybe put together a militia.... oh wait.
And, yeah, I realize that we now have these heavily reinforced doors, but how are you concealing the doors as well? They weren't concealed before, heck they weren't heavily reinforced either. We have gone from "they'd close their doors" to "They'd close their heavily reinforced and concealed doors" all because I pointed out that a gnoll can break down a door.
Do yourself a favour. Try crawling through 3' high tunnels and then fight. Especially when the layout was designed so you can be poked in the side with spears. Gnolls, to move through halfling burrows aren't just squeezing but simultaneously squeezing and crawling (which means that they count as not just squeezing but also prone).
Sure the game mechanics allow it - but I want you to look at the physics. How are they carrying their spears while crawling? This definitely counts as a fortified position - which gnolls explicitly do not attack.
Wait, "designed so you can be poked in the side with spears." "everything is dirt"
Are you picturing a goblin warren or a kobold tunnel system? I thought we were talking about a house that was partially buried, like you see in the hobbit movies. You know, one of these
But what you seem to actually be describing is closer to this
With bolt holes for halflings to shove spears through. Also, fun things about tunnels like this, they were used in real life. Gnolls are tall, but they also walk hunched over, and they have backward bending legs, so their knees wouldn't be in their chest as much. So, it could be argued they "fold up" better than this guy
If a crawling gnoll is killing two halflings per round then we have extremely stupid halflings.
Or a gnoll ability called "rampage" that allows them to move and reach a second target then make an attack.
But, I guess since you are picturing a series of death tunnels instead of a house, that could explain the confusion
Yay. Because halflings have large glass windows in gnoll country. You have assumed extremely stupid halflings.
Or just basing it off the artwork we have?
And you seemed to have made the assumption that this is "Gnoll Country" that the gnolls are an expected, monthly thing that everyone knows to plan for. Gnolls are nomadic raiders, who can spring up unexpectedly.
Now, I suppose you could say that every halfling village near a border would not have windows, have reinforced, iron-banded doors, an extensive tunnel system, plenty of lamps to actually see because they are underground and don't have darkvision, and on and on and on. But. this was a normal halfling community when we started. And now, you've morphed it into a this complex death trap with no weak points.
Is this really how you view halfings?
It's not the rules, it's the physics. And no they aren't helpless - just comparatively easy targets. Crawling and vulnerable to being stabbed in the backside. And because under the mechanics they are both crawling and squeezing they move slooowly.
Stabbed in the back by what? How did the halflings asleep in their beds get behind the vicious monster coming through their front door?
Oh wait, I know.
All halfling warrens have secret entrances built into the walls, so the halfings can sneak around invaders and stab them from within the walls, right?
And, I never denied they were easier to hit, they are just also, in melee range, and can kill a halfling in a single blow.
Yes, because humans have a noted affinity for slings across multiple editions. And are explicitly community minded. Oh wait.
Humans are community minded. And the halflings have no special affinity for the sling in this edition. So, nothing in your reasoning prevents humans from doing the same.
Please stop with the inventions. Slings are not the best way to defend yourself. Their main benefit is that they are easy to carry from day to day. So if you're a relatively egalitarian community with everyone pitching in it's a good way to ensure everyone can. If you're a more formal race that likes hierarchies you're more likely to go for militias.
"I carry a gun for self-defense" you've heard that right? Self-Defense?
If slings are so easy to carry day to day, and can protect you from dangerous surprise monsters, why wouldn't people carry them? You seem to think that once people create a hierarchy then the community can't band together, but that's false, incredibly so actually.
You seem to have this idea that for humans and the other "big races" it is "every man for himself" but that isn't true. Yes, some people may run, but that's not what everyone does. And the individual idea of being able to protect yourself is a powerful one.
