D&D 4E Reinvisioning the Halfling for 4E

[Ruin Explorer]

The new design on the Halfling seems to have been met with a resounding “meh”. I’ve not heard too much complaining about the changes, but we’ve not seen much excitement either. Apathy has set in.

First off, I like the new ‘swamp rat’ design on the Halfling. The failing IMO is the artwork. From what we have been shown in Races and Classes, the halfling will look boring and nondistinct. Humans and halflings appear the same unless pictured side by side.

Dwarves, Elves, Dragonborn, & Tieflings each have a unique design to their equipment, hair, way of dress, and body type. Each is quickly and easily recognizable.

They really do need to work hard on the portrayal of the halflings. In 3E and 4E both they've tried to "update" the Halfling away from Frodo McTolkien, but they keep leaving them indistinct from just being "ickle people!", which is really sad.

I think they need to have faces which don't look quite human, too, maybe too-big eyes, and I like the long skull of the early 3E halfling (lost in some later 3E art). I also agree strongly with the suggestion to draw them from an "above" perspective, and generally have more pictures which keep their size obvious. I like the decision to make them taller, their size was really damn silly before, but as you say, they're so blasted indistinct...

 

[kennew142]

I'm still not excited by the 4e halflings. That said, I will be allowing halflings for only the second time in a homebrew - so I don't hate them. At least they aren't hobbits.

 

[Raloc]

They would have to do something vastly cooler than 3e or the current 4e direction for me to use them. I think the last time I even used one in 3e was because some book listed a group as being halflings, and they had nice fluff that fit with what I was doing. I've never played a halfling either, since I've just never seen the appeal.

To me though, the 4e stuff thus far seems like a definite step back from what they had(I didn't mind the slim, straight haired uber-spy look)....

 

[Traycor]

If they've got a gypsy / bayou look, bandanas should be popular, and brightly colored swatches of cloth over loose puffy shirts. A mini-pirate motif, almost. Pick the stereotypical Hollywood portrayal of some 'hoodoo conjure-woman' from the bayous, and that would be a cool look for a Halfling. Lower level or 'commoner' Halflings would have jewelry primarily made of natural things, like pearl and woven grasses, while the 'fancy' sorts might wear belts of coins and shiny baubles that wouldn't be available in their homelands, and thus be a mark of status among them.

I like these suggestions! The mini-pirate motif is a good match to the swamp rat motif. Both would blend well and it would open up more options for variations in dress.

Pirates are popular these days. I'm sure lots of folks would latch onto that!

 

[mhensley]

I really don't understand the reasoning behind this constant changing of halflings. In my experience, people play halflings because they LIKE hobbits not because they want to play a midget gypsy. You don't see them trying to distance elves or dwarves away from the LOTR versions. I'll take my halflings plump with hairy feet, thank you very much.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I really don't understand the reasoning behind this constant changing of halflings. In my experience, people play halflings because they LIKE hobbits not because they want to play a midget gypsy. You don't see them trying to distance elves or dwarves away from the LOTR versions. I'll take my halflings plump with hairy feet, thank you very much.

I've actually never seen a player ever play a halfling for any reason other than that it allowed them to take a specific class combination (1E/2E) or that they liked the bonuses it gave them (3E), so I dunno about that. I've also seen people, on many occasions, refuse to play halflings specifically on the grounds that they are "Hobbits" (even in 3E). These are mostly English people mind, so I guess there's a special hatred for Hobbits here amongst the sort of people who don't vote Tory.

So, for my money, and based on my experiences, I'd like to see halflings either gone entirely or done in some kind of interesting way.

I get the feeling, really, though, that this is what happened at WotC:

1) They dump gnomes because no-one plays them (you heard me!).
2) They realize that people do occasionally play "little people", so they should probably keep halflings or face nerd-riots.
3) They put them on the list of 4E races.
4) They go make all the other 4E races really cool and distinct.
5) A few months ago, they realize that halflings are neither cool nor distinct. Someone schedules a meeting to work out how to make them cool and distinct.
6) No-one attends said meeting, including the one who scheduled it.
7) The PHB gets released.

I'm pretty sure something similar happened in 3E. Sure, they took out the "hobbit-rip-off" stuff, but they didn't put anything back in it's place.

Edit - Oh, on Elves and Dwarves, that's because they're drawing on fairly well-established mythological sources. I agree that, if anything the new Elves resemble Tolkien's Wood Elves a bit MORE than old Elves did (albeit with vastly shorter lifespans leading to, presumably different attitudes/behaviour), but the Dwarves with their new non-underground cities and near-art-deco visual style seem pretty distinct from conventional Tolkien-esque Dwarves (again, noting that Dwarves exist pretty extensively in European myth). There's also Eladrin, who don't seem to bear much relation to Tolkien's High Elves, indeed, seem an intentional distancing, and retaining/modifying the whole D&D Elf origin deal seems to keep a degree of distance from Tolkien - You should also note that these races were already considerably more distinct from Tolkien's races than Halflings were from Hobbits in 1E/2E.

 

[Wormwood]

I really don't understand the reasoning behind this constant changing of halflings. In my experience, people play halflings because they LIKE hobbits not because they want to play a midget gypsy. You don't see them trying to distance elves or dwarves away from the LOTR versions. I'll take my halflings plump with hairy feet, thank you very much.

Really? Because every halfling I've seen at the table was an much closer to a Burrfoot than a Baggins.

Admittedly not a large sample, as I've only seen two halflings played in the past 30 years (which is still double the number of gnomes I've seen).

 

[GreatLemur]

You don't see them trying to distance elves or dwarves away from the LOTR versions.

More's the pity.

 

[Bishmon]

In the world I'm working on, the main halfling population lives on a small group of islands off the coast of the main continent having migrated there a long time ago because whereas their smaller sizes were a disadvantage on land fighting hand-to-hand, it was an advantage at sea because it meants more bodies could be on a ship to do more work. Not only do their ships tend to have more cannon than other ships, they also use their smaller size and increased dexterity to put men up in the masts and crow's nests with bows. As a result, they're the preeminent naval power, even though their naval interests tend to be more mercantile than militaristic.

They're a very popular race in my world because of the trade they bring. Not only are they the most far-reaching traders, they also have unique goods from their islands not found on the mainland. Their far-reaching trade means that small populations of wanderlust-stricken halflings are common in most communities, especially port towns.

They're also a popular race because of their friendly dispositions, which helps them in their mercantile efforts and also in brokering alliances, trading naval help or trade advantages for access to important waterways, peace agreements, etc.

I thought it was important to really carve out a place in my world for halflings, because that was always my issue with them. To me, they just seemed like afterthoughts. Like there's these small humans that you'll occasionally see running a tavern or picking a lock in a dungeon, and maybe one of them will make you laugh at some point, but otherwise they're pretty inconsequential. I'm hoping giving them a more notable role in the world, combined with emphasizing their nearly universal popularity, their athleticism, and the sense of adventure and wanderlust instilled by their naval life will make them more appealing to my players.

The thing I'm kicking around in my head for them now is figuring out a culture and physical description for them. I want it to be interesting and appealing, and different enough so they're not just human-lite, but I don't want it to be so different that it feels like a novelty. But that's a work in progress as the ideas that I like tend to come to me rather than me going and finding them.

 

[Minicol]

I welcome disagreement, critiques, and further suggestions on how to make the Halflings distinct and exciting. If you are going to offer further suggestions on improvement, I would ask that you stay within the design that Wizards has laid out for 4E:

Halflings are river and swamp dwellers, nomadic, traders, and live in clans.

So that's like the bayou halfling of Spellbinder games ? IMO lame.