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RPG Evolution: The Trouble with Halflings
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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 8715489" data-attributes="member: 22779"><p>See, that was the point I was making earlier about halflings and to a large degree gnomes. Both are molded around a really specific archetype which does make them somewhat less broadly appealing. Even something like a half-orc works as pretty much any fighter type and not a terrible cleric either. Sure, you don't get that Wis bonus, but, that Strength and Con bonus both work pretty well for a lot of cleric builds. Granted, no one is going to accuse you of optimizing for playing a half-orc bard, but, there are a number of options that they do lean into pretty well. Dragonborn fill kinda the same niche. Again, any fighter type is fine. Clerics work as well. So, even though Dragonborn have pretty much zero lore in 5e, they still get played a lot because they have a pretty broad appeal and especially the fact that they appeal to the most popular classes in the game. </p><p></p><p>I mean, sure, rogues are still one of the most popular classes in the game. No question there. But, when you combine all the fighter types, suddenly I think you get a much better picture of why halflings struggle to find a place in the game. You've got a race that's tied to a class that is quite popular, fair enough, but, it's still only one class compared to a range of classes (fighter types 4, wizard types 3, clerics (which, let's be fair here, cleric just as a class has a BUNCH of different types) 2 and then rogues 1 class)</p><p></p><p>Honestly, I think if we want to expand halflings, the best approach would be to make them more broadly appealing to more classes. Sure, dex fighters work, but, that tends to be a more specific build and there's nothing really to suggest halfling over, say, elf which also gets the dex based stuff, plus weapon proficiencies and possibly spells and that speed penalty hurts. </p><p></p><p>I'm not sure how to fix this to be honest.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 8715489, member: 22779"] See, that was the point I was making earlier about halflings and to a large degree gnomes. Both are molded around a really specific archetype which does make them somewhat less broadly appealing. Even something like a half-orc works as pretty much any fighter type and not a terrible cleric either. Sure, you don't get that Wis bonus, but, that Strength and Con bonus both work pretty well for a lot of cleric builds. Granted, no one is going to accuse you of optimizing for playing a half-orc bard, but, there are a number of options that they do lean into pretty well. Dragonborn fill kinda the same niche. Again, any fighter type is fine. Clerics work as well. So, even though Dragonborn have pretty much zero lore in 5e, they still get played a lot because they have a pretty broad appeal and especially the fact that they appeal to the most popular classes in the game. I mean, sure, rogues are still one of the most popular classes in the game. No question there. But, when you combine all the fighter types, suddenly I think you get a much better picture of why halflings struggle to find a place in the game. You've got a race that's tied to a class that is quite popular, fair enough, but, it's still only one class compared to a range of classes (fighter types 4, wizard types 3, clerics (which, let's be fair here, cleric just as a class has a BUNCH of different types) 2 and then rogues 1 class) Honestly, I think if we want to expand halflings, the best approach would be to make them more broadly appealing to more classes. Sure, dex fighters work, but, that tends to be a more specific build and there's nothing really to suggest halfling over, say, elf which also gets the dex based stuff, plus weapon proficiencies and possibly spells and that speed penalty hurts. I'm not sure how to fix this to be honest. [/QUOTE]
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