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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8817650" data-attributes="member: 6877472">This happened to me, the only time I've ever been reincarnated.  My human Fighter suddenly found himself unable to use his old weapons and armor.  I was pretty annoyed at the time; I'd died to save the party, and the only way they could bring me back was the party's Druid.  So for my efforts, I lost a level, -2 Strength (this was 3.0) and, of course, couldn't even wear my armor or shield (I had to use my Waraxe in two hands!).I soldiered on though, and the DM apparently realized how woeful the situation was, as I was able to return to being a human and got to keep the Gnomish +2 Con out of the deal (I still had to make up the lost level though)!  Personally, I would have been happy to have my gear resized.I don't mind playing a Gnome or a Halfling, as I've played both in the past, such as Royle Gladdenstone, the "world's strongest gnome" (2e Ftr/SpPriest of Flandal Steelskin with 19 Strength using a bastard sword two-handed!), all the way to Cade Emberhill (5e Halfling Ftr 7/Rogue 5), whose long and arduous quest for a lousy +1 shortbow took nearly half of his career (got to love Adventure League; you can get an Elven Oathbow in Tier 1, but not a dang shortbow!).I'm not sure precisely what draws me to the race, I've played just about everything else at one time or another, though since I'm usually a DM, most of those careers have been short, with hardly any characters above 8th level to point at.  Being small and still able to kick monster tail does amuse me, however, though, which is probably why all but one of my shorties have been warriors.  The only exception is Sidri, a Svirfneblin Druid, who couldn't fight her way out of a cheap burlap sack, but never far from her loyal companion/mount/bodyguard, Pookie, a black bear who had the highest kill count in the campaign.Now does it make sense for child-sized characters to be able to fight toe-to-toe with larger enemies?  As I pointed out earlier, this being D&D, where a human warrior can fight and win a melee battle with a small kaiju, I don't really see why not.  Especially when you do the math of a Halfling's strength-to-weight ratio.  Even in d20, where you had a -2 Strength, your carry capacity was 3/4 that of a human's, and almost all of your gear weighed half as much, meaning that Halflings were actually super strong for their size!I know a lot of gamers like having Halflings and Gnomes around because it allows them to play "young" characters (at least in appearance) without the complications and unfortunate consequences of actually playing a underaged PC in a fun, fantastical, but also gritty and dangerous world.  And certainly, child heroes is a fantasy trope that some enjoy.So the game, I think, would be lessened if Halflings and Gnomes weren't around.  Now the question of whether or not they belong in the PHB, well, with one exception, they always have been, so the game might not feel quite the same if they weren't.  I'd be ok with it as long as the supplement allowing them to be played was released in short order.  For a lot of DM's, Gnomes and Halflings are much more acceptable races than dragon-men, hobgoblins, or githyanki, yet all remain options for play.Maybe Halflings have not been very iconic to D&D's official content in some time, but you still see them in other fantasy works with regularity, so I don't really see them going away.Now something that I do, however, agree with, is that their lore and mechanics could use a reworking.  Halflings in 5e suffer a bit for being small, locking them out of heavy weapons (like, as I mentioned, a decent-sized bow), and while you can build your character for that not to be an issue, it can feel like the upsides are also quite negligible.  The current One D&D Halfling seems to be even weaker; no matter how much you like or dislike the ability to hide in a larger creature's shadow, replacing a flavorful ability with "stealth proficiency" seems to be kind of meh.The case of the 4e Gnomes comes to mind here; they were excised from the PHB not because anyone had any real problem with them, but more because their identity as a race was just bizarre.  They were small creatures who live in homes dug into the earth, like Dwarves or Halflings.  They lived in the forest and were somewhat magical, like Elves.  They liked pranks and illusion magic.  Or sometimes strange inventions.  A lore overhaul was needed to make them unique, rather than just taking the traits of other races.Halflings do suffer from this as well.  They are either small humans who live side by side among them, having adapted to city life...or nomads who move about in caravans or live near rivers...or pastoral bumpkins who prefer the easy life and avoid adventures like the plague!  I really miss how 3e and 4e tried to give Halflings a new identity, but 5e has doubled down on their hobbit-ness (while changing their art in...sometimes questionable ways...to make them look less hobbit-like!).  And they also tend to leech off of other races; stronghearts are too much like humans, tallfellows too much like elves, stouts too much like dwarves, ghostwise halflings too much like <a href="https://elfquest.com/" target="_blank">other elves</a>, etc. etc..  TLDR, since I know this went long: I don't want Halflings or Gnomes to go anywhere, but if they have to leave the PHB, don't let them be gone for long, and let's have the reason for that be that the developers want to take another stab at making them more interesting than "It looks like a Hobbit, but due to international copyright laws- it's not."</blockquote>

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