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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8819633" data-attributes="member: 6877472">Well of course they are included in sourcebooks; where do you think I got that information from?  See, the problem we keep having is you say "matter to the setting" and to that I respond, in what way?  Do the healers of House Jorasco not matter to Eberron?  Do the Halfling merchants not matter to Amn?  Do Halfling-led adventuring parties not make a difference in destroying monsters?You seem to think that if every Halfling in all of D&D were Thanos-snapped out of existence there would be no repercussions, and I'm disinclined to follow that point of view.  Actually, if you want a race that matters less to most settings, let's look at Orcs, though you could include any of the goblinoids here, though there are settings where they do matter, such as Eberron and the 3rd party Kingdoms of Kalamar.So Orcs.  They rarely produce anything.  Orc farmers and ranchers do exist in some settings, such as the Forgotten Realms, but often, they survive by hunting, gathering, and raiding.  Their contributions to the world's culture are pretty slender; basically they gave us some oddball Orcish weapons in the 3e era and that's about it.  You say, "ah, but they are a threat to the world's peace", and I say, well, yes, but they are usually defeated.  Armies, nations, and adventurers wipe them out by the thousands; their hordes are generally routed, so they are about as much of a threat as a plague of locusts descending on a kingdom every seven years.Which would be more threatening if not for all those Halfling farmers, I imagine.  But seriously, if all the Orcs everywhere just vanished, what would happen?  A spontaneous outbreak of peace?  I guess that matters to a setting, but it's not like there's any shortage of savage monsters to plague the world.  You still have Gnolls and Ogres and Trolls and Owlbears and, well, the list goes on.  Honestly, if any race matters less to a setting, it would be Humans.I mean, think about it.  You could replace Humans in any setting with just about any other race.  Sure, they are the ambitious city builders and the movers and shakers, but only because the setting says so.  There's no reason Halflings or Dwarves or just about anyone could slot in just as easily.  Heck, in the Forgotten Realms, before the rise of Humans, the Elves were doing everything the Humans do in the present, having forced out the previous top dogs, the Dragons.  And the only reason Humans haven't followed suit isn't because they have some special ability or destiny- we just make settings human-centric.The blandness of Humans, who are a race of non-specialists who generically fill any and all possible roles make them a much worse and less interesting race than even Halflings.  There's nothing interesting about D&D Humans.  I mean, what is their lore?  Individual Humans can rise to great heights of power in a short time compared to longer-lived races?  That's great, but without some kind of deus ex machina, a Human who conquers the world at 20th level is still going to die in less time than it takes an Elf to become a teenager.Speaking of Elves, as a race often in decline, what impact do they have on the setting?  Sure you see Elven adventurers, but most of the time, they hang out in their secluded kingdoms and chill.  Their era of expansion and innovation has ended.  Oh sure, they have Elven lore and magic, but how long before all of that is obsolete?Face it, most races are "also ran" races, and this is why your "evidence" isn't really conclusive to me.  I know Halflings tend to be overlooked, but a lot of text has been written about them, if you're willing to look for it.  So it's not like they are the "forgotten race".</blockquote>

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