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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8821470" data-attributes="member: 6801228">I've triple checked my copy of the book. Still can't find where it says it is only true in a single setting and nowhere else. So, since it seems to be generic lore, I think that... yeah, you kind of have to accept it is generic lore. Can it be changed? Who cares! The point isn't "can we rewrite elves and make them different" the point is that elves aren't humans in rubber masks. They have traits that are non-human. IF a setting decides to change that, that's that settings problem, not mine. And they still wouldn't mean that vampires and shifters are just humans. I don't care if it is possible, my entire point was that it is possible, but that it doesn't change what it means to be human that you can be altered to be non-human. So, you now are fleeing your position that all races are just humans in rubber masks, and demanding to know what non-human traits that they have. Because (and since you want precise research so often) that was exactly what you demanded. Since you have forgotten, let's just repost thatSo, now the argument has shifted. It is no longer about "what have these other races done" it is NOW "That halflings don't need to have fantastical powers to be unique and special."So, completely different argument, and you want to claim that if I spent MORE THAN A MINUTE thinking about them, that I would be able to see how wonderful and unique and special they are. Funny how after, what? Probably in total a month of time arguing over multiple threads that have spanned a year and a half at least, that you somehow think I haven't given them more than a minute's thought. Do you understand how insulting that is? Just flat out, how insulting it is to be told that after hours and hours and hours of work, after trying to rework them time and time and time again, after discussing and being dragged through the mud time and time and time again, that I must not have thought about the subject for five minutes? How about, instead of insulting me, trying to dodge the point, and these ad hominem attacks you actually discuss what is so wonderful about halflings, without just taking it as "They are the nicest, kindest, friendliest people" Because I discussed how horrific and poorly thought out that argument is before. Spent "more than a minute" thinking about the implications of that for world building and decided that I prefer a better world than the one where that would be true. So, can you do it? Can you actually discuss halflings without insulting me and give me more than "they are super nice" that can define them? Or is it just more insults I have coming my way? Wow, didn't even need to wait to post. Insults away. Tell me, what cultures have I made? Do you even know? What have I written about Yotun cooking habits? The societies of the Kith? The metaphyiscal nature of the Goblins and their relationship to the Primal Mother? How about the connection between the gnomes and the Slaad and the gnomish heaven? Do you have any idea what Mahendrapvarta is? The Arboreans? The Aspians? How are Kobolds and Dragonborn made? Why do elves worship spiders? Or do you assume because I advocate for changes to WoTC's lore that... well, why even ask, you think I'm spoon-fed lore and incapable of making up my own. Honestly, I'm tempted to break forum rules just to tell you what I think of that. I've spent years as a writer, I am fully capable of making my own lore. I also recognize that if I want to change Dungeons and Dragons, then me just making up things to keep to myself doesn't cut it. You'd think a community about creativity would understand that sharing ideas and discussion are valuable. But, no. Guess trying to discuss things and get a consensus that we need to change things going forward just shows that I can't possibly be creative enough to develop my own lore. Do you know that Faerie and Fairy are pretty different? In fact, Fairy is probably more accurate as Pixie. Because a lot of these concepts came from a time when cultures were much less integrated, and they had a lot of different things that were kind of the same. Sort of like Daemon and Demon. Rowling might have called Dobbi a House Elf, but they are more like a goblin or more specifically a traditional hobgoblin. Elves aren't house spirits. But they were Faeries, just like Brownies and Hobgoblins and Tomte and even Kobolds! So, yeah, surprise surprise, the term Elf was closely associate with Fairy, which would be Faerie, which like Daemon was used to describe a large, large grouping of disparate things. Often with conflicting names, lore, or purposes. However, if I google "Fantasy Elf" I get a pretty consistent view of what that means. And it isn't Keebler, and it isn't Santa. Now, sure, just "Elf" gets me a lot of pictures of Will Farrell, but that was the name of his movie after all. Now, you can use this as a "gotcha"! HAHA! There is no such thing as consistency because Keebler called their little gnomes elves and Santa exists! But, you know that there is a reason why we tend to use adjectives, right? I don't need to explain it to you? And, shockingly, even with your example there IS something beyond pointy ears they all share in common, in fact, I'd almost be able to bet on two things. MagicLongevityIt isn't much, but we are dealing with a word that has been tied into dozens of meanings and was a synonym for Fairy and Daemon, so, you know, not bad to still have three points of similarity. Then why do you insist on these discussions? I was ignoring you, as we were told to do, and you had to jump back in and start attacking me. And you do nothing but insult me and accuse me misdeeds. Is the entire point just to drive me off the platform? Will you be satisfied if I disappear for another six months because I'm sick of this? You think I'm a liar and troll and refuse to believe anything I say. Fine. THEN STOP RESPONDING TO ME! Nothing I ever post will be good enough for you, so just go away. I'm not blocking you because I am sick of having to log off of the site to even follow a thread's discussion because half of it is blocked posts. I'm responding to you because I consider it rude to ignore people. You spent time to respond to me, so I feel obligated to give that response a degree of respect and response back. But trust me, I'm getting sick and tired of this. I care because I was trying to have a discussion, and they shut down that discussion with this insistence. You should care because you accuse me of misdeeds, where all I was doing was pointing out the definition I was given that shut down the previous discussion. Neither of us need to care, if you want to change halflings, let's get to it. But you seemed to think my letting you know what I was told somehow means that I'm bound by other people's rules, and you seem to think their rules are my rules and that now I ust defend why other people refused to discuss changes with me because of their views. Right, you gave ideas I found to be bad. I explained why I found them bad. How utterly monstrous of me. I should never discuss the merits of an idea. Why then, we might just... I don't know why that's bad actually. And I proposed a few things over the past year. Folding them into Gnomes works very well. Making them a mercantile races works very well. Saw someone who made them a race that partially existed on the ethereal plane, that was cool. Those are just the first three ideas that don't change them visually. The food thing doesn't work when you already have a system for magical food. We have the chef feat after all. Tuft feet is... okay? That is such a minor benefit, unless there are a lot of hazards that hurt people's feet through boots? The majority of things don't, and just being able to ignore damage from a single spell doesn't seem like much. Is there more to it than that?The claws is... I mean, I guess you can make mole people, but that just feels like mole people to me. Is there more to it than that? Why should we give them bonuses to slings and thrown weapons? It feels like it would be a mechanical buff, but it doesn't seem to fulfill a lore purpose. I mean, elves and bows, dwarves and axes/hammers get by just fine without mechanical bonuses. I don't mind slings being a thing for halflings. Just need a why. You realize you are mixing the various Eberron halflings together, right? That the talentas halflings are not the same as the mafia halflings are not the same as the healing halflings are not the same as the hospitality halflings. You are presenting them like one single thing, and they aren't. As for the rest, I have no reason to do research you will dismiss as lies anyways. Most people talking about halflings have been ignoring those two versions, focusing on the pastoral tolkien halflings of forgotten realms and greyhawk. Don't believe me? Do your own digging. So, it wasn't an accidental insult the first time. You are just intentionally insulting me. Yeah, this is likely going to be the last time I respond to you, unless you drastically cut back on the insults and ad hominems. To which one? You quoted two questions. It seems to be for the people who wrote the books, and everyone who disucssed it until you that they reside in large quantities in human lands. And, the second part is just logic. If they reside in human lands, they go to war when humans do. That's just how geopolitics works. Man, you really can't go more than a few paragraphs without being insulting and derisive. I'd ask you why you decided on halflings, but frankly, your attitude makes me really not care about anything you've designed. Uh huh. So, you think the Swiss Guard can go and conquer.... anything? Also, while it is the smallest army in the world, note that it isn't called "The Swiss Army", but "The Swiss Guard" because they defend the Vatican City. Also, really curious where these villages are getting bound extraplanar creatures and alliances with dragons from. You'd think you'd need something to like, pay a dragon with. OR powerful spellcasters. Not things you typically find in a small farming community. It is almost like, and this is a stretch, you'd need the resources of a city. So, what is the point of buying books? You don't care if WoTC makes subpar products, because you can just fix it, right? Ever heard of the Oberoni Fallacy? Might benefit you to look it up. Ah yes, we change things by ignoring them. That's ALWAYS worked out for the best. Different plan, change it, instead of ignoring it. Not just at your table, but at the product level. Might want to brush up on your DnD settings then, because it is ridiculously common. Oberoni Fallacy again. And that's it? The nice and peaceful people who have mafias, dinosaur riding warriors, psychic cannibal world conquerors. The nice and peaceful people who you then go around, murdering things and taking their stuff. Do you not see how this immediately falls apart? Not to mention how horrifically the rest of the world has to be to have a single group be "the nice people". It would be like defining dwarves by being "the drunk loud people". Okay. I'd offer to discuss dragonborn with you and how you might want to improve them. However, you don't seem to think I'm capable of creating anything and that I'm a liar, so why should I bother? True in a 3.X book. True in a 5e book. Now we have to have them 100% true now and forever? Is that what it would take for you to just admit you were wrong? Yeah, would have been more convenient to open with that, since I respond as I read. Esepcially on massive multi-break posts like that. BTW, hour and a half on this one.</blockquote>

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