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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8826292" data-attributes="member: 6877472">I'm not sure about that.&nbsp; I mean, sure, Samwise Gamgee?&nbsp; Absolutely brave.&nbsp; I'll give that to Merry and Pippin, though they are a bit more reckless.&nbsp; But there are times when Frodo is not particularly brave, and while Bilbo has his moments, he's perfectly capable of deciding that discretion is by far the better part of valor.&nbsp; Not that I expect a brave person to never show good sense, but some would call that behavior &quot;cowardly&quot;.&nbsp; Even during the Scouring of the Shire, it wasn't until the heroes returned that they were able to rouse the populace into doing something about it.Thus, while a Hobbit can be brave, I wouldn't consider them universally so.&nbsp; This point can be debated, of course, but let me just say that, if I was given the job in 1999 to differentiate Halflings from Hobbits, bonuses to save against fear wouldn't have been on my mind.&nbsp; A generic bonus to Will saves might be, since we see Halflings stave off the influence of the One Ring, and recovering from being exposed to the mind of Sauron via a Palantir.I'd have been tempted to give them a racial bonus to Wisdom as well, since most Halflings seem possessed of good sense (Peregrine and Meriadoc notwithstanding), or Constitution, since they seem able to endure more hardship than most folk.I definitely would have kept their resistance to magic in some form.&nbsp; I certainly didn't mind them becoming a Charismatic race in 4e, though, and that's also a decent choice.&nbsp; I definitely wouldn't have stuck with thrown weapons or slings, since I'm well aware these are traditionally inferior weapon choices in D&amp;D.&nbsp; It might seem flavorful, but when other races are getting free proficiencies with useful weapons, like Dwarves and Elves, it doesn't seem a particularly balanced choice.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 8826292, member: 6877472"] I'm not sure about that. I mean, sure, Samwise Gamgee? Absolutely brave. I'll give that to Merry and Pippin, though they are a bit more reckless. But there are times when Frodo is not particularly brave, and while Bilbo has his moments, he's perfectly capable of deciding that discretion is by far the better part of valor. Not that I expect a brave person to never show good sense, but some would call that behavior "cowardly". Even during the Scouring of the Shire, it wasn't until the heroes returned that they were able to rouse the populace into doing something about it. Thus, while a Hobbit can be brave, I wouldn't consider them universally so. This point can be debated, of course, but let me just say that, if I was given the job in 1999 to differentiate Halflings from Hobbits, bonuses to save against fear wouldn't have been on my mind. A generic bonus to Will saves might be, since we see Halflings stave off the influence of the One Ring, and recovering from being exposed to the mind of Sauron via a Palantir. I'd have been tempted to give them a racial bonus to Wisdom as well, since most Halflings seem possessed of good sense (Peregrine and Meriadoc notwithstanding), or Constitution, since they seem able to endure more hardship than most folk. I definitely would have kept their resistance to magic in some form. I certainly didn't mind them becoming a Charismatic race in 4e, though, and that's also a decent choice. I definitely wouldn't have stuck with thrown weapons or slings, since I'm well aware these are traditionally inferior weapon choices in D&D. It might seem flavorful, but when other races are getting free proficiencies with useful weapons, like Dwarves and Elves, it doesn't seem a particularly balanced choice. [/QUOTE]

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