Taller Halflings

[Reaper Steve]

3E scale halflings kill the verisimilitude for me. Way too small.

I'd like dwarfs to only be about a head shorter than humans, with broad frames. Believable halflings would only be about a head shorter than the dwarves.

I'd also like Elves to be taller than humans... did I see something somewhere that indicates that this will be the case in 4E?

 

[Relique du Madde]

I always thought that halflings the size of the 3rd ed ones deserved a bigger penalty than -2 strength, so I guess making them bigger assuages that problem a bit.

Don't forget they also had the 3/4 carrying capacity (which I thought should have been 2/3 at best).

 

[DreamChaser]

I always thought that halflings the size of the 3rd ed ones deserved a bigger penalty than -2 strength, so I guess making them bigger assuages that problem a bit.

Let's not forget that smaller creatures tend to be disproportionately strong and resilient because their tissues are the same strength as larger creatures. This is a big part of why a fall from a 2 story house will not even phase a cat, could injure a human, but will likely kill a horse.

Plus, they would have the muscle mass of a post puberty person rather than the softer, still developing mass of a child.

I was fine with 3' halflings but I don't mind them taller either.

DC

 

[Aeolius]

I voted shorter... but then again I think gnomes should be tiny and wear pointy red caps.

 

[Hella_Tellah]

I think gnomes should be tiny and wear pointy red caps.

Yes! And that's the number one reason gnomes should be a Monster Manual, playable race, rather than a PHB race: they need to be itty-bitty.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

3E scale halflings kill the verisimilitude for me. Way too small.

I can understand this, they are little compared to a person. On the other hand it's not impossible. There's the condition called primordial dwarfism where the person is normally proportioned but simply much smaller than normal. Just recently saw a program on Discovery about it, included a section on a teenager who's smack dab in the racial norms for a 3.5e halfling. Perfectly proportioned, does martial arts, plays sports, but is just over 3ft tall.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primordial_dwarfism

 

[Geoffrey]

A human male is 5' 9" on average.

A "halfling" who isn't about half that height isn't much of a halfling--more like a "three-quarterling". :\

 

[The Human Target]

Very pro them being taller, and not in fact being "small size" if such a thing even exists in 4E.

 

[Starglim]

Some of them were too tall in 1st Edition.

It's fantasy. I don't see why people can accept hit points, armour class and the magic system (pick any edition) but quibble about giving 3-foot-tall people nearly the same stats as 6-foot-tall people.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

I never realy cared about the halfling... or any other size limitations that races had. If my players wanted to play a 4 foot tall halfling, they could, its all flavour.
Also, I am playing a 3 foot 4 inch Dwarf right now in a friends campaign we play when not everyone can show up. It doesn't matter to us, we still follow the rules in the book for each race, we just use different flavour for WHY they have the "small" stats as opposed to medium.

Immagination: Aint it wonderful?