RPG Evolution: The Trouble with Halflings

Over the decades I've developed my campaign world to match the archetypes my players wanted to play. In all those years, nobody's ever played a halfling.

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.​

So What's the Problem?​

Halflings, derived from hobbits, have been a curious nod to Tolkien's influence on fantasy. While dwarves and elves have deep mythological roots, hobbits are more modern inventions. And their inclusion was very much a response to the adventurous life that the agrarian homebodies considered an aberration. In short, most hobbits didn't want to be adventurers, and Bilbo, Frodo, and the others were forever changed by their experiences, such that it was difficult for them to reintegrate when they returned home. You don't hear much about elves and dwarves having difficulty returning home after being adventurers, and for good reason. Tolkien was making a point about the human condition and the nature of war by using hobbits as proxies.

As a literary construct, hobbits serve a specific purpose. In The Hobbit, they are proxies for children. In The Lord of the Rings, they are proxies for farmers and other folk who were thrust into the industrialized nightmare of mass warfare. In both cases, hobbits were a positioned in contrast to the violent lifestyle of adventurers who live and die by the sword.

Which is at least in part why they're challenging to integrate into a campaign world. And yet, we have strong hobbit archetypes in Dungeons & Dragons, thanks to Dragonlance.

Kender. Kender Are the Problem​

I did know one player who loved to play kender. We never played together in a campaign, at least in part because kender are an integral part of the Dragonlance setting and we weren't playing in Dragonlance. But he would play a kender in every game he played, including in massive multiplayers like Ultima Online. And he was eye-rollingly aggravating, as he loved "borrowing" things from everyone (a trait established by Tasselhoff Burrfoot).

Part of the issue with kender is that they aren't thieves, per se, but have a child-like curiosity that causes them to "borrow" things without understanding that borrowing said things without permission is tantamount to stealing in most cultures. In essence, it results in a character who steals but doesn't admit to stealing, which can be problematic for inter-party harmony. Worse, kender have a very broad idea of what to "borrow" (which is not limited to just valuables) and have always been positioned as being offended by accusations of thievery. It sets up a scenario where either the party is very tolerant of the kender or conflict ensues. This aspect of kender has been significantly minimized in the latest draft for Unearthed Arcana.

Big Heads, Little Bodies​

The latest incarnation of halflings brings them back to the fun-loving roots. Their appearance is decidedly not "little children" or "overweight short people." Rather, they appear more like political cartoons of eras past, where exaggerated features were used as caricatures, adding further to their comical qualities. But this doesn't solve the outstanding problem that, for a game that is often about conflict, the original prototypes for halflings avoided it. They were heroes precisely because they were thrust into difficult situations and had to rise to the challenge. That requires significant work in a campaign to encourage a player to play a halfling character who would rather just stay home.

There's also the simple matter of integrating halflings into societies where they aren't necessarily living apart. Presumably, most human campaigns have farmers; dwarves and elves occupy less civilized niches, where halflings are a working class who lives right alongside the rest of humanity in plain sight. Figuring out how to accommodate them matters a lot. Do humans just treat them like children? Would halflings want to be anywhere near a larger humanoids' dwellings as a result? Or are halflings given mythical status like fey? Or are they more like inveterate pranksters and tricksters, treating them more like gnomes? And if halflings are more like gnomes, then why have gnomes?

There are opportunities to integrate halflings into a world, but they aren't quite so easy to plop down into a setting as dwarves and elves. I still haven't quite figured out how to make them work in my campaign that doesn't feel like a one-off rather than a separate species. But I did finally find a space for gnomes, which I'll discuss in another article.

Your Turn: How have you integrated halflings into your campaign world?

 

[Neonchameleon]

5e Halflings wouldn't have Tucker Kobolds because 5e lore designs them for comfort and relying on the big folk for defense.

Can we talk about actual 5e halflings with reference to the 5e halfling lore and not whatever you appear to have invented to justify your dislike of halflings. To quote the actual 5e lore:

Halflings work readily with others, and they are loyal to their friends, whether halfling or otherwise. They can display remarkable ferocity when their friends, families, or communities are threatened.​

There is nothing in that about how halflings are designed for comfort and rely on big folk for defence. Instead they just don't like fighting - but can explicitly display remarkable ferocity when their friends, families, or communities are threatened. I'd say that "remarkable ferocity when their community is threatened" is a pretty succinct summary of Tucker's Kobolds.

The point is not that Halflings can't be made into interesting PCs, NPCs, and enemies.
The point is the 5e mechanics and lore don't lean to them being interesting NPCs and monsters and llow them to easily integrate them into the setting. So you are forced to change halflings away from the 5e defaults.

So How have you integrated halflings into your campaign world?

If we are dealing with actual 5e lore rather than whatever you think it is then it is trivial to integrate halflings into the campaign world. To quote the PHB again:

Halflings are adept at fitting into a community of humans, dwarves, or elves, making themselves valuable and welcome. The combination of their inherent stealth and their unassuming nature helps halflings to avoid unwanted attention.​

...​

Most halflings live in small, peaceful communities with large farms and well-kept groves. They rarely build kingdoms of their own or even hold much land beyond their quiet shires. They typically don’t recognize any sort of halfling nobility or royalty, instead looking to family elders to guide them. Families preserve their traditional ways despite the rise and fall of empires.​

​

​

Many halflings live among other races, where the halflings’ hard work and loyal outlook offer them abundant rewards and creature comforts. Some halfling communities travel as a way of life, driving wagons or guiding boats from place to place and maintaining no permanent home.​

I do not know how you have any problem saying "there are villages of halflings and in almost any multiracial town or city there are significant numbers of halflings going about their business". There is precisely zero problem integrating this into any world in which there are NPCs. I don't see where the problem is here.

OK. So some basics for my halflings that might make it easier for you.

• All halfling dwellings contain at least twice as many halflings as humans would expect by looking at the outside, and more normally four times as many halflings. They by default live in large extended families.
• Halflings aren't more likely to be thieves than most other races. They are just normally used to living with effectively a dozen siblings that will borrow their stuff the way siblings do and can treat their adventuring companions the same way. This works both ways; halflings will offer to lend almost anything to their companions or get surprised that they bothered to ask and take a "you're family" approach to them too.
• Every halfling dwelling has at least some area that you can't get to without squeezing as a halfling and all these entrances can be blocked off. This makes attacking halfling buildings that you can't burn down more trouble than it's worth (even goblins are going to suffer badly trying to attack it because the halflings will mug them while they are squeezing)
• Every halfling is trained with and carries a sling with half a dozen bullets at just about all times. (OK, so this harks back to older edition lore). It's small, light, and cheap so it's practical (more practical than any other weapon except a belt knife which almost everyone carries anyway). This of course doesn't require special rules as every PC class is trained with slings. But halflings are better with slings than most and suffer precisely no disadvantages with them.
• Rural halfling buildings are built making heavy use of the Mold Earth cantrip. The halflings take away the top layer, use Move Earth, hold a trampling party, set the supports, then hold another trampling party before moving the topsoil and plants back. The purpose of the trampling party is to make sure the earth is no longer loose packed (well, that and it's an excuse for another party). This makes halfling homes almost impossible to see from any direction except the door - and in hostile locations they disguise their doors as well. People can and do ride through halfling villages without knowing they are there. Big folk don't do this because it's much harder to create a much taller stable structure that isn't obvious while gnomes tend to use more flash and illusion and less physical work in their concealment.
• Hostile rural environments also have boltholes built in in scattered locations the same way. The halflings know where they are.
• Urban halfling buildings match whatever the local style is and prosperous halflings like to have a more or less bigfolk sized reception room, dining room, and drawing room. Urban halfling buildings are also frequently conversions from ones built for bigfolk - but outside the rooms intended for bigfolk have extra floors between the original floors, and the custom-built ones give that impression.
• Halfling artisans have in their way as strong a reputation as dwarf, elf, or gnome artisans. When you want the very best you go to dwarves or elves. When you want experimental or flashy you go to gnomes. And when you want reliably good quality at reasonable prices you go to the practical halflings - but that's not normally what adventurers want.

There is precisely no problem integrating halflings with a setting unless you think the only purpose of a setting is to serve up themed rides to adventurers and no attempt at seeing who does what in the wider world should be done. Just as urban halfling criminal organisations are extremely effective and work well with halfling advantages.

 

[Faolyn]

This is not true. Since it can trigger on the very first roll it doesn't require 20 rolls to trigger. It only averages once out of 20 rolls. Nothing says that it won't happen on the first or third roll.

I have been in numerous games where characters have gotten several nat 1s in a row. Or rolled two 1s when rolling with advantage.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The 5e base halfling lore prevents hallings from maxmizing their niche mechanics.

You know that races in D&D dont have genetic imperatives to behave a certain way always unless they’re a PC, right?

Beyond that, the base lore in the phb literally explicitly says they aren’t all bucolic farmers in little hidden villages. That is one of 3 or 4 different common types of halfling communities.

The rest of your argument is just based in assumptions I can’t even really parse the underlying reasoning of. How did you conclude that halflings wouldn’t optimized their environment to ensure their safety, while engaging in inherently dangerous and conflict prone activities? That’s a wild idea.

 

[Minigiant]

Can we talk about actual 5e halflings with reference to the 5e halfling lore and not whatever you appear to have invented to justify your dislike of halflings. To quote the actual 5e lore:
Halflings work readily with others, and they are loyal to their friends, whether halfling or otherwise. They can display remarkable ferocity when their friends, families, or communities are threatened.
There is nothing in that about how halflings are designed for comfort and rely on big folk for defence. Instead they just don't like fighting - but can explicitly display remarkable ferocity when their friends, families, or communities are threatened. I'd say that "remarkable ferocity when their community is threatened" is a pretty succinct summary of Tucker's Kobolds.

Most halflings live in small, peaceful communities with large farms and well-kept groves. They rarely build kingdoms of their own or even hold much land beyond their quiet shires. They typically don’t recognize any sort of halfling nobility or royalty, instead looking to family elders to guide them. Families preserve their traditional ways despite the rise and fall of empires.

(snip)
AFFABLE AND POSITIVE


Halflings try to get along with everyone else and are loath to make sweeping generalizations—especially negative ones.
Humans. “Humans are a lot like us, really. At least some of them are. Step out of the castles and keeps, go talk to the farmers and herders and you’ll find good, solid folk. Not that there’s anything wrong with the barons and soldiers—you have to admire their conviction. And by protecting their own lands, they protect us as well.”

These kinda make me feel that halfling don't put a ton of stock in defense, mgic, technology, and goverance and rely on other races for it.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

But it doesn't speak Tucker's Kobolds to me at all.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I'm talking bout both.

The 5e base lore makes halflings both not desire leadership positions and clout, empathize rustic comfort,

You appear to be inventing things here. Nothing says that halflings empathize [sic] rustic comfort. Comfort, yes. But there's no exclusive rusticity. Which means that urban halflings arelikely to run things like bath houses.

and mostly defer to the big races to handle major economic, government, and war affairs.

This means as NPCs, their areas would not have many ammentiies, lores, services, and luxuries as other races fr an adventuring party.

So a race that emphasises comfort will not have many ammenitiies [sic] or luxuries as other races?

The dwarves would have great smiths for armor and weapon upgrades and fine mercs. The elves would have arcane and druidic knowledge, fine armors, blades, and bows. The gnomes would have experimental gadgets,illusion lore, beasts, and magical items. Even a dragonborn quarter would have a nice picking of mercenaries to cover your back in the quest against EVAL!

Meanwhile the race that emphasises comfort will have things like great masseurs, good bathhouses, and food. If you are in town as an adventurer with gold overflowing your pockets then for preference you study in the elven quarter, shop in the dwarf and gnome quarter, try and hire mercenaries in the dragonborn sixteenth - and stay and spend your nights in the halfling quarter because they care about comfort. That's unless your attitude to comfort is being kowtowed to.

And when you want a runner in a city you by default choose a halfling over any other race because they can get through the crowds. And when you choose a guide you want one who is practical and socially minded so again the halfling is by default preferable.

But the halfling village is just a human village but smaller. The innkeeper, the mayor, and the barkeep might be ex-badasses but that's it.

Correct me if I'm wrong but what you're saying here is that humans suck as a D&D race. If "just a human village" is a problem then you might want to work on your humans.

As for as enemies, halfling are so lowkey, comfortable, and reliant on the other races that they wont tailor their areas enough to take extreme advantage of their features.

This is entirely an invention of yours. If we look at what 5e actually says about halflings it says that (a) they are practical and (b) can display remarkable ferocity when those they care about are threatened. And I can not see one single mention of them being actually reliant on other races - this appears to be entirely an invention of yours.

Not on their own. They wouldn't run the organization and allow their other races in the group tailor it to to their own traits as long as the halflings are accommodated and feel comfortable.

As long as they did

The 5e base halfling lore prevents hallings from maxmizing their niche mechanics.

No. The 5e base halfling lore is fine. The @Minigiant lore is the problem.

 

[Minigiant]

You know that races in D&D dont have genetic imperatives to behave a certain way always unless they’re a PC, right?

Beyond that, the base lore in the phb literally explicitly says they aren’t all bucolic farmers in little hidden villages. That is one of 3 or 4 different common types of halfling communities.

The rest of your argument is just based in assumptions I can’t even really parse the underlying reasoning of. How did you conclude that halflings wouldn’t optimized their environment to ensure their safety, while engaging in inherently dangerous and conflict prone activities? That’s a wild idea.

They don't engage in inherently dangerous and conflict prone activities.

The base lore of 5e says they "are adept at fitting into a community of humans, dwarves, or elves, making themselves valuable and welcome. The combination of their inherent stealth and their unassuming nature helps halflings to avoid unwanted attention."

I'm sure the racial communities they move into do most of the heavy lifting for economic, diplomacy, science, and war.

5e even took out the Halfling weapon proficiency and specialties.

 

[Neonchameleon]

These kinda make me feel that halfling don't put a ton of stock in defense

Once again this is the @Minigiant lore. When I explicitly wrote that every halfling carries a ranged weapon at all times and all halfling homes have areas that keep the bigger races out you took from that that halflings don't put a ton of stock in defense. They put stock in defense - they just do it in a low key, practical, and effective way.

, mgic,

I literally wrote that every rural halfling home was built with the help of magic, It's just low key and practical magic, saving the big stuff for big stuff.

technology

The halfling trampling party is literal technology used to supplement the limitations of magic. Halflings use technology where it works.

, and goverance

Governance is a matter of scale and size. Again halflings will get on with it and not make a big song and dance about it unless the song and dance is the excuse for a party. The militia and the trampling party are all part of governance.

and rely on other races for it.

Me: They do these things themselves
You: They rely on other races for all the categories they do themselves
Me:???

Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

No. You're reading your version of halflings that exist only inside your head.

But it doesn't speak Tucker's Kobolds to me at all.

What halflings don't have is viciousness of kobolds. That doesn't make them not dangerous. That if anything makes them twice as dangerous as you fight through these houses they know like the back of their hand and have set up to be able to defend as they are practical. And they, unlike kobolds don't want to see you suffer. They want to put you out of their and your misery. They won't torture. They won't gloat. They'll treat your demise if you are stupid enough to attack as an unpleasant but necessary job they want to do as soon as possible.

 

[Neonchameleon]

They don't engage in inherently dangerous and conflict prone activities.

They prefer not to. So do I. Nothing says they don't. @Minigiant halflings are not 5e halflings.

The base lore of 5e says they "are adept at fitting into a community of humans, dwarves, or elves, making themselves valuable and welcome. The combination of their inherent stealth and their unassuming nature helps halflings to avoid unwanted attention."

I'm sure the racial communities they move into do most of the heavy lifting for economic, diplomacy, science, and war.

Once again this is @Minigiant lore that actively contradicts 5e lore. Halflings explicitly make themselves valuable. Which means they do their fair share of the heavy lifting.

5e even took out the Halfling weapon proficiency and specialties.

3.X took out the halfling weapon proficiency because everyone became proficient in slings. As for the halfling's +1 bonus with ranged weapons and slings that they had in 3.5 this went because it was entirely unnecessary. 5e halflings are better than 3.5 halflings with slings and thrown weapons because they get to use dexterity to damage not strength. With halflings no longer getting a penalty they no longer need the bonus.

Halflings are in 5e a race that is notably good with slings in a game where everyone can use slings.

 

[Chaosmancer]

They use wagons and canoes to travel regularly per the PHB. It's easier to see a natural role the halfling merchant than any other race.

Okay, let's lean into making halflings a proud merchant race then. That's a fine direction to take them that isn't where they currently are. This plays into their stories of being friendly and gregarious, and could even be an extension of their farming tradition, where they raise livestock and make produce, then go out and sell it. They could be the premier trading race of the world, connecting various groups. This is an interesting direction to go.

It does have some weirdness if we continue with the halfling rogue/thief route. But I could see Halflings have "friendly rivalries". Like the Gnomes of Zilargo have the penchant for pranking each other, maybe halflings have a penchant for breaking into each others stores and businesses. Rarely to actually steal anything, but in a "it takes a thief to catch a thief" way where they secure a place, break in, and leave a note or a tray of cookies or something equally snarky.

What's wrong with rewriting halflings to follow something like this?

This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the tales of people in two cultures. While their stories are from both of their cultures, their stories are also unique.

Are they unique in that they are a blend of the two cultures? Yes.

Are they unique in that they can exist without those two cultures? No.

The entire point of having a race of people caught between two cultures is that the two cultures matter the most, not that there is a third unique culture that they are a part of. So, it is not a surprise that a half-elf half-human raised in a human city with no elf influence ends up being basically a human. That is expected for the exactly what half-elf stories are like.

 

[bedir than]

That's a fine direction to take them that isn't where they currently are.

Except that it's based right in the PHB

The entire point of having a race of people caught between two cultures is that the two cultures matter the most, not that there is a third unique culture that they are a part of.

No, there's the third unique culture. All of my conversations with people in two cultures have talked about them being in a third. Whether that's due to immigration as told in Kamala Khan, or my pro wrestling buddy who told me he was too black for the white kids and too white for the black kids, so he had a very narrow choices of friends.