Chaosmancer
Legend
Anyway, here’s a thought/paradox.
Halflings are Lucky, so a whole settlement of them would, conceivably, be a huge nexus of Luck. Good weather, lack of marauders, bountiful harvests without pests, excellent health, etc.
Any society, large as a nation or small as a gang, would LOVE to have some of that sweet Halfling Luck miasma hanging over their settlement/endeavours. So perhaps there might be a ‘thing’ where Halflings are sought out to capture and enslave in order to provide protection. Multiple halflings, for choice.
But, Halflings’ Luck, especially when coupled with the multiplying effect of a settlement’s worth, would help protect them from these self-same seekers of stolen good fortune.
Only solitary Halflings would be vulnerable. Thus, Halflings get on with everybody because everybody goes to them for their food and drink (which Luck has ensured is always the finest), and this avoids the need for Halflings to travel to other markets - people come to them - luckily, of course, only in sufficient numbers that they can deal with.
So where do adventurer Halflings come from, and why are they ‘safe’ from slaver predation? Why, because they are the ‘bad luck’ Halflings. When a Halfling PC uses Luck to avoid failing a saving throw, or fumbling their weapon, it isn’t good luck on their part but a manifestation of bad luck on the part of their opponent. Any party fumbles might legitimately be blamed on the Halfling’s aura.
Thus, Halflings are highly sought after for both trade (on their own terms), and raid (but protected from it); adventurous Halflings are, er, encouraged to go travelling around away from the village, in case they cause a drop in the collective Luck field, and are also protected from raids by their reputation for being unlucky! On their own, they’re ‘dangerous’ and so perhaps drawn to shadowy, stealthy activities.
But the ‘fountain of youth’/‘holy grail’/‘questing beast’ idea of roping a bunch of Halflings into indentured servitude to provide good luck persists, even so.
Hmm. Random brain dump.
I had actually considered that this whole conversation leads to Adventuring halflings being the unluckiest people of their race.
A normal halfling might go 60 to 100 years (according to current arguments) without ever seeing a single threat to their life. An adventuring halfling will not be able to travel further than a single day without being assualted by monsters, every town will be under threat, and the world might be about to end due to some hundred year scheme they are caught up in.
It amuses me, but it also highlights how terrible of a writing device "they are so lucky, so they aren't under threat" is, when you end up with these kind of extreme swings.