D&D General why do we have halflings and gnomes?

[Maxperson]

Might be a good reason why Dwarves have resistance to poison. Also, could explain why they prefer to drink alcoholic beverages, since the water tends to be poisonous.

They are also master smiths and stone crafters, so perhaps they are very careful with where the runoff goes, making sure that their water supplies remain untainted.

38 years of reading D&D products and not once has this been mentioned that I've seen. You're assuming a level of realism that D&D doesn't give a rat's behind about.

Tritons are fish people who live in depths that would cause you to be crushed like a tin foil boat. Assuming they need Vitamin C when whales, dolphins, fish, sharks, and octupi don't is rather silly.

And in the next sentence you are willing to throw out realism in order to "win the internet."

"The fish and shrimp body needs vitamin C( ascorbic acid or ascorbate) to remain in proper health condition..."

If you're going to use super high un-D&D like levels of realism for your homebrew, at least be consistent about it.

I like higher than D&D like levels of realism for my game. However, I 1) fully admit that it's my own homebrew, and 2) don't come close to trying to mirror real life like you do. I get enough of that in...................real life. Why would I put it in my fantasy relaxation?

 

[Maxperson]

You might want to check out the DMG, chapter 1. D&D can be hack and slash with little concern for realism, or immersive with a lot of care about the details that help pull a player into a story.

Neither of which = attempting to mirror reality. I get wanting more realism, but mirroring reality isn't even possible. There comes a point(rather quickly) where all the rules and subsystems you need to add in order to "mirror reality" yank you out of that immersion, because you are tracking so much "reality" in the attempt that you aren't really doing much playing.

I try to make the world feel like reality(+). Except where there is an intentional decision not to do so, my world follows the rules of the real world. I base the locations in my campaign setting on real world locations (with some changes to keep it from being so obvious), and when players ask me about things like, "what crops are they growing", they see me refer to my notes - which are not my notes, they are a Google search for Ireland, Tunisia, Ukraine, Peru, or whatever location I used as a template.

Why bother? Because it gives the players a sense that their characters are in a world that makes sense. It makes their stories feel deeper when the world behaves as they'd expect it to rather than feeling like the DM just hand waves their situations to get to the next combat. There is a very high correlation between the enjoyment I have experienced at a game table, the enjoyment I've seen others have at game tables, and the baseline realism of a world.

Great. Do you have them stop and urinate multiple times per day? Do they sometimes have to stop adventuring because they have to go to the bathroom really badly. Do you make them scratch their asses, because they can't wipe well? Do scratches often become infected due to not being able to bathe a lot?

Plus, Halflings per RAW, have Druids. Who is to say that a Halfling Druid cannot grow pepper in a non-tropical area?

 

[Voadam]

Believable environments isn't garbage.

If you are in the desert and someone serves you sushi, you are going to have a WTF moment. IF you are in the Tundra, eating fresh strawberries, there might be something weird going on. I mean, how are you supposed to know what is strange if you don't establish what is normal?



Except for the breakdown of environmental zones and the death of the spice trade which fueled much of merchant wealth in the medieval world. What are those merchant princes transporting if any valuable spice can be grown in their backyard with a little be of handwaving?

Kingdoms of Kalamar (any of the editions, 2e, 3e, 3.5, 4e D&D and Hackmaster) is a good official D&D setting to check out for a world incorporating these kinds of considerations. Their fantasy atlas is designed to make geologic sense and they go into resource and trade information.

It is a lot of work but D&D can incorporate this kind of information.

They have a 3.5 gnome book for the setting, but I am not familiar with them doing much with halflings.

 

[DND_Reborn]

1. This discussion has gone on for 52 pages.

Yeah, I was just thinking this... Last time I checked this thread was back on page 14...

This is like one of those threads that never die LOL!

 

[Minigiant]

The game doesn't make that assumption as default or otherwise. That's what I was saying. The game doesn't go any further than King > Duke. It doesn't get into taxes, levies, etc. YOU can do that for YOUR game, but that's detail that your group is adding for itself.

Nah.
D&D defaults to a medieval feudal base for all the base PC races but halflings and gnomes. And it explains how the gnomes function.

You can change it if you wish. If you don't specify otherwise, fans expect a ruler noble commoner system.

 

[Oofta]

Yeah, I was just thinking this... Last time I checked this thread was back on page 14...

This is like one of those threads that never die LOL!

Well those halfling revenants and ghosts are tricksy little SOBs. They just hide behind things or people that should not be adequate cover and then next thing you know they're jumping out and gnawing on your ankles.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Nah.
D&D defaults to a medieval feudal base for all the base PC races but halflings and gnomes. And it explains how the gnomes function.

You can change it if you wish. If you don't specify otherwise, fans expect a ruler noble commoner system.

Where does it say this?

In fact, aren't dwarves described as living in clans? And elves IIRC are extremely egalitarian.

Most campaign settings actually go into detail about governments of their various nations and feudal societies are very rare indeed--mostly because modern audiences would be turned off by serfdom, which is slavery with extra steps.

 

[Maxperson]

Nah.
D&D defaults to a medieval feudal base for all the base PC races but halflings and gnomes. And it explains how the gnomes function.

You can change it if you wish. If you don't specify otherwise, fans expect a ruler noble commoner system.

Which is what I said. It doesn't expect anything else, though, like the level of feudal detail you have been talking about. It's just vague Royalty > Nobility > Commoner and doesn't get much more detailed than that.

 

[Maxperson]

Where does it say this?

In fact, aren't dwarves described as living in clans? And elves IIRC are extremely egalitarian.

Most campaign settings actually go into detail about governments of their various nations and feudal societies are very rare indeed--mostly because modern audiences would be turned off by serfdom, which is slavery with extra steps.

Then there are all the Magocracies, Theocracies, etc. that don't follow the normal feudal system.

 

[Oofta]

Where does it say this?

In fact, aren't dwarves described as living in clans? And elves IIRC are extremely egalitarian.

Most campaign settings actually go into detail about governments of their various nations and feudal societies are very rare indeed--mostly because modern audiences would be turned off by serfdom, which is slavery with extra steps.

I would say that most campaigns are more neo-renaissance than anything. But it's campaign specific, not a general assumption.

I would say that most people wouldn't know how to implement a feudalistic society even if they wanted to; for the most part people don't care. We use feudal terms for leaders because it's familiar.