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

[Chaosmancer]

Well it’s a good thing no one is claiming they don’t, then.

They did originally. Keep insisting on very precise terms of that trade too. Only small amounts. No more than once a month. Multiple tracks that are nearly impossible to find. ect.

Doesn’t follow. One doesn’t mean the other, you’re just making a leap from one to the other.

If you can walk one day to the west and visit your neighbor, why can't they walk one day to the east to visit you?

Excepting for these invisible paths through some terrain that is completely impassable if you aren't a halfling, if you've made a road from one village to the other, so that people can travel from one village to the other, then people who can find one village, can find the other.

Never lived in the countryside, then?

In the deep country? No.

Pretty easy to spot farms near me though. They tend to be a bit obvious.

 

[Oofta]

The specific fine grain sand you need for glass?

Um.. no. Do you have a lot of sand where you live? I certainly don't.

And ... queue example taken overly specific extreme #42.

Maybe it's glasswork, maybe it's wood carving, maybe it's scrimshaw on the bones of a knuckle head trout or maybe from a red herring.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Plenty, first of all. Second, why ask me, when what you’re referencing is someone else’s argument?

But even that level of trade is plenty to get seeds and the like for plants that aren’t native to the area, as well as the occasional exotic treat.

Because that seems to be the standard I need to argue against. Unless you'd like to propose a different one.

But one mule can carry enough to and from market for 50 people, for an entire month. Because all they need are seeds for non-native plants, because then they will grow them. Supposedly no matter the weather because climate zones and specialized plants for those zones seem to not exist.

 

[Oofta]

Common is a problem. It is a problem that really doesn't have a good solution.

But, as a person who recently had to sit through an adventure where the DM insisted that none of us spoke the language of the locals, it is a smaller problem than trying to accurately portray languages, and having entire sections of the world where no one understands you and you can't understand them.

Dealing with realistic languages is just a nightmare.

Then why do you expect a realistic and detailed explanation of halflings?

 

[Chaosmancer]

So, we can extrapolate all kinds of powerful magic from minor kinda related magic, but we can’t extrapolate...stealth from...also stealth?

Seriously?

"Gnomes are skilled illusionists" translates into "Gnomes are skilled at illusion magic". Yes, that seems to be a fairly logical extrapolation.

"Halflings can hide behind medium creatures" translating into "halflings can hide entire fields, herds, and villages via their skill at hiding in nature" seems to be a lot more of a stretch, don't you think?

 

[Chaosmancer]

I believe the term is "Mo' money, mo problems"?

It's unacceptable that a D&D deity would adhere to such a view and reward others who do so? Sure it doesn't make a ton of real world sense, but I think it makes enough fantasy sense to pay the bill.

And I guess generally, what are you looking for out of your "Core four"? (Not that I have any particular interest in there even being a core four), and is the problem that the halfling is in that group or with the halfling in D&D generally?

The idea that one of the biggest hero groups of the game setting is supposed to be a people who are protected by others, so they can remain idyllic and otuside of danger, while at the same time espousing that if the people who were protecting them were just better people with fewer ambitions, they wouldn't be attacked so much by the forces of evil, tyranny and darkness.

Yeah, that bothers me. Especially since the game's core story is usually "kill things and take their wealth for your own"

And it is either their goddess acting at a level of divine intervention never seen by most other dieties, or the universe itself judging halflings better and more worthy of protection. neither of which sit well with me

 

[Chaosmancer]

And ... queue example taken overly specific extreme #42.

Maybe it's glasswork, maybe it's wood carving, maybe it's scrimshaw on the bones of a knuckle head trout or maybe from a red herring.

I'm sorry, what do wood carvings or scrimshaw have to do with the glass in the windows in the depiction halfling houses? Do you think that carving bone is somehow going to make glass windows?

 

[Gammadoodler]

That makes no sense.

If it is a plant, it can be grown. If it can be grown, it can be grown in quantities for consumption and trade. Somehow these magical spice plants can't be grown in enough quantity for trade, but they can be grown to support an entire village's needs? No. That isn't how growing plants works.

Didn't say that other people couldn't grow the stuff for consumption and trade. But trade rewards efficient allocation of resources. Growing a diverse set of plants on a single plot of land best suited for one crop is generally a poor use of that land if your goal is to make a profit through trade. Without the profit drive, as long as you get enough of what you want, you've cleared the bar.

Thus profit farmer - less variety, more money (more problems) vs. Enjoyment farmer, more variety, less money (fewer problems).

 

[Chaosmancer]

Then why do you expect a realistic and detailed explanation of halflings?

Because the language problem is a compromise in service of a greater game play good. Being able to talk with NPCs is useful for the entire game.

Halflings living idyllic lives free from all conflict, completely self-sufficient, with limited contact with the outside world doesn't serve a greater game play good.

 

[BookTenTiger]

The idea that one of the biggest hero groups of the game setting is supposed to be a people who are protected by others, so they can remain idyllic and otuside of danger, while at the same time espousing that if the people who were protecting them were just better people with fewer ambitions, they wouldn't be attacked so much by the forces of evil, tyranny and darkness.

Yeah, that bothers me. Especially since the game's core story is usually "kill things and take their wealth for your own"

And it is either their goddess acting at a level of divine intervention never seen by most other dieties, or the universe itself judging halflings better and more worthy of protection. neither of which sit well with me

So... come up with something that works for you?

Halfling villages serve whatever purpose the story needs. If the D&D campaign needs idyllic, untouched hobbit havens, then they are that. Who cares how they grow their peppercorns?

If the D&D campaign needs halflings to be nomadic travelers riding hounds, then they are that. Who cares what their god thinks?

D&D is literally made up at the table. All the lore in the books is just one option. It's never going to make sense, because it's not a reality simulator. Halflings take on whatever role the game needs, and they are there so adventurers can interact with them.