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

[David Howery]

If Kurtulmak doesn't have a sense of humor, that's on him.

kobolds don't seem to have much of a sense of humor, but the gnomes got enough for both...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I don't make exceptions for dwarves. I actually put quite a bit of thought into their diet. More so than for most other races, because of where they live.

So your dwarves are farmers.

 

[Oofta]

So it says "Halflings are master bards" somewhere in the PHB? I must have missed that, can you cite how they are associated with bardic magic?

So it says somewhere that gnomes have anything other than a minor illusion cantrip which only covers a 5 ft cube and lasts for a minute?

They are master story tellers and the books associate them with bards in the imagery and examples of bards. I guess I wasn't aware of any rule anywhere that stated that you couldn't take a class if it wasn't listed as an association in the book.

[EDIT: I did for get the part about gnomes, it's just a different explanation of how they hide their villages in MToF]

 

[Oofta]

No, they really don't.

Source? Or just more assumptions on your part?

What weapons do commoners have? Wooden shovels and pitchforks? If you've given them more effective armaments in your world then give halflings the equivalent. Again you make assumptions that other commoners have access to stuff that is not written anywhere then point to the lack of things you've added on top of what's written for other races as "evidence" that halflings suck.

 

[Maxperson]

So it says somewhere that gnomes have anything other than a minor illusion cantrip which only covers a 5 ft cube and lasts for a minute?

It does. The Gnome lore in Mordenkainen's said that they took their talent towards learning illusions and have Illusionists(wizards) that hide their villages.

"Most forest gnome communities include a full-fledged illusionist and an apprentice or two, and they use their talents in service of the community- designing longer-lasting or larger-scale illusions that help the community stay hidden from the world."

 

[Oofta]

It does. The Gnome lore in Mordenkainen's said that they took their talent towards learning illusions and have Illusionists(wizards) that hide their villages.

"Most forest gnome communities include a full-fledged illusionist and an apprentice or two, and they use their talents in service of the community- designing longer-lasting or larger-scale illusions that help the community stay hidden from the world."

Ah, I missed that.

Of course it also states for halflings that:

Although halflings aren’t reclusive by nature, they are adept at finding out-of-the-way places to settle in. It takes a combination of luck and persistence for an ordinary traveler to find such a place, and often that’s not enough. For those who subscribe to the idea that Yondalla actively shields her worshipers from harm, this phenomenon is easily explained — she looks out for their homes just as she protects their lives. Whatever the reason, travelers might look for a halfling village, but they fail to notice a narrow path that cuts through the underbrush, or they find themselves traveling in circles and getting no closer to their goal. Rangers who have encountered halflings or lived among them know of this effect, and they learn to trust their other senses and their instincts rather than relying on sight.​

​

So I guess that it's okay for gnomes to hide their villages but not halflings because of ... reasons. Reasons that have never been explained. It's in the same book, same chapter. The description makes it clear it's some kind of supernatural effect, just more luck than explicit illusion magic.

 

[Maxperson]

Ah, I missed that.

Of course it also states for halflings that:

Although halflings aren’t reclusive by nature, they are adept at finding out-of-the-way places to settle in. It takes a combination of luck and persistence for an ordinary traveler to find such a place, and often that’s not enough. For those who subscribe to the idea that Yondalla actively shields her worshipers from harm, this phenomenon is easily explained — she looks out for their homes just as she protects their lives. Whatever the reason, travelers might look for a halfling village, but they fail to notice a narrow path that cuts through the underbrush, or they find themselves traveling in circles and getting no closer to their goal. Rangers who have encountered halflings or lived among them know of this effect, and they learn to trust their other senses and their instincts rather than relying on sight.​

​

So I guess that it's okay for gnomes to hide their villages but not halflings because of ... reasons. Reasons that have never been explained. It's in the same book, same chapter. The description makes it clear it's some kind of supernatural effect, just more luck than explicit illusion magic.

Right. Lore is only good and correct if it's not for Halflings. Halfling lore has to be ignored, refuted(just because) or twisted if it goes against their pre-conceived notions of why Halflings are deficient.

 

[Minigiant]

So I guess that it's okay for gnomes to hide their villages but not halflings because of ... reasons. Reasons that have never been explained. It's in the same book, same chapter. The description makes it clear it's some kind of supernatural effect, just more luck than explicit illusion magic

Right. Lore is only good and correct if it's not for Halflings. Halfling lore has to be ignored, refuted(just because) or twisted if it goes against their pre-conceived notions of why Halflings are deficient.

Again I think you both have it backward.

The issue was never that halfling lore was bad but that it never had a official expanation that could fit the baseline assumption of D&D.. That halfling lore was incomplete

If you say that the official explanation is that halfling have a supernatural ability to find the quietest safest places on the plane, well that's it.

The questions then are: Why the heck isn't that in the PHB or DMG? Is halflings an iconic race or what, WOTC?

 

[Oofta]

Again I think you both have it backward.

The issue was never that halfling lore was bad but that it never had a official expanation that could fit the baseline assumption of D&D.. That halfling lore was incomplete

If you say that the official explanation is that halfling have a supernatural ability to find the quietest safest places on the plane, well that's it.

The questions then are: Why the heck isn't that in the PHB or DMG? Is halflings an iconic race or what, WOTC?

Why would it need to have a mechanical explanation? It's part of the description of how halfling villages work, with no more or less justification than how dragons fly and breath fire.

 

[Minigiant]

Why would it need to have a mechanical explanation? It's part of the description of how halfling villages work, with no more or less justification than how dragons fly and breath fire.

When did I use the word "mechanical"

I just wanted

"Although halflings aren’t reclusive by nature, they are adept at finding out-of-the-way places to settle in."

in the PHB or DMG to treat halflings like a major iconic common race.