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

Do you know what innate means? And it does not say that they were taught their innate magic. Nowhere. You're inventing a Strawman for the books now. Is there no line that you wouldn't cross to be right on the internet?

It has to do with teach vs. innate and what those two things mean. D&D 5e specifically uses common word usages and you are murdering those in your efforts to be right. You aren't. You are wrong. You are literally claiming that Baravar taught them the equivalent of a heartbeat.

No, I am saying that he taught them something that became innate. Something they have to learn how to harness.

Very different.

Because arcane magic is the sort they are best at and it's the only sort of arcane magic(so far) that you can be taught. I suppose she could have taught them prayers for divine magic, but she certainly did not teach them innate magic, since innate magic can't be taught.

Yes it can. This is why legends tell of gods teaching people magic that ends up being innate to their being. Like Shapeshifting.

Sorcerers are not taught to use their magic. At all. Period. They gain an innate understanding of how to use it. Again, your lack of understanding of what innate means seems to be working against you here.

"One can't study sorcery as one learns a language, any more than one can learn to live a legendary life. No one chooses sorcery; the power chooses the sorcerer."

Interrestingly, one of the ways to explain where Sorcery comes from is the gift of a god. Not teaching, but gift. You can't teach innate ability.

So what? When a sorcerer is born they can already cast Wish? That is their innate magic, and yet it isn't something they can do.

And many many many, dozens of manys of times, an innate ability is taught how to be harnessed. Since I was jsut talking Star Wars let's think about the Force.

Is the Force innate? Yes, force wielders are born with their ability to use the force.

Do they need to be taught? Yes, force wielders need to be taught and trained how to use their abilities.

Innate and taught. Just like you said is impossible

And yet you deliberately cut out the rest of that passage that says that because of that practice, almost every village has a full blown Illusionist and apprentices, showing that the practice is with wizardry, not innate magic.

Or, that since they have a skill in wizardry as well, they all practice their innate magic, and some go farther to learn wizardry.

I mean, this isn't hard to figure out Max.

They suck at raiding. They're goblins. They also take over abandoned mines and such, and would have that sort of stuff to scavenge from the abandoned areas.

Sucky raiders are no less dangerous to people than raiders after gold and jewels. Both will kill you for what you have.
 

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That's not correct. They were more resistant to the influence, but were nowhere close to be immune. Smeagol fell to it, Bilbo and Frodo were falling to it, Sam would have had he had the ring for more than 10 minutes. Had Sauron bent his well to The Shire, it would have eventually fallen into evil as well. They survived, because Sauron was unaware of them.

I'm sorry, that is a strawman. I never said any of that.
 

They also would have access to spears, axes, short bows, daggers, perhaps longbows, and some others.
Unless they're halflings of course.

But I'm talking about bog-standard commoners and what options they will have available. Sure, if they have a spear or bow they'll use them. However, according to the MM commoners use clubs. I have no problem with commoners of all types being able to use simple weapons but you can't say human commoners always have weapons available while halflings don't. Well, you can say that I just disagree.
 

I mostly agree with that. I only disagree with your suggestion that there is no place for symbolism in D&D, and your implied suggestion that all the other races have no symbolic interpretation. I view D&D as a storytelling game, and symbolism is part of storytelling. But that's just opinion and playstyle.

You can layer symbolism on, but it isn't built into the game. That is my only contention on that front.
 

And I'm just summarizing. For an example, everything that happens in the realms in 3rd edition? That all happened between 1372 and 1376. Go and find the adventures that happen during that time and just imagine all of those events all of those potential world ending plots, happening in 4 years.
Never mind that many of your examples aren't world ending apocalypses. Here's the thing. During almost everything you listed, the vast majority of little Halfling villages in out of the way places, blissfully went about their lives and survived just fine.
 

Why would commoners have access to advanced weaponry? Commoners use clubs, aka sticks.

Hand axes
Sickles
daggers
hammers
short bows
spears

None of that is "advanced" all of it is stuff that a small community of commoners might easily have access to. Some of those are even required. It isn't like they built their houses using rocks to pound the wood togther.
 


Unless they're halflings of course.

But I'm talking about bog-standard commoners and what options they will have available. Sure, if they have a spear or bow they'll use them. However, according to the MM commoners use clubs. I have no problem with commoners of all types being able to use simple weapons but you can't say human commoners always have weapons available while halflings don't. Well, you can say that I just disagree.
Commoners cut down trees(axes), have to have a good size knife in case of a wolf(dagger), hunt deer and other game(short bows), etc. Spears are also used for hunting. I'm not adding weapons that exist just for them to fight with, other than a dagger. These are just tools that can and will be turned towards defense if necessary.
 

Hand axes
Sickles
daggers
hammers
short bows
spears

None of that is "advanced" all of it is stuff that a small community of commoners might easily have access to. Some of those are even required. It isn't like they built their houses using rocks to pound the wood togther.
Yep. Halflings would have all of those as well.
 

Do you remember something Luke said in the movies? "I used to bull's-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home. They're not much bigger than two meters."

It appears to have been a small ship with a pnuematic cannon attached.

This was something that Luke and his friends used for fun. So yes, I imagine that Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru had something for personal defense considering their nephew owned a small airship with its own built in guns

So... the sci-fi equivalent to a varmint rifle?

Yep, totally effective against the worst scum of the universe. I can just see Owen trundling out to the shed to hop in the Skyhopper while Tuskan Raider smack him repeatedly with gaffi sticks...

Or I can just accept that the moisture farm wasn't constantly under siege even though it was situated in Space Hell (and yes, I know Star Wars has an actual Space Hell in Mutafar and the Sith homeworld. There's a lot of Space Hells okay?)
 

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