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

[Gammadoodler]

Power is a tool that can be used for both good and ill. The moral consequence you are suggesting does not hold.

Neutrality and reclusivity can both be iconic.

Hell, you could even describe the life experience of this unruled group of halflings, as ...you know.. freedom.

 

[Minigiant]

Neutrality and reclusivity can both be iconic.

It can. But it pulls you out the limelight.

You're entitled to your preference. In LOTR most of the hobbits did stay home, the fact that Frodo and Sam were willing to go off and do what they did makes them more heroic than if they had come from a warrior race.

Sure.
But in D&D, that's how minor races act.

 

[Maxperson]

The point is the noble serves as a nexus of power that keeps the world safe. Halflings, by not seeking power, cannot exert power against the dangerous or the evil.

They don't need to exert power against the dangerous or the evil. When you don't have anything more than a small raid every few generations, you can survive just fine without those things.

 

[Minigiant]

They don't need to exert power against the dangerous or the evil. When you don't have anything more than a small raid every few generations, you can survive just fine without those things.

Never said they have to.
Just said that's the speed of a minor race.

 

[Gammadoodler]

It can. But it pulls you out the limelight.

Sure.
But in D&D, that's how minor races act.

What, to you, controls "the limelight"? To me it seems like the DM would do that no matter the races' characteristics.

Separately, which races are the "minor" ones, to you? My impression, was that they were simply less common.

 

[Maxperson]

Never said they have to.
Just said that's the speed of a minor race.

Major and minor in D&D are not necessarily about size, though. They're about adventurers. Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Halflings put out the most adventurers, so that's why they are the core 4 and the "major" races. A major race doesn't have to have kingdoms and empires in order to qualify.

 

[Minigiant]

Major and minor in D&D are not necessarily about size, though. They're about adventurers. Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Halflings put out the most adventurers, so that's why they are the core 4 and the "major" races. A major race doesn't have to have kingdoms and empires in order to qualify.

Who said anything about size. It's about inactivity.

 

[Oofta]

Who said anything about size. It's about inactivity.

So for you for a race to be not "minor" it has to be a race of warriors? Or at least a significant portion has to be? They have to have kingdoms and/or be interested in conquest?

 

[Minigiant]

So for you for a race to be not "minor" it has to be a race of warriors? Or at least a significant portion has to be? They have to have kingdoms and/or be interested in conquest?

Nope.
It has to interact with the world and make impacts.
Halflings are defined by their homebodiness. Gnomes hide and retreat. Half elves and half orcs are too few.

 

[FrozenNorth]

You're entitled to your preference. In LOTR most of the hobbits did stay home, the fact that Frodo and Sam were willing to go off and do what they did makes them more heroic than if they had come from a warrior race.

I agree. In the fiction, they don’t strike me as 1st level rogues, or bards, or any class really. By the end of the 2nd book, I think it is fair to say that everyone except Frodo has taken a couple of levels in Fighter or Rogue (and Frodo is probably a talisman warlock).