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General Tabletop Discussion
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why do we have halflings and gnomes?
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8176941" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>The only (mostly) non-D&D game I know of that features halflings is FFXIV with its Lalafell. They're basically nothing like Tolkien's halflings other than size, though.</p><p></p><p>I think the only reasons halflings and gnomes stick around are:</p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Tradition. They've been around a long time, so people expect them. We saw what happened when 4e delayed them until the PHB2, there were the equivalent of <em>mass protests</em>...even though most people, then and now, don't play them. WAY more than any class, <em>races</em> are where we have a ton of cruft like this, but we're almost certainly never going to pare things back.*</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The thematics of size. <em>Most</em> people like playing someone tall; it's socially advantageous to be tall IRL, so most people prefer it. But there's a meaningful (if perhaps not sizable, hah!) contingent that really like being small, too. It's part of why "thief"-type stuff has always been such a thing for halflings, even though their culture doesn't really support it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The <em>mechanics</em> in general. It's not hard to extol the virtues of being smaller in 3.x, at least, and as a result many guides will note that halflings and gnomes are good choices for squishy, hide-away classes like wizard or casting-focused bard/cleric/etc. In 5e, halflings are lucky, and that luck is thought to be worth considering even without TCoE-style stat redistribution, while gomes in general make great Wizards (without TCoE) whatever subrace you pick (SCAG deep gnomes even get superior darkvision <em>without</em> sunlight sensitivity).</li> </ol><p>So yeah. I definitely think gnomes and halflings exist <em>primarily</em> because tradition says they should. However, there ARE just enough genuine fans and mechanics-first folks (who <em>use</em> them without specifically <em>loving</em> them) that they'll never really go away.</p><p></p><p>*My personal approach is to fold halflings and gnomes together into a single "small humanoids" race, and likewise try to fold several common options together. So "dragonborn" might absorb lizardfolk, tortles, and kobolds, while "orc" might absorb hobgoblins, goblins, and bugbears. This lets you cover more ground with fewer sprawling pages of content.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 8176941, member: 6790260"] The only (mostly) non-D&D game I know of that features halflings is FFXIV with its Lalafell. They're basically nothing like Tolkien's halflings other than size, though. I think the only reasons halflings and gnomes stick around are: [LIST=1] [*]Tradition. They've been around a long time, so people expect them. We saw what happened when 4e delayed them until the PHB2, there were the equivalent of [I]mass protests[/I]...even though most people, then and now, don't play them. WAY more than any class, [I]races[/I] are where we have a ton of cruft like this, but we're almost certainly never going to pare things back.* [*]The thematics of size. [I]Most[/I] people like playing someone tall; it's socially advantageous to be tall IRL, so most people prefer it. But there's a meaningful (if perhaps not sizable, hah!) contingent that really like being small, too. It's part of why "thief"-type stuff has always been such a thing for halflings, even though their culture doesn't really support it. [*]The [I]mechanics[/I] in general. It's not hard to extol the virtues of being smaller in 3.x, at least, and as a result many guides will note that halflings and gnomes are good choices for squishy, hide-away classes like wizard or casting-focused bard/cleric/etc. In 5e, halflings are lucky, and that luck is thought to be worth considering even without TCoE-style stat redistribution, while gomes in general make great Wizards (without TCoE) whatever subrace you pick (SCAG deep gnomes even get superior darkvision [I]without[/I] sunlight sensitivity). [/LIST] So yeah. I definitely think gnomes and halflings exist [I]primarily[/I] because tradition says they should. However, there ARE just enough genuine fans and mechanics-first folks (who [I]use[/I] them without specifically [I]loving[/I] them) that they'll never really go away. *My personal approach is to fold halflings and gnomes together into a single "small humanoids" race, and likewise try to fold several common options together. So "dragonborn" might absorb lizardfolk, tortles, and kobolds, while "orc" might absorb hobgoblins, goblins, and bugbears. This lets you cover more ground with fewer sprawling pages of content. [/QUOTE]
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