Your Favorite Halfling?

[TarionzCousin]

What is your favorite kind of halfling?

1. OD&D - Hobbits. Pipe-smoking gourmands who rarely adventured
2. 1E - Fat and Good at thievery
3. Kender - Hyperactive kleptomaniacs
4. Dark Sun Cannibals - Humans are delicious!
5. 4E - Skinny, quick, and charismatic
6. Lemoncurry - Other

 

[Festivus]

I usually play them as 3. Kender... to the annoyance of many.

 

[FireLance]

Naturally, I prefer my own take on them.

I took halflings back to their roots as pastoral farmers, but played up the traits of protection, community and co-operation. In 4e terms, they would make good leaders and defenders.

 

[El Mahdi]

I don't actually play 4E, but I prefer the 4E Halfling concept.

Now Gnomes however, are a completely different story. In my campaign world, Gnomes are like the Nelwyns of Willow. So, in my game, Gnomes fulfill the small pastoral farmer niche. Halflings are almost exactly the way they are portrayed in 4E (except they're related to Humans - kind of like the real world Hobbits: products of evolutionary miniaturization).

 

[Deset Gled]

7. Belkar

 

[Hairfoot]

1. OD&D - Hobbits. Pipe-smoking gourmands who rarely adventured

Hmm. What is this thread missing?

I know! A humourless hobbit fan to split hairs over the perceived laziness of 0E halflings! This looks like a job for Hairfoot.

Tolkien's Shire hobbits were the product of several generations of easy, unthreatened living. They were no more or less likely to go adventuring than a normal, modern suburbanite. Hobbits which lived under harsher circumstances would be very different indeed, just as humans are (and to which they're related).

Also, in The Hobbit, Tolkien writes that Gandalf was resented in the Shire because he had a history of encouraging young hobbits to go off adventuring, and that the Tooks, especially, had a long and frequent history of taking off on adventures, never to be seen again.

Despite the ingrained assumption that old-style hobbits are lazy, reluctant adventurers, there's absolutely nothing in their Tolkien roots which implies that.

 

[Mark]

Hmm. What is this thread missing?

I know! A humourless hobbit fan to split hairs over the perceived laziness of 0E halflings! This looks like a job for Hairfoot.

HairFEET!

 

[YourSwordIsMine]

Other

Hawt sexy tight leather-clad Lidda... yummy

 

[Leatherhead]

I like the Dark Sun ones, and also the dinosaur riding ones from Eberron.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Dark Sun and Lemon Curry Halflings. Yum. Actually, Dark Sun and Ghostwise [3e FR]* Halflings.

The former because it was such a novel experience having even a low level character party being scared of halflings. Good times. The latter? Well, I just like them, and homebrewed them so's I like them even more. Poor bastards.


* Yes, even though it's a FR thing. That too was homebrewed mercilessly.