D&D 5E Halflings are the 7th most popular 5e race

[EzekielRaiden]

What niche do any of the species in 5th edition have now? Since WotC decided to make Tasha's the universal rule, what niche does a halfling have that isn't filled out just as well by a gnome, human, or dragonborn? I'm not anti-halfling (I'm anti-gnome!), I like the little guys, but if they're just us but smaller, what do they bring to the table?

This would be another reason why I think Gnome and Halfling would be better served merged together as one option, with Lightfoot (halfling+forest gnome), Stoutheart, Cragstep (rock gnome), and Ghostwise (halfling+svirfneblin) as its four kin variants. I call them "Hinnfolk." They're fey of places, sort of like an entire species of genii locorum, defined as much by the environment in which they are born as by the heritage of their parents. Lightfoot are tree-dwelling hunters, trainers, trappers, conservationists. Stoutheart are open-country-wandering herders, explorers, farmers, and artisans. Cragstep are cave- or city-dwelling inventors, crafters, entrepreneurs, and dreamers. Ghostwise are deep-dwelling mystics, visionaries, guides, and healers. All have a strong sense of close-knit community, of family extended to include friends and partners. All are connected to the land itself, and act in its defense in one way or another (but a cityfolk Cragstep may be rather different from a deep-forest Lightfoot!) Even the very domestic ones bring a touch of fey magic to everything they do, a magic less about what they know and more about what they are, though Ghostwise have the strongest mystical abilities.

This gives the Hinnfolk a clear niche and concept, and collectively boosts the whole up to being comparable with some of the other "core" races in terms of the slice of players playing it.

 

[Oofta]

This would be another reason why I think Gnome and Halfling would be better served merged together as one option, with Lightfoot (halfling+forest gnome), Stoutheart, Cragstep (rock gnome), and Ghostwise (halfling+svirfneblin) as its four kin variants. I call them "Hinnfolk." They're fey of places, sort of like an entire species of genii locorum, defined as much by the environment in which they are born as by the heritage of their parents. Lightfoot are tree-dwelling hunters, trainers, trappers, conservationists. Stoutheart are open-country-wandering herders, explorers, farmers, and artisans. Cragstep are cave- or city-dwelling inventors, crafters, entrepreneurs, and dreamers. Ghostwise are deep-dwelling mystics, visionaries, guides, and healers. All have a strong sense of close-knit community, of family extended to include friends and partners. All are connected to the land itself, and act in its defense in one way or another (but a cityfolk Cragstep may be rather different from a deep-forest Lightfoot!) Even the very domestic ones bring a touch of fey magic to everything they do, a magic less about what they know and more about what they are, though Ghostwise have the strongest mystical abilities.

This gives the Hinnfolk a clear niche and concept, and collectively boosts the whole up to being comparable with some of the other "core" races in terms of the slice of players playing it.

That's never going to happen. It's to integral to the lore of D&D to simply merge them together. Even half races aren't really going away, they just don't call out elves and orcs with mixed parentage.

But if they did officially merge them, they would still be separate species in my world because they have different niches in the lore of my world and are quite distinct from one another. There are a lot of races that have less lore than halflings and gnomes.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

This gives the Hinnfolk a clear niche and concept, and collectively boosts the whole up to being comparable with some of the other "core" races in terms of the slice of players playing it.

It could, or it could annoy all the people who actually like those races as they are, and gain less traction than those races have separate.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

That's never going to happen. It's to integral to the lore of D&D to simply merge them together. Even half races aren't really going away, they just don't call out elves and orcs with mixed parentage.

But if they did officially merge them, they would still be separate species in my world because they have different niches in the lore of my world and are quite distinct from one another. There are a lot of races that have less lore than halflings and gnomes.

Yeah it’s odd that some people see them as redundant or whatever.

It’s like folks who think that Goliaths are redundant because orcs are strong like…hwat?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

It could, or it could annoy all the people who actually like those races as they are, and gain less traction than those races have separate.

I meant purely in terms of player proportion. Adding the two races together would bring their proportion up to the high single digits, making it comparable to half-orc and the like.

There is no such thing as a lore change that people won't get their knickers in a twist about or even openly mock others for (e.g., the comment above celebrating someone else's tastes being less popular than theirs, as if that wasn't incredibly rude.)

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I meant purely in terms of player proportion. Adding the two races together would bring their proportion up to the high single digits, making it comparable to half-orc and the like.

Yes, I am aware of what you mean. It’s not a misunderstanding, it’s a disagreement.

Combining the two races doesn’t combine the proportion of players playing them if a goodly chunk/most of those folks don’t see any reason to combine them and give them a whole new identity, and reject the amalgam.

 

[bedir than]

In light of the evidence that halflings are popular, people still insist that they must be removed or so dramatically altered that they are no longer halflings.

it's sad

 

[CleverNickName]

I was curious how much the data might have changed between the 2017 article on FiveThirtyEight, and the newer DiceScroller blog from late 2022. So here's a side-by-side comparison.

Top Ten Class/Race Combos, 2017

1. Human Fighter (4.89%)
2. Elf Ranger (3.08%)
3. Elf Wizard (2.74%)
4. Human Wizard (2.57%)
5. Human Rogue (2.54%)
6. Human Cleric (2.34%)
7. Human Paladin (2.33%)
8. Elf Rogue (2.26%)
9. Dwarf Cleric (2.20%)
10. Tiefling Warlock (2.19%)

Top Ten Class/Race Combos, 2022

1. Human Fighter (4.05%)
2. Elf Ranger (3.32%)
3. Elf Rogue (2.48%)
4. Elf Wizard (2.39%)
5. Human Rogue (2.27%)
6. Human Paladin (2.07%)
7. Human Wizard (2.04%)
8. Human Cleric (2.00%)
9. Elf Druid (1.93%)
10. Tiefling Warlock (1.91%)

Some thoughts:

• Even though it has fallen by almost 1%, Human Fighter is still the most popular choice.
• Humans and elves easily dominate, accounting for 22.75% of all D&D characters on DDB in 2016, and 22.55% in 2023.
• Elf Rogues have gotten considerably more popular, rising from the #8 slot in 2016 all the way to #3 in 2022.
• Wizard and Rogue both appear twice on both lists...once for Human and once for Elf. Cleric appears twice on the 2016 list, for Human and Dwarf.
• The ENWorld 5E Survivor winner (a Halfling Paladin) would rank #69 on this list, at 0.13%.
• Nice.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

We take offense at the term "halfling". We're the perfect size, it's you all that are grotesquely large. That's why amongst ourselves, we call you "doublings" or when feeling less charitable, "dou'ngs"

(this joke is not mine)

 

[MGibster]

Being punished for 'verisimilitude'? People seem to really like doing that.

You don't like verisimilitude? Why is this the first time you're telling us this?

Maybe the PHB shouldn't have anything but humans, and each setting should have it's own unique species with appropriate cultural mechanics?

I think that has about a snowball's paladin's chance in hell of ever happening. I think WotC's approach these days is to be very generic and make sure you can include just about any species in any setting they do publish. I do think the PHB needs some basic info to explain what an elf, halfling, orc, etc., etc. is all about though.