So, about those halflings...

[Hairfoot]

Hairfoot is back to bang his favourite drum - where did all the hobbits go?

When 3E arrived, most of the significant changes from previous editions were addressed. We learned what motivated the changes and what the designers hoped to achieve. Except for halflings.

The familiar Tolkien-esque halflings that were a mainstay of D&D became nomadic kender-elflings without any explanation or consultation. Presumably, the intention was to replace the LotR sterotype of fat lazy farmers with a race that seemed more dynamic and exciting.

So, my question is: has it worked? Are the 3E halflings more popular among players and DMs than the old-style ones? With the end of gnomes, it seems halflings are being left to fly the flag for small races, so which ones would you like to see in 4E?

 

[Wormwood]

So, my question is: has it worked? Are the 3E halflings more popular among players and DMs than the old-style ones?

In my group's experience? Yes.

I would be extremely disappointed if 4e took such a massive step backward as re-introducing the tweed-wearing country squire as an adventuring race.

 

[Pygon]

3e introduced a sleaker type of halfling. I prefer the more stubby, stocky types of 1e (as pictured in the 1e MM). Can't remember what they looked like in 2e.

That might not be conducive to a Dex bonus, but still. I prefer a race that doesn't look like simply a smaller version of humans.

I hope the elves don't still look like the Men in Black alien stretching his face back.

 

[Dragonhelm]

While mechanically the halfling of 3e is designed for adventure, I never felt that there was a reason to play one. They always came across to me as short humans. They don't have their own unique look, save for being smaller. Truthfully, I have never felt that the 3e halfling had an identity all its own.

I see where they took elements of other halfling-like races (notably kender) and implemented them. For example, they adopted the kender fearlessness to a degree since that stereotype is more inclined to adventure than a hobbit is. Yet the adventuring hobbit is not the average hobbit.

Does this mean the hobbit is the way to go? Well, not necessarily. The hobbit has a lot more flavor, but I can see there being intellectual property issues with the Tolkien estate, especially after the popularity of the movies.

I do think, though, that some efforts should have been made to keep halflings closer to their roots. Curly hair and hairy feet that don't need shoes being among them. And truthfully, I love the shire type of atmosphere. There could have been some development without treading too far away from their hobbity roots.

What I sort of envision as what the 3e halfling should have been is this great pic by Claudio Pozas:

Now, maybe he could have had the hairy feet (and perhaps he does under those boots!), but this looks like a halfling to me. While it is obviously influenced by its roots, it is modernized as well, providing a great archetype for the race.

Of course, from what I've seen of the 4e halfling art (and those nasty braids - blech!), I'm not quite certain I will like the 4e halfling.

To each their own, of course.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Physically I prefer the appearance of the 3e halfling, but culture wise I'd really like something between the hobbit and the forest gnome.

I think I may have stumbled on some lineart for 4e halfings on an art site. I'm not certain about this they were unlabeled and they were just lineart, not even inked. But it was mentioned in the comment that they were for an RPG, the artist is one who does a lot of work for RPG companies though mostly European ones and the style seemed to fit in with the art styles we're seeing as teasers.

[sblock]Physically the halfings looked very similar to 3e halflings though perhaps a bit more robust. Maybe somewhere between the existing halfling and the existing gnome. They had less of a gypsy elfling feel in their depiction. More wild in a way, not precisely primitive but harsher and wary is the only description I could make. Wearing mail armor under a cloak with a sort of quasi-Ghillie suit appearance, some use of fur. Had a sort of iron age atmosphere to the overall cast of their gear. One was holding the reins of a war mount something like a sabre-toothed lynx. There was a half-finished sketch of a small settlement. From what was done you could tell when finished it would be several hobbit style burrow-homes in a compact circle doors opening inward toward a central open ground. There were some markings that I think indicated a rough palisade that the artist hadn't started on yet.[/sblock]

 

[Hejdun]

I always saw Halflings as Kender and Gnomes as Hobbits. I thought it was rather obvious, actually.

 

[Kunimatyu]

Couldn't really care. For some reason, they never seem to make their way into my settings -- only the Zilargo gnomes and dragon-ish kobolds have intrigued me as far as Small races go.

 

[Hairfoot]

I think I may have stumbled on some lineart for 4e halfings on an art site.

Internesting. Which site?

 

[Celebrim]

I think the question and any answer to it you offer debunks itself.

The Tolkien 'Hobbit' is in fact a sub-race of humans which is confined to small regional location with what is more or less a monoculture which is roughly congruent to the breadth of culture in an idealized rural England. And this is perfectly fine and realistic for the setting.

But in virtually every D&D setting that includes Tolkien inspired 'Halflings', the Halfling is a full fledged setting spanning race. Therefore, it is in opinion wholly and completely unrealistic to assume that the cultural, ethnic, and individual variaty in the race should be limited to just that of Tolkien tropes, or just the kender-rogueling, or just the elf-ling of 3rd edition.

Any reasonable interpretation of a full fledged race would give them at least the breadth of cultural ethnic diversity found in New Guinea cannibals, Beduoin nomads, Scottish highlanders, Chinese empires, Greek city states, Polynesian sea-farers, Inuit ice fishers, North American mound building subsistance farmers, and so forth. Otherwise, what you are dealing with is no more than the fantasy equivalent of a 'planet of hats'.

In my opinion, the presence of sleek elflings, and kender-esk rogues, and wild haired halfling cannibals should not preclude the notion that their is a large population of tweed wearing corpulant halfling rural farmers politely minding tea kettles and concerning themselves principally with geneology, gossip, pipes, and groceries. I refuse to put a free-willed race in one hat and leave it at that.

For the record, I've read LotR 18 times cover to cover, and you'd scarsely find a bigger Tolkien fan than me. I love Tolkien's portrayal of Hobbits. But I dropped Halflings from my homebrew simply because I wasn't trying to recreate the LotR and they didn't really fit into what ended up becoming my cosmology.

 

[Hairfoot]

The Tolkien 'Hobbit' is in fact a sub-race of humans which is confined to small regional location with what is more or less a monoculture which is roughly congruent to the breadth of culture in an idealized rural England. And this is perfectly fine and realistic for the setting.

But in virtually every D&D setting that includes Tolkien inspired 'Halflings', the Halfling is a full fledged setting spanning race. Therefore, it is in opinion wholly and completely unrealistic to assume that the cultural, ethnic, and individual variaty in the race should be limited to just that of Tolkien tropes, or just the kender-rogueling, or just the elf-ling of 3rd edition.

I think those are great points to make, but the PHB will feature one type of halfling to dominate the 4E world, so it's a matter of taste, not anthropology.

Personally, I'd love a compaign in which adventurers get to encounter pockets of diversely-evolved races, but the homogenous tendencies of fantasy worlds mean that races get defined along quite narrow lines.