Eternity Does Anyone Even Like Halflings?

[Butter]

Halflings of various flavors have been a staple of fantasy RPGs for decades, but why? Who wants to play as one? I can understand if someone doesn't want to play a human. It's a fantasy game, so let me play something fantastical! But who wants to play as a midget? Wizardry lets you play a hobbit or gnome, early Ultima lets you be a bobbit, BG2 lets you be a halfling or gnome. Sawyer went on record saying that orlans exist in Pillows because he thought the halfling roleplay was important to players. I want to know which players care about this, so I can excommunicate them. The point of hobbits in Tolkien's work was that they were the last folk you'd expect to go on a grand adventure. They weren't hardy warriors or genius mages or world-weary rangers. They were a pastoral folk who liked the simple things in life.

This:

Not this:

 

[0sacred]

They tend to have munchkin-compatible stats (at least in D&D but also other systems) and appropriately fantastical character models. I wouldn't choose one if I can create only one character but it doesn't hurt to have one in the party. Years of conditioning have rewired our brains so that when we look at the little fuckers we go 'yeah that guy is a great thief'.

 

[lukaszek]

i always rp 18 cha halfling so i can pretend to have few extra inches

 

[Raghar]

We love them before we found they are drunken shit. Then when they introduced them with lucky trait into AoW3 and caused mental damage to THG (old Australian strategic games streamer), we loved them. Then they introduced AoW4 with new implementation, and now we hate them again.

 

[Fedora Master]

Halflings are for girlfriends who don't wanna play a crusty dwarf.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

The americans of medieval fantasy

 

[Dark Souls II]

Tolkien's hobbits are endearing. General fantasy "halfings" I am mostly indifferent to, sure the halfing will be the lamest part of any party, but not lame enough for me to hate them. Gnomes are a more touchy subject, gnomes are basically goblins with better PR. But in general I like all "classic" fantasy races. There's nothing better than an oldschool party with a dwarf & human warriors, elf mage etc. Something like this:

Or this:

Or this:

The Japs have fully embraced this archetype because it's GOOD, but for queer western soydevs it's a cringe cliche and they have to allways pimp you a party of weirdos. The only game this ever worked for was Planescape: Torment, because it was fresh then, and it fit the setting very well.

A case in point is:

Sawyer went on record saying that orlans exist in Pillows because he thought the halfling roleplay was important to players

Yeah, "orlans", that's how these little fuckers are called. I repressed the memory of the name. Sawyer could have went on record sucking 9000 dicks for all I care by the way, it's evident he's lying here. It's obvious the "orlans" were an attempt to captivate the furry/associated degenerate audience.

It gives an especially bad aftertaste because the party in PoE1 starts on 100% halal-certified. Your first companion is a placeholder White Man Warrior, which I greatly appreciate. No attempts to pimp you some weirdo. Then your next companion is a very standard elf mage, no weird bullshit. Very good.

PoE2 on the other hand, they try to force an "orlan" on you pretty early on. You have to repeatedly click the same dialogue option on and on to fully confirm that you DON'T want to save some "orlan" from captivity. No bitch I don't want to do that. I hope the "orlan" dies raped to death in the pirate dungeon. Leave me be.

 

[NJClaw]

Halfling paladins make me laugh, especially if their mount is a big dog or some dumb animal like a goat. I guess gnomes can somewhat serve the same purpose, but usually they have "inventors" vibes and that kinda ruins the point.

Also, Dark Sun got it right: little people are funny when they are xenophobic cannibals.

 

[Zlaja]

I fucking hate halflings.
I fucking hate gnomes.
I fucking hate dwarves.

 

[Cryomancer]

All halflings must hang

 

[Necrensha]

Every single RPG has a radically different variety of these guys, that's cause nobody knows what to do with them.
Everybody knows what dwarfs and elves are all about, but halflings? After being included in I don't know how many different games, they have earned 0 love from anyone, there's not a single halfling that anyone gives a shit about.
Nobody knows why they are there.
Like 4 people in total play them.
Gnomes already fill the space of ''small and quirky race''.
Halflings are a waste of space and effort.

 

[Dwarvophile]

Playing a halfling team in Blood Bowl is so much fun, come on!

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I didn't use to but they're growing on me.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Halflings in 2E are basically Hobbits though. Forgot how they where characterized in 3E but i assume it was the same.

Sure, Hobbits in LOTR were not as cosmopolitan as Halflings are in D&D and not as prone to pick up human professions but it's not like there was anything preventing Hobbits do the same other than culture. I mean Frodo became an adventurer so what's there to prevent that becoming more commonplace?

Also in D&D there are still Halflings communities that are basically like Hobbits so what's the issue exactly. You can roleplay them as Hobbits if you want.

Frankly, lack of short races among the BG3 companions made it feel less like D&D to me.

 

[DannyRope]

I have no problems with halflings, although I have never played as one (except in Age of Wonders 3, but that's a TBS not a RPG so it doesn't count). Honestly this thread surprises me. I'd have expected people in this neck of the woods having problems with tieflings rather than halflings, seeing how ubiquitous they've become.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Honestly this thread surprises me. I'd have expected people in this neck of the woods having problems with tieflings rather than halflings, seeing how ubiquitous they've become.

OP's question is "who wants to play as one?", and clearly lots of people want to play as a tiefling

https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=946925

 

[Lyric Suite]

I have no problems with halflings, although I have never played as one (except in Age of Wonders 3, but that's a TBS not a RPG so it doesn't count). Honestly this thread surprises me. I'd have expected people in this neck of the woods having problems with tieflings rather than halflings, seeing how ubiquitous they've become.

Indeed. I fucking hate tieflings.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

I think it has less to do with tieflings and halflings and more to do with interpretation.
Old times:

Shit times:

I don't just mean the "sexy factor". I mean the whole atmosphere of these two pictures, the difference between a representative of a small people robbing a European estate and this deformed they/them straight from the manifestation. This is a general change in fantasy. Things will NEVER be the same again. It will only get worse.

 

[Hydro]

The point of hobbits in Tolkien's work was that they were the last folk you'd expect to go on a grand adventure

Tolkien’s hobbits are Tommies — English yesterday simpletons turned private soldiers that spilled their blood and did the job.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I fucking hate halflings.
I fucking hate gnomes.
I fucking hate dwarves.

Every single RPG has a radically different variety of these guys, that's cause nobody knows what to do with them.
Everybody knows what dwarfs and elves are all about, but halflings? After being included in I don't know how many different games, they have earned 0 love from anyone, there's not a single halfling that anyone gives a shit about.
Nobody knows why they are there.
Like 4 people in total play them.
Gnomes already fill the space of ''small and quirky race''.
Halflings are a waste of space and effort.

 

[d1r]

Only people below 5'7 play/like Halflings, Gnomes or Dwarves.

 

[DannyRope]

OP's question is "who wants to play as one?", and clearly lots of people want to play as a tiefling

Fair enough, but OP mentions the hobbits from Tolkien's literary work being not adventurer material, which is correct, but also probably not completely relevant to halflings in D&D and D&D-esque RPG. The OG hobbits were an inspiration to be sure, with the race as class being the small burglar (i.e.: Bilbo) but there's enough degree of separation. In D&D, Pathfinder and the like the non-human races are, more often than not, humans in funny hats after all. The thing with BG 3 and halflings being the least played race (unsurprisingly with the gnomes being second to last) probably has more to do with the game being a fairly horny RPG, if you forgive my bluntness, than anything else. It's easy then to imagine why almost no players would like to play as a halfling (or a gnome).

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Only people below 5'7 play/like Halflings, Gnomes or Dwarves.

No. Manlets plays gigants (in games but also in life).

Halflings and gnomes are for: women, trannies and soyboys.

 

[0sacred]

Only people below 5'7 play/like Halflings, Gnomes or Dwarves.

only halflings and gnomes are actually smol. Dwarves are as broad as they're tall, if you consider surface area they're as tall or taller than humans.

 

[Reinhardt]

calling dorf bro short is shortest path to become shorter than him.