halflings?

[rocklikeafool]

If halflings are ever added to FfH, it should be so the AV and OO civs can feed them to their Demons and Undead. LOL! Other than that, keep them the frick out! Ugh...Elijah Wood, you jackass, you ruined it all. Thank God for the PRINCESS RULE!

 

[rocklikeafool]

Then why does the game have horses and humans?

Cuz all the players are Human maybe? Sides, almost every Fantasy story has Humans. Humans are vain nough to want Humans in their stories, ya know. In case ya ain't heard, we're the vainest species on Earth.
As for horses, how else would you get mounted units, man? It makes no sense to jus have all infantry or archers. Jeese, use your frickin brain. Sides which, how many princesses wanna ride a huge, ugly warhorse? NONE!

 

[civ_king]

Huge ugly warhorse? they would run from ANY type of none groomed periodically horse. a plow horse or a pack horse, they would run screaming from

 

[civ_king]

This is the D&D Version of Halfling, i hope i don't get in trouble for this (If this is against the rules plz tell me)
"Halfling

Quick and resourceful wanderers, small in stature but great in courage.

RACIAL TRAITS

Average Height: 3' 10" - 4' 2"
Average Weight: 75 - 85

Ability scores: +2 Charisma, +2 Dexterity
Size: Small
Speed: 6 squares.
Vision: Normal

Languages: Choice of one language, Common
Skill Bonuses: +2 Acrobatics, +2 Thievery.
Second Chance: You can use second chance as an encounter power.


Halflings are a small race known for their resourcefulness, quick wits, and steady nerves. They are a nomadic folk who roam waterways and marshlands. No people travel farther or see more of what happens in the world than halflings.

PHYSICAL QUALITIES

Halflings stand about 4 feet tall and weigh about 80 pounds. They resemble small humans and are proportioned like human adults. Halflings have the same range of complexions as humans, but most halflings have dark hair and eyes. Halfling males don’t have beards, but many have long, full sideburns. Halflings of both genders often wear complicated hairstyles, featuring complex braiding and weaving.

Halflings typically dress in clothes that match their surroundings and prefer earth tones and various shades of green. Their clothing and gear feature woven textures and stitching. Birds, river patterns, boats, and fish are common images in halfling art and decoration.

Halflings have life spans comparable to humans.

PLAYING A HALFLING

Halflings are an affable, warm, and cheerful people. They survive in a world full of larger creatures by avoiding notice or, barring that, avoiding offense. They appear harmless and so have managed to survive for centuries in the shadow of empires and on the edges of wars and political strife.

Halflings are practical and down-to-earth. They concern themselves with basic needs and simple pleasures, harboring few dreams of gold or glory. Adventurers are no more rare among halflings than among other races, but they usually pursue the adventurer’s life for reasons of community, friendship, wanderlust, or curiosity. Halfling adventurers are brave and faithful companions, relying on stealth and trickery in battle rather than raw might or magic.

Tight-knit halfling communities are found near the settlements of other races, often along or even on the surface of a body of water. Halflings have never built a kingdom of their own or even held much land. They don’t recognize any sort of royalty or nobility of their own, instead looking to family elders to guide them. This emphasis on family and community has enabled halflings to maintain their traditional ways for thousands of years, unaffected by the rise and fall of empires.

According to halfling legend, Melora and Sehanine created the halflings together, giving the race a love of nature and the gift of stealth. When their interest waned, Melora and Sehanine stopped looking after the race, or so the legends go, and halflings made their own way in the world. They say Avandra, the god of luck, admired their resourcefulness and adopted them, favoring them with good fortune. Not all halflings worship Avandra, but nearly all breathe a prayer of thanks to her when fortune favors them.

Halflings are fond of stories and legends such as the myth of Avandra, and their culture is rich in oral tradition. Few members of other races realize that halfling folktales contain a vast amount of lore about people and places long past. Many halflings are able to dredge up knowledge about the history, religion, or culture of other races, but that knowledge is usually wrapped in a fable.

Halfling Characteristics: Brave, curious, determined, down-to-earth, friendly, good-natured, lucky, nimble, optimistic, practical, resourceful, warm

Male Names: Ander, Corrin, Dannad, Errich, Finnan, Garret, Lazam, Lindal, Merric, Nebin, Ostran, Perrin, Reed, Shardon, Ulmo, Wenner.

Female Names: Andrey, Bree, Callie, Chenna, Eida, Kithri, Lidda, Nedda, Paela, Shaena, Tryn, Vani, Verna, Wella."
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/insider/compendium "halfling"

Notice "+2 Thievery" totally perfect for warping

 

[DuckAndCower]

This line right here:

Quick and resourceful wanderers, small in stature but great in courage.

is enough for me to never want the things in FfH. Man, that's corny.

(if any civs were added, I'd like to see elves or dwarves. I normally hate elves and dwarves and other cliched "races" in fantasy stuff, but at least Kael & Co. have given them multiple civs in order to avoid that gravest of Fantasy sins: the uni-cultural species... i.e. all dwarves are surly and like digging holes... all elves are uppity and love trees... all halflings are "small in stature but great in courage". More of those two races, or better yet another Orc-type civ, would be better than adding another stereotype.)

 

[rocklikeafool]

Yeah, that kinda breaks it. Review the Princess Rule, civ king. And frankly, this isn't D&D.

 

[DemonMaster]

Okey. In general I do not like halflings so thank god for the P rule, but to rule them out just because Tolkien invented them, yeah, good luck, time to remove alot of other stuff in the mod then. To rule them out because they are "childish", "non-heroic" or whatever, that tells some about Kael and since this is his mod sure, no halflings then.

I have played alot of DnD (and other RPGs) through the years (alot of years) and never has any player that have choosed to play halfling confused them with something non-heroic, all-good, comic-relief, funny little thing, actually most (hmm, all) of them have played thieves and assassins.

There are other stuff that is more connected to Tolkien than halflings, and is just as much "cute" and "funny" as the Tolkien version of the halfling, Treants is an example of this which is one thing that I cant stand (in any game).

And obviously, some "comic-reliefs" are allowed for in the mod, because that is the reason for the Donald Duck voice over for the goblins, right? (lets say that thank god that I have the inmod music/my own music on quite loud when I play the clan so I don't hear them ... much).

And by the way, no one that I have ever played RPG with has ever confused the Gnome with the funny little trickster with green hat either and they most certainly don't say "right back at you, lad" when playing them.

But I do understand why they do not fit the pattern for this mod, it is a dark fantasy mod and if to add halflings would have been too much of a Tolkien rip-off I guess.

 

[DemonMaster]

Yeah, that kinda breaks it. Review the Princess Rule, civ king. And frankly, this isn't D&D.

No, but it is based on someones old DnD campaign, so I have heard.

 

[DuckAndCower]

Okey. In general I do not like halflings so thank god for the P rule, but to rule them out just because Tolkien invented them

I actually don't see D&D's halflings as being too closely related to Tolkien's Hobbits. Halflings have that whole thievery thing going on, and I don't think of them as being all rolly-polly.

I think that the problem is that, as they are in D&D, they're a little too 2-dimensional as a race/species/whatever. I mean, look at that line from the sourcebook:

Halfling Characteristics: Brave, curious, determined, down-to-earth, friendly, good-natured, lucky, nimble, optimistic, practical, resourceful, warm

Really? So there are no halflings that are a little angsty? None that are clumsy or cold or aloof? Cowardly or lethargic? The description has me imagining a factory pumping out cookie-cutter clones of these things.

I think that's part of my problem with D&D in general. If you are of this race, you're automatically defined by these characteristics. Sometimes I feel like it's like a racism simulator. "Hey, that thing has green skin. It must be evil! Let's kill it!" "Wait, how do you know it's evil?" "Because everything with green skin is evil. It says so right here in the Monster Manual!"

Anyway, I think if Kael did the same thing to Halflings that he did to Dwarves and Elves, they might work out fine, but I guess I'm just not sure it would add much to the world.

 

[civ_king]

For more info

Dallah Thaun

Dallah Thaun, the Lady of Mysteries, is Yondalla's dark, hidden aspect. She is the great secret of the halfling race, who do not share knowledge of Dallah Thaun with outsiders. She was physically split from Yondalla when she created (or discovered) the halfling race, but she and Yondalla are still one being. What one knows, the other knows, and those that worship Dallah Thaun are also worshipping Yondalla (and vice versa).

Dallah Thaun is Chaotic Neutal, and considered an intermediate goddess. She is represented with dark hair and eyes, and dresses all in black. Where Yondalla nurtures the survivors of a tragedy, Dallah Thaun seeks vengeance. Where Yondalla the Provider creates fertility and plenty, Dallah Thaun urges the halflings to seek wealth. Dallah Thaun, in short, does the dirty work, while Yondalla keeps her hands clean. Dallah Thaun is the goddess of secrets, lies, half-truths, flattery, manipulation, and stealth. The two halves of the goddess do not, and cannot quarrel over their respective methods, different as they may be. They are the same person, with each fulfilling her respective role.

 

[DuckAndCower]

Now that sounds pretty FfH. Would make the choice between Council of Esus and Empyrean kind of tricky

 

[smusebaer]

Perhaps include them as an event. A city of halflings poping up and asking for help. If a good player trys to protect them from the barbarians and evil civics is quiet cool.

 

[Morni]

Cuz all the players are Human maybe? Sides, almost every Fantasy story has Humans. Humans are vain nough to want Humans in their stories, ya know. In case ya ain't heard, we're the vainest species on Earth.
As for horses, how else would you get mounted units, man? It makes no sense to jus have all infantry or archers. Jeese, use your frickin brain. Sides which, how many princesses wanna ride a huge, ugly warhorse? NONE!

I must be terrible with sarcasm, especially if my point still doesn't get through after I explained it in a later post.

 

[thomas.berubeg]

Back to LOTR elves... Even in the Hobbit, the woodelves aren't to Noble and highminded.

 

[Darksaber1]

Well, on the topic of adding halflings, well, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" just about summs it up. But if they were added, then NOT as a civ, perhaps as a trasure-gaurd style barbarian, or a weak assasin/theif from the tavern. I another civ was to be added, maybe neutreal, or even good orcs, that wern't so curruted by Bhall's fall, but loth other races even more then the Clan, because of the other races hated of Orcs, and how they look down on them, see them as stupid. But back on Halfning, I don't care if their added, but I would discourage it.

 

[Ekolite]

There can't be another civ in vanilla FFH, it would break the 3,7,21 rule. It would have to be a mod-mod.

 

[Halancar]

If we wanted a race of evil backstabbers or thieves (not that we do) surely we could find a more fitting design than halflings for that.

*points at his favorite svartalfar assassin* ->
evil ... check
thief ... check
backstabber ... well, I play without combat animations, so I don't really know, but this guy certainly kills the mage hiding behind the back of the champion first.

I don't know about you, but I certainly play the svartalfar as a race of evil assassins, and if they don't happen to backstab, I call it a graphical bug

 

[Darksaber1]

Ya, I know.

 

[CMHistory]

I'd like to see a random Barbarian unit spawn with the goblin model, but remapped with a halfling appearance and name them "Feral Halflings", just like they had in the Dark Sun campaign setting, when all halflings were vicious, psionic, barbarian people-eaters.

Can't really see any other application of halflings in the game...and if they all went the above route, it would be easy to explain why they didn't form their own Civ.

 

[Mortenart]

They will do *anything* to protect their homeland and what they see as rightfully theirs, with no care whatsoever about the consequences of their actions. They are very much differnt to LOTR elves.

LOTR Elves are like this also, they are certainly not sanitised, and would willingly kill anyone who threatened their existence.