EDIT: edited portions in italics
Design Goal: Have halflings
superficially map on to the Tolkien stereotype, which is a whole bunch of "adventures make you late for dinner" farmers and a few "let's walk to Mount Doom and back" adventurers.
I'll actually be introducing some substantial changes to the race and their society, but at a first glance we want sleepy farming villages growing pumpkins and pipeweed, while a handful of halflings set out to combat the great evil that is growing in the East. Also, I want to make a small race that is strong and I'm giving that to halflings. If you're wondering where the goblin's movement of 30 went, this is it.
Designer Notes: I wanted to make halflings a bit more militant while keeping them as yeoman farmers and plucky adventurers. This largely takes the form of the Settlers, though the fact that halflings will win a cage match against any other small race, as well as humans and elves, should be noted. Also, when halflings go to settle new land, they don't do it by half measures; they're kind of like a locust swarm that cultivates instead of consumes. I decided to make the race starkly divided between what amount to herd animals and wandering studs. The whole "villagers attracting travelers" competition is meant to be reminiscent of the lengths
bowerbirds go to attract their mates.
Halflings
We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can't think what anybody sees in them -The Hobbit
Not all those who wander are lost. -The Fellowship of the Ring
While the most obvious feature about halflings is that they are short, at least compared to the humans they resemble, the most remarkable feature about halflings is that they are
strong; despite being half the size and a fifth the weight of a human, a halfling is their equal in contests of strength. They are also very lithe, athletic, and can move surprisingly fast for their size, so halflings should not be under-estimated in combat. Halflings are also a race of extremes. The majority are land-bound farmers, known as Steaders, who only leave their homestead under duress, but a very visible minority are sailors, merchants, explorers, and adventurers, known as Travelers, who are driven by wanderlust. These characteristics define the halflings, both as individuals, and as a society.
Halfling Traits
* Small: As a Small creature, a halfling gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but a -4 penalty on grapple checks as well as using smaller weapons than humans use.
* Move Speed of 30
* +2 racial bonus dexterity
* -2 racial penalty to wisdom (if a Traveler) or Charisma (if a Steader/Settler)
* +2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, and Move Silently checks
* Disproportionate Strength: Halflings are treated as being medium sized for the purposes of lifting and carrying limits
* Homesickness or Wanderlust: see Steader and Traveler descriptions below
Steaders: About four out of every five halflings grow up to become very attached to land of their birth, and have a strong desire to remain and see it cultivated. These halflings are known as Steaders and they are the farmers and herders and craftsmen and fishermen of the race. They generally lay claim to an area large enough to support a thriving village; less space if the land is rich and more if the land is particularly poor. Most work the land or raise animals, while others provide the crafting needed to support this agriculture. If a territory includes a waterway, Steaders can be quite capable fishermen, though they refuse to leave sight of their land. Steaders are only happy when they are in their territory and surrounded by fellow Steaders; Steaders are generally only violent when defending their territory, or resisting being removed from it. These halflings are characterized by an overwhelming desire to see their territory tamed and cultivated. Steaders are also known for being simultaneously very hostile to any they fear might attempt to settle within their territory and extremely welcoming of traverlers, especially halflings but non-halflings as well. This territorial suspiciousness and general inward focus is what makes the Steaders somewhat less charismatic, but generally more level-headed than Travelers.
As Steaders will not travel beyond the edge of their territory, they are dependent on Travelers for both trade and fresh genes. As a result, halfling villages are in a state of fierce competition with their neighbors to attract Travelers. Villages will try to use comfortable inns, fine food and drinks, entertainment, festivals, and valuable trade goods to lure as many Travelers as possible to visit. In a well-visited village, a little over fifty percent of the halflings present will have a Traveler as a parent; if a town is unpopular for too long it will run the risk of inbreeding.
Steaders are not generally considered playable. Those with class levels are usually fighters or clerics.
Stats: Halfling Traits, -2 charisma, Homesickness (a Steader will not willingly leave their territory unless coerced, and will attempt to return there whenever possible)
Travelers: About one in five halflings will, around the onset of puberty, feel for the first time the desire to leave their home and wander. These halflings usually join the next group of Travelers to enter the village, and from that point on they'll never stop moving on. Any role a halfling can have that involves moving from place to place is filled by a Traveler. Every halfling merchant, explorer, scout, mercenary, adventurer, and sailor is part of this very visible minority. Unlike the Steaders, a Traveler feels a growing urge to seek out new surroundings; an urge that becomes almost overpowering within a month of being in the same place. Though Travelers often group up with others of their kind, they do so for practical reasons and not because they feel the need to surround themselves with other halflings like Steaders do.
Because of the welcome they are certain to receive, most Travelers journey in a broad circuit across many halfling villages, often plying a trade as a merchant, sailor, or guard thereof. If a settled area is particularly dangerous, a chain of halfling villages will often hire a group of Travelers to patrol between them, exterminating smaller threats and scouting for the village militias. A few Travelers become explorers and adventurers, traveling to new lands and being away from their kind for months or even years at a time; some even return to these lands later in life as a guide to a group of Settlers. Despite stereotypes to the contrary, Travelers are neither exceptionally brave nor foolish. They are, however, more prone to impulsive or short-sighted decision making than their stay-at-home counterparts.
Because of their small size, strength, and agility, Travelers make excellent sailors, and the life of a sailor meshes well with their inborn wanderlust. It is to this profession that most Travelers settle, and in many parts of the world sailors and haflings are strongly associated. The only issue is that halfling vessels rarely travel out of sight of land for more than a month or two at a time. A featureless ocean can trigger the Traveler's desire to go
somewhere else, even though the halflings onboard know intellectually that they have never stopped moving.
Travelers can excel in many roles, but most become rangers, fighters, barbarians, or rogues. Their wanderlust makes extended study difficult, which makes wizards, monks, and clerics rare.
Stats: Halfling Traits, -2 wisdom, Wanderlust (a Traveler feels compelled to travel to a new destination every month. Resisting this urge is possible but grows increasingly difficult)
Settlers: When the population density in a halfling village gets too high, slightly more than half of the children born will exhibit a kind of Steader-Traveler hybrid personality; they will yearn to travel to a new area uninhabited by halflings and claim it as their own. Once this generation has grown to adulthood they will pick a destination they wish to depart for, elect a leader, beg or buy what supplies they can from their fellow villagers, and begin to assemble an expedition. This is done by traveling from village to village, adding ever more Settlers and supplies to their expedition. If two growing expeditions meet, they will usually merge; one leader will step down and the other, usually the most charismatic, will pick one of the two destinations to continue to. Once the expedition is deemed sufficiently large and well-supplied, they will usually try to hire some Travelers familiar with their destination as guides and then set out.
Just as Steaders feel compelled to defend and cultivate their territory no matter what, Settlers are likewise willing to do whatever is necessary to reach and settle their destination. If they must fight to get there, so be it. If they must fight to drive off whatever lived there before, so be it. If they must fight to eradicate whatever lived there before, so be it. And if 90% of their numbers must die to achieve this, so be it. Halflings almost never field armies, but to those already living at the destination there seems little difference between the expedition and one... generally, armies are more willing give up and to retreat than the halfling Settlers.
Once the Settlers have their destination well in hand they become just another bunch of Steaders, working to tame the land around them and entice a steady flow of Travelers. Should any Steaders be forced to abandon their home, they essentially become Settlers who will work tirelessly to form an expedition to retake their home. Unlike a true Settler, a former Steader is unwilling to accept a new destination. In this way, the halfling race has expanded and, once there, proven difficult to remove.
Settlers are not generally considered playable. Those with class levels are usually rangers, fighters, clerics, or rogues.
Stats: Halfling Traits, -2 charisma, Homesickness (a Settler will not willingly leave their territory unless coerced, and will attempt to return there whenever possible)
