Halfling Barbarians rock!
Director of Brand Strategy
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So, the Dwarf Loremaster seems not like the usual sterotypical dwarf to me...comments?We ordered art for a dwarven loremaster specifically to combat the stereotype, in fact. He came out pretty well, I think.
Just like the stout folk themselves, slow perseverance is the way to get ahead. I suggest quietly and steadily adding non-stereotypical NPCs into lots of Paizo adventures so that people's perceptions of them change over time. Eventually, the preconceptions about dwarves will simply cease to exist.
A number of years ago I ran a Dwarf only campaign for my homebrew world, using 3.0 rules. The plot of the campaign was "Christian"-based Elves (with ancient egyptian style) were Crusading against the "Muslim" Dwarves.
The party were mainly lawful good, but in very different way to Norse/Tolkien dwarves. teh party leader though was a lawful evil cleric who kept one of the party fighters as his own slave.
At some point the near(ish) future I hope to use pathfinder to run an all Halfling campaign, to carry on the tradtion of single race campaigns I have done before.
Gnomes > halflings.
In fact Gnomes > everything else. I still can't get over the fact that the book about those stereotypical, boring, stunty drunks came about before the twisted, bleached, fey-touched gnome awesomeness...
Yeah, over the years, I've used Gnomes to fill in some of the halfling areas of games (mostly non-DnD).
Gnomes are just moore fun.
Dwarves, Halflings and Gnomes...
I've been playing D&D in all it's varities since 1989.
In that time i've come acros two types of halfling/hobbit characters.
1=Halfling is a leprechaun, all thievery and mischief, but generally good natured.
2=Halfling is a cute kid and constantly demands attention and protection.
I always thought the lines between Gnomes and Halflings were blurred, with little difference in their habits or personality (although they share the bipedal mammal trait that all the other core races have).
Way back in 2nd edition Halflings got some massively fierce thieving skill bonuses, and soon every Halfling in the Forgotten Realms was a thief.
Gnomes are even rarer in games, with people basing them off inventive Gnomes from Dragonlance/Krynn, or naming them after Linux flavours (Gnome is a brand of desktop interface for the Linux operating systems).
Gnomes in Dragonlance were good because they were more clearly defined and different to Dwarves and Kender/Halflings.
Halflings were awesome in Darksun, they really inverted the sterotype. No lazy country bumpkins who eat too much and work too little here, we had cannibal barbarian raiders, tied to nature and survival not greed or sloth.
My one complaint with Pathfinder is there is still little difference between Gnomes and Halflings. Why is there a need for a difference? because a variety of races is good for dynamic roleplay. I gather some people at Paizo are again Monster PC races such as Lizardmen etc, which is fine, but more differences between Halflings and Gnomes could have been put in - one of them could be animal and not mammals, so they have eggs and ties to another animal races. Perhaps Halflings could have been furry and forest dwelling, Golarions own Ewoks?
To me Gnomes are from Mythology, Halflings are not. And 'Halfling' sounds less-than-Human, so it would be the choice to make more different.
As for Dwarves, yes most people play them as ale quaffing armoured warriors, regardless of their class or stats. Fortunately I have experienced great games with Dwarven characters played by my players, as sorcerers-allied with elementals and keen to explore the multiverse, and as assassins-grim, violent but cautious agents for the king.
The dwarven mindset and its love for traditions make it ideal for the wizard class.Dwarven rune-wizards and geomantic sorcerers, who tap into the power of the earth and stone, would be way, way more interesting than the standard 'dwarven cleric' or 'dwarven fighter' riff.
/AGREE!
I also like the Earthdawn take on dwarves, They're not all beardy! heh.
What really raises an eyebrow for me is simple.
Why do Golarion Halflings NOT have darkvision?
Because 3E halflings didn't, and I'm guessing that 1E, 2E, and even D&D halflings didn't?
* Except for stout/deep halflings
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Creative Director
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* Except for stout/deep halflings
*Which aren't currently "in" Pathfinder, officially.
But yeah; halflings are intended to be the most human of the humanoid races, apart from humans. They live aboveground and are diurnal like humans, and thus don't have darkvision or low-light vision.
The "Gnomes of Golarion" and eventually "Halflings of Golarion" will certainly help to separate these two races a lot more. Basically, gnomes are mysterious creatures from nature and are probably the most "alien" of the core races. Halflings are very much a familiar race and should feel like little humans, but with less drive to conquer and rule.
Re : Darkvision, I can see Gnomes having Darkvision, make them more subterranean to link with Deep Gnomes.
Then give Halflings lowlight vision instead of Halfling fearlessness.
Re : Making Halflings different.
You could make them follow animal spirit totems instead of gods, so they are tied to nature. Totems like - Bear, Boar, Cat, Horse, Jackal, Otter, Owl, Raven, Salmon, Snake, Stag & Wolf. Clan/Tribe members could pride themselves on deeds performed that resemble animal behavior and have tattoos of their clan/tribal animal. Much of these fit in with being river based creatures.
If you want them to be very different then make them animals (as in Non-mammals) so egg laying.
- Reptilian heritage, they shed skin every 3 years and have a strong urge to breed after this time.
- Halfling tribesmen in Mwangi expanse could follow viper, toucan, jaguar and feathered serpent spirit totems. Viper tribe could use poisons, Jaguar tribe are skilled hunters.
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What really raises an eyebrow for me is simple.
Why do Golarion Halflings NOT have darkvision?
Because 3E halflings didn't, and I'm guessing that 1E, 2E, and even D&D halflings didn't?
*blinkblink*
Huh. I guess I just took that for granted as it's standard in my wife's house game. Not having a moon (in her homebrew) means that if you're a demihuman you get darkvision.
* Except for stout/deep halflings
The sad thing is the three subraces of halflings (one of which was human-ish, one was dwarf-ish, and one was elf-ish) made the halflings even less unique as a race.
(I was aware of the subraces but didn't want to get into that for simplicity's sake.)
Re : Darkvision, I can see Gnomes having Darkvision, make them more subterranean to link with Deep Gnomes.
Then give Halflings lowlight vision instead of Halfling fearlessness.
Re : Making Halflings different.
You could make them follow animal spirit totems instead of gods, so they are tied to nature. Totems like - Bear, Boar, Cat, Horse, Jackal, Otter, Owl, Raven, Salmon, Snake, Stag & Wolf. Clan/Tribe members could pride themselves on deeds performed that resemble animal behavior and have tattoos of their clan/tribal animal. Much of these fit in with being river based creatures.
If you want them to be very different then make them animals (as in Non-mammals) so egg laying.
- Reptilian heritage, they shed skin every 3 years and have a strong urge to breed after this time.
- Halfling tribesmen in Mwangi expanse could follow viper, toucan, jaguar and feathered serpent spirit totems. Viper tribe could use poisons, Jaguar tribe are skilled hunters.
Uh...no...They're halflings...not kobolds...
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Just had a fantastic idea: Halflings (Slips) as pirates (of the Inner Sea/Caribbean) . I mean, they are some of the most prolific sailors in the area, are highly adaptable and tend to blend in wherever they go.
Hell, half of Korvosa's fleet (maybe more, and let's not discount all the Riddleport & Magnimar ships) are built to Halfling scale. Eat less, take up less space, more resistant to disease and poison, and are more nimble and cute.
Sounds like mini-Jack-Sparrow (or maybe just Captain Sparrow) is in the offing in the future.
Put me on the list for "excitedly waiting" for Halflings of Golarion, especially since "Gnomes of Golarion" is already announced!
-t
Just had a fantastic idea: Halflings (Slips) as pirates (of the Inner Sea/Caribbean) . I mean, they are some of the most prolific sailors in the area, are highly adaptable and tend to blend in wherever they go.
Hell, half of Korvosa's fleet (maybe more, and let's not discount all the Riddleport & Magnimar ships) are built to Halfling scale. Eat less, take up less space, more resistant to disease and poison, and are more nimble and cute.
Sounds like mini-Jack-Sparrow (or maybe just Captain Sparrow) is in the offing in the future.
Put me on the list for "excitedly waiting" for Halflings of Golarion, especially since "Gnomes of Golarion" is already announced!
That's actually a cool idea. I'll have to steal some of that for my slip-pery rogue.
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Just had a fantastic idea: Halflings (Slips) as pirates (of the Inner Sea/Caribbean). I mean, they are some of the most prolific sailors in the area, are highly adaptable and tend to blend in wherever they go.
Halfling pirates were a key feature of the Five Shires book for the BEMCI Known World. So it isn't a new idea. But that doesn't make it a bad idea either.
