I've been having trouble as of late with the idea of the little folk fighting. The more I look at it, the more baffled I become. It's at the point where I'm considering not allowing gnomes(formerly a favorite race of mine)in the games I DM. As far as fantasy goes, I realize you can write/say/do whatever you want, but I enjoy a bit of common sense in my world. With that in mind I have found myself wondering over and over: "What the f*** are these puny creatures doing with a bunch of tough, dangerous adventurers?" All in all I find both races woefully inadequate as true combatants.
Halfling Battlefield qualifications:
Halflings posses great luck. Seriously? LUCK?!
Halflings get a bonus to perception. Ideal for a prey animal.
Halflings are slow. They are also small. They are quite literally small, slow creatures. What the f!@~?
Halflings are charming and child like. Ideal qualities for fighting ogres, really.
Gnome Battlefield Qualifications:
Gnomes have some nifty magic. Just nifty, kind of useful. Nothing more.
Gnomes are also small, slow creatures.
Before I get torn apart for being a hack and slash bastard, keep in mind that I know not every mission involves combat. But ultimately, combat is a part of virtually every game. (At least give me some credit for not talking in power-gamey terms). I just think that being little and puny means a race should avoid battle, barring extreme circumstances or racial abilities. Try as I might, the image of a halfling or gnome slaying a troll just doesn't do anything for me. I find it kind of unsatisfying.
Any thoughts?
Try as I might, the image of a halfling or gnome slaying a troll just doesn't do anything for me. I find it kind of unsatisfying.
*shrug* Humans in fantasy regularly slay monsters with a size difference comparable to what you're describing, such as a human going toe to toe with a stone/frost/fire giant. I don't see how that's any different or more believable. Throw magic and extraordinary or supernatural abilities into the mix and the difference in size becomes even less relevant.
None of the PC races are particularly powerful; that's why we have class levels. A gnome might not beat your half-orc in an armwrestling contest, but they make very good sorcerors, for example. If you don't see the point of someone who can point his finger at something and make it explode, maybe you're playing the wrong game :)
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My friend's character, Ser Churles Puffymuffin III and his trust steed "Piggy", a Halfling Cavalier would beg to differ. He is one of the most devastating characters for damage at lvl 2 3 or 4 that I have seen. He has one shotted an Ogre.
I personally built a small patrol of Halfling Warslingers, who patrol the outskirts of their village. The devastating barrage of sling stones would cut almost any foe down.
Are they ideal? No.
Can they kill with the best of them? absolutely.
My friend's character, Ser Churles Puffymuffin III and his trust steed "Piggy", a Halfling Cavalier would beg to differ. He is one of the most devastating characters for damage at lvl 2 3 or 4 that I have seen. He has one shotted an Ogre.
I personally built a small patrol of Halfling Warslingers, who patrol the outskirts of their village. The devastating barrage of sling stones would cut almost any foe down.
Are they ideal? No.
Can they kill with the best of them? absolutely.
OMG can you post your warslinger squad?!!! Or message it to me, I would LOVE to see that, and use it in a home game if you are ok with it
Ambrus said what I was thinking, and you also have to consider that they are harder to hit but can easily be just as strong as the other races.
Look at the stat array for instance. The average Halfling would be as dextrous as the average elf, but would be harder to hit and stronger.
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Ambrus said what I was thinking, and you also have to consider that they are harder to hit but can easily be just as strong as the other races.
Look at the stat array for instance. The average Halfling would be as dextrous as the average elf, but would be harder to hit and stronger.
I beg to differ on "stronger". Gnomes and Halflings both take a -2 to their strength, Elves do not. Also, as small creatures, Gnomes and Halflings can only carry 75% of the load in terms of weight that a medium sized creature can. All that being said, as the weight of a lot of things that Gnomes and Halflings have to carry gets dropped by 50% due to their small size they do come out slightly ahead in that regard. But I wouldn't say that makes them "stronger".
I would say that there is a niche for the "little people" on the battlefield. I think you're looking more at scouts/skirmishers in general than front line fighters. Even with them being able to use medium sized mounts and function in areas where "standard" sized cavalry (medium sized characters on large size mounts) can't go, there are still likely going to be situations where they have to go where the mount can't. The only real exception I see to that being summoner or multiclass summoner variants where the character is using the eidolon as a mount with all the sorts of nifty types of additional movement capabilities an eidolon can get. But then the character is still potentially sacrificing levels in whatever other class the player might want it to have in order to get that capability, or just going as a straight summoner which again isn't a true front line fighter build. So you're back to skirmishing again.
From a role play perspective, halflings are actually the 'little guys,' or the real 'common man' in this dangerous, monster eat monster world. That's really appealing to me. I also like the gnomish tendency to look at the world differently and affect the core assumptions of the game. But yes, I understand that I'm playing the game wrong--It really is about hacking and slashing, and taking other people's stuff.
However, I think players who want to play a gnome barbarian, or whatever, know they're playing the game in an unorthodox manner, and maybe they have good reason for doing so. Ask them. Sometimes asking those questions will either make the player realize how silly and disrespectful they're being to the game, OR come up with really meaningful fluff that makes the game better. And anyway, I think gnomes or halflings should be the vehicle behind what drive the story forward, rather than be 5th or 6th random party members.
Of course, maybe their reasons for playing a gnome or halfling aren't that deep. Personally, I'm a tough little guy. Back in highschool, I benched 195lb when I weighed 119. Do I want to play the huge giant? No. That's kind of lame, and people would accuse me of overcompensating. Truth be told, I want to play a vegepygmy. Kind of like a mini Swamp Thing. Tell me that doesn't sound awesome.
Oh woops, I meant to say hardier, because the elves have a con penalty, I was focusing on the defenses there. The average halfling has more hp than the average elf.
I did have 2 PCs play halfling fighters (they were going for a mary and pippin thing), and they wound out being less effective than the morlock rogue in fights. that being said, they had good ACs and staying power, and the magic didn't faze them as much.
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Are Morlocks balanced against core races?
Here's why Halflings and Gnomes belong on the battlefield:
MOUNTS!
Your human paladin or cavalier needs to leave his niftiest class feature outside. My halfling or gnome fighter/barbarian/cavalier/paladin/druid or summoner is totally on his mount tripling his damage RAGELANCEPOUNCING or SMITELANCING or Casting from Roc-Back.
Or how about spellcasting:
Oh hey +4 size bonus to Stealth checks: Consistent Sneak Attack yo! or you can send wave after wave of summoned minions and remain well-hidden.
Oh what's this? DEX Bonus or CON bonus with CHA bonuses, AWESOME SORCERER.
Plus: Luck Bonus? A +1 Bonus to ALL SAVES? Any Save, any time a halfling passes by 1 BAM that was halfling luck.
In conclusion: Small Characters - Better than big characters.
Are Morlocks balanced against core races?
We had the morlock trailing a few levels behind, overall i felt the halflings we actually better at everything except damage output and mobility.
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I am only playing gnomes in PFS and my main character is a 7th lvl ranger with a riding dog companion. I won't go into all the stats but if all four arrows hit he does 8d6+18 add 16 more damage if it is human. He has a reputation as a boss killer. My other characters are a wizard, barbarian and samurai. Each has a back story (some more detailed then others) as I don't play any character if I don't have a back story (even back in my 3.5 days). Sure there are situations where the big guys have to take the front and hold the line but I have been in fights where my gnome was the only one standing. It all depends on how you work out the stats, skills and feats. You have to look outside the "normal" build. Maybe you focus on a fighter that hits every time with a high dex even if they aren't doing as much damage due to the low str, that is until you can add some feats and better weapons.
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Everyone thinks of sorcerer as a good class for the small races with a cha bonus, but they could also make for a pretty good cleric, since channeling relies on charisma. I'm thinking halfling Desna worshiper with the Luck and Travel domains. Desna's the goddess of travelers, so it seems like a natural fit for the typical halfling wanderlust, though gnome personalities tend to lean in that direction, too.
At first level, Travel domain brings their speed up to 30 and lets them ignore terrain much of the time. Standing behind the front line fighters using the Bit of Luck power from the Luck domain to make sure the heavy damage dealers never miss would probably be more useful than wielding a weapon.
Other than that, focus on healing and other spells, and use that halfling dex bonus to be good with a light crossbow. Dump strength, and don't even bother buying a melee weapon. Take the Lucky Halfling feat eventually, since helping with saving throws could be part of the total heal/buff support cleric package.
The more I look at the rules, the more I come up with character types that I'd like to try. I just know I'm going to end up with a dozen unplayed 1st level Pathfinder Society characters eventually. Now I just need a name and back story for my hypothetical wandering halfling priest. That's the really interesting part.