Besides Height, How Do Halflings Differ From Humans

[ondonaflash]

One thing I like to do when I make a world of my own is give each race specific traits that differentiate them from humans. Just like not all animals, or world cultures have the same qualifiers for beauty, cuisine, dietary concerns, etc. Neither should all races. For example orcs in my world:

Orcs are carnivorous, and eat their meat raw. Some orc cultures are known to feast on the flesh of their foes, but others make a habit of eating (only) the hearts of mighty enemies and animals. For males the size of tusks tends to be looked on as a sign of a viable mating partner, while for females most males prefer smaller tusks, but muscular arms and backs, for carrying the young.

Make up your own stuff, but have a reason for why its true.

If you want some background stuff to build off of, in my campaign Halflings are jungle born, and use their smaller size and natural agility to flee predators. They use stealth attacks and poisons to take down larger animals, but in general eat smaller creatures, insects, and vegetables that grow naturally in the jungle. They have heightened senses, developed over centuries of being hunted and build their townships in treetops, away from the forest floor predators.

[NecroRebel]

Traditionally, hobbits had much thicker, leatherier skin on their feet than humans. The same might be true of halflings, and it might be true of their hands, as well. This would be a cause of their normal lack of shoes, and if they also have thicker-skinned (but slimmer-fingered) hands, that would imply that they rarely wear gloves or gauntlets.

Halflings probably run at a hotter temperature than humans as well. Now, normally, smaller creatures would have a lower volume/surface area ratio, meaning that they would lose heat more efficiently, making them run colder. But, halflings are not normally especially vulnerable to cold climates, so they must be roughly as resistant to cold as humans, thus, they would have to run at a higher temperature normally.

Higher temperature also implies that their diet is relatively high in caloric value, to fuel the heat. It may also mean that halflings are hairier, overall, maybe even somewhat furry, to conserve more heat.

If halflings are very hairy, relative to humans, that might mean that they would value well-groomed body hair. It's a justification for the traditionally-long sideburns halfling men cultivate; well-groomed hair is, even moreso than for humans, a major beauty mark.

Also, halflings are traditionally very stealthy to survive, so traits that benefit stealth - short stature, soft voices that don't carry far, and, hey, leathery feet!, all would be attractive.



Edit: Just saw your edit about them being arboreal. Long arms and long fingers, beneficial for treetop living, would be extremely valued, as would compact builds for the same reasons.

[ondonaflash]

That's just my version, I'm not averse to anyone posting their own kinds. What customs do you think might develop in that kind of culture? Maybe limb stretching, corsets, treetop races? They probably have a lot of practice with knots and the like.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Everybody knows that halflings are man-eating jungle-dwelling savages from the Forest Ridge from over the Ringing Mountains. Not everyone knows that in ages past they were the masters of the world, using mighty psionics to bend and shape life itself to their wishes.

[ondonaflash]

Everybody knows that halflings are man-eating jungle-dwelling savages from the Forest Ridge from over the Ringing Mountains. Not everyone knows that in ages past they were the masters of the world, using mighty psionics to bend and shape life itself to their wishes.

I see. And how has this affected the development of their culture? Do they regularly practice meditation? Are meditative training exercises part of the regular life, or even education systems? Do they have specific rituals involved in the hunting of men?

[NecroRebel]

That's just my version, I'm not averse to anyone posting their own kinds. What customs do you think might develop in that kind of culture? Maybe limb stretching, corsets, treetop races? They probably have a lot of practice with knots and the like.

I was actually making a campaign setting a while back which involved arboreal halflings, though I've largely abandoned the project since due to schoolwork and such. Um. I largely assumed "vanilla" 4E halflings.

I assumed that, culturally, the halflings would be largely nomadic, though with largely permanent networks of treetop rope bridges crisscrossing their entire forest. It's difficult to subsist entirely in the treetops if you stay in one area, hence the nomadic lifestyle. You'd probably have them eat mainly tree-grown fruits, leaves, birds, and eggs, as well as the insects and tree-climbing creatures.

If halflings as a species in general tend to live in the treetops, they're probably going to be more monkeylike than the apelike humans, though what exactly that would entail as far as physical differences is difficult to say. They probably wouldn't practice limb stretching, though; their limbs would be naturally elongated due to evolutionary necessity.

I'm... really not sure what else to say. The problem is that you're getting farther and farther away from the normal conception of halflings, which means that others' conceptions of halflings will increasingly differ from yours, and thus be less useful. It's one issue with modifying a standard race rather than making your own from scratch :smallannoyed:

[ondonaflash]

Well I don't want to rules change anything. I just want each of my cultures in game to be unique, and I also want to see how people developed their own in-game cultures. I chose halflings because they are shorter than humans, and I wanted to ponder how that would change their lifestyle and customs, and furthermore, what evolutionary sequence would cause this.

This is a prelude to a homebrewed world where each of the major races are at war, trying to exterminate the others, as part of an evolutionary competition. They have developed an instinctive hatred for one another, which I think might have happened had their been any other intelligent races to compete with humans as they developed (BBC did a special on how the Cro Magnon might have driven the Neanderthals to extinction)

[Hat-Trick]

They actually speculate that Neanderthals were stronger and SMARTER than Cro Magnum, but were unable to adapt, maybe to changing climate or disease, not sure, but that's the new stuff.

[ondonaflash]

They actually speculate that Neanderthals were stronger and SMARTER than Cro Magnum, but were unable to adapt, maybe to changing climate or disease, not sure, but that's the new stuff.

IRRELEVANT! :smallwink:

But yeah, you don't get an entire race of midgets just for the fun of it, they generally have to have some edge over the evolutionary competition, and usually our customs develop around that. (Or obscure medical practices from the middle ages.)

And as for that world of genocidal races, the theory behind that is that each one would be vying for the evolutionary peak, instinctively, and thus, they would have an instinctive hatred for the other races which prevent the greatest threat.

[Tallis]

Stealth is highly valued, therefore tests of bravery and manhood revolve around it. Hunting down a dangerous animal or enemy alone is not considered brave, just stupid. If a halfling wants to prove he's brave he sneaks into an enemy camp and steals something.
This mindset also extends to courtship rituals. Normally a female will initiate courtship by sneaking into the male's residence and stealing something personal. Returning it shows her interest in romantic a relationship.
Villages tend to be far apart because of the scarcity of resources. This leads to males frequently be gone for long periods hunting, trading, or making war (by stealing supplies from enemy villages). Therefor the society is matriarchal. Females run the village because they are the ones that are there all the time. Children are raised communally so that the women can get on with running the village rather than being stuck at home with the kids.
Small monkeys and flying squirrels are frequently kept as pets since they can survive in the trees with the halflings. Chameleons are thought to be agents of the gods with their ability to blend in and observe the world.
Generally coloration that blends into the environment is considered attractive as are small size and nimbleness. Intelligence is much more valued than brute strength.

EDIT: I see now that you want race wars. Should a halfling find it necessary to kill, rather than just driving foes away, they would certainly be ambushers. Paralytic or sleep poisons delivered from a distance would immobilize the target before the halfings move in for the kill. If for any reason the poison doesn't work they will run away. Traps are also frequently used against stronger enemies.

[ondonaflash]

I postulate, that lacking stable resources they'd be nomadic, having a series of platforms interlacing their forests, which they use as staging points for their clans. I like your idea that war is a matter of stealing resources.

Coming of age? What if it weren't, say to steal something, but to vine jump down and grab some resource from the forest floor? (Something ridiculously exciting.)

[Tallis]

My previous post has been edited with combat tactics.

Climbing down to the floor as a coming of age could work. What about stealing a kitten from a leopard's den (is that the correct term for a leopard's home?) or some other animal that could be trained as a guard? Or gathering plants used for poisons?

[Tsotha-lanti]

I see. And how has this affected the development of their culture? Do they regularly practice meditation? Are meditative training exercises part of the regular life, or even education systems? Do they have specific rituals involved in the hunting of men?

Heck no. They wear paint and loincloths, beat on drums, climb in trees, kill and eat the giant spiders found on the Forest Ridge (and pretty much anything else, including travelers), and have a religion of bloody rituals. Their chiefs are preserver-psionics and capable warriors; these rare psionics and magicians no doubt practice meditation, but it's unlikely to be common among the rest. Funnily enough, Tallis' poisons make an appearance - in blowguns, naturally, but also in darts or javelins and arrows.

Then there's the ones who've moved on into the open deserts and badlands of the Tyr region, who apparently mostly live as packs that run down or ambush anything that they think they can kill and eat (just like the thri-kreen, funnily enough).


For serious, though, how can people not recognize Athasian halflings from a description that obvious? Such is the ignominy that mighty setting has fallen to.

[Tallis]

For serious, though, how can people not recognize Athasian halflings from a description that obvious? Such is the ignominy that mighty setting has fallen to.

Well it's been a long time since Dark Sun was published. Did it ever get updated for 3.X outside of Dragon magazine? If it makes you feel any better I did recognize them in your first post... never more than one session of Dark Sun myself, but it was an interesting idea.

[ondonaflash]

Well, I just wanted more than that which was already handed to you in the settings fluff. I want cultural development and how being a species causes their culture to differ from human culture. I just added a few qualifiers to help the process along.

[Origomar]

As children they play games like throw the stick and throw the stone. Also they hold sheets of lead in front of themselves as a test to their manhood.

[The Rose Dragon]

For serious, though, how can people not recognize Athasian halflings from a description that obvious? Such is the ignominy that mighty setting has fallen to.

If it helps, I recognized them the moment you said "man-eating". Blame the D&D PSAs for that.

[Hat-Trick]

Halflings are considered adults when their ability to draw a tower shield sized sheet of lead faster than a human can stumble their way through the words "Detect Evil." :P

Halfling society refers to anything bigger than Small size as some sort of derogatory term for either clumsy or slow. They only consider other Small races as worthy opponents and judge enemies by their stature, usually with smaller being better. Their exceptional hearing is highly valued, in fact, the entire race holds tournaments to test the hearing of all it's warriors, including such activities as a modified version of hide and seek, where It is blindfolded and placed in the middle of the clearing and must tag each other player one-by-one as they try to tag It. Thrown weapon contests. climbing races, and jumping challenges are also popular, with the participants usually betting dibs on food, mates, or duties depending on the group or tribe. Once every few months, a small group of individuals are chosen to test their bravery by taunting dangerous predators on the forest floor, the most common methods include hitting a sleeping target in close range or interrupting one on a hunt.

[ondonaflash]

Reminds me of an interesting OoTS scene, where Belkar recognized a femanized Roy by his scent (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0244.html), so perhaps its not just sight and hearing, but all five senses of a halfling, which are sharper than those of mere Large creatures. After millenia of being prey and the smallest of the races their senses are sharp enough to sense humans coming on the wind. Differentiate the races nearby by their scent, and track prey through the forest without the use of their sight. Should larger foes approach they could conceal themselves completely with a series of pre-trained maneuvers which every halfling learns from early childhood.

[ImmortalAer]

OOTS taught me everything I know ;

• Halflings can smell incredibly well with thier little noses.
• Thier supposed to be jolly.
• Cannot be hung.
• May or may not carry a lead sheet as a rite of adulthood.
• Enjoy food.
• Have hairy feet.
• Are somewhat self-centered.
• Write diaries that get used by evil liches in an attempt to take over the world. (Someone ought to warn Bilbo.)

[BobVosh]

For serious, though, how can people not recognize Athasian halflings from a description that obvious? Such is the ignominy that mighty setting has fallen to.

I got it instantly. In fact I was going to post a very similiar post. Whelp. That can't be done.

I enjoy having cannabilistic halflings/savage ones. I kinda use them like Tucker's Kobolds: forest edition. Replace tiny tunnels with ropes that break with more than 45 pounds, etc.

[Dagren]

Halfling society refers to anything bigger than Small size as some sort of derogatory term for either clumsy or slow.What, even elves? They're just as dextrous, and, not being burdened with short stubby little legs, are faster too. :smalltongue:

[Piedmon_Sama]

I actually don't use Halflings in the setting I currently DM. Nobody wanted to play one and we already had added Half-Ogres to the standard races so I didn't put them anywhere, and we've played about two years now without them.

But if I did, I've honestly always preferred the isolated, unassuming farmers of Tolkien to the Kender-lite of 3.x's fluff. Halflings are a pastoral people who work hard but live comfortably, out of the way from the politicking and wars of human kingdoms. They're big eaters, and those who care to know appreciate the richness of Halfling-grown tobacco and their hoppy beers. Every Halfling is part of a big, extended family where relatives always look after each others' business (whether they're wanted or not!) and while there are rich and poor among them, they're not so elitist as to bar anyone from a village dance or feast.

Most don't make much of them, and any would-be conqueror would hardly factor them into his plans. But they've got a certain resiliance which even most Halflings don't know they have, which will surprise you in a pinch if they're put to the test.

I mean don't get me wrong, Dark Sun's cannibal pygmies are cool but The Shire is the kind of place I'd like to live.

[ondonaflash]

Point, I just got bored with Tolkien-esque. So i decided mine were different! :smallbiggrin:And I wanted to see how everyone else's were!

[Quietus]

I actually don't use Halflings in the setting I currently DM. Nobody wanted to play one and we already had added Half-Ogres to the standard races so I didn't put them anywhere, and we've played about two years now without them.

But if I did, I've honestly always preferred the isolated, unassuming farmers of Tolkien to the Kender-lite of 3.x's fluff. Halflings are a pastoral people who work hard but live comfortably, out of the way from the politicking and wars of human kingdoms. They're big eaters, and those who care to know appreciate the richness of Halfling-grown tobacco and their hoppy beers. Every Halfling is part of a big, extended family where relatives always look after each others' business (whether they're wanted or not!) and while there are rich and poor among them, they're not so elitist as to bar anyone from a village dance or feast.

Most don't make much of them, and any would-be conqueror would hardly factor them into his plans. But they've got a certain resiliance which even most Halflings don't know they have, which will surprise you in a pinch if they're put to the test.

I mean don't get me wrong, Dark Sun's cannibal pygmies are cool but The Shire is the kind of place I'd like to live.

If anything, I'd see Gnomes more like this than Halflings.

[mistformsquirrl]

My primary homebrew world doesn't use halflings >.< nothing against em, but I couldn't find a niche for them that I wasn't more satisfied with something else filling.

However if I did use halflings, they'd be something like this -

Halflings are tribal nomads who spend most of their time criss-crossing the vast plains of western Aster*. They make heavy use of riding dogs as mounts, and are known to be crack shots in the saddle, making good use of powerful composite shortbows. They're also skilled beastmasters, and when facing a halfling war party one should expect wolves and various predatory birds at the least.

Generally they're willing to help travelers or at least leave them be, but when times are lean and game is scarce, occasionally they'll begin to raid settlements for supplies; assuming they can't simply extort what they need.

Though most of the continent is rather civilized, the halflings refuse to settle for several reasons. The simplest and most obvious is that most halflings greatly enjoy their wandering ways - there is simply no inclination to stop.

There is also lingering animosity between more civilized groups and the halfling tribes due to their occasional use of extortion or raiding to survive during harsh times. Some of it is also related to larger folks sometimes deciding that clearing the plains of the tribes would be good for trade... which has resulted in several small wars; none of which have gone well for the large folk.

Of late the tribes have been in decline however, as the civilized kingdoms encroach more and more on their territory, leaving them less and less space to hunt unmolested; and some of the tribe's youth have left to seek their fortune in lands far from home, leaving tradition behind.


--- Essentially a cross between Native Americans and Pre-Genghis Khan Mongols. Probably could toss in a little bit of Russian steppe nomads as well for the most northerly groups.

*Aster - Most north-western continent on the primary map of my world. The upper lattitudes are positively frigid (thing Siberia); though the lower latitudes can be rather pleasant (midwestern US roughly).

(This was all thought up at 5am while enduring a pounding headache <,< please forgive me if it sounds ridiculous)

[Kaiyanwang]

In my campaings, halfling eat like a medium size creature.

[Faleldir]

• Cannot be hung.

I really hope you mean "hanged".

[mistformsquirrl]

OOTS taught me everything I know ;

• Halflings can smell incredibly well with thier little noses.
• Thier supposed to be jolly.
• Cannot be hung.
• May or may not carry a lead sheet as a rite of adulthood.
• Enjoy food.
• Have hairy feet.
• Are somewhat self-centered.
• Write diaries that get used by evil liches in an attempt to take over the world. (Someone ought to warn Bilbo.)

You forgot a really important one! >.>

* Make hats out of sentient creatures. Also salsa bowls. Also potentially litter boxes.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Well it's been a long time since Dark Sun was published. Did it ever get updated for 3.X outside of Dragon magazine? If it makes you feel any better I did recognize them in your first post... never more than one session of Dark Sun myself, but it was an interesting idea.

Athas.org (http://athas.org/) is an absolutely wonderful conversion project. They were, unfortunately, rejected for publication under the OGL because they had published their material online already (beta versions, essentially, but there you go), so they kept doing it online as an open project.

[bosssmiley]

They live in burrows; eat constantly; birth litters of whelps at a time; steal and hoard anything shiny they encounter; can adapt to impossible hardships; vigorously patrol their territory, and swarm over you en masse when cornered (see "Scouring of the Shire").

Halflings are the prototypical Skaven! :smalleek:

Tolkien himself suggests that halflings are a type of rodent; they're not really related to humans at all. And, inspired by the nightmarish imagery of LOTR, James Herbert and Ian Miller showed us the full, undiluted horror of The Shire (http://www.sci-fi-o-rama.com/wp-content/uploads/ian_miller_the_rat_soldier.jpg).

[Devils_Advocate]

If being smaller than humans has made halflings a prey species rather than a top predator, I can easily see them as being rather paranoid. Not cowardly, of course; they've got that racial bonus against fear, after all! Rather, they're just keenly aware of a lot of potential danger, and are always looking out for threats. With sufficient intelligence and resources, this makes them crazy prepared (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrazyPrepared).


If anything, I'd see Gnomes more like this than Halflings.
Honestly, I think it would be easy to take aspects from the stereotypical gnome, halfling, and hobbit, and combine them into a single Small, stealthy, cute, curious, childlike, folksy race. They could vary from farmers to nomads to engineers to illusionists on a group and an individual basis, but they'd all be the same race.

There are other races one could combine -- orcs and hobgoblins, for instance, or goblins and kobolds. Sort of the opposite of having a subrace for every conceivable niche.

[Blackfang108]

Well it's been a long time since Dark Sun was published. Did it ever get updated for 3.X outside of Dragon magazine? If it makes you feel any better I did recognize them in your first post... never more than one session of Dark Sun myself, but it was an interesting idea.

Athas.org (http://www.athas.org) a semi-official update.

[Mewtarthio]

Halflings also have what humans would consider a warped sense of honor. As Tallis posted earlier, their natural proclivities towards stealth over combat mean that subterfuge and trickery is actually seen as honorable, while brute force is viewed as the last resort of the stupid. You should not expect the halflings to have many myths featuring Hercules-esque heroes battling monsters; rather, tricksters such as Prometheus and Sisyphus would predominate, only they'd end up rewarded for their cleverness rather than condemned to eternal torment. Your halflings seem pretty tribal, so the question of how governments maintain control if the threat of force is seen as weak is not an issue.

This has obvious implications for halfling military strategies. Guerrilla warfare is their primary MO. Halflings ambush their foes, preferably after luring them into traps, and rain poison darts on them from above. The assassination of an enemy leader would be the ultimate dream of a halfling warrior, though strongly-fortified cities would be too difficult to infiltrate (being three feet tall makes disguises pretty much unavailable). They will still try and sew as much chaos as possible, poisoning supplies, deliberately targeting enemy officers, and the like.

Funeral customs would also be unusual to human eyes. Halflings live in treetops, and the forest floor is apparently very dangerous. Thus, burial is stupid unless you intend to dig a very large grave and cremation is just plain ridiculous. Given that the halfling style of warfare means that the bodies of soldiers will often not return to their families, halflings place little importance on the corpses themselves. Their funerals might consist of nothing more than solemnly dropping the corpse from a tree. Unless they are completely alien (which makes this whole post a waste of time), however, they'll still want something to remember the deceased by. Treetops make ornate and heavy statues impractical, but an artist may be commissioned to carve the deceased's likeness in a small token.

[snoopy13a]

I really hope you mean "hanged".

Apparently, either is ok:


Hang has two forms for the past tense and past participle, hanged and hung. The historically older form hanged is now used exclusively in the sense of causing or putting to death: He was sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead. In the sense of legal execution, hung is also quite common and is standard in all types of speech and writing except in legal documents. When legal execution is not meant, hung has become the more frequent form: The prisoner hung himself in his cell.


http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hanged

[LurkerInPlayground]

Stealth is highly valued, therefore tests of bravery and manhood revolve around it. Hunting down a dangerous animal or enemy alone is not considered brave, just stupid. If a halfling wants to prove he's brave he sneaks into an enemy camp and steals something.
This mindset also extends to courtship rituals. Normally a female will initiate courtship by sneaking into the male's residence and stealing something personal. Returning it shows her interest in romantic a relationship.
Villages tend to be far apart because of the scarcity of resources. This leads to males frequently be gone for long periods hunting, trading, or making war (by stealing supplies from enemy villages). Therefor the society is matriarchal. Females run the village because they are the ones that are there all the time. Children are raised communally so that the women can get on with running the village rather than being stuck at home with the kids.
Small monkeys and flying squirrels are frequently kept as pets since they can survive in the trees with the halflings. Chameleons are thought to be agents of the gods with their ability to blend in and observe the world.
Generally coloration that blends into the environment is considered attractive as are small size and nimbleness. Intelligence is much more valued than brute strength.

EDIT: I see now that you want race wars. Should a halfling find it necessary to kill, rather than just driving foes away, they would certainly be ambushers. Paralytic or sleep poisons delivered from a distance would immobilize the target before the halfings move in for the kill. If for any reason the poison doesn't work they will run away. Traps are also frequently used against stronger enemies.
That's a bit Flanderized (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Flanderization) for my tastes. Unless these halflings are basically the Spartans of the halfling world, I doubt valuing stealth would be all that strong of a focus. I can see it being lauded the way people laud athletic ability, but I doubt it'd go so far as to involve a elaborate mating ritual unless this is one of those silly warrior-utopias (i.e. The Spartans).

[ondonaflash]

Unless they are completely alien (which makes this whole post a waste of time), however, they'll still want something to remember the deceased by. Treetops make ornate and heavy statues impractical, but an artist may be commissioned to carve the deceased's likeness in a small token.

Perhaps their likeness carved into the very trees themselves! Which has an added bonus of making the jungles seem unsettling, or even "haunted" to the world ar large.

And seeing some people mention Gnomes, if you would like to branch out the discussion I could explain my modifications of Gnome culture!


That's a bit Flanderized (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Flanderization) for my tastes. Unless these halflings are basically the Spartans of the halfling world, I doubt valuing stealth would be all that strong of a focus. I can see it being lauded the way people laud athletic ability, but I doubt it'd go so far as to involve a elaborate mating ritual unless this is one of those silly warrior-utopias (i.e. The Spartans).

Well a lot of what defines physical attraction among humans, when you get right down to it, comes from traits which are evolutionarily superior. Large breasted women? Can feed a nursing child better! Muscular men? Superior hunters! Hips! (depending on your tasted...) the wider they are, the easier the birth! Women who are attracted to intelligent males? Are attracted to a hunter who is more clever, and thus more likely to survive. A lot of what defines our attractions to one another is deep seated ancestral memory. That's right! You're evolution's bitch!

[Zeta Kai]

Well, the 3rd Edition books depict halflings as having an elongated head, a slightly sloped face (kinda Asian, I guess), & a propensity for dreadlocks. Their bodies seem to be proportioned exactly like humans, only scaled down (unlike gnomes, which have disproportionally-large heads & lanky limbs).

[LurkerInPlayground]

Well a lot of what defines physical attraction among humans, when you get right down to it, comes from traits which are evolutionarily superior. Large breasted women? Can feed a nursing child better! Muscular men? Superior hunters! Hips! (depending on your tasted...) the wider they are, the easier the birth! Women who are attracted to intelligent males? Are attracted to a hunter who is more clever, and thus more likely to survive. A lot of what defines our attractions to one another is deep seated ancestral memory. That's right! You're evolution's bitch!
Umm, first off, the breasts and hips thing is generally speculation.

Standards of beauty change. Since ideal breast size has varied and still does vary. Women need breasts and hips for childbearing, but they also happen to be convenient shorthand indicators for prospective mates. Being bigger etcetera has less to do with it then that they exist at all.

Secondly, if your mating rituals involve elaborate breaking-and-entry, this is highly intrusive and inconsiderate. The only people who deliberately went out of their way to be such *******s to breed "superior" children tended to be a specific kind of crazed warrior-elite (e.g. Spartans). Unless your halflings are a very specific kind of people who live their entire lives around cultivating a very specific talent, then it's not likely that it plays that prominent a role in their lives.

I really wouldn't to be punched for somebody to prove their strength, now would I? It's antisocial. If I wanted a warrior for a mate, there are much simpler ways of displaying those virtues. Contests or building a reputation come to mind.

A particularly guileful and graceful halfling is more than likely to build that reputation over time rather than needing to prove it by using his powers to intrude on other people's privacy.

Humans are the endurance creatures of the animal kingdom. It doesn't mean that we structure our courtship rituals around them and go out of our way to breed the ultimate endurance runner. (Yes, humans can tire out a rabbit by jogging at it in an open field.) Humans would also have longer legs than halflings, but it's incredibly stupid to reduce humans down to the one thing they're relatively better at.

To take our example further, the aforementioned halfling would be a real warrior-stud of his people. But keep in mind that women aren't always particularly interested in a warrior/athlete. In practice, many women marry farmers, clerks, craftsmen, merchants, bureaucrats etc.

My point still stands. You'd still be Flanderizing an entire species.

[ondonaflash]

My point still stands. You'd still be Flanderizing an entire species.

So what is your prefferred method of developing a civilization? How would you generate their customs, traits and mating habits? My methodology is to drag them along an imaginary evolutionary ladder and develop their customs based around things they would have to do to survive early on, and carry them over to a modern context where, while no longer necessary, they have become so ingrained in tradition that they are done anyways.

Keep in mind though that this is a middle age era culture, so many of their customs would still be reliant on surviving and imposing order (and thereby safety) on an unordered environment. Higher need such as individual rights, art, and the like would be secondary to the base needs such as hunting, hiding, and procreating.

[LurkerInPlayground]

Keep in mind though that this is a middle age era culture, so many of their customs would still be reliant on surviving and imposing order (and thereby safety) on an unordered environment. Higher need such as individual rights, art, and the like would be secondary to the base needs such as hunting, hiding, and procreating.
And farming.

Tilling. Tilling. And more tilling. It's backbreaking and hazardous to your health but a lot of somebodies have got to do it. The Romans had slaves. Afterwards a bunch of people relied on feudalism.

As you pointed out, elaborate courtship rituals only really matter if you have time to socialize or have a very pressing need to ritualize such interaction.

If it isn't a hunter-gatherer society, then I highly doubt that finding the best warrior of the lot is really your biggest concern. Somebody has to feed the warrior-elite and everybody else. The logistics of this tend to be more important to the average shmuck than does cultivating the best warrior talents.

Athletic pursuits tended to fall to the privileged, as you need both food and leisure time to really develop those talents to their fullest potential.

[ondonaflash]

That's an interesting basis to start from too! (When I said middle ages I meant simply an undeveloped culture) But what would the warrior elite and feudal system of halfings be like do you think?

[Randel]

I was once trying to come up with a unique take on halflings in which they were actually human children or at least childlike.

One idea was that an evil fey monster who likes bad little children who misbehave and don't do their chores. If it finds one, it will snatch them up while they sleep and carry them to its island where they will play forever. Unfortunately, like any evil fey its ideas of games get very nasty after a while and it thinks nothing of making little kids fight vicious wolves for its own amusement. Children stolen by the monster never grow older unless the curse is broken. Some of them manage to escape from the island and find their way into the human world.

They do learn things and after years of being on that island and learning about the real world through the stories and games the monster tells they are about as smart and tough as an adult. However, humans rarely treat them as anything but kids, though if they learn of the childs cursed status or weird behavior then they might try to shun them or cure them of possession.

[vicente408]

I was once trying to come up with a unique take on halflings in which they were actually human children or at least childlike.

One idea was that an evil fey monster who likes bad little children who misbehave and don't do their chores. If it finds one, it will snatch them up while they sleep and carry them to its island where they will play forever. Unfortunately, like any evil fey its ideas of games get very nasty after a while and it thinks nothing of making little kids fight vicious wolves for its own amusement. Children stolen by the monster never grow older unless the curse is broken. Some of them manage to escape from the island and find their way into the human world.

They do learn things and after years of being on that island and learning about the real world through the stories and games the monster tells they are about as smart and tough as an adult. However, humans rarely treat them as anything but kids, though if they learn of the childs cursed status or weird behavior then they might try to shun them or cure them of possession.

Huh, I really like that idea. It never occurred to me to have Halflings be Fey-related, as that is more often a role taken by Gnomes. But Halflings as child-like "changelings" is a really interesting take on them.

[pingcode20]

For the whole stealth thing, take a leaf out of the Native Americans' book - namely, status via counting coup.

Rather than gaining status by games of tag and the like, and in keeping with their skill at stealth, status is awarded for pulling off gutsy things without getting caught in front of witnesses

So, for instance, 'tagging' your buddy who has no reason to believe you were going to try and tag them then trying to claim credit for it would be frowned upon as pathetic. Same with swiping your buddy's pouch - he trusted you and let his guard down for you, so it doesn't take any skill to pull it off. On the other hand, managing to tie a bell around the neck of a dragon(!) would be the stuff worthy of legend.

There'd be a sort of ad-hoc scoring system based on how gutsy the feat was, for example:

- Mark deliberately lets their guard down for you, doesn't count.
- Mark catches you, doesn't count.
- Take a reward for it, doesn't count.
- The more alert the mark, the better.
- The more dangerous the mark, the better.
- If the mark is actively trying to kill you, best.
- Steal from a red dragon, definitely doesn't count.

- Tag a Mark on the lookout, proves you're a halfling.
- Tag a Mark so they feel it, worth more.
- Take something from the mark, worth even more.
- Put something on the mark, best.

Taking something (relatively) valuable from the mark and not giving it back would count as a reward, and within halfling communities the accepted practice for 'Marking' each other would be to 'claim' the deed by tapping their mark on the shoulder and letting them know they'd been gotten. In the case of burglary, it'd be based on how well protected it was, although, as with pickpocketing, profiting from it invalidates the coup for ulterior motives.

And, well, after the first few communities got burned down after some youth decided to sneak a coin from a Red Dragon's hoard, stealing from a Red Dragon is taboo. So instead the bold ones add a single gold piece to the dragon's hoard and drive it nuts trying to figure out where the heck that extra gold piece came from while they sneak away.

As a side effect, the whole system of tagging a mark and getting away with it cultivates skills very well suited to a rogue, and hence the halflings' well deserved reputations as master thieves.

[ondonaflash]

^Sounds cool, but I'll be damned if I didn't really like that idea where they vine-jumped out of 1000 foot trees.

And I think games like tag, and hide an seek, and capture the flag and the like would be more of a social aspect/future training for children. The children who were better at sports would be praised etc. As they mature things become more serious and the "games" become hunts, raids, attacks and such.

And as for the post on fey halfling, that seems neat. Not my kind of shtick though.

[Dagren]

Pingcode: That sounds good, except I don't really agree with you when you say that stealing something valuable shouldn't count; pulling off a great heist (although perhaps not from other halflings) should be a mark of pride to a halfling, they do have rogue as their favoured class after all.

[LurkerInPlayground]

That's an interesting basis to start from too! (When I said middle ages I meant simply an undeveloped culture) But what would the warrior elite and feudal system of halfings be like do you think?
I'm just saying that stealth doesn't necessarily have to be a focal pursuit of a halfling society no more than running around is a focal pursuit for humans. A vast majority are more likely to be farmers, clerks and the like -- unless they're unusual enough to be a warrior culture (I don't really see it).

Again, if I were a halfling speculating about human society, it's rather absurd to say that human courtship rituals would necessarily revolve around the best runners (and proving those talents in an antisocial fashion as well!). Humans have longer legs after all.

While it's pretty fantastic to make all halflings warrior-assassins trained-from-birth, that doesn't necessarily have to be the case. (And ninjas are overdone anyway.)

Frankly, I couldn't think of what a "realistic" halfling society would be like. They're at a massive disadvantage to humans, who are stronger and have longer strides than they do. They'd presumably eat less, so I suppose being worse at agriculture isn't as much of an issue for them.

Frankly, I don't see them as having any formal military, as I don't imagine they'd really fare well with conventional armies when you compare them to orcs or humans and would probably wouldn't have or need as much territory anyway (i.e. they can't hold land onto land with conventional military power and won't need as much farmland anyway).

On another note, it may even be simpler for halflings to merely integrate into human society. That way they don't have to worry about things like managing halfling armies and warriors. And they can remain and survive as an invisible minority.