Why are halflings so much rarer in fantasy fiction than dwarves

>>51387186

Halflings are conspicuously Tolkien, even if they are "public domain".

The dwarves and Elves in original D&D are pretty segregated from their Middle Earth analogues when you take a good look at it. Halflings are not, and on the rare even they are such as with Kender people just resent it.

>>51387186
> tfw Alexander
Thank god it's not "Rapist", I guess.

>>51387565
fpbp

>>51387565

>Kender

Please do not speak of those whom must not be named, lest they notice and close upon us.

>>51387186
The majority of living critters in my current 5e game are halflings inhabiting a large archipelago largely untouched by the shit that has been wrecking the world for the last few hundred years. Sadly only one of my players decided to be a halfling.

>>51387845
Fortunately my wife is also running a game, and her sister and friend are catfolk halflings. I am their half-orc butler. It is great fun.

>>51387845
How very Tolkien. Did he take leadership and have a brave halfling friend that follows him around and will receive a happier ending?

Tolkien sounding or not, archipelagos and a race of people mostly untouched by conflict are cool. Thumbs up anon.

>>51387186
Durgar Runebattle

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>>51387798

>>51387186
I really, really like the name I got, "Thorin MacBrew."

Shit. Dwarves are great.

>Urhelm Beardhill

Could be better, could be worse.

>>51387186
>Balin Beardbattle

not the shittiest, I must say

>>51387186
>Raghelm Beardshield
I want a refund.

>>51387186
>Urkon Runebattle

Not bad!

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>>51387186
Small races were a mistake.

>>51387186
yea

>>51387186
Bolgar Goldfounderson, I am ok with this.

>>51387565
also /thread

>>51389779
>Beardbeard

>>51387186
less specialized. dwarves have the mountains, elves have the trees, humans have the farmland. nothing else works for halflings other than to be not!elves without the magic same as gnomes are not!dwarves with magic.

>>51387186
Urist Goldhelm

>>51387186
Durhelm Axeholme

Not bad I guess

>>51389277
Glory to Allah, brother.

>>51387186
Durnar Macbattle
Eh, not the worst it could be.
Sometimes I kinda wish my names didn't start and end with the same letter.

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>>51388327
>>51389372
>>51387186
>Reinhelm Runebattle
The clan is strong in this thread.

>>51389277
Maximum overkek

>>51387186
Wilhelm Undersmith

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>>51387186
Hagli Spikefoundersson?
Fuck that.

>>51387186
Urfan Beardbeard.

I'd hate my family for having such a silly name.

Bolgar Beardstone

Can I switch those last two aroumd?

>>51387186
Raghelm Beardholme

That turned out interesting.

To answer your question: because they're boring. There's like fifty short races and all of them have something unique. Halfling's unique thing? Farming and food. That's not super interesting for games/stories about adventurers and epic quests.

About the only thing you can do with them (simple village folk dumped into the deep end of world drama) was already done by Tolkein and nobody wants to be accused of ripping him off.

>>51387186
Balnar Doomshield
Sounds a bit too (super)vilanous for my taste.

>>51391148
Hafling's unique thing is more "fuck adventuring, let's stay home"

>>51387186
halflings are boring.

>>51387186
BOLFOR MACBEARD, BITCHES.

>>51387186
The reason the hobbits were the heroes in Tolkien was because they were humble, small and peaceful, which fitted the story he wanted to tell, but are rarely great traits in most fantasy fiction

t.Reinli Runehand

>>51387186

It's rare for a halfling to be out adventuring. It's suspiciously Tokien, and thus, it's assumed that halflings are the same as hobbits.

That, and, really, they're just diet dwarves. Why settle for the knockoff when you can have the real thing?

>>51390993
>Raghardt Runebattle
runebattle clan-building thread when?

They're even more boring than dwarves and elves

>>51387186
>Durhelm Machelm
I must be a retarded dwarf or something.

What kind of professions, classes, archetypes and personalitoes are more suited to halfling characters? How do you earn the respect or fear of the party.

The unspeakably Violent Jack, the Bull-Buggering, Priest-Killer of No Fixed Abode.

>>51387186
>Raggar Hammerfoundersson

C- for the last name

>>51387186
Reinkarl Bloodbattle, may use this later

>>51387186

Thornar Hammerbrew

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>>51387186
"Good Hand"
I wonder how that hand got so "good".

Would skullkid ripoff play better as halfling or a gnome? What about Midna?

>>51387186
Dwaist Hammermountain.

Dwaist is such a shitty name, it just reeks of bad random name generators.

>>51387186
Because they suck.

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>>51392125
It's ten times funnier when you learn what "raggar" means in Swedish.

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>>51387186
>Hangar Macbattle-Beardbattle

That name's complete bollocks, but at least I can house a helicopter.

>>51392125
Bolli Hammerfounderson
Cousin?

>>51392201

I feel like Skullkid would be a the forest version of a Svirfneblin. A Gnome specialized to live in the darkest, most dangerous forests, with the capriciousness of true Fey.

>>51387186
Hankarl Undersmith

>>51387798
Fuck anybody who plays Kender

>>51391021
>>51392423
Undersmiths are best smiths

>>51387186
Raghelm Goodhelm what type of awtist name is that I have 2 helmets in my name. What are they there for normal awtists only need one this name is double autism.

Bolhelm Spikehelm

>>51387186
Raghelm Hammerhelm.
Fuck this bearded faggotry.

>>51387186
HAGLI or Bolist GOLDSHIELD

>>51387186
Durist Bloodsmith

Hey, not bad.

>>51387186
Bolist Bloodsmith

>>51387186

If I was a Dwarf, my name would be Durhelm Runebattle. Based chart.

Gotta love Wilhelm Axehelm. NPC vendor here I come!

>>51387186
Wilgar Goodmountain

I like it.

>>51387186
Raghelm Underhelm.
Huh, guess I really like helmets.

>>51387186
>Willi Beardbeard

Just kill me now.

>Bolnar Macsmith

I'm always making a new mac to get mad bitches

>>51387186
>Ur-Helm MacBattle
I don't hate it, but it's a bit...videogamey. Like a username.

>>51387186
Thornar Doomsmith.

I like.

>>51387186
>Bolivar Bloodbattle
Neat.

Also nobody wants to roleplay as fat Britbong midgets

>>51387186
Who would want to roleplay a manlet voluntarily?

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Halflings have two settings, boring and annoying. If you're trying to make a serious setting, it's very difficult to incorporate an entire race of corny midgets. Especially considering their lack of mythological roots.

>>51387186
>Reinkarl Goldshield
Oy gevalt how did the chart know I'm Jewish

>>51387186
Raghelm Hammerbattle

Sounds solid to me.

>>51387186
>Bomhardt Beardbeard
Masha'allah brother

>>51387186
Bomhelm Doomsmith, son of Gimgar II

Aside from Tolkien reasons, most of what halflings do can literally either be attributed to other wee folk or them simply being British country folk, which human peasantry can pull off.

You have to give them a niche.

In my setting, they're decended from the couplings of an ancient union of a dwarf tribe and human tribe that wanted to have nothing to worry about anymore. Incidentally, they ended being the one that arrange all the dungeons and what not in the central country of the setting; they figure that if you just hide all the dangerous weapons, knowledge, and magic away in these evil difficult dungeons after the world is done ending and every other race is crawling from the wreckage, you can maybe get a few centuries to millennia of peace before some idiot human finds some piece of godpower again. This has lead to what can only be described as a halfling mafia going around and making sure the other races know their place, or else.

>>51387186

>Thor-fan Under-Beard

Not sure how to feel about this combo.

>>51387186
>Urist Runebrew
Jesus, I couldn't be more dwarven if I tried.

>>51395860
>In my setting
Stopped reading there. Why is there such a lack of genuine originality here? If you want to make something different actually do so. Don't just fuck around with well established ideas

>>51396069
Then why are you in a thread about how to utilize halflings in a fantasy setting?

>>51396105
Actually I think you'll find this thread was about why we don't see halflings used as much as dwarves in fantasy and the answer is pretty apparent to anyone who thinks for half a second. By nature in most descriptions they are considered unadventurous and domestic which obviously does fuck all for interesting fiction/tabletop.

Why were the gnomes introduced again when you have Halfings? Now, that's a forgettable race.

>>51396315
Gnomes can be comic relief or high-tech, which are valuable options. Halflings? Even Tolkien wrote that it was a once in a century event for one of them to leave the Shire.

>>51396159

>By nature in most descriptions they are considered unadventurous and domestic which obviously does fuck all for interesting fiction/tabletop.

Which is why Tolkien created them, so he could subvert typical heroic fantasy tropes and make the true protagonists a pair of unassuming country bumpkins.

Which again comes back to the fact halflings are in totality Tolkien's creation with little to no room for reimagining. And again, when people do reimagine them they just wind up being cringey, annoying gag races.

Bomhelm Goldsmith

I guess I'm Jewish now

>>51387186
Haggar Beardhand.

Sounds like a dwarf who got dropped when he was born.

Haggar...don't I know that name?

>>51396069
>>51396105
>>51396159
>>51397203
Then are we saying that all fantasy needs to not having a halfling equivalent? Because if the idea is that no one has ever been able to create something other than literally short hillbillies as a role for them that makes sense, they should be excised from fantasy wholesale.

>>51398935

Personally I wouldn't mind that. It's like putting Not!Jedi in your sci fi setting. Yeah it's not the like the concept itself is copyrighted but unless you're a master at creative storytelling it still comes off as blatantly derivative.

>>51399347
>>51398935
Agreed. I see how of course the subversion of their usual nature as done by Tolkien lends itself to good storytelling but any attempt to include them in, for example, a tabletop adventure game is always gonna come across to players as "Oh so your character is like Frodo/Bilbo". And anyone trying to play an average Joe halfling would never get near such an adventure if they were being true to their role.

>>51399347
You could also try to give it your own twist. In my setting, the gnomes are basically halflings: short, simple folk who prefer to just take shit as it goes and keep close to home. At least, that's what it was like before the despotic Elvish empire rose up and annexed them all, along with lots of Dwarfs. Now they're their overlords' cowardly lackeys: unhappy or ambivalent about their lot in life, and either too scared or apathetic to do anything about it.

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>>51387186
Urist HAMMERBATTLE

>>51399453

Doubly so considering their "usual nature" was also defined by Tolkien. We're talking about a race which was 100% another person's creation, with no real roots in common folklore or literature.

>>51387186
>Durist Macbrew
I don't like this

>>51399468
No, the idea is that you can't just make up another role for them. No other role makes sense for "humans, but short", so they can't exist in anything outside of Middle Earth.

>>51400182
>>51397203
>>51398935
>>51399347
>>51399453

Then why not use any other wee folk, like leprechauns, pixies, brownies, kobs, or hobs in place of halflings?

There's a ton of short magic races that can fill the mechanical role of hobbits (small and vaguely magical) to replace hobbits.

I've seen elves be described as being anything from "the name you call humans with magic abilities" to "the sentient spermcells of gods" and dwarves as anything from "that's the joke name of our untouchables caste" to as "the sentient spermcells of gods", but hobbits are too hard to turn into something else, because anything other than The Shire is too unbelievable?

>>51401131

>but hobbits are too hard to turn into something else, because anything other than The Shire is too unbelievable?

The Hobbits were created for the Shire, and the Shire was created for the Hobbits. This is the point I keep making. "Hobbit" and "Halfing" are not a generic term for little people smaller than dwarves. These terms specifically refer to the people who live in the Shire, or the "Shire" if the writer isn't Tolkien.

>>51401176
Then what's the term for "little people smaller than dwarves", because some of us would like to have that as an option without people shitting all over it as if we always want to do "The Shire BUT".

The opinions so far presented have been arguing that they literally can't be a small humanoid race in fantasy settings because you'd just call them Hobbits and ignore what makes them different.

Durhelm Hammerhelm, guess I'm a used helm salesman,

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>>51387186
>>51388813

Urhelm Beardshield

im ok with this

>>51387186
Ragkarl underhand.