Unboring halflings: more than just smallfolk
Halflings don’t really have a lot going on.
It’s funny - there are no points for guessing which fantasy race they’re based on. Hobbits are iconic, sure, but there’s not a lot of depth to them. They’re a simple race, deliberately so - I think they were meant to represent some idyllic pre-industrial society.
That made them great characters for Tolkien’s stories. These simple people, physically unimpressive and ignorant of the broader world, overcame the mightiest evils. Mightier races failed, but a few of their number succeeded.
It makes for a great Hero’s Journey.
The thing is, it doesn’t really translate over to roleplaying. Is every halfling a reluctant hero in the flavour of Frodo or Samwise? Based on the description in the Player’s Handbook, they’d have to be. Halflings may or may not be common, but halfling adventurers would be rare.
Surely we can spice them up a bit…
After all, would halflings all be so jolly and care-free?
Think about it for a moment. They live in a cruel, dangerous world, where violence and death are everywhere. That’s terrifying enough. Now add to the problem that you’re half the height of everyone else.
Yikes.
Some halfling communities might have lavish gardens, where people are content to blow smoke rings all day. Call those the exceptions. As terrifying as humans see the world, it can only be worse for a shorter race like this.
They would build their communities the same way as everyone else: with survival at the front of their minds. They lack weapons and magic. Worse, they lack an intimidation factor - they can’t stare an enemy in the eye and persuading them to hunt elsewhere.
Such a small, slow, vulnerable people would see fighting as a last resort.
Since it’s so easy to (literally) overlook them, they’d rather hide.
Ignoring any halflings who are somehow free to frolic in Shire-like environments, here are a few ways they’d like to hide and stay safe.
Warren Halflings
Many halflings live out in the country.
Not because they can tend to their gardens there - it’s a big world outside the cities, with plenty of places to hide.
Warren halflings mostly live underground. They dig deep enough to remain hidden from surface-dwellers, but not so deep that they attract attention from subterranean monsters.
This works well at keeping them hidden. The problem is that such warrens could also make excellent kobold or goblin dens. They would have to be ready to defend against such attacks, using the same tactics kobolds and goblins use to protect their dens. Things like scouts for early warnings, traps and ambushes.
When threatened, halfling warrens rely on two strategies:
The first is to trade trinkets. Being hidden and underground, warrens can make excellent vaults. Halflings can accumulate useful or valuable items, using them to buy their safety.
The second is to pit their enemies against each other. Since halflings are civilised, their warrens will have extra furnishings and features that others probably lack. Things like fireplaces for warmth or stores of delicious delicacies.
(I mean, they are halflings, after all. I haven’t thrown their lore out completely…)
Would the kobolds really want the local goblins to move in and claim those for themselves?
Such a balancing act would require them to be experts at manipulation. Part of that involves knowing as much information about their rivals as possible. For that, they may turn to their cousins…
Cloud Halflings
What’s better than staying hidden?
Staying really hidden, and also mobile.
Cloud giants are known to fashion homes in the skies. Maybe a halfling clan bartered with a cloud giant for a new home. Maybe they moved in after adventurers killed the giant and stole the loot.
Heck, maybe an all-halfling party conquered the cloud for themselves.
However they got it, these halflings are now high out of reach of many of their usual dangers. Does that mean they’re safe? Probably not. Safer? Maybe. It’s worth a shot, right? After all, when looking for halflings, who would think to look up?
From such a high vantage point, these halflings will be more than just harder to reach. They’ll have unparalleled views of the lands below. When threatened, they can use this information. Where warren halflings trade trinkets, cloud halflings trade intelligence.
Another strategy is to be like the storms they ride - move fast, cause chaos, then leave in the confusion.
Urban Halflings
Then again, are the countryside and wide open skies really that safe?
Wouldn’t it be better to stay hidden in plain sight?
Halflings wouldn’t need much effort to disguise themselves as urchins. They’re the right height - the rest comes down to wearing a low cap and dirty clothes.
No one looks twice at urchins. If your goal is to remain hidden, it’s not a bad option.
Sure, plenty of the locals will know what’s up. Maybe even some of the cops/guard/enforcers. Will they care? Probably not. The halflings aren’t hurting anyone, so they can just be let be.
Like how warren halflings copy kobold tactics, urban halflings copy the thieves guild. Hell, they could easy be part of the guild. That means their protection comes from bribing the right people, being useful to powerful figures and knowing the streets better than anyone else. Urban halflings could make good scouts, thieves, trap-setters and, in a pinch, guerrilla soldiers.
Eh. Then again, you can keep your garden-dwelling halflings and write it off as them being too likeable to kill.
But if you enjoy thinking about creatures this way - that is, the logical implications of their existence - then I have a cool thing for you.
No creature is just a spell-sponge or HP sink.
Kobolds want to survive and thrive. So do goblins.
But they’ll seek to survive and thrive in different ways.
That’s the gist behind Footprints. It goes deep into the psychology and physiology of common monsters, answering the question of what they would do in the world.
Patrol randomly until they encounter adventurers?
Hardly - they, like every creature, will shape its environment with the goals of survival, comfort and power.
And that environment will respond in kind.
If you want your world to breathe and be filled with living creatures - not mindless stat blocks - then check it out: