Halfling

A halfling rogue. Just look at that smug bastard!

Halflings are a race of short, docile, inoffensive demihumans native to the various realms of Dungeons & Dragons. Whilst they tend to have a particular adeptness at thievery, if only due to their small stature makling it easy to sneak around or go underestimated, they are traditionally considered as a race to be more interested in simple pleasures than becoming Adventurers.

Origin of Halflings

Unlike the other demihuman races of D&D, halflings have no particular mythological origins. Instead, they are intimately tied with the origins of D&D as a game. Quick recap: Dungeons & Dragons began as Chainmail, a medieval wargame that slowly evolved into a role-playing game, making its fateful trip towards D&D when Gary Gygax and his buddies decided that they wanted to try and use their game to play in a fantasy world based on the various fantasy novels they were fans of - most particularly, the The Lord of the Rings.

Thus, the Hobbit was carried over from its roots on Middle Earth to serve as a PC race for the earliest editions of D&D. That was, until the infamously litigious Tolkien estate heard about it and slapped Gygax with a warning. Rather than remove the race from his game - he may not have been too fond of the fantasy elements himself, but bugger the idea of being forced to drop them - Gygax simply renamed them "Halflings", taken from a nickname/insult used against hobbits in the LotR trilogy. Long story short, it worked; the Tolkien estate could no longer sue them for their use, and so halflings have continued into the game ever since, constantly tweaking and tinkering, but rarely completely unrecognizable from their ancient roots.

Halfling Physique

Halflings are defined, first and foremost, by their short stature. Unlike dwarves, who are compact blocks of muscle, or gnomes, who look like miniature (and often visibly aged) elves, halflings look pretty much entirely human, save for the height. That said, they have perfectly shaped proportions, so they still look like small humans, not midgets. It's generally accepted that halflings age like humans and have adult proportions - or overly generous proportions, but some sources have described them as looking more "youthful" than humans, or even looking just like unaging children.

One of the more contentious aspects of the halfling physique is the halfling foot. Specifically, just how accurately do halflings mimic their hobbit ancestors in terms of having large, tough and hairy feet? This something that has shifted back and forth across the editions.

Halfling Culture

Traditional halfling culture has changed a lot over the editions.

Back in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, they shared the same attitudes as their hobbit ancestors; they lived simple, bucolic lives in fertile farm country, where they fished, farmed, hunted, snared and generally lived the lives of content rural peasantry. They have no great ambitions outside of living a comfortable life, full of the simple pleasures - predominantly food, celebrating with their friends, strong drink and sharing various little trinkets and baubles. Gift-giving is especially important to them. Family is hugely important, and fittingly enough, halflings often have huge families.

Problem was, that kind of lifestyle isn't conductive to going out and be a hero, so when 3rd edition came along, the developers decided it was time to add some reason for the halflings to come in contact with the rest of the world and occasionally adopt a lifestyle of murderfucking monsters for fun and profit like proper adventurers. Whilst they still had a lot in common with their old selves, now they tended to be nomads who lived in travelling caravans, wandering where the winds take them.

4th edition continued in 3rd edition's steps, portraying its halflings as river-dwellers who lived on houseboats and traveled the lakes, creeks, streams, swamps and deltas of the world, surviving through trade.

5th edition went back to 3rd edition, with a heavy dash of AD&D.

Setting Variants

Some settings, such as Golarion and the Scarred Lands, present a more grimdark take on the AD&D version of halfling culture; because of their small stature and lack of aggression, they depict other races as enslaving halflings and putting their skills at arts, crafts and agriculture to use as slaves.

On Athas, halflings are savage, tribal hunters, using druidic magic, stealth, psionics and poison to take down any living creature - including other sapient races - and have it for dinner.

Whilst Eberron has some of the "traditional" 3e halflings on it as well, it's more famous for its culture of dinosaur-taming barbarian halflings, because, seriously, that shit is awesome.

Halfling Religion

The halfling religion is fairly simple. Most halflings adopt, or at least respect, the faiths of their closest neighbors but they do have their own dedicated pantheon. Small and unassuming, the two most important figures in it are Yondalla, their creator-goddess, and Littleman, the iconic halfling folk hero who thrills and delights the little 'uns with stories of his winning over the bigger and scarier races of the world through charm and cunning.

4e's Boat-Rocking

Despite the bad reputation D&D 4e has, it actually turned halflings into a surprisingly badass race. Born of a passionate lesbian tryst between Sehanine and Melora, then abandoned before being adopted by Avandra, halflings of the Nentir Vale are a race of quick-witted resourceful, courageous, inquisitive and surprisingly tough humanoids who claim the rivers, marshes and swamps of the world as their territory. Lacking great territorial ambitions may mean that they have no empires, but neither do they have disastrous falls in their history; halflings are the one race who haven't suffered great disasters or declines, and their oral traditions preserve lore and information that even the dwarf and elf races have forgotten. As the best boaters in the world, their river caravans are a vital source of trade and information and they are essential in preserving their local communities by keeping the chain of goods and news flowing.

For more information, check out this link: https://pastebin.com/AwRtBkqw

Halfling Subraces

Although not as mutable as even the dwarf and gnome races, never mind the elf race, there are still quite a few different species of halflings scattered throughout the D&D multiverse.

To begin with, remember, halflings began as rip-offs of Tolkein's Hobbits, and even their names are little more than literal translations of Tolkein's names for them. This is most evident in the Hairfoot (from "Harfoot"), or the AD&D Common Halfling. This was nothing more than your vanilla hobbit; short, prone to fat, quiet natured, good humored, and fond of living in comfort, with particularly large and hairy feet.

The Hairfoots, for obvious reasons, couldn't last and so in 3rd edition their place was taken by the Lightfoots. These halflings are essentially the bastard lovechild of a Hairfoot and a Kender, combining most of the Hairfoot's common sense, love of creature comforts, and big hairy feet with the Kender's slender build and some of its adventurous nature. The result was a peace-loving race of small nomads who werent' all adventurers, but were more likely to do so than Hairfoots. Lightfoots got far more love give to them in 4th edition, losing all vestiges of their Hairfoot ancestry in terms of appearance and growing to a height slightly taller than a typical ten-year-old, but underwent a harsh devolution/were replaced by Hairfoots in 5th edition.

The Tallfellows (taken from Tolkein's Fallohides) are... well, they're basically elven halflings. No joke; they speak elvish, they live in treetown villages in deep woods, preferably where elves live, they can detect secret doors like elves, they're stealthier in the woods, they get super-high (19) Dexterity and Wisdom, they live the longest of any of the three main halfling subraces... they're elven halflings.

The Stouts (taken from Tolkein's Stoors) are the dwarven halflings to the Tallfellows being the elven halflings. They're strong, muscular, stocky halflings with a predilection for dwelling underground, infravision, they have facial hair (something other halflings lack), they have a natural talent for mining/jewel-making/stonemasonry/building/smithing/carving and boat-building, and they live longer than Hairfoots. In 5th edition, they gained the dwarven traits of poison resistance and increased constitution.

The notorious Kender are, although certainly similar to halflings in resembling slightly fey human children that never grow up, generally not accepted as proper halflings. The halflings who've actually met kender insist on this, saying instead that they are some other race that has simply evolved to fit the "halfling niche" on Krynn. Given their seemingly incurable genetic predisposition to thievery and stupidity, many players suggest that they may be a strain of goblin that has tried to escape the usual fate of its species by evolving to look more human-appearing "cutesy".

The Rhulisiti, as they call themselves, are better known as the Athasian Halflings elsewhere. Degenerated from the heights of glory, these dusky-skinned and feral halflings jealously guard their home in the Ringing Mountains, hunting everything that isn't one of their own kind -- including fellow sapients. Amusingly, virtually all other sapient races in the setting are descended from them in some fashion.

The Furchin are a race of halflings from the frozen world of Falakyr, reached through the use of spelljamming; though they live as Stone Age nomadic hunter-gatherers on their own world, an unknown wizard attempted to take many of them as slaves, leading to individuals or even whole clans being scattered throughout the spheres. Per TSR traditions, their name stems from the fact that they have the ability to grow proportionately massive beards, longer even than those of the Stouts, whom they otherwise resemble.

Cerillian Halflings resemble the Hairfoots, but are actually refugees from the Shadowworld, giving them the ability to look into that otherworldly plane and, if necessary, travel back and forth. They rarely bother, however, because their kinsfolk still live in abject slavery there.

Ghostwise Halflings are native to the Chondalwood region of Faerun, an isolationist species of near-feral halflings who have mutated to better survive as stealthy hunters. Most notably, they use telepathy to communicate rather than talking.

Golden or Amberhair Halflings are native to the land of Tellene and claim to be the original species of halfling on their world, which they share with Lightfeet. Distinguished by rich golden-brown hair, they're also renowed for their brilliance and thoughtfulness.

Halfling Stats

AD&D

The Hairfoot Halfling originally appeared in the Player's Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The other subraces would get their turn to shine in "The Complete Book of Gnomes and Halflings", which provided stats for not only the Stouts and Tallfellows, but also the Furchins, Rhulisti and even Kender.

According to "The Complete Book", all halflings, regardless of subrace, share the following traits - it's unclear if this actually means the Rhulisti, Kender and Furchins as well, or just the "normal" Hairfeet, Stouts and Tallfellows.

+1 to saving throws vs. spells, rods, staves, wands and poisons per 3.5 points of Constitution.

+1 to attack rolls with missile weapons.

When not in metal armor, a halfling that is either alone, accompanied only by other halflings/elves, or 90 feet away from the rest of its party inflicts a -4 penalty on its opponents' Surprise rolls. This decreases to -2 if doors or other screens must be opened.

A halfling with mixed Stout bloodline has a 25% chance of having Infravision 30 feet, according to the PHB.

Class & Level Limits: Cleric (8), Fighter (9), Thief (15), Fighter/Thief (8/15)

Halflings with an Ability Score of at least 15 in their class's Prime Requisite can increase their level limit by +4 (Cleric 12, Fighter 13 and Thief 19).

Why the Stout, Tallfellow and especially the Furchin have the same clas & level limits as the Hairfoot is just one example of how AD&D pigeonholed its races.

Hairfoot Halfling

Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 3/17, Dexterity 8/19, Constitution 10/18, Intelligence 6/18, Wisdom 3/18, Charisma 7/18

Ability Score Adjustments: -1 Strength, +1 Dexterity

+2 to Reaction Rolls against human NPCs.

Bonus Language: 1 Human dialect

Stout Halfling

Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 5/17, Dexterity 8/19, Constitution 10/19, Intelligence 6/18, Wisdom 3/18, Charisma 5/18

Ability Score Adjustments: -1 Strength, +1 Dexterity or +1 Constitution

Infravision 60 feet

Bonus Language: 1 Dwarven dialect

75% chance to detect sloping passageways.

50% chance to determine direction when underground.

Tallfellow Halfling

Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 3/17, Dexterity 8/19, Constitution 10/18, Intelligence 6/18, Wisdom 7/19, Charisma 5/18

Ability Score Adjustments: -1 Strength, +1 Dexterity or +1 Wisdom

Bonus Language: 1 Elven dialect

Can recognize a secret door by rolling a 1 on a D6, just like an elf.

+2 to Surprise rolls when in forest or wooded terrain.

Furchin Halfling

Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 3/17, Dexterity 8/19, Constitution 10/19, Intelligence 6/18, Wisdom 3/17, Charisma 7/18

Ability Score Adjustments: +1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution, -1 Strength, -1 Wisdom

Free Proficiency point in Cold-Weather Survival.

+4 bonus to all saving throws versus magical and mundane cold-based attacks.

-4 bonus to Armor Class against Giant-type creatures.

-2 bonus to Armor Class against human-sized creatures.

Rhulisiti (Athasian Halfling)

Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 3/18, Dexterity 12/20, Constitution 5/20, Intelligence 5/20, Wisdom 7/20, Charisma 5/20

Ability Score Adjustments: +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength, -1 Constitution, -1 Charisma

Class & Level Limits: Cleric (12), Druid (12), Fighter (12), Gladiator (12), Illusionist (16), Psionicist (Unlimited), Ranger (16), Thief (16)

There are some differences between versions of the Dark Sun corebook, which you have to refer to for the rhulisiti's class information. Above information refers to the Original version of the setting; in the Revised version, the Illusionist was removed and the Druid was bumped to maxing out at level 16.

3rd Edition

Naturally, halflings were right there in the player's handbook in 3rd edition, a place tey have occupied in every edition since.

+2 Dexterity, -2 Strength

Small

Base Speed 20 feet

+2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, Listen and Move Silently.

+1 racial bonus on all saving throws.

+2 morale bonus on saves against fear, which stacks with the +1 racial bonus above.

+1 racial bonus an attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings.

Favored Class: Rogue

Kingdoms of Kalamar had an alternative halfling, the Golden or Amberhair Halfling. Creative and adaptive, they are named for their iconic rich golden-colored hair. They're considered to be more intellectual and scholarly than normal halflings.

+2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength

Small

Base Speed 20 feet

Low-light Vision

+1 racial bonus to all saving throws

+2 morale bonus on saves vs. fear (stacks with above).

Shared Heritage: +2 racial bonus on Innuendo checks made against other halflings.

Favored Class: Psion

4th Edition

In 4th edition, halflings benefited a lot from the defanging of Small, as well as from a surprising increase in mobility that bumped them up to the same speed as most Medium races.

Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma OR +2 Constitution

Size: Small

Speed: 6 squares (30 feet)

Vision: Normal

Skill Bonus: +2 Acrobatics, +2 Thievery

Bold: +5 racial bonus to saving throws against Fear.

Nimble Reaction: +2 racial bonus to AC against Opportunity Attacks.

Racial Power - Second Chance: Once per encounter, as an Immediate Interrupt to being hit by an attack, force the attacker to reroll their attack and use the second result, even if this forces them to miss.

5th Edition

Whilst 5th edition slowed them down compared to 4th, it didn't entirely hit them with the nerf bat.

Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity

Size: Small

Speed: 25 feet

Vision: Normal

Lucky: When you roll a 1 on an attack roll, ability check or saving throw, reroll the die and use the second result.

Brave: You have Advantage on saves vs. Frightened.

Halfling Nimbleness: You can move through the space of any creatrue that is a size category larger than you.

Subrace: Lightfoot or Stout.

Lightfoot:

Ability Score Increase: +1 Charisma

Naturally Stealthy: You can attempt to hide even when only obscured by a creature at least one size category larger than you.

Stout:

Ability Score Increase: +1 Constitution

Stout Resilience: Resistance to Poison Damage, Advantage on saves vs. Poison.

Sexy Shortfolk

This article or section is about Monstergirls (or a monster that is frequently depicted as a Monstergirl), something that /tg/ widely considers to be the purest form of awesome. Expect PROMOTIONS! and /d/elight in equal measure, often with drawfaggotry or writefaggotry to match.

You might be thinking that there's no way that halflings can be seen in a sexual light. After all, they're just miniature humans; nothing about that says monstergirls, right? Wrong. That stature alone qualifies halflings for sexiness in the eyes of MG fans, whether they take the "legal loli" perspective or the shortstack perspective.

And, for once, it's not entirely unjustified. Halflings have been bonking dwarves (and, it's implied, gnomes) since the days of Dungeons & Dragons, and the Tallfellow halfling race has always been described as "suspiciously" elven, to the point that many fans assume they're the halfling equivalent of half-elves. And then there's a certain story in "Races of Destiny" which goes something like this:

"There once was a very beautiful halfling maiden, who attracted the love of both a dwarf and an elf. However, she was vain, greedy and a big slut, so she demanded that if they would have her, they'd have to share her. Her beaus reluctantly agreed, and for this crime of having two husbands, the gods cursed her. When she became pregnant, she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl who were clearly a mix of all three races. Ashamed and horrified, her husbands divorced her and went back to their own lands. Outcast and alone, the halfling abandoned her children, who grew up and, not knowing any better, married each other. And that's where humans came from."

So, we have a race where the females look, depending on your interpretation, like either adorable little girls despite being ready and willing to shag or curvy women scaled down to easily handled size, and which is canonically known for getting it on with other species. So, saying that humans and halflings have the occasional hook-up really does make a lot of sense - especially given just how human they are in terms of nature, abilities and desires. Really, what's not to love about a cute, well-stacked housewife who considers it a matter of pride to make sure every meal is delicious and the kids are brought up well?

Notable Halflings

• Bilbo Baggins, of Tolkien's Middle Earth. The original Hobbit, the one that started it all.
  • Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's cousin and adopted heir. Was involved in the theft of and willful destruction of property (specifically jewellery) and murder; as the owner, Sauron, died of mental anguish. No legal action taken. Fled the country to avoid prosecution. Final fate unknown.
  • Samwise Gamgee, accomplice to Baggins in aforementioned theft, and hunting of endangered mammoth spider wildlife. After a generous donation of the Baggins estates by Frodo to his election campaign, he became mayor of the Shire. This was quickly followed by a name change to "Samwise Gardner" and coincidental loss of any records of any of his potential misdemeanors.
  • Bullroarer Took, Great-Great-Great-Great Uncle of Bilbo Baggins. Most notable for his ability to ride a real horse and for inventing golf with a rabbit hole, a (non-golf) club, and the head of a goblin general while whacking it off his shoulders mid-battle.
• Belkar Bitterleaf, from Rich Burlew's Order of the Stick. Arguable, as Belkar is so fucking, eye-bleedingly awesome that he may, in fact, be a dorf. ("I am a sexy shoeless god of war!")
• Olive Ruskettle, a borderline Chaotic Stupid female halfling thief whose biggest claims to fame are stealing the name/reputation of a bard despite being "too chaotic to become a bard(!)" and helping to free the Saurials from Moander, in that order.
• Mazzy Fentan of Baldur's Gate fame, halfling quasi-paladin of justice who can and will break both your legs if you call her "cute."
• Tasslehoff Burrfoot, beloved happy-go-lucky companion to*BLAM* fuck kenders. Fuck them in the ear.
• That's more or less it. I mean, they're hardly the go-getters of heroic fantasy. Though admittedly sometimes they get involved in major events. If only because they wander into the planning tent in search of more food.
• Flo is not a fantasy character, but the nickname for the first fossil Homo floresiensis that was discovered, or to use there more widely known name the "Hobbit" (a possible name for them was Homo hobbitus). Incredibly short Flo was determined to be 30 and yet only barely higher then three feet thus as the first member of the hobbit race we have discovered earns a spot on this list.

Gallery

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  The iconic Monstrous Manual halfling, showing its obvious hobbit roots.

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  Lidda, the iconic halfling character of 3e.

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  Lidda's got some strange tattoos.

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  3e started a definite trend to try and portray halflings as sexy-cute.

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  4e halflings and their notable lack of hairy feet.

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  4e was determined to prove halflings could be badass too.

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  5e decided to beat halflings with the ugly stick in order to move them away from 4e.

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  Though that might just be due to a really poor choice of main artists.

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  Being small does not mean halflings can't be creepy.

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  A halfling wardog-riding cavalier.

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  Halfling slaves are a not-uncommon feature of darker/edgier D&D settings.

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  Halflings make surprisingly good scouts.

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  The context in which your party will likely encounter halfings.

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  Being short means you're just right height to stab those fucks in the balls.

The Races of Pathfinder
Player's Handbook:	Dwarf - Elf - Gnome - Half-Elf - Half-Orc - Halfling - Human
Advanced Race Guide:	Aasimar - Catfolk - Changeling - Dhampir - Duergar Drow - Fetchling - Gillman - Goblin - Grippli - Hobgoblin Ifrit - Kitsune - Kobold - Merfolk - Nagaji - Orc - Oread Ratfolk - Samsaran - Strix - Suli - Svirfneblin - Sylph Tengu - Tiefling - Undine - Vanara - Vishkanya - Wayang
Bestiaries:	Android - Astomoi - Caligni - Deep One Hybrid - Gathlain Gnoll - Kasatha - Munavri - Naiad - Orang-Pendak Reptoid - Rougarou - Shabti - Trox - Yaddithian
Adventure Paths:	Being of Ib - Kuru
Inner Sea Races:	Ghoran - Monkey Goblin - Lashunta - Skinwalker Syrinx - Triaxian - Wyrwood - Wyvaran
Ultimate Wilderness:	Vine Leshy
Blood of the Sea:	Adaro - Cecaelia - Grindylow - Locathah - Sahuagin - Triton
Planar Adventures:	Aphorite - Duskwalker - Ganzi

The Races of Starfinder
Core Races:		Android - Human - Kasatha - Lashunta - Shirren - Vesk - Ysoki
Legacy Races:		Dwarf - Elf - Gnome - Half-Elf - Half-Orc - Halfling
Expanded Races:		Aasimar - Amrantah - Anassanoi - Astrazoan - Bantrid - Barathu - Bolida - Borai - Brakim - Brenneri Cephalume - Contemplative - Copaxi - Damai - Dessamar - Dirindi - Draelik - Dragonkin - Dromada Drow - Elebrian - Embri - Endiffian - Espraksa - Ferran - Formian - Ghibrani - Ghoran - Goblin - Gosclaw Gray - Haan - Hanakan - Hobgoblin - Hortus - Ifrit - Ijtikri - Ikeshti - Ilthisarian - Izalguun - Kalo - Kanabo Kayal - Khizar - Kiirinta - Kish - Maraquoi - Morlamaw - Neskinti - Nuar - Orc - Oread - Osharu - Pahtra Phentomite - Quorlu - Ramiyel - Raxilite - Reptoid - Ryphorian - Sarcesian - Sazaron - Screedreep Scyphozoan - Selamid - Seprevoi - Shakalta - Shatori - Shimreen - Shobhad - Skittermander - Spathinae SRO - Stellifera - Strix - Suli - Svartalfar - Sylph - Telia - Tiefling - Trinir - Trox - Undine - Uplifted Bear Urog - Varculak - Verthani - Vilderaro - Vlaka - Witchwyrd - Woioko - Wrikreechee