Halfling

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Halfling

In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Origins

Optimistic and cheerful by nature, blessed with uncanny luck, and driven by a powerful wanderlust, halflings make up for their short stature with an abundance of bravado and curiosity. At once excitable and easy-going, halflings like to keep an even temper and a steady eye on opportunity, and are not as prone to violent or emotional outbursts as some of the more volatile races. Even in the jaws of catastrophe, halflings almost never lose their sense of humor. Their ability to find humor in the absurd, no matter how dire the situation, often allows halflings to distance themselves ever so slightly from the dangers that surround them. This sense of detachment can also help shield them from terrors that might immobilize their allies.

Halflings are inveterate opportunists. They firmly believe they can turn any situation to their advantage, and sometimes gleefully leap into trouble without any solid plan to extricate themselves if things go awry. Often unable to physically defend themselves from the rigors of the world, they know when to bend with the wind and when to hide away. Yet halflings' curiosity often overwhelms their good sense, leading to poor decisions and narrow escapes. While harsh experience sometimes teaches halflings a measure of caution, it rarely makes them completely lose faith in their luck or stop believing that the universe, in some strange way, exists for their entertainment and would never really allow them to come to harm. Though their curiosity drives them to seek out new places and experiences, halflings possess a strong sense of hearth and home, often spending above their means to enhance the comforts of domestic life. Without a doubt, halflings enjoy luxury and comfort, but they have equally strong reasons to make their homes a showcase. Halflings consider this urge to devote time, money, and energy toward improving their dwellings a sign of both respect for strangers and affection for their loved ones. Whether for their own blood kin, cherished friends, or honored guests, halflings make their homes beautiful in order to express their feelings toward those they welcome inside. Even traveling halflings typically decorate their wagons or carry a few cherished keepsakes to adorn their campsites.

Culture

Rather than place their faith in empires or great causes, many halflings prefer to focus on the simpler and humbler virtues of their families and local communities. Halflings claim no cultural homeland and control no settlements larger than rural assemblies of free towns. Most often, they dwell at the knees of their human cousins in human cities, eking out livings as they can from the scraps of larger societies. Many halflings lead perfectly fulfilling lives in the shadow of their larger neighbors, while some prefer more nomadic lives, traveling the world and experiencing all it has to offer.

Halflings rely on customs and traditions to maintain their own culture. They have an extensive oral history filled with important stories about folk heroes who exemplify particular halfling virtues, but otherwise see little purpose in studying history in and of itself. Given a choice between a pointless truth and a useful fable, halflings almost always opt for the fable. This tendency helps to explain at least something of the famous halfling adaptability. Halflings look to the future and find it very easy to cast off the weight of ancient grudges or obligations that drag down so many other races.

Growing Up Halfling

Halfling families are a source of great comfort and great anxiety. A halfing's extended family is nearly always living in the same village, and even third cousins and step-aunts are busily involved in the minute details of their relative's daily lives. A halfling child is therefore subjected to potentially dozens of mother and father figures, all of whom feel perfectly justified in partaking of the child's upbringing and education. This can be very confusing, of course, especially when disagreements over the best means of rearing a child or teaching them about the world occur.

Luckily, halflings are almost pathologically devoted to family and friends, so even the most vigorous of disagreements might never amount to much more than disgruntled diary entries which are never shared with anyone. On rare occasions, a family might split apart over some disagreement, and these separations are often complex affairs. Imagine a simultaneous divorce of 100 couples with children, each with property, land and emotional ties to all the rest. It can take decades for these divisions to fully take place, though even at their bitterest, the conversations are polite and hospitality is abundant. Of course, everyone is quietly seething inside, but appearances are important.

The halfling child reaches physical maturity at around 20 years old, and mental and emotional maturity by around age 30.

Economy

Halflings spend a fair bit of their energy accumulating keepsakes, as well as fine furniture and luxury items for their households. As a result, they can be seen as miserly by outsiders, though never to the point of turning away guests from a meal. They simply aren't frivolous spenders, preferring to keep their money close until they find just the right thing they want.

In business, Halflings can be a bit too flighty to keep meticulous books, and sometimes are too naive to avoid con artists and petty thieves. As a result, halflings tend to keep their mercantilism centered in their own communities. While they would never treat a non-Halfling stranger as an outsider or potential threat, they are more comfortable when they know whatever money they are spending or earning is coming from a family member, or a neighbor who might someday have grandchildren who marry into the family. In this way, all money eventually comes back home.

While halflings are nowhere near as covetous of monetary wealth as Dwarves, they can see the good sense in keeping all the gold polished, and closely examining every gem (as Dwarves are wont to do), because ultimately, wealth leads to comfort. And gold coins and gemstones are quite nice, really, even before you spend them.

Customs

Halflings are loyal to their friends and families, but since they dwell in a world dominated by races twice as large as themselves, they have come to grips with the fact that sometimes they need to scrape and scrounge for survival. Most halflings are neutral as a result. Though they usually make a show of respecting the laws and endorsing the prejudices of their communities, halflings place an even greater emphasis on the innate common sense of the individual. When a halfling disagrees with society at large, he will do what he thinks is best. Always practical, halflings frequently worship the deity most favored by their larger and more powerful neighbors. They also usually cover their bets, however. The goddess of both luck and travel seems a natural fit for most halflings and offering her a quick prayer every now and then is only common sense.

Lifespan and Burial

Halflings live around 180 to 220 years, and reach their dotage around age 150. Often, however, Halflings will claim to have reached their dotage much earlier, as they declare their retirement and spend the rest of their years sprucing up their homes, taking care of family and reminiscing about the good old days.

Halflings prefer their burials to be done on a pyre, the bodies burned and the ashes left to blow away in the wind. As much as Halflings prize freedom, to them, death is the ultimate liberator, freeing them from the shackles of physical bodies and worldly needs. While every halfling enjoys their morning hour of grooming, and their 6 or 7 meals per day, all of them mildly resent the NEED to do them. In death, they can finally bathe and eat only when their whims drive them to do so.

Relations with Others

A typical halfling prides himself on his ability to go unnoticed by other races—a trait that allows many halflings to excel at thievery and trickery. Most halflings know full well the stereotypical view other races take of them as a result, and go out of their way to be forthcoming and friendly to the bigger races when they're not trying to go unnoticed. They get along fairly well with gnomes, although most halflings regard these eccentric creatures with a hefty dose of caution. Halflings respect elves and dwarves, but these races often live in remote regions far from the comforts of civilization that halflings enjoy, thus limiting opportunities for interaction. By and large, only half-orcs are shunned by halflings, for their great size and violent natures are a bit too intimidating for most halflings to cope with. Halflings coexist well with humans as a general rule, but since some of the more aggressive human societies value halflings as slaves, they try not to grow too complacent. Halflings strongly value their freedom, especially the ability to travel in search of new experiences and the autonomy this requires. However, practical and flexible as always, enslaved halflings seldom fight back directly against their masters. When possible, they wait for the perfect opportunity and then simply slip away. Sometimes, if enslaved for long enough, halflings even come to adopt their owners as their new families. Though they still dream of escape and liberty, these halflings also make the best of their lives.

Their inherent luck coupled with their insatiable wanderlust makes halflings ideal candidates for lives of adventure. Though perfectly willing to pocket any valuables they come across, halflings often care more for the new experiences adventuring brings them than for any material reward. Halflings tend to view money as a means of making their lives easier and more comfortable, not as an end in and of itself. Other such vagabonds often put up with this curious race in hopes that some of their mystical luck will rub off. Halflings see nothing wrong with encouraging this belief, not just in their traveling companions, but also in the larger world. Many try to use their reputation for luck to haggle for reduced fare when traveling by ship or caravan, or even for an overnight stay at an inn. They meet with mixed success, but there are just enough stories circulating about the good fortune that befalls people traveling with halflings to give even the most skeptical pause. Of course, some suspect that halflings deliberately spread these reports for just that reason.

Starting Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	2 ft. 8 in.	+2d4 in. (2 ft. 10 in. - 3 ft. 4 in.)	30 lbs.	+(2d4 lbs.) (32 - 38 lbs.)
Female	2 ft. 6 in.	+2d4 in. (2 ft. 8 in. - 3 ft. 2 in.)	25 lbs.	+(2d4 lbs.) (27 - 33 lbs.)

Random Starting Ages

Adulthood	Intuitive	Self-Taught	Trained
20 years	+2d4 years (22 - 28 years)	+3d6 years (23 - 38 years)	+4d6 years (24 - 44 years)

PC's

Halfling characters have no alignment or class restrictions.

Standard Racial Traits

All Halflings have the following Standard Racial Advantages:

• Attributes: Halflings may choose to gain one of the following ability score bonus sets when creating their character. No ability score may ever be modified above a 20 or below a 7.
  • +2 to two different stats, -2 to one stat
  • +2 one stat, and +1 to three different stats, -2 to one stat
  • +4 to one stat, -2 to two different stats

• Size: Halflings are Small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty to their CMB and CMD, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks.

• Type: Halflings have the Humanoid type, with the Halfling subtype.

• Base Speed: Halflings have a base land speed of 20 feet.

• Languages: Halflings begin play speaking Common and Halfling. Halflings with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, and Goblin. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.

• Normal Vision: Halflings, like Humans, require bright light to see without penalty. Creatures in dim light gain concealment (20% miss chance) against halflings trying to target them.

• Halfling Luck: Halflings receive a +1 racial bonus on all saving throws.

Major Racial Traits

Choose one of the following Major Racial Traits:

Minor Racial Traits

Choose one of the following Minor Racial Traits: