Dragon

Races

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Best of Dragon, Vol. III

Dragon 59

The smallest and physically
weakest of all the
demi-human races are
hobbits, so named because they are
almost exactly one-half the size of humans. Male halflings average 3’ in height
and females slightly less; they all weigh
about 50-60 Ibs., and they look much like
small humans. In fact, evidence suggests that halflings are more closely related to humans than any other demihuman race.
Most humans tend to see halflings as
child-like, basically happy, naive, and
hungry most of the time. Some of these
observations may be correct, but the
whole impression is still rather superficial. How do halflings see themselves
and the rest of the world? How do they
see us?

One of the key words in halfling society is security.
The world, from their viewpoint, is both helpful and hostile, and it’s
the hostile part that concerns them. The
average halfling has a strength rating of
about 8, weaker even than an average
kobold. Direct hand-to-hand combat with
an opponent of almost any sort can easily be a losing proposition due to this
physical weakness, along with the halfling’s height disadvantage (against most
creatures) and the limited fighting ability
halflings can achieve (most never exceed the 4th level).
These facts profoundly affect halflings’
lifestyles and the structure of their community. Halfling fighters, despite their
disadvantages, are still quite common in
any such community. They function in
an almost entirely defensive role, generally unwilling to travel with large armies
off to war except in the most urgent circumstances. Halfling fighters also serve
as the local police or sheriff’s department, keeping the peace among their fellows and among the non-halfling travellers who pass through town.
Halfling fighters are known to go adventuring, but they rarely go very far and
are prone to retire quickly soon after
they reach their highest level of ability.
Then they may become involved in the
local militia or government, devoting the
rest of their lives to community service
(for which they are much appreciated).

Halfling clergy, either druids or normal clerics, almost never go adventuring
unless it is a matter of great importance
to the halfling people. Their primary
function is to help maintain the security
of the halfling community to the best of
their abilities, and their most common
prayers are for the continued support of
their deities in keeping their homes safe
and their lives untroubled.

The normal (0-level) members of the
halfling community generally believe in
an orderly, cooperative system of working together to ensure the continued
stability of their society. Individuals who
break the rules are scolded and punished for “rocking the boat,” and it is
impressed upon them that their activities
are endangering not only themselves but
their neighbors as well. “Safety in numbers” is the moral of many of the children’s stories halfling youngsters hear.
This outlook tends to discourage notions of going adventuring in all but the
most courageous — or foolhardy.
It is an interesting contradiction of
their society that, while halfling adventurers and heroes who leave the community for long periods of time are much
revered, they are also seen as being outside the bounds of “normal” halfling behavior. No parent tells a child to grow up
and be like Uncle Boffo, who killed a
worg singlehandedly and saved his
friends from death by backstabbing a
ghoul. “Uncle Boffo is not like us regular
halflings,” mother would say instead.
“We’re awful glad he’s around, but still it
was foolish of him to go adventuring like
that when he knows he could get hurt or
lost. We’re safer staying here at home.”
The negative consequences of this insistence upon security are readily apparent. The average halfling is reluctant
to take action in unexpected situations
without looking for a consensus among
other halflings of what would be the best
thing to do. Thus, halflings tend to appear shy, fearful, and overcautious when
on their own for the first time. Their society appears stagnated in the eyes of
other races, and they tend to close themselves off from the rest of the world.
Halfling life, while it seems to suit them
well, can be described at worst as clannish and on the boring side. Yet there is a
great strength in this lifestyle, too. Once
motivated by a leader-type toward some
course of community action, halflings en
masse can be powerfully effective in
dealing with invaders, disasters, or other
such problems. Oppressors can be overthrown almost before they are even aware
there is a rebellion afoot, due to the halflings’ speed and the intense cooperation
halflings demonstrate in a group of their
fellows. On more than one occasion,
brigands who had previously raided a
halfling community have been completely wiped out on their second raid, because they overestimated their abilities
against such apparently weak folk.

How is this possible? This ability is
largely due to the halflings’ sense of organization and willingness to work together. At least as much of a factor is that
halflings, more than any other race except elves, are natural-born guerrilla
fighters. This is not to say they practice
warfare a great deal — they don’t. But
halflings can conceal themselves in natural terrain so well as to become effectively invisible. Their feet (usually noticeable only because they are hairy) are
thick-soled and well adapted for silent
movement.

Hobbit Warrior

Most helpful of all in many ways is
their skill with missile weapons. Short
people of any race, unless they are very
strong, are at a disadvantage in hand-to-hand combat. The best they can hope for
is to kill an opponent before the enemy
gets within striking distance; this is where
bows, arrows, and slings fill the bill. Halflings have practiced long and hard with
short bows and slings for this very reason, as well as using them for hunting
and sport. Halflings have exceptional
natural dexterity as well. All this combines to make them +3 to hit when using
any short bow or sling — an amazing
degree of accuracy, especially for a halfling who also has exceptionally high
dexterity.

Hobbit Warrior

Imagine, then, the effectiveness of a
group of 30 halflings, wearing only
leather armor and equipped with short
bows, hiding in a woods by a roadside,
awaiting the passage of a robber gang
who cannot see or hear them. Bows are
very quiet, and pinpointing the location
of a bow-sniper in a forest is hard enough
without having to locate a sniper who
can effectively disappear in the same environment. And halflings do not shoot to
wound. They have trouble taking prisoners, for the same reasons they aren’t
good at close combat.

One of the things a small person can
do to protect himself is to ally himself
with a bigger person, even if that bigger
person isn’t the most likable sort of guy.
Halflings seem to make such alliances
on a larger scale than other races. It is
very unusual to find a halfling community located more than a couple hours’ ride
at most from either a dwarven, elven, or
human town.

Depending on the makeup of the nearest town(s), the population of a halfling
community will include varieties of halflings that resemble their non-halfling
neighbors. Hairfeet live near men, have
no infravision, and reside in small cottages. Tallfellows live in forests (some in
hollow trees) and have infravision like
elves, as well as being more lithe and
elven in appearance. Stouts are shorter
than hairfeet, live in caves and tunnel
complexes, and have infravision. They
can detect slopes and other underground
features in a fashion similar to dwarves.
Some of these similarities are probably due to imitation and the effects of the
environment. However, there is always
the possibility of an occasional crossmarriage and subsequent mixing of the
gene pool. Cross-racial marriages are
quite rare in halfling society, but have
been known to occur. Very little is said or
heard about them, though.
Most halfling towns are set in temperate hills and plains. The dwellings themselves tend to vary as described above,
but are usually a curious mixture of
above-ground cottages and hillside burrows and tunnels. Individual homes are
outfitted for comfort and a restful atmosphere; greens and yellows are much
used in interior color. Large spaces are
set aside for outdoor gatherings like parties, community meetings, and sports
events. Gardens are common, and halflings are prone to outfit their homes with
odd bits of natural decoration: rocks,
minerals, plants, bark.

Everything about halfling society contributes to the feeling of closeness and
safety. Even maps of halfling manufacture rarely describe areas external to the
community, other than noting (on the
margin, in small print) that to the northeast is “where all the humans live,” or
that “the mountains are said to be in this
direction,” and so on. Halfling communities located near dangerous areas are
often honeycombed with subsurface tunnels and ambush points, should invasion
occur, and the lands around are heavily
scouted by missile-armed patrols; ambush points are likely to be maintained
as well.

Despite their misgivings about the
“bigger folks,” halflings are generally
open and conversational with others.
They have good relations with other races, though the bigger people are seen
with some suspicion, Halflings in general do not bear hatred for any race and are
prone to accept even the normally unacceptable sorts like half-orcs into their
community (though everyone will be
watching, of course). Halflings are usually trusting and honest, though they
also enjoy pranks and may become evasive if uneasy with their company.
With all the things working to discourage halflings from ever becoming adventurers, one wonders why some do anyway. Every society, no matter how closely knit, will have some rebels, those who
don’t fit smoothly into the usual Scheme
of Things. Many halfling adventurers
(particularly thieves and fighter/thieves)
are from this sort of background. They
grow tired of the unchanging nature of
their life at home and set off seeking a
little excitement.

Nearly all halfling adventurers start
out with naive attitudes and high expectations of how things are going to turn
out; subsequently, some fall prey to the
multitude of subtler dangers one meets
in the adventuring life. Yet even then,
these halflings see their troubles as a fair
price to pay. Going adventuring is a sort
of protest against comfort, a reaction to
having things come too easily. Certainly
these adventurers aren’t rejecting all
comforts (some have been known to
bring their pillows with them in case they
were unable to find a bed).

Adventuring is a dare to halflings, a
calculated risk. It makes the adventurer
more acutely aware of his or her own
limitations and capabilities, and, in the
words of one halfling, “It makes you feel
more alive.” Halfling adventurers of any
class almost never travel alone, and prefer going in a large group with a lot of
non-halflings in it. (Any being who is not
a halfling is automatically seen as capable and experienced in adventuring.)
Because of their natural abilities to
move silently and hide, most halflings
desire to take up a profession that makes
the best use of these talents. Being a
fighter has the drawback of putting the
halfling in frequent close-combat situations (the disadvantages of which have
been noted before). But being a thief, or
a combination fighter and thief, is another matter entirely.

Now, it should be noted that halflings
as a whole are law-abiding and honest.
They don’t make a living picking one
another’s pockets, or filching gems from
treasure rooms. Thieves, however, aren’t
supposed to get into direct combat. They
are supposed to move silently, hide a lot,
and make moves unseen by their opponents Thieves learn to open locks (fueling a halfling’s normally irrepressible curiosity about what is going on behind
locked doors). As for stealing, well, that
can be rationalized as borrowing, or taking things that someone has too many of
and won’t miss anyway, and besides, it
would be nice to have that ring....
Though they aren’t the best at climbing because of their size, and they have
trouble with other written languages,
halflings make excellent thieves. They
almost never admit to being of that profession, though. Halfling thieves describe
themselves most often as simply “adventurers” or “scouts.” One diminutive miss,
a master of the thieving art, says, “I’m a
fighter. I just happen to do my best fighting from behind.”

Halflings who adventure for a long
time often undergo a subtle change in
the way they view their home community. They become mildly acute critics of
the stifling aspects of halfling society,
exceedingly aware of the stagnant atmosphere, the extreme concern with
safety, the closed-mindedness that permeates halflings’ lives.
Yet they, the adventurers, are also
among the most vigorous defenders of
their home towns. After a long period of
hazardous journeying, after seeing the
innumerable horrors lurking in the outside world, the quiet and security of a
halfling community is a wonderful relief
indeed. “There have been times,” said
one returned adventurer, “when I wished
a demon or two would come through
town and make things interesting. I was
so bored. But then, if I really want to see
demons, I can go to a dungeon. It’s better that things stay quiet here at home
even if it is a little dull.”

Halfling religion mirrors the race’s preoccupation with security. Yondalla, the
most powerful and widely worshipped
halfling deity, is usually known as the
“Protector” who serves as a guardian
against evil forces. She is able to hide her
worshipers with illusions, usually making them invisible or disguising them as
natural foliage. Yondalla’s symbol is appropriate, too: the shield, representing
defensive power and security. Her holy
day is called “Safeday.” Yondalla is also
the “Provider,” an aspect perhaps related to the halfling love for comfort. Yondalla uses a variety of magical weapons
in the defense of her people, but none of
them are particularly important in the ceremonies for her worship, or even in the
tales in which they appear. It was Yondalla, by the way, who gifted halflings
with their resistance to magic and poison, to protect them even further from
the ravages of the world.

The smallest of all the demi-humans,
then, is a race that at first glance should
have been quickly overwhelmed by the
great cruel world long ago. It wasn’t,
though, and halflings continue to thrive
in close cooperation with the other demihuman and human races. Though halflings maintain a low-key existence, individuals arise with surprising regularity to
considerable heights of fame (or infamy)
as thieves; as such; they will continue to
remind the rest of the world that the halflings are still here — with each purse
stolen, each treasure chest broken into,
and each pocket picked.

Material for this article came from the
various AD&D™ tomes, Iibrams, and manuals, as well as from Paul H. Kocher’s
excellent Master of Middle Earth (paperback, Ballantine Books). My thanks, too,
to Cassandra Proudfoot, who was able
to point out some of the finer points of
the thieving life. By the way, wherever
you are, I want my wallet back.