Results 91 to 109 of 109
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2018-11-05, 07:59 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2016
- Location
- The Lakes
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
Keep in mind, also, that the definition of "urban" is so inclusive as to be almost meaningless. For example, a town in the middle of nowhere with 2500 people is considered "urban" by the US Census Bureau. So, a lot of people who are living in areas no way urbanized in any functional understanding of the term, are counted as "urban" instead of "rural".
Now, before the agricultural advances of the last ~century, there wasn't any way for even those sorts of definitions to warp the numbers. In the grand scheme of things, it was just a little while ago that about 90% of humans were involved in farming or ranching or herding or some other form of food-growing activity, and would count as "rural" mostly.It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.
Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.
The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.
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2018-11-05, 10:32 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
- Location
- Bristol, UK
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2018-11-05, 01:01 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2014
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
Only on this forum can there be a thread where page 1 is about halfings vs gnomes in terms of superfluousness, and page 4 starts with Urban vs. Suburban vs. Rural classifications.
I love this forum.
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2018-11-05, 01:15 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
- Location
- In my library
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
To be fair it is somewhat related to the Halfling versus Gnome discussion. I can see how halflings are the rural small folk and gnomes are the urban small folk, just like elves are rural and dwarves are urban.
But the important question is, without gnomes who'd be guarding your garden? Only thing stopping the halfling from nicking all your lawn.
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2018-11-05, 02:41 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2016
- Location
- The Old West
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
A funny thing when you consider most descriptions (in D&D, at least from 3e onward) describe gnome communities as small and hidden in hilly areas, attempting to harmonious with nature (which gnomes are all reported to love). Forest gnomes are the "rural" variant because they don't like outsiders and are less mechanically inclined.
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2018-11-05, 03:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2017
- Gender
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2018-11-06, 01:38 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2010
- Location
- Durham
- Gender
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
In my Ringwaldt Setting
Halflings are directly connected to Humans
Gnomes are directly connected to Elves
Goblins are directly connected to Orcs
They are all half-man races that are smaller then there cousin race with some unique characteristics. Making them all odd eccentric and wild in there own fashion which also makes each unique.
Like goblins are basically asari in mine, they are all female adorable green race that can work it out with most anything. They also hate there orc brethren and have moved across the continent to avoid them
Gnomes develop certain traits based on the race they lived around when young, basically developing the stereotypical traits of that race. Meaning greedy around dwarves, hippy like when around elves(despite the fact the elves in ringwaldt have well guns) and other eccentric behaviors.
Meanwhile Halflings are eccentric travelers with a wanderlust because all roads will lead home. As such halfling towns are small migratory and man halfling clans build big caravans that travel between 2 to 4 cities part traders part nomads wandering freely.
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2018-11-06, 12:02 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2018
- Location
- The Moral Low Ground
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
Humans and dwarves are respectively dire halflings and gnomes.
Down with the big people!
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2018-11-06, 01:48 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2013
- Location
- Germany
- Gender
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
I LOVE the "humans are monsters and super humanoids" trope so much that I might one day make a (spoof) campaign about it. Only monstrous and non humanoid races are allowed. They all bask in fear of the humans.
They build entire cities in under five years! How do they do that?
They multiply by the decade!
They're not as strong or durable as we are. But they are so damn smart! I think they call that Tucker's humans.
So tall and strong. And no matter how wounded they are, they somehow keep on coming?
Well, maybe Belkar is a BAD pick for the stereotypical halfling...
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2018-11-07, 06:47 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2009
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
Gnomes are superfluous. KDEs and Cinnamons are much better.
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2018-11-08, 10:29 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2015
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
Gnomes are magical dwarves, as opposed to purely non magical & magic-resistant dwarves.
Halflings are non-magical & magic-resistant small humans, magic resistant small elf-like humans, or magic resistant small dwarf-like humans.
The only superfluous ones are Stout Halflings. Because magic resistant small dwarf-like humans basically describes a dwarf already.
Grognard Grognard.
As a side note, D&D 3e made Halflings awesome again, both in stats and more important by revamping their image. It rescued them from both Hobbits and Kender.
5e has done the same for gnomes. They've mostly rescued them from tinker gnomes, but more importantly from the high-pitched voices & steam-punk mechanics of WoW gnomes.
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2018-11-08, 11:50 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2016
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
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2018-11-08, 02:52 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2007
- Location
- San Antonio, Texas
- Gender
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
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2018-11-08, 03:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
Probably for the same reason they kept the names 'tiefling' and 'aasimar' despite the first being bad german and the second reminding people of butts. It's what people think of, and a lot of fans react badly to change.
Personally, I find 4e to be better than 3e for the halflings. Riding around on a dog is cool and all, but I really feel like halflings belong on boats because of their small size. Getting a bunch of slingers/archers on the deck and the size difference probably wouldn't really factor in as much.For all of your completely and utterly honest needs. Zaydos made, Tiefling approved.
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2018-11-08, 05:16 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
- Location
- In my library
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
Why is there no core giant race? It seems like a bigger hole to fill then devil people and a common thing in the fantasy genre, so why do people have to buy a supplement to play giants?
I think my next D&D character will be a Goliath Fighter/Wizard, just to even this skewed average height I see in parties.
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2018-11-08, 05:48 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2006
- Location
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
I see what you did there.
But more seriously, giants pose a problem for typical "dungeon delving" style play, in that they may not fit easily into the corridors designed for Medium-sized characters. Often, mounts are left out for exactly that reason (and is one of the subtler advantages of Small race builds that use mounts: the Medium dog your Gnome or Halfling rides around on can go anywhere the humans in your party can). Giants may wind up excluded or posing difficulties to simply playing the game.
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2018-11-08, 08:20 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2016
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
Imagine if you were a halfling or a gnome.
The OP would be about why are their Humans and Elves, they’re both the same. Elves are just humans with pointy ears. They both live above ground so why differentiate them?
What I don’t get is why gnomes and halflings would adventure with humans and elves. From a practical point of view so many things are different - walking speed, space needed for shelter, very limited inter-operability of weapons and armors, ability to move in confined spaces, sitting at the same table, riding animals, ad infinitum.
It can be a lot of fun to do an all small party adventuring in a big world, then the differences between the different types of small become much more apparent.
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2018-11-09, 01:17 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2015
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
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2018-11-09, 08:22 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
- Location
- In my library
Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.
I assure you, the pun was unintentional.
But I get what you're saying. I think it's because I tend to play either urban or wilderness adventures, where the problem is somewhat mitigated (a Goliath in a city likely spends as much time as they can outdoors, which actually makes for an interesting complication instead of stopping it entirely).