[3.5 Subrace]"Psh, I've been through tighter. Grease me up." [Dreavarr]

[Lord_Gareth]

Dreavarrian Halfling
"Hey man, you face death every day at the factory. You gotta smile a little about life!"

Halflings came to Dreavarr to find a world utterly out of scale with themselves; the early attempts at establishing their old nomadic ways failed as the world became rapidly rocked by warfare, and the unstable nature of Dreavarr's landscape gradually forced them, kicking and cursing, into the cities. Once they finally got there, they were small people in a big world again, and they forced themselves into the only niches left - the tiny, wriggling ones.

These days, many halflings find work in factories, foundries, and criminal gangs - anywhere that a very small person can use their size to their advantage. They squeeze into hard-to-reach spots and get covered in grease and, sometimes, molten metal. Their race has a high fatality rate that they make up for with a certain loose attitude towards sexuality that has colored outsiders' perceptions of their race (and, certainly, the number of 'tallish' halflings with human or elven blood speaks to a certain amount of truth to the stereotype). A lot of halflings have cynical views about the world, but maintain an upbeat attitude that is, frankly, mostly there to keep them sane - if they don't laugh, a lot of them would weep.

That being said, halflings can be clever and quick, and some of them have risen to prominence in their local communities. There's a global movement campaigning for equal rights for their kind in the smoke and soot of the cities, and this movement has made enough headway that the powers that be have started to notice - but also to act against it.

Appearance: When a lot of folks think 'poverty' they mistakenly think of halflings; they tend to prefer tough, cheap clothing that can be easily washed and replaced and don't wear a lot of ornamentation, but that's because a lot of the bigger races bully them and push them around. Why carry your valuables on you when someone's just going to take them away? Their homes usually show more of their wealth, which halflings typically have a fair amount of - the work they do cannot be done by anyone else, and they've used this fact to bludgeon their way into greater wages and respect.

Most halflings look a lot like miniature elves, with sharply pointed ears and angular features, but some of them with a dash or two of human or orc in the mix have features of those races as well. Halflings are proportionate for their size, which means they're only rarely confused for children, but they're often seen as attractive or alluring for reasons most races are not comfortable attempting to talk about. Many halfling women follow fashion trends towards revealing (or simply little-to-no) clothing and accouterments, and it's a deep shame to the race that they run more brothels than perhaps any other species on the planet save humans.

Racial Features
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Strength, -2 Constitution. Halflings are quick, charming, and personable (a side-effect of their long association with factories and foundries), but their size constantly works against them.

Small Humanoid: As a Small creature, a halfling gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.

Base Land Speed: 30 Feet. Halflings are slightly faster than other small-sized creatures, the better to avoid conflict or get away from falling machinery.

Small-Folk's Guile (Ex): Halflings are used to getting by on wits and charm when everything hits the fan; they add their intelligence modifier as a racial bonus to bluff, diplomacy, gather information and sense motive checks.

Skitter and Squirm (Ex): Halflings gain Run as a bonus feat at first level, regardless of whether or not they meet the prerequisites for it. Additionally, they have a +2 racial bonus on Escape artist checks.

Lionheart (Ex): Halflings are survivors, the poor and oppressed that still manage to spit into the world's eye when it comes to knock them down. They and all allies within thirty feet gain a +1 racial bonus on saving throws against fear and compulsion effects, as well as effects with an opposing alignment descriptor (that is, a Good halfling would get the bonus against [Evil] spells, a chaotic one against [Law] spells, et cetera). Additionally, they gain a +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against beings of Large size or larger. These bonuses increase by one at seventh level, then again at thirteenth level and nineteenth level.

Languages: Common, Mekacant. Bonus: Any national, Old Elven, Gnoll, Smuggler's Cant, Gutterspeak, Brattack Code.

Favored Class: Bard or Rogue. A Halfling chooses his favored class from between Bard or Rogue at first level; levels in that class do not count against him for the purposes of determining multiclassing penalties.

Level Adjustment: +0

[OzymandiasVolt]

Lionheart really seems like a bit much. It's probably the fact that it has a pile of effects that are also an AURA that really does it. Not just an aura, a 60ft aura. This in addition to the other effects make it feel, to me, like a weak LA+1 rather than a strong LA+0.

Non-mechanically speaking, they are interesting, but my lack of familiarity with the setting prevents me from being more specific. I like them though.

[Lord_Gareth]

Lionheart's base bonuses have been reduced to +1, and the range cut to thirty feet.

[ShriekingDrake]

I like them.

Is the Lionsheart effect cumulaive. That is, if I have 30 of these Halflings in a mass, do they get +30 on the saves?

Since they are mechanical , have you thought about anything related to trap making or deactivating? Or, use aparatus?

I recommend comparing them to SRD Halflings to be sure that they square up nicely. If these look more powerful, I'd give them a +1 LA. If you don't want to do that, identify some limitations. I took this approach with my Arboreal Halflings, which you can see in my sig.

[Edge]

I like them.

Is the Lionsheart effect cumulaive. That is, if I have 30 of these Halflings in a mass, do they get +30 on the saves?

Since the bonus is specified as racial rather than dodge or untyped, no, it wouldn't stack.

[Lord_Gareth]

I like them.

Is the Lionsheart effect cumulaive. That is, if I have 30 of these Halflings in a mass, do they get +30 on the saves?

Since they are mechanical , have you thought about anything related to trap making or deactivating? Or, use aparatus?

I chose to emphasize the idea of small people in a big world, especially since my new elves already have the metal-bond-artificer-thing going on for them. As Edge said, as racial bonuses multiple Lionhearts do not stack.

I recommend comparing them to SRD Halflings to be sure that they square up nicely. If these look more powerful, I'd give them a +1 LA. If you don't want to do that, identify some limitations. I took this approach with my Arboreal Halflings, which you can see in my sig.

I actually intended on this replacing normal halflings wholesale in my campaign setting; as such, I've chosen to balance them against human, warforged, whisper gnome, dwarves, and other high-end LA 0 races in the hopes of making that the standard.

[Lord_Gareth]

Like I said in the other thread, I'm beginning work on more of these races soon, so here's a bump to get additional critique ^_^

[Cieyrin]

I had something of a knee-jerk reaction to the Con penalty but, looking at the rest of the racial features, it seems balanced and powerful enough that it should overcome standard elf stigma for that fact. Makes think of Dragonmech Coglings but with a lot more thought put into them. Nice work.

[Lord_Gareth]

Makes think of Dragonmech Coglings but with a lot more thought put into them. Nice work.

Makes you think of who the what now?

[Cieyrin]

Makes you think of who the what now?

Dragonmech is a 3rd party campaign setting based around Steam-powered mecha in what started as a fairly regular fantasy setting, which included a new halfling subrace adapted to living in the engine rooms and 'gear forests,' as the setting calls them, of the giant mecha. Hence, coglings. And yes, some mecha in the setting really are big enough to host a tribe or several tribes of coglings to warrant a differently adapted subrace.