Halfmen
There is good luck, there is dumb luck , and then there is halfling luck. Halfmen luck is absurdly dumb luck.
Footnote on an unclaimed research paper
Basic Information
Anatomy
Halfmen, much like gnomes, are of a smaller stature than most other members of civilized societies on Valerick. They are definitely smaller than most dangers in the more wild corners of this vast land as well, a potentially tasty morsel to many a beast and monster. Halfmen are longer lived than humans, and even gnomes living around two hundred and twenty years on average. They are of a similar height to gnomes, averaging around three feet in height. However they are stockier than those of gnomish heritage, averaging around sixty pounds. They are race known for their cooking skills, along with other less savory talents, and for their sharp senses and sense of commerce. They are excellent negotiators, in no small part by being very smooth spoken and easy to talk to, and quite friendly. Yet they are oft viewed in a slightly untrustworthy light, this view ranging from harmless banter and jokes from many, down to some notable racism based prejudices from those of dwarven blood. This has no small part to play in the nature of halfmen to congregate into groups in many places, and oft most larger cities in Valerick will have a halfling gang or syndicate or two operating within, and very likely even being the dominant power house of, its criminal underworld.
Size: Halfmen are Small, with all the connotations that entails.
Common Hair Colors: Gray, Flaxxen, Russet, Honey, Chestnut, Ginger, Mustard, Almond
Common Eye Colors: Light Grey, Pale Blue, Green, Hazel, Brown, Copper, Dark Brown
Starting Racial Wounds: 6
Stat Adjustment: +1 Agility, +1 Sagacity, +2 Persona, -4 Power. Halfmen are nimble, street savvy and well spoken folk, though they notably lack a certain level of raw muscle and physical power with their small stature.
Movement Score: Halfmen, like gnomes and dwarves, are not fast by any stretch. They're movement speed is 20 feet.
Basic Training: Halfmen are not a warlike people by any stretch, and given their lack of physical power and stature, culturally not many implements of self defense or combat would be something a halfling would have any background experience in in their youth and childhood. However they do racially start play as trained enough to wear up to Medium armors.
Starting Skills: Halfmen racially start play with the following skillsets at the noted levels of training beyond Untrained, which is where everyone naturally sits in every skill until they acquire ranks in it. Halfmen start play with more skillsets opened up and trained to various levels than any other race. This is due to their cultural need to do so, for they need to be skilled and savvy, as they are not strong or powerful in any other way within society, particularly in raw strength with their Small Size and massive reduction to their Power Statistic.
All skills listed above do count as Profession skills for a halfman, regardless if the Profession they are would normally count them.
Racial Traits
Resistance to Poison Halfmen as a species, just due to their varied diet, and some strange and unknown quality of their internal systems, are particularly difficult to poison. They always have the Momentum on defensive tests against Poisons or the Toxic condition.
Halfmen Luck Halfmen are incredibly and almost suspiciously lucky, for no truly percievable reason that anyone can understand. The first time every day that a halfmen character critically fails (so rolls a natural 1) a skill check, or defensive test (only one out of the two, not one of each), they instead are treated as if they rolled a natural 20.
Resistance to Corrupting Halfmen, for some unknown reason, are rather resistant to the attempts of the Ruined Gods, or their dark and twisted servants from the Void, or the Void itself, exerting influence upon them. They always have the Momentum on Defensive Tests to resist any effects of the Void's Corrupting influence (mutation, corruption, Ruined Magicks, etc.)
Small Size: Halfmen are small size creatures with all that entails.
Size: Halfmen are Small, with all the connotations that entails.
Common Hair Colors: Gray, Flaxxen, Russet, Honey, Chestnut, Ginger, Mustard, Almond
Common Eye Colors: Light Grey, Pale Blue, Green, Hazel, Brown, Copper, Dark Brown
Starting Racial Wounds: 6
Stat Adjustment: +1 Agility, +1 Sagacity, +2 Persona, -4 Power. Halfmen are nimble, street savvy and well spoken folk, though they notably lack a certain level of raw muscle and physical power with their small stature.
Movement Score: Halfmen, like gnomes and dwarves, are not fast by any stretch. They're movement speed is 20 feet.
Basic Training: Halfmen are not a warlike people by any stretch, and given their lack of physical power and stature, culturally not many implements of self defense or combat would be something a halfling would have any background experience in in their youth and childhood. However they do racially start play as trained enough to wear up to Medium armors.
Starting Skills: Halfmen racially start play with the following skillsets at the noted levels of training beyond Untrained, which is where everyone naturally sits in every skill until they acquire ranks in it. Halfmen start play with more skillsets opened up and trained to various levels than any other race. This is due to their cultural need to do so, for they need to be skilled and savvy, as they are not strong or powerful in any other way within society, particularly in raw strength with their Small Size and massive reduction to their Power Statistic.
| Skillset | Training Tier (Name of Tier) |
|---|---|
| Bribery | Tier I (Trained) |
| Craft (Cooking) | Tier II (Well-Trained) |
| Investigate | Tier II (Well-Trained) |
| Intuition | Tier I (Trained) |
| Melee (Polearms) | Tier I (Trained) |
| Language (Halish) | Tier III (Journeyman Training) |
| Language (Valarian) | Tier II (Well-Trained) |
| Persuade | Tier II (Well-Trained) |
| Ranged (Sling) | Tier II (Well-Trained) |
| Subterfuge | Tier I (Trained) |
All skills listed above do count as Profession skills for a halfman, regardless if the Profession they are would normally count them.
Racial Traits
Resistance to Poison Halfmen as a species, just due to their varied diet, and some strange and unknown quality of their internal systems, are particularly difficult to poison. They always have the Momentum on defensive tests against Poisons or the Toxic condition.
Halfmen Luck Halfmen are incredibly and almost suspiciously lucky, for no truly percievable reason that anyone can understand. The first time every day that a halfmen character critically fails (so rolls a natural 1) a skill check, or defensive test (only one out of the two, not one of each), they instead are treated as if they rolled a natural 20.
Resistance to Corrupting Halfmen, for some unknown reason, are rather resistant to the attempts of the Ruined Gods, or their dark and twisted servants from the Void, or the Void itself, exerting influence upon them. They always have the Momentum on Defensive Tests to resist any effects of the Void's Corrupting influence (mutation, corruption, Ruined Magicks, etc.)
Small Size: Halfmen are small size creatures with all that entails.
Growth Rate & Stages
Halflings live an average of about 220 years, with some managing to live into the range of 250.
| Childhood | Youth | Middle Age | Old Age | Ancient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-35 years | 36-70 years | 71-185 years | 186-220 years | 221+ years |
Additional Information
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Halfmen are found all across Valerick, but they call the desert kingdom of Susma their homeland, and as such the largest populations of them can be found in this region. Culturally halflings are an urbanized folk, prefering large cities over smaller, less well defended places. This means you tend to find more halfmen in large population centers than you will in the villages and small towns scattered about Valerick's more frontier regions.
Cultural Perks (Optional)
Susma City-Born You were born and raised in one of the mercantile state's larger cities, learning the ways of diplomacy, trade and commerce from a very young age. Persaude is always a Profession skill for you, even if your profession doesn't include it in the list.
Susma Rural-Born You were born and raised amongst the desert and the oasis villages and small towns, very likely traveling much in your youth, learning to navigate between sources of water and through the desert and savannah by landmarks. Navigation is always a profession skill for you, even if your profession doesn't list it.
Susma Street Rat You never had a fair shake in society, living amongst the seedy underworld of back alley dealings and smuggling in one of Susma's larger settlements. Without station and priviledge you quickly learned the language that loosens all lips and shifts all opinions. Coin. Bribery is always a profession skill for you, even if not on the list.
Foreign Raised You are not of Susma, maybe you have never even seen your ancestral homeland, but you were born and raised elsewhere, amongst a different cultural backdrop. Pick a Perk from another race.
Cultural Perks (Optional)
Susma City-Born You were born and raised in one of the mercantile state's larger cities, learning the ways of diplomacy, trade and commerce from a very young age. Persaude is always a Profession skill for you, even if your profession doesn't include it in the list.
Susma Rural-Born You were born and raised amongst the desert and the oasis villages and small towns, very likely traveling much in your youth, learning to navigate between sources of water and through the desert and savannah by landmarks. Navigation is always a profession skill for you, even if your profession doesn't list it.
Susma Street Rat You never had a fair shake in society, living amongst the seedy underworld of back alley dealings and smuggling in one of Susma's larger settlements. Without station and priviledge you quickly learned the language that loosens all lips and shifts all opinions. Coin. Bribery is always a profession skill for you, even if not on the list.
Foreign Raised You are not of Susma, maybe you have never even seen your ancestral homeland, but you were born and raised elsewhere, amongst a different cultural backdrop. Pick a Perk from another race.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Halfling names are generally a bit of a mess to outsiders, mostly because the way they seperate family trees where they shoot off new branches is not to change last names or anything so simple. It is to just add more middle names. This can result, naturally, in some rather.....long names. However the important parts, unless one is in the weeds of halfling society, or searching for a particular halfling in a Susmain city or a busy halfling district, are simply the first name and family name, oft called the tribal name. These names oft tie to the place that family originated from, or the trade or good that the family handles. Halflings also oft have a nickname, a shortened version of their first name they will go by in less formal circumstances.
Example First Names (and Nicknames): Antoniella (Anni), Fredwick (Fred), Maximilian (Max), Theodosius (Theo), Thomasina (Tina)
Example Family Names: Ashfield, Rumster, Shortbottom, Thorncobble
Example First Names (and Nicknames): Antoniella (Anni), Fredwick (Fred), Maximilian (Max), Theodosius (Theo), Thomasina (Tina)
Example Family Names: Ashfield, Rumster, Shortbottom, Thorncobble
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Opinion of Woad Elves Far to serious for my liking, they are a struggle to interact with and get along with. Also their strange affinity to wilderness is very....odd.
Opinion of Skye Elves Cut from the same cloth, this lot are more open to discussion, easier to understand, but very secretive. Their coin is good though.
Opinion on Dwarves Bunch of no fun, bearded sticks in the mud. Always paranoid someone's gonna rob them. To be fair, dwarf merchants are generally rich, and trying to lift their coinpurses can be a favorite passtime among Light-Finger's trying to prove themselves, so they may have good reason.
Opinion on Gnomes Mad as hatters, but good fun all around, very flighty and distracted as well, and lucrative business partners, no different than the dwarves.
Opinion on Humans Ahhh what a wild and delightfully varied bunch. So much variety, so much to work with, so many opportunities. They are a diverse group and that makes them a delight and pleasure to work with and do business with. Really challenges ones skill and tact.
Opinion on Tanturs An odd race to be sure, gentle giants of a kind, strong and capable, but of a kind hearted and friendly disposition. They are a delight to sit and chat away the afternoon with, though admittedly, they are not one for politics or mercantile talk. No they are better for a chance to take a break from such conversation. They talk passionately, almost as passionately as we do, about food, recipes, and drink. Fellow conniseurs of the palette more often than not, and worthy dining companions.
Opinion of Skye Elves Cut from the same cloth, this lot are more open to discussion, easier to understand, but very secretive. Their coin is good though.
Opinion on Dwarves Bunch of no fun, bearded sticks in the mud. Always paranoid someone's gonna rob them. To be fair, dwarf merchants are generally rich, and trying to lift their coinpurses can be a favorite passtime among Light-Finger's trying to prove themselves, so they may have good reason.
Opinion on Gnomes Mad as hatters, but good fun all around, very flighty and distracted as well, and lucrative business partners, no different than the dwarves.
Opinion on Humans Ahhh what a wild and delightfully varied bunch. So much variety, so much to work with, so many opportunities. They are a diverse group and that makes them a delight and pleasure to work with and do business with. Really challenges ones skill and tact.
Opinion on Tanturs An odd race to be sure, gentle giants of a kind, strong and capable, but of a kind hearted and friendly disposition. They are a delight to sit and chat away the afternoon with, though admittedly, they are not one for politics or mercantile talk. No they are better for a chance to take a break from such conversation. They talk passionately, almost as passionately as we do, about food, recipes, and drink. Fellow conniseurs of the palette more often than not, and worthy dining companions.
Lifespan
Halfmen live an average of about 220 years. Randomizer for starting age = 30+5d10
Average Height
Averaging around three feet in height, maybe a touch over. Randomizer for starting height: 2'9"+1d12 inches, or if you prefer, 0.9 meters+3d10 centimeters.
Average Weight
Halfmen on average weigh around sixty pounds. If you wish, a randomizer for starting weight: 48lbs+2d12, or if you prefer, 22kgs+1d10.
I have been reading your articles on species/races - very well made. A good template for my own species/races in my ttrpg world. That reminds me I need to get on with that as well! :D
Awww well thank you :D