Halfling

Quick and resourceful wanderers, small in stature but great in courage

Halflings are a small race known for their resourcefulness, quick wits, and steady nerves. They are a nomadic folk who roam waterways and marshlands. No people travel farther or see more of what happens in the world than halflings.

Physical Qualities

Halflings stand about 4 feet tall and weigh about 80 pounds. They resemble small humans and are proportioned like human adults. Halflings have the same range of complexions as humans, but most halflings have dark hair and eyes. Halfling males don’t have beards, but many have long, full sideburns. Halflings of both genders often wear complicated hairstyles, featuring complex braiding and weaving.

Halflings typically dress in clothes that match their surroundings and prefer earth tones and various shades of green. Their clothing and gear feature woven textures and stitching. Birds, river patterns, boats, and fish are common images in halfling art and decoration.

Halflings have life spans comperable to humans.

Playing a Halfling

Halflings are an affable, warm, and cheerful people. They survive in a world full of larger creatures by avoiding notice or, barring that, avoiding offense. They appear harmless and so have managed to survive for centuries in the shadow of empires and on the edges of wars and political strife.

Halflings are practical and down-to-earth. They concern themselves with basic needs and simple pleasures, harboring few dreams of gold or glory. Adventurers are no more rare among halflings than among other races, but they usually pursue the adventurer’s life for reasons of community, friendship, wanderlust, or curiosity. Halfling adventurers are brave and faithful companions, relying on stealth and trickery in battle rather than raw might or magic.

Tight-knit halfling communities are found near the settlements of other races, often along or even on the surface of a body of water. Halflings have never built a kingdom of their own or even held much land. They don’t recognize any sort of royalty or nobility of their own, instead looking to family elders to guide them. This emphasis on family and community has enabled halflings to maintain their traditional ways for thousands of years, unaffected by the rise and fall of empires.

According to halfling legend, Melora and Sehanine created the halflings together, giving the race a love of nature and the gift of stealth. When their interest waned, Melora and Sehanine stopped looking after the race, or so the legends go, and halflings made their own way in the world. They say Avandra, the god of luck, admired their resourcefulness and adopted them, favoring them with good fortune. Not all halflings worship Avandra, but nearly all breathe a prayer of thanks to her when fortune favors them.

Halflings are fond of stories and legends such as the myth of Avandra, and their culture is rich in oral tradition. Few members of other races realize that halfling folktales contain a vast amount of lore about people and places long past. Many halflings are able to dredge up knowledge about the history, religion, or culture of other races, but that knowledge is usually wrapped in a fable.

Halfling Adventurers

Three sample halfling adventurers are described below.

Lidda is a halfling rogue with a quick wit and an acid tongue. At a young age, she left her family out of a desire to see more of the world and experience firsthand the wonders described in the stories she grew up hearing. She has joined several different adventuring groups during her career, and even though her displays of sarcasm and wry humor at her companions’ expense would suggest otherwise, she counts each of them as a close friend.

Garret is a halfling ranger. Several years ago, his grandfather sent him to look for a distant branch of his family that had stopped responding to messages. Garret found the whole clan had been killed, and he returned to bring the sad news to his family. From that time, he has been unable to stay in one place for long. He doesn’t know who or what killed his relatives and doesn’t dream of vengeance, but he hopes to do some good in the world that might somehow balance out the atrocity of their murders.

Verna is a halfling warlock—and among the most cheerful and gregarious of halflings. The infernal powers she channels seem to leave no mark on her spirit or mind. She takes no delight in killing but uses lethal powers as a practical matter, to protect herself and her allies. She doesn’t often talk of the event that propelled her into a life of adventuring and a pact with infernal powers: Without warning, a devil appeared to her and offered her power, in exchange for a favor to be named later. In what she still regards as a moment of folly, she accepted. Nightmares of her unknown future haunt her sleep, but she never speaks of them.

Characteristics:

Brave, curious, determined, down-to-earth, friendly, good-natured, lucky, nimble, optimistic, practical, resourceful, warm

Male Names:

Ander, Corrin, Dannad, Errich, Finnan, Garret, Lazam, Lindal, Merric, Nebin, Ostran, Perrin, Reed, Shardon, Ulmo, Wenner

Female Names:

Andrey, Bree, Callie, Chenna, Eida, Kithri, Lidda, Nedda, Paela, Shaena, Tryn, Vani, Verna, Wella