Halfling

A culture of harmony and peace, a warm emotional attachment to family and friends—including a willingness to look beyond physical differences to the common bond beneath—and an appreciation of the finer things in life. These are the hallmarks of halfling existence. Regardless of their homeland, subrace, and culture, all halflings have some things in common—their gregarious nature, trustworthy character, and delight in whatever physical comforts their surroundings provide.
No culture has displayed such a willingness, even enthusiasm, in mingling with members of other races. Halflings, with their generally cheerful demeanor, more or less honest approach to life, and helpful ingenuity, have been sincerely welcomed into communities of humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and even treants, giants, and rarely even goblinoids.
Despite this willingness to diversify—or perhaps because of it—halflings of all cultures feel a strong identity with their extended families; the company of other halflings is important to members of this small race. Families remain close, however large they grow in size, and many adult halflings will consult with their brothers, sisters, grown children, or parents concerning important decisions; if no kinfolk are about, they will turn to friends and even mere acquaintances, so long as they are fellow halflings. Even if advice is not taken, halflings feel a sense of comfort in knowing that other small folk have been privy to the decision.
It should be noted that, so far as halfling themselves are concerned, the name “halfling” is a misnomer. They don’t consider themselves half the size of anything; in their opinion, it’s everybody else who’s oversized. Their own name for their race translates simply as ‘the folk’ or ‘the small folk’—a term which often includes gnomes as well. Humans, elves, and dwarves are collectively referred to as ‘The Big Folk’. The halflings also have a slang term they use to refer to humans and elves as ‘too-talls’.
To a halfling, the primary symbol of the importance of home, family, and community is the burrow and its ever-present hearth. No halfling dwelling will be without one form of fireplace, and even halflings who live above-ground tend to refer to their dwelling as a ‘burrow’, even if it’s only a room in an inn.
Almost all halflings suffer to some degree from feelings which resembles the condition humans call agoraphobia—a fear of unknown or open places. It’s not that halflings are literally afraid, merely that they become very uncomfortable whenever they’re too far away from their villages and burrows or in unfamiliar places. Whether this is one of Malliennae’s ‘gifts’, designed to keep them close to home and hearth, or a holdover from the Bad Old Days when enemies lurked behind every tree and bush, none can truly say. It has been observed that the symptoms increase with age—halfling children freely range far and wide, while the very old rarely step outside their burrows. Note that the halflings do not see this as a bad thing: to them, it’s simply the way things are and ought to be—youth is the time to gadabout, age the time for rest and reflection.
While burrows will naturally vary somewhat depending on the climate and terrain—a polar halfling’s icehouse will, for example, differ significantly from the treehouse of a lithe halfling—all halfling dwellings will have some features in common. If at all possible, there will be windows, which will often be open during all but the chilliest of days—the halflings never confuse ‘snug’ with ‘stuffy’. Lithe halflings carry this fondness for fresh air the farthest, positioning their homes to take advantage of whatever gentle breezes waft through the area, while stouts represent the opposite extreme and might well have only a few small port windows.
Although well-ventilated, the burrow will be shielded against drafts by shutters of wood or leather that can be tightly closed and sealed against gusts and storms. Unlike dwarves, halflings keep their homes brightly lit, with lamps in every room, yet shutters and doors will be so well-set in their frames that not a glimmer of illumination will show on the outside when the burrow is locked up tight.
The fireplace will be built with as much stone as possible, given materials at hand, and capped with a large wooden mantle. It will have a wide mouth and a well-designed chimney to draw smoke up and out of the room. In colder climates, elaborate fireplaces are sometimes constructed with their own air-inlet ducts connecting to the outside of the burrow, allowing the house can be snugly sealed without suffocating the fire, while other ducts channel the heated air away. Conversely, in very warm locales, halflings enjoy gathering around communal outdoor fire for an evening’s conversation and fellowship—yet even so, each individual burrow will always have its own homefire as well.
It is not uncommon in a halfling burrow for a single fire to last for years, even decades or generations, without a second kindling. Even in very warm climates where it is allowed to die down to coals during the daylight hours, the embers are coaxed back to life at nightfall. Well-seasoned hardwoods are a favorite fuel, but wherever they live, halflings will quickly learn the best fuels for producing a warm, steady heat. Halflings are adept at using different local firewoods to “sweeten the air” or season the food they cook.
A halfling fireplace usually has several racks beside it, so that a variety of cauldrons and kettles can be swung over the coals. In this way dinners are cooked, milk curdled into cheese, and clay pottery fired by the steady heat. Often a large oven nestles in one corner of the coal bed, for use in baking the bread that forms the centerpiece of the halfling diet.
Halflings have been called connoisseurs of comfort, and the interior of a burrow will be furnished as cozily as the inhabitants can afford. The floor will boast several rugs, mats, or carpets. Every halfling, however poor, has a table and a few stools, and at least one well-padded comfortable chair. The bed will be small but snug, its mattress filled with clean straw or sometimes down, with several soft pillows.
The mantlepiece will feature a variety of decorations—most practical, like dishes and candlesticks, a few ornamental or exotic. The latter will often be among their owner’s prized possessions, even if he or she hasn’t a clue as to what the things are, provided they look interesting enough. Paintings and statuary are rare, as halflings generally prefer their treasure to be useful as well as pretty to look at.
Halfling settlements for the most part tend to remain small—they will live in tows and shires scattered throughout a human empire, for example, or they might occupy several small villages in a forest ruled by an elven king. In a few cases, halfling holdings have expanded to the size of a kingdom. But even in these cases, they have labored to maintain peaceful relations with the realms that share their borders.
A single burrow will be occupied by members of one family. Depending on the size of both burrow and family, the dwelling could have as many as twenty-five residents or as few as one. A populous burrow will have a patriarch or matriarch—or even both—who presides over the brood with genial authority. Four generations of a family living in a burrow is not at all uncommon, although sometimes a just-married couple will decide they want a burrow of their own. Occasionally an older halfling will decide that he or she would like a private burrow, but such individuals are viewed as eccentrics by their families and neighbors. It is hard for most of these gregarious folk to imagine anyone wanting to be alone.
Halflings respect experience and wisdom and defer to their elders out of affection and trust. Aside from the venerable head of a family, adult halflings of different generations (even parents and children) view each other as equals. Only the youngest halflings, not yet adults, are subject to rules and restrains imposed by authority; all grown halflings living in the burrow will be there because they want to be.
Parenting duties are shared by all the adult members of the family; fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and older siblings all share in the upbringing of the younger generation. It is a rare halfling who grows up as the only child in a household; it is more common to be one of a number of brothers and sisters and cousins who play and explore together.
Though family bonds are felt warmly, they are not a cause of exclusivity. Feuds between clans are rare, since more disputes are blamed on the disputers themselves, not their families. For example, a halfling who gets into a fight—a rare but not unheard of occurrence—is likely to be criticized by his or her own family for his or her lack of self-control. There is no talk of the family getting together to seek revenge against whoever beat up their family member.
Although disagreements are naturally inevitable in these crowded living conditions, halflings rarely engage in outright bickering or argument. For one thing, the presence of two people arguing in a burrow several dozen people call home is considered a major intrusion into the privacy of the others and hence a severe breach of etiquette by those engaged in the quarrel.
Many of the traditional causes of such fights among humans are removed by the halfling’s communal outlook on life. Supper is prepared by everyone who has a free hand, and those who didn’t cook will pitch in the cleaning up or help entertain the youngsters after the meal. Only when all the chores are done is an individual member free to go about his or her own business. Because of their ready-to-help nature, tasks like cooking and cleaning up don’t take very long, so this still leaves family members with plenty of time to get their feet up and their eyelids down.
In cases of deeper disputes, such as a couple’s disagreement on whether to move out and find a place of their own, the discussion will generally be waged quietly, over a period of months or even years. One member might make a friendly remark, after a crowded dinner around a small table, how pleasant it would be to have enough room to stretch out his elbows at the table. A week later his spouse might reply, in an equally pleasant tone, how nice it is that there was such an interesting conversation with “so many points of view” around that same table on a different evening. Naturally, it takes a long time to resolve an issue like this—but when it is resolved, the decision is far more likely to have been mutually arrived at than it would have been among a human couple.
Offspring are a source of great pride and joy to their parents. Halflings enter the world as helpless as human infants, requiring similar care for the early part of their lives.
For the first ten years, a halfling’s relative growth pretty well parallels a humans. A ten year old human and halfling will look much the same, although not in size, and will have about the same level of maturity. Children of both sexes and many different ages commonly play together, following rules created by the older youths that still allow the youngest a measure of freedom and decision-making in the game.
It is during these formative years that young halflings practice those traits that will form some of their basic skills when they grow up. Hide and Seek is a favorite game among halflings and is almost always played outdoors. Thus, the youngsters become adept at concealing themselves in all sorts of natural cover such as patches of brush, behind tree trunks, and amid beds of flowers. Young halflings quickly develop the calm patience that allows them to remain still for long periods of time, since they learn over and over that it is the one who moves that is seen first.
Another favorite game is called Knock the Block, in which a small object such as a block of wood or perhaps a tin pot or iron kettle is placed some distance away, and the young halflings take turns throwing things at it, recording points for hits. The game is sometimes played with slings and stones (among older youths, especially). For special tournaments and important matches, clay targets are used, with the winner determined by whoever’s shot strikes hard enough to shatter the object. This common game is presumably one reason why so many halflings grow up to be so adept with missile weapons.
A favorite form of contest among halflings of all subraces is the exchange of riddles. These can vary from simple questions and answers to complex puzzles involving clues vague and obtuse. It’s not uncommon for a halfling to spend an hour or more pondering such a problem in silence punctuated only by his or her frequent admonitions: “don’t tell me the answer!”
Even more baffling to nonhalflings is the Question Game, a contest in which each participant must answer a question with another question. Each response must be a complete sentence, relevant to the one that preceded it, or the player loses a point. Experienced players can continue the game for hours; one legendary brother-and-sister team are rumored to have carried a game on every time they met for the last twenty years of their lives. Some halfling enthusiasts of the game will treat every question addressed to them as an invitation to play, with sometimes regrettable results.
From the age of eleven or so on to adulthood, halfling development slows in comparison with the Big Folk. A halfling’s adolescence lasts for about a decade and a half, with some subraces lasting even longer. However, the period is characterized by a lot less angst than is typically felt by a human—perhaps because of the warm, supportive, noncompeting environment provided by family, burrow, and community.
Halfling artisans and craftsmen do not follow a formal apprenticeship program—indeed, adolescents are encouraged to experiment with a wide variety of pursuits. The cheesemaker, for example, will be helped by virtually every village youth over the course of several years. Those who find that they enjoy the work will spend more and more time with the ‘master’ until by adulthood the youth has learned everything the cheesemaker can teach about the trade.
Another reason, perhaps, for the relaxed adolescence of the typical halfling is that male-female friendships are as common as friendships between members of the same sex, often lasting from childhood through adulthood. Many of these lifelong friendships culminate in marriage.
Halflings enjoy eating and drinking in plentiful quantities—indeed, despite the difference in size, the typical halfling will eat as much if not more than a human twice his or her size; this is because halflings have a very high metabolism. Most halflings eat three large meals a day, interspersed with three sizable snacks: breakfast, brunch, lunch, teatime, supper, and bedtime snack. Although they enjoy an occasional meal of meat, especially poultry or wildfowl—with roast pheasant being considered a great delicacy—the short folk rely extensively on bread, fruit, and cheese.
Halfling bakers are famed for their abilities with dough, making all types of sweet or salty, light or heavy breads. Cheesemaking is another skill in which many halflings are proficient, and here, too, variety is a prime hallmark. Each individual cheesemaker will typically specialize in one kind of cheese, no two of which will be alike, allowing a halfling community to offer a variety of sharp and mild, hard, and soft cheeses.
Halflings are born gardeners, far exceeding any other race in their knack for growing foodstuffs. Any halfling with access to a plot of ground will usually maintain a garden, wherein he or she will carefully nurture fruits and vegetables of all types appropriate to the climate. Even in a small garden, a halfling will generally plant at many different times during the spring, assuring a continuing harvest from early summer through late autumn. Halflings do not favor a lot of spice in their foods, however, so few raise peppers or similar crops unless a nearby ready market for them exists. Onions and garlic are notable exceptions to this lack of strongly-flavored crops, and many halflings love them and have even been known to eat them raw, much as a human might eat an apple. Halfling garlic has become so well-known for its large size that it indeed could easily be held by a human the same way they would hold a large apple.
Halfling brewers are well-known and their products with humans as well as other halflings. As with cheesemaking, a brewer will specialize in a single beverage. These can vary from a heavy stout—halflings often jokingly hand a first-time human drinker a knife and fork with the glass—to light and creamy ales. Fruit wines are also popular, with halfling vintners specializing in using whatever fruit is near to hand.
It should be noted that, though halflings favor many sorts of wind and ales, they rarely get drunk, due no doubt to their high metabolism. Rather, the alcohol tends to make them pleasantly drowsy, and a group of halflings that share a bottle of potent stuff will typically become quite relaxed, quiet, and contented as the evening wears on.
The key to the village is the halfling’s desire for the maximum of comfort with the minimum of effort. These pragmatic folk long ago learned that, though one halfling might learn to grow and cook and sew and build and so forth, specialization in these tasks creates a much higher level of quality all around. Thus, we see the cooperative roots of the halfling’s picture of community.
Indeed, this cooperation extends to all aspects of life. The bread maker will give his or her loaves to the other villagers, as will the cheesemaker with his or her cheese and the brewer with his or her beverage. Perhaps the baker’s family gets the best loaf from a particular batch, but everyone gets a fair share.
Burrow excavation and house-building operates under the same pattern—the most experienced builder in the town will supervise a legion of workers, so that the initial portions of the task can be accomplished in a few days. As to the furnishing of the burrow, the occupants see to that themselves.
Though halflings mingle well with human society, this does not mean they have departed from the concept of the village—rather, it is an indication of their broad vision, for nowhere is it written that the villagers must be fellow halflings. A halfling who dwells in a city will treat his or her neighbors as fellow villagers—this is what makes halflings such good neighbors. They are quick to recognize when their generosity is not reciprocated, however, and thus will soon narrow their circle of ‘villagers’ to those who feel a similar sense of cooperation and friendship.
Halflings are adept at utilizing local resources in their labors. Although only the Stout halflings are very effective at mining, all subraces will be intimately familiar with the surface features of their surroundings. If they live in an area with a lot of trees, carvers will know everything about each variety of wood available. If the environment is rocky, experienced stonemasons will predominate. The most dramatic evidence, perhaps, of this adaptability is the fact that the polar halflings have developed a high level of skill at working the raw materials in their nearly woodless and stoneless environment: they make everything from their homes to their tools, weapons, and clothing out of leather, bone, and ice. The specific skills likely to be found in a halfling community vary by subrace.
The quality of halfling work is very consistent. While rarely the equal of the greatest artisans in the world—dwarves make better axeblades, elves better wine—on the average it is better than the average available elsewhere.
Areas where halfling craftsmen truly excel include many tasks involving dexterity and great detail. The small folk make splendid jewelers—though not quite as much as the gnomes—, engravers, locksmiths, and woodcarvers. They love colors, and once against the propensity for detail allows a halfling painter to bring a scene to bright and vivid life. Halflings are also known as some of the finest clockmakers anywhere on Elaris.
Also, because of their proclivity for entertaining gossip and news of all kinds, halflings make great storytellers. Some of them have a gift for music, and halfling musicians and storytellers are in great demand at any village feast or festival.
Halflings are ill-suited to jobs requiring size and strength, such as blacksmithing, ocean sailing, or cargo hauling. Though a halfling village will usually have a smith who makes nails and horseshoes, his or her work will not be up to the level of most human smiths and will probably be for local consumption only; the same is true of halfling teamsters.
Barter is a way of life to the halfling—though in more cases than not it is the unspoken, unrecorded barter of village life. However, halflings also trade among themselves on a more formal basis and are skilled at interacting with human suppliers and customers. They have a keen eye for detail and are generally quick to spot counterfeit or low-quality goods, all the while proclaiming the good points of whatever they are offering in return.
Most trade between halfling villages, and between halflings and other folk, is carried on by professional halfling merchants called Traders. These halfling merchants transport surplus goods from one village to trade for the products of another. While halfling merchants will certainly take gold and other coinage as payment, they are also willing—more so than human or dwarven traders, certainly—to accept goods in return for goods. Pragmatic here as elsewhere, however, traders generally don’t take goods unless they feel that they will be able to sell or barter those same goods at one of their next few stops.
Since they enjoy the give-and-take of a good bartering session, a typical halfling merchant will offer far less for the goods he or she desires than they are actually worth, while at the same time asking an exorbitant price for his or her own. The small folk view bartering as something of a game and sometimes forget how much better they are at it than most of the Big Folk. However, a halfling who belatedly discovers that he or she has unwittingly talked a human into buying goods at considerably more than their value will often salve his or her conscience by throwing in a ‘bonus’ once the deal is closed to compensate the poor bargainer.
Though they have no lack of courage, halflings shun violent or aggressive behavior in social settings. They are slow to anger and always ready to seek a negotiated solution to any dispute.
A halfling feels no sense of shame if he or she chooses to leave the presence of some obnoxious bully rather than getting involved in a fight—even a fight the halfling thinks he or she can win. Fortunately, because of their communal village upbringing, few halflings are this rude, and such situations mainly arise when the halfling mixes company with humans, dwarves, or goblinoids.
Personal insults delivered to a fellow villager are considered low class, reflecting more poorly on the one who makes the insult than the target. Politeness is much admired, and one who shows tolerance to a neighbor who has wronged him is considered to be the epitome of a class act.
Parties among halflings are common and will be given for a variety of reasons. Birthdays are always cause for celebration, and with so many family members living together it’s rare for a month to go by without several birthdays in it. Each community will also have many annual holidays. These vary by culture—there are no such holidays observed by halflings everywhere. Often the Small Folk will celebrate whatever festivals are popular among their human and demihuman neighbors, soon giving these observances a character all their own.
The hosts of a party are expected to provide food and drink—but much of this will be contributed by neighbors prior to the event. Thus, none of the guests show up with anything to contribute, but they’ve all provided a bottle, a wedge of cheese, a load of bread, or the like beforehand. Indeed, this is one way halflings get invited to parties—if you find out that your neighbor is celebrating his birthday, for example, take over a small jug of ale in the morning and he can hardly turn you away when the festivities commence in the afternoon!
There is little sense of social status among the halflings in a village, aside from the amused tolerance shown by adults to children and the general respect for the elderly. Wealthy halflings are expected to throw bigger parties and to generally show generosity to those less fortunate—yet they are not accorded any ‘upper class’ standing because of this. The villagers may well elect a sheriff, mayor, or constable and give this individual nominal authority to arrest troublemakers. Rambunctious behavior is rare among halflings themselves, however, so the sheriff’s main concern will be to control the behavior of humans, dwarves, and other possible troublemakers who come through the community.
Halflings are a folk who can derive pleasure from many simple things and are not afraid to show it—a halfling who is happy laughs; one who feels affection or love will express himself or herself with words and deeds.
The small folk love to tell and hear stories and will generally be attentive and silent when anyone spins a tale. Not surprisingly, they especially love stories in which the small and clever triumph over those who are physically larger and stronger but clumsier and less quick-witted.
Halflings also have a frank appreciation for bawdy humor and practical jokes. They have the ability to laugh at themselves, though one prank often leads to another in retaliation, and so on. Such good-natured exchanges have been known to continue, reciprocated back and forth, for decade after decade.
The small folk know the same griefs as humankind—death and illness, partings, natural disasters, and other tragedies. Though they, as a people, are deeply affected by such misfortune, halflings tend not to display their grief as openly as do humans. Halfling villagers who have just lost several neighbors and friends to marauding bandits will shuffle around as if they are in shock—there will be few tears, little wailing or crying.
Even more surprising, there will be few expressions of outright anger or hostility. Revenge is not a great drive to most halflings, though occasionally a wrong will be judged so heinous, so unforgivable, that retribution is required—deliberate murder is a prime example. Loss of possessions, however, whether due to accident or the malicious acts of others, tends to be greeted with a more relaxed attitude of “easy come, easy go.”
In their day-to-day lives, halflings are remarkably impervious to frustration and depression. Members of the small folk show a remarkable ability to adapt to the circumstances of their surroundings. If the crops fail and food is short, they derive that much more pleasure from the meager fare that they eat. If the roof caves in and the family has no place to sleep, they will remark how fortunate they were that no one was seriously hurt—and they’ll mean it!
Like gnomes, halflings are slow to anger and reluctant to wage ware. However, also like their diminutive cousins, they become savage and tenacious fighters when fully motivated into battle.
Because of their small size, halflings try to avoid combat situations that place them in open terrain where they must meet the head-on onslaught of much larger attackers. They prefer instead to fight in rough terrain, sheltered by rocks or trees, where their size can actually work to their advantage. In underground combat situations where they have sufficient time to prepare, halflings like to excavate tunnels for mobility of attack and retreat.
Halflings are also highly adept with missiles, particularly thrown and slung weapons and stones, and can deliver a furious barrage of such items when such a tactic is needed. Firing in an undisciplined fusillade, they continue to pepper their targets with these painful attacks for as long as possible. They typically use small slings to lob wave after wave of stones upon their foes, but some will use sturdy shortbows or solid, albeit small, crossbows.
Though many of them wield spears, they prefer to use these as melee rather than missile weapons. Halflings are adept at setting these spears to meet the charge of much larger attackers. They will also use their quickness to strike from ambush, and when a force of halflings can mingle among the troops of a larger enemy, their small size allows them to inflict a lot of damage. A favorite tactic, useable only when halflings can gain complete surprise, is to fearlessly dart among enemy horsemen, using their sharp daggers to cut the straps holding the riders’ saddles onto their mounts. Such a tactic, when successful, can go a long way toward evening the odds of an unbalanced engagement.
When marching to battle, most halflings will carry a missile weapon as well as a hammer, spear, or short sword, with a dagger reserved for the final line of defense.
Another asset that halflings carry into battle is the lack of hubris that can so often be the downfall of human or dwarven commanders. Halflings show no hesitation when it comes to abandoning a lost cause; when things start to go bad, the halflings will run away, preferring this pragmatic tactic to a doomed stand motivated mainly by pride. The retreating halflings quickly scatter and, if possible, disappear down holes into the ground or vanish among the enclosing underbrush of a forest. Even if the victorious opponents pursue ruthlessly, they are unlikely to kill or capture more than a handful of halfling survivors. Of course, this scattering means that it takes longer to reassemble the force and prepare to fight again, but that is a drawback that any halfling commander willingly accepts rather than see his or her forces annihilated.
Sorcery and magic is one area of power where halfling skills are lacking. Their inherent resistance to magic protects them against many of the power-crazed spellcasters in Elaris, but it also prevents them from mastering those forces for themselves as fully as humans, elves, or even gnomes—though they are still more capable of it than the dwarves. Unlike many humans and dwarves, they do not regard magic as particularly threatening; trust in their innate resistance enables halflings to extend to spellcaster the typically friendly greeting they give to all strangers—a fact which no doubt explains the fondness some wizards have for the race.
If a halfling’s burrow and its attendant company and comforts are the most important features of his or her life, why then would any halfling leave this perfection for a life of short rations, crude lodgings, exposure to bad weather, danger, and possible violence?
That’s the question asked by most of the rest of the village when a young halfling packs his or her tote bag and waves goodbye to his or her parents. His or her neighbors will often gather to see the would-be adventurer off, watching the already small form grow smaller in the distance, knowing there’s a good chance that they’ll never see their friend again.
There are nearly as many answers to this question as there are halflings who have walked down that road. Some do so reluctantly, out of a sense of duty. Others find the temptations of excitement, adventure, and treasure too great to ignore. One thing almost all of them share in common, however, is that they lack the characteristic halfling dread of faraway places.
For reasons which once again are unknown even to the halflings themselves, some halflings are born entirely free of the condition which keeps their fellows tied to their homes which they refer to as ‘The Call’. Instead, they are filled with an endless curiosity to see new places, new people, and new things. Usually this wanderlust fades later in life and the homing instincts reasserts itself, but a few halflings remain wanderers for the rest of their days. These restless individuals are considered to be eccentric by their fellow halflings, but their exploits are often admired just the same.

This is a stub

This article will be expanded upon in the future

This is a

Good Article

Table of Contents

Game Statistics

5th Edition

Ability Score Adjustment. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, but your Strength score is reduced by 2.
Size. Your size is Small.
Speed. You have a base land speed of 25 feet.
Lucky. When you roll a 1 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can reroll the die. You must use the new result, even if it is a 1.
Brave. You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Nimble. You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Halfling.

4th Edition

Ability Scores. +2 Dexterity, +2 to your choice of Constitution or Charisma.
Size. Small
Speed. 5 squares
Vision. Normal

Languages. Common, Halfling
Skill Bonuses. +2 Acrobatics, +2 Thievery
Bold. You gain a +5 Racial bonus on saving throws against fear.
Nimble Reaction. You gain a +2 Racial bonus to AC against opportunity attacks.
Second Chance. You have the second chance power.

3.5th Edition

Ability Score Adjustment +2 Dexterity, -2 Strength
Creature Type. Humanoid (Halfling)
Size. Small. 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 he or she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his or her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
Speed. Halflings have a base land speed of 20 feet.
Racial Skills. Halflings receive a +2 Racial bonus on Climb, Jump, Listen, and Move Silently checks.
Lucky. Halflings receive a +1 Racial bonus on all saving throws.
Brave. Halflings receive a +2 Morale bonus on saving throws against fear.
Weapon Familiarity. Halflings receive a +1 Racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings.
Languages. Automatic Languages: Common and Halfling; Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Elvish, Gnomish, Goblin, and Orcish.
Favored Class. Rogue

2nd Edition

Because of their nimbleness at evasion, all halflings receive a -4 bonus to Armor Class when fighting giant-class creatures and a -2 bonus to Armor Class from attacks from man-sized creatures. The two bonuses are not cumulative.
Halflings get a +1 bonus to attack kobolds.
Halflings are exceptionally skilled with the use of both slings and thrown weapons, gaining a +1 to their die rolls to attack and damage with such attacks.
Like elves, halflings gain a bonus to surprise opponents, but only if the halfling is not wearing metal armor. The halfling can move so quietly that opponents suffer a -4 penalty to their surprise rolls. If the halfling must open a door or move aside some other obstruction, this penalty is reduced to -2. This penalty only applies if the halfling is alone, or with a party comprised only of elves or lithe halflings that are also not in metal armor, or 90 feet or more away from his or her party.
Do to their small size, a halfling’s move base is 6.

Pathfinder 2e

Hit Points. 6
Size. Small
Speed. 25 Feet
Ability Boosts. Dexterity, Wisdom, Free
Ability Flaw. Strength
Languages. Common, Halfling, Halfling Dialect (Depends on your Heritage Additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier (if it's positive). Choose from Dwarven, Elven, Gnomish, Goblin, and any other languages to which you have access (such as the languages prevalent in your region).
Keen Eyes. Your eyes are sharp, allowing you to make out small details about concealed or even invisible creatures that others might miss. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus when using the Seek action to find hidden or undetected creatures within 30 feet of you. When you target an opponent that is concealed from you or hidden from you, reduce the DC of the flat check to 3 for a concealed target or 9 for a hidden one.

Related Ethnicities

• Braveheart Halfling
• Lithe Halfling
• Polar Halfling
• Stout Halfling