The Halfling Point of View
The smallest and physically weakest of all the demi-human races are halflings, so named because they are almost exactly one-half the size of humans. Male halflings average 3’ in height and females slightly less; they all weigh about 50-60 lbs., and they look much like small humans. In fact, evidence suggests that halflings are more closely related to humans than any other demihuman race.
Most humans tend to see halflings as child-like, basically happy, naive, and hungry most of the time. Some of these observations may be correct, but the whole impression is still rather superficial. How do halflings see themselves and the rest of the world? How do they see us?
One of the key words in halfling society is security. The world, from their viewpoint, is both helpful and hostile, and it’s the hostile part that concerns them. The average halfling has a strength rating of about 8, weaker even than an average kobold. Direct hand-to-hand combat with an opponent of almost any sort can easily be a losing proposition due to this physical weakness, along with the halfling’s height disadvantage (against most creatures) and the limited fighting ability halflings can achieve (most never exceed the 4th level). These facts profoundly affect halflings’ lifestyles and the structure of their community. Halfling fighters, despite their disadvantages, are still quite common in any such community. They function in an almost entirely defensive role, generally unwilling to travel with large armies off to war except in the most urgent circumstances. Halfling fighters also serve as the local police or sheriff’s department, keeping the peace among their fellows and among the non-halfling travellers who pass through town.
Halfling fighters are known to go adventuring, but they rarely go very far and are prone to retire quickly soon after they reach their highest level of ability. Then they may become involved in the local militia or government, devoting the rest of their lives to community service (for which they are much appreciated).
Halfling clergy, either druids or normal clerics, almost never go adventuring unless it is a matter of great importance to the halfling people. Their primary function is to help maintain the security of the halfling community to the best of their abilities, and their most common prayers are for the continued support of their deities in keeping their homes safe and their lives untroubled.
The normal (0-level) members of the halfling community generally believe in an orderly, cooperative system of working together to ensure the continued stability of their society. Individuals who break the rules are scolded and punished for “rocking the boat,” and it is impressed upon them that their activities are endangering not only themselves but their neighbors as well. “Safety in numbers” is the moral of many of the children’s stories halfling youngsters hear. This outlook tends to discourage notions of going adventuring in all but the most courageous — or foolhardy.
It is an interesting contradiction of their society that, while halfling adventurers and heroes who leave the community for long periods of time are much revered, they are also seen as being outside the bounds of “normal” halfling behavior. No parent tells a child to grow up and be like Uncle Boffo, who killed a worg singlehandedly and saved his friends from death by backstabbing a ghoul. “Uncle Boffo is not like us regular halflings,” mother would say instead. “We’re awful glad he’s around, but still it was foolish of him to go adventuring like that when he knows he could get hurt or lost. We’re safer staying here at home.”
The negative consequences of this insistence upon security are readily apparent. The average halfling is reluctant to take action in unexpected situations without looking for a consensus among other halflings of what would be the best thing to do. Thus, halflings tend to appear shy, fearful, and overcautious when on their own for the first time. Their society appears stagnated in the eyes of other races, and they tend to close themselves off from the rest of the world.
Halfling life, while it seems to suit them well, can be described at worst as clannish and on the boring side. Yet there is a great strength in this lifestyle, too. Once motivated by a leader-type toward some course of community action, halflings en masse can be powerfully effective in dealing with invaders, disasters, or other such problems. Oppressors can be overthrown almost before they are even aware there is a rebellion afoot, due to the halflings’ speed and the intense cooperation halflings demonstrate in a group of their fellows. On more than one occasion, brigands who had previously raided a halfling community have been completely wiped out on their second raid, because they overestimated their abilities against such apparently weak folk.
How is this possible? This ability is largely due to the halflings’ sense of organization and willingness to work together. At least as much of a factor is that halflings, more than any other race except elves, are natural-born guerrilla fighters. This is not to say they practice warfare a great deal — they don’t. But halflings can conceal themselves in natural terrain so well as to become effectively invisible. Their feet (usually noticeable only because they are hairy) are thick-soled and well adapted for silent movement.
Most helpful of all in many ways is their skill with missile weapons. Short people of any race, unless they are very strong, are at a disadvantage in hand-tohand combat. The best they can hope for is to kill an opponent before the enemy gets within striking distance; this is where bows, arrows, and slings fill the bill. Halflings have practiced long and hard with short bows and slings for this very reason, as well as using them for hunting and sport. Halflings have exceptional natural dexterity as well. All this combines to make them +3 to hit when using any short bow or sling — an amazing degree of accuracy, especially for a halfling who also has exceptionally high dexterity.
Imagine, then, the effectiveness of a group of thirty halflings, wearing only leather armor and equipped with short bows, hiding in a woods by a roadside, awaiting the passage of a robber gang who cannot see or hear them. Bows are very quiet, and pinpointing the location of a bow-sniper in a forest is hard enough without having to locate a sniper who can effectively disappear in the same environment. And halflings do not shoot to wound. They have trouble taking prisoners, for the same reasons they aren’t good at close combat.
One of the things a small person can do to protect himself is to ally himself with a bigger person, even if that bigger person isn’t the most likable sort of guy. Halflings seem to make such alliances on a larger scale than other races. It is very unusual to find a halfling community located more than a couple hours’ ride at most from either a dwarven, elven, or human town.
Depending on the makeup of the nearest town(s), the population of a halfling community will include varieties of halflings that resemble their non-halfling neighbors. Hairfeet live near men, have no infravision, and reside in small cottages. Tallfellows live in forests (some in hollow trees) and have infravision like elves, as well as being more lithe and elven in appearance. Stouts are shorter than hairfeet, live in caves and tunnel complexes, and have infravision. They can detect slopes and other underground features in a fashion similar to dwarves.
Some of these similarities are probably due to imitation and the effects of the environment. However, there is always the possibility of an occasional crossmarriage and subsequent mixing of the gene pool. Cross-racial marriages are quite rare in halfling society, but have been known to occur. Very little is said or heard about them, though.
Most halfling towns are set in temperate hills and plains. The dwellings themselves tend to vary as described above, but are usually a curious mixture of above-ground cottages and hillside burrows and tunnels. Individual homes are outfitted for comfort and a restful atmosphere; greens and yellows are much used in interior color. Large spaces are set aside for outdoor gatherings like parties, community meetings, and sports events. Gardens are common, and halflings are prone to outfit their homes with odd bits of natural decoration: rocks, minerals, plants, bark.
Everything about halfling society contributes to the feeling of closeness and safety. Even maps of halfling manufacture rarely describe areas external to the community, other than noting (on the margin, in small print) that to the northeast is “where all the humans live,” or that “the mountains are said to be in this direction,” and so on. Halfling communities located near dangerous areas are often honeycombed with subsurface tunnels and ambush points, should invasion occur, and the lands around are heavily scouted by missile-armed patrols; ambush points are likely to be maintained as well.
Despite their misgivings about the “bigger folks,” halflings are generally open and conversational with others. They have good relations with other races, though the bigger people are seen with some suspicion, Halflings in general do not bear hatred for any race and are prone to accept even the normally unacceptable sorts like half-orcs into their community (though everyone will be watching, of course). Halflings are usually trusting and honest, though they also enjoy pranks and may become evasive if uneasy with their company. With all the things working to discourage halflings from ever becoming adventurers, one wonders why some do anyway. Every society, no matter how closely knit, will have some rebels, those who don’t fit smoothly into the usual Scheme of Things. Many halfling adventurers (particularly thieves and fighter/thieves) are from this sort of background. They grow tired of the unchanging nature of their life at home and set off seeking a little excitement.
Nearly all halfling adventurers start out with naive attitudes and high expectations of how things are going to turn out; subsequently, some fall prey to the multitude of subtler dangers one meets in the adventuring life. Yet even then, these halflings see their troubles as a fair price to pay. Going adventuring is a sort of protest against comfort, a reaction to having things come too easily. Certainly these adventurers aren’t rejecting all comforts (some have been known to bring their pillows with them in case they were unable to find a bed).
Adventuring is a dare to halflings, a calculated risk. It makes the adventurer more acutely aware of his or her own limitations and capabilities, and, in the words of one halfling, “It makes you feel more alive.” Halfling adventurers of any class almost never travel alone, and prefer going in a large group with a lot of non-halflings in it. (Any being who is not a halfling is automatically seen as capable and experienced in adventuring.)
Because of their natural abilities to move silently and hide, most halflings desire to take up a profession that makes the best use of these talents. Being a fighter has the drawback of putting the halfling in frequent close-combat situations (the disadvantages of which have been noted before). But being a thief, or a combination fighter and thief, is another matter entirely.
Now, it should be noted that halflings as a whole are law-abiding and honest. They don’t make a living picking one another’s pockets, or filching gems from treasure rooms. Thieves, however, aren’t supposed to get into direct combat. They are supposed to move silently, hide a lot, and make moves unseen by their opponents Thieves learn to open locks (fueling a halfling’s normally irrepressible curiosity about what is going on behind locked doors). As for stealing, well, that can be rationalized as borrowing, or taking things that someone has too many of and won’t miss anyway, and besides, it would be nice to have that ring....
Though they aren’t the best at climbing because of their size, and they have trouble with other written languages, halflings make excellent thieves. They almost never admit to being of that profession, though. Halfling thieves describe themselves most often as simply “adventurers” or “scouts.” One diminutive miss, a master of the thieving art, says, “I’m a fighter. I just happen to do my best fighting from behind.”
Halflings who adventure for a long time often undergo a subtle change in the way they view their home community. They become mildly acute critics of the stifling aspects of halfling society, exceedingly aware of the stagnant atmosphere, the extreme concern with safety, the closed-mindedness that permeates halflings’ lives.
Yet they, the adventurers, are also among the most vigorous defenders of their home towns. After a long period of hazardous journeying, after seeing the innumerable horrors lurking in the outside world, the quiet and security of a halfling community is a wonderful relief indeed. “There have been times,” said one returned adventurer, “when I wished a demon or two would come through town and make things interesting. I was so bored. But then, if I really want to see demons, I can go to a dungeon. It’s better that things stay quiet here at home even if it is a little dull.”
Halfling religion mirrors the race’s preoccupation with security. Yondalla, the most powerful and widely worshipped halfling deity, is usually known as the “Protector” who serves as a guardian against evil forces. She is able to hide her worshipers with illusions, usually making them invisible or disguising them as natural foliage. Yondalla’s symbol is appropriate, too: the shield, representing defensive power and security. Her holy day is called “Safeday.” Yondalla is also the “Provider,” an aspect perhaps related to the halfling love for comfort. Yondalla uses a variety of magical weapons in the defense of her people, but none of them are particularly important in the ceremonies for her worship, or even in the tales in which they appear. It was Yondalla, by the way, who gifted halflings with their resistance to magic and poison, to protect them even further from the ravages of the world.
The smallest of all the demi-humans, then, is a race that at first glance should have been quickly overwhelmed by the great cruel world long ago. It wasn’t, though, and halflings continue to thrive in close cooperation with the other demihuman and human races. Though halflings maintain a low-key existence, individuals arise with surprising regularity to considerable heights of fame (or infamy) as thieves; as such; they will continue to remind the rest of the world that the halflings are still here — with each purse stolen, each treasure chest broken into, and each pocket picked.
Material for this article came from the various AD&D™ tomes, Iibrams, and manuals, as well as from Paul H. Kocher’s excellent Master of Middle Earth (paperback, Ballantine Books). My thanks, too, to Cassandra Proudfoot, who was able to point out some of the finer points of the thieving life. By the way, wherever you are, I want my wallet back.
Most humans tend to see halflings as child-like, basically happy, naive, and hungry most of the time. Some of these observations may be correct, by the whole impression is still rather superficial.
Despite their misgivings about the “bigger folks,” halflings are generally open and conversational with others. They have good relations with other races, though the bigger people are seen with some suspicion.
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