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Post by ancientempathy on Oct 27, 2010 13:34:24 GMT -5
A thread dedicated to halflings and their subraces.
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Post by ancientempathy on Oct 27, 2010 13:35:16 GMT -5
Lightfoot Halflings
Regions: Any human region, Luiren, Lightfoot Halfling. Racial Feats: Improved Low Blow, Low Blow, Nobody’s Fool. Racial Prestige Class: Warsling sniper.
The folk of Faerun are more familiar with the lightfoot hin than with either of the other two subraces, primarily because the lightfoots are the most numerous and widely traveled of all the Halflings. Nearly every human community of any size larger than a village has at least a few Halfling residents. When most Faerunians think of Halflings, the lightfoots are the people that most often leap to mind.
History
Most lightfoot Halflings trace their family ancestry back to the days when a great tribe of their subrace populated the territory known today as Luiren. Following the evens of the Hin Ghostwars, the majority of the lightfoot Halflings departed their homeland and spread out across northern Faerun in a great diaspora. Though some lightfoot Halflings remained in Luiren, the subrace has become ubiquitous throughout the settled lands of Faerun.
//For more information about their diaspora, please read the History section of the Strongheart Hin, here in this thread.
Outlook
Lightfoot Halflings may be the most common of all the subraces, but their behavior is also the most varied. It’s impossible to describe the “typical” lightfoot halfling because, much like humans, the race embodies individuals that are the absolute antithesis of one another. This diversity of behavior is mirrored in a diversity of outlooks: Some halflings adopt views and beliefs about the world that are very close or even identical to whatever human community they happen to dwell in, while others retain distinctive points of view that separate them from other races and groups (including other halflings). It’s not uncommon to meet halflings who, because they spend the greater part of their lives roaming from place to place, have outlooks that arch amalgams of those from multiple cultures and environments.
The aspect of the lightfoot outlook that most no Halflings notice, however, is that they are the hin subrace that is most likely to wander out of an innate desire. It is not unknown for individual lightfoot halflings or even entire families to decide that, after living in the same place for decades, they want to move on to someplace else. Some learned folk speculate that the lightfoot hin experience a habitual need to see many different places and enjoy a variety of experiences. Other sages and lore masters wonder if the lightfoot penchant for the semi-nomadic lifestyle is socialized behavior, learned from centuries of practice. These scholars theorize that the lightfoot hin who left Luiren because of the Ghostwar massacres were unable to find a new homeland that suited them as well, so they wandered. After so many hundreds of years of wanderings, the behaviors is not natural to the lightfoot hin, or so this school of thought holds. Whatever the case, there’s no denying that many lightfoot halflings seem determined to see a great deal of Faerun and have many interesting experiences during their lifetimes.
Lightfoot Halfling Characters
As befits their name, lightfoot halflings often take classes that work well for wanderers, such as rogue and bard. Favored Class: Rogue. Lightfoot halflings often pick up an impressive array of skills during their travels, and with their small size and low strength, they need the advantages of stealth and cleverness. Prestige Classes: Some halflings become masters of the ambush, popping up from behind a bush to deliver an onslaught of stones. These guardians, the warsling snipers, are often the first line of defense for a halfling community and accordingly are much cherished by their fellow citizens.
Lightfoot Halfling Society
Lightfoot halfling society is hard to quantify, because lightfoots can be divided into three groups: those who live among humans, those who live among other lightfoots, and those who wander from place to place. Some lightfoot halfling families live their entire lives in one place, sometimes as part of a human community, and sometimes in a settlement populated almost entirely by halflings. Others live their entire lives on the roads and byways of Faerun, never remaining in one place very long.
Language and Literacy
Lightfoots speak Halfling, Common, and the language of their home region--which, given lightfoot wanderlust, could be almost anywhere. Wandering lightfoot halflings pick up the languages of the places they live, and often learn other widely spread tongues.
All lightfoots nonbarbarians (the vast majority of the race, in other words) are literate.
Lightfoot Halfling Magic and Lore
Lightfoot halflings tend to be generalists when it comes to magic, using a broad array of spells and magic items to make their travels--or their hearths--more pleasant. They are skillful clerics and sorcerers, but sometimes lack the discipline to become accomplished as wizards.
Spells and Spellcasting
Because they’re almost always fighting foes who are larger than they are, lightfoot halflings favor spells that help them move around the battlefield and negate the physical strength of their foes. Expeditious retreat, fly, haste, various polymorph spells, and especially Evard’s black tentacles are common spells in a halfling spell caster’s arsenal.
Some lightfoot halflings become so enamored of travel spells that they take the Hin Wandermage feat.
Lightfoot Halfling Magic Items
Lightfoot halflings are fascinated with magic that makes travel easier in some way. It’s useful to travel faster, of course, but speed isn’t always a priority to a lightfoot who’s wandering anyway. Items that make travel more comfortable or safer are especially cherished. Common Items: Bags of holding, Heward’s handy haversack, carpets of flying, and any magic boots can be purchased in lightfoot halfling communities for 10% less than the normal cost. Iconic Item: One of the most consistent disadvantages halflings face is that their size makes it difficult for them to make use of certain types of weapons. In response to this difficulty, a halfling wizard created the first hornblades--deceptive magic weapons that inflict more damage than their size would suggest. These weapons seem to be in the possession of lightfoot hin more frequently than the ghostwise or Strongheart, giving rise to speculation that perhaps the original hornblade inventor was of the lightfoot subrace.
Lightfoot Halfling Deities
The diversity evident in the lightfoot halflings’ outlook and society is also reflected in their religious beliefs. Of all the hin subraces, the lightfoot are the most likely to worship deities other than those belonging to Yondalla’s Children. In addition to the deity they most favor, many lightfoot households--particularly those that prefer life on the road to a more settled existence--often venerate a household patron, often inspired by some matriarch or patriarch in the family’s history.
Brandobaris, the Master of Stealth, is much beloved by the lightfoot hin for his realistic and good-humored view of life. Brandobaris is a common patron deity of those halflings who trust to their luck to see them through as they wander from place to place.
The worship of Cyrrollalee, the Hearthkeeper, is wildly popular among lightfoot halflings born within the last two generations. Her message of the ascendance of the halfling race to a station of respect and power in Faerun has fallen on receptive ears. The ranks of her clergy have swelled with the number of lightfoot hin seeking to spread her message and contribute to the search for a new lightfoot homeland.
Yondalla’s faith is popular with the lightfoot halflings, both those who wander and those who prefer to settle in more permanent communities. Recently there has been some tension between her clergy and those serving Cyrrollalee: Yondalla is not at all certain that his younger deity’s call for a halfling homeland is wise.
Lightfoot Halfling Equipment
These halflings favor the lightfoot warsling, a deadly and powerful version of the common sling. The warsling fires skiprocks, which halflings delight in throwing with great accuracy as well.
Lightfoot Animals and Pets
Lightfoot halflings make up for their small stature by domesticating some of the largest and most powerful hounds in Faerun. A towering human brigand has a hard time pushing around a halfling traveler with a pair of loyal hounds at his side. Mastiff Hound is just an example.
((This information was quoted from, and can be found in; "Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Accessory: Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerun"))
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Post by ancientempathy on Oct 27, 2010 13:35:47 GMT -5
Strongheart Halflings
Regions: Luiren, Strongheart Halfling. Racial Feats: Improved Low Blow, Low Blow, Luck of Heroes. Racial Prestige Class: Warsling sniper.
The Strongheart halflings are, like the ghostwise and lightfoot hin, native to Luiren. They trace their ancestry back to the same long-lost days as the other subraces, but unlike their cousins, the stronghearts elected to remain in their homeland following the events of the Hin Ghostwar. The legacy of Chand, the Strongheart war chieftain who galvanized his tribe against the threat of the feral ghostwise, lives on today in a nation that both reinforces and defies many of the expectations nonhalfings have of this race.
History
The history of the strongheart hin is outlined in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (page 196).
//So…From the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting…Regional History//
Thousand of years ago, Luiren was an unsettled wilderness roamed b three great halfling tribes: the lightfoots, the stronghearts, and the ghostwise. The three races fiercely defended their woodlands against all intruders for centuries, driving off Dambrathan barbarians, packs of rabid gnolls, and sharing the Lluirwood’s resources. Feuds between tribes were not uncommon, but for the most part the three tribes lived in peace.
Around -100 DR, an evil spirit entered the forest. Under the leadership of a powerful cleric named Desva, the ghostwise halflings fell into darkness, worshiping Malar and glorifying in violence and bloodshed. Feral ghostwise hunters, their faces painted like skulls, prowled the forests in search of halfling prey. They grew ever stronger as Desva led them deeper into Malar’s worship, teaching the greatest hunters to take shapes as werewolves and poisoning the forest’s natural predators with maddening bloodlust. For a generation the Lluirwood was a place of death.
In -68 DR, a strongheart hunter named Chand became war chief of his folk and struck an alliance with the war chief of the lightfoot tribe. The two united to root out the madness of the ghostwise halflings. Over three years each ghostwise stronghold and lair was found out and destroyed, until Chand himself slew Desva of the ghostwise in -65 DR. The fighting was merciless and awful--entire ghostwise villages were burned and their folk killed. Chand held to his purpose and saw to it that no hin warrior stayed his or her hand.
In the aftermath of the Hin Ghostwars, the ghostwise halflings were reduced to a handful of their former number. Most were exiled from the Lluirwood, although a handful who had repudiated Desva and joined with Chand’s warriors were allowed to stay. Those who left sifted in the Chondalwood, taking an oath never to speak until they had atoned for the animal-like savagery of their past. The atonement is long past, but to this day ghostwise halflings think long and hard before they choose to speak.
Many of the lightfoots, horrified by what Chand and the stronghearts had done, chose to leave the Lluirwood. They became a nomadic people spread across all of northern Faerun, adopting the customs and traditions of the folk they traveled among.
The stronghearts remained in the Lluirwood. Unchecked by the lightfoot or ghostwise ways, they began to clear the forest and settled in semipermanent villages that grew larger and more permanent with each passing generation. They changed from woodland nomads to settled farmers and crafts folk, defending their lands against numerous invasions and raids over the years. In time some lightfoots returned to the new realm of Luiren but this is now a strongheart land.
Outlook
Prior to the Hin Ghostwar, the stronghearts were, like their brethren, mostly a nomadic hunter-gather people. During the centuries that followed that terrible conflict, however, the stronghearts gravitated toward a more agrarian-based lifestyle centered around permanent communities. But if the communities were stationery, the stronghearts were not, moving from established community to established community.
This strange duality of nature, consisting of a desire to move about freely with a liking for permanent structures and settlements, has produced some unusual outlooks among the stronghearts of Luiren. Their viewpoint stresses cooperation above all other traits, and the ability to work as a team is the most valued behavior in their land. Cooperation transcends many boundaries in Luiren, and even strangers of whom the locals are suspicious can earn themselves considerable credit and tolerance by demonstrating a willingness to cooperate.
Strongheart Halfling Characters
Stronghearts have relatively more clerics and martial characters (fighters, rangers, and paladins) than their lightfoot cousins, but the skilled rogue is still the most common character class amongst the strongheart adventurers. Favored Class: Rogue. Strongheart halflings can be tricky, clever warriors of glib negotiators--or both.
Strongheart Halfling Society
The stronghearts have evolved a unique, semi-nomadic lifestyle, in which business, families, and even entire clans move freely and independently from place to place within Luiren. This fusion of wanderlust and stability is a source of wonderment and confusion for visitors, who find it difficult to comprehend how a society can enjoy such seemingly whimsical mobility while retraining any viable structure. For their part, most of the strongheart hin cannot understand why anyone would want to tie themselves permanently to any one community or structure for their entire lives.
Language and Literacy
Strongheart halflings speak Halfling and Common, and many pick up Shaaran as well. All but the very rare barbarians are literate.
Strongheart Halfling Magic and Lore
Strongheart halflings invest more magic in their communities than lightfoot or ghostwise halflings. Stationary magic items are far more common; strongheart communities have everything from continual flame lighting the town square at night to city walls that magically repel enemy arrows. Not every village has such wonders, for the stronghearts aren’t profligate in their spellcasting. But most strongheart spellcasters devote their efforts to improving the lot of their communities--even if the spellcasters themselves will be moving on once their work is done.
Strongheart Halfling Deities
The scrupulous stronghearts of Luiren take care to honor all the deities in the halfling pantheon, but their way of life reflects the influence of certain powers more than others. They do not favor any deities from other pantheons, and they actively discourage halflings from venerating the gods and goddesses of other races.
Among all the Faerunian halfling subraces, Arvoreen enjoys the strongest worship from the stronghearts of Luiren. While the Luiren hin venerate all the deities of the halfling pantheon in their turn, they hold the Vigilant Guardian in very high regard. His simple dogma has almost become the de facto motto of the nation: “Vigilance against attack will protect the community. Prepare an active defense, drill continuously, and leave nothing to chance. Put down danger before allowing it a chance to rear its head.” Clerics of the Wary Sword are among the nation’s foremost religious, political, and military leaders; most of them multiclass as fighters.
Strongheart druids and rangers frequently venerate Sheela Peryroyl, the Green Sister, and they encourage their fellow hin to be mindful of the need to balance their communities’ expansions with the need to preserve nature. Most strongheart communities in Luiren maintain shrines to the Watchful Mother, usually on the edge of the settled area where it borders the wilderness.
Yondalla, the Blessed One, is the most popular halfling deity after Avoreen among the stronghearts. Many of the subraces who dwell in Luiren find the dichotomy of her faith--do not welcome violence, but defend the home ad community fiercely--to be reflective of the strongheart outlook. Yondalla reigns supreme in Luiren whenever matters of family and tradition are invoked, and her clergy enjoys considerable respect and influence in the most important national councils.
Strongheart Halfling Equipment
The strongheart hin understand that they must be ready to defend their homes and nation literally at a moment’s notice. They cannot know when a hostile creature or enemy force may launch an attack from the Luirwood or the Toadsquat Mountains. They have learned from bitter experience that it’s best to be prepared, even when engaged in such mundane activities as husbandry and traveling. Therefore they have developed such devices as the wagon shields, which can be used to bolster defenses even in the most unlikely situations.
((This information was quoted from, and can be found in; "Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Accessory: Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerun"))
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sandcastles
Proven Member
A kingdom to crumble.
Posts: 111
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Post by sandcastles on Aug 21, 2011 14:56:14 GMT -5
Vital Statistics for Halflings Random Starting AgesRace | Adulthood | Simple¹ | Moderate² | | Complex³ | Halfling | 20 years | +2d4 | +3d6 | +4d6 |
¹ The simple classes are barbarian, rogue, and sorcerer. ² The moderate classes are bard, fighter, paladin, and ranger. ³ The complex classes are cleric, druid, monk, and wizard.Aging EffectsSubrace | Middle Age¹ | Old Age² | Venerable³ | Maximum Age | | Halfling | 50 years | 75 years | 100 years | +5d20 years |
¹ -1 to Str, Con, and Dex; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha ² -2 to Str, Con, and Dex; +1 to Int, Wis and Cha. ³ -3 to Str, Con, and Dex; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.Random Height and WeightSubrace | Base Male Height | Base Female Height | Base Height Mod | Base Male Weight | Base Female Weight | Base Weight Mod | Halfling | 2'8" | 2'6" | +2d4 | 30 lb. | 25 lb. | x 1 lb. |
Source: Races of Faerûn.
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