Halflings. Love/Hate?

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I mean, if a Halfling is just a little person, theres really no point to them being treated a a seperate race (actually sounds kinda insulting TBH), demographics can simply be covered by height and weight charts.

As I mentioned in another post last page, one possible reason is "because game stats". Even if halflings are basically just small humans they should be treated as a separate race mechanically to give them small creature benefits and penalties.

Another consideration (which you sort of hinted at) would be cultural distinctions that set them as separate within the game world and may impact their starting skills or such. I've often toyed with the idea of treating different human subgroups as separate races mechanically to give them different cultural benefits/packages to reflect their distinct origins, such as Barbarians* (physical ability bonuses, outdoors/athletics skills), Imperials (social ability bonuses), Erudites (academic bonuses), etc. If I was going that route I would give "human" halflings the same treatment.

*not the D&D class, but cultural "barbarians"
 
As I mentioned in another post last page, one possible reason is "because game stats". Even if halflings are basically just small humans they should be treated as a separate race mechanically to give them small creature benefits and penalties.

So... it doesn't just sound insulting, it's also bad game design?
 
So... it doesn't just sound insulting, it's also bad game design?

What do you mean? I suppose you could treat "small" as a type of trait (or "Feat", whatever) mechanically rather than build an entire race just to handle that. But generally speaking if we're dealing with small humanoids I would think that their size would have an impact on certain actions and maybe even stuff like their ability to sustain damage.

The cultural aspect could also have an impact as well, but I suppose that could be treated as separate from race too, assuming the system you're using has "backgrounds" or such. I just think some type of "cultural packages" could be a good way to provide distinction between different types of humans and incentivize picking "human" as a race, rather than treating humans as a generic universal "human" race, then pinning them off against a bunch of cool fantasy races during character creation (i.e. "Do you want to pick a plain old 'human' 100% like any other, or a do you want a cool elf, or some type of cat people? What about a WOOD elf, or a rock dwarf?" etc.).
 
What do you mean? I suppose you could treat "small" as a type of trait (or "Feat", whatever) mechanically rather than build an entire race just to handle that. But generally speaking if we're dealing with small humanoids I would think that their size would have an impact on certain actions and maybe even stuff like their ability to sustain damage.
I mean that a human should not be treated as a seperate race based on their size. If Halfings are a different race from humans, great, then keep them as a seperate race and define that. But don't correlate Fantasy Halflings to short humans.

Frodo is a seperate race from Aragorn.
Tyrion Lannister isn't a seperate race from Jamie Lannister.

The range of sizes of a race, specifically humans, should already be accounted for in the rules system according to that race.
 
As I mentioned in another post last page, one possible reason is "because game stats". Even if halflings are basically just small humans they should be treated as a separate race mechanically to give them small creature benefits and penalties.

Another consideration (which you sort of hinted at) would be cultural distinctions that set them as separate within the game world and may impact their starting skills or such. I've often toyed with the idea of treating different human subgroups as separate races mechanically to give them different cultural benefits/packages to reflect their distinct origins, such as Barbarians* (physical ability bonuses, outdoors/athletics skills), Imperials (social ability bonuses), Erudites (academic bonuses), etc. If I was going that route I would give "human" halflings the same treatment.

*not the D&D class, but cultural "barbarians"
Alternatively, you can go the Warlock! route and have them mechanically identical but culturally distinct.
 
The major issue with halflings (or more specifically halflings-as-hobbits) in my view is that they come from Tolkien and Tolkien wrote them as harking back to some kind of pastoral English idyll that simply isn't prominent any more. Because of that, they feel way more archai than other fantasy races. Like something out of Enid Blyton.
 
I mean that a human should not be treated as a seperate race based on their size. If Halfings are a different race from humans, great, then keep them as a seperate race and define that. But don't correlate Fantasy Halflings to short humans.

Frodo is a seperate race from Aragorn.
Tyrion Lannister isn't a seperate race from Jamie Lannister.

The range of sizes of a race, specifically humans, should already be accounted for in the rules system according to that race.

Ah, I was thinking more in terms of treating "halflings" as a human offshoot more akin to Neanderthals, which are technically related and may have interbred with humans, but are also distinct enough to count as a separate "subrace" in D&D terms, rather than just humans with dwarfism.
 
Well, one can make an argument that the halflings are the most technologically advanced race in Middle Earth. They're certainly ahead of everyone else when it come to agriculture. It's possible that they buy their clocks from the Dwarves but Dwarves have yet to take up matches and the Hobbits have matches and Gandalf's fire works are, while the best they have seen not something they haven't seen elsewhere. Tolkien also gave us Goblins who are good with machinery but they don't seem to turn up in Lord of the Rings.
 
Well, there was a reason I replaced halflings with a race of bipedal squirrel-like creatures who filled the same approximate niche. It didn't work because I kept getting players who insisted they must play halflings because it was an official AD&D race and who was I to ban anything straight out of the PHB in *MY* world?
 
Ah, I was thinking more in terms of treating "halflings" as a human offshoot more akin to Neanderthals, which are technically related and may have interbred with humans, but are also distinct enough to count as a separate "subrace" in D&D terms, rather than just humans with dwarfism.
You mean like Homo Floriensis, AKA the Hobbit? :smile:

Homo-floresiensis-009.jpg
 
Well, there was a reason I replaced halflings with a race of bipedal squirrel-like creatures who filled the same approximate niche. It didn't work because I kept getting players who insisted they must play halflings because it was an official AD&D race and who was I to ban anything straight out of the PHB in *MY* world?
Quick. Stake through the heart and then bury them at a crossroads with their severed heads between their feet - just to be sure!
 
You mean like Homo Floriensis, AKA the Hobbit? :smile:

Homo-floresiensis-009.jpg

That may have been a better analogy, but I was referring more to the idea that Neanderthals (and Homo Floresiensis for that matter) are related to humans, and that halfling could be treated a similar way, as a separate species of humans. Which would technically make halflings "humans", but along a different branch.
 
That may have been a better analogy, but I was referring more to the idea that Neanderthals (and Homo Floresiensis for that matter) are related to humans, and that halfling could be treated a similar way, as a separate species of humans. Which would technically make halflings "humans", but along a different branch.

Halfling using Hobbits as the model, I'd say they are not any less distinct a species than elves or dwarves are.
 
Well, there was a reason I replaced halflings with a race of bipedal squirrel-like creatures who filled the same approximate niche. It didn't work because I kept getting players who insisted they must play halflings because it was an official AD&D race and who was I to ban anything straight out of the PHB in *MY* world?
"The Referee. Here's my Viking Hat, too!"
 
Love Hobbits in Middle-earth, hate them in D&D. Prefer Halflings in fantasy to be more fae in nature, which I appreciate they often are but its lost in all the hobbit holes, food and curly hair.

Has anyone checked them out in Forbidden Lands? They have an interesting relationship with a certain other race. Makes them really cool, especially if players have PCs of both races.
 
It didn't work because I kept getting players who insisted they must play halflings because it was an official AD&D race and who was I to ban anything straight out of the PHB in *MY* world?

This is why the first thing I do during session 0 whenever meeting new players who're experienced gamers is to point at the books and tell them that everything that appears in those books are SUGGESTIONS, that I'M the arbiter of what goes down in my game, not the game writers, and that they should not to count on anything that's in those books to work that way in my game.
 
I've got no issue with halflings in D&D.

Halfings, Dwarves, Elves... I just consider them to be core to the experience. It's the other goofy races that have become core since B/X that I dislike and discard. :smile:
 
Love. I always played a halfling thief in AD&D and managed to hit 4th level before my brother TPKed the party again. Hugo managed to double tap and kill a harpy that had slept the whole party using that Dragon Magazine optional initiative system. He also cut his way out of the giant toad in the Keep near Hommlet before dozens of bandits with crossbows cut him and his friends down in a dirty ugly dungeon with no name.

In my just ended Old-School Essentials game my player's Dirk the halfling was a plate armored sheriff, merchant, and pipeweed smoker who had traveled the world and seen many things. The weird shark skin and blubber mutations didn't stop his wanderings at all.

Dirk was tough as hell due to great halfling saves and the plate armor. The shark skin and blubber helped along with a couple of handy magic items. The pipeweed helped in roleplaying encounters as an ice breaker and trade item. Some of his weed was even magical and conjured illusions when puffed by an experienced smoke ring creator.

A great class/race/ancestry.

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They are okay as long as they are a rarity. But I'm not a big fan of demi-humans overall tbh. Although, I do like the Dwarves in WHRP.

If I was writing a fantasy game personally, they wouldn't be part of it (or elves). At least not in any recognizable trope.
 
in my long-term Realms campaign, I took all the assumptions of hobbits - agrarian happy-go-lucky, jolly, charming, folksy humble etc. and the D&D halfling "uber-thief" and merged them into what I felt made them useful.

I have halflings putting on the front of the happy-go-lucky agrarian hobbit, but internally they have clans that form a huge organized crime organization, that traffic in drugs, poisons, alchemical compounds - by controlling various products throughout the Realms. A veritable La Cosa Nostra surrounding several named Clans (the predominant being the Sweetleaf family) that are utterly ruthless.

No one talks about them. But all halflings know about them. I put the fear of Galactus into my players and a healthy respect for halflings. The "veneer" of halflings is real. But the underlying reality of their communities is very real and scary.

Edit: this is not to say that all Halflings are really evil. They really aren't - they're GOOD. But there is this frightening thing that exists among them that non-halflings aren't generally aware of. Heh it's fun to see my PC's give innocuous halflings broad leeway in their interactions.
 
in my long-term Realms campaign, I took all the assumptions of hobbits - agrarian happy-go-lucky, jolly, charming, folksy humble etc. and the D&D halfling "uber-thief" and merged them into what I felt made them useful.

I have halflings putting on the front of the happy-go-lucky agrarian hobbit, but internally they have clans that form a huge organized crime organization, that traffic in drugs, poisons, alchemical compounds - by controlling various products throughout the Realms. A veritable La Cosa Nostra surrounding several named Clans (the predominant being the Sweetleaf family) that are utterly ruthless.

No one talks about them. But all halflings know about them. I put the fear of Galactus into my players and a healthy respect for halflings. The "veneer" of halflings is real. But the underlying reality of their communities is very real and scary.

Edit: this is not to say that all Halflings are really evil. They really aren't - they're GOOD. But there is this frightening thing that exists among them that non-halflings aren't generally aware of. Heh it's fun to see my PC's give innocuous halflings broad leeway in their interactions.
Tell me more, even if in PM... Your ideas might work great for Halflings in my RuneQuest Thieves Guild...

Frank
 
in my long-term Realms campaign, I took all the assumptions of hobbits - agrarian happy-go-lucky, jolly, charming, folksy humble etc. and the D&D halfling "uber-thief" and merged them into what I felt made them useful.

I have halflings putting on the front of the happy-go-lucky agrarian hobbit, but internally they have clans that form a huge organized crime organization, that traffic in drugs, poisons, alchemical compounds - by controlling various products throughout the Realms. A veritable La Cosa Nostra surrounding several named Clans (the predominant being the Sweetleaf family) that are utterly ruthless.

No one talks about them. But all halflings know about them. I put the fear of Galactus into my players and a healthy respect for halflings. The "veneer" of halflings is real. But the underlying reality of their communities is very real and scary.

Edit: this is not to say that all Halflings are really evil. They really aren't - they're GOOD. But there is this frightening thing that exists among them that non-halflings aren't generally aware of. Heh it's fun to see my PC's give innocuous halflings broad leeway in their interactions.
Your ideas intrigue me...

 
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One thing that can be said in favor of halflings, though, is that pygmy humans are a thing in real life. And there's also a lot of precedent in fantasy and myth about "little people"--and not just fairies/fey, but actual small sized "humans" or hominid races. So there's a strong case to be made for having some type of "tiny humans" in fantasy settings. I just wish they were better integrated and unique to the specific setting, rather than trying to pigeonhole a generalized version of "hobbits".
I prefer Homo floresiensis :smile: as the Hobbit lineage :smile: (just a side point, homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Flores all existed about 50,000 years ago...)

I very much like deeply integrating all species into a setting. For me on Halflings start with Hobbits and paleontology.

Halflings being very agrarian, stay at home, non-confrontational social types. I think Bonobos (halflings) compared to Chimpanzees (humans) if need an analogy.

In my games Halflings have always lived in association with humans, even if adjacent, and they have a knack for blending in and being overlooked, both physically and socially. So the archeological record reveals a much closer association with humans than historical records. Halflings are barely mentioned in written records.

They also have something that just makes them more likable or not hated. Even creatures that consider them a tasty treat have no animus towards them. Perhaps they have a certain pheromone, trigger that cute factor that babies and puppies can do, divine blessing, what have you. This is a large reason they survive and can even thrive in a cruel world (well that and they are not as meek as most think). They are just not considered a threat, and they are not f left be. They are not expansionistic, won't back as a group the formation of any empire or conquering anything.

I also add in their is some bond between humans and halflings. It is Halflings that domesticated dogs and shared them with humans, halflings who innovated many agrarian techniques. So in a way humans take it very personal if some other species attacks "their" halflings.

Of course I don't leave it there. While most would give Halflings a break, one needs to account for evil rulers. Here is where I add in Halflings are exceptional farmers and willing to bear pretty high axes if left to their lives (higher taxes than most humans would bear) so they are valuable and easy to rule subjects. Also, they become infertile if treated too harshly (similar to how a lot of species will reproduce less under harsh conditions or unnatural conditions) ..so you can enslave them, exploit them, cause them to live in fear, but they will slowly dwindle and may well rise up even if it is suicidal.
 
Agree about D&D gnomes. They’re nothing like mythological gnomes or how I’d picture gnomes to be. No one’s ever made a gnomes in any game I’ve played or ran. To say that they’d be the first race in the chopping block for me would imply that I even take them into consideration.

I also think that a lot of D&D races are just bloat to sell moar books, just like their thousand and one character classes that are really just variants of warriors, mystics and specialists. But I’m willing to forgive some races (specially elves and dwarves), given that D&D is supposed to be generic “do it yourself” fantasy at its core (at least in theory). So you need at least some classic fantasy stand-ins to serve as examples of the types of races DM could have populate their worlds. My issue is when they go off into entirely made up “fantasy” races that don’t even exist in mythology (like Dragonborn :sick::dead:), which I think should always be relegated to specific settings, rather than being offered to players right in the core bools.
I couldn't agree with you more. :smile:
 
For sure; they are common tropes. But like, in Traveller, they may have the Aslan and Vargr, but they didn't just stick Wookies in there as is and call them Wookies.
Kzin are abut the only "honorable warrior race" really cool with; all others are derivative :smile:
 
I think the gnomes of High Ballista by Carl Sargent, a clever and imaginative extension of the tinkier idea, are great.

I guess I can see just excluding a race but it seems more productive to find a way to make them more a distinct part of the setting, imaginatively engaging and fun.

220px-PC2_TSR9255_Top_Ballista.jpg
 
... You're either playing a pastiche of Tolkien's Hobbits...
That is actually exactly what I want. Tolkien made them come alive for me, fully fleshed, have them make sense and made me care. D&D included Hobbits, in my mind, as so many people wanted to play in a world with them in 1975, the Tolkien fever was strong. I believe Tolkien made Hobbits iconic, as we humans do through our greatest tales.

The nature of the Hobbit, as you rightly point out is a bucolic English countryside, salt of the earth, kind, simple, stalwart, enjoying the simple things person...people connect with that, in my view, as many yearn for this, they yearn for the "hero" in not the great deeds and being the "chosen one," but the common person doing what had to be done for the right reasons.

This is not Joseph Campbell's hero (which is the hero that the patron/ruling class idolized, for obvious political reasons) or the more nihilistic "heroes" of Vance or Moorcock being more reactionary in my view to the Campbell type-hero and the idea of the "noble" hero in general.

Halflings, as we may all recall, were created in response to threatened litigation, never a good design province. Also Gygax repeatedly stated he was not a fan of Lord of the Rings, so not surprising Halflings given short shrift on his creative energies...and if Gary was good at anything it was at sticking to his litigation inspired narratives. I would not underestimate how the threatened litigation scared people off from making Halfling too close to Hobbits.

As to three words for Hobbits (Comfort Loving, Humble, Stalwart).

They are presented as not having much greed in them, or lust for power, hence the One Ring has not much to work with to corrupt them...much harder even though it can happen in the end. Only a Hobbit would use the ring more for personal enjoyment instead of seeking power over others....Bilbo had it for decades, and Gollum just wanted to have it (granted the Ring at that time may have wanted to hide). They do "lust" after creature comforts but that is far different than gluttony or power lust.

In short, Hobbits are the species that make up for in character what they lack in physical stature. No wonder they seemed such a poor fit with the D&D murder-hobo archetype. :smile: I'd go so far to say Halflings (and all their derivative ilk) got reworked to lessen the cognitive dissonance when they are played as murder-hobos.
 
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Ah, I was thinking more in terms of treating "halflings" as a human offshoot more akin to Neanderthals, which are technically related and may have interbred with humans, but are also distinct enough to count as a separate "subrace" in D&D terms, rather than just humans with dwarfism.
Me too and I go with Australopithecus for goblins.
 
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No one talks about them. But all halflings know about them. I put the fear of Galactus into my players and a healthy respect for halflings. The "veneer" of halflings is real. But the underlying reality of their communities is very real and scary.
...
So they been spendin' most their lives livin' in the Halfling's paradise? :smile:

Played in several games that had that view of Halflings, started as a joke because they made the best thieves...simple step form there to make them there own mafia. I've pulled way back on it personally. The closest I have is Halflings may form Burglar Guilds (Halflings only) to coexist with Thieves Guilds. Burglar Guilds have much more stringent rules and exist in large part to protect Halflings.
 
I thought it would bore others. I've sent an email to an expert in Norse myth about it, so I'll await their response and post it here. It might be based on deeper stuff in Proto-Germanic. That'll obviously be Viking age oriented, raniE raniE is a native speaker of a modern Norse language and so could tie in more modern stuff which will be interesting.
It might be interesting in this context to consider OE aelf or ylf, which IIRC is a pretty well-attested word. Personal names with an Aelf-element are also quite common.
 
I think the gnomes of High Ballista by Carl Sargent, a clever and imaginative extension of the tinkier idea, are great.

I guess I can see just excluding a race but it seems more productive to find a way to make them more a distinct part of the setting, imaginatively engaging and fun.

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I prefer to put the setting before the race, rather than the other way around. My default assumption is that no race should exist (even elves, which are my favorite race) unless they fit into the world's concept (which is a more proper way of world-building), rather than trying to make all races fit the setting just because they appear in the PHB. If the setting is about a human-centric world besieged by angelic and demonic forces that may occasionally seduce and interbreed with humans, for example, then stuff like Tieflings and Aasimar should be the only non-human races (No Elves!).

That being said, when I do consider Gnomes, I tend to think of them either in terms of Tinker Gnomes (if I want tech to exist in the world) or something more akin to Forest Gnomes and make them fey (in more magic-centric worlds), rather than go for more D&D-ish stuff like "Rock Gnomes" or whatnot. If I'm making "Rock" anything it'll probably be either dwarves or some type of stone creature like one of the Earthdawn races (I forget their name: Obsidians or something?).
 
I prefer to put the setting before the race, rather than the other way around. My default assumption is that no race should exist (even elves, which are my favorite race) unless they fit into the world's concept (which is a more proper way of world-building), rather than trying to make all races fit the setting just because they appear in the PHB. If the setting is about a human-centric world besieged by angelic and demonic forces that may occasionally seduce and interbreed with humans, for example, then stuff like Tieflings and Aasimar should be the only non-human races (No Elves!).

That being said, when I do consider Gnomes, I tend to think of them either in terms of Tinker Gnomes (if I want tech to exist in the world) or something more akin to Forest Gnomes and make them fey (in more magic-centric worlds), rather than go for more D&D-ish stuff like "Rock Gnomes" or whatnot. If I'm making "Rock" anything it'll probably be either dwarves or some type of stone creature like one of the Earthdawn races (I forget their name: Obsidians or something?).
I don't think there is any hard and fast rule on how to 'best' design a setting.

Excluding something from a setting is also the easiest thing to do but not neccessarily the most productive.

Look at Dark Sun, they could have said 'S&S post-apoc setting, no demi-humans' but instead thought out how their post-apoc version of the standard D&D setting could integrate those standard races into it in an interesting and flavourful way. It is what makes Dark Sun such an interesting setting, instead of another Barsoom or Hyborea knock-off.
 
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Alternatively, you can go the Warlock! route and have them mechanically identical but culturally distinct.

I actually really like games that don't treat races or lineages as mechanical distinct. Too often I find that parties are composed of demi-humans because of the benefits they offer, rather than the opportunity to play something other than human (not sure if that opinion's already been mentioned).

I am a huge fan of Gnomes. I think, as has been mentioned, they fulfil the niches of Dwarf and Halfling pretty well but I hate how they are commonly depicted. I hate the Tinkerer-style Gnome that's been more common in recent editions of D&D and prefer my Gnomes to be diminutive, subterranean alchemists. In my D&D worlds I have a bit of canon where Gnomes are just piles of dirt animated by a magical emerald by their sire, kind of like how Dwarves are depicted in Dwimmermount.
 
So they been spendin' most their lives livin' in the Halfling's paradise? :smile:

Played in several games that had that view of Halflings, started as a joke because they made the best thieves...simple step form there to make them there own mafia. I've pulled way back on it personally. The closest I have is Halflings may form Burglar Guilds (Halflings only) to coexist with Thieves Guilds. Burglar Guilds have much more stringent rules and exist in large part to protect Halflings.
Well it's not that I don't have the "happy-go-lucky" halflings. That aspect of the culture is very much real and very much what outsiders know and interact with.

What I have is like what Sicilians have with La Cosa Nostra. Most of the time you'd never know you're interacting with one - contextually it's not like halflings are going to field armies against other kingdoms etc. Outside of Luiren (where the Black Leaf Society is headquartered) in the Realms - halflings co-exist with humans pretty freely in their own little neighborhoods and quarters throughout much of the Realms. The BLS exists in places where they can - remember there are other organized crime cartels throughout the Realms: The Zhentarim, Shadow Thieves of Amn, Firedaggers etc. etc. and those organizations deal with the BLS as peers.

So there are halflings that fight against this element. It's just a natural extension of halflings-as-thieves brought to their natural place contextually. I mean being a "burglar" would have natural consequences in a civilization. Who to target, where to fence your goods etc. That takes an intense amount of infrastructure to do in large scale cities. Organized crime is organized for a reason - independent operators are not allowed (generally) So in my mind, the BLS is both a cultural reflection of halfling criminals taking their vocation a bit more seriously contextually to the world I present.

It's not to say that "burglar teams" of halflings, or even small guilds, exist outside of the BLS - they absolutely do. But I wanted to present something more scarier. Mainly because I have a lot of rare stuff that comes out of the Luiren nation that proliferates as trade goods throughout my Realms (which I do with other nations as well). All of these things are fodder for deeper play. And it's fun to present halflings in a light that doesn't dismiss the "D&D" assumptions about them... but it gives them a darker edge that is very unpredictable that lets PC's imaginations run wild when making the wrong assumptions about the happy little face offering them a pie.
 
So the basic rundown for my halfling culture in my iteration of the Realms.

Luiren is the land of the little folk, down south near Dambrath. Halflings are largely agrarian so I take a riff from Tolkien by having large clans and families with fun "hobbit-like" names, with various specialty skills that collectively are master vintners, apiarists, agriculturists, apothecaries, and alchemists. So I created a bunch of products that they produce.

The natural byproduct of this is something I took a page out of the Chinese diaspora here in America and the west, where Chinese Tongs set up shop in foreign cities, and organized communities (Chinatowns) of their countrymen, and created businesses and jobs for their own kind. Similarly I have those in major cities throughout the Realms for halflings. That "Tong" is the "Black Leaf Society". Their members to the rest of the community is what everyone expects of halflings. Fun, easy going, delightful, folks.

The Black Leaf society, however, leverages the skills of their people in Luiren to produce products like narcotics, poisons, exotic foods and wines that can be found nowhere else. They drive their exorbitant prices with artificial scarcity - and over the years had to learn to fend off other dangerous organizations that used to predate upon them.

That is how the Black Leaf Society was formed. To protect the trade interests of their community. Of course it grew into much much more than that. The allure of the drug trade in major cities where decadence is a way of life - like Calimshan and even Waterdeep became too much demand to ignore. The three major clans in Luiren - the Sweetleaf, Darkvine, and Tallstalks formed a society the fell into ruthless practices using their own skills to give them leverage on their more physically dominant rivals. 5-part toxins, even members of the family with PC class skills brought to the forefront. They have their own order of Druids, and in major halfling communities they maintain their own agents (i.e. these would be their own crews of halflings that act as enforcers - which sounds funny, but they're not. Coercion is their speciality) that ensure the security of the halfling community while doing whatever it takes to corrupt the community around them - especially the local constabulary. By any means necessary is their stock and trade.

This has forced the Black Leaf Society to engage in elaborate schemes that includes assassination (lucrative at the low and mid-level political level) but most of their work is done by credible threat. In some cases they'll resort to targeting people of interest to do their bidding via their families etc. They also are careful to work through proxies as necessary, recognizing that halflings doing such activities out in the open damages their reputations in the community.

So the Black Leaf Society operates in broad daylight. They are fully functional cartel that protects the halfling communities in which they exist. Often acting behind the scenes as part of their infrastructure. They recruit young talented halflings into their ranks, coerce good-natured halfings into working for them "or else" - but they do give back to the community more than your modern-day cartel. Meanwhile they're huge narcotics traffickers outproducing any other crime-syndicate in the Realms by many orders of magnitude. Luiren is largely agrarian, so the Black Leaf Society can grow and develop compounds on a kingdom-wide scale without interference. They produce enough narcotics and rare alchemical products to slake the massively wealthy of Calimshan, Baldurs Gate, Waterdeep and beyond. Their agents have to do careful diplomacy with other crime-syndicates in terms of smuggling and logistics, which are always dangerous.

What gives them an edge is surrounding themselves in the Halfling communities throughout the Realms to work with impunity. They have enough resources to keep their own pet-Wizards and non-halfling agents of various skills on hand.

So yeah - they're super dangerous.

In my last campaign the leader of one of the BLS branches created a fungal-based toxin that had anti-magical properties that only affected Drow... and genocided a most of the a Drow city, and was in process to change the formula to affect High Elves. And no one realized it until it was well under way - which kicked off an invasion from the Underdark. He had his reasons, I swear.

Edit: BTW - I have no particular love/hate for halflings. I do this kinda stuff for all my cultures in my games. heh. I want any established race to have interesting things to engage with rather than just "be there" because a silly book says so.
 
Well it's not that I don't have the "happy-go-lucky" halflings. That aspect of the culture is very much real and very much what outsiders know and interact with.

What I have is like what Sicilians have with La Cosa Nostra. Most of the time you'd never know you're interacting with one - contextually it's not like halflings are going to field armies against other kingdoms etc. Outside of Luiren (where the Black Leaf Society is headquartered) in the Realms - halflings co-exist with humans pretty freely in their own little neighborhoods and quarters throughout much of the Realms. The BLS exists in places where they can - remember there are other organized crime cartels throughout the Realms: The Zhentarim, Shadow Thieves of Amn, Firedaggers etc. etc. and those organizations deal with the BLS as peers.

So there are halflings that fight against this element. It's just a natural extension of halflings-as-thieves brought to their natural place contextually. I mean being a "burglar" would have natural consequences in a civilization. Who to target, where to fence your goods etc. That takes an intense amount of infrastructure to do in large scale cities. Organized crime is organized for a reason - independent operators are not allowed (generally) So in my mind, the BLS is both a cultural reflection of halfling criminals taking their vocation a bit more seriously contextually to the world I present.

It's not to say that "burglar teams" of halflings, or even small guilds, exist outside of the BLS - they absolutely do. But I wanted to present something more scarier. Mainly because I have a lot of rare stuff that comes out of the Luiren nation that proliferates as trade goods throughout my Realms (which I do with other nations as well). All of these things are fodder for deeper play. And it's fun to present halflings in a light that doesn't dismiss the "D&D" assumptions about them... but it gives them a darker edge that is very unpredictable that lets PC's imaginations run wild when making the wrong assumptions about the happy little face offering them a pie.

Inspiration from Finieous fingers?
 
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