Originally, 'Halflin' was the Scots word ''hauflin'', pre-dating '' The Hobbit '' and ''Dungeons & Dragons''. It meant an awkward rustic teenager, who is neither man nor boy, and so half of both. Another word for halflin is Hobbledehoy .
Some fantasy stories use ''halfling'' to describe a person born of a human parent and a parent of another race, often a human female and an Elf . Terry Brooks describes characters such as Shea Ohmsford from his Shannara series as a halfling of elf-human parentage.
In early editions of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', there was a race of demi-humans known as hobbits that were very much like those found in '' The Hobbit '' and '' The Lord Of The Rings ''. The Tolkien estate did not appreciate the resemblance and threatened legal action against TSR , the makers of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. TSR renamed the folk ''halflings'', another word coined by Tolkien for the race, but not as commonly used in the books.
Early ''Dungeons & Dragons'' halflings also seemed nearly identical to Tolkien's hobbits: They lived quiet lives in their homes away from adventure and, despite being well suited for the task of thievery, they seemingly would not accept a life of Larceny . A very similar race, Kender , appeared in the Dragonlance campaign that had a lifestyle much more suited to the thieves that most halfing Player Character s became. The game's Third Edition altered the halfling lifestyle to become more in line with how players played the race: They became troublesome opportunists, nomadic wanderers, and seekers of wealth.
Halflings in ''Dungeons & Dragons'' have been further divided into various subraces:
- halflings were the standard, "common" subrace of halflings in the game's earlier editions. Clearly derived from Tolkien's Harfoots , they most clearly resembled Middle-earth 's hobbits, being a good-natured race of homebodies with fur-covered feet. With the advent of the game's Third Edition, they were replaced by lightfoot halflings.
- halflings were based on Tolkien's Fallohides . They are taller than hairfoot or lightfoot halflings, with lighter hair and skin tone, and prefer to build their homes in woodlands. They have survived the change to Third Edition more or less intact.
- halflings were based on Tolkien's Stoors . Shorter but broader than hairfoot halflings, stouts make good craftsmen. In Third Edition they were renamed as '''deep halflings''' but have otherwise remained unchanged.
- halflings are the standard halfling subrace of Third Edition. They are more removed from Tolkien's halflings, being athletic and ambitious opportunists, although they retain their love of comfort and family.
- The Forgotten Realms campaign setting has done away with both tallfellows and stouts, replacing them with two completely original subraces.
- --- One, the halflings, are a semi-nomadic people who move from town to town within their nation in the south of Faerûn . They are more martially-inclined than other halflings.
- --- The other new subrace is the halfling, who parted with their strongheart cousins after a war between the two kindreds. Ghostwise are savage and insular, rarely leaving their woodland homes, and have developed the ability to speak directly from mind-to-mind, without words.
- The Dragonlance campaign set has a completely different race that fills the niche usually held by halflings, known as Kender . The are completely immune to fear, even if magically generated. Also they have a very 'communal' Outlook on property ownership. They are known to wander off while still holding, looking at, or even after pocketing an item that catches their fancy. They do not consider this stealing, but rather borrowing the item.
- In Eberron , the most recently introduced D&D campaign world from 2004, halflings are even more removed from the Tolkien versions. In this world, halflings are a wilderness-loving barbarian race that uses domesticated Dinosaurs as mounts. Although they are nomadic and clannish and thus viewed as barbarians by other races, these halflings are still adept at fitting in with civilized peoples when they leave their prairie homes. Some halflings give up their nomadic lifestyle to settle in human cities, but retain strong ties to their heritage.
- In the Dark Sun setting, halflings are the first race to appear. Most of them became barbaric and anthropophagic, while a handful of them inhabited the Pristine Tower.
Halflings are Small sized creatures, with a base land speed of 20 feet per round. They gain +2 dexterity and -2 strength.
- In The Magic Candle computer game series, halflings are portrayed as friendly, peaceful people, who are skilled in crafts (particularly sewing in the second and third games), as well as negotiation. They also possess lockpicking skills, and are agile and quick in battle, but tend to have low close combat skills, although they are second only to the elves in archery.
- Niles, Douglas. ''The Complete Book of Gnomes & Halflings'' ( TSR , 1993).
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