Halfling
You are a little man with a big appetite and a comfortable home, which you plan to return to as soon as this one little quest is completed. And once you’re home, you plan to never leave again. The taller races might enjoy hunting for gold and glory, but all you ask for is a full stewpot, a cozy home, and pleasant interlocutors for teatime.
Halflings are un-ambitious country-dwellers who
live in well-ordered peace and quiet. Their small
stature and modest goals let them escape the notice
of most major powers. They keep to themselves
and make contact with others only when
they are inadvertently drawn into the affairs of
“the taller races,” as they call elves, dwarves, and
humans. Halflings prefer lives of farming, gardening,
beer-brewing, and other simple crafts. The
few that take up adventuring are usually traders
or ne’er-do-wells who have somehow been thrust
outside the ordered nature of their normal lives.
Hit points: A halfling gains 1d6 hit points at each
level. They’re small, but lucky.
Weapon training: Halflings prefer to battle with a
weapon in each hand. A halfling is trained in the
use of the club, crossbow, dagger, handaxe, javelin,
shortbow, short sword, sling, and staff. Halflings
usually wear armor – it’s much safer, you
know.
Alignment: Halflings value community, family,
and kinship. They are usually lawful, or at the
very extreme, neutral. Chaotic and evil halflings
are extremely rare.
Two-weapon Fighting: Halflings are masters at
two-weapon fighting, as follows:
• Normally, two-weapon fighting depends on
the character’s Agility to be effective (see
pages 94-95). A halfling is always considered
to have a minimum Agility of 16 when
fighting with two weapons. This means he
rolls at -1 die for his first attack and second,
based on the dice chain (typically 1d16 for his
first attack, and 1d16 for his second).
• A halfling can fight with two equal-sized onehanded
weapons, such as two handaxes or
two short swords.
• Unlike other characters, when fighting with
two weapons, a halfling scores a crit and automatic
hit on any roll of a natural 16.
• If the halfling has an Agility score higher than
16, he instead uses the normal two-weapon
fighting rules for his Agility.
• When fighting with two weapons, the halfling
fumbles only when both dice come up a 1.
Infravision: Halflings dwell in pleasant homes
carved from the sod beneath hills. As such, halflings
can see in the dark up to 30’.
Small size: Halflings are 2 to 4 feet tall, and the
stoutest among them weighs no more than 70
pounds. This small size allows them to crawl into
narrow passages and through tiny holes.
Stealth: Halflings are quite good at sneaking
around. They receive a bonus to sneaking silently
and hiding in shadows depending on their class
level, as shown on table 1-18. This can be used in
the same manner as a thief’s abilities.
Good luck charm: Halflings are notoriously
lucky. A halfling gains additional bonuses when
expending Luck, as follows.
First, a halfling doubles the bonus of a Luck check.
For every 1 point of Luck expended, a halfling
gains a +2 to his roll.
Second, unlike other classes, a halfling recovers
lost Luck to a limited extent. The halfling’s Luck
score is restored each night by a number of points
equal to his level. This process cannot take his
Luck score past its natural maximum. (The process
works similar to how the thief ability is described,
above.)
Third, a halfling’s luck can rub off on those around
him. The halfling can expend Luck to aid his allies.
The ally in question must be nearby and visible to
the halfling. The halfling can act out of initiative
order to burn Luck and apply it to the ally’s rolls.
The halfling loses the Luck, and the ally receives
the benefit. The halfling’s Luck modifier can apply to any roll made by an ally: attack rolls, damage rolls,
saves, spell checks, thief skills, and so on.
Note that the good luck charm ability applies to only one
halfling in the party. There is luck to having a halfling
with an adventuring party, but there is not “more luck”
to having more than one halfling. If multiple halflings accompany
an adventuring party, only one of them counts
as a good luck charm, and that cannot change through
rearranging or separating the party. Luck is a fickle thing
governed by gods and game masters, and players would
do well not to attempt to manipulate the spirit of this rule.
Languages: At 1st-level, a halfling automatically knows
Common, the halfling racial language, plus one additional
randomly determined language. A halfling knows
one additional language for every point of Int modifier, as
described in Appendix L.
