Halfling

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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. Action dice: A halfling’s action dice can be used for attacks or skill checks.