The Halfling

From freepik.com

When I was younger and played AD&D, one character race I never thought about was the halfling.  The halfling is essentially J.R. Tolkein's hobbit renamed to keep TSR from being sued.  As we'll talk about, the class is physically small, does not have a great deal of variety in terms of character classes, and they cannot be terribly strong.  However, they have some interesting advantages and with intelligent play they can really be a game changer.

  • Let's start with an overview of what halflings are like.  The Player's Handbook for 1E AD&D calls them "little humans" thus the name.  According to the Dungeon Master's Guide, halflings and their physical features:
  • They get a +1 to their dexterity and a -1 to their strength.
  • They start out at somewhere between 23 years old and 48 years old depending on their class and the dice roll (pure fighters are younger than pure thieves).
  • Middle age starts at 69, old age starts at 102, and venerable age starts at 145.  Their maximum age is listed in the DMG at 199.
  • Male halflings can be somewhere between 33 inches tall and 42 inches tall.  They can weigh somewhere between 52 and 72 pounds.
  • Female halflings can be somewhere between 30 and 36 inches tall.  They can weigh somewhere between 42 and 58 pounds.

In terms of character classes, halflings can be fighters or thieves.  NPCs can be druids.  Druids (NPC) and fighters are limited to sixth level.  Halfling fighters can only reach sixth level if their strength is high enough.  Halflings can reach unlimited level as thieves.  They can also multi-class and be fighter/thieves.

So far it seems pretty limiting right?  Now let's talk about the advantages that the halfling has in AD&D.  

  • They are resistant to magic.  For every 3.5 points of constitution they get a +1 in saves against wands, staves, rods, and spells.  
  • They are also resistant to poison, same constitution bonus for saves against poison.
  • Some types of halfling have infravision.  Some can detect if passages are sloping up or down.
  • They are very quiet and if they are not in leather armor then they can surprise an opponent on a 1-4 on a d6.
  • In terms of thief skills, halflings get a bonus for everything but reading languages and climbing walls (they get a penalty for those).  

So, halflings are small, slight, and difficult to detect.  This makes the perfect thief - or the perfect fighter/thief.  Who wants a thief?  Every party needs a thief.  You need thieves for reconnaissance in dungeons and large buildings, you need thieves for detecting/removing/setting traps, and something small and slight like a halfling would be great for backstabbing while in combat.  All of this gives you food for thought when it comes to using halflings in a campaign.

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