If you have to choose between gnomes and halflings, which is the better race, and why? What does each race offer to the setting that the other can't?
Heck, why include either race at all? What defines gnomes as more than "short elven jesters" and halflings as "miniaturized countryfolk"? Do the races have an appeal outside of shortstack fetishism?
Because gnome barbarians are goddamn terrifying.
Neither of them are "better", and despite shitty threads like this everyday from fuckfaces like you, both have been developed over the years to where they have more than enough appeal, culture, and intrigue outside of being the two shortest races in the Player's Handbook. But of course, if you weren't either a retard, a troll, or 5e normie you'd know that by now.
If that's true, then prove it; talk about some of that awesome culture or describe their appeal, instead of just claiming they have it.
Heck, 4e, which everyone hates on for its fluff, turned gnomes into paranoid survivalist escaped slaves and halflings into manipulative riverboat-dwelling nomadic merchants, and nobody's stepping up here to denounce what it did to the glorious shining lore of AD&D.
Honestly I don't see the appeal of either of them, but if I had to choose one I'd pick halflings because they're less likely to be the wacky cartoon race.
The onus isn't on me, jackass. There are more than enough books and settings out there that describe these things; just because you're too dumb or lazy to go read any of them isn't my fault.
Heck, it's doubly on you, 'cause if you really, truly thought halflings and gnomes were uninspired shit, why haven't (You) made them better? Are you really so creatively bankrupt that you can't see past a race's diminutive height, as if that's really all they have to their name?
I see gnomes and halflings as analogues to wood elves and high elves.
Gnomes are better, filling the tiny mystical fey like niche. halflings fill no niche, they are just awkwardly there; just worse shitty dwarves.
I'd like halflings more if more people bothered to play them straight. Almost every halfling player I've met deliberately plays them as mischievous little shits who deliberately twist the good-natured countryfolk image to be a dick. Yeah, hearing Bilbo swear like a sailor and sexually harass the elf is funny the first time, but after a while it comes off as annoying and cliche.
I guess it's because you have this contrast where they're allegedly supposed to be humble, nice folk but since their preferred classes are basically criminals you have this conflict of interest. It's why everyone hates Kender, they're allegedly nice guys but none of them are able to make an honest living.
We have a thread questioning the merits of gnomes almost every day so I think the answer is clear. I absolutely disagree, though. Halflings are just stolen Hobbits and should be kicked out.
you're gonna lose your shit when you realize feanor and his entire clan of elves were all gnomes
Halflings are surprisingly durable, bouncy country folk, gnomes are a mutation of sorts with extra magical power heavily tied to elemental earth and the like.\
"Mutated by the wilds" is an important part of the setting. Hell Hobgoblins are goblinized humans
Halflings are small humans
Gnomes are small elves
Dwarves are ?
>Gnomes are small elves
Say that to their face and not online, see what happens.
"Small" giants.
I usually go with:
(In d&d settings) orcs are small ogres
Halflings are small humans.
Gnomes are small dwarfs.
Elves are small, little shits.
I would, but I'm not as good at staying on my knees all day as you are.
holy fucking shit.
Tactical precision.
I prefer Gnomes, they are more eccentric than half-lings and I like the more fey influence on them.
A Gnome will go down a hole because its the deepest hole he has ever seen
A half-ling will stay at home being stable and building a slow and simple life
4e halfings were terrible though. Both art and lore. Halflings are meant to be good and noble, not shank-y rat boys. And dysmorphic halflings are better than miniaturized humans with pointy ears.
I can see a case being made for gnomes as fey like creatures with a special attunement to a particular school of magic or engineering.
But hobbits/halflings are ridiculous.
They don't exist in any world I've created because they were exterminated long ago
Maybe I've been reading too much 40k lore, but this makes no sense to me.
How could halflings have a kingdom or own their own property? They have nothing to fend off Invaders, let alone large creatures. Either humans would have forced them into servitude or they would all been eaten by orks/beasts.
One guards your garden, one eats your POH-TAE-TOES
Gnomes are for sex and hard work.
Halflings are for teaparties and drunken revelry.
Iplayed a Kender-like Halflin once. She was a monk who had taken vows of poverty and silence. She would communicate through actions and always fet really bad about her kleptomania, even if it often would benefit the party. She kept nothing but her clothes, bedroll, and 100yds of rope.
That was a fun game.
Gnomes are like a mix of dwarves, elves, and halflings. They have the fortitude and craftsmanship of the dwarves, the magic and otherworldliness of the elves, and the small stature and homeliness of the halflings. They're like the opposite of humans, instead of all qualities in moderation, they're all qualities in extremes.