The perception that halflings are a bunch of lazy, chubby homebodies was
starting to permeate the game, both from the designers (look at Dragon 262 and
the Elmshire article) and from the players and DMs. When the game designers
looked at the core character races, some of the stereotypes that had developed
were shed in light of something more "interesting" and something "cooler". As
the only setting relating to D&D that TSR had put out that had halflings and
gnomes that were thought to be the above was Dragonlance's kender and tinker
gnomes, these became the model for the "new" halflings and gnomes of three.
So, gone are the blond, curly-haired, hairy-footed, chubby, food loving
halflings that became the stereotype defined by Tolkien. In comes the Weight
Watchers, Nair-using, jazzercizing halfling.
So, gone are the brown-skined, white haired, full bearded, long-nosed gnomes.
In comes the smaller noses, lighter-skinned, goateed gnomes of today.
Consider the 3E PH versions of the halfling and gnome to be that 1% of their
population that actually takes to adventure. It makes sense that this 1% (or
whatever arbitrary percentage you choose to use) would be the most athletic,
trim, toned, studly members of their race. It's not like you see a
"heavy/large/fat" body-type running the fast break in the NBA or charging the
goal in the NHL. You have chiseled athletes like Dave Robinson or Chris
Webber. So it stands your halfling and gnome PC's would mirror this trend.
Since halflings and gnomes don't make "great" fighter-types, the bulkier
versions of each race will still seem different than there predecessors.
So does this mean that the Elmshire article and our long-established views of
these two races is bunk? Hell no. The ol' stereotypical halflings and gnomes
can now fill your NPC ranks of commoners, experts, etc. So Elmshire can still
be populated by chubby homebodies with a love of food. The Kron Hills can
still be filled with bearded, long-nosed gnomish tricksters.
Don't think of the PC racial archtypes as the definitive example of each race.
Think of them as being the exceptions to the rule and most of the things you
associate with the races from prior editions are still relevant and have as
much a place in your game as before, if not more so now.
Rod
aka WizO_Rexx for Wizards.COMmunity
PS Reading another in the series, Trevor, the penalty to Climb Walls was
assumed (by me at least) to be from the halfling's diminutive stature and the
fact that those darn bellies stick out so far! Slim down, have a great
Dexterity and suddenly they are little monkeys. ::smirk::
