BX Monsters A to Z: Halfling

 We've finished off the Gs, so let's start the Hs, with another PC-as-monster entry: the halfling.

These entries in the B/X bestiary tend to be brief, and the halfling is no exception to that trend, weighing in at a mere four sentences plus the obligatory stat block. By the stats, halflings are not very threatening, having a mediocre AC of 7 (Is it leather? Is it a shield and a +1 Dex bonus? Who knows?), 1-1 HD, 90' (30') movement, damage by weapon, and Morale of 7. It's interesting to note they have by far the highest dungeon Number Appearing of any PC-as-monster type, at 3-18, well ahead of Veteran at 2-8, and are tied for wilderness Number Appearing with dwarves at 5-40. It is also noteworthy that their wilderness "lair" (i.e. village) explicitly disregards the standard rule of thumb of five times the listed number appearing (25-200 in this case) with an alternate number of 30-300. A village will have a leader of level 2-7 and a village guard of 5-20 individuals with 2 HD each. 

It would perhaps have been wise to forsake brevity in this case to provide a reminder of some of the halflings' special abilities which would be particularly relevant in an encounter, especially their ability to "vanish" in outdoor settings and their +1 bonus to hit with missile weapons. A pitched battle with 30-300 small creatures with AC7 and 1-1 HD is a decidedly different encounter than guerilla warfare against 30-300 halflings who can pop up from nearly perfect concealment in waves, pelt you with arrows and sling stones at +1 to hit, and then disappear back into the weeds without a trace as soon as you look away to deal with the next squad's volley of missiles. 

In later editions, the D&D halfling's long association with the thief class and all its baggage has to an extent pulled it away from its Tolkienian roots toward a more daring, amoral, roguish archetype. B/X, however, hews more closely to their origins, listing halflings as Lawful in alignment. A halfling village is a community of peaceful rustics who want to be left alone to enjoy their second breakfasts, not a bunch of half-pint hooligans and bandits. For all the interesting tactical possibilities involved in fighting halflings, unless your PCs are villainous or amoral themselves, it's likely a halfling village will be a respite from hostile encounters, not a lair to plunder. Even so, halflings are listed as having Treasure Type V individually, which can add up. In the wilderness, an enclave of halflings will have Type B, which can be a decent amount. Perhaps the halflings have a problem they need solved in exchange for some of that loot.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The good, the bad, and the ugly of B/X D&D

 With my B/X Monsters A to Z series ongoing, I've been focusing a lot on B/X D&D. Also, having mostly recovered from my heart attack and triple bypass surgery, we're hopefully going to reconvene our game group for the new year, and at some point I'll be taking my turn at DMing again, and I'm hankering for a good old fashioned sandbox campaign. So, I'm looking at sorting out my likes and dislikes (yes, there are a few) in good ol' B/X, in preparation for codifying some house rules and clarifications. I should make clear that I like far more than I dislike about the game, but as I ponder what changes I might wish to make, the dislikes are going to come to the fore. Like : Character generation. It's quick, easy, and there aren't an overwhelming amount of choices to be made. The most time-consuming part is buying equipment. Some players enjoy that part; for the rest, a small selection of pre-built equipment packages would be an easy fix. Like: The lack
Read more

Stuff you can do with an ascending AC and attack bonus-based combat paradigm

 Taking a break from the Monsters A to Z for some pondering on what you can do with some new old-school friendly combat mechanics. One of the strongest signs that Old School gaming is not simply about nostalgia is the extent to which old schoolers have embraced ascending Armor Class, in conjunction with class-based attack bonuses, over the old descending-AC-and-attack matrix or THAC0 system. It doesn't just streamline the math and eliminate a whole layer of fiddliness, though, as much as those effects are to be hailed. Within the ascending AC and attack bonus framework, you can do some pretty cool things that would have required some real mental gymnastics in the traditional system. The magic of this approach really lies in the use of an attack bonus stat rather than lines and columns in an attack matrix, which allows everyone to use the same target number for the same target.  To illustrate the point a bit more clearly, consider a 5th-level fighter and a 1st-level magic-user in B/
Read more

What to do with treasure?

 In fantasy role-playing games, particularly those which link character advancement to recovery of treasure (of which practice, for the record, I am a fan and proponent), characters are going to accumulate a lot of silver, gold, and jewels over the course of an adventuring career. There is, unfortunately, a dearth of things on which to spend it in the rule books. At character creation and shortly thereafter, the focus is on the acquisition of basic adventuring gear. A newly-created PC may have to economize, especially on armor and weapons,but by second level, most of those concerns have been settled: a fighter who's accumulated enough treasure to gain his first level advancement has more than enough to purchase a suit of plate armor and his weapons of choice (if he hasn't already found magical versions) and probably a warhorse to boot. Mid-level characters may take interest in the "vehicles" section of the equipment roster, contemplating the purchase of ships or wagon
Read more