The Alfar are elves. Lios alfar = "light elf", svart alfar = "dark elf".
To the original post: the root of the word dwarf, is derived from the Middle English word dwarrow, which in turn derived from the Old English term dweorgas.
I've seen Dwarrow used in fantasy novels before. I've also seen Dverning used. :)
Everybody plays differently at their own tables. If somebody wants to get a purple nurple over the names "handling" and "dwarf," then let them have their fun.
As long as they don't try to tell me how I'm allowed to play, I got no problem with them playing however they want to.
I still don't understand why most people here think a Halfling would look at a larger race and automatically conclude "bigger is better". Is it presumed that in the fictional worlds of D&D, humans look at giants and declare themselves inferior? Or in the real world, does a human look at an elephant and despair?
So, if YOUR pre-conceived notion of being half of something is bad isn't imposed on the fictional race of Halflings, then it is completely within reason for a race to call themselves half as big as other races and think that is a GOOD thing. It would even be an inside joke among their own people when they call themselves halflings to everyone else.
I mean it's reasonable to consider that "half" is inferior to "whole" because that is the literal definition of half. You can't have the idea of half without also the idea of a greater whole.The argument would hold water if they were "shortlings" because short is not inherently worse than tall despite all the connotations our culture might attach to the terms. Now if you want to couch the term in lore related to soulmates and how each one is looking for its other half or something, that might work.
At any rate, I already weighed in on this and am just arguing semantics here. I do think that this topic provides some interesting ideas to explore in game with halflings' relations to the wider world.
I mean it's reasonable to consider that "half" is inferior to "whole" because that is the literal definition of half. You can't have the idea of half without also the idea of a greater whole.The argument would hold water if they were "shortlings" because short is not inherently worse than tall despite all the connotations our culture might attach to the terms. Now if you want to couch the term in lore related to soulmates and how each one is looking for its other half or something, that might work.
At any rate, I already weighed in on this and am just arguing semantics here. I do think that this topic provides some interesting ideas to explore in game with halflings' relations to the wider world.
I still don't understand why most people here think a Halfling would look at a larger race and automatically conclude "bigger is better". Is it presumed that in the fictional worlds of D&D, humans look at giants and declare themselves inferior? Or in the real world, does a human look at an elephant and despair?
So, if YOUR pre-conceived notion of being half of something is bad isn't imposed on the fictional race of Halflings, then it is completely within reason for a race to call themselves half as big as other races and think that is a GOOD thing. It would even be an inside joke among their own people when they call themselves halflings to everyone else.
"I only need half to manage as much as you. You better keep up or soon it'll be a quarter."
I mean it's reasonable to consider that "half" is inferior to "whole" because that is the literal definition of half. You can't have the idea of half without also the idea of a greater whole.
Half is NOT inferior to whole. If you want to stand by this statement, auto fail all of your saves so that you take the whole (fireball damage or whatever).
Personally, I'd rather take the superior half of the damage.
DM: "Your Whole village and all of your loot was destroyed or stolen." Yeah, that's totally better than Half the village and half the loot destroyed.
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
I mean it's reasonable to consider that "half" is inferior to "whole" because that is the literal definition of half. You can't have the idea of half without also the idea of a greater whole.
Half is NOT inferior to whole. If you want to stand by this statement, auto fail all of your saves so that you take the whole (fireball damage or whatever).
Personally, I'd rather take the superior half of the damage.
DM: "Your Whole village and all of your loot was destroyed or stolen." Yeah, that's totally better than Half the village and half the loot destroyed.
Problem with both of those analogies is that both the half and the whole are negatives. So while the half is superior to the whole - it still sucks to have any at all.
I mean it's reasonable to consider that "half" is inferior to "whole" because that is the literal definition of half. You can't have the idea of half without also the idea of a greater whole.
Half is NOT inferior to whole. If you want to stand by this statement, auto fail all of your saves so that you take the whole (fireball damage or whatever).
Personally, I'd rather take the superior half of the damage.
DM: "Your Whole village and all of your loot was destroyed or stolen." Yeah, that's totally better than Half the village and half the loot destroyed.
It can go both ways. If you get half the number needed to succeed on a saving throw against fireball, that's a lot worse than getting the whole number needed for the save.
I personally prefer whole success to half success on a saving throw or test (also known as a fail).
DM: "Half your village survived the pillaging and destruction" is a lot worse than "The whole of your village [all of it] survived the pillaging and destruction."
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If a group decided that there needs to be better words for those peoples, our input is unnecessary. That group can just go ahead and use their own words.
If a group decided that the existing words are fine for those people, our input is unnecessary. That group can just go ahead and keep doing using those words.
If a group decided that other groups need to do it the way they want, tough luck.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Just pointing out that half isn't always and automatically inferior.
Maybe not in all situations, or not even most, but in the usage of referring to a person, it definitely is. Calling someone a "halfling" in real life who has dwarfism would be the equivalent of saying that someone with a fairly low IQ is "half-brained." In either circumstance, both would be unacceptable and very clearly insults.
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Just pointing out that half isn't always and automatically inferior.
Maybe not in all situations, or not even most, but in the usage of referring to a person, it definitely is. Calling someone a "halfling" in real life who has dwarfism would be the equivalent of saying that someone with a fairly low IQ is "half-brained." In either circumstance, both would be unacceptable and very clearly insults.
Given a Ling is a cod and outside of Scotland (and unclear how much even in modern Scotland) it is not really a term used at all. Even then it means someone essentially in puberty, no longer really a boy and not yet fully a man. Or a young fowl in a similar maturity range, nothing to do with stature.
And the race is typically presented as brave and heroic. Even the short stature is treated as an advantage in depictions right from Bilbo through more modern depictions.
A Halfling is not half of a ling. The -ling part is an adverbial suffix. It basically makes the first part of the word descriptive of whoever or whatever it refers to, so regardless of any connotations that might be ascribed to the word, “halfling” really does describe someone as “half a person”. Well, half something anyway. Half a normal person’s stature, for instance.
The -ling is a noun suffix, and usually denotes a diminutive for something small or inferior (duckling, earthling, foundling, underling, darling, etcetera).
So the term "halfling" is probably a term of endearment, but means something like "small little half a person".
Even if it was meant in endearment (which there is no way to prove), that would not fly in this world. You don't call someone with Dwarfism a "halfling," no matter how much you mean it in a non-offensive way.
(This is reminding me of a particular scene from Elf.)
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No
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Don't you play in Mystara? Aren't Halfing called Hin there?
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Yes. Does that make it “better,” or just different?
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IDK. Different can be good, especially when it gives them a name they can call themselves.
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The correct terms are Dwarves and halflings...
The mental gymnastic that people are willing to go through these days...
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Kain de Frostberg- Dark Knight - (Vengeance Pal3/ Hexblade 9), Port Mourn
Kain de Draakberg-Dark Knight lvl8-Avergreen(DitA)
The Alfar are elves. Lios alfar = "light elf", svart alfar = "dark elf".
To the original post: the root of the word dwarf, is derived from the Middle English word dwarrow, which in turn derived from the Old English term dweorgas.
I've seen Dwarrow used in fantasy novels before. I've also seen Dverning used. :)
Everybody plays differently at their own tables. If somebody wants to get a purple nurple over the names "handling" and "dwarf," then let them have their fun.
As long as they don't try to tell me how I'm allowed to play, I got no problem with them playing however they want to.
I still don't understand why most people here think a Halfling would look at a larger race and automatically conclude "bigger is better". Is it presumed that in the fictional worlds of D&D, humans look at giants and declare themselves inferior? Or in the real world, does a human look at an elephant and despair?
So, if YOUR pre-conceived notion of being half of something is bad isn't imposed on the fictional race of Halflings, then it is completely within reason for a race to call themselves half as big as other races and think that is a GOOD thing. It would even be an inside joke among their own people when they call themselves halflings to everyone else.
I mean it's reasonable to consider that "half" is inferior to "whole" because that is the literal definition of half. You can't have the idea of half without also the idea of a greater whole.The argument would hold water if they were "shortlings" because short is not inherently worse than tall despite all the connotations our culture might attach to the terms. Now if you want to couch the term in lore related to soulmates and how each one is looking for its other half or something, that might work.
At any rate, I already weighed in on this and am just arguing semantics here. I do think that this topic provides some interesting ideas to explore in game with halflings' relations to the wider world.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
That argument's not half-bad.
"I only need half to manage as much as you. You better keep up or soon it'll be a quarter."
"Half the height, twice as effective."
I like this character. I'm going to play him.
Half is NOT inferior to whole. If you want to stand by this statement, auto fail all of your saves so that you take the whole (fireball damage or whatever).
Personally, I'd rather take the superior half of the damage.
DM: "Your Whole village and all of your loot was destroyed or stolen." Yeah, that's totally better than Half the village and half the loot destroyed.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Problem with both of those analogies is that both the half and the whole are negatives. So while the half is superior to the whole - it still sucks to have any at all.
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It can go both ways. If you get half the number needed to succeed on a saving throw against fireball, that's a lot worse than getting the whole number needed for the save.
I personally prefer whole success to half success on a saving throw or test (also known as a fail).
DM: "Half your village survived the pillaging and destruction" is a lot worse than "The whole of your village [all of it] survived the pillaging and destruction."
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
If a group decided that there needs to be better words for those peoples, our input is unnecessary. That group can just go ahead and use their own words.
If a group decided that the existing words are fine for those people, our input is unnecessary. That group can just go ahead and keep doing using those words.
If a group decided that other groups need to do it the way they want, tough luck.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Just pointing out that half isn't always and automatically inferior.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Maybe not in all situations, or not even most, but in the usage of referring to a person, it definitely is. Calling someone a "halfling" in real life who has dwarfism would be the equivalent of saying that someone with a fairly low IQ is "half-brained." In either circumstance, both would be unacceptable and very clearly insults.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
A Halfling is not half of a ling. The -ling part is an adverbial suffix. It basically makes the first part of the word descriptive of whoever or whatever it refers to, so regardless of any connotations that might be ascribed to the word, “halfling” really does describe someone as “half a person”. Well, half something anyway. Half a normal person’s stature, for instance.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
The -ling is a noun suffix, and usually denotes a diminutive for something small or inferior (duckling, earthling, foundling, underling, darling, etcetera).
So the term "halfling" is probably a term of endearment, but means something like "small little half a person".
he / him
Even if it was meant in endearment (which there is no way to prove), that would not fly in this world. You don't call someone with Dwarfism a "halfling," no matter how much you mean it in a non-offensive way.
(This is reminding me of a particular scene from Elf.)
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms