Halfling

Halflings stand about 3 feet tall, with ruddy faces, hazel or blue eyes and hair from sandy to dark brown. They favor bright but practical clothes, often with caps or tunics. Besides their own language, many speak common, gnome, goblin and orcish.

Halflings fight fiercely for their homes or for a good cause. They gain +3 to hit with slings and bows, and a favorite tactic is to feint, draw attackers into the open, and shower them with missiles from cover. Armed forces wear padded or leather armor and carry short swords and hand axes, with two-thirds also bearing a sling or short bow. Any halfling above normal level has AC 6; at 3rd or 4th level they add chain mail over leather for AC 4, and each level beyond gives a 10% chance of magic arms or armor.

They save vs. magic and poison as if four levels higher. Masters of quiet movement, they impose -5 on opponents' surprise rolls and count as invisible when hiding in vegetation in natural terrain.

Halfling communities resemble human villages, though many homes are burrows rather than cottages. A village holds 30d10 residents; each 30 residents include a 3rd-level priest plus a pair of 2nd-level fighters. Above 90, add a 3rd-level leader. Communities over 150 also have a 5th-level priest and extra warriors: three of 3rd level, two of 4th and one of 9th.

Friendly and outgoing, they love nature and simple crafts, making beautiful objects with short but nimble fingers. They avoid water and harsh temperatures, settling in mild pastoral lands, and get on well with humans, gaining +2 on reaction rolls with human NPCs.

They eat mainly bread, vegetables and fruit, with the odd hunted pheasant, and live about 100 years.

Taller (over 4 feet), slimmer and fairer than other halflings, tallfellows are uncommon. They enjoy elves, often speak elvish, and like elves find secret doors on a 1 on 1d6. They often ride ponies with spears or light lances, gain +2 to surprise in woodland, can reach 6th-level fighter with Strength 17+, and live about 180 years.

Shorter and stockier than the common hairfoot, stouts love gems and stonework and often work as jewelers or masons. They avoid humans and elves but like dwarves, often speak dwarvish, and share dwarven traits: 60-foot infravision, a 75% chance to notice sloping passages and 50% to judge direction underground. Many fight with hammers and morningstars. Stouts with 17+ Strength can reach 9th-level fighter; unlike other halflings, they swim well and fear no water. They can live 140 years or more.