D&D Halflings are Boring (and how to make them better) 

Give it up for the D&D short kings 😌 (just kidding that's dwarves)

“We need a new subrace that DnD players can relate to” Antonio: “Let’s make a race that’s constantly antisocial and depressed” “Perfect”

This man puts out premium content that would usually cost like 10 dollars a month for free. WITH ART

Hear me out, party of a bunch of halflings and one jinx where the forces of luck don't cancel out, but are constantly battling with each other. A jinx trips on a root he didn't see, then falls onto a bed of moss to cushion the fall, the bed of moss was poisonous and irritates his skin, they find a plant that helps with the irritation soon after... All fear this party because it's like a luck war is happening around them at all times

Calling them halflings (also renaming balrogs to balors and ents to treants) was *TSR’s* way to work around the copyright, not WotC. Remember, D&D only became WotC’s starting with 3e.

Legends say if a jinx and a halfling get too intimate they combine... To form a short person

I like how the Jinx effects can be as simple as "someone forgets the name of a casual acquaintance they are talking to" or as devastating as "a plague of locusts passes through, obscuring the space they occupy and destroying all crops in their path"

This video inspired me to re-examine my setting's halfling lore, and I came up with their luck originates from their ancestors, normal cottagecore non-Hobbits, slew a dragon that invaded their homeland and devoured it in a grand feast. Dragon's blood is powerful, and over the millennia that potent power remains as simple good luck.

This is a really cool idea! I've also seen an amazing reimagining of the Halflings by an artist called Sigishi. Their version of Halflings have this neat imprinting ability, where if they spend a significant amount of time around other species that they share interests with (for example a Halfling who likes blacksmithing spending time around dwarves) their appearance slightly changes to mimic that species. So a Dwarven Halfling would be shorter, thicker and usually have facial hair, while an Elven Halfling would be taller, slimmer and have pointed ears.

My last character was a halfling barbarian; it was both hilarious and kind of effective with a long sword used in both hands. I would hide behind our other barbarian for the "halfling barbarian surprise".

Okay but like the idea that Jinx Halflings are like the "Us" style Tethered of Halflings, that they have to live in squalor and torment so that regular halflings can live in carefree comfort, incredibly exciting

"They thought you would go to the castle first and now you guys want to get shots" made me snort. I enjoyed it for more then I should. Thank you so much for the much joy this brought me.

I'm sure it's already been said but I adore your use of b-roll from the movie, "Willow". Underrated and forgotten movie and I love seeing any reference to it out in the virtuwilds.

Not gonna lie, the concept of the Jinx is genius. Imagine having a Halfling and a Jinx in the same adventuring party and letting their respective luck and personalities bounce off one another. That would make for interesting role play.

Just based on the intro alone, this is the best dnd video I have ever seen

I think the better way to do the Kender's light-fingeredness narratively rather than a rule. So when a player goes for an item, the DM can say "[Kender] hands it to you".

A much simpler ability for a Jinx could be: Shared Misfortune If the Jinx rolls a 1 on an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, it can force the result of another creature's roll to also result in a 1, so long as the creature is within 30 feet of the Jinx when the roll is made and the affected roll is made within 1 minute of the Jinx's roll. The affected check must be of the same kind the Jinx was attempting.

Eberron has both dinosaur riding halflings in the form of the Talenta tribes and a got-dang halfling mafia in the form of the Boromar Clan, once again showing why Eberron is the best D&D setting

I always liked the idea of playing up the halfling green thumb to make their shires as a natural breadbasket for the world- which also makes them fit well with larger races that would have trouble developing agriculture like centaurs. Basically a symbiotic relationship like some species of spider and tree frog. Which still fits with their chill vibes.

kender are just kleptomaniacs with adhd and a chihuahua complex and i love the energy that they've created in the studio today

I CONSTANTLY get gnomes and hobbits mixed up with each other. It's only in pathfinder where I didn't have this issues because that setting leans much more into the fey-side of gnomes with them having weird colourful hair. I really like the idea of your jinxes sort of being forced to be optimistic in the face of their cosmic bad luck. I imagine stoic or absurdist philosophies being very popular among them. You might even get collectives of bitter jinxes who cause trouble simply because they envy the other people of the world.

In my dnd I made halflings, Dwarves, goblins & gnomes to be in the same family tree but come from a different culture like: Dwarves are halfling-vikings, goblins are the corrupted-halflings & gnomes are the urban-halflings. So if you meet an dwarf as an halfling they can speak eachother as far away cousins, I think it's very fun for world building.

That Doraemon intro bit hit me in the nostalgia real hard, being the Spanish version and all. And i LOVE the idea of these down on their luck hobbits without plot armor.

I was thinking "man that would be cool, but no way I'll put in the work to make it myself" but now u don't have to! What a pleasant surprise!

Imagine a party of four halflings, where two are kender, and two are jinxes. That'd be a great game to play in!

Meanwhile in Eberron, halflings are animists that worship spirits, have tribal masks, and ride dinos. Yes, they get to ride raptors. I really like this. While the more urban/standard dnd halflings are also the type that House Ghallanda and House Jorasco. House Ghallanda handles the hospitality bussiness while House Jorasco handles healing, and both are essentially megacorps. Jorasco gives me vibes of Trauma Team from Cyberpunk. I like these takes on halfling and make them more fun to me anyways.

Your Jinx idea is super cool. I personally like the origin of the cosmic balance, although I also like how you left it up to interpretation

It wasn’t WOTC it was TSR/Gygax Era that they were originally gonna call them Hobbits until Tolkien Family and familiar groups said nah so we have halflings

Im absolutely in love with your homebrew on Halflings. It has utterly inspired my version of the Lucky Feat for my horror system I am writing. 😊

I think another interesting way to tackle halflings is to take the idea that “they like living comfortably” and making it “they can make anywhere comfortable”. Perhaps halflings have an aptitude (whether magical or natural) to easily survive and even thrive in even the harshest terrain. For instance, let’s say there is a halfling subrace known as the “Cavehome Halfling”. Maybe they have abilities such as a 10ft blindsight as long as they can hear or smell, resistance to poison and advantage on checks against poison and disease, advantage or bonus on perception checks based on hearing or smell, or even advantage on checks to avoid or escape cave related traps or hazards (such as cave-ins or pockets of poisonous gas). This also could lead to the interesting scenario of a group of adventurers exploring a supposedly dangerous cave system in the Underdark, only to find a relatively quaint halfling village in the middle of it.

I was gonna get offended on behalf of my halfling character, then I remembered that he's actually just a dragonborn who was raised by halflings. 😅

I don’t often if ever comment on videos, but I feel compelled to. You’re amazing. Your content is amazing. What you’ve done for my writing, my sessions, and my table has been amazing. I wish I could shake your hand and give you a hug. Thank you a million. If you’re ever taking character applications for an adventuring party, I’ll sign up.

I have to deeply deeply thank you! Your work and your passion in DnD is inspiring and gives us more and more opportunities to try different and new ideas. Really, you are a special part of the community. Thank you.

Wow I could never have guessed that it was going to be free! Thank you so much. I love your content its so amazing and the fact that most of it is free makes it so much better!

I loved the Kender in Dragonlance. I think I would feel differently, however, if it wasn't clear that they have very short life spans on average simply because they keep getting themselves killed. If they could all luck their way through consequences, I don't think I'd like them as much.

Wow!! I just found your channel a few days ago, and have binge watched every single one of your videos in order. I am so glad that with the latest news you'll be able to continue what you do!! Thank you for everything you make- I have been so inspired by your content. I am dreaming up future PCs while also finally feeling like I have an idea for my first experience DMing. Gracie's backstory made me cry, and your dancing bard made me actually consider making a bard character! What you're doing is ridiculously generous and kind of hard to believe, so, thank you again!

How have I never thought of describing Halfling luck as something that happens in game? I always used it mechanically only. Boy, have I been missing out. I loved the example of the halfling alerting the guard, but a cat runs by. Thanks for that.

I legit got excited when I saw a new Pointy Hat video, keep up the good work you are doing!

Love you too, Pointy Hat! Thanks for the Jinx Halfling. I was super surprised when you revealed your wonderful creation to share.

When I read that halflings were extremely cagey about teaching non halflings their language, to the point that I think there are probably more non rogues that know thieves cant than non halflings that know halfling. So I took that and used it to put a secret halfling organization bent on world conquest by various means in my world. Every player I've had play a halfling got a private note basically saying "this is the specific plan your local faction is up to. You can try to further, impede, or ignore those plans, but you cannot reveal it to any other players or NPCs"

I love it when Pointy Hat uploads because I have an excuse for myself to ruin my sleep schedule even more.

I now have watched every single video on your channel over the last 24h. And I'm in love. Your stuff is amazing and I should really continue prepping for my session next saturday..

I'm being more of a fan every time you upload a video. Thank you so much for your work!

Having binged ALL your videos in the past two weeks on my way to my job, I can say you are the best RPG channel that there is! Your jokes are funny, your opinions are diverse and goddammit you give us new stuff WITH ART every single video! Keep it up Antonio

Actually you got most of those bad luck superstitions on point, the only one I don’t know of is whistling at night, I’m Australian so I feel like I can say this with confidence

In older editions the halflings had a special sling that was considered a halfling weapon specifically. They had a special skill for rock throwing, like how Merri and Pippin are always throwing rocks. They even had a special rock that they threw or used in the sling called skiprocks. That will bounce from one enemy to another but only once or twice. They even had a specialized mount, the climb dog. It had bite and claw attacks. It had a climb speed and could climb with the halfling riding it. In prior editions Kender were a typed of halfling. All Kender also had almost like a bolero of pockets that they wore. Each pocket was like a tiny bag of holding. They were kleptomaniacs and had a special ability that if you needed something the player could roll a percentage roll, I think it was like 25%, to be able to reach in their pockets and actually pull out the perfect item. They also had no concept of value. They may pass over a bag of hold in exchange for a marble that refracts light into a prism. Because they’re more interesting. I found old editions pretty fun.

Fun fact; TSR's first attempt at D&D had Hobbits in it. After a cease and desist from the Tolkien Estate, they made all later iterations into Halflings.

I was so pleasantly surprised when he announced, that he had actually created the Jinxes as a subrace. Who would've thought that?

I had all the problems with halflings you did, and this is EXACTLY what halflings needed. I never even had an inkling that bad luck was the way to take things! But it makes so much sense and adds some very sourly needed flavour, lore and a hint of culture to these milque toast 3rd/4th best short kings

A few subraces not mentioned but still officially 5e: Lotusden Halfling from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount(Critical Role setting book) Mark of Healing and Mark of Hospitality Halflings from Eberron. All three give you spells and flavor abilities, with the Eberron ones also having additional spell lists for casters. Currently playing a Mark of Healing Necromancer. Definitely a fun role play and mechanics character.

Wow you posted this for free!! That’s awesome, I was just jamming on the video, I had no idea I’d get a gift! Thanks!

This is so cool!! Halflings have been my favorite race, and this fits perfectly with my halfling Aberrant Mind Sorcerer. His life is filled with a series of very unfortunate events and I always themed his halfling luck as, like you said, a balance for all the other halflings out there, or the best possible outcome of a completely terrible event. I will be incorporating the Jinx Halfling into my world, and I sent this video to my D&D group for them to check out.

OMG! You worked out the mechanics of this Jinx race?! Who would have guessed you would be so awesome!

I've been genuinely inspired by previous creations but this one made me comment because it is so damn good. An absolutely excellent twist.

Omg You're so nice to have come up with the jinx so I didn't have to Never saw that coming! Thank you!

Good timing. Wotc just announced they're keeping OGL 1.0 and they were wrong. Huge W for the dnd community.

Just cause of the twist alone, I wish this had come out two weeks ago! Absolutely love the key art you did for Jinxes too. The cat has me melting ;w;

it feels like you improved in art a whole lot! jinxs look super cute, sucha great concept!

Had to pause to comment. Realizing how I really appreciated reading about Halfings in Pathfinder Golarion lore. They have a history of enslavement that resulted in the sneaky abilities, and more magical luck and such. There’s regional things that add a lot to it! Versus 5e just “hobbits renamed”. Love this video btw!

OMG what a surprise you wrote all we need for playing this subrace! Really, it is probably the coolest one you've done yet (and the bar was really high, especially after the tiefling one imo). Thanks for all that and congrats on this amazing channel!

It's truly beautiful seeing what someone can create with enough passion, even though I probably will never play D&D, it warms my heart. Also, why are u so sassy? I love it. Keep up the awesome content. Love from Brazil

This is fantastically inventive! I don't know when/if we'll use this, but I'm definitely keeping this idea in my back pocket!

A friend of mine who works in the industry has said that companies arent confused about how halflings and gnomes should look, they just cant get artists to follow directions

The idea for the Jinx is fantastic. You'll have to be careful when playing one though, because the "flow" will always be a "calamity".

Gnomes 2.0 Elves but tiny The one Race that had a Convergent Variant people hate in Dragonlance

Gotta be my favourite of your mix-ups so far. Absolutely love it.

First video I have ever seen by you, gonna binge this channel from here and share with all my gaming groups, this is fantastic content :)

I was wondering if you make a video about twisting the Grung race to make them... better

You are Genuinley my favorite dnd creator. Every time I see you posted again, my day ALWAYS gets better. I’m like “I can’t wait to get food and watch your video”! So thank you ❤

Great content, watched most of your videos in 2 days, love it, very unique content and point of view. And actually saying what you think even though people won't like it, good for you. Keep it up 👍

I found you a couple months ago, and your content is really top tier. Congrats!

Ive never really cared to run a halfling before watching this. I am now currently throwing together a character idea just in case my DM allows this. 100000000000% gold 🥇. I love this keep doing what you're doing man. I will continue to watch your vids for DnD inspiration.

the art is getting better and better each time

Great content? For free? Its incredible! I totally didnt expect it!

gasps in shock and wonder of all the work you did to create this race for meeeeee

I think the Jinx looks really cool! I think a really awesome way to take the load off the DM for the Jinx would be to make it the opposite of halfling luck but with a little twist. A d4 subtraction to both the Jinx's next roll and the targeted creature's roll as a reaction. You can also do it without personal penalty a number of times equal to your PB per long rest. ☺️

Hufflepuff coded.... short... big eyes .. vibes as a religion... too lucky for his own good Thanks for confirming my suspicions. One of my oldest friends might just be...

Thank you so much for these characters and ideas. I’m a new DM and your ideas and videos are really helping me put my campaign together.

omg thank u for the free documents ! i was so surprised when u introduced somethnig free in ur video AGAIN ( for real tho i love ur videos, content and ideas and i find it very inspiring and usefull for the comunity )

5e did really make gnomes and halflings too similar, in older editions they were fairly distinct.

In reguards to gnomes vs halflings, I generally see it like Gnomes are to Halflings what Elves are to Humans. The more inately magical, nature appreciating, weird one.

You made an entire subrace for us?! for free???!! I can't believe it! definitely did not see that one coming.

Fun stuff! Thanks Antonio! Very creative concept, I love it.

I'm hurt you didn't mention Athasian halflings. Halflings of Dark Sun are *_very much_* not boring. Although, they'd be just as eager to have you for a dinner.

Still so cool that you drop all these twists on us for free!!! Also my sincere thanks for the Rival Party video, I sat down yesterday and made foils for all the PCs in the game I'm running right now and will be making their paths cross very soon!! Keep up the great work Antonio!!!

Also, HUGE fan of your work!!! ❤ I’ve yet to return to the table (player or DM) but I’m thrilled to see your work, and will definitely be using the vast completion of your materials myself 😊 Thank you for such amazing videos and material! 🥳

Oh wow, I'm so glad you made the jynx, when you were saying I had to make it myself I got sad because I don't have the time. You really suprised me!

YEAHHHHH POINTY HAT VIDEO!!!!! You made my week man, thanks a million.

Oh god, oh no, my favourite race is up, sTAY CALM

Amazing content as always. Love the Jinx take on the hobbitses. Reminds me of a thief subclass I was trying to iron out called The Black Cat. It was supposed to codify critical fumble tables, and as you advanced, enemies would crit fail on higher numbers.

Just stumbled onto your channel by luck oddly enough. Can't wait to explore some of your other videos. Really cool stuff man.

Honestly I love Halflings but it is 100% because I love Hobbits. This subface looks really fun, I hope I can use it sometime in the future. The interactions between Jinxs and other Halflings would be interesting.

Only quibble I have is that TSR, D&D's original owners, was the one who skirted around the Tolkien Estate with the name change. Wizards of the Coast didn't come into the picture until TSR collapsed and was bought up by them in 1997, which is when 3rd Edition began development. The rest is a great video, as always!

Wow! It’s so cool to see a whole new, never-seen-before, totally unexpected character subrace sheet! ;) the art is so cool

Very well done from top to bottom! I am consistently impressed with the content found here, both your videos & the twisted additions to a beloved game. But you've outdone yourself with these little darlings! I love your take on halflings, and the new subrace is nothing short of inspired! Can't wait to introduce them into my homebrew campaign.

oh the jinx subrace is SUCH a cool idea, i love this! im so surprsied you actually made it for us, for free, wow.... also one thing i like that a lot of fan artists do, in much the same way that everyone just decided teiflings are purple, is when they give Halflings long floppy ears and a tail that ends in a poof like donkeys, just to make the more visualy distinct from gnomes lol

This was an amazing video, but the end of the video with the jinx was even better. I know this is gonna sound cheesy, but I actually came up with a character like this and been using him. I did not get the wonderful traits that you had but I had the inverse of the luck feature. I also did not have a cool enough name like jinx. Very well done.

Thanks for the most excellent plot twist at the end. I appreciate your efforts!

This trope is called "Filing the Serial Number Off" or something to that tune! It's also what happened to 50 shades & After (the serial numbers filed off fanfics).

OMG!!! You made and drew this little guy just for us! He's so sad, just a little guy >.< what a cute surprise. Who could have guessed. THANK YOU!!! (as always I love the art and effort, Thank you!)