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 Post subject: Halfling like race?
PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 9:10 pm 

Joined: Fri Dec 13, 2013 5:44 pm
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Location: Cajun Country
I had an inspiration on a character, a picture of my tiny little daughter with a shield and hammer, that has me wondering if there is a halfling like race in Arcanis.


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 Post subject: Re: Halfling like race?
PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 9:23 pm 

Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 11:41 am
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Location: Fort Wayne, IN
Historically, yes. Currently, no (unless Henry says otherwise). They were an ancient psionic race that were completly wiped out by the Sseth so that the Ssanu could "harvest" their psionic abilities.

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 Post subject: Re: Halfling like race?
PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 9:31 pm 
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You could make her a gnome...she might not be impressed though if she's old enough to know what gnomes are like.

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 Post subject: Re: Halfling like race?
PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 10:14 pm 

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The Sanso from memory.

If same faulty memory serves me, they were the first race exterminated by the lizards, who then used their biomancy to incorporate the creatures psionic ability.

I remember an old 3.5 mod where we cam across an ancient laboratory that had the body of a number of these creatures. Their brain stems had been transplanted into goblins creating a psionically active "blue" goblin

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 Post subject: Re: Halfling like race?
PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2014 5:25 am 
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Location: Portland OR
There is a midget flaw for humans and dark-kin in Codex of Heroes. IMO that's the closest fit.

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 Post subject: Re: Halfling like race?
PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2014 1:54 pm 

Joined: Thu Nov 07, 2013 9:37 pm
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Location: Michigan
I did not play in the previous campaign, but I was part of a discussion between several players who did where they recalled a module that took the adventurers to the previous continent that humans came from, that they inhabited before Onara. The adventurers apparently encountered small psionically active humanoids there. One player felt that these were halflings (though that name was never used) and one didn't think they were. So there may be surviving halflings in arcanus. But like most things in Arcanus, it's open to interpretation, and only The Henry may know for sure.

I've often thought that there should be a reintroduction of them to the campaign, or some halfling-human crossbreed. It would be a nice way to break the Val stranglehold on psionics. But that strangle hold may be part of the campaign flavor the staff wants to maintain. I don't know. I just know there are seem to be way too many Val characters in the campaign (though I didn't let that stop me from playing one). :)

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 Post subject: Re: Halfling like race?
PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2014 2:16 pm 

Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 8:36 am
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yeah its actually part of the story that the elorii wiped out the sansho (halflings), the one time they were encountered we as mummified undead.

I'm not official but i think its extremely unlikely that they are brought back to life and made a playable race. I feel that there is no niche for "halflings" to fill.

to the OP, if your trying to create a character that's representative of a diminutive human, maybe you should play a diminutive human?

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 Post subject: Re: Halfling like race?
PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2014 2:47 pm 

Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 12:08 am
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Hello,

Sorry no return of the halflings any time soon.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but what was the name of the adventure where you go back to the eastern continent? I don't remember that one and I realy think I should re-read it if it exists.

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 Post subject: Re: Halfling like race?
PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2014 2:52 pm 
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Location: Central Alberta
1) The Sansho/Halflings were eradicated by the Ssethrics before the Elorii were created. Though there is reference to the Issori using Psionics, the 3.5 Ssethregore book stated that the Sansho were the first creatures the Ssethrics encountered who made widespread use of Psionics. By the time they fought the il'Huan the Ssanu biomancers already had 'reverse engineered' the trait into many of their own race. As the Elorii were made decades into the il'Huan war, they weren't around for any of this.

2) I remember there were adventures which took you to Nyanbe (the "Southern Continent"), but I also have no memory of going to the Eastern Continent at any point in the 3.5 campaign. Other planes of existence, yes, but not that place.

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 Post subject: Re: Halfling like race?
PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2014 3:27 pm 
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toodeep wrote:
...I've often thought that there should be a reintroduction of them to the campaign, or some halfling-human crossbreed. It would be a nice way to break the Val stranglehold on psionics. ...snip...


Once upon a time you could break the val stranglehold on psionics if you are willing to let the unseen masters of the Mourners in Silence pull your puppet strings. Perhaps that will come again. Though probably fewer people interested in playing Mourners this time round.

On History of the campaign & "Halflings": The Sansho were clearly the Arcanis version of Halflings and they were wiped out by the Ssethrics and the Elorri in antiquity. The Sansho were described as having a relatively decentralized and unorganized society and their response to the war machine (highly organized) that rolled over them was grossly inadequate. There was also a brief foray to Nyambe where the PCs potentially met Nyambe flavored burrowing halflings. A separate race with extremely tenuous ties to the Known World. To my knowledge the PCs never went to the "Eastern Continent."

On the wider issue: Should there be some variation of Halflings in Arcanis?

Halflings in RPGs are obviously derived from Hobbits. Tolkien wrote at a time when Edwardian England was fading in power internationally and the idyllic lifestyle he (Tolkien) loved was continuing to be eroded by a faster "urban paced" life. His Hobbits were created to be metaphors of those themes in addition to being essentially humble, hardworking & decent protagonists who persevere and triumph over powers vastly greater than themselves.

I love Tolkien and like Halflings...but the tropes in Arcanis (IMO the struggles and costs to preserve civilization(s) from internal and external threats), are not the tropes that Tolkien explored. While an "Arcanisified" Hobbit of some stripe might find a place somewhere...its my personal opinion that the standard issue Hobbit/Halfling really would have no place in the world. What we would find would be as different for Arcanis as the Kender of Krynn or the Jungle Cannibals of Dark Sun.

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