From the feedback in my Tieflings thread I gather that halflings are considered the natural choice for 4th PC race. So let's throw around some ideas how they can be implemented. If you consider D&D Halflings, you immediately run into a problem for CH - like elves, they are nimble and frail, but their legs are short so it's a stretch to give them Dash as standard movement card. (Note: elves have -4 health at level 18 compared to humans, dwarves have +4) Another option would be to give them Run and normal hp, but then there is not much difference to humans. If the devs implement a new race in CH, it should be different enough to open new builds and tactics. The option then is to give them a special effect movement card as standard movement. But which one? Quick Step doesn't work well as a standard movement card as it's only move 1. Scuttle works well to portray halflings as shifty little buggers who swiftly walk across fallen rocks with their hairy feet and dodge through their enemies' threatened areas. Scamper is the 3 squares version of Scuttle. The game considers it gold quality, while the best thing other races get is an uncommon Bronze (Dash). Too powerful. Escaping Run is very halfling, but with the recent discussions on card draw decks is probably not a good choice for a card you get every turn. Flanking Move is interesting. It's only a move 2, but if you're not adjacent to an enemy you can play another card. It's surprisingly useful in combination with ranged spells, support abilities, stabs and step attacks. Are these all options? No, there is another one... I think it would fit Halflings very well if they are considered lucky and get +1 to die rolls. However, Card Hunter has no design space to give characters any sort of bonus that is not on a card. So it will have to be on a card that is attached to the PC at the start of combat: Name: Halfling's Luck Quality: Paper (2/7) Rarity: Common Color Class: Boost Play effect 1: Trait. Attach this card to yourself at the start of combat. Skip when discarding a your oldest attached card unless you have another halfling card attached. Duration: - Reaction 1: When you roll a die, add 1 to it. Keep: Yes When you go this route, give them Run as standard move and low hp.
The second thing to consider are Halfling skills. The difficulty here is that most of the typical Halfling stuff (dodging attacks, zigzagging across the battlefield) is already done by elves. While there should be some Halfling skills with cards like Dodge and Hard To Pin, they need their own tricks. Halfling and Rogue is an iconic combination, so Halfling skills could include some cards that we'll also see on Rogue items later... Name: Pickpocket Quality: Silver Rarity: Uncommon Color Class: Attack Attack Type: Melee Play Effect 1: Target discards a random card. Take the discarded card into your hand. Flavor Text: Ooh, shiny! Look what we have here! Name: Backstabber Quality: Bronze Rarity: Uncommon Color Class: Boost Play Effect 1: Deal 2 extra damage with attacks from behind. Duration: 3 Flavor Text: Never turn your back on someone half or twice your size.
I'd probably go with Flanking Move + medium health which isn't an option in the poll. It's a nice card but it's also only move 2 which can be fairly big drawback. Not a big fan of adding new mechanics like that luck trait when there's no clear need for it - you could have something similar as a Halfling skill but permanently reducing their available traits to two might actually be bad. You'd have enemies pushing off your buffs with their debuffs all the time, doesn't sound very lucky to me. One more option would be to give them Dodge + low health. Then they would be slow but hard to kill, especially by big burly melee guys. Might make range 2 stabs a lot more alluring option than they are now. Most of all it would clearly make them different than the other three races. It might be unbalanced, though.
I think low health and scuttle would be best. I don't think flanking move would be a good racial because the cantrip-move-to-exploit-passing thing should be a build decision, not a racial feature IMHO. Dodge would be fun but my worry there I guess is that if you keep it in your hand, then next turn you're guaranteed to draw another, suddenly you've got a 75% chance to dodge melee... I dunno, could get problematic?
For some reason I didn't have Dodge on my radar. It's a Bronze rare, slightly better than the Bronze uncommon Dash. I think it's a viable option and very Halfling. It would make Halflings widely despised by anyone who has to fight them, which I think they should be Ironically it would make them similar to DnD 4E Kobolds. Is there a way to add the option to the poll? @Mirkel: Flanking Move is a Bronze Rare that is a bit underappreciated. It's quite nasty. For example, you could move 6 squares and attack in the same turn with Flanking Move + Nimble Strike. Flanking Move + Medium Health is way too good. Here's another idea: Give them 2-3 standard move cards (Dodge, Flanking Move, Scuttle) and have them draw one at random each time.
I like Flanking Move but only having it as your move would make you really slow at crossing the battlefield. You can mitigate that with good boots obviously but I don't think I'd play Halflings if they'd be both frail and slow, even with the benefits of Flanking Move. I like the random move idea, then you could curse your rotten luck at not only getting the wrong 2 normal draws but also getting the wrong move card that round.
I'd like to vote for Scuttle + med health or Dodge + low health. Note that both will get shut down hard by encumber.
I voted Run + low health + Lucky bonus trait, but honestly I'd want to see them somewhere between medium and low health, like medium-low lol. Halflings are basically really short humans, and real life humans with dwarfism can have just as strong a constitution as their normal counterparts. D&D4E heights put Halfings at 4', Humans 5' 10", Dwarves 4' 6". These are averaged heights for males. A quick Google search yielded some evidence to back up my claims for halfing constitution, although this guy is actually closer to dwarf height, we're talking about a 2.5 inch difference between his height and maximum Halfing height of 4'2". He would either be D&D's tallest Halfling, or shortest Dwarf. EDIT: I'm not actually sure if I can directly post the image that I did, so I deleted it and will instead post a link to it from the source, as to avoid any problems with Copyright stuff. PICTURE
Looks like in hindsight, the poll should have just been about the move card without mentioning health. Let's leave it open for now and start a better poll based on the discussion here at a later date.
