Halfling

Halflings are the second-youngest of the lineages of Noefra, having spontaneously developed out of goblin-kind during the War of Souls roughly 800 years ago (just after the creation of the dragonborn). The magical radiations of that war and the extreme genetic bottlenecking attendant to their creation and then the Cataclysm (which hit their homelands the worst) led to an unusual genetic quirk: approximately 50% of all halflings are neuter females called Kliba. 30% are fertile females, known as matriarchs, and the remainder are males.

As the shortest, smallest kindred, they are often confused for children of larger lineages, especially humans (among whom they live quite frequently). They’ve taken this and run with it to a magical degree, using this “cute” nature to their advantage.

The tallest of them are shorter than the shortest humans, and they weigh very little. Males are usually shorter and smaller than females. Halflings rarely grow beards or facial hair, and their hair is almost always short and tends to stick up. Their ears are slightly pointed and they have pronounced canines. Their eyes have a reflective undercoat like felines. All normal human hair colors and skin colors are found among the halfling-folk, although most have light hair and eyes.

The two cultures presented here are the Wall-Builders of the Sea of Grass, known for their religious devotion and bucolic nature, and the Sharp Tooth of the northern Jungle of Fangs, known as a culture to be fiercely protective swamp dwellers [and according to rumors, anthropophages –IB].

Lineage Traits

  • Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity OR Charisma
  • Age. Adult around 10, live to 60-ish
  • Size. Small. 2′8″ - 4′0″, 40-70 lbs
  • Speed. 30 feet
  • Status. Regional (Western Noefra)
  • Languages. You know Common.
  • Small. You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours as if was difficult terrain.
  • Diminutive Target. When you would gain half cover from an obstacle or creature, you gain 3/4 cover instead.

Sharp Tooth

  • Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution
  • Additional Proficiencies. You have proficiency in poisoner’s kits, herbalism kits, and Survival.
  • Adept Poisoner. Poison you apply to your weapons deals an additional die of damage and applies to all hits for the duration, rather than just the first.
  • Poison Resistance. You have resistance to poison damage and advantage on saving throws against being poisoned.

Wall-Builder

  • Ability Score Increase. +1 Dexterity, +1 Charisma
  • Additional Proficiencies. You have proficiency in Animal Handling and your choice of Deception or Persuasion.
  • Weaponized Charm. As an action, you can force a target that is either in combat with you or with whom you are interacting socially to make a Wisdom saving throw against a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. On a failure, the target makes attack rolls against you at disadvantage and their attitude increases by one step (hostile → indifferent → friendly) for the duration of the interaction.

In combat, targets that fail can repeat their saving throw at the end of each of their turns, ending the effect on a success. Creatures that succeed on their saving throw or for whom the effect ends cannot be affected by this ability again for 24 hours. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining expended uses when you finish a long rest.