Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Focused Feedback: Halflings

Pathfinder:Kingmaker halflings are horrible. I don't play them largely because I hate the avatars.

Mind you, the gnome hairstyles leave much to be desired as well.

I didn't mind it truthfully, would of rather seen the normal I'm used to but I took what I could get, I didn't make the game.

Now thats how you use the suggestiongs/feedback forum!

Thanks for the supporting words, folks, I appreciate it a lot! Here's to hoping someone at Larian is also looking on!

I did want to answer quickly to those discussing the value of using art as reference - it's true, it's not ideal, compared to having, say, and actual formal anatomy chart, like we have for older editions. The issue is that we don't have one of those ,officially, for 5e, and the physical descriptions of the halfling race, in official documents and books, doesn't actually give us these details with any clarity... so the official art that they've used in their books is all we have to go off, in terms of visual clues. That was why I took as much effort as I did to show that we actually have more official artwork, in published modules and lore books from Wizards, that supports healthy and balanced proportions, than we do things like the phb pg26 image that no-one can take seriously, eek!

+1

I just wanted to add that several friends all feel the same way about the halflings in this game. They do not seem to ever breach the "Uncanny Valley." They just never feel real.

"They look like giant-headed baby monsters," is a direct quote about the BG3 models from one of my friends who regularly plays a halfling in tabletop games and I agree with this, too. Currently the squashed proportions of the halfling models make them look like human toddlers wielding swords and bows. They remind me way too much of the World of Warcraft gnomes, rather than a human of smaller proportions.

Another user referenced the halfling art of D&D 3E (referring to how they appear as small, well proportioned humans) and I would like to add that the same art design continued into D&D 4E as well. D&D 5E says that halfling men are "inclined to be stout" (with no reference to halfling women as such), but an inclination is not a definitive. The character of Regis, created by R.A. Salvatore and referenced on Page 26 of the 5E handbook, is described as fat due to his "love of a good meal, or several, as the opportunities presented themselves;" a lifestyle choice rather than as a racial default. Not all halflings are, or should be, fat and pot-bellied.

Good Feedback is Good.

My wife and I have similar views on the halflings. For me I see a bobble head, for my wife she sees a human with dwarfism.

It's fascinating how some subtle proportions can make such a difference. I hope the art team gets some time to tweak and tune this as overall the games art is just amazing.

Totally agree! Halflings are a super fun race (Ghostwise ftw!) and I would totally be rocking one for a main character except they look way way way off. You summed it up perfectly.

Just wanted to say thanks again to those who left their support and other comments on this topic!

If you looked at this thread and agreed with it, but haven't posted anything before now, I want to encourage anyone to speak up and add your voice - if we want Larian to make changes like this, now is the time that we have to give them that feedback, and as (calmly and sensibly) vocally as we can.

I wish halflings had slimmer bodies. Right now they look like gnomes.

+1 This is great feedback and I would love to see properly proportioned and animated halflings, though I also understand that Halflings have probably given the developers trouble, being the only small race. When Gnomes are introduced, hopefully some TLC will go into animations and such for small races and we can see Halflings fixed.


If I may add, I've voiced elsewhere that I think Halflings deserve to have one of their other racial abilities represented in game, because as it stands they don't keep up very well with elves or dwarves. I'd love to see Halfling Nimbleness (that is, the ability to move through medium and larger enemies' spaces) added in for real small-character gameplay.

This is good feedback, but I highly doubt this race will be popular with players. Everyone plays as elves, human or drow, rarely tieflings and dwarf, but I have not seen anyone choose a halfling. It's too exotic.

I want Larian's race stats in the next community update!

The Lucky attribute is a good reason to choose the halfling race. Rerolling a 1 on a d20 is pretty nice when you are letting the Game Engine roll for you. I actually played a halfling ranger, and never rolled a 1 as a final result, but I also don't recall seeing a re-roll either.
It was kind of nice. I do agree they get overlooked, but I am sure a few individuals may see the advantage there.

Also agree on the feedback on appearance here.

You have now.

I like playing halflings. Not as much as I like dwarves, but they are certainly one of my 'go-to' choices. Stats be damned, I just like them.

I nearly always play halflings in tabletop games. I almost never play them in computer games because the games are never made with them taken into account and most of the time they don't look good.

edit: Oh, and by the way? To do halflings justice we also need slings. Why aren't there slings? Slings are the coolest ranged weapon.

Definitely slings.

Also - fatter halflings. With sideburns.


I don't know what the score is with showing pipes, though; it might violate some 'promoting smoking' guideline. I don't think a halfling in camp is a true halfling unless he has his pipe and a pint of something.

Human with dwarfism was the first thing I thought of, when I saw the first animated cut scene with one. I think it was that vendor in the Druid cove. It didn't read as Halfling to me, although I don't actually have a lot of experience with how they're represented in D&D. It just seems off.

It could just be lazy design with a vertical tweak of the adult Human model, or it might be Larian wanting to avoid having them look too much like children. Several of the OP's images showing "correct" Halflings look like kids to me.

Anyway, I support the idea of reducing the size of the head to avoid the Bobble-Head look, and maybe a slight narrowing of the torso, arms and legs without going all the way to slender child-like proportions.

+1 - excellent research and feedback. Love seeing threads like these.

+1 for the OP. Excellent post and research 😁

I must say I havent notkced it until you posted it here but now I cant unsee the bobblehead 💀

I see Time Bandits. I really think that Larian may have used real people of short stature to model their halflings. It makes sense in many ways, but may not be the image that some people have of what a halfling should look like. The relatively big head might be due to animation restrictions, allowing the same algorithms to animate every potential PC's face. I am not a programmer so this is pure speculation.

I certainly prefer the current look to having them look like children. I think that was a major mistake for Pearl Abyss in BDO when they introduced the Shai. They jumped through hoops to say that the Shai were not meant to be child-like, but then portrayed them in-game as child-like (using child-like voices and having the NPCs dancing and playing like kids). The Korean anime-style art style didn't help, of course.